The Times Style Guide: A guide to English usage

centre, the as with (the) left and (the) right, use lower case in political context unless clarity demands a cap. Similarly for compound nouns, the centre left, the centre right, and for adjectives, a centre-left politician with a rightwing policy

Centre Court at Wimbledon upper case; likewise No 1 Court, No 14 Court etc

centrepiece no hyphen

centring but centering of arches in bridge-building

centuries the style is the 3rd century BC, the 9th century, the 18th century etc; and adjectivally with the hyphen, eg 20th-century architecture

Ceylon the former name for Sri Lanka. The people are Sri Lankan, the majority group are the Sinhalese

cha-cha-cha not cha-cha

chainsaw one word

chair do not refer to anyone as a “the chair of” anything, unless in a direct quote. Neither must you use “chairperson”. A man must be referred to as a chairman and a woman as a chairwoman. Even if a person’s official title is “chair of …” use chairman or chairwoman (lower case). This is not sexist, it is simply a preference for calling things (and people) by their names, and a reluctance to allow ugly and unnecessary jargon to replace perfectly good words. A professor may, however, be said to hold the chair of theoretical physics, or whatever; a person can chair (used as a verb) a committee; and questions can be put through the chair (which is the office held). Similarly, write spokesman or spokeswoman. If the gender of the person is not clear, write spokesman

chaise longue two words, no hyphen; plural chaises longues (s on both words)

chamber (lower case) of the House of Commons

champagne lower case, because we use it as an English common noun rather than a French proper name. Use only, however, for the product of the Champagne region of France, to which its proper application is restricted by law; otherwise write, eg Russian sparkling wine. The champagne producers protect their name rigorously. See wines

Champions League (European football), no apostrophe

chancellor of the exchequer lower case

changeable

Changing the Guard not … of the Guard

Channel, the upper case. Generally, no need to write “the English Channel” for the body of water between England and France

Channel tunnel lower case tunnel, unless there is some possibility of confusion; also, Channel tunnel rail link

Chanukkah prefer this to variants such as Hanukkah etc, for the Jewish festival of lights

chaos overused, and often hyperbole; confusion, disorder, upheaval, turmoil, disarray: say what is meant

charge that an Americanism, never to be used as a synonym of allege that

charisma has become a boring cliché; try to find an alternative such as presence, inspiration etc

charters (as in John Major’s now forgotten initiative) lower case

château plural châteaux

Chatham House rule, the strictly speaking just the one, so don’t write Chatham House rules. It says that information disclosed at a meeting may be used or reported by those present on condition that neither the source nor anyone else attending is identified

chat room two words, but chatline one

chat show, game show, quiz show, talk show etc no hyphens when used as noun or when adjectival, eg chat show host; note also chatline, sexline

cheap goods are cheap, prices are low

check-in (noun) but check in (verb)

checklist, checkout counter note also checkup (noun); check up (verb)

cheerleader one word

cheeses we tried making these all lower case. It worked, but it always seemed a triumph of consistency over common sense. Readers are used in most contexts to seeing capital letters at the start of proper nouns and adjectives, especially place names. So that is what we should do. Wensleydale, Lancashire, Red Leicester, Cheshire and their foreign equivalents simply seem more natural than the lower case alternative. This will give us a few more capital letters in the paper than we might like, but for it to become a problem, we would have to write about cheeses a lot more often than we do. Exceptions are made for cheddar and brie, which are almost universally treated as common nouns (Canadian cheddar, Irish cheddar, Somerset brie). See foodstuffs

chequebook one word, either as noun or adjective (eg chequebook journalism)

chi prefer to qi for the vital energy in oriental medicine, martial arts etc believed to circulate around the body in currents

chickenpox no hyphen; similarly smallpox

chief constable lower case, the chief constable of Lancashire or the chief constable. Do not write, eg the chief constable of West Midlands police, but simply the chief constable of the West Midlands

chief inspector of prisons/schools also chief medical officer

chief of the defence staff is the professional head of the British armed forces and the principal military adviser to the defence secretary and the government; the chief of the general staff is the professional head of the British army

chief petty officer is an NCO (non-commissioned officer) in the Royal Navy, not an officer

