Our language and style Our brand is at the heart of defining who we are as an organisation. The way we communicate, in writing and in speech, is a key part of our brand identity. Using this Anchor Language and Style Guide enables us to be consistent in the words, tone and style we use when communicating with our colleagues, residents and partner organisations.
Appendix
1. Our brand voice and writing style, p2 2. Describing ourselves, our services and functions, p4 3. Inclusive language, p10 4. Capital letters, figures, punctuation and abbreviations, p13 5. Writing for the web, p17 6. Appendix – terminology A to Z, p18
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1. Our brand voice and writing style
Good communication means being clear, using plain English, and considering our audience.
Communicating in our brand voice is more than that – it’s about expressing our personality in our messages, so that we stand out and connect with our audiences in a noisy world.
When we speak on behalf of our organisation, it’s important that the Anchor brand is recognisable and consistently-used.
While brand voice runs throughout this guide, we’d recommend you also read the separate Our Brand Voice Guide . You can find this on the Bridge.
As a starting point, we have some baseline writing principles:
Make it simple: Use Plain English and avoid jargon. If you have to use technical language or abbreviations, explain them. The Plain English Campaign has an A-Z of alternative words on its website we encourage colleagues to use (such as replacing ‘commence’ with ‘start’ or ‘begin’). See also the following sections of this guide. Make it short: Use sentences of no more than 20 words, and use full stops in preference to semi-colons. Break up written text into more easily-readable paragraphs. Make every word earn its inclusion – if it’s not adding anything to the sentence, remove it. Make it friendly: Use personal pronouns such as I , we and you rather than non- personal terms, such as ‘Anchor wants colleagues to…’ . Write like you would speak (within reason!) by using contractions, namely you’re instead of you are and avoid old-fashioned words such as whilst (use while instead) Make it clear and actionable: Get to the point. Use the first sentence or sentences to explain what someone needs to know or do differently. Never leave this to the end. Begin sentences with the subject of the action rather than the object (‘We create great homes and support’ and not ‘great homes and support are created by us.’)
Make it trusted: Communicate the why as well as the what of any change (‘we’re doing this because of…’). People are more likely to do something when they understand the reason. Be realistic by not over-promising.
Make it inclusive: See Section 3 on Inclusive Language
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Our style is:
Caring – People should be able to tell from what we say and how we say it that they are not a number in a ‘system’. We actively welcome, listen, and show patience – so that people of all backgrounds feel valued as part of the Anchor community. While we are driven to help, we are never patronising, and always communicate as one adult to another. Life-affirming – Our goal is for everyone to love later life. Our residents can expect that we’ll bring a positive warmth to any challenge or conversation, and assurance that we’ll find the best solution. We celebrate joy in the everyday – and believe in the uplifting power of sharing stories of people loving living. Authenticity is key. Empathetic – How we communicate across channels is tailored to our audience. Sometimes more explanation is needed, but usually fewer, emotionally-engaging words have more impact. Down to earth - Our language and sentence form is natural, and with our resident audience, slightly informal. We enjoy sharing fun, but don’t try to be funny. Our audiences find it easy to connect with us as our language is always grounded and relatable. While we remain friendly in all our communication, we use a more formal tone in professional and corporate communications. Can-do - Our language reflects a can-do attitude and a willingness to make things better for our residents. As we are committed to solving any issues quickly, we keep our language friendly, easily readable, and to the point.
These style words reflect our organisation’s values of being accountable, respectful, courageous, and honest.
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2. Describing ourselves, our services and functions
This section details the language we use as Anchor.
Area
The terms we use
Guidance
Decision- making
Not Chief Executive Officer. The leads of our various groups below are referred to “chairs” , unless the holder of that post expresses an alternative preference (eg, we refer to Christopher Kemball as the Chairman of the Non-Executive Board).
Chief Executive
•
Chair
•
The full Board of Anchor, as legally defined.
Board
•
• Executive Committee Not Executive Team or Executive Management Board. We have a number of internal decision-
making bodies which feed into the Executive Committee. They are:
Operations Committee
•
Care Services Committee
•
Housing Services Committee
•
New Developments Committee
•
Safeguarding & Serious Incidents Review Committee
•
Our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) is the term we use to describe our most senior leaders: the Chief Executive, Executive Directors and their direct reports (excluding EAs/PAs) only. Our Business Plan sets out the direction of the organisation for the coming years, including development and financial plans. It is not described as a corporate plan or a strategic plan. “Anchor Hanover Group” is our legal name. It should always be shortened to ‘Anchor’ except when the longer name is
Senior Leadership Team (SLT)
•
Business Plan
•
Our organisation
Anchor
•
Anchor Hanover Group
•
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necessary for legal/regulatory reasons. “Anchor Hanover Group trading as Anchor” should be used to describe the
relationship between the two. “AHG” should never be used.
