Economist Style Guide

Front 1

hotch-potch or hodge-podge?

Back 1

hotch-potch

Front 2

hurrah or hooray?

Back 2

hurrah. Except for drunken sailors and hooray Henrys.

Front 3

inoculate or inocculate?

Back 3

Inoculate

Front 4

inquire or enquire?

Back 4

inquire

Front 5

install, instalment, installation or install, installment, installation?

Back 5

install, instalment, installation

Front 6

instil, instilling or instill, instilling

Back 6

instil, instilling

Front 7

jewellery or jewelry

Back 7

jewellery

Front 8

fileted or filleted?

Back 8

filleted

Front 9

frequent flyer, high-flyer or frequent-flyer, high flyer?

Back 9

frequent flyer, high-flyer

Front 10

kilogram or kilo or kilogramme?

Back 10

kilogram or kilo

Front 11

lambast or lambaste

Back 11

lambast

Front 12

Explain the difference? licence, license, licensee

Back 12

licence (noun), license (verb), licensee (person with a
licence)

Front 13

Explain the difference: loth and loathe?

Back 13

loth (reluctant), loathe (hate), loathsome

Front 14

What is the difference: manilla and manila?

Back 14

manilla envelope, but Manila.

Front 15

monied or moneyed?

Back 15

monied

Front 16

When do you use nought and naught?

Back 16

nought (for numerals) otherwise naught

Front 17

pedlar or peddler?

Back 17

pedlar

Front 18

phoney or phony?

Back 18

phoney

Front 19

pled or pleaded?

Back 19

pled

Front 20

What is the difference between practice and practise?

Back 20

practice (noun), practise (verb)

Front 21

preternatural or praeternatural?

Back 21

preternatural

Front 22

preventive or preventative?

Back 22

preventive

Front 23

What is the difference between principal and principle?

Back 23

principal (head, loan; or adj), principle (abstract noun)

Front 24

When do we use program versus programme?

Back 24

programme, except in computer context then it is program

Front 25

What is the difference between prophecy and prophesy?

Back 25

prophecy (noun) and prophesy (verb)

Front 26

rouble or ruble?

Back 26

rouble

Front 27

smidgen or smidgeon

Back 27

smidgen

Front 28

smooth or smoothe?

Back 28

Always smooth (both noun and verb)

Front 29

snigger or snicker?

Back 29

snigger

Front 30

When do you use specialty and when speciality?

Back 30

specialty is used only in context of medicine, steel and chemicals, otherwise speciality

Front 31

What is the difference betweeen stanch and staunch?

Back 31

stanch (verb) staunch (adj)

Front 32

When do you use story and storey?

Back 32

storey (floor), story (tale)

Front 33

swap or swop?

Back 33

swap

Front 34

swathe or swath?

Back 34

swathe

Front 35

tsar or czar?

Back 35

tsar

Front 36

wagon or waggon?

Back 36

wagon

Front 37

Explain the difference between yoke and yolk

Back 37

yoke (frame binding oxen) yolk (yellow in egg)

Front 38

Countries and people: Britain or Great Britain or United Kingdom, America or United States and why?

Back 38

Britain and America. In most contexts favour simplicity over precision.

Front 39

Holland or the Netherlands?

Back 39

Holland is strictly only two of the 11 provinces that make up the Netherlands, and the Dutch are increasingly indignant about misuse of the shorter name. So use the Netherlands.

Front 40

Ireland or the Republic of Ireland?

Back 40

Ireland is simply Ireland. Although it is a republic, it is not the Republic of Ireland. Neither is it, in English, Eire.

Front 41

Who are Americans?

Back 41

It is usually all right to talk about the inhabitants of the United States as Americans, the term also applies to everyone from Canada to Cape Horn. In a context where other North, Central or South American countries are mentioned, you should write United States rather than America or American, and it may even be necessary to write United States citizens.

Front 42

When can you use US and USA?

Back 42

USA and US are not to be used (if they were they would spatter the paper), except in charts and as part of an official name (eg, US Airways).

Front 43

What do we mean by Europe and Europeans?

Back 43

Europe and Europeans may sometimes be used as shorthand for citizens of countries of the European Union, but be careful: there are plenty of other Europeans too.

Front 44

What is the difference between Scandinavia and the Nordic countries?

Back 44

The primary definition of Scandinavia is Norway and Sweden, but it is often used to include Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, which, with Finland, make up the Nordic countries.

Front 45

Countries to remember the correct name of...

Back 45

Where countries have made it clear that they wish to be called by a new (or an old) name, respect their requests. Thus Côte d’Ivoire, Myanmar, etc, awkward as they are, along with Burkina Faso, Congo, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Zimbabwe, etc.
Myanmar has no easy adjective, so Burmese is acceptable for the people of Myanmar in general. But note that the main ethnic group in Myanmar is the Burmans. The Kachin and Karen, among others, are Burmese but not Burman.

Front 46

Some cities have inhabitants with odd names:
Glasgow they are...? Liverpool they are...? Manchester they are...? Mumbai they are..? Naples they are...?
Rio de Janeiro they are..? And São Paulo?

Back 46

Glasgow: Glaswegians; Liverpool: Liverpudlians; Manchester: Mancunians Mumbai: Mumbaikars Naples: Neapolitans; Rio de Janeiro: Cariocas; São Paulo: Paulistas

Front 47

Place names: English or local?

Back 47

Use English forms when they are in common use

Front 48

Zaire or Congo?

Back 48

Zaire has reverted to Congo. In contexts where there can be no confusion with the ex-French country of the same name, plain Congo will do. But if there is a risk of misunderstanding, call it the Democratic Republic of Congo (never drc). The other Congo can be Congo- Brazzaville if necessary. The river is now also the Congo. The people of either country are also Congolese.

Front 49

delta or Delta?

Back 49

The Niger delta, like the Mekong, Mississippi and other deltas, is lower case, but the state encompassing part of it is Delta state.

Front 50

Places with the definite article in the name...

Back 50

the Caucasus, the Gambia, The Hague, the Maghreb, the Netherlands. NOT before Krajina, Lebanon, Piedmont, Punjab, Sudan, Transkei, Ukraine.

Front 51

What are the rules for using capital cities as synonyms for their countries?

Back 51

Do not use the names of capital cities as synonyms for their governments. Britain will send a gunboat is fine, but London will send a gunboat suggests that this will be the action of the people of London alone. To write Washington and Moscow now differ only in their approach to Havana is absurd.

Front 52

What are our rules on split infinitives?

Back 52

Happy the man who has never been told that it is wrong to split an infinitive: the ban is pointless. Unfortunately, to see it broken is so annoying to so many people that you should observe it.

Front 53

What is the difference between stanch and staunch?

Back 53

Stanch the flow, though the man be staunch (stout). The distinction is useful, if bogus (since both words derive from the same old French estancher).

Front 54

Difference between: stationary and stationery

Back 54

Stationary: still. Stationery: writing paper and so on.

Front 55

Define stentorian and stertorous.

Back 55

Stentorian means loud (like the voice of Stentor, a warrior in the Trojan straight, strait war). Stertorous means characterised by a snoring sound (from the Latin stertere, to snore).

Front 56

What is the difference: straight vs strait?

Back 56

straight, strait
Straight means direct or uncurved; strait means narrow or tight. The strait-laced tend to be straight-faced.

Front 57

Describe the merits of these two words: strategy, strategic.

Back 57

Strategy may sometimes have some merit, especially in military contexts, as a contrast to tactics. But strategic is usually meaningless except to tell you that the writer is pompous and is trying to invest something with a seriousness it does not deserve.

Front 58

How should you use the word surreal?

Back 58

It means “the state where the distinction between the subjective and the objective loses its necessity and value”. Occasionally surreal is used in reference to this movement. More often it is used to describe anything bizarre or peculiar, as in the paintings of Salvador Dali or René Magritte. Avoid casually debasing the word.

Front 59

swath or swathe?

Back 59

swathe.

Properly, a swath is the area covered by the reaper’s scythe, and by extension a broad sweep of land, whereas a swathe is a band of linen in which, for instance, a child may be wrapped or swaddled. Swathe has so long been an alternative spelling of swath that the two words have come to be pronounced in the same way and the distinction between them is all but lost. It is probably too late to restore it, so use swathe for both.

Front 60

Rephrase and explain why. "A woman who was severely brain-damaged in 1990".

Back 60

A woman whose brain was severely damaged in 1990. Do not force nouns or other parts of speech to act as verbs.

Front 61

Our rules on don’t, isn’t, can’t and won’t?

Back 61

Don’t overdo the use of don’t, isn’t, can’t, won’t, etc; one per issue is usually enough.

Front 62

What is the false possessive and how is it used?

Back 62

Avoid the False possessive: London’s Heathrow Airport, Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Front 63

What is wrong with this sentence and what is the style rule? Kogalym today is one of the few Siberian oil towns which is almost habitable.

Back 63

Kogalym today is one of the few Siberian oil towns which are almost habitable. Make sure that plural nouns have plural verbs. Too often, in the pages of The Economist, they do not.

Front 64

What is wrong with this sentence and what is the style rule? What better evidence that snobbery and elitism still holds back ordinary British people?

Back 64

What better evidence that snobbery and elitism still hold back ordinary British people? Make sure that plural nouns have plural verbs. Too often, in the pages of The Economist, they do not.

Front 65

What is wrong with saying: "Germany’s liberal Free Democrats"? What is the general rule of caution in this context?

Back 65

Implies not that Germany’s Free Democrats are liberals, as intended, but that these are merely a group of Free Democrats and Germany also has illiberal or conservative Free Democrats. Be careful when using an adjective to explain a noun.

Front 66

What is wrong with saying: "China’s southern Guangdong province"?

Back 66

Suggests not that Guangdong province is in the south of China but that the place under discussion is the southern Guangdong province, not the northern one. Be careful when using an adjective to explain a noun.

Front 67

What is the subjunctive? Give an example.

Back 67

If you are posing a hypothesis contrary to fact, you must use the subjunctive. If I were you... or If Hitler were alive today, he could tell us whether he kept a diary.

Also, noting or pertaining to a mood or mode of the verb that may be used for subjective, doubtful, hypothetical, or grammatically subordinate statements or questions, as the mood of be in if this be treason.

Front 68

Can you use the subjunctive if an hypothesis is not true?

Back 68

No. If the hypothesis may or may not be true, you do not use the subjunctive. Thus If this diary is not Hitler’s, we shall be glad we did not publish it. If you have would in the main clause, you must use the subjunctive in the if clause. If you were to disregard this rule, you would make a fool of yourself.

Front 69

Would you like a mini-lecture about the subjunctive?

Back 69

Naturally: It is common nowadays to use the subjunctive in such constructions as He demanded that the Russians withdraw, They insisted that the Americans also move back, The referee suggested both sides cool it, In soccer it is necessary that everyone remain civil. This construction is correct, and has always been used in America, whence it has recrossed the Atlantic. In Britain, though, it fell into disuse some time ago except in more formal contexts: I command the prisoner be summoned, I
beg that the motion be put to the house. In British English, but not in American, another course would be to insert the word should: He demanded that the Russians should withdraw, The Americans should also move back, Both sides should cool it, Everyone should remain civil. Alternatively, some of the sentences could be rephrased: He asked the Russians to withdraw, It is necessary for everyone to remain civil.

Front 70

Which of these possessives are correct?. "a friend of Dave’s", "a friend of Dave", "a friend of Dave and Sam", "Dave and Sam’s friend"?

Back 70

Take care with the possessive. It is fine to say a friend of Dave’s, just as you would say a friend of mine, so you can also say a friend of Dave’s and Sam’s. It is also fine to say a friend of Dave, or a friend of Dave and Sam. What you must not say is Dave and Sam’s friend. If you wish to use that construction, you must say Dave’s and Sam’s friend, which is cumbersome. See also False possessive

Front 71

What is wrong with "The Belgian economy is bigger than Russia"? And what is the general rule?

Back 71

Take care, too, when making comparisons, to compare like with like: The Belgian economy is bigger than Russia should be Belgium’s economy is bigger than Russia’s.

Front 72

What is wrong with? "I was awoken by him snoring", "She could not prevent them drowning", "Please forgive me coming late". And what is the general rule?

Back 72

Those sentences should have ended: his snoring, their drowning, my coming late. In other words, use the possessive adjective rather than the personal pronoun. Respect the gerund. Gerunds look like participles—running, jumping, standing—but are more noun-like, and should never therefore be preceded by a personal pronoun. In other words, use the possessive adjective rather than the personal pronoun. Gerund-the English "-ing" form of a verb when functioning as a noun, as "writing" in "Writing is easy."

Front 73

What is the difference between systemic and systematic?

Back 73

Systemic means relating to a system or body as a whole. Systematic means according to system, methodical or intentional.

Front 74

Explain the problem of using table as a transitive verb.

Back 74

In Britain to table means to bring something forward for action. In America it means the opposite, ie, to shelve. See Confusing terms. Avoid table as a transitive verb.

Front 75

How should the word "talent" be used, and not used?

Back 75

Talent means natural or special ability. Talented means gifted or accomplished. But talent management probably just means looking after senior staff.

Front 76

What is wrong with target?

Back 76

It turns up on almost every page as a verb, even though aim or direct would often serve just as well. See New words

Front 77

Some rough rules for the past tense...

Back 77

If you use the past simple (aorist) tense, put a time or date to the event. He died on April 11th. If you cannot, or do not want, to pin down the occasion in this way, use the perfect tense, He has died, or the present, He is dead. These imply continuance. So does the imperfect tense: He was a long time dying. The pluperfect should be used for events that punctuate past continuance: He grew up in post-war Germany, where he had seen the benefits of hard work.

Front 78

What might you need to do to use indirect speech in the past tense?

Back 78

If you use indirect speech in the past tense, you must change the tense of the speaker’s words appropriately: Before he died, he said, “I abhor the laziness that is commonplace nowadays” becomes Before he died, he said he abhorred the laziness that was commonplace nowadays.
If you wish to quote someone, either give a date or use the present tense: “He leaves a legacy of rotting heritage tomatoes,” said John Smith the next day or ...says Mr Smith.

Front 79

What do you do with a quote in the past tense?

Back 79

Either give a date or use the present tense: “He leaves a legacy of rotting heritage tomatoes,” said John Smith the next day or ...says Mr Smith.

Front 80

Correct this: What next for Mistekistan? This week saw an uneasy peace on the streets of Erati, the capital, after angry crowds besieged the palace of President Iyas Abikhernozthanayev. The president, who was head of the local communist party when Mistekistan was a Soviet republic called Sumistekia, fled to neighbouring Flyspekistan, where he was seeking asylum. However, fighting broke out between the Dabtchiks and the Bif- steks, two minorities in the south. The president of nearby Itznojokistan might try to broker a peace. “It looks a mess,” said Professor Eniole Kwote of Meganostril University, whose centre for autocratic studies recently published a report saying the entire region is a shambles.

Back 80

What next for Mistekistan? An uneasy peace was holding this week on the streets of Erati, the capital, after angry crowds had besieged the palace of President Iyas Abikhernozthanayev. The president, who had been head of the local communist party when Mistekistan was a
166 THE ECONOMIST STYLE BOOK
Soviet republic called Sumistekia, has fled to neighbouring Flyspekistan, where he is seeking asylum. However, fighting has broken out between Dabtchiks and Bifsteks, two minorities in the south. The president of nearby Itznojokistan may try to broker a peace. “It looks a mess,” says Professor Eniole Kwote of Meganostril University, whose centre for auto- cratic studies recently published a report saying the entire region was a shambles.

Front 81

What are our rules for using the word terrorist?

Back 81

Use this word with care, preferably only to mean someone who uses terror as an organised system of intimidation. The Jacobins who ruled France during the Terror were indubitably terrorists. Prefer suspected terrorists to terrorist suspects.

Front 82

What is the difference between testament and testimony?

Back 82

Testament is a will, testimony evidence.

Front 83

What are our rules for using the definite article?

Back 83

Use it with discrimination.
Strictly, therefore, Barclays is a British bank, not the British bank, just as Ford is a car company, not the car company, and Luciano Pavarotti was an opera singer, not the opera singer. If it seems absurd to describe someone or something thus—that is, with the indefinite article—you can probably dispense with the description altogether or insert an extra word or two that may be useful to the reader: Ford, America’s second- biggest car company.

Front 84

Some random warnings about dropping the definite article in some situations..

Back 84

However, Given that leaders of both mainstream left and right parties... (The Economist, April 16th 2005) means something different from Given that the leaders of both mainstream left and right parties... Likewise, "If polls are right" means something different from "If
the polls are right" (same issue). "They include freedom to set low flat taxes" (same issue) is similarly, if subtly, different from "They include the freedom to set low flat taxes". In each of these examples the crucial the was left out.

Front 85

there or there are?

Back 85

there is, there are
Often unnecessary, seldom elegant. There are three issues facing the prime minister is better as Three issues face the prime minister.

Front 86

throe or throw?

Back 86

Throe is a spasm or pang. Throw is the act of casting or hurling through the air.

Front 87

In politics: ticket, platform, manifesto

Back 87

In America the ticket lists the names of the candidates for a particular party (so if you split your ticket you vote for, eg, a Republican for president and a Democrat for Congress). The platform is the statement of basic principles (planks) put forward by an American party, usually at its pre-election convention. It is thus akin to a British party’s manifesto, which sets out the party’s policies.

Front 88

time

Back 88

If you have to give an exact time, you should write 6.25am, 11.15pm, etc. But it is permissible to write two o’clock, 11 o’clock, half past ten, quarter past four, if you wish to be less precise.

Front 89

times

Back 89

Take care. Three times more than x means four times as much as x

Front 90

Titles of people

Back 90

Do not use Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms or Dr on first mention even in bodymatter (and never in titles, captions or rubrics). Plain Barack Obama, David Cameron or other appropriate combination of first name and surname will do. But thereafter the names of all living
168 THE ECONOMIST STYLE BOOK
titles (people) T
people should be preceded by Mr, Mrs, Miss or some other title. Serving soldiers, sailors, airmen etc should be given their title on first and subsequent mentions (see Abbreviations). So should professional soldiers etc after retirement unless, like Colin Powell, they cast aside their uniforms for civvy street. These become plain Mr (or whatever). Clerics too should have their titles on first and subsequent mentions.
Do not use titles in headings or captions (but do use surnames: no Kens, Borises, Daves, Newts, etc). Sometimes they can also be dispensed with for athletes and pop stars, if titles would make them seem more ridiculous than dignified. No titles for the dead, except those whom you are writing about because they have just died. On the obituary page, therefore, titles are required. Dr Johnson and Mr Gladstone are also permissible.
Ms, though abominably vowell-deprived, is permissible. It is almost always used for American women. Note, however, that to call a woman Miss is not to imply that she is unmarried, merely that she goes by her maiden name. Married women who are known by their maiden names—eg, Aung San Suu Kyi, Steffi Graf, Anne-Sophie Mutter—are therefore Miss, unless they are usually called something else.

Front 91

Middle initials in names

Back 91

Omit middle initials. You may have to distinguish between George Bush junior and George Bush senior, but nobody will imagine that the Lyndon Johnson you are writing about is Lyndon A. Johnson or Lyndon C. Johnson.

Front 92

Nicknames and diminutives?

Back 92

Avoid nicknames and diminutives unless the person is always known (or prefers to be known) by one: Joe Biden, Tony Blair, Dick Cheney, Bill Emmott, Newt Gingrich.

Front 93

First and second mentions of names...

Back 93

On first mention use forename and surname; thereafter drop forename (unless there are two people with the same surname mentioned in the article). François Hollande, then Mr Hollande. Governor x, President y, the Rev Jane z may be Mr, Mrs or Miss on second mention. If you use a title, get it right. Rear-Admiral Jones should not, at least on first mention, be called Admiral Jones.
Use Dr only for qualified medical people, unless the correct alternative is not known or it would seem perverse to use Mr. And try to keep Professor for those who hold chairs, not just a university job or an inflated ego.

Front 94

Rules for when titles serve as names...

Back 94

Some titles serve as names, and therefore have initial capitals, though they also serve as descriptions: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Emir of Kuwait, the Shah of Iran. If you want to describe the office rather than the individual, use lower case: The next archbishop of Canterbury will be a woman. Use lower case, too, in references simply to the archbishop, the emir, the shah: The Duchess of Scunthorpe was in her finery, but the duke wore jeans. See Capitals: people

Front 95

to or and

Back 95

To try and end the killing does not mean the same as to try to end the killing.

Front 96

tortuous or torturous?

Back 96

Tortuous means winding or twisting. Torturous means causing torture.

Front 97

Total as a noun, and a verb?

Back 97

All right as a noun, but as a verb prefer amount to or add up to.

Front 98

transitive verbs

Back 98

Transitive verbs require a direct object; intransitive do not. Many verbs are both transitive and intransitive, and some ditransitive, meaning they appear to govern two objects, one direct and one indirect (as in She gave her husband a piece of her mind).

The meaning of a transitive verb is incomplete without a direct object, as in the following examples:

INCOMPLETE
The shelf holds.
COMPLETE
The shelf holds three books and a vase of flowers.
INCOMPLETE
The committee named.
COMPLETE
The committee named a new chairperson.
INCOMPLETE
The child broke.
COMPLETE
The child broke the plate.

Front 99

Why do "stocks not deplete"?

Back 99

Deplete is transitive: stocks are depleted.

Front 100

Intransitive verbs...

Back 100

An intransitive verb, on the other hand, cannot take a direct object: This plant has thrived on the south windowsill. The compound verb "has thrived" is intransitive and takes no direct object in this sentence. The prepositional phrase "on the south windowsill" acts as an adverb describing where the plant thrives.
Or, The sound of the choir carried through the cathedral. The verb "carried" is used intransitively in this sentence and takes no direct object. The prepositional phrase "through the cathedral" acts as an adverb describing where the sound carried.
Or, The train from Montreal arrived four hours late. The intransitive verb "arrived" takes no direct object, and the noun phrase "four hours late" acts as an adverb describing when the train arrived.

Front 101

A verb "leave" can be transitive: According to the instructions, we must leave this goo in our hair for twenty minutes. How would leave be used intransitively?

Back 101

We would like to stay longer, but we must leave.

Front 102

The audience attentively watched the latest production of The Trojan Women. Is watch tansitive or intransitive?

Back 102

Transitive

Front 103

The cook watched while the new dishwasher surreptitiously picked up the fragments of the broken dish. Is watch tansitive or intransitive?

Back 103

Intransitive

Front 104

The crowd moves across the field in an attempt to see the rock star get into her helicopter. Is moves transitive or intransitive?

Back 104

Intransitive

Front 105

Every spring, William moves all the boxes and trunks from one side of the attic to the other. Is moves transitive or intransitive.

Back 105

Transitive.

Front 106

Right or wrong? The growth rate has halved.

Back 106

Wrong. Halve is another verb that needs an object: do not write The growth rate has halved (rather it has fallen by half).

Front 107

Many intransitive verbs need to be followed by a preposition, either explicitly or implicitly. Give example uses of agree.

Back 107

If something is involved, you must agree to, on or about it. If somebody is involved, you may agree with him, or perhaps agree to do something.

Front 108

Appeal against or appeal it?

Back 108

Appeal against. Many intransitive verbs need to be followed by a preposition, either explicitly or implicitly.

