The Times Style Guide: A guide to English usage

Allies cap the Allies in the Second World War context; generally, lower case alliance, as in the Atlantic alliance, Gulf War alliance etc

all right never alright, except in the television programme It’ll be Alright on the Night

All Souls College Oxford (no apostrophe)

all-time avoid as in all-time high; use highest or record high instead

al-Qaeda thus, hyphen and ae

alsatian lower case, the German shepherd dog. See dogs

alternate (adj) as well as being English for “every other” or “every second” in a sequence, is also American for alternative. This latter use is to be resisted, firmly, although we may need to concede that alternate history has gained more or less universal currency to denote the “what if” school of fiction that imagines, eg life in a Britain occupied by victorious Nazis after the Second World War

alternative of two, choice of three or more, but there is no need to be obsessive about this

alternative vote (AV) system; note also first-past-the-post system

alumnus a (singular, male) graduate of a particular educational institution; alumni is the plural, including for mixed groups. The female equivalents are alumna and alumnae

ambassador lower case even when specific (see capitalisation); the French ambassador; “he was appointed ambassador to Japan”

ambience prefer to the French spelling ambiance

Amendment spell out and upper case for clarity in relation to the US constitution, eg the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment etc

Americanisms generally to be resisted, unless they have clearly passed into standard English use

American spellings allow US spellings for proper names of institutions, well-known landmarks etc. So Lincoln Center, World Trade Center, Labor Day, Medal of Honor, Pearl Harbor etc; in practice this means US spellings may be retained in proper names used with initial caps, as it will be clear what is going on; job titles that in our style become lower case (ie almost all of them) should be anglicised (the secretary of defence etc, so that they do not just look like spelling mistakes); for all other words use English spellings.

Be aware that the differences are not all as obvious as writing theater for theatre or missing the u out of words such as colour; eg US usage does not double the final l of the root verb in forms such as traveller, cancelled, fuelled, modelling etc; license is both verb and noun in US English, and so, confusingly, is practice; avoid all of these and be ready to change them in agency copy or quotes

America(n)/US in general, try to use American as in “American cities”, “American food” etc; but US in headlines and in the context of government institutions, such as US Congress, US navy, US military operation. Never use America when ambiguity could occur with Canada or Latin America

amid not amidst; similarly among, not amongst

amok not amock or amuck

ampersand use in a company name if the company uses it

amphitheatres in classical context are oval or circular (eg the Colosseum in Rome); do not confuse with theatres, which are semi-circular or horseshoe-shaped

Amsterdam treaty (lower case t), but the Treaty of Amsterdam

analogue in all contexts, noun and adjective

anathema meaning accursed, consigned to perdition; there is no need for an article, thus: “It is anathema to me.” Although a noun, it is quasi-adjectival in usage

ancestor strictly means a person from whom another is directly descended, especially someone more distant than a grandparent. Do not use in the looser sense of predecessor; eg Queen Elizabeth I is not the ancestor of the present Queen. An ancestor is not a descendant, so do not mix them up

ancient Briton/Britain ancient Greek/Greece, ancient Egyptian/Egypt, ancient Roman/Rome, the ancient world; seems fine to lower case the a on ancient but cap the national adjective or noun

and also do not use together

androgynous not androgenous in reference to having both male and female characteristics; androgenic refers to male hormones, eg testosterone

aneurysm not aneurism

angioplasty is a procedure carried out by cardiologists and is not surgery

Anglesey never Anglesea

anglicise, anglophile, anglophobe, anglophone all lower case

angst roman, lower case

animals cap proper nouns or adjectives derived from them when naming breeds of animals (or species of birds): Indian elephant, Nile crocodile, Bengal tiger, Arctic tern, Dartford warbler, African grey parrot, Bewick’s swan etc; otherwise all lower case. When referring to individual animals in stories or captions, use “he” or “she” if the sex is definitely known or if the creature is called by a masculine or feminine name (eg Felix the cat had only himself to blame). But use “it” if sex is unspecified or irrelevant. On the racing pages, horses are always “he” or “she”. See anthropomorphism

annexe noun, but to annex verb

anniversary by definition, is the date on which an event occurred in some previous year. So avoid such nonsense as the “nine-month anniversary” or the “300-day anniversary” of something

answerphone or answering machine

Antarctic around the South Pole, Arctic around the North: capitalise, spell correctly and do not mix up

antennae plural of antenna in zoological sense; antennas in radio or aerial sense

anthropomorphism the lazy option in captioning photographs of animals; try instead to convey some real information about the creatures or the photograph

anti in compounds, generally no hyphen (unless hideous or confusing without) but always hyphenate before a capital letter, eg anti-American