Chief Rabbi cap at first mention when naming the individual, then the chief rabbi or refer to as Rabbi X or Lord Y (like the Archbishop of Canterbury). See capitalisation (titles of ecclesiastical dignitaries)

chief whip lower case

child access, child custody do not use these terms regarding divorce unless in direct quotes and from lay people. Under the Children Act 1989 children are given residence with one parent and the other in disputed cases has contact. Put more simply, children live with one parent and the other is allowed to see them

childcare as healthcare

childminder one word

child pornography/child porn never use these terms, except in direct quotes. Use instead internet child sex abuse, sex abuse images, or similar

children’s names generally for under-18s, write eg John Jones at first mention and then simply John at second mention

child-sex abusers/offenders use hyphen

chilli (plural chillies) prefer to chili

chill out two words as verb; one word as noun or adjective

chimera prefer to chimaera

chimpanzees are apes, not monkeys

Chinese cap C in idioms such as Chinese whispers, Chinese walls

Chinese names use the Pinyin rather than the traditional Wade-Giles, so write Beijing, Mao Zedong (though Chairman Mao or just Mao are acceptable), Zhou Enlai etc. Normal style is to place family name first, then given name, so that the actress Zhang Zivi, for instance, becomes Zhang at second mention. For place names, follow The Times Atlas of the World except where older usage is well established, eg the special administrative regions Hong Kong (not Xianggang) and Macau (not Aomen); and the autonomous regions Tibet (not Xizang) and Inner Mongolia (not Neimengu)

chip and PIN no hyphen as a noun or adjectivally

chocoholic but shopaholic and workaholic

chopper, copter not to be used as substitutes for helicopter, even in headlines

Christ discourage use as a casual exclamation or expletive; it offends many readers

Christ Church (the Oxford college), two words, thus, and never Christ Church College

Christchurch in Dorset and New Zealand

christened Christians are christened; ships, trains and people not known to be Christians are named

Christian, Christianity unchristian, non-Christian, antichristian, Antichrist

Christian Democrat cap when referring to specific European parties for both noun and adjective, as in Christian Democrat MP

Christian names take care in context of non-Christians; in such cases use forename or first name

Christian terms mostly lower case when possible but cap eg the Bible, the (Ten) Commandments, the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, Mass, Holy Communion (and simply Communion), Eucharist, Blessed Sacrament, Advent, Nativity (also cap adjectival Advent calendar, Nativity play), the Scriptures; also when naming the persons of the Trinity, God (the Father), Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit; but then follow the Vatican and Lambeth Palace in using lower case for he/his except where clarity demands a cap (“Isaiah looks forward to God rescuing His people”, ie God’s, not Isaiah’s). Cap the names of books of the Bible: the Book of Revelation, Acts of the Apostles, the Gospel of (or According to) Matthew; but generally lower case for the apostles, the disciples, gospel, the gospels. Use lower case for evensong, matins. There are columnists and feature writers who like to use eg God, Christ and Jesus as harmless exclamations or mild expletives; they should know that this offends many Times readers

Christmas Day, Christmas Eve seem to need caps

church cap in names — the Church of England, St James’s Church, Piccadilly etc — but otherwise only if absolutely necessary to distinguish an institution from a building (“the Church is often said to be in terminal decline, but the church I attended on Sunday was absolutely packed”). Context will usually suffice to make clear which is meant, so lower case should be possible more often than not

Church in Wales not Church of Wales for the disestablished Anglican church once headed by Dr Rowan Williams

churchwarden one word

cinemagoer as concertgoer, operagoer, theatregoer etc

cipher not cypher

circa abbreviate simply as c (roman) followed by a space

City of London the City, City prices

civil list (lower case unless clarity demands caps) has been replaced by the sovereign grant (also lower case unless clarity demands caps)

civil partnership commonly referred to as gay marriage before gay marriage became legal. A suggested shorthand for headings is civil union

civil service, also civil servants lower case as a noun unless clarity demands a cap. Otherwise lower case in adjectival use, eg a civil service memorandum. Lower case for the administrative grade, ie permanent secretary, deputy secretary and assistant secretary, when used as part of the full title; thus, Sir Alfred Beach, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Defence

civil war generally lower case but by convention cap the English Civil War and the American Civil War

claim do not use when simply said or declared would do. The word carries a suspicion of incredulity. Also, avoid the loose construction in sentences such as “The firm launched a drink which is claimed to promote learning ability”. This should read “… a drink which, it is claimed, promotes learning ability”. Do not allow terrorists to “claim responsibility” for their crimes