Front 109

Embark and disembark. Transitive or intransitive?

Back 109

Both. But take care if you use them transitively: you may disembark people or goods from a ship or aircraft, but you may not disembark the ship or aircraft on which they have travelled.

Front 110

Present. Transitive or intransitive.

Back 110

It can be both. But present intransitively used to be seldom used except obstetrics. Now symptoms present intransitively in every surgery, and other things elsewhere too. All such manifestations are unpleasant.

Present should be transitive. i.e. To present someone with a gift.

Front 111

What does transpire mean?

Back 111

Transpire means exhale, as animals breathe out, or pass from the leaves of plants into the atmosphere. It does not mean happen, occur or turn out.

Front 112

tribe

Back 112

Regarded as politically incorrect in some circles, tribe is widely used in Africa and other places. It should not be regarded as derogatory and is often preferable to ethnic group. See also Ethnic groups, Political correctness

Front 113

trooper versus trouper?

Back 113

Trooper: all effing, all blinding. Trouper: all singing, all dancing.

Front 114

confusions of twinkle versus twinkling

Back 114

In the twinkling of an eye means in a very short time. Before he was even a twinkle in his father’s eye means Before (perhaps just before) he was conceived.

Front 115

underprivileged

Back 115

Since a privilege is a special favour or advantage, it is by definition not something to which everyone is entitled. So underprivileged, by implying the right to privileges for all, is not just ugly jargon but also nonsense.

Front 116

unlike

Back 116

Unlike should not be followed by in. Like like, unlike governs nouns and pronouns, not verbs and clauses.

Front 117

Give some examples of unnecessary words...

Back 117

very, different... and often "that". Currently, actually
and really often serve no purpose. Remove as many prepositions after verbs as possible. Also, so-called; top politician or top priority; a major speech usually just a speech, an executive summary a summary, a role model a model and a track record a record. A safe haven is a haven; past experience is experience; empirical research is research; a free gift, a gift; a whole raft, a raft (who has ever had half a raft?). Most probably and most especially are probably and especially. The fact that can often be shortened to That. Community often best cut out.

Front 118

strike action

Back 118

strike

Front 119

cutbacks

Back 119

cuts

Front 120

track record

Back 120

record

Front 121

wilderness area

Back 121

usually either a wilderness or a wild area

Front 122

large-scale

Back 122

big

Front 123

the policymaking process

Back 123

policymaking

Front 124

sale events

Back 124

sales

Front 125

weather conditions

Back 125

weather

Front 126

This time around

Back 126

..this time

Front 127

any time soon

Back 127

soon

Front 128

Shoot off or shoot?

Back 128

Shoot. Remove as many prepositions after verbs as possible.

Front 129

meet or meet with?

Back 129

meet. Remove as many prepositions after verbs as possible.

Front 130

companies can be "bought and sold" or "bought up and sold off"

Back 130

companies can be bought and sold rather than bought up and sold off

Front 131

Are budgets cut or cut back?

Back 131

Budgets can be cut.

Front 132

Plots hatched or hatched up?

Back 132

plots can be hatched but not hatched up

Front 133

Are organisations headed by or headed up by?

Back 133

organisations should be headed by rather than headed up by chairmen,

Front 134

Are markets freed or freed up?

Back 134

markets should be freed, rather than freed up.

Front 135

sent to bed or sent off to bed?

Back 135

children can be sent to bed rather than sent off to bed

Front 136

Pre-announced, pre-ordered and pre-prepared

Back 136

announced, ordered and prepared.

Front 137

free, for nothing, for free?

Back 137

free, or for nothing, but not for free.

Front 138

Rewrite: The vineyard, located on the southern bank of the Margaret river, was planted in 1982

Back 138

The vineyard, on the southern bank of the Margaret river etc.

Front 139

Should you say member countries or member states of the European Union?

Back 139

Neither. Nobody writes about the member states of the United Nations, the World Bank, the Arab League, NATO or any other international body. All these have members. Only the EU seems to induce this desire to be dull. Fight it.

Front 140

The problems with "use" and "abuse"?

Back 140

Use and abuse: two words much used and abused. You take drugs, not use them (Does he use sugar?). And drug abuse is just drug taking, as is substance abuse, unless it is glue sniffing or bun throwing.

Front 141

Definition of venerable. What are our style warnings?

Back 141

Venerable means worthy of reverence. It is not a synonym for old.

Front 142

Would you visit venues?

Back 142

Avoid them. Try places.

Front 143

When would you use "verbal agreement"?

Back 143

Every agreement, except those of the nod-and-wink variety, is verbal. If you mean one that was not written down, describe it as oral.

Front 144

Explain the use and misuse of "via".

Back 144

The Latin via, in the ablative case, means by way of. So too in English. Use it therefore to say He flew to hell via Atlanta, but he booked his journey through [not via] an ecclesiastical travel agent, whom he reached by driving along [not via] a road paved with good intentions.

Front 145

How is "viable" misused?

Back 145

Viable means capable of living. Do not apply it to things like railway lines. Economically viable should be written as profitable.

Front 146

Explain the rules governing the suffixes: -ward, -wards

Back 146

When it forms part of an adjective, the suffix –ward never takes an s: a backward somersault, a forward child, an eastward glance. As part of an adverb, either -ward or –wards may be correct, though –wards is usually to be preferred in British English: Onwards and upwards, old boy.

Front 147

Explain how a Style fascist views the word "warn"

Back 147

Since, strictly, warn is Transitive, fastidious writers either give warning or warn somebody. Nowadays, however, it is acceptable to use it intransitively. If you cannot bring yourself to do this, and also want to use only one word, try say, declare or aver, one of which will often serve well enough.

Front 148

Our style rules about referring to wars..

Back 148

Write the second world war or the 1939-45 war, not world war two, II or 2. Prefer lower case for the names of wars (American civil war, Gulf war, war of the Spanish succession, etc). The Thirty Years War is an exception.
Post-war and pre-war are hyphenated.

Front 149

Our rules about referring to Washington, DC..

Back 149

Washington
This is the name of a state and a capital city in America, and of several other towns, a couple of islands, a square in New York, a monument and so on. If there is any risk of confusion or lack of clarity, make it plain which Washington you mean. However, the Washington that appears most often in The Economist, and in the minds of most of our readers, is the capital of the United States, so there is usually no need to write Washington, dc, even in datelines. Add dc only if it seems likely that readers will assume it to be another place of the same name.

Front 150

we, us and our

Back 150

Keep these for references to The Economist, which should be rare. Even rarer should be this correspondent, your correspondent and the present reviewer, usually precious or self-important and always annoying. If you must bring yourself into the story, and no editor has the sense to remove you, write I or perhaps The Economist.

Front 151

which and that

Back 151

Which informs, that defines. This is the house that Jack built. But This house, which Jack built, is now falling down. Americans tend to be fussy about making a distinction between which and that. Good writers of British English are less fastidious. “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done.”

Front 152

while

Back 152

While is best used temporally. Do not use it in place of although or whereas.

Front 153

who versus whom

Back 153

Who is one of the few words in English that differs in the accusative (objective) case, when it becomes whom, often throwing native English- speakers into a fizzle.
In the sentence This is the man who can win the support of most Tory mps, the word you want is who, since who is the subject of the relative clause. It remains the subject, and therefore also who, in the sentence This is the man who she believes (or says or insists etc) can win the support of most Tory mps. That becomes clearer if the sentence is punctuated thus: This is the man who, she believes (or says or insists etc), can win the support of most Tory mps.
However, in the sentence This is the man whom most Tory mps can support, the word in question is whom because the subject of the relative clause has become most Tory mps. Whom is also necessary in the sentence This is the man whom she believes to be able to win the support of most Tory mps. That is because believe is here being used transitively. If, however, believes were insists, the sentence could not be similarly changed, because the verb to insist cannot be used transitively. See Transitive and intransitive verbs

Front 154

wiggle, wriggle

Back 154

By all means wiggle your hips, but if you need space in which to do it, or something else, that is wriggle room.

Front 155

word inflation

Back 155

Do not debase the currency of communication by using inflated language. So when you have the choice between a plain and a bloated term, opt for the plain one.

Front 156

chief executive

Back 156

manager

Front 157

embrace

Back 157

include

Front 158

epicentre

Back 158

centre. Epicentre always misued.

Front 159

multiple

Back 159

many

Front 160

bureau

Back 160

office

Front 161

summit

Back 161

meeting or conference except for most senior people then summit OK.

Front 162

secretary of state

Back 162

minister

Front 163

individual

Back 163

person

Front 164

the ocean(s)

Back 164

the sea(s)

Front 165

human resources

Back 165

staff or personnel

Front 166

logistics

Back 166

removals [feels wrong]

Front 167

rock

Back 167

stone

Front 168

narrative

Back 168

story

Front 169

annual-leave

Back 169

holiday

Front 170

judgement call

Back 170

judgement

Front 171

creative writing

Back 171

fiction

Front 172

Our style on words ending both "ed" and "t"...

Back 172

Burned or burnt? Dreamed or dreamt? Dwelled or dwelt? Leaped or leapt? Learned or learnt? Smelled or smelt? Spelled or spelt? Spilled or spilt? Spoiled or spoilt? Modern English allows both. Some attribute a greater passage of time to versions of the past tense or participle that end –ed: And therefore when her aunt returned, Matilda and the house were burned perhaps implies a slower event than He burnt his fingers. But no such distinction can be made where leaping and spelling are concerned. In time the –ed versions may disappear, as meaned has since the 19th century. At present, though, neither version is wrong.
The same goes for these other competing past tenses and participles: bereaved, bereft; beseeched, besought; cleaved, cleft; kneeled, knelt. But prefer pled to pleaded. See Americanisms

Front 173

Words ending "ee", which are OK and which are not?

Back 173

OK: absentees, bargees, bootees, employees, evacuees, detainees, devotees, divorcees, fricassees, goatees, jamborees, levees, licensees, marquees, payees, puttees, referees, refugees, tepees and trustees.
NOT OK attendees (those attending), draftees (conscripts), enrollees (participants), escapees (escapers), indictees (the indicted), mentees
(the mentored), retirees (the retired), returnees (people sent back or going home), standees (standing passengers) or tutees (the tutored). A divorcee may be male or female.

Front 174

Words ending "-style"

Back 174

Avoid German-style supervisory boards, an eu-style rotating presidency, etc. Explain what you mean.

Front 175

The use of worth after a sum, measurement or quantity...

Back 175

When the word worth follows a sum, measurement or quantity, an apostrophe is needed: $25m’ worth of goods, three months’ worth of exports, a lifetime’s worth of dashed hopes.

Front 176

What does the word wrack mean?

Back 176

Wrack is an old word meaning vengeance, punishment or wreckage (as in wrack and ruin). It can also be seaweed. And, as a verb, it can mean to wreck, devastate or ruin. It has nothing to do with wreak, and it is not an instrument of torture or a receptacle for toast: that is rack. Hence racked with pain, racked by war, racked by drought, etc. Rack your brains—unless they be wracked.

Front 177

The difference between wreaked and wrought...

Back 177

Wreaked is the past participle of wreak, to give vent or expression to, or to punish. Wrought is the past participle of work (into shape), now mainly used to describe hammered iron.

Front 178

The difference between "write down" and "write off"...

Back 178

If you write down the book value of an asset, you reduce it to its current market value. If you write it off, you reduce it to zero.

Front 179

George Orwell’s six elementary rules...

Back 179

(i) Never use a Metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. (ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do. (iii) If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out.
See Unnecessary words (iv) Never use the Passive where you can use the active. (v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a Jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. (vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Front 180

Avoid the language of spokesmen, businessmen, bureaucrats etc. Alternatives for: permit, persons
purchase, peer, exit, gift, wealthy, demonstrate, violate...

Back 180

let, people, buy, colleague, way out, present, rich, show, break

Front 181

Alternatives for geographies and architectures...

Back 181

Places or areas rather than geographies; and buildings or structures rather than architectures.

Front 182

Do not be hectoring or arrogant...examples of this...

Back 182

Those who disagree with you are not necessarily stupid or insane. Nobody needs to be described as
silly: let your analysis show that he is. When you express opinions, do not simply make assertions. The aim is not just to tell readers what you think, but to persuade them; if you use arguments, reasoning and
evidence, you may succeed. Go easy on the oughts and shoulds.

Front 183

Do not be too chatty...

Back 183

"Surprise, surprise" is more irritating than
informative. So is "Ho, ho" and, in the middle of a sentence, "wait for it", etc.

Front 184

Do not be too didactic....

Back 184

If too many sentences begin: Compare, Consider, Expect, Imagine, Look at, Note, Prepare for, Remember
or Take, readers will think they are reading a textbook.

Front 185

Do your best to be lucid.

Back 185

Simple sentences help. Keep complicated constructions and gimmicks to a minimum, if necessary by remembering the New Yorker’s comment: “Backward ran the sentences until reeled the mind.”

Front 186

Clear thinking is the key to clear writing.

Back 186

“A scrupulous writer”, observed Orwell, “in every sentence that he writes will ask himself at
least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more:
Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?”

Front 187

Abbreviations

Back 187

Unless an abbreviation or acronym is so familiar that it is used more often than the full form (eg BBC) or unless the full form would provide little illumination (eg, AWACS, DNA), write the words in full on first
appearance: thus, Trades Union Congress (not TUC), troubled asset relief programme (not TARP). If in doubt about its familiarity, explain what the organisation is or does. After the first mention, try not to repeat the abbreviation too often; so write "the agency" rather than the IAEA, "the party" rather than the KMT, to avoid spattering the page with capital letters. Do not give the initials of an organisation if it is not referred to again. This clutters both the page and the brain.

Front 188

When do abbreviations not need the definite article?

Back 188

If an abbreviation can be pronounced (eg, COSATU, NATO, UNESCO), it does not generally require the definite article.

Front 189

When do abbreviations need the definite article?

Back 189

Other organisations, except companies, should usually be preceded by the (the BBC, the KGB, the NHS, the UNHCR and the NIESR).

Front 190

Should you spell out "member of parliament" in full on first use?

Back 190

Yes. Except in the Britain section. In many places MP means military policeman

Front 191

Which acronyms are so familiar that they need no spelling out on first use?

Back 191

Those that are more often appear as acronyms. Eg. AIDS, BBC, CIA, EU, FBI, HIV, IMF, NATO, NGO, OECD, UN, UNESCO),

Front 192

Which abbreviations should be spelt out in upper and lower case?

Back 192

Abbreviations that can be pronounced and are composed of bits of words rather than just initials should be spelt out in upper and lower case: Cocom, Frelimo, Kfor, Legco, Mercosur, Nepad, Renamo, Sfor,
Unicef, Unisom, Unprofor, Seals (American navy), Trips (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights). There is generally no need for more than one capital letter per word, unless the word is a name: ConsGold, KwaZulu, McKay, MiG.

Front 193

Television or TV?

Back 193

Prefer television

Front 194

What are the typsetting rules for abbreviations?

Back 194

In bodymatter, all such abbreviations, whether they can be pronounced as words or not (including T-shirts and X-rays) should be set without points in small capitals. UNLESS they are currencies like Nkr or SFr, elements like H and O or degrees of temperature like °F and °C. Numerals, brackets, apostrophes and all other typographical furniture accompanying small capitals are generally set in ordinary roman, with a lower-case s (also roman) for plurals and genitives.

Front 195

How do you typset the typographical furniture accompanying small capitals, such as brackets, numerals, and plurals etc.

Back 195

Ordinary roman

Front 196

How do you typset abbreviations that are a mixture of upper- and lower case letters like PhDs?

Back 196

Abbreviations that include upper-case and lower-case letters must be set in a mixture of small capitals and roman: BPhils, PhDs.

Front 197

Is CEO OK?

Back 197

Prefer chief executive or boss to CEO, or, better still, manager.

Front 198

Do you use small caps for roman numerals?

Back 198

No

Front 199

Do popes and monarchs need numerical postcripts?

Back 199

Not unless they are needed to differentiate, eg, Benedict XVI from Benedict XV

Front 200

Do you need small capitals for postal addresses such as K Street?

Back 200

No. Ordinary capitals.

Front 201

May we shorten streets and avenues in postal addresses?

Back 201

No, and be sure to include all necessary commas. The president lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC, and seems to enjoy it.

Front 202

Ought we to use small capitals in headings, rubrics etc?

Back 202

No. In headings, rubrics, cross-heads, footnotes, flytitles, captions, tables, charts (including sources), use ordinary caps, not small caps.

Front 203

Do we abbreviate miles?

Back 203

No. But mph is fine. Spell out nautical miles, yards,
feet, inches, metres.

Front 204

What other units cannot be abbreviated?

Back 204

gallons, billions (except in charts, where bn is
permissible), trillions, acres, hectares, tonnes, tons, pints, ounces, bits, bytes, hertz and multiples—terabytes, megahertz etc. Always spell out page, pages, hectares, miles.

Front 205

What units can be abbreviated?

Back 205

Use lower case for kg, km, lb (never lbs), mph and other measures, and for ie, eg, which should both be followed by commas. Remember kilograms (not
kilogrammes) and kilometres can be shortened to kg (or kilos) and km. Miles per hour are mph and kilometres per hour are kph.

Front 206

Should there be a space after lower-case abbreviations?

Back 206

No. When used with figures, these lower-case abbreviations should follow immediately, with no space (11am, 4.30pm, 15kg, 35mm, 100mph, 78rpm),

Front 207

Should there be a space after the number and AD and BC?

Back 207

No. Eg, 76AD, 55BC, whose letters, but not numerals, should be set in small capitals.

Front 208

In what situation is a space inserted between a number and an abbreviation of a unit?

Back 208

Two abbreviations together, however, must be separated: 60m b/d.

Front 209

Barrels per day. Is this abbreviated as b/d or bpd?

Back 209

Prefer b/d to bpd as an abbreviation for barrels per day.

Front 210

Abbreviation of scientific units. Part 1.

Back 210

Most scientific units, except those of temperature, that are named after individuals should be set in small capitals, though any attachments denoting multiples go in lower case. Thus a watt is W, whereas
kilowatt, milliwatt and megawatt, meaning 1,000 watts, one thousandth of a watt and 1m watts, are abbreviated to kW, mW and MW (k, m and m are standard international metric abbreviations for
thousand, thousandth and million—see below).

Front 211

Abbreviation of scientific units. Part 2.

Back 211

Scientific units that are named after people are not capitalised when written out in full: watt, joule, hertz, sievert etc. When abbreviated these units should be set as scaps, if the abbreviation is one letter, or
scaps and then roman if it is two. Thus a 100W bulb can normally be plugged into a European (50Hz) or American (60Hz) power supply. Exceptions to this are made for degrees Fahrenheit and Celsius (see
above); note though that the kelvin, the scientific unit of temperature, does have a scapped abbreviation and does not get a degree sign. °C is 273.15k.

Front 212

Abbreviation of scientific units. Part 3.

Back 212

Multiples of basic units are formed with the suffixes kilo- (thousand), mega- (million), giga- (billion) and tera- (trillion); the list continues with peta- and exa-. Fractions are denoted with milli- (thousandth), micro-
(millionth) and nano- (billionth); the list continues with pico- and femto-. To construct abbreviations use scaps for multiples (eg, 1GW, 3THz, 50mSv, 0.1pW). But kilo- is abbreviated with a roman k, not a scapped K.

Front 213

Is a millionth of a metre a micron or a micrometre?

Back 213

A micron

Front 214

Is kilo- abbreviated with a roman k or scapped K?

Back 214

Roman. Don't ask me why.

Front 215

How are the elements scapped?

Back 215

They are not. But...Lead is Pb, carbon dioxide is CO2,
methane is CH4. Chlorofluorocarbons as CFCs and the oxides of nitrogen are generally NOX, both scapped! Different isotopes of the same element are distinguished by raised prefixes: carbon-14 is
14C, helium-3 is 3He. Do not sprinkle chemical symbols unnecessarily: they may put readers off. But common abbreviations such as CO2 may sometimes be used for variety.

Front 216

How do we abbreviate initials in people's names?

Back 216

Initials in people’s names, or in companies named after them, take points (with a space between initials and name, but not between initials). Thus A.D. Miller, F.W. de Klerk, V.P. Singh, E.I. Du Pont de Nemours, F.W. Woolworth. In general, follow the practice preferred by people, companies and organisations in writing their own names.

Front 217

Our rules for abbreviating titles?

Back 217

Do not use Prof, Sen, Col, etc. Lieut-Colonel and Lieut-Commander are permissible. So is Rev, but it must be preceded by the and followed by a Christian name or initial: the Rev Jesse Jackson (thereafter Mr Jackson).

Front 218

What is an acryonym?

Back 218

This is a pronounceable word, formed from the initials of other words, like radar or NATO. It is not a set of initials, like the BBC or the IMF.

Front 219

kilograms or kilogrammes?

Back 219

kilograms

Front 220

In which three situations may we use ampersands?

Back 220

(1) when they are part of the name of a company (eg, AT&T, Pratt & Whitney); (2) for such things as
constituencies where two names are linked to form one unit (eg, The rest of Brighouse & Spenborough joins with the Batley part of Batley & Morley to form Batley & Spen. Or The area thus became the Pakistani
province of Kashmir and the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir); (3) in R&D and S&L.

Front 221

Abbreviation UN warnings...

Back 221

the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is UNESCO, but the United Nations Children’s Fund is Unicef. The UN
High Commissioner for Refugees is an organisation whereas the UN high commissioner for refugees is a person

Front 222

Warnings about use of DAB and HIV...

Back 222

Remember, too, that the d of DAB stands for digital, so do not write "DAB digital radio". Similarly, the v of HIV stands for virus, so do not write "HIV virus".

Front 223

Abbreviations for Members of Parliament, Scottish Parliament and European Parliament...

Back 223

Members of Parliament are MPs: of the Scottish Parliament, MSPs; and of the European Parliament, MEPs (not Euro-MPs).

Front 224

George Bush junior or George Bush Jr?

Back 224

Spell out in full (and lower case) junior and senior after a name: George Bush junior, George Bush senior.

Front 225

A four-by-four vehicle or 4x4?

Back 225

A four-by-four vehicle can be a 4x4.

Front 226

Is absent an adjective, a verb or a preposition?

Back 226

In English absent is either an adjective (absent friends) or a verb (to absent yourself). It is not a preposition meaning in the absence of.

Front 227

Which words should have accents?

Back 227

On words now accepted as English, use accents (and umlauts) only when they make a crucial difference to pronunciation: cliché, soupçon, façade, café, communiqué, exposé, über (but chateau, decor, elite,
feted, naive). If you use one accent (except the tilde—strictly, a diacritical sign), use all: émigré, mêlée, protégé, résumé. Put the accents and cedillas on French names and words, umlauts on German names, accents and tildes on Spanish ones, and accents,
cedillas and tildes on Portuguese ones: Françoise de Panafieu, Wolfgang Schäuble, Federico Peña, José Manuel Barroso. Leave accents and diacritical marks off other foreign names. Any foreign word in italics should, however, be given its proper accents.

Front 228

What does actionable mean?

Back 228

This word means giving ground for a lawsuit. Do not use it to mean susceptible of being put into practice: prefer practical or practicable.

Front 229

Can you action a job?

Back 229

No. Action is not a verb.

Front 230

When should we use the passive voice?

