Style Guide HT2016
Style Guide HT2016
Style Guide HT2016
STYLE GUIDE
STYLE GUIDE
Contents
1 Introduction Objectives of the style guide | 1 17 Names and titles General titles | 17
How the guide is arranged | 1 Oxford-specific titles | 17
How to use the guide | 1 Other titles | 18
What is/is not included in the style guide | 1 Combining titles | 19
Quick reference guide | 1 Postnominals | 20
2 Abbreviations, contractions Abbreviations | 2 21 Highlighting/emphasising Bold | 21
and acronyms Contractions | 2 text Italics | 21
Acronyms | 2 Underlining | 21
Specific abbreviations | 3
22 Word usage and spelling List of Oxford places | 22
4 Capitalisation Common confusions in word usage | 23
Spelling | 24
7 Numbers How to write numbers | 7
Plurals | 24
Times | 7
American English | 25
Dates | 8
Tricky words | 25
Spans of numbers and years | 8
25 Miscellaneous Personal pronouns | 26
9 Punctuation Apostrophe | 9
Plural or singular? | 26
Brackets | 10
Footnotes | 27
Bullet points | 11
Addresses, phone numbers, websites etc | 27
Colon and semicolon | 11
Comma | 12
Dashes and hyphens | 13
Ellipsis | 15
Full stop, exclamation mark
and question mark | 15
Quotation marks | 16
Introduction
Introduction
The University of Oxford Style Guide aims to provide a guide to writing and What is/is not included in the style guide
formatting documents written by staff on behalf of the University (or one The guide does not tell you how to write. We aim to help you write correctly,
of its constituent departments etc). It is part of the University’s branding and to encourage consistency across the University’s written communications.
toolkit (www.ox.ac.uk/branding_toolkit) which enables the University’s
formal documentation to be presented consistently across all communications.
Quick reference guide
Although this style guide is freely available online it has not been written with The general rule
public or external use in mind. The University of Oxford Style Guide does not If there are multiple (correct) ways of doing something, choose the one which
purport to compete with OUP’s professional writing guides and dictionaries. uses the least space and the least ink. For instance:
• close up spaces and don’t use full stops in abbreviations (eg 6pm)
Objectives of the style guide • use lower case wherever possible
We have three main objectives in writing this style guide: • only write out numbers up to ten and use figures for 11 onwards.
• to provide an all-purpose guide to consistent presentation for University
University of Oxford or Oxford University?
staff in written communications
These terms are interchangeable and can either be alternated for variety or
• to review the guide at least once a year, ensuring that it properly reflects
kept the same for consistency.
modern usage and is fit for purpose, and to update it as required
• as part of the review process, to invite proposals from members of the
University branding information
University who disagree with any existing guidance, and to act as an
Other information on University branding, including the use of the logo, can
arbiter on those cases.
be found online at www.ox.ac.uk/branding_toolkit.
How the guide is arranged
The style guide is intended to be read as an interactive PDF, where it can New: one-page style guide
be cross-referenced. However, the PDF can be printed if preferred for ease For ease of use, we have created a quick reference A–Z with the
of reference. most commonly requested information. Download your guide from
www.ox.ac.uk/styleguide.
When we update the style guide we will highlight on the main webpage
(www.ox.ac.uk/styleguide) whether anything has changed as well as
changing the term listed on the front cover. Queries
If you have any queries about using this guide, please contact:
How to use the guide Public Affairs Directorate
• search for a specific term (such as semicolon) University of Oxford
• browse through a section (such as Punctuation) Wellington Square
Oxford OX1 2JD
[email protected]
J R R Tolkien
eg [exempli gratia] – means ‘for example’ or ‘such as’; use with examples which
are not exhaustive (and do not follow with a comma)
C S Lewis
Oxford offers many language courses, eg Russian, French, Spanish
measurements [those are some, but not all, of the language courses offered].
When discussing large numbers in text, it is fine to use k/m/bn as shorter
ie [id est] – means ‘that is’; use with definitions or lists which are exhaustive
ways of spelling out 1,000/1,000,000/1,000,000,000 (or writing out ‘one
(and do not follow with a comma)
thousand’/‘one million’/‘one billion’), as long as you are consistent throughout
the document. For multiple millions/billions you can use a mixture of words and Catch a Blackbird Leys bus, ie numbers 1, 5 or 12
numbers (eg 7 million, 8bn); again, ensure you are consistent throughout. [those are the only buses which go to Blackbird Leys].
ibid [ibidem] – means ‘in the same place’; use when making a subsequent
references reference/citation to a publication or other source mentioned in the
Page numbers should be referred to with a single ‘p’ for a single page reference immediately preceding note (ie no references to anything else have appeared
or ‘pp’ for a range of pages; line references with ‘l’ and ‘ll’. In both cases close in between)
up the numbers to the ‘p’ or ‘l’.
