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# Style notes 15: February 10 2009

3:31PM GMT 16 Feb 2009

Dear Colleagues

One of the problems with spellcheckers is that they do not always supply the
correct word. I fear this could explain some moments of confusion recently
when we have used homophones inadvertently. Examples are: hoard and horde;
lumber and lumbar; stationery and stationary; wringer and ringer; malt and
moult. Do check back what you have written to try to avoid mistakes such as
these.

Recent grammatical slips include bored of instead of bored with, data used as
a singular noun, screen used as a verb, less used for fewer, latter used when
there are more than two items in a list, and uncertainty over when to use
"compared with" and "compared to". The style book gives guidance on these
matters. Someone who is runner-up has come second, and not in any other
position; there may be runners-up if no distinction is made between the
placings of those who have not won. We must avoid the Americanism "appeal the
verdict" when in English the correct form is "appeal against the verdict".
Also, please avoid superfluous words in constructions such as "test out",
"lose out" and "up until"; and we recently had the tautology "a pair of
twins".

It is not our style to use the noun "chair" to describe anything other than an
item of furniture. It is our style to use "tons" instead of "tonnes". Use of
the phrase "rolled out" is becoming cliched, as in "the programme will be
rolled out from March". "Introduced" is an acceptable substitute.

When we refer to the present Government either as a noun or an adjective it
requires a capital G. Foreign governments and past British governments have a
small g. Also, please check the exact wording of the names of governmental
departments. These change regularly and can be confusing. For example, it is
the Department for Work and Pensions, not of them.

It is important that news stories should be in reported speech. This applies
to write-offs of interviews (as they are a report of the event having taken
place) but not to interviews themselves in the news pages.

Finally, and on the subject of capitals, please be careful not to use
trademarks as generics. We have had representations recently from Portakabin
about this.

With best wishes

Simon Heffer

Associate Editor

The Daily Telegraph

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