Back 230

Try to be direct. A hit b describes the event more concisely than b was hit by a.

Front 231

May we use firstly, secondly, more importantly?

Back 231

Adjectives qualify nouns, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. If you have a sentence that contains the words firstly, secondly, more importantly, etc, they almost certainly ought to be first, second, more important.

Front 232

The Crimea war? The Holland East India Company? “The France Connection”?

Back 232

If proper nouns have adjectives, use them. The
Crimean war, the Dutch East India Company, “The French Connection”. So also the Pakistani (not Pakistan) government, the Lebanese (not Lebanon) civil war, the Mexican (not Mexico) problem, etc.

Front 233

May we use a noun as an adjective?

Back 233

It is permissible to use the noun as an adjective if to do otherwise would cause confusion: an African initiative suggests the proposal came from Africa, whereas an Africa initiative suggests it was about
Africa. Do not, however, feel you have to follow American convention in using words like Californian and Texan only as nouns. In British English, it is quite acceptable to write a Californian (not California) judge, Texan (not Texas) scandal, etc.

Front 234

address

Back 234

This is an overused word when used to mean answer, deal with, attend to, look at. Questions can be
answered, issues discussed, problems solved, difficulties dealt with. You may still address an audience and a letter.

Front 235

aetiology and etiolate

Back 235

Aetiology is the science of causation, or an inquiry into something’s origins. Etiolate is to make or become pale for lack of light.

Front 236

affect vs effect

Back 236

To affect means to influence or have an impact on someone or something. To effect means to bring something about. (Most of the time affect as a verb and effect with an e as a noun.) National Geographic says: Affect is a verb meaning to influence: One's ears affect one's balance. The verb effect means to bring about: He effected his escape. The noun effect means result, appearance: an airy effect.

Front 237

affirmative action

Back 237

Ugly euphemism. Avoid it as much as possible. If you cannot escape it, put it in quotation marks on
first mention and, unless the context makes its meaning clear, explain what it is. You may, however, find that preferential treatment, job preferment or even discrimination serve just as well as alternatives.

Front 238

human-rights abuses and comfort stations

Back 238

Ugly, obscure, euphemisms

Front 239

affordable

Back 239

Certain words, in certain contexts, come with assumptions about values that may not be universal. Avoid loaded words. By whom? Avoid affordable housing, affordable computers and other
unthinking uses of advertising lingo.

Front 240

Definition of aggravate...

Back 240

Aggravate means make worse, not irritate or annoy.

Front 241

Warning on the use of aggression...

Back 241

Aggression is an unattractive quality, so do not call a keen salesman an aggressive one (unless his foot is in the door).

Front 242

Warning on the use of agree

Back 242

Things are agreed on, to or about, not just agreed.

Front 243

What is the definition of an alibi?

Back 243

Alibi: an alibi is the fact of being elsewhere, not a false explanation.

Front 244

Define alternate and alternative..

Back 244

Alternate, as an adjective, means every other. As a noun, it has now come to mean a stand-in for a director or delegate.
Alternative (as a noun), strictly, means one of two, not one of three, four, five or more (which may be options). As an adjective, alternative means of two (or,
loosely, more) things, or possible as an alternative.

Front 245

Americanisms we like...

Back 245

Be discriminating but movie (now absorbed), fracking, scofflaw (have vigour), discombobulate (has charm), or conniptions (surprising). Some are short and
to the point (so prefer lay off to make redundant).

Front 246

Americanisms we do not like...

Back 246

1: unnecessarily long. So use car not automobile, company not corporation, court not courtroom or courthouse, prison not correctional facility, and not additionally, transport not transportation, district not
neighbourhood, oblige not obligate, rocket not skyrocket.

Front 247

Spat and scam...

Back 247

Americanisms beloved by journalists. Have the merit
of brevity, but so do row and fraud; squabble and swindle might sometimes be used instead.

Front 248

The military used as a noun...

Back 248

Americanisms: The military, used as a noun, is usually
better put as the army or, if accuracy is important, the armed forces.

Front 249

Normalcy and specialty...

Back 249

Americanisms. Normalcy and specialty have good English alternatives, normality and speciality.

Front 250

Real estate

Back 250

Real estate is property

Front 251

Gubernatorial...

Back 251

Gubernatorial is an ugly word that can almost always be avoided.

Front 252

Cots

Back 252

Cots are for babies, not campers.

Front 253

CNN called the election

Back 253

Americanism. Do not call when you mean predict.

Do not dismiss an election as too close to call; the calling of elections in Britain is reserved to prime ministers.

Front 254

The politician is looking to secure a victory.

Back 254

Americanism. Do not look to when you mean hope to
or intend to.

Front 255

Euphemistic and obscure Americanisms....

Back 255

Avoid affirmative action, rookies, end runs, jury rigs, stand-offs, point men, ball games, stepping up to the plate and almost all other American sporting terms).

Front 256

A faith-based organisation

Back 256

Americanism. Probably a religious group. (Unless it is the
Flying Saucer Society, the Flat Earth Foundation or Elvis is Alive—St James’s Chapter).

Front 257

Downtown Manhattan...

Back 257

Americanisms. Downtown Manhattan may be a useful term to differentiate it from uptown or midtown Manhattan, but almost everywhere else the adjective to describe the middle of a city is central.

Front 258

automobile

Back 258

Americanism. Car.

Front 259

corporation

Back 259

Americanism: company

Front 260

Past participles and tense of spit...

Back 260

is spat (not spit). (Americanism)

Front 261

Past participles and tense of fit...

Back 261

is fitted (not fit). (Americanisms)

Front 262

courthouse

Back 262

court. And not court not courtroom. (Americanisms)

Front 263

Past participles and tense of tan...

Back 263

tanned (not tan). (Americanisms)

Front 264

Past participles and tense of dive...

Back 264

is dived (not dove: that is a pigeon). (Americanisms)

Front 265

correctional facility

Back 265

prison. (Americanisms)

Front 266

He will meet with his opponent outside of the courthouse.

Back 266

Do not write meet with or outside of. Court not courthouse. (Americanisms)

Front 267

You may live well off of the German welfare system.

Back 267

Do not live well off of the German welfare
system (New York Times) or try to make the most possible money off of clients (Goldman Sachs employee); a single off is enough. (Americanisms)

Front 268

We will figure out the problem together.

Back 268

Do not figure out if you can work out. (Americanisms)

Front 269

I will deliver on my promise to you.

Back 269

To deliver on a promise means to keep it. (Americanisms)

Front 270

additionally

Back 270

and. (Americanisms)

Front 271

an ouster

Back 271

is an ousting. (Americanisms)

Front 272

outage

Back 272

is a power cut or blackout. (Americanisms)

Front 273

transportation

Back 273

is transport. (Americanisms)

Front 274

neighbourhood

Back 274

district. (Americanisms)

Front 275

obligate

Back 275

oblige. (Americanisms)

Front 276

skyrocket

Back 276

rocket. (Americanisms)

Front 277

parking lot

Back 277

car park. (Americanisms)

Front 278

judgement call

Back 278

And a judgment call is a matter of judgment
or just a judgment. (Americanisms)

Front 279

Should you fill a form in or fill it out?

Back 279

Fill a form in. (Americanisms)

Front 280

By all means debate health care with Mitt Romney but do not..

Back 280

debate him. (Americanisms)

Front 281

ranking

Back 281

senior. (Americanisms)

Front 282

ruckus

Back 282

rumpus. (Americanisms)

Front 283

rambunctious

Back 283

rumbustious. (Americanisms)

Front 284

snicker

Back 284

snigger. (Americanisms)

Front 285

The placement of adverbs and Americanisms...

Back 285

Put adverbs where you would put them in normal speech, which is usually after the verb (not before it, which usually is where Americans put them).

Front 286

Tenses and Americanisms...

Back 286

Choose tenses according to British usage, too. In particular, do not fight shy—as Americans often do—of the perfect tense, especially where no date or time is given. Thus Mr Obama has woken up to the
danger is preferable to Mr Obama woke up to the danger, unless you can add last week or when he heard the explosion.

Front 287

Rewrite: Your salary just got smaller so I shrunk the kids.

Back 287

Your salary has just got smaller so I’ve shrunk the kids.

Front 288

gotten

Back 288

got. Some American expressions that were once common in English English (and some still used in Scottish English) now sound old-fashioned to most British ears.

Front 289

physicians

Back 289

doctors. Some American expressions that were once common in English English (and some still used in Scottish English) now sound old-fashioned to most British ears.

Front 290

attorneys

Back 290

lawyers. Some American expressions that were once common in English English (and some still used in Scottish English) now sound old-fashioned to most British ears.

Front 291

cane

Back 291

stick. Some American expressions that were once common in English English (and some still used in Scottish English) now sound old-fashioned to most British ears.

Front 292

oftentimes

Back 292

often. Some American expressions that were once common in English English (and some still used in Scottish English) now sound old-fashioned to most British ears.

Front 293

overly

Back 293

over or too. Some American expressions that were once common in English English (and some still used in Scottish English) now sound old-fashioned to most British ears.

Front 294

apparel or garments or raiment

Back 294

clothes or clothing. Some American expressions that were once common in English English (and some still used in Scottish English) now sound old-fashioned to most British ears.

Front 295

likely

Back 295

Do not use likely when you mean probably. (Americanisms)

Front 296

Should you task people or meet with them?

Back 296

No. (Americanisms)

Front 297

Backformations that are OK

Back 297

Back formations are common in English, so curate, the verb meaning organise or superintend formed from curator, is now acceptable in British English.

Front 298

Backformations that are not OK

Back 298

But it is still too soon for gallerist or galeriste (prefer
dealer or, if appropriate, just gallery).

Front 299

Burglarise?

Back 299

Never. Burgle.

Front 300

Hospitalise?

Back 300

Avoid.

Front 301

May you run for office?

Back 301

In America yes. But please stand in countries with parliamentary systems.

Front 302

May your car run on gasoline instead of petrol.

Back 302

In an American context it may.

Front 303

Corn

Back 303

But if you use corn in the American sense you should explain that this is maize to most people

Front 304

The riders on the train were late.

Back 304

The people in trains and buses are passengers, not
riders.

Front 305

We rented a car from Enterprise

Back 305

Cars are hired, not rented.

Front 306

The central city of Chicago was busy over the vacation.

Back 306

City centres are not central cities. Holiday not vacation.

Front 307

His brother enjoyed playing sports such as football.

Back 307

For most people football is a game – you do not have to call it a sport. Be careful also: in America football is called soccer.

Front 308

On a visit to Britain he visited London, the nation's capital

Back 308

London is the country’s capital, not the nation’s.

Front 309

nationbuilding...

Back 309

If you wish to build a nation, you will bind its peoples together; if you wish to build a state, you will forge its institutions.

Front 310

She raised two children on her own.

Back 310

In Britain, though cattle and pigs may be raised, children are (or should be) brought up.

Front 311

She had her children in school over the summer.

Back 311

She had her children at school...

Front 312

When the children fell ill the school put them in the hospital.

Back 312

They may be in hospital (not in the hospital, still less hospitalised).

Front 313

cuffed

Back 313

means being biffed around the ears with an open hand, not handcuffed.

Front 314

The kids were OK after their hospitalisation.

Back 314

Children. And "after they had been in hospital" rather than hospitalisation.

Front 315

vests

Back 315

Are undershirts not waistcoats.

Front 316

Without my vest this morning I had bumps all over

Back 316

goose pimples

Front 317

I want to make an in-depth study of this problem.

Back 317

Make a deep study or even a study in depth, but not an in-depth study.

Front 318

During my in-flight entertainment I used my in-ear headphones to watch a movie about on-site inspections of dangerous homes.

Back 318

On-site inspections are allowed, but not in-flight entertainment, on-train teams or in-ear headphones.

Front 319

He threw rocks into the ocean.

Back 319

Throw stones, not rocks.

Front 320

slate

Back 320

means abuse (as a verb) but does not, in Britain, mean predict, schedule or nominate.

Front 321

He was just a regular guy before the incident.

Back 321

Regular is not a synonym for ordinary or normal.

Front 322

What does roil mean?

Back 322

rile. Use rile.

Front 323

The boss has had his third pay hike in three years.

Back 323

Hikes are walks, not increases.

Front 324

She went into the store to buy some corn.

Back 324

Most stores are shops. Corn is maize.

Front 325

And some more moaning about Americanisms....

Back 325

Vegetables, not teenagers, should be fresh. Only the speechless are dumb, the well-dressed (and a few devices) Smart and the insane mad. Poster boys should be neither seen nor heard. Silos are best kept for grain or, at worst, ballistic missiles. Platforms are for the station or, in America, the hustings. Scenarios are for the theatre, postures for the gym, parameters for the parabola. Wait an hour or a month or a lifetime, but not a table, ie, she waits tables.

Front 326

Yet more moaning about Americanisms....

Back 326

Similarly, grow a beard or a tomato or even horns, but not a company —or a salesman (the Financial Times has reported that BMW is “to grow
its own car salesmen”) or indeed a weapon (General Lord Dannatt, BBC Radio 4, March 7th 2012). By all means call for a record profit if you wish to exhort the workers, but not if you merely predict one. And do
not post it if it has been achieved (you may post letters, parcels and, if you must, things on the internet). If no profit has been made, look for
someone new to head, lead, direct, run or take charge of, not head up, the company

Front 327

Program or programme?

Back 327

Programme. You may program a computer but in all other contexts the word is programme.

Front 328

Rant about turning nouns into verbs and adjectives...

Back 328

Try not to verb nouns or to adjective them. So do not access files, action proposals, haemorrhage red ink (haemorrhage is a noun), let one event impact another, author books (still less co-author them), critique style guides, pressure colleagues (press will do), progress reports, showcase your achievements, source inputs, trial programmes or loan money.
Avoid parenting and, even more assiduously, parenting skills. And though it is sometimes necessary to use nouns as adjectives, there is no need to call an attempted coup a coup attempt, a suspected terrorist a terrorist suspect or the Californian legislature the California legislature. Avoid, too, the habit of throwing together several nouns into one ghastly adjectival reticule: Texas
millionaire real-estate developer and failed thrift entrepreneur Hiram Turnipseed...

Front 329

Gunned down

Back 329

shot

Front 330

More on noun adjectives...

Back 330

Similarly, do not noun adjectives such as centennial (prefer centenary), Demographic (usually prefer demography), inaugural (prefer inauguration) and advisory (prefer warning), or verbs such as ask
(request or demand), assist (help), build (building), disconnect (disconnection), meet (meeting), spend (spending) and steer (hint or guidance).

Front 331

Tuition

Back 331

Remember, too, that in America tuition is often used for
tuition fees. In The Economist, however, if tuition increases, that should mean instruction increases, not the bill for it.

Front 332

Avoid coining verbs and adjectives unnecessarily.

Back 332

Instead of downplaying criticism, you can play it down (or perhaps make little of it or minimise it). Upcoming and ongoing are better put as forthcoming and continuing. Why outfit your children when you can fit them out? Hosting has now, alas, entered the language (often to mean acting as host at an event paid for by someone else, otherwise giving would be
the right word), but guesting (appearing as a guest on a programme) should be kept at bay.

Front 333

The American fashion for overusing certain words...

Back 333

Do not feel obliged to follow American fashion in overusing such words as constituency (try supporters), perception (try belief or view)
and rhetoric (of which there is too little, not too much—try language or speeches or exaggeration if that is what you mean). And if you must
use American expressions, use them correctly (a rain-check does not imply checking on the shower activity).

Front 334

Among and between, what is the difference?

Back 334

Some sticklers insist that, where division is involved, among should be used where three or more are concerned, between where only two are concerned. (So The plum jobs were shared among the Socialists,
the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, while the president and the vice-president divided the cash between themselves.) This distinction is unnecessary. But take care with between. To fall between two stools, however painful, is grammatically acceptable; to fall between the cracks is to challenge the laws of physics.

Front 335

Amongst her friends she was the tallest.

Back 335

Prefer among to amongst.

Front 336

an

Back 336

An should be used before a word beginning with a vowel sound (an egg, an umbrella, an MP) or an h if, and only if, the h is silent (an honorary degree). But a European, a university, a U-turn, a hospital, a
hotel. Historical is preceded by an, whether or not you treat the h as silent.

Front 337

analogue vs homologue

Back 337

An analogue is of similar function to something else. A homologue corresponds in its essential nature to something else (as a bird’s wing does to a man’s arm).

Front 338

anarchy

Back 338

Anarchy means the complete absence of law or government. It may be harmonious or chaotic.

Front 339

anon

Back 339

Anon means soon, though it once meant straight away. Presently also means soon, though it is increasingly misused to mean now.

Front 340

anticipate

Back 340

Anticipate does not mean expect. Jack and Jill expected to marry; if they anticipated marriage, only Jill might find herself expectant.

Front 341

apostasy

Back 341

Apostasy and heresy. If you abandon your religion, you commit apostasy. If that religion is the prevailing one in your community, and your beliefs are contrary to its orthodoxy, you commit heresy.

Front 342

apostrophes

Back 342

Use the normal possessive ending ’s after singular words or names that end in s: boss’s, caucus’s, Delors’s, St James’s, Jones’s, Shanks’s. Use it, too, after plurals that do not end in s: children’s, Frenchmen’s, media’s.
Use the ending s’ on plurals that end in s—Danes’, bosses’, Joneses’—including plural names that take a singular verb, eg, Reuters’, Barclays’, Stewarts & Lloyds’, Salomon Brothers’. Although singular in other respects, the United States, the United Nations, the Philippines, etc, have a plural possessive apostrophe: eg, Who will be the United States’ next president?
People’s = of (the) people. Peoples’= of peoples.

Front 343

Plural possessives to avoid...

Back 343

Try to avoid using Lloyd’s (the insurance market) as a possessive; like Christie’s and Sotheby’s, it poses an insoluble problem. The vulnerable part of the hero of the Trojan war is best described as an Achilles heel.
Some possessives are so ugly that almost any lengths are justified to avoid them. Congress’s, Greece’s, Texas’s are examples.

Front 344

Apostrophes into decades?

Back 344

Do not put apostrophes into decades: the 1990s.

Front 345

Phrases with apostrophes

Back 345

Remember, too, that phrases like two weeks’ time, four days’ march, six months’ leave, a year’s subscription, ten years’ experience, 20 years’
ill health etc, also need apostrophes. So do those involving worth, when it follows a sum, quantity or other measurement: $10m’ worth of old rope, three months’ worth of imports, a manifesto’s worth of
insincerity.

Front 346

appraise vs apprise

Back 346

Appraise means set a price on. Apprise means inform.

Front 347

arrant vs errant

Back 347

Although arrant is a variant of errant, the two words are now distinctively different, arrant meaning downright or unmitigated, errant meaning wandering, off-course or wide of the mark. The errant
nonsense that crops up in The Economist from time to time is therefore incorrect, or at best obsolete, in its intended use, though it may be a good self-description.

Front 348

As of April 5th...

Back 348

prefer on (or after, or since) April 5th, in April.

Front 349

assassinate

Back 349

Assassinate is, properly, the term used not just for any old killing, but for the murder of a prominent person, usually for a political purpose.

Front 350

as to

Back 350

There is usually a more appropriate preposition than as to.

Front 351

autarchy versus autarky

Back 351

Autarchy means absolute sovereignty. Autarky means self-sufficiency.

Front 352

avert, avoid, evade

Back 352

To avert something means to head it off. To avoid it means to keep away from it. To evade it means to elude it or escape it artfully. Tax avoidance is legal; tax evasion is not.

Front 353

avocation

Back 353

An avocation is a distraction or diversion from your ordinary employment, not a synonym for vocation.

Front 354

bail versus bale

Back 354

Bale: in the hayfield, yes; otherwise bail, bail out and bail-out (noun).

Front 355

-based

Back 355

A Paris-based group may be all right, if, say, that group operates in several countries (otherwise just say a group in Paris). But avoid community-based, faith-based, knowledge-based, etc. A community based organisation is perhaps a community organisation; a faith-based organisation is probably a church or sect; a knowledge-based industry
needs explanation: all industries depend on knowledge.

Front 356

basis points

Back 356

Most people outside the finance industry think in terms of percentages, so either explain the term basis points (it means 0.01%) or use something more familiar. In other words, instead of saying Bond yields
rose by 20 basis points say they rose by 0.2% or a fifth of a percentage point.

Front 357

beg the question

Back 357

Beg the question means neither raise the question, invite the question nor evade the answer. To beg the question is to adopt an argument whose validity depends upon assuming the truth of the very
conclusion the argument is designed to produce. It begs the question to say that all governments should promote free trade because otherwise protectionism will increase.

Front 358

bellwether

Back 358

A bellwether is the leading sheep of a flock, on whose neck a bell is hung. It has nothing to do with climate, prevailing winds or the like.

Front 359

biannual, biennial

Back 359

Biannual can mean twice a year or once every two years. Avoid. Since biennial also means once every two years, that is best avoided too.

Front 360

bimonthly and biweekly

Back 360

Avoid. Have two meanings. Luckily, fortnightly is unambiguous.

Front 361

bicentennial

Back 361

Prefer bicentenary (as a noun).

Front 362

in the black

Back 362

In the black means in profit in Britain, but making losses in some places. Use in profit.

Front 363

blond, blonde

Back 363

Several English nouns have both a masculine and a feminine form: actor, actress; alumnus, alumna; blond, blonde; compère, commère; Filipino, Filipina; hero, heroine; lad, ladette; Latino, Latina; man,
woman; master, mistress; prince, princess; steward, stewardess; swain, swainetta; testator, testatrix; usher, usherette; widower, widow; and so on. Unlike these other nouns, however, blond is also an adjective
and, unusually, in its adjectival use it retains its two Genders (qv). Use blonde to describe any person or animal (cows from Aquitaine) that is unambiguously fair and female (also some jokes), blond for everything
else, including the hair of a blonde (and the mayor of London).

Front 364

blooded versus bloodied

Back 364

Blooded means pedigreed or initiated. Bloodied means wounded.

Front 365

bon viveur

Back 365

Use bon vivant, not bon viveur.

Front 366

both

Back 366

Both…and: a preposition placed after both should be repeated after and. Thus, both to right and to left; but to both right and left is all right.

Front 367

brackets

Back 367

If a whole sentence is within brackets, put the full stop inside.
Square brackets should be used for interpolations in direct quotations: “Let them [the poor] eat cake.” To use ordinary brackets implies that the words inside them were part of the original text from which you are
quoting.

Front 368

British titles

Back 368

Long incomprehensible to all foreigners and most Britons, British titles and forms of address now seem just as confusing to those who hold them. Snobbery, embarrassment and obscurity make it difficult to
know whether to write Mrs Thatcher, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Lady Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, Lady Margaret Thatcher or Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Properly, she is Margaret, Baroness Thatcher, but
on first mention the following are preferable: Margaret Thatcher or Lady Thatcher. On subsequent mentions, Lady Thatcher is fine. If the context is historical, Margaret Thatcher and thereafter Mrs (now Lady) Thatcher.
On first mention all viscounts, earls, marquesses, dukes etc should be given their titles (shorn of all Right Honourables etc). Thereafter they
can be plain Lord (except for dukes). Barons, a category that includes all life peers, can always be called Lord. The full names of knights and
dames should be spelled out on first mention. Thereafter they become Sir Firstnameonly or Dame Firstnameonly.