Antichrist initial cap, no hyphen

anticipate widely (and acceptably) used to mean expect; better, however, to preserve the senses of to foresee something and react (to anticipate a blow), or to do something before the due time (so that to anticipate marriage is quite different from expecting to marry)

anticlimax no hyphen

anticyclone no hyphen

antidepressant (noun or adjective), no hyphen

antihero no hyphen

Antipodes, Antipodean cap A when referring to Australia and New Zealand

antisemitic, antisemitism arguments have been advanced for using the unhyphenated form to mean specifically hatred of Jews, which is what is almost always intended, and anti-Semitism to denote hostility to a whole group of Semitic peoples; the distinction seems rather effortful but it reinforces our preference for avoiding hyphens where we can

antisocial

antisocial behaviour order Asbo; plural Asbos

anti-tank one that probably looks better with a hyphen

anti-terrorism another

antiviral one word

any more always two words

apart from prefer to the Americanism “aside from”

ape, aping, apish

aphelion the point in its orbit when a planet or comet is farthest from the sun. See perihelion

apostrophes with proper names/nouns ending in s that are singular, follow the rule of writing what is voiced, eg Keats’s poetry, Sobers’s batting, The Times’s style (or Times style); and with names where the final s is soft, use the s apostrophe, eg Rabelais’ writings, Delors’ presidency; plurals follow normal form, as Lehman Brothers’ loss etc.

Note that with Greek names of more than one syllable that end in s, generally do not use the apostrophe s, eg Aristophanes’ plays, Achilles’ heel, Socrates’ life, Archimedes’ principle; but note Jesus’s (not Jesus’) parables. Beware of organisations that have variations as their house style, eg St Thomas’ Hospital, where we should respect their preference.

Take care with apostrophes with plural nouns, eg women’s, not womens’; children’s, not childrens’; people’s, not (usually) peoples’. Also beware of moving the apostrophe when creating plurals: a lot of shepherd’s pies, two rival builder’s merchants, two private member’s bills, etc.

Use the apostrophe in expressions such as two years’ time, several hours’ delay etc.

Some place names and many company names have lost their apostrophes: Earls Court, St Andrews, Barclays, Lloyds the bank (but Lloyd’s the insurance market), Morrisons etc; others — Sainsbury’s, Sotheby’s, Christie’s etc — have not; always check.

An apostrophe may for clarity be used to indicate the plural of single letters — p’s and q’s — if the alternative seems worse; a rare instance of a permissible greengrocer’s apostrophe. See also do’s and don’ts

apothegm maxim; prefer to apophthegm

apparatchik

appeal do not use the Americanism “appeal a verdict or decision”; English usage requires appeal against

appellations, titles, honorifics, names on News pages, although not on Features and Sport, almost every adult surname should be granted the courtesy of a title. Give the name in full at first mention, then refer to Mr, Mrs, Ms. There may be occasions when it is more appropriate at second mention to use just a first name (Bob, Sue etc). Such occasions will be rare; they require justification and careful thought.

The exceptions, who may be referred to by surname alone are: convicted offenders (or, rarely, offenders still on trial but who have clearly admitted guilt, see 6 below), the dead (but not the quite recently dead, except in obituaries; in news reports be particularly sensitive when writing about victims of crime); and, mostly in the Arts, Sport, Books and Diary sections, where common usage omits a title. On News pages, similarly, sportsmen, artists, authors, film stars, pop stars, actors etc should now normally not be referred to as Mr/Mrs/Ms, except in court cases or exceptional occasions where guilt would be implied by omitting the honorific. Where sportsmen, entertainers etc have been given honours, it will often seem more natural to refer to them by their full title once at first mention (“Sir Mick Jagger”) and thereafter as “Jagger” (rather than “Sir Mick”). Minors may when appropriate be referred to by first name alone.

General rules:

1. First mention, Herbert Palfry, Juliette Worth, subsequently Mr Palfry, Mrs/Miss/Ms Worth; only children should be referred to by first names alone.

2. Put the name first, then the age (if relevant), then the description; eg Penélope Cruz, 34, the Spanish actress; avoid the journalese construction “actress Penélope Cruz” or the like.

3. Avoid initials and middle initials (as in eg American names) unless the person is best known thereby (eg WG Grace, PJ Harvey, JK Galbraith, Cecil B DeMille, AJP Taylor, all with no full points).