claims and facts remember to distinguish between a claim and a fact, particularly in headlines/standfirsts. Witnesses to rioting telling amid confusion of up to 600 people dead did not justify an unequivocal standfirst death toll of 600; if claims are made, say who is making them

clamour, clamouring but clamorous

clampdown not banned, but use as little as possible

Clapham Junction is not Clapham. It is not even in Clapham. They are separate places and their names are not interchangeable. Clapham is in the London Borough of Lambeth; Clapham Junction is in the Battersea part of Wandsworth. A reader helpfully noted, at the time of the London riots in August 2011: “The Victorians are responsible for the confusion that has persisted for generations. When they opened their large interchange station in 1863 they designated it Clapham Junction because that district was then much more genteel than working-class Battersea”

clarinettist

Class A, B or C drugs (cap C)

clichés and hype We are lucky to have intelligent and sophisticated readers. They buy The Times to avoid the hype and the stale words and phrases peddled by some other papers. Words such as shock, bombshell, crisis, scandal, sensational, controversial, desperate, dramatic, fury, panic, chaos etc are too often ways of telling the readers what to think. Let them decide for themselves.

Any list of proscribed formulas is soon out of date, as old clichés give way to new. There may be nothing inherently wrong with the words or phrases themselves. They gain currency in the first place because they seem vivid, amusing, fresh. Soon, however, they become fashionable, are overused, grow tired and stale, then finally cease to mean anything much at all. A good writer or editor will know when a word or phrase has outlived its usefulness

climate change levy lower case, no hyphen

clingfilm lower case, one word

cliquey

clock tower two words

closed-circuit television

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium, not a virus. Write C. difficile at second mention (and as a bonus do not pronounce it “DIF-ficil”: it is not French but Latin. Try “dif-FI-chil-ay”)

clothing say menswear, women’s wear, children’s wear, sportswear

cloud-cuckoo-land two hyphens

clouds no need to italicise the names. Four main types: nimbus produce rain; stratus resemble layers; cumulus resemble heaps; and cirrus resemble strands or filaments of hair. Prefixes denote altitude, ie strato (low-level), alto (mid-level) and cirro (high-level)

clubbable

co- the prefix does not normally require a hyphen even before an e or another o unless confusion or utter hideousness might result. Thus co-operate (but uncooperative), co-opt, co-ordinate (but uncoordinated), coeducation, coexist

CO2 use subscript

coalface, coalfield, coalmine (each one word) similarly coalminer (but prefer miner)

coalition lower case noun or adjective, eg the coalition government

coastguard lower case and one word, in the British context; but note the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (caps for full name), although the coastguard service (generic) retains the lower case. The US coast guard

coasts lower case south coast, east coast, west coast and north coast in all contexts

coats of arms see heraldry

Coca-Cola (hyphen); note also the trademark Coke. Similarly Pepsi-Cola. If in doubt about the identity of a beverage, write the lower case generic cola

cock a snook not snoop, please

cockfight no hyphen, as bullfight and dogfight

cockney lower case for the person, the dialect and adjectival use

codebreaker, codebreaking one word

coeducation(al) but permissible to use co-ed in headlines as coed would look hideous

coexist

cognoscenti roman, not italic

Coldstream Guards may be called the Coldstream and the men Coldstreamers or Coldstream Guards; neither should be called Coldstreams

Cold War caps

collarbone one word

collectibles (not -ables) items sought by collectors

collective nouns usually use the singular verb, as with corporate bodies (the company, the government, the council etc). But this rule is not inviolable; the key is to stick to the singular or plural throughout the story: sentences such as “The committee, which was elected recently, presented their report” are unacceptable. Prefer plural use for the couple, family, music groups and bands, the public, sports teams

Colombia is the country; Columbia is the Hollywood studio, university, river and Washington district. Also, note British Columbia and pre-Columbian

colons throw meaning forward and introduce lists

Colosseum in Rome; Coliseum in London

Coloureds (in South Africa), cap; not to be used in any other context

comedienne avoid; use comedian (or, if you must, comic) for both sexes

comeuppance no hyphen

commander-in-chief, officer commanding lower case

Commandments cap in biblical context, as the Ten Commandments, the Fourth Commandment

commando plural commandos (not -oes)

commas Unnecessary commas interrupt the flow of a sentence; omit the comma before if, unless, before, after, as, since, when unless the rhythm or sense of the sentence demands it.