Front 369

brokerage

Back 369

Brokerage is what a stockbroking firm does, not what it is.

Front 370

bromide, bromine

Back 370

A bromide is a platitude. Bromine is a smelly halogen.

Front 371

by contrast, in contrast

Back 371

Use by contrast only when comparing one thing with another: Somalia is a poor country. By contrast, Egypt is rich. This means Egypt is rich by comparison with Somalia, though by other standards it may be poor. If
you are simply noting a difference, say in contrast: David Cameron, like Tony Blair, likes to spend his holidays in Tuscany. In contrast, Gordon Brown used to go to Kirkcaldy.

Front 372

cadre

Back 372

Keep this word for the framework of a military unit or the officers of such a unit, not for a communist functionary.

Front 373

Canute

Back 373

Canute’s exercise on the seashore was designed to persuade his courtiers of what he knew to be true but they doubted, ie, that he was not omnipotent. Don’t imply he was surprised to get his feet wet.

Front 374

capitals - our general points

Back 374

A balance has to be struck between so many capitals that the eyes dance and so few that the reader is diverted more by our style than by our substance. The general rule is to dignify with capital letters
organisations and institutions, but not people. More exact rules are laid out below. Even these, however, leave some decisions to individual judgment. If in doubt use lower case unless it looks absurd. And remember that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

Front 375

capitals for people

Back 375

Use upper case for ranks and titles when written in conjunction with a name, but lower case when on their own. Thus President Obama, but the president; Vice-President Biden, but the vice-president; Colonel
Qaddafi, but the colonel; Pope Benedict, but the pope; Queen Elizabeth, but the queen; Shah Abbas, but the shah.
Do not write Prime Minister Brown or Defence Secretary Gates; they are the prime minister, Mr Brown, and the defence secretary, Mr Gates. You may, however, write Chancellor Merkel.

Front 376

capitals for office holders

Back 376

All office-holders when referred to merely by their office are lower case: the chancellor of the exchequer, Scotland’s first minister, the foreign secretary, the EU’s high representative, the prime minister, the treasury secretary, the president of the United States, the chairman of Marks & Spencer.

The only exceptions are (1) a few titles that would look unduly peculiar without capitals, eg, Black Rod, Master of the Rolls, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Privy Seal, Lord Chancellor, the Speaker; (2) a few exalted people, such as the Dalai Lama and the Aga Khan. Also God and the Prophet.

Front 377

capitals when titles serve as names and descriptions

Back 377

Some titles serve as names, and therefore have initial capitals, though they also serve as descriptions: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Emir of Kuwait, the Shah of Iran. If you want to describe the office rather
than the individual, use lower case: The next archbishop of Canterbury will be a woman. Since the demise of the ninth duke, there has never been another duke of Portland.

Front 378

Capitals for organisations, acts and treaties

Back 378

generally take upper case when their full name (or something pretty close to it, eg, State Department) is used. Thus, European Commission, Forestry
Commission, Arab League, Amnesty International, the
Household Cavalry, Ministry of Defence, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Treasury, Metropolitan Police, High Court, Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Senate, Central Committee, Politburo, Oxford University, the New York Stock Exchange, Treaty of Rome, the Health and Safety at Work Act, etc. Also the House of Commons, House of Lords, House of Representatives, St Paul’s Cathedral (the cathedral), Bank of England (the bank), Department of State (the department), World Bank (the bank).

Front 379

Where not to use capitals for organisations

Back 379

But organisations, committees, commissions, special groups etc that are either impermanent, ad hoc, local or relatively insignificant should be lower case. Thus: the subcommittee on journalists’ rights of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, the international economic subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Oxford University bowls club, Market Blandings rural district council.

Front 380

capitals for rough descriptions...

Back 380

Use lower case for rough descriptions (the safety act, the American health department, the French parliament, as distinct from its National
Assembly). If you are not sure whether the English translation of a foreign name is exact or not, assume it is rough and use lower case.

Front 381

Congress and Parliament, or congress and parliament?

Back 381

Congress and Parliament are upper case, unless parliament is used not to describe the institution but the period of time for which it sits (so This bill will not be brought forward until the next parliament).
However, give a capital only to those parliaments that explicitly call themselves Parliament, as, eg, Australia’s, Britain’s, Canada’s and Malaysia’s do. But congressional and parliamentary are lower case, as
is the opposition, even when used in the sense of her majesty’s loyal opposition.

Front 382

The Government, the Administration and the Cabinet?

Back 382

The government, the administration and the cabinet are
always lower case.

Front 383

American acts given names of their sponsor

Back 383

are lower case act. In America acts given the names of their sponsors (eg, Glass-Steagall, Helms-Burton, Sarbanes-Oxley) are always rough descriptions and so take a lower-case act.

Front 384

Capitals and political parties?

Back 384

The full name of political parties is upper case, including the word party: Republican Party, Labour Party, Peasants’ Party. But note that some parties, such as Greece’s New Democracy, India’s Congress,
Indonesia’s Golkar, Turkey’s Justice and Development, etc, do not have party as part of their names. It should therefore be lower case.

Front 385

Capitals for people with political affiliations

Back 385

Note, too, that usually only people are Democrats, Christian Democrats, Liberal Democrats or Social Democrats; their parties, policies, candidates, committees, etc, are Democratic, Christian Democratic, Liberal Democratic or Social Democratic (although a committee may be Democrat-controlled). The exceptions are Britain’s Liberal Democrat Party and Thailand’s Democrat Party.
When referring to a specific party, write Labour, the Republican nominee, a prominent Liberal, etc, but use lower case in looser references to liberals, conservatism, communists, etc. Tories, however,
are upper case.

Front 386

Political, economic or religious labels formed from a proper name...

Back 386

A political, economic or religious label formed from a proper name—eg, Gaullism, Paisleyite, Leninist, Napoleonic, Wilsonian, Jacobite, Luddite,
Marxist, Hobbesian, Thatcherism, Christian, Buddhism, Hindu, Islamic, Maronite, Finlandisation—should have a capital.

Front 387

Schools of painting formed from a proper name...

Back 387

However, schools of painting (cubism, expressionism, impressionism, fauvism, modernism etc) are lower case.

Front 388

Capitalisations -- odd exceptions in finance and government

Back 388

In finance and government there are particular exceptions to the general rule of initial caps for full names, lower case for informal ones. Use caps for the World Bank and the Fed (after first spelling it out as
the Federal Reserve), although these are shortened, informal names. The Bank of England and its foreign equivalents have initial caps when named formally and separately, but collectively they are central banks
in lower case (except those like Brazil’s, Ireland’s and Venezuela’s, which are actually named the Central Bank). Special drawing rights are lower case but abbreviated in small caps as SDRs, except when used
with a figure as a currency (SDR500m). Deutschmarks are still known just as D-marks, even though all references are historical. Treasury bonds issued by America’s Treasury should be upper case; treasury bills (or bonds) of a general kind should be lower case. Avoid T-bonds and t-bills.

Front 389

Capitalisation, first mention and second mention issues

Back 389

Most organisations—agencies, banks, commissions (including the European Commission and the European Union), etc—take lower case when referred to incompletely on second mention. But after first mention, the House of Commons (or Lords, or Representatives) becomes the House, and the World Bank and Bank of England become the bank, just as the IMF may become the fund. Organisations with unusual or misleading names, such as the African National Congress and Civic Forum, may become the Congress and the Forum on second and subsequent mentions.

Front 390

Capitals for places

Back 390

Use upper case for definite geographical places, regions, areas and countries (The Hague, Transylvania, Germany), and for vague but
recognised political or geographical areas: the Middle East, South Atlantic, East Asia (which is to be preferred to the Far East), the West (as in the decline of the West; adjective, Western), the Persian Gulf, the
North Atlantic, South-East Asia, the Midlands, Central America, the West Country.

Front 391

Capitalisation and less definite geographical places

Back 391

Lower case for east, west, north, south except when part of a name (North Korea, South Africa, West End) or part of a thinking group: the South, the Mid-West, the West (in the United States, but lower case for
vaguer areas such as the American north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west), the Highlands (of Scotland), the Midlands (of England).
If you are, say, comparing regions some of which would normally be upper case and some lower case, and it would look odd to leave them that way, put them all lower case: House prices in the north-east and the south are rising faster than those in the mid-west and the southwest.

Front 392

Capitalisation in European and American areas

Back 392

Europe’s divisions are no longer neatly political, and are now geographically imprecise, so use lower case for central, eastern and western Europe. But North, Central and South America are clearly defined areas, so should be given capitals, as should Central, South,
East and South-East Asia.

Front 393

Basque Region or Basque region?

Back 393

The Basque country (or region) is ill defined and contentious, and may include parts of both France and Spain, so lower case for country (or region).

Front 394

West Berlin and East Germany?

Back 394

Use West Germany (West Berlin) and East Germany (East Berlin) only in historical references.
They are now west or western Germany (Berlin) and east or eastern Germany (eastern Berlin).

Front 395

South Africa or southern Africa?

Back 395

Both but in different circumstances. South Africa is a country; southern, central, east, west and north Africa
are regions.

Front 396

The third world?

Back 396

The third world (an unsatisfactory term now that the communist second world has disappeared) is lower case.

Front 397

Capitals for buildings?

Back 397

Use capitals for particular buildings even if the name is not strictly accurate (eg, the Foreign Office, City Hall).

Front 398

Capitalisation of provinces, rivers, states and cities when not strictly part of the name.

Back 398

Lower case for province, county, river, state, city when not strictly part of the name: the Limpopo river, New York state, Washington state, Cabanas province. But when River or County precede the name, they go upper case: River Thames, County Cavan, County Durham. And note that American counties are part of the name (Madison County).

Front 399

Dodge City or Dodge city?

Back 399

Note that City is sometimes an integral part of a name, as in Dodge City, Kansas City, Quezon City, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, and is therefore upper case. If city is not integral to the name, but is required
for some reason (eg, to differentiate the town from a state or country of the same name), it should be lower case. Thus Gaza city, Guatemala city, Ho Chi Minh city, Kuwait city, Mexico city, New York city, Panama city and Quebec city

Front 400

The western hemisphere

Back 400

Avoid. Unlike the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere, it is not clear where the western hemisphere begins or ends. The Americas will usually serve instead.

Front 401

If in doubt over capitalisation...

Back 401

If in doubt use lower case (the sunbelt).

Front 402

The political terms that take upper case...

Back 402

Amendments in constitutions (Fifth Amendment) ; Articles in treaties etc (Article 19); Communist (if a particular party); Congress; the Crown; Parliament (the institution); Quartet (United States, EU, Russia, the UN, when acting together in the Middle East);
Social Security (in American contexts only, where it is used to mean pensions, not what is usually understood by social security elsewhere, which is welfare in the United States); Teamster; Tory; Warsaw Pact; The West (political expression), Western.

Front 403

Historical terms which take upper case...

Back 403

Allies and Axis (in the second world war); Black Death; Cultural Revolution; Depression (1930s); Enlightenment; Holocaust (Hitler’s); Industrial Revolution; Middle Ages; New Deal; Prohibition; Reconstruction; Reformation; Renaissance; Restoration; Thirty Years War; Year of the Dog, Horse, Rat etc (but new year).

Front 404

The use of capitals to avoid confusion...

Back 404

Use capitals to avoid confusion, especially with no (and therefore yes). In Bergen no votes predominated suggests a stalemate, whereas In Bergen No votes predominated suggests a triumph of noes over
yeses. In most contexts, though, yes and no should be lower case: “The answer is no.”

Front 405

Capitals and food and drink...

Back 405

Lower case should be used for most common dishes and familiar wines, cheeses, grape varieties etc. Thus bombay duck, bombe alaska, bordeaux, barolo, brunello, burgundy, champagne, chardonnay,
cheddar, chicken kiev, dim sum, emmental, gorgonzola, hock, merlot, moselle, parmesan, piesporter, pinotage, pont-l’évêque, primitivo,
rioja, russian salad, sole véronique, syrah, vindaloo, zinfandel. But the proper names of particular wines or appellations take upper case (Cheval Blanc, Lafite, Marqués de Riscal, Mount Difficulty Long Gully,
Nuits St Georges, Pontet-Canet, Santenay), as do some foods and drinks that would look odd lower case, eg, Parma ham, Scotch whisky.

Front 406

Capitals and plants and flowers

Back 406

For informal names of plants and flowers that are part of the language, lower case is fine: chrysanthemum, buttercup, daisy, delphinium,
frangipani, hollyhock, oleander etc. But where part of the name is a proper name, some capitals may be necessary: pride of India, grass of Parnassus, Spanish moss etc.

Front 407

Capitals and trade names

Back 407

Google, Hoover, Teflon, Valium, Walkman

Front 408

Miscellaneous capitals

Back 408

Anglophone (but prefer Englishspeaking); Antichrist;
anti-Semitism; Atlanticist; the Bar; Berlin Wall; the Bible; Catholics; CD-ROM (should be set in small
capitals); Christ; Christmas Day; Christmas Eve;
Coloureds (in South Africa); the Cup Final; the Davis Cup; Earth (when, and only when, it is being discussed as a planet like Mars or Venus); Eurobond;
Euroyen bond; Francophone (but prefer Frenchspeaking) ; Hispanics; House of Laity; Koran; Labour Day; Mafia (the genuine article); May Day; Mecca (in Saudi Arabia, California and Liberia); Memorial Day; Moon (when Earth’s moon) ;New Year’s Day; New Year’s Eve; Orthodox (Jews, Christians); Pershing missile (because it is named after somebody); Protestants; the Queen’s Speech; Revolutionary Guard(s) (in, eg, Iran); Russify; Semitic (-ism); Stealth fighter, bomber; Ten Commandments;
Test match; Tube (London Underground); Utopia (-n)

Front 409

Miscellaneous lower case (a-l)

Back 409

aborigines; administration; amazon (female warrior);
angst; blacks; cabinet; Christian democratic (if not
referring to a party of that name); civil servant; civil service; civil war (even America’s); cold war; common market; communist (generally); constitution (even America’s); cruise missile; cubism (-ist); draconian;
euro (the currency); fauvism (-ist); first world war; french windows, fries; futurism (-ist); general synod; gentile; government; Gulf war; gypsy; impressionism (-ist); internet; junior (as in George Bush junior); Kyoto protocol; left loyalist;

Front 410

Miscellaneous lower case (l-z)

Back 410

mafia (any old group of criminals); mecca (when used as in Jermyn Street is a mecca for lovers of loud shirts at high prices); modernism (-ist); new year (but New Year’s Day); northern lights; Olympic games (and Asian, Commonwealth, European, etc); opposition;
parliament (meaning the term during which Parliament sits); philistine; platonic; the pope; the press; pyrrhic; the queen; quisling; realpolitik; republican (unless referring to a party of that name);
revolution (everyone’s); the right; second world war;
senior (as in George Bush senior); six-day war; the shah; state-of-the-union message; the sunbelt; third world; titanic; white paper; wild west; world wide web
young turk.

Front 411

Indian castes are lower case or capitalised?

Back 411

Indian castes are lower case italic, except for brahmin, which has now become an English word and is therefore lower case roman (unless it is mentioned along with several other less familiar caste names in italic).

Front 412

career, careen

Back 412

As a verb, career means to gallop or rush. (The noun career means the rush through life, or the part of it that passes as an occupation or job.) Careen means to turn a boat over on its side.

Front 413

cartel

Back 413

A cartel is a group that restricts supply in order to drive up prices. Do not use it to describe any old syndicate or association of producers—especially of drugs.

Front 414

case

Back 414

“There is perhaps no single word so freely resorted to as a troublesaver,” says Gowers, “and consequently responsible for so much flabby writing.” Often you can do without it. There are many cases of it being
unnecessary is better as It is often unnecessary. As is always the case when means As always when. If it is the case that simply means If. It is not the case means It is not so.

Front 415

Cassandra

Back 415

Do not use Cassandra just as a synonym for a prophet of doom. Her most notable characteristic was that her predictions were always correct but never believed.

Front 416

catalyst

Back 416

This is something that speeds up a chemical reaction while itself remaining unchanged. Do not confuse it with one of the agents.

Front 417

celibate

Back 417

Celibate means unmarried, not chaste.

Front 418

The story was centred around a little girl.

Back 418

Centred on, not around or in.

Front 419

challenge

Back 419

Modern life seems to consist of little else but challenges. Every president, minister, government, business, and everyone everywhere is faced with challenges. No one nowadays has to face a change, difficulty, task or job. Rather these are challenges
– fiscal challenges, organisational challenges, structural challenges, regional challenges, demographic challenges etc. Next time you grab the
word challenge, drop it at once and think again.

Front 420

charge

Back 420

If you charge intransitively, do so as a bull, cavalry officer or somesuch, not as an accuser (so avoid The standard of writing was abysmal, he charged).

Front 421

charts and tables

Back 421

Charts and tables should, ideally, be understandable without reading the accompanying text. The main point of the heading should therefore be to assist understanding, and if it does so amusingly, so much the better. If the subject of the chart (or table) is unambiguous (because, say, it is in the middle of a story about Germany), the title need not reflect
the subject. In that case, however, the subtitle should clearly state: Number of occasions on which the word angst appears in German company reports, 2005-2010.

Front 422

check, cheque, chequer

Back 422

As a verb, check means bring to a halt, mark with a pattern of squares or ascertain the accuracy of something. As a noun, it means, a stop or
rebuff, or a position in chess, or a square, as on a tablecloth. A cheque is an order for money, whereas a chequer is a chessboard or a pattern of different-coloured squares. So checked means stopped, or patterned with squares, or confirmed; chequered means eventful or variegated.

Front 423

cherry-pick

Back 423

If you must use this cliché, note that to cherry-pick means to engage in careful rather than indiscriminate selection. A cherry-picker is a machine for raising pickers (and cleaners and so on) off the ground.

Front 424

Under some circumstances we will pay a refund.

Back 424

No. Circumstances stand around a thing, so it is in, not under, them.

Front 425

civil society

Back 425

It can, however, be a useful, albeit ill-defined, term
to describe collectively all non-commercial organisations between the family and the state. But do not use it as a euphemism for NGOs (non-governmental organisations), which is how it is employed. Civil society pops up a lot, often in the company of citizenship skills, community leaders, good governance, the international community, social capital and the like.

Front 426

clerical titles

Back 426

Ordained clerics should be given their proper titles, though not their full honorifics (no need for His Holiness, His Eminence, the Right Reverend, etc). But the Rev Michael Wall (thereafter Mr Wall), Father
Ted (Father Ted or Father Crilly), Bishop Cuthbert Auckland (Bishop Auckland), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Archbishop Tutu), etc.
Remember that in the Church of England vicars are priests whose parishes would, in days gone by, have paid them a stipend, whereas rectors would have had tithes.
Imams, muftis, ayatollahs, rabbis, gurus etc should be given an appropriate title if they use one, and it should be repeated on second and subsequent mentions, so, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri
(Ayatollah Montazeri), Rabbi Lionel Bloom (Rabbi Bloom), Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar), etc.

Front 427

clichés an introductory rant

Back 427

The first person to use window of opportunity or level playing-field or accident waiting to happen was justly pleased with himself. In “A Dictionary of Clichés” (1940), Eric Partridge wrote: “Clichés
range from fly-blown phrases (much of a muchness; to all intents and purposes), metaphors that are now pointless (lock, stock and barrel), formulas that have become mere counters (far be it from me to…)—
through sobriquets that have lost all their freshness and most of their significance (the Iron Duke) – to quotations that are nauseating (cups that cheer but not inebriate), and foreign phrases that are tags (longo intervallo, bête noire).”

Front 428

cliches: dead versus alive

Back 428

In truth, many of yesterday’s clichés have become so much a part of the language that they pass unnoticed; they are like Orwell’s dead Metaphors. The ones most to be avoided are the latest, the trendiest.
Since they tend to appeal to people who lack the energy or originality to pick their own words, they are often found in the wooden prose of bureaucrats, academics and businessmen, though Journalese is far from unblemished by them.

Front 429

Boring cliches in The Economist...

Back 429

bite the bullet, confirmed bachelor, eye-watering sums, grinding to a halt, high-profile, honeymoon period, incurable optimist, loose cannon, road maps, tax packages, too close to call, toxic debt, whopping bills etc.

Front 430

Business cliches

Back 430

Businessmen love pushing envelopes, leaving global footprints, exercising thought leadership, motivating the on-train team, crafting exciting spaces, engaging in out-of-the-box thinking, going the extramile, rolling out new platforms, giving 110%, singing from the same song-sheet, prioritising, leveraging, benchmarking and, over and over again, proclaiming their passion. When a businessman claims to be
passionate about a product, a service or his customers, the term can nearly always be replaced more truthfully by the words hoping to make
pots of money from.

Front 431

Journalistic cliches

Back 431

Journalists can be as bad. Nothing betrays the lazy hack faster than fly-blown phrases used in the belief that they are snappy, trendy or cool. Banish from your mind, your prose and your headlines bridges
too far; empires striking back; kinder, gentler; F-words; flavours of the month; Generation X; hearts and minds; $64,000 questions; southern
discomfort; back to the future; shaken, not stirred; thirty-somethings; where’s the beef? and all such clichés.

Front 432

Do not borrow empty words...

Back 432

..and invoke paradigm shifts, wakeup calls, supply-side solutions, blue-sky thinking and social inclusion, while asserting their desire to go the extra mile and explain to all those people out there where they are coming from, even as they claim to be going forward. Making a difference is one of the most fatuous favourites.

Front 433

co-

Back 433

The prefix co- is sometimes useful but now overdone. In the sentences: He co-founded the company with Sir Alan or He co-wrote “The Left Nation” with Adrian Wulfric, the co- is unnecessary. Co-author and Cosleep
are worse than that. “We want parents…not to co-sleep with their baby,” said Professor Peter Fleming. This was because “the majority of
the co-sleeping deaths occurred in a hazardous sleeping environment.” (The Times, October 14th 2009) Co-workers are colleagues.

Front 434

coiffured

Back 434

Coiffed, not coiffured.

Front 435

collapse

Back 435

Collapse is not transitive. You may collapse, but you may not collapse something.

Front 436

collectable

Back 436

Since almost anything is now collected, collectable is a meaningless word. Valuable, popular or in demand may be what is meant.

Front 437

colons

Back 437

A colon should also be used “to deliver the goods that have been invoiced in the preceding words” (Fowler). They brought presents: gold, frankincense and oil at $100 a barrel.

Use a colon before a whole quoted sentence, but not before a quotation that begins in mid-sentence. She said: “It will never work.” He retorted that it had “always worked before”.

Front 438

come up with

Back 438

Try suggest, originate or produce.

Front 439

commas--how should we use them?

Back 439

Use commas as an aid to understanding. Too many in one sentence can be confusing.

Front 440

commas after a short phrase at the beginning of a sentence

Back 440

It is not always necessary to put a comma after a short phrase at the start of a sentence if no natural pause exists there: That night she took a tumble. But a breath, and so a comma, is needed after longer passages: When day broke and she was able at last to see what had happened, she discovered she had fallen through the roof and into the Big Brother
house.

Front 441

Commas when sentences have two contrasting points linked with a but...

Back 441

A comma is also needed when a sentence is composed of two contrasting points linked by but: At first she was glad to be alive, but joy turned to horror when she realised this fate was worse than death.