The people who live with us
Generally, we should refer to those using our services by their name wherever possible. We should use the formal Mr/Mrs/Ms in the first instance, until or unless it is clear that they are happy with us using their first name. Generally, when referring to users of
Residents
•
Tenants
•
Homeowners
•
specific services, we use: “ Residents ” for care homes ‘“ Tenants ” for rented housing
‘“ Homeowners ” for leaseholders, freeholders and shared ownership. “ Resident s” should be used when referring collectively to all the people who we currently provide services to, as well as “the people we serve”. If certain groups prefer a different term we should accommodate their preferences wherever possible.
The people who work for Anchor
Avoid using “staff” or “employees”.
Colleagues
•
Avoid using ‘front - line’, ‘back office’ or ‘support services’ We have a “Central Support” function. This includes the “Business Services” of HR, comms & marketing, IT and change, and Procurement, as well as all the other central support functions that do not sit in our operational care or housing directorates.
Resident-facing
•
Central Support
•
Business Services
•
Avoid using “uniform”
Workwear
•
“ Location manager” is an acceptable generic term for all operational managers responsible for a location where residents live, whether housing or
Location manager(s)
•
Home manager(s)
•
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care but ideally, both terms should be used when talking about care and housing e.g. location and home managers. The title should only be capped up when using as a job title alongside a named individual; e.g. Location Manager John Smith. We do not have ‘wardens’ and the term should not be used. See ‘Our housing locations’ on describing locations. Legally, we are a Community Benefit Society. Generally, when describing ourselves we say we are an “organisation”. However, there will be times when the other terms mentioned are appropriate and can be used.
Anchor and our services
Organisation
•
Charity
•
Housing Association
•
Community Benefit Society
•
A business
•
We provide housing and care for older people
Our housing locations
Generally, we refer to any of the places where we provide housing as our “locations”. Scheme or estate have previously been used but “location” should be used in place of these.
Location(s)
•
We also use a range of terms to distinguish our different housing
products but there is little consistency in the industry in how such terms are used. As this has the potential to cause confusion for our audiences, it’s vital to be clear and consistent when talking about a specific product and, where possible, add a description. See the three following sections.
The overarching term that describes all our housing products
Anchor Housing
•
Home ownership
• ‘Home ownership’ is used to describe all leasehold and freehold
•
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developments, consisting of:
‘ Retirement Villages ’ – luxury private sale retirement properties and first-class facilities set in village developments ‘Independent Living’ – our private sale/home ownership housing ‘Independent Living with care’ – home ownership developments with on-site homecare services for homeowners
o
o
o
Rented housing
• ‘Rented housing’ is used to describe all rental developments, consisting of:
•
‘ Rented Housing ’ – our affordable independent living rental properties. Avoid using ‘social housing’ except in communications with stakeholders such as central or local government. ‘Rented housing with extra care’ – rental locations with on-site homecare services for tenants
o
o
Our care division
Use Anchor care homes or care homes when talking solely about our care home locations. Avoid using ‘Anchor Trust’ or abbreviating to ‘ACH’.
Anchor care homes
•
Our care locations
Care homes
•
Our care offer
These terms may be used to describe our care homes but will not apply to all homes.
Residential care
•
Dementia care
•
Respite care
•
Convalescence care
•
Luxury care
•
Emergency
We have one on call service that should be written in full and not abbreviated
Anchor on Call
•
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call system
when used with external audiences, eg AOC
Facilities
Avoid using the term ‘communal’. Instead use ‘shared’. Also avoid any terms that sound institutional such as ‘Canteen’, ‘Block’, ‘Warden call system’
Restaurant, restaurant-style dining, dining room
•
Lounge
•
Emergency call system
•
Mobility scooter store
•
Shared areas
•
Secure door entry system
•
Our customer demographic
It is essential that positive language is used that appeals to specific customer audiences. In all cases avoid using terms with negative connotations for our residents such as ‘Elderly’, ‘Old’, ‘Frail’, Vulnerable’, Pensioners’, ‘OAPs’, ‘Mature’. Also avoid using generic/common generation and segmentation terms such as ‘Baby boomers’, ‘Silver surfers’, ‘Empty nesters’
Later life
•
Over 55s / 60s (only when appropriate)
•
Older people
•
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3. Inclusive language
Anchor ’s services are for everyone. They should be welcoming and impartial. It’s important that the language we use reflects this.