Keith Waterhouse, as so often, had sound advice: “It is not the function of the comma to help a wheezing sentence get its breath back. That, however, is how the comma earns much of its living in journalism.” If your sentence needs a comma just to stop the reader collapsing in a heap before reaching the end, you might do better to recast it as two sentences anyway.

There is often no need for a comma after an adverbial formation at the beginning of a sentence: “Last week we were told etc”, “Until now there has been no need etc”, “In opposition the Lib Dems said etc”, “Minutes later the announcement was made”.

Avoid the so-called Oxford comma; write “he ate bread, butter and jam” rather than “he ate bread, butter, and jam”, except where to do so might create nonsense or confusion: “For lunch they had lamb with roast potatoes, and chocolate mousse.”

Commas with names and descriptions may help to indicate number. If “he was accompanied by his brother John” suggests that he has other brothers who did not accompany him, then “he was accompanied by his brother, John” makes clear that John is the only brother he has. With brothers the distinction may seem too subtle to bother about; it is worth bearing in mind when naming someone’s wife.

There is no need to put a comma between adjectives that form a kind of unit or where the last adjective is in closer relation to the noun than the preceding one(s), eg fine dry evenings, a good little boy.

Keep commas where they should be logically in “broken” sentences. Thus, the comma goes outside in the following example: “The trouble is”, he said, “that this is a contentious issue”

Commission when named: the European Commission, the Competition Commission; lower case in other refs

commissioner of the Metropolitan Police

commit do not use as an intransitive verb without a direct object, eg “he wants to commit to the reforms”; write “he wants to commit himself to the reforms” or “he wants to make a commitment to the reforms”

committee on standards in public life examines standards of conduct of all holders of public office. It is different from the select committee on standards and privileges, which deals with the conduct of MPs (subsequent mentions, the privileges select committee or lower case the committee)

committees are generally lower case but note 1922 Committee (cap) of Tory backbenchers, as it looks odd lower case. Cabinet and select committees should be lower case

common agricultural policy lower case, abbreviated as CAP for clarity; similarly, common fisheries policy (CFP)

common market usually use EU or EC (see Europe), although common market is acceptable in its historical context

common sense (noun), but commonsense, commonsensical (adjective)

common serjeant lower case. Note j spelling

Commons (keep cap) takes singular verb, eg “the Commons is debating …”

Commons fees office lower case. At subsequent mention the fees office for the place where decisions are made about whether to reimburse members’ expenses for moats and beams

Commonwealth heads of government meeting lower case after cap C

communiqué

communism, communist as with socialism and socialist, the best rule of thumb is to cap only when in specific party context, eg a Communist candidate, a Communist rally, the Communist mayor of Lille; but communist ideology, communist countries etc. Likewise fascist. It will help to think of a parallel with conservative/conservatism or liberal/liberalism. But Marxist, Stalinist and Nazi should be capped

community beware overuse in phrases such as the international community, the black community etc

companies there was once a useful distinction to be made between company and firm; the latter implied a business partnership, as in the legal or accountancy professions, estate agents etc. The words now seem to be used more or less interchangeably to cover almost any sort of enterprise, not least because the shorter word has obvious advantages for headlines

company names and brand names Follow the style and spelling that the company prefers unless it is ugly, distracting or absurd; use common sense. In practice, given the irritating prevalence of initial minuscules and mid-word caps in the modern corporate world, this will mean applying conventional orthography to many names that the companies themselves choose to write differently. So, use all caps only if a name consists of (and is pronounced as) a series of initials: BMW, IBM, EDF etc. Otherwise generally (and if in doubt) use an initial cap followed by lower case as for any other name, even if corporate branding is all upper or lower case or has capitals in odd places: Adidas (not adidas), Amazon (not amazon), Ikea (not IKEA), Easyjet, (not easyJet), Moneysupermarket (not MoneySuperMarket), Talktalk (not TalkTalk), Talksport (not talkSPORT) etc. An exception is made for the small number of household name global brands that have a capital as their second letter: iPad, iPhone, eBay; these may be written thus, and there seems no need to give them an extra initial capital even when they start a sentence or headline (something they should do only if it cannot be avoided). Prefer to ignore spurious typographical symbols in contrived or gimmicky spellings: Yahoo not Yahoo!, Eon not E.ON, Fevertree not Fever-Tree etc. Abbreviate to Co in, eg John Brown & Co. Company is singular. No full points in company titles, as in WH Smith and J Sainsbury. Usually no need to add Ltd, plc, LLP etc