2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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1435318
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# Telegraph style book: Ll
1:03AM BST 12 Apr 2008
**[A][1]** | **[B][2]** | **[C][3]** | **[D][4]** | **[E][5]** | **[F][6]** |
**[G][7]** | **[H][8]** | **[I][9]** | **[J][10]** | **[K][11]** | **[L][12]**
| **[M][13]** | **[N][14]** | **[O][15]** | **[P][16]** | **[Q][17]** |
**[R][18]** | **[S][19]** | **[T][20]** | **[U][21]** | **[V][22]** |
**[W][23]** | **[X][24]** | **[Y][25]** | **[Z][26]**
* [Telegraph style book: introduction][27]
Labour for the party, but labour movement, organised labour: however New
Labour, old Labour.
Ladies' Day at Royal Ascot.
lady: use "woman" for most references to a female. But see [Names and
Titles][28] for use of Lady.
Lafite, claret.
## Related Articles
* [Introduction][27]
10 Jan 2008
lamp post
landmark: do not use in the sense of a decision that marks an important change
or precedent. All right for a prominent object on the horizon.
Land Rover.
lang, k d (thus)
Langtry, Lillie
last: the last edition of The Daily Telegraph implies we have closed. Use
"most recent" or "latest". Also prefer "the past two years" to "the last two
years".
last night: tabloid, over used in news stories and to be avoided. Use only
where absolutely literal: for example, "Big Ben struck thirteen at midnight
last night because of a mechanical error" is fine. "It was disclosed last
night that the Government is planning to slay the first born" is not, since
the event probably happened during office hours. When something actually does
happen just before edition time, that too may be acceptable in the interests
of conveying urgency.
Last Post (not the Last Post).
late: phrases like "the late John Smith" are to be avoided. The context
usually makes it plain that he is dead; if it does not, say when he died.
Never "widow of the late John Smith". An exception is where a living person
may be confused with the deceased, hence "the late Queen Elizabeth".
Latin tags: use sparingly, and where there is no better English equivalent and
where there is a reasonable chance the reader will know the sense: thus de
jure and de facto are acceptable, de minimis non curat lex probably not.
Always italicise.
latitude and longitude: 48N, 17W or 48 deg north, 17 deg 12 min west.
latter is the second of two. For the final of more than two, last.
Laurence, Vice-Adml Tim, is the husband of the Princess Royal.
lavatory is the correct term, never toilet.
Law Lord: Lord of Appeal or other member of the House of Lords qualified to
perform its legal work. Lord Justice of Appeal: usually a knight, does not sit
in the House of Lords.
lay, lie: "lay", meaning to deposit, arrange, beat down, and its past tense
"laid" are transitive verbs needing an object (We decided to lay a floor; the
hen laid an egg). Lie, meaning to recline or remain, and its derivatives lay
and lain are intransitive (lie in the bed, the ship lay at anchor, the grass
where she had lain was flattened). To use lie transitively to mean lay (lie
her on the bed) is incorrect. To use lay intransitively to mean lie (it was
laying on the floor) is also wrong.
leakage is the amount lost by a leak. Do not put quotation marks round the
word leak in references to news released unofficially.
le Carre, John
learnt is what one did with a lesson: learned describes an erudite person.
lease of life: if you must use this cliche please use the correct English form
and not the American "lease on life"
Left, Right in politics. Left wing, Left-wingers. Such terminology is however
becoming increasingly meaningless, so use sparingly and with explanation.
left-field: done to death.
legendary: unless you really are writing about King Arthur, avoid.
Legge-Bourke, Tiggy
legionnaires' disease: as in Black's Medical Dictionary.
Lego
Leibovitz, Annie
Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons
Leonardo, never "da Vinci".
less is not the comparative of few or small. Use fewer or smaller.
Letters page style: all letters to the Editor should start Sir. Counties
should not be abbreviated in addresses. Months should not be abbreviated in
reference to previous correspondents. Titles should not be abbreviated.
Levi's
Liberal takes a capital letter only for political parties using the name and
their members. Use lower case when explaining the attitudes of foreign parties
of the relative position of people within them (The liberal Free Democrats...
A liberal Democrat won his party's nomination). But there is a small Liberal
Party in the United States.
Liberal Democrats: use Lib Dems in heads, use in full on first mention in
text, Lib Dems as a subsequent use is acceptable. Do not confuse with the
Liberal Party, which still exists as a small and separate entity.
_Liberation_, French newspaper: note accent.
Licence: noun.
License: verb.
lifeboat, but Royal National Life-boat Institution.
lifestyle: avoid. Use "way of life".
like is used only to introduce a noun not followed by a verb (He drinks like a
fish. He swims as a fish swims). When giving named examples of people or
objects we should use "such as" as in: He said that he admired players such as
Jones, Smith and Brown. The sense is that he admires those players
specifically. If we used "like" it would mean that he admired players with
qualities similar to those of Jones, Smith and Brown.
likeable.
Lili Marlene
Lilliput
limousine, limo are tabloid: write "car".
linage for number of lines; lineage for ancestry.
linchpin: person or thing essential to a plan or organisation. Not lynchpin.
literally is nearly always redundant or ridiculous (Botham literally carried
the rest of the England team).
Lloyds TSB, Lloyd's (insurance). Lloyd's Register. Lloyd's is not an insurance
company. It does not write insurance itself but provides a market in which its
members do so.
Lloyd Webber. The family name is unhyphenated, the peerage - Lloyd-Webber -
is.
loathe (hate) but loath (disinclined, unwilling).
London postal districts are not preceded by a comma, hence "London SW1".
Lords Lieutenant: not Lord Lieutenants. Certain reference books have this
wrong, so beware.
Lords Justices
Lord's (cricket).
lorry: prefer it to "truck". But if a motor company refers officially to a
"trucks division" we should conform.
lounges are found in hotels and pubs. In houses they are sitting rooms or
drawing rooms.
Lubyanka
lunch not luncheon except in formal social contexts.
Lurex
Lutine bell
luxury: as an adjective it is becoming tabloid, as in luxury flats. Avoid.
Lycra
Lyttelton Theatre.
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