For a fuller explanation of telepathy, see Brown [Speaking with the
Note, however, that some typefaces do not differentiate between a lower- Mind, Chicago (1945) p125]; Brown also gives further information on
case ‘l’ and a number 1. In such cases, leave a space between the ‘l’ or ‘ll’ and cats and telepathy [ibid, p229].
the numbers.
The first mention of orcs in The Fellowship of the Ring is on p21 of the
1954 edition.
Capitalisation
division without using its full name. See p19 for further information.
There are four academic divisions of the University: Humanities, Mathematical,
My tutor is The Reverend John Smith/The Very Reverend John Smith.
Physical and Life Sciences, Medical Sciences and Social Sciences.
small caps
The Medical Sciences Division is based mainly in Headington. The division’s
Do not use small caps, even for BC and AD.
head is Alastair Buchan.
Egypt’s Old Kingdom period began c2700 BC.
faculty
Capitalise only when used as part of the title of a faculty, not when referring to a tutor
faculty without using its full name. Capitalise only when used as part of an academic’s formal title, not when referring
to tutors in general.
The Faculty of English is based in Manor Road. The faculty’s phone number
is 271055. The Oxford tutorial system creates strong ties between students and their
tutors.
fellow
Dr Obadiah Braithwaite is the Tutor in Embroidery at Magdalen.
Capitalise only when used as part of an academic’s formal title, not when referring
to fellows in general.
university
There are ten Fifty-Pound Fellows at All Souls.
Capitalise only when used as part of the title of a university or when referring to
the University of Oxford (both when ‘University’ is used as a noun and when it is
At its foundation, provision was made at All Souls for 40 fellows.
used as an adjective).
At its foundation, provision was made at All Souls for 40 Fellows.
Oxford University is a large employer. The University has ~10,000 staff
names with prefixes members.
Follow the preference of the individual, if known; if not, use lower case for the
The University has four academic divisions.
prefix. Alphabetise by the prefix.
The event is open to all members of the collegiate University.
Dick Van Dyke is a star of daytime TV.
The largest University division is Medical Sciences.
Jan van Eyck painted in the 15th century.
Funding for universities has been cut recently.
professor She attended the University of Liverpool to study English. It’s a well-
Capitalise only when used as part of an academic’s formal title, not when referring respected university and course.
to professors in general. See also p17.
It is common for Oxford professors to publish their works in learned journals.
The Omega Solution is the latest contribution to research in the field by
Professor Stephanie Archibold.
Elected governments are not always able to achieve as much as they would like.
Subtitles
The Scottish Government used to be known as the Scottish Executive and is
Capitalise subtitles only if the original title is printed in that way.
based in Edinburgh.
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, or The Roly-Poly Pudding
Wi-Fi Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
‘Wi-Fi’ is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance and should always be written
in this format. Headlines, journal articles, chapter titles and lecture titles
Only capitalise the first word, any proper nouns and the first word following a full
Wi-Fi is available in many University buildings.
stop/question mark/exclamation mark.
There are wifi points across the University.
‘Who speaks for climate? Making sense of media reporting on climate change’
Webpages
See p27 for advice on capitalisation of URLs, email addresses etc.
Numbers
How to write numbers Always use figures and symbols for percentages, measurements and currency.
Spell out whole-number words for one to ten; use figures for numbers Use commas to punctuate large numbers.
above ten.
Question 12 is worth 10% of the available marks.
There were two people in the queue ahead of me, and six behind me.
20 per cent of commuters use their cars.
I need to buy Christmas presents for 12 people this year.
The average height of a woman in the UK is 1.61m.
Use a combination of a figure and a word for very large round numbers
The cost, at £5.99, was less than their overall budget of £50.
(such as multiple millions/billions etc), or abbreviate it to ‘m’, ‘bn’ etc.
The population of New York City is estimated to be 8,008,278.
The population of the earth is now 7 billion people.
