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topics
about-us
style-book
style-updates
5038566
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# March 23 2009
4:23PM GMT 23 Mar 2009
Our presumption is against using caps. centre court, special forces and grand
slam are a small selection of the phrases that have fallen foul of this rule
recently. **Geographical features**, including man-made ones - bay, quay,
bridge, harbour, river, delta - conform to this rule when part of something
that may be a proper noun eg. Sydney harbour bridge
**cliche** takes an accent
AD1066. There should be a thin space between AD and the number.
**The West Lothian question** is: why should the Member for West Lothian have
a say in parliament in matters that affect only those in constituencies
outside Scotland, when those in constituencies outside Scotland no longer have
a say in matters that affect West Lothian?
**Medvedev, Dmitrii**
**Prone** means on your front, **supine** on your back.
**Lembit Opik **does not get his umlaut, should the question arise.
A **crest** is something above a shield on a coat of arms, not the coat of
arms itself.
**file sharing**, file-sharing software
**nosey** takes an e
police community support officer (**PCSO**) needs to be spelt out at first
mention.
**Army cadet troops**
**virtually**. Be cautious with this word, especially in stories about
technology.
**East End**, **West End** of London.
**young Turks** take a capital, even when those involved are not Turkish
If someone is titled (Sir, Baroness etc) and their name begins a news story,
there is no need also to cap up the name itself.
**Falun Gong** is a spiritual movement emphasizing truthfulness, compassion
and forbearance. It is not a religion - whatever the Chinese government calls
it - and we should not refer to it as such.
**Protestant** takes a cap even adjectivally.
**Silk Road**
**Mahdi army**
**red list of threatened species** - a UN endeavour
**dalek** is lower case
**Sats** does not need to be followed by "tests" since it can mean either
standard assessment tests, standard attainment tests or scholastic
aptitude/assessment tests. The latter are the tests for college admission in
the US. See Pin
**Pin** can be short for Personal Identification Number. When this is the case
it is not therefore followed by "number". If this fails to make sense of the
sentence, write it out in full in square brackets.
**Bishop's Stortford** takes an apostrophe.
**Pilates** takes a capital, since it is named after Joseph Pilates, who
developed it to improve the rehabilitation of soldiers during the First World
War.
a **Uyghur** (pronounced wee-ger) is someone most likely to be from the
Xinjiang province of China, in the north-west of the country.
**Frisbee** is a trademark
**roll out**. This is jargon unless used literally. Use "introduce", "supply",
or anything else appropriate instead.
North **Ossetia** is a republic within the Russian Federation. South Ossetia
is a breakaway republic in Georgia. Always distinguish between them, as you
should between the North and South Ossetians.
"**both**" is redundant in a news story nine times out of ten.
**astronaut** is the American name for a person whom the Russians would call a
cosmonaut and the Chinese a taikonaut.
**Highlands** (of Scotland).
the **Province**. Northern Ireland. The provinces can mean outside London; but
"provincial" is faintly derogatory and should be used advisedly.
**military** is an adjective, not a noun. Use Army, Navy or Royal Airforce
wherever possible, referring to the British version of these. Lower case for
foreign versions of the same.
**slow food movement**
**rendition** and extraordinary rendition, in the sense that a person has been
whisked away secretly by the US, has fallen into common usage and does not
need quotation marks.
**culs-de-sac** is the preferred plural of cul-de-sac
**Sevastopol** is in the Ukraine. There are five other places - two each in
the US and Australia, one in Wales - that call themselves Sebastopol.
**The Berkeley** hotel. **The Dorchester** hotel. Each is more commonly
referred to only as The Berkeley or The Dorchester.
**Dead Sea scrolls**
the **Rose revolution**, the Orange revolution, the Russian revolution
**bonfire night**, November the 5th.
**earmarked**. Use designated instead.
**Kiwi**, meaning New Zealander, takes a capital
Admiral Lord **Nelson** at first mention; Nelson thereafter.
_**The New York Times**_. Note the definite article.
**Down's syndrome**, after John LH Down who first described it.
**Jean Charles de Menezes** at first mention, de Menezes thereafter.
**Axum** is in northern Ethiopia
"**fuel poverty**" is the condition of having to spend ten per cent or more of
one's income on fuel. It is therefore inevitably linked to the price of fuel
and not to be used unless the claim is attributable.
**Exhibition titles** should be italicised.
"mother of two" "father of one" etc. This is often too much information in a
news piece. Use without hyphens and only if relevant to the main thrust of the
story.
**University College London**. No comma.
Terminals 1, 2 etc at Heathrow.
**et cetera** is two words, if it needs to be written out.
**cathedral**
**Higgs boson particle**
"**Ground Zero**" in reference to the former site of the twin towers of the
World Trade Center in New York. Needs quotation marks as it has not been the
only one of its kind.
**Sir Tim Berners-Lee** did not invent the internet, and we should not say
that he did. He invented hypertext, which made the world wide web possible in
its present form. The internet has evolved as a result of the work of many
people over many years.
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## [Style Updates][6]
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