We write for and about people in a way that's respectful, sensitive and inclusive. This helps us to be accurate and build trust with our residents and colleagues. We avoid labelling people.
Disabilities and conditions
Conditions describe what a person has, not what a person is. We put the emphasis on abilities and use language that respects people as active individuals with control over their own lives. We say things like: people living with a disability , people with diabetes , and wheelchair user or people who use wheelchairs (try thinking of the wheelchair as a mobility aid). However, w e don’t automatically refer to disabled people – some people who need disability benefits and services don’t identify with this term. Consider using people with health conditions or impairments if more appropriate. We do not use passive words or outdated terms that stereotype or stigmatise such as: afflicted by, suffering from, victim of, confined to a wheelchair, handicapped, the disabled, diabetic person, sick person. When we refer to parking spaces for disabled people we say Blue Badge parking or parking for disabled drivers and passengers . Deaf can be used to mean any range of hearing loss but Deaf (with a capital D) may also refer to people whose first language is BSL (British Sign Language) and consider themselves part of ‘the Deaf community’. People with hearing loss or people with hearing impairment may be more suitable. Blind refers to total loss of vision. Visual impairment refers to any kind of partial sight that is below 'normal' levels. Remember to use whichever is appropriate for the context. We use mental health condition or mental health problems . We don’t describe people as mentally ill. We use young people , older people , older age or later living . We don’ t use adolescents, youths, teenagers, the elderly, seniors, old people, old age pensioner or OAPs. Try to be specific such as people aged 90 and over . Be accurate – men over 65 is different from men aged 65 and over. Don't use at the age of X or X years of age. Only use: X-year olds or over Xs where this is accurate. We only refer to a person’s religion if it's relevant. We use faith groups to refer to people with religious beliefs collectively. Take into account the customs and practices associated with particular beliefs, but avoid stereotyping or
Deaf
Blind
Mental health
Age
Religion
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making assumptions. Give examples if possible, but don't try to list every possible faith group that shares a particular belief. Use upper case, eg Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim. Avoid faith-specific language/terminology that may exclude, eg use first name not Christian name. We use family , ethnic origin , or ethnicity, not race. We only refer to a pe rson’s ethnicity if it is directly relevant, and we are as specific as possible when doing so to avoid making generalisations. For example, specifying ‘Black Caribbean’ or ‘Black African’ rather than ‘Black people’ . Similarly, we specify Gypsy Traveller, Irish Traveller or Romany Gypsy to avoid grouping individuals from different backgrounds together (eg as Travellers). We do not use the terms BME (Black and minority ethnic) or BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic), or minority ethnic. Where we need to make a comparison with the White British population, we would say ‘ethnicities other than White British’. This would include ethnicities such as Gypsy and Irish Travellers. We use phrases such as ‘people from a Black Caribbean background’, ‘the Black ethnic group’, ‘White people’ or ‘Black people’. We do not use ‘non - White’, ‘people of colour’, ‘Blacks’, ‘Whites’ or ‘Caucasian’. We don’t say ‘Mixed people’ or ‘Mixed race people’, and instead refer to ‘people with a Mixed ethnic background’ or ‘people from the Mixed ethnic group’. We capitalise all ethnic groups and nationalities (eg Asian, Black Caribbean, Mixed, White). This ensures a consistent approach. We do not use asylum seeker, refugee and immigrant worker interchangeably as there are distinct differences between these groups. Further details can be found in our Ethnicity Language Guide We use gender-neutral words, eg them, their, they, and non- gender specific terms, eg headteacher, police officer, firefighter, chair. If you need to specify gender, use men, women, and non-binary, not males and females. We use transgender or trans as an umbrella term to refer to people whose gender identity or expression differs from their sex assigned at birth. Trans is used as a descriptor, for example, a trans woman (a woman who was assigned male at birth), a trans man (a man who was assigned female at birth), or a trans person. We also use non-binary and genderqueer which are terms for gender identities that are outside the male/female gender binary. We do not use 'a trans,' 'a transgender,' or 'transgendered'. We ask how people would like to be addressed before assuming a title. We use Mr for men. We use Ms for women unless they
Ethnicity
Gender
Pronouns/titles
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specify Mrs or Miss . Some individuals may use the neutral title Mx . Note: No full stop after all titles. Pronouns are the words used to identify who you are talking about in conversation or writing when we want to avoid repetitively referring to that person by name. For example, she, he, they . Pronouns, like names are how we address others. I t’s helpful to use gender neutral pronouns until someone tells you which pronouns they use. This helps to avoid making assumptions about a person’s gender identity. Further details can be found in our Pronouns Guidance. We use either sexuality or sexual orientation , and do not confuse sexuality with gender identity. Generally, gay is used when talking about men, lesbian when talking about women, bisexual when talking about someone with a romantic or sexual attraction to people of any gender. We spell out the acronym LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, plus other genders, and sexual orientations) at first use. We use civil partnership along with any references to marriage. We use end-of-life care , not palliative care or terminal care. We use socioeconomic status , not class, poor people or wealthy people. We use people who are homeless , not the homeless or people without homes. We use people who take their own life , or people who die by suicide , not people who commit suicide or people who kill themselves.