The population of the earth is now 7bn people.
Times
Use either the 12- or 24-hour clock – not both in the same text. The 12-hour
The budget came in at just under £2m.
clock uses a full stop between the hours and minutes; the 24-hour clock uses
If there are a lot of figures in a paragraph or text, some above ten and some a colon and omits am/pm.
below, use figures throughout to allow easy comparison by readers.
The lecture starts at 11.30am and ends at 1pm.
There were 2 people in the queue ahead of me, and 22 behind me.
The lecture starts at 11:30 and ends at 13:00.
The queues for other advisors had 10, 3 and 12 people.
The lecture starts at 11.30am and ends at 13:00.
Spell out words for ‘first’, ‘second’ and so on up to and including ‘tenth’; use
numbers and ‘st’/ ‘nd’/ ‘rd’/ ‘th’ for larger ordinal numbers. Don’t use superscript The lecture starts at 16:00pm.
(to prevent problems with line spacing).
Use ‘noon’ or ‘midnight’ instead of ‘12’, ‘12 noon’ or ‘12 midnight’.
She was the first person from her school to get a place at Oxford.
The closing date for applications is noon on 12 July.
He got an upper second, to his relief.
If using the 12-hour clock, don’t use additional ‘.00’ for times on the hour,
She got a 3rd class degree. and close up space between the number and the ‘am’ or ‘pm’.
The 17th president of the United States was Andrew Johnson.
The lecture starts at 9am.
The lecture starts at 11.30am and ends at 1pm.
The lecture starts at 9.00am.
If using ‘from’ with a start date/time, always use ‘to’ to indicate the end date/
time rather than an n-dash; alternatively, just use an n-dash without ‘from’.
Michaelmas term runs from October to December.
Michaelmas term runs October–December.
Michaelmas term runs from October–December.
Punctuation
General rule Some place names have an apostrophe and some don’t – this can’t be predicted
Use as little punctuation as necessary while retaining the meaning of the sentence. and must be checked.
All Souls College
Apostrophe Earls Court
to indicate possession
Use ’s after singular nouns, plural nouns which do not end in s and indefinite pronouns. St Peter’s College
Frank’s book
Land’s End
anybody’s guess
University of St Andrews
The children’s play area is next to the men’s toilet.
Some street names have an apostrophe (usually linked to saints’ names from
nearby churches); these are also idiosyncratic.
Use just ’ after plural nouns ending in s.
There is a famous pub on St Giles’.
Strong tea is sometimes called builders’ tea.
St Giles’s splits into Woodstock and Banbury Roads.
If a name already ends in s or z and would be difficult to pronounce if ’s were added
to the end, consider rearranging the sentence to avoid the difficulty. Christ Church is on St Aldate’s.
Jesus’s methods were unpopular with the ruling classes. OR
St Michael’s Street is a through road for bicycles.
The methods of Jesus were unpopular with the ruling classes.
Use apostrophes with noun phrases denoting periods of time (use an apostrophe if
In compound nouns and where multiple nouns are linked to make one concept, you can replace the apostrophe with ‘of’).
place the apostrophe at the end of the final part (and match it to that noun).
He took a week’s holiday [holiday of a week].
the Archbishop of Canterbury’s tortoise
You must give three months’ notice [notice of three months].
my mother-in-law’s dog
It will arrive in three weeks’ time.
his step-brothers’ cars
It will arrive in three weeks.
Lee and Herring’s Fist of Fun
It will arrive in two months time.
Do not use an apostrophe in its with the meaning ‘belonging to it’ (this is analogous
But do not use an apostrophe in adjectival phrases.
with his/hers/theirs): note that it’s is a contraction of ‘it is’.
She was eight months pregnant when she went into labour.
The cat has been out in the rain and its paws are muddy.
It arrived 12 weeks ago.
The cat has been out in the rain and it’s muddy.
He is three years’ old.
The cat has been out in the rain and it’s tail is wet.
Punctuation
before it, is not a new concept and depends logically on the preceding main
2014 concert performers:
clause.
• Slade
• The Smiths When I was young, I went on two holidays: to the Lake District and to
• Metallica Cornwall.
• the Spice Girls
A new drink was introduced to Britain: tea.
If the bullet points form a complete sentence with preceding text, add a full
Do not use a colon if the two parts of the sentence are not logically connected.
stop to the end of the last point.
I used to be slim: I will try to lose weight.