Front 442

Comma use when inserting a clause in the middle of a sentence...

Back 442

Use two commas, or none at all, when inserting a clause in the middle of a sentence. Thus, do not write: Use two commas, or none at all when inserting…or Use two commas or none at all, when inserting…

Similarly, two commas or none at all are needed with constructions like: And, though he denies it, he couldn’t tell a corncrake from a cornflake and But, when Bush came to Shuv, he found it was not a
town, just a Hebrew word for Return.

Front 443

Commas and the names of American states

Back 443

Commas are essential (and often left out) after the names of American states when these are written as
though they were part of an address: Kansas City, Kansas, proves that even Kansas City needn’t always be Missourible (Ogden Nash).

Front 444

Mary Queen of Scots sat down.

Back 444

Mary, Queen of Scots, sat down

Front 445

If a clause ends with a bracket where does the comma go?

Back 445

If the clause ends with a bracket, which is not uncommon (this one does), the bracket should be followed by a comma.

Front 446

Examples of commas changing the meaning of a sentence....

Back 446

Commas can alter the sense of a sentence. To write Mozart’s 40th symphony, in G minor, with commas indicates that this symphony was written in G minor. Without commas, Mozart’s 40th symphony in G
minor suggests he wrote 39 other symphonies in G minor.

Front 447

Commas and sequences of items

Back 447

Do not put a comma before and at the end of a sequence of items unless one of the items includes another and. Thus The doctor suggested an aspirin, half a grapefruit and a cup of broth. But he
ordered scrambled eggs, whisky and soda, and a selection from the trolley.

Front 448

Commas and quotations

Back 448

A quotation within a sentence needs to be preceded by a comma, or a colon, if the quotation is an entire sentence. The first quoted word should also have an initial capital. Thus The doctor responded, “You’ll probably be better in the morning, or dead,” before sampling a crème caramel. But....The doctor responded that he would “probably be better in the morning, or dead,” before sampling a crème caramel. In this example, it is known that the final quoted word was followed by a punctuation mark—a full stop, converted in the quotation into a comma—so the final comma is placed within the inverted commas. If, however, it is not known whether the quoted words constituted
a full sentence, assume that the quotation is unpunctuated and put the appropriate punctuation mark outside the inverted commas: On hearing that his patient had died and moreover was penniless, the doctor remarked that he wished he too had “sampled the whisky”.

Front 449

Commas and question marks

Back 449

Do not put commas after question-marks, even when they would be separated by quotation marks: “May I have a second helping?” he asked.

Front 450

commit

Back 450

Do not commit to, but by all means commit yourself to something. (Commit is transitive.)

Front 451

community

Back 451

Community is a useful word in the context of religious or ethnic groups. But in many other others it jars. Not only is it often unnecessary, it purports to convey a sense of togetherness that may well not exist. The business community means businessmen (who are
supposed to be competing, not colluding); the homosexual community means homosexuals, or gays; the intelligence community means spies (not famous for a readiness to co-operate, even with colleagues); the online community means either anyone with access to a computer or geeks and nerds; the migration and development communities (yes,
really) probably means NGOs; the international community, if it means anything, means other countries, aid agencies or, just occasionally, the
family of nations.

Front 452

compare to, compare with

Back 452

a is compared with b when you want to draw attention to the difference. a is compared to b only when you want to stress their similarity. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (W. Shakespeare)

Front 453

comparatives

Back 453

Take care. One thing may be many times more expensive than another. It cannot be many times cheaper (The Economist, August 9th 2003).
Indeed, it can be cheaper only by a proportion that is less than one. A different but similar mistake is to say that Zimbabweans have grown twice as poor under his stewardship (The Economist, April 9th 2005).
Instead, say Zimbabweans’ incomes have fallen by half under his stewardship (if that is what you mean, which, since one statement concerns income and the other wealth, it may not be).

Front 454

compensation

Back 454

To compensate means to make amends for, especially a loss or, in physics, a force. It is not a synonym for to pay or remunerate someone for work, still less for financial larceny.

Front 455

compound

Back 455

Compound does not mean make worse. It may mean combine or, intransitively, it may mean to agree or come to terms. To compound a felony means to agree for a consideration not to prosecute.

Front 456

comprise

Back 456

Do not write is comprised of. Comprise means is composed of. NATO’s force in Afghanistan comprises troops from 42 countries. America’s troops make up (not comprise) nearly half the force. Alternatively, Nearly half NATO’s
force in Afghanistan is composed of American troops.

Front 457

confectionary

Back 457

Confectionary: a sweet. Confectionery: sweets in general.

Front 458

Constituency

Back 458

Confusing term. In Britain this was long used to mean either a body of voters who elect a representative to a legislature or the place thus represented. In the United States constituency is used differently, to
mean an interest-group or component of a power-base. What the British call a constituency, Americans call a district, Canadians a riding
and Australians an electorate. In The Economist try to use constituency only in its long-standing British sense and in all contexts make the meaning clear, if necessary by writing electoral district.

Front 459

Federalist

Back 459

Confusing term. In Britain, someone who believes in centralising the powers of associated states; in the United States and Europe, someone who believes in decentralising them.

Front 460

Liberal

Back 460

Confusing term: in Europe, someone who believes above all in the freedom of the individual; in the United States, someone who believes in the
progressive tradition of Franklin Roosevelt. Such is the confusion that an article on America’s Supreme Court in The Economist of July 2nd 2005 had Anthony Kennedy as a conservative (meaning favourable
to displays of the Ten Commandments on government property) on one page and a liberal (meaning favourable to big government and big
business) on the next. The following week liberal was used in an article on Germany to mean favourable to labour-market reform, indirect taxation and cuts in subsidies.

Front 461

moot

Back 461

Confusing term: in British English, this means arguable, doubtful or open to debate; in the United States, it means hypothetical or academic, ie, of no practical significance.

Front 462

Offensive

Back 462

Confusing term: in Britain, offensive (as an adjective) usually means rude; in America, it tends to mean attacking. Similarly, to the British an offence is usually a crime or transgression; to Americans it is often an offensive, or the counterpart to a defence.

Front 463

Public schools

Back 463

Confusing term: in Britain, the places where fee-paying parents send their children; in the United States, the places where they don’t.

Front 464

Quite

Back 464

Confusing term: in America, quite is usually an intensifying adverb similar to altogether, entirely or very; in Britain, depending on the emphasis, the tone of voice and the adjective that follows, it usually means fairly, moderately or reasonably, and often damns with faint praise.

Front 465

Red and blue

Back 465

Confusing term: in Britain, colours that are associated with socialism and Conservatism respectively; in the United States, colours that are associated with Republicans and Democrats respectively.

Front 466

Social Security

Back 466

Confusing term: in America, Social Security means pensions; elsewhere it usually means state benefits more generally, which are called welfare in the United States.

Front 467

Confusing term: table

Back 467

Confusing term: In Britain, the act of bringing something forward for action; in the United States, just the opposite.

Front 468

Transportation

Back 468

Confusing term: in the United States, a means of getting from A to B; in Britain, a means of getting rid of convicts. Use transport.

Front 469

contretemps

Back 469

This is a hitch or embarrassment, something happening at an inopportune moment. It is not a minor disagreement.

Front 470

convince

Back 470

Convince should be followed by a noun or, in the passive, that or of. Do not convince people to do something. If you want to write to, the verb you need is persuade. The prime minister was persuaded to call a
June election; he was convinced of the wisdom of doing so only after he had won.

Front 471

the misuse of core

Back 471

Like key, core is a noun, often (too often) used adjectivally. Do not write: This is core.

Front 472

meaning of coruscate

Back 472

This means sparkle or throw off flashes of light, not wither, devastate, lash (that’s excoriate) or reduce to wrinkles (that’s corrugate). Neither does coruscating mean corrosive, bitter or burning (that’s caustic).

Front 473

could

Back 473

Could is sometimes useful as a variant of may or might: His coalition could (may or might) collapse. But take care. Does: He could call an election in June mean He may call an election in June or He would be allowed to call an election in June?
In general, prefer may, which is nearly always more precise. Why? Take this sentence from the Times (May 27th 2010): “Cab driver could have attacked 102 women.”

Front 474

misuse of crescendo

Back 474

This is not an acme, apogee, peak, summit or zenith but a passage of increasing loudness.

You cannot therefore build to a crescendo.

Front 475

use of crisis

Back 475

A crisis is a decisive event or turning-point. Many of the economic and political troubles wrongly described as crises are really persistent difficulties, sagas or affairs. Word is also overused.

Front 476

use of critique

Back 476

Critique is a noun. If you want a verb, try criticise.

Front 477

currencies

Back 477

Use $ as the standard currency and, on first mention of sums in all other currencies, give a dollar conversion in brackets. Spell out cents.

Front 478

British currency

Back 478

1p, 2p, 3p, etc to 99p (not £0.99)
£6 (not £6.00)
£5,000-6,000 (not £5,000-£6,000)
£5m-6m (not £5m-£6m)
£5 billion-6 billion (not £5-6 billion)

Front 479

European currency

Back 479

€ for those countries that have adopted it.

The plural of euro is euros (not euro, despite what it says on the notes).

Spell out cents.

Front 480

warnings about current, contemporary

Back 480

Current and contemporary mean at that time, not necessarily at this time. So a series of current prices from 1960 to 1970 will not be in today’s prices, just as contemporary art in 1800 was not modern art.
Contemporary history is a contradiction in terms.
Currently is much overused. Often it can be cut out, or a better word, such as now or today, used instead.

Front 481

warnings about cusp

Back 481

This is a pointed end or a horn of, eg, the moon, or the point at which two branches of a curve meet. It does not mean edge, brink or verge. Do not therefore write Japan is on the cusp of a recovery, unless you think the country will be skewered by it.

Front 482

customers

Back 482

Those who used to be travellers, passengers, patients, job-seekers or applicants now seem to be customers. Those who used to be customers now seem to be end-users. Such changes are better resisted.

Front 483

cyber-expressions

Back 483

Most cyber-terms are hyphenated: cyber-attack, cyber-soccer, etc, but cybernetics, cyberspace and cyberwars.

Front 484

dashes

Back 484

You can use dashes in pairs for parenthesis, but not more than one pair per sentence, ideally not more than one pair per paragraph.

Front 485

datelines

Back 485

Unless the article is by more than one person, the dateline cannot therefore include more than one place, any more than it could refer to more than one date. Only articles written by two or more people should carry two or more datelines, which should appear in
alphabetical order. Stories written in London do not generally carry a dateline. They need one only if they are about Britain but for some reason appear in one
of the non-British geographical sections (eg, Asia or United States), or if they are the work of two or more people and the story includes a significant passage about Britain (eg, a piece in Finance made up of two
reports that compares the New York and London stockmarkets).

Front 486

dates and date ranges

Back 486

April 21 2012 i.e.e Month, day, year, in that order, with no commas. Also:
July 4th
Monday July 4th
July 4th 2005
July 27th-August 3rd 2005
July 2002
1996-99
2002-05
1998-2003
1990s

Do not write on June 10th-14th. Prefer between June 10th and 14th. If, say, ministers are to meet over two days, write on December 14th and 15th.

Front 487

dates using AD or BC

Back 487

Dates that require AD or BC should be set as one unhyphenated word (76AD, 55BC), with the letters, but not the numerals, in Small capitals. Never use CE or BCE.

Front 488

Dates and last week, this week, next week

Back 488

Do not burden the reader with dates of no significance, but give a date rather than just last week, which can cause confusion. This week and next week are permissible.

Front 489

Dates at the start of a sentence...

Back 489

tend to be clumsy and off-putting. This week Congress is due to consider the matter is often better put
as: Congress is due to consider the matter this week. The effect is even more numbing if a comma is inserted: This week, Congress is due to consider the matter, though this construction is sometimes merited
when emphasis is needed on the date.

Front 490

use and misuse of deal

Back 490

Transitively, deal means distribute: He was dealt two aces, two kings and a six. Intransitively, deal means engage in business. Do not deal drugs, horses, weapons, etc; deal in them.

Front 491

decimate

Back 491

Decimate means to destroy a proportion (originally a tenth) of a group of people or things, not to destroy them all or nearly all.

Front 492

demographics

Back 492

Until recently, demographic was an adjective but it is proving useful as a term for facts about births and deaths, and the size and distribution of population and it would be foolish to ban it.

Front 493

deprecate, depreciate

Back 493

To deprecate is to argue or plead against (by prayer or otherwise). To depreciate is to lower in value.

Front 494

different

Back 494

Different from, not to or than.

Front 495

dilemma

Back 495

This is not just any old awkwardness, it is one with horns, being, properly, a form of argument (the horned syllogism) in which you find yourself committed to accept one of two propositions each of which
contradicts your original contention. Thus a dilemma offers a choice of between two alternatives, each with equally nasty consequences.

Front 496

disconnect

Back 496

Why not say disconnection? Would you use connect as a noun? In truth, in the contexts in which it is often used as a noun, disconnect is an unsatisfactory word, because it implies that a connection has in the past been made and is now severed, as in a broken telephone call. However, the person who reaches for disconnect – more often total disconnect – usually wants to use it to describe not the breaking but the absence of any connection: The San Francisco Fed’s economic projections show a total disconnect from the real world. This would be better as The San Francisco Fed’s economic projections have no connection with the real world.

Front 497

discreet, discrete

Back 497

Discreet means circumspect or prudent; discrete means separate or distinct.

Front 498

community

Back 498

disingenuous or wishful-thinking words: an expression that illogically attributes to people with one thing in common – their profession, their recent acquisition
of a particular make of car or their readiness to subscribe to the same magazine – a sense of common cause or even brotherhood where none probably exists. The international community is but one example.

Front 499

Take ownership of

Back 499

disingenuous or wishful-thinking words. This means take responsibility for. It is dishonestly used when something – an aid programme, a policy or a chore – is
passed from one party to another as what appears to be a handsome present but is in reality an obligation to take charge of this thing with few of the attributes of real ownership, notably the freedom to sell, dump or otherwise dispose of it.

Front 500

Team

Back 500

disingenuous or wishful thinking words: This is business-speak for any group of two or more people
engaged in the same enterprise.

Front 501

disinterested, uninterested

Back 501

Disinterested means impartial; uninterested means bored

Front 502

Dominicans

Back 502

Take care. Do they come from Dominica? Or the Dominican Republic? Or are they friars?

Front 503

down to

Back 503

Down to earth, yes, but Occasional court victories are not down to human rights (The Economist)? No. Down to does not mean caused by, attributable to, the responsibility of or even up to (It’s up to you).

Front 504

driver

Back 504

Once familiar behind the wheels of cars and on the footplates of railway engines, drivers – often key drivers – are now behind change of every kind. Try agent.

Front 505

drop capitals

Back 505

Use drop capitals at the beginning of every article. The remainder of the first word (and second word if the first is of only one or two letters) should be set in ordinary capitals, along with any possessive s. If the opening words of the article are a proper name, the entire name should be set in capitals, with the first letter dropped. Try to avoid starting articles with long proper names.
When an article starts with a quotation, the opening inverted commas, as well as the first letter, should be set as a drop capital...

Front 506

due process

Back 506

Due process is a techical term, or piece or Jargon (qv), which may not be understood by non-Americans, even though the term was first used in England in 1355. It comes in two forms, substantive due process, which relates to the duties of governments to act rationally and proportionally when doing anything that affects citizens’ rights, and procedural due process, which relates to the need for fair procedures. If you use the expression, make sure it is clear what you mean by it. A
preferable alternative may be legally, properly or in accordance with the law.

Front 507

due to

Back 507

When used to mean caused by, due to must follow a noun, as in The cancellation, due to rain, of... Do not write: It was cancelled due to rain. If you mean because of and for some reason are reluctant to say it, you
probably want owing to.

It was cancelled owing to rain is all right.

Front 508

earnings

Back 508

Do not write earnings when you mean profits (try to say if they are operating, gross, pre-tax or net).

Front 509

e-expressions

Back 509

Except at the start of a sentence, the e- is lower case and hyphenated:

e-business
e-commerce
e-mail

Front 510

Computer terms

Back 510

usually lower case:
dotcom
home page
keyword
laptop
online
the net (and internet)
the web, website and world wide web
But Wi-Fi

And just www.economist.com

Front 511

-effective, -efficient

Back 511

Cost-effective sounds authoritative, but does it mean good value for money, gives a big bang for the buck or just plain cheap? If cheap, say cheap. Energy-efficient is also dubious. Does it mean thrifty, economical or something else? Efficiency is the ratio of work put out to
work put in.

Front 512

effectively, in effect, effectual

Back 512

Effectively means with effect; if you mean in effect, say it. The matter was effectively dealt with on Friday means it was done well on Friday. The matter was, in effect, dealt with on Friday means it was more
or less attended to on Friday. Effectively leaderless would do as a description of the demonstrators in Tahrir Square in 2011. An effective tax rate of 90% is likely to cut, not increase, revenues. The devaluation of the Slovak currency in 1993, described by some as an effective 8%, turned out to be a rather ineffective 8%. The Philippine economy, it has been said, is effectively
managed by a mere 60 families. Some would be less complimentary about their stewardship.

Effectually means successfully carried out with the intended effect.

Front 513

elite, elitist

Back 513

Once a neutral word meaning a chosen group or the pick of the bunch, elite is now almost always used pejoratively. Elitist and elitism are even more reprehensible. Only elite forces seem to escape censure. Though scornful of elites in education and politics, most people, when taken hostage, are happy to be rescued by elite troops. Choose such words with care.

Front 514

enclave, exclave

Back 514

An enclave is a piece of territory entirely surrounded by foreign territory or territorial water (Ceuta, Kaliningrad, Melilla, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan, etc). An exclave is the same thing, viewed differently, if, and only if, it belongs to another country (so Andorra and
San Marino are not exclaves).

Front 515

endemic, epidemic

Back 515

Endemic means prevalent or generally found in a place or population.

Epidemic means prevalent among a population at a particular time.

Front 516

enormity

Back 516

Enormity means a crime, sin or monstrous wickedness. It does not mean immensity or vastness.

Front 517

environment

Back 517

Avoid the business environment, the school environment, the work environment, etc. Try to rephrase the sentence—conditions for business, at school, at work, etc. Surroundings can sometimes do the job.

Front 518

epicentre

Back 518

Few words are so often misused. Epicentre means that point on the surface (usually the Earth’s) above the centre of something below (usually an earthquake). To say that Egypt is not Tunisia, it’s the epicentre of the Arab world (New York Times, February 1st 2011) suggests that most of the Arab world is underground.

Front 519

eponymous

Back 519

This is the adjective of eponym, which is the person or thing after which something is named. So George Canning was the eponymous hero of the Canning Club. Do not say John Sainsbury, the founder of the eponymous supermarket. Rather he was the eponymous founder of J. Sainsbury.

Front 520

ethnic groups - black, African-American and native American

Back 520

Avoid giving offence. But also avoid mealy-mouthed Euphemisms (qv) and terms that have not generally caught on despite promotion by pressure-groups. In the United States many black people are happy to be called blacks, although more probably prefer to be African-Americans. Black is therefore best kept for use as an adjective. Both native American and Indian are acceptable as terms for indigenous Americans.

Front 521

ethnic groups - Latino

Back 521

When writing about Spanish-speaking people in the United States, use either Latino or Hispanic as a general term, but try to be specific (eg, Mexican-American). Many Latin Americans (eg, those from Brazil) are not Hispanic.

Front 522

ethnic groups - British Asians

Back 522

In Britain, but nowhere else, Asians is often used to mean immigrants and their descendants from the Indian subcontinent. Many such people are coming to dislike the term, and many foreigners may assume it
means people from all over Asia, so take care. Note that, even in the usage peculiar to Britain, Asian is not synonymous with Muslim.

Do not call people who are neither pure white nor pure black browns.

Front 523

ethnic groups - Africans

Back 523

Africans may be descended from Asians, Europeans or black Africans. If you specifically mean the latter, write black Africans, not simply Africans.

Front 524

People of mixed race in South Africa...

Back 524

are Coloureds.

Front 525

ethnic groups - Anglo-Saxon

Back 525

Anglo-Saxon is not a synonym for English-speaking. Neither the United States nor Australia is an Anglo-Saxon country; nor is Britain. Anglo- Saxon capitalism does not exist.

Front 526

ethnic or race or racial?

Back 526

Ethnic, meaning concerning nations or races or even something ill defined in between, is a useful word. But do not be shy of race and racial. After several years in which race was seen as a purely social concept, not a scientific one, the term is coming back among scientists
as a shorthand way of speaking about genetic rather than cultural or political differences.

Front 527

euphemisms

Back 527

Avoid, where possible, euphemisms and circumlocutions, especially those promoted by interest-groups keen to please their clients or organisations anxious to avoid embarrassment. This does not mean that good writers should be insensitive of giving offence: on the contrary, if you are to be persuasive, you would do well to be courteous. But a good writer owes something to plain speech, the English language and the truth, as well as to manners.

Front 528

offending behaviour

Back 528

probably criminal behaviour

Front 529

Female teenagers

Back 529

girls

Front 530

mobility impairment

Back 530

probably means wheelchair-bound

Front 531

Developing countries

Back 531

are often stagnating or even regressing (try poor) countries.

Front 532

underprivileged

Back 532

may be disadvantaged, but are more likely just
poor (the very concept of underprivilege is absurd, since it implies that some people receive less than their fair share of something that is by definition an advantage or prerogative).

Front 533

University development officers

Back 533

fundraisers

Front 534

high-net-worth individuals

Back 534

rich men or rich women

Front 535

float valve

Back 535

ballcock

Front 536

The astrological sign Crab or Moonchild

Back 536

Cancer

Front 537

Blush oranges

Back 537

should indeed be embarrassed because they are really blood oranges

Front 538

Stakeholders

Back 538

probably vested interests

Front 539

Intimate apparel

Back 539

underwear

Front 540

Quantitative easing

Back 540

increasing the money supply

Front 541

Revenue enhancements

Back 541

tax increases

Front 542

The IMF’s relational capitalism

Back 542

nepotism or corruption

Front 543

Non-observable inputs

Back 543

assumptions used in self-serving guesswork

Front 544

Euphemisms military

Back 544

Terms like transfer of population and rectification of
frontiers put names on things without evoking mental pictures of them. Friendly fire, body count, prisoner abuse, smart bombs, surgical strike, collateral damage have been coined more recently with the same ends
in mind. Thus in Britain the War Office and the secretary of state for war became the Ministry of Defence and the defence minister. In due course nuclear weapons became nuclear deterrents – unless they were
held by bad people. The Reagan administration spoke of its airborne invasion of Grenada in 1983 as a vertical insertion. The butchers of the Balkans produced ethnic cleansing, and the jihadists of al-Qaeda have offered sacred explosions in place of Islamically incorrect suicidebombs. The Bush administration, with its all-justifying war on terror (prosecuted with the help of the Patriot Act), provided more than its fair share of bland misnomers. Its practice of enhanced interrogation was torture, just as its practice of rendition was kidnapping, extraordinary rendition was probably torture contracted out to foreigners and its
self-injurious behaviour incidents at Guantánamo Bay were attempted suicides. Some of those who now advocate a military attack on Iran refer to it as the kinetic option.

Front 545

human-rights abuses

Back 545

The term may occasionally be useful, but try to avoid it by rephrasing the sentence more pithily and accurately. The army is accused of committing numerous human-rights abuses probably means The army is accused of torture and murder.