4. Ms should be used when a woman wants to be called thus, or when it is not known for certain if she is Mrs or Miss.

5. Dr need not be confined to medical doctors; if a public figure with an academic doctorate from a reputable university insists on being called Dr, we can allow them the title as a courtesy, although we should discourage this unless the doctorate (and the expertise it suggests) is of some interest or relevance to the story. Generally, as for Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms, do not use Dr at first mention.

6. Court proceedings, professional body disciplinary hearings etc: accused people should be accorded the appropriate title (Mr, Miss etc), however guilty they may appear, after name and first name have been given at first mention; only convicted persons or those who have admitted guilt in recognised legal or disciplinary proceedings should be referred to by surname alone. But do be sensitive especially in murder cases, where the accused is given, for example, his “Mr”; the victim (despite the dead not usually being given a title) should here be accorded the courtesy of the title. Otherwise the stark contrast of, say, Mr X being accused of the murder of Dando, can appear gratuitously offensive

appendix plural appendices, but appendixes in anatomy

Apple Computer not Computers, for the Mac company

appraise means evaluate; apprise means inform. Never confuse

appurtenance

April Fool’s Day, April fool, but All Fools’ Day

aqueduct not aquaduct

Arabic refers to the language. Use Arab in such phrases as “the Arab world”

Arabic names there is no universally accepted system of transliteration. Arabic has 28 letters, many of which change shape, sometimes considerably, depending on whether they stand alone or on where they appear within a word: initial, medial, final. Vowels are largely ignored in most printed and handwritten text. There are ligatures and diacritical marks by the dozen. There are consonants with no direct counterparts in English, and sounds with no obvious equivalents at all.

Attempts to replicate these complexities (with elaborate spellings and much use of apostrophes) are confusing and look a mess. Clarity, simplicity and a degree of consistency should be our aims. Where there is a western consensus on a spelling, eg among reputable news agencies, big media outlets and/or diplomatic sources, we should follow it, except in the very few cases where a different preferred spelling is specified in this guide. For other cases these are some very basic guidelines:

prefer al- to el- or Al (and to variants such as as- ash- ad- or ul-) unless an individual or corporation is established in the West and has a preferred or familiar western style (eg Al Jazeera, the broadcaster, or Saudi royals who are Al; also Mohamed Al Fayed, who may or may not be entitled to style himself thus, but does). Drop al- when not giving the full name (eg Bashar al-Assad becomes Assad)

end names in i not y (Ali, not Aly etc)

do not use the apostrophe in eg Ba’ath

do not generally attempt to distinguish long and short vowels, but in common names with long vowels generally prefer ee to i (eg Rasheed rather than Rashid; Fedayeen, not Fedayin; Mujahideen); prefer ou to u or oo (eg Yousef, Mansour etc)

prefer q to k or kh (Rafiq, qat)

abu, abd, abdul, bin, bint: these are not self-contained names but words meaning “father of”, “slave of” etc. Usually lower case, except as the first word of a name, they attach to the name that follows and must not be separated, eg Abu Qatada remains Abu Qatada, Osama bin Laden becomes bin Laden)

Arab Spring cap for the uprisings at the start of 2011 in north Africa and the Middle East

arbitrate, arbitration do not confuse with mediate, mediation. An arbitrator hears evidence from different parties then hands down a decision; a mediator listens to the different arguments then tries to bring the parties to agreement

archaeologist, archaeology

archbishops

1. Anglican archbishops and diocesan or suffragan bishops in the UK: at first mention, the Archbishop of Barchester, the Most Rev John Smith; or the Bishop of Barchester, the Right Rev John Smith, or (if a doctor) the Bishop of Barchester, Dr John Smith; subsequent references, the archbishop or bishop (lower case), or Dr Smith (if so entitled), never Mr Smith.

2. The Archbishop of Canterbury is primate of All England, the Archbishop of York is primate of England.

3. Anglican bishops are consecrated, Roman Catholic bishops ordained.

4. Roman Catholic archbishops, at first mention: the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most Rev John X, subsequent mentions Archbishop X or the archbishop; bishops, first mention the Roman Catholic Bishop of Plymouth, the Right Rev Christopher Y, thereafter Bishop Y or the bishop, unless he has a doctorate, when he is Dr Y; Anglican and Catholic archbishoprics carefully avoid overlap, but there is no reason readers should know this, so it may be helpful to spell out in this way at first mention which church is involved

arch-rival hyphenate in the sense of chief rival. For combinations using the prefix arch-, some will look better hyphenated while others can be a single word, eg archbishop

Argentine is the adjective; an Argentinian is a person from Argentina (never the Argentine)