We are holding a concert in 2016, at which the following acts will
perform: I would like to be slim: I will try to lose weight.
• Slade
We were in trouble this time: we’d never been in trouble before.
• The Smiths
• Metallica We were in trouble this time: the lid had come right off.
• the Spice Girls.
There are two parts to this sentence: the first part, which precedes the
If text inside the bullet point is a complete sentence in its own right, add a colon, and the second part, which doesn’t.
semicolon to the end of each point, ‘or’ or ‘and’ (depending on the sense of
Use a semicolon to link two related parts of a sentence, neither of which
your sentence) to the end of the penultimate point, and a full stop to the end
depends logically on the other and each of which could stand alone as a
of the last one.
grammatically complete sentence.
The following will be considered good reasons for missing the final
The best job is the one you enjoy; the worst job is the one you hate.
meeting of the year:
• there was a postal strike. This only applies if the postal strike took It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far
place before the date of the meeting and if you have not signed up better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.
for email alerts;
Use semicolons in place of commas in a complicated list or sentence if it will
• you are absent as a result of illness;
improve clarity, particularly if list items already include commas.
• you are unable to attend because of problems with public transport
(proof of this will be required); We plan to review the quality of the research of the department,
• there is something more interesting happening elsewhere which you including its participation in interdepartmental, interdivisional and
would rather attend; or interdisciplinary activities; its research profile and strategy; and future
• you have obtained a ticket to see the Spice Girls in concert. challenges and opportunities.
Punctuation
stylistically these can be modified). Do not use; use an n-dash instead.
It was an edible German mushroom.
n-dash (–)
The eighteenth-century sandstone tower is lit up at night.
Use in a pair in place of round brackets or commas, surrounded by spaces.
Do not use a comma between classifying and qualitative adjectives. It was – as far as I could tell – the only example of its kind.
It was a large German mushroom with hard black edges.
The library – which was built in the seventeenth century – needs to be
repaired.
It was a large, squishy German mushroom with hard, frilly black edges.
Use singly and surrounded by spaces to link two parts of a sentence, in place of
Use a comma between items in a list.
a colon.
I ate fish, bread, ice cream and spaghetti.
The bus was late today – we nearly missed the lecture.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Use to link concepts or ranges of numbers, with no spaces either side.
Note that there is no comma between the penultimate item in a list and
German–Polish non-aggression pact
‘and’/‘or’, unless required to prevent ambiguity – this is sometimes referred to
as the ‘Oxford comma’. However, always insert a comma in this position if it The salary for the post is £25,000–£30,000.
would help prevent confusion.
Radio 1 is aimed at the 18–25 age bracket.
He took French, Spanish, and Maths A-levels.
Use between names of joint authors/creators/performers etc to distinguish
I ate fish and chips, bread and jam, and ice cream.
from hyphenated names of a single person.
We studied George III, William and Mary, and Henry VIII.
Lennon–McCartney compositions
She left her money to her parents, Mother Theresa and the pope. Superman–Batman crossover comics
With prefixes before a proper name, number or date In an adjectival phrase before a noun where the first element is an adverb
ending in -ly (but note that any other adverbs in adjectival phrases do take
anti-Thatcherism
a hyphen)
pre-2000 politics
She had a finely tuned ear for off-key music.
Hilary term starts in mid-January.
XML documents must be well-formed texts.
In numbers which are spelt out
She was a highly-respected tutor.
Twenty-seven is the most popular ‘random’ number.
She was a badly paid apprentice.
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Punctuation
do not surround it with spaces.
What time did you leave last night?
…we shall fight on the beaches…we shall never surrender…
We went home at 5 o’clock.
It is a truth universally acknowledged…
Go home now!
There is no need to add square brackets around an ellipsis.
Do not use a full stop at the end of titles, even if they make a sentence,
[…]we shall fight on the beaches[…] but, if a title ends with an exclamation mark or question mark, do include it.
Use an ellipsis to indicate a pause for comic or other effect – follow the ellipsis All’s Well that Ends Well is my favourite play.
with a space in this case, as it stands in place of a comma or full stop.
‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?’ was a hit for the Shirelles.
You don’t have to be mad to work here… but it helps!
‘Help!’ was covered by Bananarama in 1989.