Front 546

Decommissioning weapons

Back 546

disarming

Front 547

Euro-terms

Back 547

The prefix for anything relating to the European Union is Euro- ; euro- is the prefix for anything relating to the currency.

When making Euro- or euro-words, always introduce a hyphen, except for Europhile, Europhobe and Eurosceptic. Prefer euro zone or euro area (two words, no hyphen) to euro-land.

Front 548

Euro sets of initials

Back 548

An IGC is an inter-governmental conference, the CAP is the common agricultural policy and the ERM is the exchange-rate mechanism. Remember EMU stands for economic (not European) and monetary union.

Front 549

euthanise

Back 549

Horrible word, best put to sleep.

Front 550

evangelical, evangelistic

Back 550

Evangelical means pertaining to the Gospel and so, among Protestants, relating to a church that believes in the sole authority and inerrancy of the Bible. Evangelistic means prone to evangelising, which is to say
preaching, though not necessarily religiously. Only a church with Evangelical in its name, or a member of such a church, should be given an initial capital; the rest are evangelical.

Front 551

ex-

Back 551

Ex- (and former): be careful. A Communist ex-member has lost his seat; an ex-Communist member has lost his party.

Front 552

exception proves the rule

Back 552

The finding of an exception tests the genuineness of the rule (as the proofing of a gun tests its barrels and the proof of the pudding is in the eating). The saying does not mean that the existence of an exception affirms the
validity of the rule.

Front 553

execute

Back 553

Execute means put to death by law. Do not use it as a synonym for murder. An extra-judicial execution is a contradiction in terms.

Front 554

exhausting, exhaustive

Back 554

One is tiring, the other thorough.

Front 555

existential

Back 555

Often used, seldom understood, even it seems by those who use it, existential means of or pertaining to existence. In logic it may mean predicating existence, and in other philosophical contexts, relating to
existentialism. It is sometimes used in such phrases as existential threat or existential crisis, where the author wants it to mean a threat to the existence (of Israel, say) or a crisis that calls into question the existence
of something (eg, NATO). But in most instances, including most in The Economist, it seems to serve no purpose other than to make the author believe he is impressing his readers

Front 556

exotic

Back 556

Exotic means outlandish or introduced from a foreign country. It is the opposite of indigenous. Do not confuse it with erotic. An exotic dancer comes from abroad, which is not a guarantee of terpsichorean titillation.

Front 557

fact

Back 557

The fact that can often be reduced to That

Front 558

factoid

Back 558

This is something that sounds like a fact, is thought by many to be a fact (perhaps because it is repeated so often), but is not in fact a fact.

Front 559

false possessive

Back 559

An ’s at the end of a word, in the possessive or genitive case, does the job of of. An increasingly common practice is to use it to do the job of in. Thus buildings or places are described as, eg, New York’s Chrysler Building, or Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Do not commit this sin.

Front 560

fed up

Back 560

Fed up with, not of.

Front 561

fellow

Back 561

Jolly good as a noun, but fellow is often unnecessary as an adjective, especially before countrymen: “Friends, Romans, fellow-countrymen”?

Front 562

feral

Back 562

This word can mean brutish or uncultivated, but is best used of plants, animals, children etc that were once tamed or domesticated but have run wild.

Front 563

ferment, foment

Back 563

These are two unrelated words that can sometimes, as transitive verbs, be used interchangeably. To ferment means to cause fermentation, to agitate, to excite – or indeed to foment, which strictly means to bathe
with warm lotions and so to foster, stimulate or instigate (trouble, usually).

Front 564

fewer than, less than

Back 564

Fewer (not less) than seven speeches, fewer than seven samurai. Use fewer, not less, with numbers of individual items or people.

Less than £200, less than 700 tonnes of oil, less than a third, because these are measured quantities or proportions, not individual items.

Front 565

Fief or fiefdom.

Back 565

fief

Front 566

figures at the start of sentences

Back 566

Never start a sentence with a figure; write the number in words instead. In general, though, use figures for numerals from 11 upwards.

first to tenth centuries
20th century, 21st century
20th-century ideas
in 100 years’ time
a 29-year-old man
a man in his 20s
20th anniversary
The Thirty Years War is an exception.

Front 567

figures including a decimal point and fractions

Back 567

Use figures, too, for all numerals that include a decimal point (eg, 4.25). Figures may also be appropriate for fractions, if the context is either technical or precise, or both (eg, Though the poll’s figures were supposed to be accurate to within 1%, his lead of 4¼ points turned out
on election day to be minus 3½). Where precision is less important but it is nonetheless impossible to shoot off the fraction, words may look better: Though the beast was sold as two-year-old, it turned out to be two-and-a-half times that.

Use figures, too, for all numerals that include a decimal point (eg, 4.25). Figures may also be appropriate for fractions, if the context is either technical or precise, or both (eg, Though the poll’s figures were supposed to be accurate to within 1%, his lead of 4¼ points turned out
on election day to be minus 3½). Where precision is less important but it is nonetheless impossible to shoot off the fraction, words may look better: Though the beast was sold as two-year-old, it turned out to be two-and-a-half times that.

Do not compare a fraction with a decimal (so avoid The rate fell from 3¼% to 3.1%).

Front 568

Fractions versus decimal useage

Back 568

Fractions may be more precise than decimals (3.33 neglects an infinity of figures that are included in ¹³ ), but your readers probably will not think so. You should therefore use fractions for rough figures (Kenya’s
population is growing at 3½% a year, A hectare is 2½ acres) and decimals for more exact ones: The retail price index is rising at an annual rate of 10.6%. But treat all numbers with respect. That usually means resisting the precision of more than one decimal place, and
generally favouring rounding off. Beware of phoney over-precision.

Front 569

Figures in percentages

Back 569

Use words for simple numerals from one to ten, except: in references to pages; in percentages (eg, 4%); and in sets of numerals, some of which are higher than ten, eg, Deaths from this cause in the past three years
were 14, 9 and 6. It is occasionally permissible to use words rather than numbers when referring to a rough or rhetorical figure (such as a thousand curses).

Front 570

millions and billions

Back 570

Use m for million, but spell out billion, except in charts, where bn is permissible but not obligatory. Thus: 8m, £8m, 8 billion, €8 billion. A billion is a thousand million, a trillion a thousand billion, a quadrillion a thousand trillion.

Front 571

ranges and millions and billions

Back 571

Use 5,000-6,000, 5-6%, 5m-6m (not 5-6m) and 5 billion-6 billion. But sales rose from 5m to 6m (not 5m-6m); estimates ranged between 5m and 6m (not 5m-6m).

$5,000-6,000 (not $5,000-£6,000)
$5m-6m (not $5m-$6m)
$5 billion-6 billion (not $5-6 billion)

Front 572

ratios and votes

Back 572

Where to is being used as part of a ratio, it is usually best to spell everything out without dashes or hyphens. Thus: They decided, by nine votes to two, to put the matter to the assembly, which voted, 27 to 19, to insist that the ratio of vodka to tomato juice in a bloody mary
should be at least one to three, though the odds of this being so in most bars were put at no better than 11 to 4. Where a ratio is being used adjectivally, figures and hyphens may be used, but only if one of the figures is greater than ten: thus a 50-20 vote, a 19-9 vote. Otherwise, spell out the figures and use to: a two-to-one vote, a ten-to-one probability.

Front 573

Using a hyphen instead of "to"

Back 573

Do not use a hyphen in place of to except with figures: He received a sentence of 15-20 years in jail but He promised to escape within three to four weeks.

Front 574

per annum

Back 574

With figures, use a person or per person, a year or per year, not per caput, per capita or per annum.

Front 575

Units of measurement (non-US)

Back 575

In most non-American contexts, prefer hectares to acres, kilometres (or km) to miles, metres to yards, litres to gallons, kilos to lb, tonnes to tons, Celsius to Fahrenheit, etc.

Front 576

Units of measurement (US)

Back 576

In the United States section, you may use the measurements more familiar to Americans (though remember that American pints, quarts, gallons etc are smaller than imperial ones). Regardless of which you choose, you should give an equivalent, on first use, in the other units: It was hoped that after improvements to
the engine the car would give 20km to the litre (47 miles per American gallon), compared with its present average of 15km per litre.

Front 577

who buys petrol in imperial gallons?

Back 577

Remember that in few countries do you now buy petrol in imperial gallons. In America it is sold in American gallons; in most other places it is sold in litres.

Front 578

The style for aircraft types

Back 578

can be confusing. Look it up.

Front 579

Style for calibres...

Back 579

The style for calibres is 50mm or 105mm with no hyphen, but 5.5-inch and 25-pounder.

Front 580

% or per cent?

Back 580

Use the sign % instead of per cent. But write percentage, not %age (though in most contexts proportion or share is preferable).

Front 581

A fall from 4% to 2%...

Back 581

is a drop of two percentage points, or of 50%, but not of 2%.

Front 582

Roman numerals should not be..

Back 582

set in small capitals

Front 583

A four-by-four vehicle...

Back 583

can be a 4x4

Front 584

Precision in figures

Back 584

Do not use pointlessly exact or unknowable statistics in an attempt to lend weight to an article, as in 178,000 manganese nodules lie at the bottom of the Sargasso sea. And, even worse, do not disguise ignorance
by qualifying figures with the words up to, as advertisers do when claiming their product lasts up to 80% longer.

Front 585

finally

Back 585

Do not use finally when you mean eventually or at last. Richard Burton finally marries Liz Taylor would have been all right second time round but not first.

Front 586

firm

Back 586

Accountants’, consultants’, lawyers’ and other partnerships are firms, not companies. Huge enterprises, like GE, GM, Ford, Microsoft and so
on, should, by contrast, normally, be called companies, though they may sometimes be called firms for variety.

Front 587

flaunt, flout

Back 587

Flaunt means display; flout means disdain. If you flout this distinction, you will flaunt your ignorance.

Front 588

focus

Back 588

Focus can be a useful verb. It is shorter than concentrate and sharper than look at. But it is overused.

Front 589

footnotes, sources, etc

Back 589

Place footnotes at the bottom of the column in which they are referred to. Books should be in quotation marks, periodicals in italics, authors, publishers, addresses (optional), websites and prices in roman.
Commas should follow the title and the publisher (if an address is given). The other elements should each be followed by a full stop. In footnotes use ordinary capitals, not small ones. Thus:
*“A Child’s Guide to the Dismal Science”, by Rupert Penandwig. Haphazard House, 1234 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10019. $28.

Front 590

Foreign words

Back 590

Look it up, pages 68 and 69

Front 591

forensic

Back 591

Forensic means pertaining to courts of law (held by the Romans in the forum) or, more loosely, the application of science to legal issues. Forensic medicine is medical jurisprudence. Forensic does not mean very careful or very detailed.

Front 592

forgo, forego

Back 592

Forgo means do without; it forgoes the e. Forego means go before. A foregone conclusion is one that is predetermined; a forgone conclusion is non-existent.

Front 593

former and latter

Back 593

Avoid the use of the former and the latter whenever possible. It usually causes confusion.

Front 594

Frankenstein

Back 594

Frankenstein was not the monster but its creator

Front 595

free

Back 595

Free is an adjective or an adverb, so you cannot have or do anything for free. Either you have it free or you have it for nothing.

Front 596

fresh

Back 596

Fresh is not a synonym for new or more. A few hundred fresh bodies are being recovered every day, reported The Economist improbably two months after a tsunami had struck. Use with care.

Front 597

full stops

Back 597

Use plenty. They keep sentences short. This helps the reader.

Do not use full stops in abbreviations or at the end of rubrics.

Front 598

fulsome

Back 598

This is an old word that Americans tend to use only to mean cloying, insincere or excessively flattering. But it can, in British English, also mean copious, abundant or lavish.

Front 599

fund

Back 599

Fund is a technical term, meaning to convert floating debt into more or less permanent debt at fixed interest. Try to avoid it if you mean to finance or to pay for.

Front 600

garner

Back 600

Garner means store, not gather.

Front 601

gearing

Back 601

Gearing is an ugly word which, if used, needs to be explained. It may be either the ratio of debt to equity or the ratio of debt to total capital employed.

Front 602

gender

Back 602

Stick to sex if possible.

Front 603

generation

Back 603

Take care. You can be a second-generation Frenchman, but if you are a second-generation immigrant that means you have left the country your parents came to.

Front 604

Style for genes

Back 604

complicated, look it up, various issues

Front 605

Gentlemen’s agreement or gentleman’s agreement?

Back 605

gentlemen’s agreement

Front 606

geography

Back 606

Geography is the science of the Earth’s surface and those who live on it. Do not use it to mean place (eg, “She has built a portfolio of directorships in different industries and geographies”).

Front 607

get

Back 607

Get is an adaptable verb, but it has its limits. A man does not get sacked or promoted, he is sacked or promoted. Nor does a prizewinner get to shake hands with the president, or spend the money all at once; he gets the chance to, or is able to, or is allowed to.

Front 608

girn, gurn

Back 608

Use girn for complain, gurn for pull a face.

Front 609

global

Back 609

Globalisation can go to the head. It is not necessary to describe, eg, the head of Baker & McKenzie as the global boss of that firm.

Front 610

good in parts

Back 610

Good in parts is what the curate said about an egg that was wholly bad. He was trying to be polite.

Front 611

gourmet, gourmand

Back 611

Gourmet means epicure; gourmand means greedy-guts

Front 612

governance

Back 612

It means simply government, a word that serves the same purpose without any of the pretensions of governance.

Front 613

grisly, gristly, grizzly, grizzling

Back 613

Grisly is frightful. Gristly is like school stew. Grizzly is grey, and also a bear. Grizzling is grumbling.

Front 614

ground rules

Back 614

Just as house rules are the rules of the particular house, so ground rules are the rules of the particular ground (or grounds). They are not basic or general rules.

Front 615

ground zero

Back 615

This is any place of devastation, originally in Hiroshima and Nagasaki where atom bombs fell in 1946, not only the site of the World Trade Centre in New York.

Front 616

halve

Back 616

Halve is a transitive verb, so deficits, for example, can double but not halve. They must be halved or fall by half.

Front 617

haver

Back 617

Haver means to talk nonsense, not dither, swither or waver.

Front 618

headings and captions

Back 618

Headings and captions set the tone of the paper: they are more read than anything else. Use them, therefore, to draw readers in, not to repel them. That means wit (where appropriate), not bad puns; sharpness
(ditto), not familiarity (call people by their last names, not their first names); originality, not clichés.

Front 619

health care

Back 619

The American system of health care (adjective, health-care) for the poor is Medicaid, and for the elderly is Medicare. Canada’s national healthcare system is also called Medicare.

Front 620

healthy

Back 620

If you think something is desirable or good, say so. Do not call it healthy.

Front 621

heave, heaved, hove

Back 621

The past participle of heave is heaved or, especially in nautical contexts, hove. To hove is to swell or rise, or even hover, loiter or linger, or was when Spenser used it thus. Nowadays avoid hoved.

Front 622

historic, historical

Back 622

historic is best reserved for objects, events, eras and so on that may come to be considered notable in history (a judgment, incidentally, often made swiftly and implausibly by journalists). Historical should be used to
mean relating to history, associated with it or derived from it.

Front 623

hoard, horde

Back 623

Few secreted treasures (hoards) are multitudes on the move (hordes).

Front 624

Hobson’s choice

Back 624

Hobson’s choice is not the lesser of two evils; it is no choice at all. Morton’s fork is an unavoidable choice between two alternatives, each of which leads to an unpleasant outcome (originally, the same
conclusion, the payment of forced loans).

Front 625

holistic

Back 625

Holistic properly refers to a theory developed by Jan Smuts, who argued that, through creative evolution, nature tended to form wholes greater than the sum of the parts.

Front 626

home

Back 626

When you read that “she had seven homes in four continents”, you inevitably wonder whether any of them was truly a home, not just a house. Home, according to the Shorter Oxford Dictionary (1973), is “the dwelling in which one habitually lives, or which one regards as one’s
proper abode”. Would it not therefore be better to say she had seven houses?

Yes, if they were indeed houses, but perhaps some were apartments or condominiums or palaces. As a generic term, home is useful, even though it may be inaccurate. If possible, though, it is preferable to be
precise and write house or flat or shack or castle: home is where the heart is.

Front 627

homeland

Back 627

Although it is now used as a populist euphemism for the United States’ domestic territory, your homeland is your native land, your motherland or even your fatherland.

Front 628

homogeneous, homogenous

Back 628

Homogeneous means of the same kind or nature. Homogenous means similar because of common descent.

Front 629

homosexual

Back 629

Since homosexual comes from the Greek word homos (same), not the Latin word homo (man), it applies as much to women as to men. It is therefore as daft to write homosexuals and lesbians as to write people and women.

Front 630

hopefully

Back 630

Some authorities say it is pedantic and outmoded to object to the use of hopefully to mean it is hoped that.
By all means begin an article hopefully, but do not write: Hopefully, it will be finished by Wednesday. Try: With luck, if all goes well, it is hoped that...

Front 631

advert

Back 631

Horrible words: if you must shorten advertisement, go for ad.

Front 632

any time soon

Back 632

Horrible words

Front 633

auteur

Back 633

Horrible words: pretentious word for author, writer

Front 634

Big Pharma

Back 634

Horrible words

Front 635

chattering classes

Back 635

Horrible words

Front 636

commit to

Back 636

Horrible words, as in meaning commit yourself to

Front 637

diapers

Back 637

Horrible words

Front 638

facilitate

Back 638

Horrible words

Front 639

famously

Back 639

Horrible words: the sentence improved by the inclusion of this word has yet to be written.

Front 640

gallerist, galeriste

Back 640

Horrible words

Front 641

going forward

Back 641

Horrible words: meaning in future, seen even in the New York Times

Front 642

guesstimate, insightful, kids, materiel, poster child, prestigious, prioritise, proactive, rack up, savvy, scalable, segue, stakeholder

Back 642

More horrible words

Front 643

grow

Back 643

Horrible words: the business, etc)

Front 644

impact

Back 644

Horrible words: used as a verb; affect will do the job

Front 645

informed

Back 645

Horrible words: as in his love of language informed his memos

Front 646

Islamo-fascism

Back 646

Horrible words: meaningless term tainted with bigotry

Front 647

likely

Back 647

Horrible word when used to mean probably rather than probable

Front 648

looking to

Back 648

Horrible word meaning intending to

Front 649

many words ending -ee

Back 649

are horrible

Front 650

rack up

Back 650

as in profits etc, horrible.

Front 651

showcase

Back 651

as a verb is horrible

Front 652

source

Back 652

used as meaning obtain is horrible

Front 653

top

Back 653

horrible when used as an adjective, biggest or leading is usually preferable

Front 654

hyphens

Back 654

There is no firm rule to help you decide which words are run together, hyphenated or left separate. In general, try to avoid putting hyphens into words formed of one word and a short prefix.

Fractions (whether nouns or adjectives): two-thirds.

Most words that begin with: anti, counter, fellow, half, inter, non and semi.

Front 655

hyphens and adverbs

Back 655

Adverbs do not need to be linked to participles or adjectives by hyphens in simple constructions: The regiment was ill equipped for its task; The principle is well established; Though expensively educated,
the journalist knew no grammar. But if the adverb is one of two words together being used adjectivally, a hyphen may be needed: The ill-equipped
regiment was soon repulsed; All well-established principles should be periodically challenged. The hyphen is especially likely to be needed if the adverb is short and common, such as ill, little, much and well. Less-common adverbs, including all those that end -ly, are less likely to need hyphens: Never employ an expensively educated journalist.

Front 656

hyphens and separating identical letters

Back 656

Separating identical letters: book-keeping (but bookseller), coat-tails, co-operate, unco-operative, pre-eminent, pre-empt (but predate, precondition).

Exceptions include lamppost, overreach, override, overrule, skiing, underrate, withhold.

Front 657

hyphens and some nouns formed from prepositional verbs:

Back 657

bail-out, build-up, call-up, get-together, lay-off, pay-off, round-up, setup, shake-up, stand-off (but fallout, handout, lockout, turnout).

Front 658

hyphens and the quarters of the compass:

Back 658

north-east(ern), south-east(ern) etc

Front 659

hyphens and makers

Back 659

A general, though not iron, rule for makers: if the prefix is of one or two syllables, attach it without a hyphen to form a single word, but if the prefix is of three or more syllables, introduce a hyphen. So carmaker, chipmaker, peacemaker, marketmaker, troublemaker, but
candlestick-maker, holiday-maker, tiramisu-maker, antimacassarmaker. Policymaker (one word) is an exception.

Front 660

hyphens and -er

Back 660

With other words ending -er that are similar to maker (builder, dealer, driver, grower, owner, player, runner, seeker, trafficker, worker etc), the general rule should be to insert a hyphen. But some prefixes, especially those of one syllable, can be used to form single words (coalminer, foxhunter, householder, landowner,
metalworker, muckraker, nitpicker, shipbroker, steeplechaser), and some combinations will be better left as two words (insurance broker, crossword compiler, tuba player).

Front 661

hyphens and years and dates

Back 661

Avoid from 1947-50 (write in 1947-50 or from 1947 to 1950) and between

Front 662

hypothermia, hyperthermia

Back 662

Hypothermia is what kills old folk in winter. If you say it is hyperthermia, that means they have been carried off by heat stroke.

Front 663

identical

Back 663

Identical with, not to.

Front 664

ilk

Back 664

Ilk means same, so of that ilk means of the place of the same name as the family, not of that kind. Best avoided.

Front 665

immanent, imminent

Back 665

Immanent means pervading or inherent. Imminent means threatening or impending. An immanent God is not necessarily about to make a second coming.

Front 666

immolate

Back 666

Immolate means to sacrifice, not to burn.

Front 667

important

Back 667

If something is important, say why and to whom. Use sparingly, and avoid such unexplained claims as this important house, the most important painter of the 20th century. See Loaded words

Front 668

impracticable, impractical

Back 668

If something is impracticable, it cannot be done. If it’s impractical, it is not worth trying to do it.

Front 669

inchoate

Back 669

Inchoate means not fully developed or at an early stage, not incoherent or chaotic.

Front 670

including

Back 670

When including is used as a preposition, as it often is, it must be followed by a noun, pronoun or noun clause, not by another preposition. So "Iran needs more investment, including for its tired oil industry" is ungrammatical. The sentence should be rephrased, either as "Iran needs more investment, especially for its tired oil industry" or perhaps as "Iran, including its tired oil industry, needs more investment".

Front 671

individual

Back 671

Used occasionally, the noun individual can be a useful colloquial term for chap or bloke or guy. Used indiscriminately as a term for person or, in the plural, people, it becomes bureaucratic.

Front 672

initial, initially

Back 672

Prefer first, at first.

Front 673

interesting

Back 673

Like Important (qv) and funny, interesting makes assumptions about the word or words it describes that may not be shared by the reader. Facts and stories introduced as interesting often turn out to be
something else: Interestingly, my father-in-law was born in Dorking. If something really is interesting, you probably do not need to say so.

Front 674

inverted commas (quotation marks) and single quotation marks

Back 674

Use single ones only for quotations within quotations. Thus:

“When I say ‘immediately’, I mean some time before April,” said the spokesman.

Front 675

inverted commas: quotation marks and punctuation: Hart’s rules.