Argyle for socks, jumpers and the Plymouth football club; Argyll for the Scottish county and its regiment, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

armada cap in historical reference to Drake etc, otherwise lower case; try to avoid (or at least limit) imprecise use of this word: it means a fleet of armed ships, so strictly should not be applied to just any collection of boats or ships; flotilla might sometimes be a better word for what you want

Armageddon cap

armchair, deckchair no hyphens

armed forces, the lower case; also the services

Armistice Day is not the same as Remembrance Sunday (unless November 11 falls on a Sunday)

arm’s length as in “he was kept at arm’s length”; but hyphenate as a modifier, eg “the former partners now have an arm’s-length relationship”

army cap the British Army, if naming in full (but otherwise and thereafter the army, eg “he joined the army”; “government efforts to reform the army”); otherwise all lower case: the Belgian army, the Swiss army, the US army; always lower case when used adjectivally, eg an army helicopter, a British army tank, a Swiss army knife

A-road, B-road etc hyphenated

around do not use as an alternative to about

Arran Isle of, in the Firth of Clyde; but the Aran Islands (note one r) off Co Galway in western Ireland, and Aran Island (singular) off Co Donegal; and an Aran sweater etc

arrest rarely necessary to add “by the police”; an arrest made by anyone else is worth explaining. If, unusually, there is a good reason for specifying a particular squad or unit, then do so: he was arrested by the anti-terrorist squad, by officers investigating phone-hacking, by detectives from South Yorkshire police who had travelled to Spain etc

art deco artistic style/movement (see below), lower case seems fine, but use caps if needed for clarity

artefact do not use artifact

artiste not a word to use seriously; prefer entertainer, performer, singer, dancer etc

artistic knights with these, use only surname in their artistic contexts (eg Rattle conducted the Berlin Philharmonic with panache), but full title in news stories with, for example, political or social contexts (eg Sir Simon Rattle visited No 10 yesterday). Similarly, McKellen played Lear, but Sir Ian McKellen led the gay rights march

artistic movements/styles generally lower case for all period or stylistic designations — baroque, classical, neoclassical, rococo, modernist, minimalist, postmodern — except in the context of quite specific art historical discussion (of, eg an exhibition of German Expressionist painting) or where clarity is helped by a capital: the romantic movement, for instance, can usually be lower case like the rest, but there may be times when it matters that Romantic verse, as written by Byron or Keats, is not necessarily romantic verse, in which case use a cap for clarity

Arts and Crafts movement seems to need caps for clarity

as beware of sloppy use in sentences such as “They were moved out as the blast tore open the building”; what is meant is “after the blast …”. The sport headline “Martis makes crucial mistake as Mowbray’s men go down” wrongly suggests that the blunder by Shelton Martis, the West Bromwich Albion defender, was unconnected to his team’s relegation from the Premier League in May 2009. In fact, it was his error that led to a first Liverpool goal. After that, his team lost and went down to the Championship. Avoid having lots of headlines using “as”; ensure here as well as in copy that its precise meaning of “when” is retained. It is not a synonym for “before” or “after”

Ascendancy for clarity cap when referring to the landowning Protestant minority in Irish historical context

ascendant, ascendancy prefer to ascendent, ascendency

Asian while this is obviously an adjective pertaining to Asia, or a person from that continent, note that in Britain it can have a narrower officially sanctioned, although in some quarters controversial, meaning of a person who comes from, or whose parents came from, India, Pakistan or elsewhere in south Asia; be aware that using it in this way (especially in eg crime stories) may annoy British Asians of other backgrounds. In North America Asian is more likely to refer to people from China, Japan or elsewhere in east Asia

aside from do not use this Americanism. Write apart from

as of (with dates) prefer on, after or from to make clear what is meant

assassin, assassinate, assassination to be used only in the murder of a statesman or politician from a political motive; not to be used for the killing of general celebrities or others

assizes like quarter sessions, no longer function, having been replaced by the Crown Court

assure you assure your life; ensure means to make certain; you insure against risk

as to avoid in the sense of the much preferred about

asylum seeker no hyphen

at the present time, at this time use now; but avoid the phrase “as of now”

Atlantic (Ocean) North Atlantic, South Atlantic, but transatlantic

attendee ghastly word that there was no need to coin; avoid

attorney-general, solicitor-general both are hyphenated; they are law officers, not legal officers

aubrieta prefer to aubrietia and aubretia (named after Claude Aubriet). The genus, as per standard botanical style, is Aubrieta

auditor general lower case, no hyphen

Auntie not aunty as antique colloquialism for the BBC

autumn statement delivered by the chancellor, lower case