Note that, if used either in place of omitted text at the end of a clause/
Do not use a full stop if it will be followed, or preceded, by an ellipsis.
sentence or to indicate a pause for effect, a full stop/comma should not follow
the ellipsis. However, an exclamation mark or a question mark can and should Behind him stood a figure. …It was ghostly grey.
follow the ellipsis if required.
Use a full stop, not a question mark, at the end of a reported question – only
Are you…?
use a question mark for a direct question (whether in quotation marks or not).
Did he say that…?
He asked if I wanted to go home that morning.
Use an ellipsis to indicate a trailing off in speech or thought. ‘Do you want to go home this morning?’ he asked.
We could do this…or maybe that…
He asked if I wanted to go home?
Use a full stop, not an exclamation mark, at the end of a reported imperative.
Wait for me!
He asked me to wait for him.
Use no quotation marks if the quote is displayed (ie not in line with the rest of Bob likes cheese.
‘Bob’, I said, ‘likes cheese.’ OR
the text). ‘Bob likes cheese,’ I said.
as I noted then,
Bob, do you like cheese?
‘Bob,’ I asked, ‘do you like cheese?’
Those of us who toil in the Groves of Academe
Out, damn’d spot!
‘Out,’ said Lady Macbeth, ‘damn’d spot!’
know full well that our research helps inform
our teaching… ‘You’re engaged to Florence?’ I yipped, looking at him with a wild
surmise.
Use single quotation marks and roman (not italic) type for titles that are not
whole publications: eg short poems, short stories, songs, chapters in books, Place any punctuation which does not belong to the quote outside the
articles in periodicals etc. See also Highlighting/emphasising text. quotation marks (except closing punctuation if the end of the quote is also the
end of the sentence).
I, Robot contains nine short stories, of which ‘Little Lost Robot’ is my
favourite. After all, tomorrow is another day.
‘After all,’ said Scarlett,
‘tomorrow is another day.’ OR
Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, from the album Night at the Opera,
‘After all, tomorrow’, said
reached number one in both 1975 and 1991.
Scarlett, ‘is another day.’
knights/dames The wife of a knight is known as ‘Lady [surname]’. A knight’s wife should never be
Always use first names with these titles, whether or not you are using surnames as addressed with the inclusion of her forename unless she is also the daughter of a duke,
well. marquess or earl. The husband of a dame does not derive a title from his wife.
‘Are you going to hear Sir John Smith’s speech? Sir John is always a good public
We invited the President of Trinity College, Sir Ivor Roberts, and Lady Roberts
speaker.’
We invited the Warden of Keble College, Sir Jonathan Phillips, and Lady Amanda Phillips
Dame Jane Jones is the chair of this committee.
promotion within an order of chivalry
If you are writing to a knight or a dame, use ‘title first name surname’ on envelopes
If someone is promoted within an order of chivalry (eg from MBE to OBE),
then just ‘title first name’ in the salutation.
the higher honour replaces the lower; don’t list all of them.
To: Dame Jane Jones, 14 Bluebird Way, Oxford OX1 1AB
Mrs Tanni Grey-Thompson was appointed MBE in 1993.
Dear Sir John...
Mrs Tanni Grey-Thompson was appointed OBE in 2000.
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson was appointed DBE in 2005.
If someone receives an honour in a different order of chivalry, or is made a life peer,
they are entitled to use both honours but not both titles.
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, OBE MBE DBE, is a fellow of Hertford.
The Revd the Countess of Kimberley opened the fête. The Revd Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, Kt, is a Deacon of the Church
of England.
Lord The Revd Williams of Oystermouth was Lady Margaret Professor.
The Rt Revd David Conner, KCVO, is Registrar of the Order of the Garter.
Highlighting/emphasising text
Bold Use italics for foreign words and phrases embedded within your text, including
Use bold sparingly to emphasise the part of your text you wish to stand species and genera names in Latin.
out. This could be someone’s name, a deadline date or another key piece of
There are nine ex officio members of Council.
information.
When producing its annual report, the committee shall consider,
Punctuation which follows bold text should not itself be bold (unless the whole
inter alia, any relevant HEFCE evalutions.
sentence is in bold type).
A seven-sisters rose bush (Rosa multiflora) can be either white or pink.
If you are transcribing a speech, you might want to use bold text (or italic text)
to emphasise words in writing on which the speaker placed particular emphasis Dante tells us that above the entrance to the Inferno is inscribed
in speech. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’entrate.