Back 675

If an extract ends with a full stop or question-mark,
put the punctuation before the closing inverted commas.

His maxim was that “love follows laughter.” In this spirit came his opening gambit: “What’s the difference between a buffalo and a bison?”

If a complete sentence in quotes comes at the end of a larger sentence, the final stop should be inside the inverted commas.
Thus, The answer was, “You can’t wash your hands in a buffalo.” She replied, “Your jokes are execrable.”

Front 676

inverted commas: quotation marks and no punctuation:

Back 676

If the quotation does not include any punctuation, the closing inverted commas should precede any punctuation marks that the sentence requires. Thus: She had already noticed that the “young man” looked
about as young as the New Testament is new. Although he had been described as “fawnlike in his energy and playfulness”, “a stripling with
all the vigour and freshness of youth”, and even as “every woman’s dream toyboy”, he struck his companion-to-be as the kind of old man warned of by her mother as “not safe in taxis”. Where, now that she
needed him, was “Mr Right”?

Front 677

inverted commas: quotation marks and broken off quotes

Back 677

When a quotation is broken off and resumed after such words as he said, ask yourself whether it would naturally have had any punctuation at the point where it is broken off. If the answer is yes, a comma is
placed within the quotation marks to represent this. Thus, “If you’ll let me see you home,” he said, “I think I know where we can find a cab.”

The comma after home belongs to the quotation and so comes within the inverted commas, as does the final full stop. But if the words to be quoted are continuous, without punctuation at the point where they are broken, the comma should be outside the
inverted commas.

Thus, “My bicycle”, she assured him, “awaits me.”

Front 678

Punctuation if you quote an entire sentence within a sentence...

Back 678

A quotation within a sentence needs to be preceded by a comma, a colon, or a word such as that (or if, because, whether etc). The first quoted word should also have an initial capital. Thus: Unperturbed, he responded, “We can fit it in, with a bit of luck.” If the words quoted are not an entire sentence, neither comma nor capital is needed: Unperturbed, he responded that they “could fit it in, with a bit of luck.” In this example, it is known that the final quoted word was followed by a punctuation mark, a full stop,
which is therefore placed within the inverted commas. If, however, it is not known whether the quoted words constituted a full sentence,
assume that the quotation is unpunctuated and put the appropriate punctuation mark outside the inverted commas: Having impaled himself with a handle-bar in the back of the cab, he was heard to say he “now realised what was meant by fatal attraction”.

Front 679

quote a full sentence and precede it with the word that

Back 679

If you want to quote a full sentence and precede it with the word that (etc), no comma is needed before the inverted commas, but the first quoted word still needs an initial capital: On learning that he was only
scratched, her comment was that “Next time I hope Cupid’s dart will be tipped with curare.”

Front 680

quotation marks used unnecessarily

Back 680

Her admirer described his face as a “finely chiselled work of art”; she wrote in her diary that it looked more like a “collapsed lung”. Note that the Bible contains no
quotation marks, with few consequent confusions

Front 681

investigations

Back 681

Investigations of, not into.

Front 682

ironically

Back 682

Purists like to say that ironically is often used nowadays in a way that has little to do with irony. They are usually wrong. Irony, from the Greek word for dissimulation, originally meant the Socratic method of discussion by feigning ignorance. Then it came to mean a figure of speech, used sarcastically or satirically, in which the intended meaning
is the opposite of the literal meaning. And with that came the meaning of a contradictory outcome of events involving mockery by fate or fortune. This is how it is often used today. Nothing wrong with that.

Front 683

issues

Back 683

The Economist has issues – 51 a year – but if you think you have issues with The Economist, you probably mean you have complaints, irritations or delivery difficulties. If you disagree with The Economist, you may take issue with it. Do not use issue as a synonym for problem. Be precise.

Front 684

italics: Foreign words and phrases:

Back 684

Such as ancien régime, cabinet (French type), dalits, de rigueur, fatwa, jihad, glasnost, Hindutva, in camera, intifada, loya jirga, mani pulite, Mitbestimmung, pace, papabile, perestroika, sarariman, Schadenfreude, trahison des clercs,
ujamaa, should be set in italics unless they are so familiar that they have become anglicised and so should be in roman.

Front 685

accents and diacritical marks

Back 685

Remember to put appropriate accents and diacritical marks on all foreign words in italics (and give initial capital letters to German nouns when in italics, but not if not). Make sure that the meaning of any foreign word you use is clear.

Front 686

Italics: newspapers and periodicals

Back 686

Note that only The Economist has The italicised.

Front 687

Italics: Books, pamphlets, plays, radio programmes and television programmes

Back 687

...are roman, with capital letters for each main word, in quotation marks. Thus: “Pride and Prejudice”, “Much Ado about Nothing”, “Any Questions”, “Crossfire”, etc. But the Bible and its books (Genesis,
Ecclesiastes, John, etc) without inverted commas. These rules apply to footnotes as well as bodymatter.

Front 688

Other misc italics:

Back 688

Lawsuits...i.e. Brown v Board of Education, If abbreviated, versus should always be shortened to v, with no point after it (roman v if not a lawsuit).

The names of ships, aircraft, spacecraft. Algebraic formulae.

Front 689

Italics in titles, captions or rubrics...

Back 689

Do not use italics in titles, captions or rubrics.

Front 690

jargon

Back 690

Avoid it. Technical terms should be used in their proper context; do not use them out of it. In many instances simple words can do the job of exponential (try fast), interface (frontier or border), creative writing (fiction), power down (turn off) and so on. If you find yourself tempted to write about affirmative action or corporate governance, you will have to explain what it is; with luck, you will then not have to use the actual expression.

Someone with good interpersonal skills probably just gets on well with others. Someone with poor parenting skills is probably a bad father or a bad mother. Negative health outcomes are probably illness, mutilation or death. A highly leveraged company is a deeply indebted company.

Front 691

jejune

Back 691

Jejune means insipid, unsatisfying, lacking in substance. It comes from the Latin jejunus, meaning fasting, barren or unproductive, and has nothing to do with the French word jeune, meaning young.

Front 692

jib, gibe, gybe

Back 692

Jib (noun): sail or boom of a crane
Jib (verb): to balk or shy
Gibe (verb): to scoff or flout
Gibe (noun): taunt
Gybe (verb): to alter course.
Don’t jibe.

Front 693

jihad, jihadist, mujahideen

Back 693

jihad - the Arabic word for striving. Do not therefore use it simply to mean holy war...make clear what sort of jihad is under discussion in the context.

Someone engaged in jihad is a mujahid (plural, mujahideen) or a jihadist.

Logically, mujahideen and jihadists might be considered to be engaged in a struggle that could be either violent or non-violent. In practice, the terms nowadays are always used of Muslims engaged in
an armed struggle, though mujahideen may simply be Muslim militants fighting for a cause whereas jihadists are always fighting to spread Islamism by force.

Front 694

journalese and slang

Back 694

Do not be too free with slang (eg, He really hit the big time in 1994). Slang, like metaphors, should be used only occasionally if it is to have effect. Avoid expressions used only by journalists, such as giving people the thumbs up, the thumbs down or the green light. Stay clear of gravy trains and salami tactics. Do not use the likes of, or Big Pharma (big drug firms). And avoid words and expressions that are ugly or
overused, such as the bottom line, guesstimate (use guess), crisis, key, major (unless something else nearby is minor), massive (as in massive inflation), meaningful and significant. Do not refer to children as kids. Be sensitive when using words like schizophrenic and autistic.

Front 695

miners

Back 695

Keep this word for people, not companies.

Front 696

More journalese and slang...

Back 696

Politicians are often said to be highly visible or high-profile, when prominent or conspicuous would be more appropriate. Regulations are sometimes said to be designed to create transparency, which often
means openness. Governance (qv) usually means government. Award winning is often designed to inflate the reputation of the person (or airline, restaurant, newspaper etc) thus described, even though the undisclosed award may be worthless (eg, the public-affairs achiever of the year). Elections described as too close to call are usually just close
or perhaps too close to predict. Ethics violations, if they are not crimes, are likely to be shenanigans, immorality, scandalous behaviour or mere misdemeanours. Traffic violations are traffic offences.

Front 697

silver bullets

Back 697

Resist saying This will be no panacea. When you find something that is a panacea (or a magic or silver bullet), that will indeed be news. Keep equations out of your prose: when something new comes into the
equation, that identity ceases to be an equation; it probably never was one. And hold back from offering the reassurance There is no need to panic. Instead, ask yourself exactly when there is a need to panic.

Front 698

Try not to be predictable, especially predictably jocular.

Back 698

Spare your readers any mention of mandarins when writing about the civil service, of their lordships when discussing the House of Lords, and of comrades when analysing communist parties. Must all scandals be
called Something-gate? Must all stories about Central Asia include a reference to the Great Game? Must all lawns be manicured? Must all small towns in the old confederacy be called the buckle on the Bible
belt? Are drug traffickers inevitably barons? Must starlets and models always be scantily clad? Is there any wonk but a policy wonk?

Front 699

millionaire

Back 699

Remember that millionaire is no longer a description of a vastly rich man and that many houses described by journalists as luxury mansions are probably quite uncomfortable. Similarly, many sauces, shirts, lavatory papers etc described by advertisers as luxury are
thoroughly utilitarian. If you wish to use it, make it plain that millionaire refers to income (in dollars or pounds), not to capital. Otherwise try plutocrat or rich man.

Front 700

Prose freighted with codewords

Back 700

respected is applied to someone the writer approves of, militant someone he disapproves of, prestigious something you won’t have heard of, such as the prestigious Bostwick H. Ketchum award for coastal research or the prestigious Lauren D. Lyman Award for outstanding achievement in aviation journalism).

Front 701

judgment call

Back 701

Prefer judgment or matter of judgment.

Front 702

key

Back 702

This overused word is a noun and, like most nouns, may be used adjectivally (as in the key ministries). Do not, however, use it as a freestanding adjective, as in The choice of running-mate is key. Few of the decisions, people, industries described as key are truly indispensable, and fewer still open locks.

Do not use key to make the subject of your sentence more important than he or it really is. The words "key players" are a sure sign of a puffed up story, and a lazy mind.

Remember that keys may be major or minor, but not low.

Front 703

lag

Back 703

If you lag transitively, you lag a pipe or a loft. Anything failing to keep up with a front-runner, rate of growth, fourth-quarter profit or whatever is lagging behind it.

Front 704

last

Back 704

The last issue of The Economist implies its extinction; prefer last week’s or the latest issue. Last year, in 2012, means 2011; if you mean the 12 months up to the time of writing, write the past year. The same goes
for the past month, past week, past (not last) ten years.

Last week is best avoided; anyone reading those words several days after publication may be confused. This week is permissible.

Front 705

Latin names

Back 705

When it is necessary to use a Latin name for animals, plants, etc, follow the standard practice. Thus for all creatures higher than viruses, write the binomial name in italics, giving an initial capital to the first word.
This rule also applies to Homo sapiens and to such uses as Homo economicus. On second mention, the genus may be abbreviated (T. turdus). In some
species, such as dinosaurs, the genus alone is used in lieu of a common name: Diplodocus, Tyrannosaurus. Also Drosophila, a fruitfly favoured by geneticists. But Escherichia coli, a bacterium also favoured by geneticists, is known universally as E. coli, even on first mention.

Front 706

lay, lie

Back 706

To lay (transitively) means to place something down: a carpet, a trap, a bet, a bunch of keys or even a person, perhaps. Lay is also the past tense of the verb to lie: Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay. You may lay your head upon someone’s shoulder and she may be lying down, but if you say She was laying there it suggests she was about to produce an egg.

Front 707

legacy

Back 707

It is now fashionable to use legacy, which once meant a bequest of personal property, for anything that outlives the thing with which it was originally associated. So American Airlines is a legacy carrier, dead musicians live on through legacy bands, Sean Lemass is described as Ireland’s legacy prime minister and the Olympic games have legacy
obligations. If you use legacy in one of these senses, make sure the meaning is clear, or find another word.

Front 708

leverage

Back 708

If you really cannot find a way of avoiding the word leverage, you must explain what it means (unless it is simply the use of a lever to gain a mechanical advantage). In its technical financial sense, as a noun, it may mean the ratio of long-term debt to total capital employed. But note that operating leverage and financial leverage are different. The verb is even viler than the noun (try lever).

Front 709

lifestyle

Back 709

Lifestyle: prefer way of life.

Front 710

like, unlike

Back 710

Like and unlike govern nouns and pronouns, not verbs and prepositions.

So as in America, not like in America, as I was saying, not
like I was saying. English has no unas equivalent to unlike, so you must rephrase the sentence if you are tempted to write unlike in this context, unlike at Christmas, or unlike when I was a child.

If you find yourself writing "She looked like she had had enough" or "It seemed like he was running out of puff", you should replace like with as if or as though, and you probably need the subjunctive: She looked
as though she might have had enough, It seemed as if he were running
out of puff.

Front 711

likely

Back 711

Avoid such constructions as"He will likely announce the date on Monday" and "The price will likely fall when results are posted Friday." Prefer "He is likely to announce… or It is likely that the price will…" Avoid
too "The bearded men who will most likely dictate what is in them" (The Economist, January 29th 2012. You can say either "who are most likely to dictate" or "who will probably dictate".

Front 712

literally

Back 712

This is the adverb of literal, which means according to the letter, neither figurative nor metaphorical.

Front 713

loaded words

Back 713

Certain words, in certain contexts, come with assumptions about values that may not be universal: Affordable (qv), Important (qv), (in)appropriate, interesting (qv), matters (as in “This matters”), relevant,
Sustainable (qv). Do not describe housing as affordable without saying by whom. If something is important, inappropriate or interesting, explain why. And if it matters, or is relevant, say why and to whom.

Front 714

locate

Back 714

Locate, in any of its forms, can usually be replaced by something less ugly. "The missing scientist was located means he was found." "The diplomats will meet at a secret location" means either that they will
meet in a secret place or that they will meet secretly. A company located in Texas is simply a company in Texas.

Front 715

lockstep

Back 715

Marching in lockstep does not mean simply marching in time together; that is marching in step. It means marching so closely together that the toe of the man behind almost touches the heel of the man in front.
So far from giving the impression of orderly togetherness, as is usually implied when the term is used in The Economist, marching in lockstep looks comical and often leads to accidents.

Front 716

logistics

Back 716

This is a word used for removals by people who think van drivers are generals.

Front 717

luxurious, luxuriant

Back 717

Luxurious means indulgently pleasurable; luxuriant means exuberant or profuse. A tramp may have a luxuriant beard but not a luxurious life

Front 718

magnate, magnet

Back 718

One is a tycoon, the other a lodestone. A fridge magnate has made his money in white goods, but will not stick to the door of your freezer.

Front 719

masterful, masterly

Back 719

Masterful means imperious. Masterly means skilled.

Front 720

may, might

Back 720

May and might are not always interchangeable, and you may want may more often than you think. If in doubt, try may first. "I might be wrong, but I think it will rain later" should be "I may be wrong, but I think it will rain later".

Front 721

may in the subjunctive and in some constructions using past tenses

Back 721

may becomes might in both the subjunctive and in some constructions using past tenses. "Mr Blair admits that weapons of mass destruction may never be found" becomes, in the past, "Mr Blair admitted that weapons of mass destruction might never be found".

Front 722

may and conditional sentences using the subjunctive...

Back 722

...also need might. Thus "If Sarah Palin were to write a novel, it might be called a thriller from Wasilla." This could be rephrased by "If Sarah Palin writes a novel, it may be called a thriller from Wasila." Conditional sentences stating something contrary to fact, however, need might: If pigs had wings,
birds might raise their eyebrows.

Front 723

may and might and the facts...

Back 723

The facts are crucial. New research shows Tutankhamun may have died of a broken leg is fine, if indeed that is what the research shows. New research shows Tutankhamun might have died of a broken leg is not fine, unless it is followed by something like if his mummy hadn’t dressed the wound before it became infected. This, though, is saying something quite different. In the first example, it is clear both that Tutankhamun died and that a broken leg may have been responsible. In the second, it is clear only that his wound was dressed; as a result,
Tutankhamun seems to have survived.

Facts remain crucial: I might have called him a liar (but I didn’t have the guts). I may have called him a liar (I can’t now remember).

Front 724

when are may and might interchangeable

Back 724

Only if you are putting forward a hypothesis that may or may not be true are may and might interchangeable. Thus "If he is honest with himself, he may (or might) call himself something else in future."

Front 725

Sometimes it is all right to use might if the if part of the sentence is understood though not explicitly stated:

Back 725

Silvio Berlusconi would never tell a fib, but Jeffrey Archer might (if circumstances demanded or if he had forgotten the truth). That might be actionable (if a judge said it was).

Front 726

Do not use may or might when the appropriate verb is...

Back 726

...to be. His colleagues wonder how far the prime minister may go. They fear they may all lose their seats should be His colleagues wonder how far the prime minister will go. They fear they will all lose their seats.

Front 727

media

Back 727

Media: prefer press if the context allows it. If you have to use media, remember they are plural.

Front 728

mendacious, mendicant

Back 728

Mendacious means lying. Mendicant means beggar or begging.

Front 729

meta-

Back 729

The prefix meta-, which derives from the Greek word for with, beyond or after, has long been used before the name of a science to designate what the Oxford English Dictionary calls a higher science of the same nature but dealing with ulterior problems...The practice of meta-naming is now adopted by those who wish to add scientific gravitas to almost any
subject, especially any that is intrinsically jejune. Don’t copy them.

Front 730

metaphors according to Orwell

Back 730

“A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image,” said Orwell, “while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically ’dead’ (eg, iron resolution) has in effect reverted to being an
ordinary word and can generally be used without loss of vividness. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which are merely used because they save people the trouble
of inventing phrases for themselves.”

Front 731

when to use metaphors

Back 731

Some of these are tired, and will therefore tire the reader. Most are so exhausted that they may be considered dead, and are therefore permissible. But use all metaphors, dead or alive, sparingly, otherwise
you will make trouble for yourself.

ideas floated, tides turned, accounts embraced, barrages of criticism unleashed, retailing behemoths arriving with a splash, foundering chains, both floods and flocks of job-seekers, limelight hogged, inflation
ignited..

Front 732

tensions

Back 732

Take care with tensions. By all means raise, heighten, increase or intensify them, but try not to ignite, spark, boil or trigger them.

Front 733

mete, meet

Back 733

You may mete out punishment, but if it is to fit the crime it is meet.

Front 734

meter, metre, metrics

Back 734

A meter is a gadget for measuring. A metre is a unit of length. Metrics are the theory of measurement or the study of metrical structures in verse. Do not use the term as a pretentious word for figures, dimensions or measurements themselves, as in “I can’t take the metrics I’m privileged to and work my way to a number in [that] range.”

Front 735

migrate

Back 735

Migrate is intransitive, so do not migrate anyone or anything. Indeed, migration is for birds, animals and people, not for geeks moving files or bureaucrats moving offices.

Front 736

mitigate, militate

Back 736

Mitigates mollifies, tempers or helps to excuse; militates tells (against).

Front 737

momentarily

Back 737

This means for a moment, not in a moment. If you say "We will momentarily land at Heathrow," that suggests we shall take off again almost as soon as the wheels hit the ground.

Front 738

monopoly, monopsony

Back 738

A monopolist is a sole seller; a sole buyer is a monopsonist.

Front 739

moot

Back 739

Moot, in British English, means arguable, doubtful or open to debate. Americans tend to use it to mean hypothetical or academic, ie, of no practical significance. Prefer the British usage.

Front 740

mortar

Back 740

If not a vessel in which herbs etc are pounded with a pestle, a mortar is a piece of artillery for throwing a shell, bomb or lifeline. Do not write "He was hit by a mortar" unless you mean he was struck by the artillery piece itself, which is improbable.

Front 741

move

Back 741

Do not use move if you mean decision, bid, deal or something more precise. But move rather than relocate.

Front 742

mutual

Back 742

Mutual does not, properly, mean common but interchanged, belonging to each respectively or reciprocal. “Our Mutual Friend”, as used by
Charles Dickens and Walter Scott, is now therefore considered incorrect. By contrast, “Mutual fear is the only solid basis of alliance” (Benjamin Jowett translating Thucydides) is correct.
In America unit trusts are called mutual funds. A mutual (or friendly) society is usually a supplier of financial products or services, owned by its customers or members.

Front 743

named after

Back 743

Named after, not for.

Front 744

nauseate, nauseous

Back 744

To nauseate means to feel sick or disgust or loathing. To be nauseous is to cause nausea in others. So if you feel nauseous, you are probably going to make someone vomit.

Front 745

new words and new uses for old words

Back 745

Before grabbing the latest usage, ask yourself a few questions. Is it likely to pass the test of time? If not, are you using it just to show how cool you are? Has it already become a cliché? Does it do a job no other
word (or expression) does just as well? Does it rob the language of a useful or well-liked meaning? Is it being adopted to make the writer’s prose sharper, crisper, more euphonious, easier to understand—in other
words, better? Or to make it seem more with it (yes, that was way cool one once), more pompous, more bureaucratic or more politically correct—in other words, worse?

Front 746

nod

Back 746

This means to drop or incline the head, so do not write She nodded her head.

Front 747

noisome

Back 747

Noisome means noxious, harmful or offensive to the eyes or nose – but not the ears: that is noisy.

Front 748

none

Back 748

None usually takes a singular verb. So does neither (or either) a nor (or) b, unless b is plural, as in Neither the Dutchman nor the Danes have done it, where the verb agrees with the element closest to it.

Front 749

Nor

Back 749

Nor means and not, so should not be preceded by and.

Front 750

oblivious

Back 750

If you are oblivious of something, you are not simply unaware of it. You have forgotten it or are absent-mindedly unaware of it.

Front 751

obscenities, profanities and swear words

Back 751

Avoid them, unless they convey something genuinely helpful or interesting to the reader (eg, you are usefully quoting someone). Usually, they will weary rather than shock. But if you do use them, spell them
out in full, without asterisks or other coynesses: the f-word should be considered ineffable.

Front 752

only

Back 752

Put only as close as you can to the words it qualifies. Thus, "These animals mate only in June." To say They only mate in June implies that in June they do nothing else.

Front 753

one

Back 753

Try to avoid one as a personal pronoun. You will often do instead.

Front 754

onto

Back 754

On and to should be run together when they are closely linked, as in "He pranced onto the stage." If, however, the sense of the sentence makes the on closer to the preceding word, or the to closer to the succeeding word, than they are to each other, keep them separate: "He pranced on to the next town" or "He pranced on to wild applause."

Front 755

optics

Back 755

Optics is the science of light. Do not use it to mean impression or appearances, as in The optics of holding a supermodel photoshoot in a slum could be unfortunate.

Front 756

arguably

Back 756

Overused. Try perhaps or probably.

Front 757

Overused words and expressions not mentioned elsewhere

Back 757

aspirational, bite the bullet, bottom line, Brits, deliver, enable (but fine in correct context), deliver, driver, environment, exciting, experience (customer experience), eye-watering, famously, fascist, fit for purpose, flatlining, going north, guesstimate, heavy lifting, high profile, iconic, infelction point, inform (when used pretentiously as influence), innovative, implode, major, meaningful, metrosexual, narrative, obscene (as in profits), paradigm, parse, participate in, passion, perfect storm, proactive, prestigious, process (in place of talks), pulling teeth, redact, reductive, relationships (instead of relations), roll out (instead of introduce), spikes, strategic, supportive (helpful?), surreal, sustainable, target, team, template, too close to call, tough (decisions), toxic, trajectory (try course or path), transparency (openness?), vision, wannabes.