The Man Booker Prize for 2012 was awarded to Hilary Mantel;
Plurals, past tenses or other grammatical changes to italicised titles or phrases
this was the second time that she has won. should only be italicised up to the end of the title or phrase – do not italicise
the s, ed etc – and punctuation should only be italicised if it is part of the title,
Applications can either be made online or emailed to [email protected].
quote etc. Note that it is not always easy to tell whether a full stop/comma is
The deadline for submissions is noon on 2 April and any applications
in italic.
received later than this will not be considered.
The remaining Gazettes of Michaelmas term are published on 22 and
Italics 29 November and 6 December.
Use italics to flag part of your text which is different from that surrounding it.
Changes to regulations need to be Gazetted at least eight weeks
Titles of books, journals, plays, films, musical works etc should be given in before they are due to take effect.
italics if they are a complete published work; if you are referring to an individual
short story, song, article etc within a larger publication, use single quotation Underlining
marks (see also Quotation marks under Punctuation). Avoid using underlining for emphasis; this generally suggests hyperlinks,
especially on webpages.
I, Robot contains nine short stories, of which ‘Little Lost Robot’ is my
favourite.
The number-one single in the hit parade this week is ‘Candy’ by Robbie
Williams, from the album Take The Crown.
If the title includes ‘The’ or ‘A’ as the start of the title, italicise that as well.
A Tale of Two Cities has perhaps the most famous opening sentence
in English literature.
among vs between • Among is used for undifferentiated items. • She couldn’t decide among all the colleges.
• Between is used with individual, named items. • She couldn’t decide between Magdalen or St Hilda’s.
mutual vs reciprocal • Mutual is used when more than one person has the same feeling/opinion • ‘I disagree with the government’s policy on carrots.’
as another towards a third party/object/concept etc. ‘So do I. The feeling’s mutual.’
• Reciprocal is used when two or more people feel, think or act in the • ‘I won’t steal your cheese.’
same way about or to one another. ‘I won’t steal your cheese either. We have a reciprocal arrangement.’
less vs fewer • Less is used with nouns which are not countable objects: if you could use • ‘I can’t eat that much cheese: please give me less.’
much to describe having a lot of the noun, use less.
• Fewer is used with countable objects: if you could use many to describe • ‘I can’t eat that many sprouts: please give me fewer.’
having a lot of the noun, use fewer.
effect vs affect (verb) • Effect as a verb means to bring about, or to have the result that. • A glass of brandy may effect his recovery [bring his recovery about].
• Affect as a verb means to have an impact on or to change something; • A glass of brandy may affect his recovery [have an impact on whether
it also means to simulate something which is untrue. he recovers].
• He affected to have drunk only one glass of brandy [when he had
actually drunk more than one glass].
effect vs affect (noun) • Effect as a noun means the impact something causes. • The storm had wide-reaching effects.
• Affect as a noun means somone’s outward appearance of their • His affect was one of cheerful indifference.
psychological state.
infer vs imply • Infer is to read a meaning into a statement • He told me that these one-size-fits-all gloves fit most people’s hands.
which has not been explicitly stated: to read between the lines. I inferred that he thought my hands were too big, and resented what
he was implying.
• Imply is to suggest something without
explicity stating it: to hint at something
(usually something negative).
compared to • Comparing something to another thing highlights a (perhaps • Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
vs compared with metaphorical) similarity
• Comparing something with another thing highlights the differences • Price comparison websites allow you to compare one company’s prices
between them and policies with those of their competitors.
Retain -e where required for pronunciation: ageing/acknowledgement. Use appropriate foreign (particularly ancient Greek and Latin) plural forms
where still in common usage (also see alumna/ae/i/us below).
Contractions: use of ‘hasn’t’ rather than ‘has not’ etc is fine in the majority
of cases, especially informally. nucleus
nuclei
stratum
strata
Foreign spellings
Just use ‘e’ spellings, not ae or æ, where in common British usage. genus
genera
encyclopedia
analysis
analyses
medieval
basis
bases
Technical words retain the ligature. crisis
crises
archæology
phenomenon
phenomena
hæmatology
bacterium
bacteria
orthopædics
millennium
millennia
Use accents and different letters in foreign words (ø, ç, capitalisation Note that more than one plural form is sometimes in use for different meanings of
for German nouns etc) only when: a word.