Such words should not be banned, but if you find yourself using them only because you hear others using them, not because they are the most appropriate ones in the context, you should avoid them.

Front 758

overwhelm

Back 758

Overwhelm means submerge utterly, crush, bring to sudden ruin. Majority votes, for example, seldom do any of these things. As for the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, although 90% of the population, they
turned out to be an overwhelmed majority, not an overwhelming one, until NATO stepped in.

Front 759

oxymoron

Back 759

An oxymoron is not an unintentional contradiction in terms, such as pink blancmange, but a figure of speech in which contradictory terms are deliberately combined, as in bitter-sweet, cruel kindness, friendly fire, joli laid, open secret, sweet sorrow, etc.

Front 760

palate, pallet, palette

Back 760

Your palate, the roof of your mouth (or your capacity to appreciate food and drink), is best not confused with a pallet, a mattress on which you may sleep or a wooden frame for use with fork-lift trucks, still less with a palette, on which you may mix paints.

Front 761

parse

Back 761

Parse, meaning to describe a word grammatically, giving its part of speech and relation to the other words in the sentence, is often now used by show-offs to mean analyse.

Front 762

partner

Back 762

Useful for those who value gender-neutrality above all else, but others may prefer boyfriend or girlfriend or even lover. And remember that, if you take a partner for the Gay Gordons, you may not end up in bed together—just as lawyers and accountants and others in partnerships are not necessarily fornicating, even if they are sleeping partners. Do not partner with.

Front 763

passive

Back 763

Be direct. Use the active tense. a hit b describes the event more concisely than b was hit by a.

Front 764

peer

Back 764

Peer (as a noun) is one of those words beloved of sociologists and eagerly co-opted by journalists who want to make their prose seem more authoritative. A peer is not a contemporary, colleague or counterpart but an equal.

Front 765

per caput, per capita

Back 765

Per caput is the Latin for per head. Per capita is the Latin for by heads; it is a term used by lawyers when distributing an inheritance among individuals, rather than among families (per stirpes). Unless the context
demands this technical expression, never use either per capita or per caput but per person.

Front 766

per cent

Back 766

Per cent is not the same as a percentage point. If a growth rate increases from 4% to 6%, the rate is two percentage points or 50% faster, not 2%. Nothing can fall, or be devalued, by more than 100%. If something
trebles, it increases by 200%.

Front 767

percolate

Back 767

Percolate means to pass through, not up or down.

Front 768

phone

Back 768

Phone is permissible, especially when preceded by mobile. But use sparingly, and generally prefer telephone.

Front 769

photo

Back 769

Prefer photograph.

Front 770

picaresque, picturesque

Back 770

Picaresque means roguish or knavish, often in adventures and usually in the context of Spanish fiction. Picturesque means pretty as (in) a picture.

Front 771

plurals a few notes

Back 771

indexes (of books), but indices (indicators, index numbers); attorneys general, secretaries general, solicitors general, etc; but lord
lieutenants, not lords lieutenant (they are not lords).

Front 772

political correctness generally...

Back 772

Avoid, if you can, giving gratuitous offence (see Euphemisms): you risk losing your readers, or at least their goodwill, and therefore your arguments. But pandering to every plea for politically correct
terminology may make your prose unreadable, and therefore also unread.

Front 773

political correctness and he, she, they...

Back 773

You also have a duty to grammar--do not try to render our language gender neutral. However, if you believe it is “exclusionary” or insulting to women to use he
in a general sense, you can rephrase some sentences in the plural. Thus "Instruct the reader without lecturing him" may be put as "Instruct readers without lecturing them". But some sentences resist
this treatment: Find a good teacher and take his advice is not easily rendered gender-neutral. So do not be ashamed of sometimes using man to include women, or making he do for she.

Front 774

political correctness - chairmen

Back 774

Chairmen and chairwomen. Avoid chairs and chairpersons.

Front 775

humankind

Back 775

Avoid. Use mankind - political correctness

Front 776

The person in the street

Back 776

ugly. Use man in the street.

Front 777

populace

Back 777

This is a term for the common people, not a synonym for the population.

Front 778

positive

Back 778

Positive means definitely laid down, beyond possibility of doubt, absolute, fully convinced or greater than zero. It does not mean good.

But: it was a positive meeting probably means It was a good, or fruitful, meeting.

Front 779

practicable, practical

Back 779

Practicable means feasible. Practical means useful.

Front 780

pre-

Back 780

Pre- is often unnecessary as a prefix, as in pre-announce, precondition, pre-board, pre-ordered, pre-packaged, pre-prepared, pre-cooked. If it
seems to be doing something useful, try making use of a word such as already or earlier: Here’s one I cooked earlier. Pre-owned is second-hand.

Front 781

precipitate, precipitous

Back 781

Precipitate means rash, hasty or headlong. Precipitous means sheer or like a precipice.

It is therefore unlikely that trade fell precipitately.

Front 782

premier

Back 782

Premier, as a noun, should be confined to the first ministers of Canadian provinces, German Länder and other sub-national states that use the term. Do not use it as a synonym for the prime minister of a country, even China. Premiership should likewise be reserved for places with premiers.

Front 783

presently

Back 783

Presently means soon, not at present. “Presently Kep opened the door of the shed, and let out Jemima Puddle-Duck.” (Beatrix Potter)

Front 784

press, pressure, pressurise

Back 784

Pressurise is what you want in an aircraft, but not in an argument or encounter where persuasion is being employed. The verb you want there is press (use pressure only as a noun).

Front 785

prevaricate, procrastinate

Back 785

Prevaricate means evade the truth; procrastinate means delay.

Front 786

pristine

Back 786

Pristine means original or former; it does not mean clean.

Front 787

proactive

Back 787

Not a pretty word: try active or energetic.

Front 788

process

Back 788

Some writers see their prose in industrial terms: education becomes an education process, consultation a consultation process, elections
an electoral process, development a development process, writing a writing process. If you follow this fashion, do not be surprised if readers switch off.

Front 789

prodigal

Back 789

If you are prodigal, that does not mean you are welcomed home, forgiven or taken back without recrimination. It means you are wasteful or have squandered your patrimony.

Front 790

profession

Back 790

By convention, professions require of their members some degree of learning, usually tested in an examination, and regulation by a responsible body. Journalists and bankers, though they may be
professional in the sense that, unlike amateurs, they practise their trade for money, are therefore not members of a profession.

Front 791

propaganda

Back 791

Propaganda (which is singular) means a systematic effort to spread doctrine or opinions. It is not a synonym for lies.

Front 792

protagonist

Back 792

Protagonist means the chief actor or combatant. If you are referring to several people in a single encounter or endeavour, only one can be a protaginist.

Front 793

protest

Back 793

By all means protest your innocence, or your intention to write good English, if you are making a declaration. But if you are making a complaint or objection, you must protest at or against something.

Front 794

protest

Back 794

By all means protest your innocence, or your intention to write good English, if you are making a declaration. But if you are making a complaint or objection, you must protest at or against something.

Front 795

pry

Back 795

Use prise, unless you mean peer or peep.

Front 796

question-marks

Back 796

Except in sentences that include a question in inverted commas, question-marks always come at the end of the sentence.

Front 797

quotes

Back 797

Be sparing with quotations. Direct quotes should be used when either the speaker or what he said is surprising, or when the words he used are particularly pithy or graphic. Otherwise you can probably paraphrase him more concisely. The most pointless quote is the inconsequential remark attributed to a nameless source: “Everyone
wants to be in on the act,” says one high-ranking civil servant.

Front 798

raise, raze

Back 798

To raise means to lift. To raze means pretty much the opposite: to lay level (with the ground) or erase.

Front 799

real

Back 799

Is real really necessary? When used to mean after taking inflation into account, it is legitimate. In other contexts (Investors are showing real interest in the country, but Bolivians wonder if real prosperity will ever arrive) it is often better left out.

Front 800

rebut, refute

Back 800

Rebut means repel or meet in argument. Refute is stronger. It means disprove. Neither should be used as a synonym for deny.

Front 801

redact

Back 801

In Latin this word means bring back. Do not use it, as is now fashionable, to mean the opposite, ie, obscure, blot out, obliterate. In fact, do not use it at all.

Front 802

redolent

Back 802

Redolent means smelling of, fragrant. Do not therefore write redolent of the smell of linseed oil and turpentine.

Front 803

reduce, diminish, lessen, shrink

Back 803

These words are not interchangeable. Reduce is transitive, so must be followed by a noun. Diminish and shrink can be transitive or intransitive. So can lessen, though it is usually used before a noun.

Front 804

reductive

Back 804

Reductive, a technical term in chemistry and philosophy, is now often dropped into general conversation by pretentious people anxious to impress. It is seldom clear what they mean. Avoid

Front 805

regime, regimen

Back 805

Properly, a regime is a system of government, whereas a regimen is a course of diet and exercise.

Front 806

relationship

Back 806

Relationship is a long word often better replaced by relations. The two countries hope for a better relationship means The two countries hope for better relations.

Front 807

report

Back 807

Report on, not into.

Front 808

reshuffle, resupply

Back 808

Shuffle and supply will do.

Front 809

resources

Back 809

Resourceful is a useful word; the term natural resources, less satisfactory, also has its merits. Most other uses of resource tend to be vile.

Front 810

restive, restless

Back 810

If you are restive, you are inert, obstinate or unwilling to go forward. So far from being restless, you are inclined to rest.

Front 811

revert

Back 811

Revert means return to or go back to, as in The garden has reverted to wilderness. It does not mean come back to or get back to, as in I’ll give you an answer as soon as I can.

Front 812

Richter scale

Back 812

Beloved of journalists, the Richter scale is unknown to seismologists. The strength of an earthquake is its magnitude, so write an earthquake of magnitude 8.9.

Front 813

right, rite

Back 813

A right is a just or legal claim. A rite is a ceremony or ritual. Rites of passage are unlikely to be constitutionally guaranteed.

Front 814

rock

Back 814

A working definition of a rock is a stone too large to throw.

Front 815

Roma

Back 815

Roma is the name of the people. Their language is Romany. Remember that Sinti are also gypsies.

Front 816

run for office

Back 816

In countries with a presidential system you may run for office. In those with a parliamentary one, stand.

Front 817

same

Back 817

This word is often superfluous. If your sentence contains on the same day that, try on the day that.

Front 818

scalable

Back 818

This means possible to climb or more rarely possible to weigh. It does not mean possible to enlarge or reduce.

Front 819

scotch

Back 819

To scotch means to slash or disable, not to destroy. The people may also be Scotch, Scots or Scottish; choose as you like. The term scot-free means free from payment of a fine (or punishment), not free from Scotsmen.

Front 820

sector

Back 820

Try industry instead. Or, for example, banks instead of banking sector.

Front 821

second-biggest, etc

Back 821

Second-biggest (third-oldest, fourth-wisest, fifth-commonest, etc): think before you write. Apart from New York, a Bramley is the second biggest apple in the world. Other than home-making and parenting,
prostitution is the third-oldest profession. After Tom, Dick and Harriet, Henry I was the fourth-wisest fool in Christendom. Besides justice, prudence, temperance and fortitude, the fifth-commonest virtue of the
Goths was punctuality. All these sentences carry a redundant word. None should contain the ordinal (second- , third- , fourth- , fifth- , etc).

Front 822

semi-colons

Back 822

Semi-colons should be used to mark a pause longer than a comma and shorter than a full stop. Don’t overdo them. Use them to distinguish phrases listed after a colon if commas will not do the job clearly.

Front 823

sensual, sensuous

Back 823

Sensual means carnal or voluptuous. Sensuous means pertaining to aesthetic appreciation, without any implication of lasciviousness.

Front 824

sequestered, sequestrated

Back 824

Sequestered means secluded. Sequestrated means confiscated or made bankrupt.

Front 825

shed load

Back 825

This not a shedful but what is left on the road after a lorry has shed its load.

Front 826

short words

Back 826

Use them. They are easy to spell and easy to understand. Thus prefer about to approximately, after to following, but to however, enough to sufficient, let to permit, make to manufacture, plant to facility, set up to establish, show to demonstrate, spending to expenditure, story to narrative, take part to participate, use to utilise, and so on. Underdeveloped countries are often better described as poor. Substantive often means real or big.

Front 827

shrug

Back 827

This means to draw up the shoulders, so do not write She shrugged her shoulders.

Front 828

silicon, silicone

Back 828

Silicon is a common element used as a semiconductor to make electronic circuits smaller. Silicone is a compound of silicon used to make breasts bigger.

Front 829

Simon Pure

Back 829

Simon Pure is the real person (or thing), and has nothing to do with Caesar’s wife or driven snow.

Front 830

simplistic

Back 830

Prefer simple-minded, naive.

Front 831

collective nouns - general

Back 831

There is no firm rule about the number of a verb governed by a singular collective noun. It is best to go by the sense—that is, whether the collective noun stands for a single entity ("The council was elected
in March", "The me generation has run its course", "The staff is loyal") or or its constituents: ("The council are at sixes and sevens", "The preceding generation are not all dead", "The staff are at each other’s throats"). Do not, in any event, slavishly give all singular collective nouns singular verbs: "The couple are now living apart" is preferable to "The couple is now living apart".

Front 832

collective nouns - couple and pair

Back 832

In general, treat both a pair and a couple as
plural.

Front 833

collective nouns - majority

Back 833

A rule for majority. When it is used in an abstract sense, it takes the singular; when it is used to denote the elements making up the majority, it should be plural. A two-thirds majority is needed to amend
the constitution but A majority of the Senate were opposed.

Front 834

collective nouns - number

Back 834

A rule for number. The number is…, A number are…

Front 835

Nouns, singular or plural: governments, party, companies and countries.

Back 835

A government, a party, a company (whether Tesco or Marks and Spencer) and a partnership (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) are all it and take a singular verb. So does a country, even if its name looks plural. The United Nations is also singular.

Front 836

Singular or plural? Economics, mathematics, politics...

Back 836

Singular. Acoustics, ballistics, demographics, dynamics, economics, kinetics, mathematics, mechanics, Optics, physics, politics and statics
when being used generally, without the definite article. Thus "Economics is the dismal science", "Politics is the art of the possible". But such -ics words are plural when preceded by the, or the plus an adjective, or with a possessive. Eg. "The politics of Afghanistan have a logic all their own". "The economics of publishing are
uncertain."

Front 837

Singular or plural? Brokers

Back 837

Singular

Front 838

Singular or plural? Propaganda

Back 838

Singular

Front 839

Singular or plural? Billiards and bowls

Back 839

Singular.

Front 840

Singular or plural? Data and media

Back 840

Plural

Front 841

Singular or plural? Whereabouts and headquarters

Back 841

Plural

Front 842

Singular or plural? The England cricket team.

Back 842

Plural. Teams that take the name of a town, country or
university are plural, even when they look singular: England were bowled out for 56.

Front 843

Singular or plural? Taliban

Back 843

The Taliban are plural. The singular is Talib. The Shabab are also plural.

Front 844

Singular or plural?

Back 844

Law and order, like hue and cry, defies the rules of grammar and is singular.

Front 845

Prefer the singular when referring to...

Back 845

chemical (not chemicals) compaines, drug (not drugs) traffickers, pension (not pensions) systems and so on. But arms-trader, drinks group, groundsman and sales force.

Front 846

Singular or plural? Elections..

Back 846

Do not assume that all voting is done in elections in the plural. If, as in the United States, several votes (for the presidency, the Senate, the House of Representatives, etc) are held on the same day, it is correct to talk about elections. But in, say, Britain parliamentary polls are usually held on their own, in a single general election.

"The opposition demanded an election" is often preferable to "The opposition demanded fresh election"s. And to write "The next presidential elections are due in 2015" suggests there will be more than one presidential poll in that year.

Front 847

skills

Back 847

These are turning up all over the place—in learning skills, thinking skills, teaching skills—instead of the ability to. Someone with good interpersonal skills gets on well with people. He has the skills probably means "He can".

Front 848

skyrocketed

Back 848

Rocketed, not skyrocketed.

Front 849

slither, sliver

Back 849

As a noun, slither is scree. As a verb, it means slide. If you mean a slice, the word you want is sliver.

Front 850

sloppy writing - indicted war criminals

Back 850

As their lawyers could one day remind you, these may turn out to be innocent people accused of war crimes.

Front 851

It alone does not count for much in the world

Back 851

Sloppy writing. Alone it does not count for much in the world.

Front 852

ground-breaking operations

Back 852

Sloppy writing. Gardening?

Front 853

David Hockney talked exclusively about his new paintings to the Financial Times

Back 853

Sloppy writing, did he speak of nothing else?

Front 854

He is the third minister to resign in as many days.

Back 854

Do not confuse cardinal numbers with ordinal ones, as in "He is the third minister to resign in as many days". You must write "He is the latest of three cabinet ministers to resign in as many days" or, better, "He is the third minister to resign in three days".

Front 855

emerging economies and emerging markets and emerging countries...

Back 855

The terms emerging economies and emerging markets are unhappy, albeit useful, but emerging countries is absurd.

Front 856

meteoric rise

Back 856

Take care with meteors, too. Journalists often speak of someone’s meteoric rise, forgetting, it seems, that meteors are better known for falling to Earth.

Front 857

bestselling author

Back 857

Footballers passed from club to club may be bestselling, but a bestselling author is probably better described as the author of bestselling books.

Front 858

needless to say, obviously and of course

Back 858

If you find yourself writing needless to say or obviously, perhaps you should choose some other phrase, or none. Even of course may convey a sense of weary arrogance.

Front 859

"No one can underestimate the scale of the challenge
that climate change represents,”

Back 859

When Gordon Brown wrote in the Guardian, “No one can underestimate the scale of the challenge that climate change represents,” he presumably meant just the opposite.

Front 860

A heart condition

Back 860

usually a bad heart

Front 861

A near miss

Back 861

probably a near hit

Front 862

a negative report

Back 862

probably a critical report

Front 863

Industrial action

Back 863

industrial inaction, industrial disruption or a strike

Front 864

A substantially finished bridge

Back 864

an unfinished bridge

Front 865

high name-recognition

Back 865

well known.

Front 866

live audience

Back 866

what would a dead one be like?

Front 867

legally blind

Back 867

are those who are illegally blind liable to prosecution?

Front 868

When the Spanish prime minister is said to have presented an extraordinary infrastructure plan...

Back 868

the reader may think it peculiar, not unscheduled.

Front 869

small capitals

Back 869

In bodymatter, use small caps for abbreviations, acronyms or proper names spelt in capitals: EU, BBC, GDP, NATO, IKEA. Single letters, other than the words A and I, whether or not attached by hyphens to
words, should also be set in small caps: from A to B, T-shirt, U-turn, X-ray, Y chromosome. If an abbreviation or company name is written partly in capitals, partly in lower case, set only the capitals in small caps: PhD, BSkyB. The same rule applies if an abbreviation is linked to a number: 753BC, AK-47, MIT-25U, SALT-2.

Front 870

small capitals - do not use them for...

Back 870

(1) the first person singular or the indefinite article; (2) people’s initials, or for companies named after a person: A.N. Other, I.M. Pei, J.C. Penney;
(3) the elements of the periodic table: H, Pb, Sn, NaCl; (4) degrees of temperature: °C, °F, °R;
(5) Currencies (qv): DKr, SFr;
(6) roman numerals: C, D, I, L, M, V, X, George IV;
(7) the abbreviations of Anno Domini and Before Christ and abbreviated Latin names (qv);
(8) anything in captions, charts (including sources), crossheads, flytitles, footnotes, headings, rubrics or tables.

Front 871

smart

Back 871

Generally, smart means well dressed, but smart sanctions, smart weapons and smartphones etc may be allowed as terms of art.

Front 872

socialise

Back 872

Not so long ago this word, in British English, was usually employed to mean emerge into society, as a toddler might when leaving its mother; a social being, after all, was one living or at ease in society (or
perhaps a party-goer). Then many Americans started to use socialise to mean getting together for a drink and some of them also began to rail against socialised medicine, which referred to state-run health systems. People on both sides of the Atlantic began to talk of social workers (recommended for Officer Krupke as long ago as 1957), while European
governments started offering social services. All that is fine, but please do not socialise losses (while profits are privatised), still less socialise suggestions, plans or proposals, meaning sound out your colleagues about them before reporting back.

Front 873

soft

Back 873

Soft is an adverb, as well as an adjective and a noun. Softly is also an adverb. You can speak softly and carry a big stick, but if you have a quiet voice you are soft—not softly—spoken.

Front 874

soi-disant

Back 874

Soi-disant means self-styled, not so-called.

Front 875

specific

Back 875

A specific is a medicine, not a detail.

Front 876

spelling

Back 876

Use British English rather than American English or any other kind. Sometimes, however, this injunction will clash with the rule that people and companies should be called what they want to be called, short of festooning themselves with titles. If it does, adopt
American (or Canadian or other local) spelling when it is used in the name of an American (et al) company or private organisation (Alcan Aluminum, Georgia Gulf Sulfur Corporation, Carter Center, Pulverizing Services Inc, Travelers Insurance), but not when it is used
for a place or government institution (Pearl Harbour, Department of Defence, Department of Labour). This may mean that you have to explain that the "Rockefeller Center Properties is in charge of Rockefeller Centre".

Front 877

Australian Labor Party

Back 877

The Australian Labor Party should be spelt without a u not only because it is not a government institution but also because the Australians spell it that way, even though they spell labour as the British do.

Front 878

-ise

Back 878

Use -ise, -isation (realise, organisation) throughout. But please do not hospitalise.

Front 879

amid or amidst

Back 879

amid

Front 880

while or whilst

Back 880

while

Front 881

blowzy or blousy?

Back 881

blowzy

Front 882

airplane or aeroplane?

Back 882

aeroplane. But aircraft, airliner.

Front 883

ageing or aging?

Back 883

ageing

Front 884

cageing or caging?

Back 884

caging. Also Imaging, paging, raging, waging

Front 885

amid or amidst

Back 885

amid

Front 886

amok or amuck

Back 886

amok

Front 887

analogue or analog

Back 887

analogue

Front 888

annex or annexe?

Back 888

annex (verb), annexe (noun)

Front 889

caddie or caddy?

Back 889

caddie (golf), caddy (tea)

Front 890

checking account?

Back 890

spell it thus when explaining to Americans a current
account, which is to be preferred...

Front 891

embarass or embarrass?

Back 891

embarrass (but harass)

Front 892

ensure or insure?

Back 892

ensure (make certain), insure (against risks)

Front 893

farther or further

Back 893

farther (distance), further (additional)

Front 894

foetus or fetus

Back 894

fetus

Front 895

dependant or dependent?

Back 895

dependant (person), dependent (adj)

Front 896

depository or depositary?

Back 896

depository (unless referring to American depositary
receipts)

Front 897

dispatch or despatch

Back 897

dispatch

Front 898

fulfil or fulfill?

Back 898

fulfil. British.

Front 899

jist or gist?

Back 899

gist

Front 900

gram or gramme?

Back 900

gram

Front 901

hiccup or hiccough

Back 901

hiccup