• a word is still considered foreign and has not (yet) been absorbed
formula
formulas but formulae in maths/chemistry
into English
• they are required to differentiate from another word (in English or index
indices for maths but indexes for books
the source language)
appendix
appendices for books but appendixes in anatomy
• they are required as part of the name of a person, place, book etc.
medium
media but mediums for spiritualists
Don’t use accents on capital letters.
datum
data in technical cases but points of data in everyday use
24
Proper names ending in -y do not change to -ies if pluralised. Tricky words
• accommodation
25
Miscellaneous
Personal pronouns Never use any of these pronouns as a more polite or formal way of addressing
I is always the subject of the verb and me is always the object. people, or if the subject of the sentence is different from the reflexive object
(eg I must always be paired with myself).
I cooked lunch.
If you have any questions, please contact Professor Plantaganet
He cooked lunch for me.
or myself.
This doesn’t change if there is more than one subject or object in a sentence.
Gender-neutral singular pronouns
Pete and I cooked lunch.
Rather than using ‘he/she’ to denote an individual of either gender, use ‘they’.
He cooked lunch for Pete and me.
A cyclist in Oxford must be aware of their surroundings at all times. They
If you are unsure whether to use I or me in this kind of sentence, try it without will often have to take evasive action because of other road users.
the other person’s name and it will be clear which to use.
A day in the life of an Oxford student often includes meeting their tutor.
He gave top marks to Serena, Keith and me.
He gave top marks
After applying to Oxford by 15 October, a prospective student will be
to me.
told whether he or she has been offered a place in January.
He gave top marks to Serena, Keith and I. He gave top marks to I.
Plural or singular?
Myself, yourself etc Use singular verbs for describing faculties, teams, groups etc.
All pronouns ending in -self or -selves are reflexive pronouns and are used
The faculty has voted to keep the building open.
only to refer back to the subject of the sentence. They can never be subjects
of a sentence themselves. The Oxford Quidditch team has won the first British Quidditch Cup.
To disambiguate when talking about the individuals who make up a group,
I treated myself to a new set of speakers.
use ‘the members of’ or ‘each member of’.
Mordecai takes himself very seriously.
The members of the faculty are mostly absent during vacations.
Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?
Each member of the faculty has an email address.
Theresa and I googled ourselves and didn’t like what we found.
Cassandra and myself crossed the road.
Miscellaneous
Footnotes are not appropriate in many circumstances; try to use them only in Omit http:// unless the URL does not begin with www and omit any trailing
academic texts or formal reports. slash at the end of the URL, unless the URL does not work without it – check
before you omit (but ensure that any links in online documents retain the
When placing a footnote marker in text, place it immediately before the full http:// so that they point to the correct place).
stop if the footnote refers to the whole previous sentence; if the footnote
For secure websites, include the https://
refers only to a word, phrase or clause, place the footnote marker immediately
after the reference. Use superscript for the footnote reference but do not
www.ox.ac.uk/gazette
surround it with brackets.
https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/councilsec/governance/committees
The full text was published in the Gazette of 1 December1 and in the
minutes of the meeting2. www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/
Referring to webpages
Footnote text
Only capitalise the first word (and any proper nouns), but consider
Footnote text should be a small type size than the rest of the text; you may
instead using the actual URL for disambiguation in print or hyperlinking the
wish to precede footnotes with a hard rule to demark the end of the main text
descriptive text. Never change the capitalisation within a URL as it may cease
on that page. Only begin a footnote with a capital letter and end with a full
to work.
stop if the footnote forms a complete sentence.
For the cost of placing an advert, see the Gazette website’s Classified
www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1december2015/notices
1
advertising page.
The minutes are available upon application to the secretary of the For the cost of placing an advert, see www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/
2
committee. classifiedadvertising.
17 High St, Oxford OX1 1BC For the cost of placing an advert, see www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/
3
Classifiedadvertising.
email addresses
These are case sensitive in the part before the @: [email protected]
is not the same as [email protected]. In practice, the majority of ISPs
ignore this distinction, but consider carefully whether to use upper case
if required to avoid ambiguity (eg between lower-case l and number 1).
street addresses
Give full address, including postcode, when writing to a primarily non-Oxford
audience (postcodes allow people to find buildings more easily online).
The event takes place at the Church of St John the Evangelist, 109A
Iffley Road, Oxford, OX4 1EH.
If writing for a local audience (eg advertising a concert), the name of a well-
known building is enough on its own.
The event takes place at the Sheldonian Theatre at 8pm on 12 October.