Sexuality
Other social and care terms
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4. Capital letters, figures, punctuation and abbreviations
Capital letters Capital letters should be used sparingly. They are used to denote proper names, such as places, organisations, job titles, etc.
Roles and titles
Use a capital letter when referring to a specific individual person – eg “ H ome M anager Jo Brown”, but use lower case when the sentence does not make reference to a specific person – “a home manager” or “most home managers find…” The same applies for the K ing, the P rime M inister, the R oyal F amily, with capital letters when talking about the British ones, but not for those of other countries All places found on a map will need a capital letter. N orth W est – use capitals when referring to the region of England, but lower case when it is part of a descriptive statement, ie “the north west part of the city centre” or “you travel south east from here.” Use lower case for town centre/city centre, except when part of an official name, such as B irmingham C ity C entre R egeneration P anel. When referring to the names of our locations (such as in brochures, web pages and on signage), our style is to have initial capitals only for the official name of the location and, where relevant to include, lower case for the type of service, for example:
Place names
Our locations
The Ridings care home
Organisations/teams The proper name of an organisation should always be written in capitals, eg E ssex C ounty C ouncil, but when only a part of the name is used, lower case is appropriate,
eg the council, the police, the housing association. The word “ g overnment ” is written in lower case in all circumstances and for all countries. Teams and departments should use initial capitals when referring to a particular organisational grouping – North Region – but lower case when using in general terms, eg all regions are required to… Only official names of teams have initial capitals – so check. When referring to the full title of a book, newspaper, etc, use initial capital letters, but do not place in quotation marks. Instead use italics. Capital letters for branded products, eg Disprin, Temazepam, Prozac, but lower case for substances which are often derived from their chemical name, such as paracetamol, aspirin. The first letter of each new word is capitalised where there is no space or punctuation between the words (known as
Publications
Drugs and medication
Email addresses
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‘camel case’). This helps distinguish individual words for those using a screen reader, for example: InternalCommunications@anchor.org.uk
Figures
Numbers
Write one to nine out in full, then use figures for 10 and above (if beginning a sentence with a number, then the number should be written out in full eg ‘Fifteen thousand signatures’. However, a number at the start of a news story should be avoided, instead substitute with a phrase such as ‘A total of 15,000 signatures’ or use alternatives such as ‘more than’, ‘at least’, etc). Use two million, or in monetary terms, £2m. Always spell out two billion. Figures should only be used for weights and lengths (2yds). Use per cent (two words). Written as ‘first’, ‘second’, etc, up to ‘ninth’, then as ‘10 th’ , ‘11 th’ , etc. But see section on dates
Ordinal numbers
Fractions
Write in full and hyphenate, eg one-third
Dates
Correct style and order is Wednesday 13 July 2016 or 13 July 2012. Do not use st, rd, th, or commas. 3am or 2pm – in preference to 24-hour clock. Avoid 12pm or 12am as it can cause confusion, instead use noon or midnight. ‘24 - hour’ is hyphenated For financial years, use a forward slash instead of a dash, eg 2018/19 Do not put ages in brackets. Style is Geoff Brown, aged 85, or 85-year-old Geoff Brown. Abbreviate as £2.50 – no full point at the end - and 50p - no full point after p. Use the £ symbol and not GBP Space between code and number and no brackets – 0800 731 2020 or 07827 231383. For internal extension, style is ext 7011
Times
Years
Ages
Money
Telephone numbers
Temperature
Style is 16C
Punctuation
Apostrophe ’
Apostrophes are used to denote two things: 1) A missing letter or letters: I can’t (instead of I cannot), it’s (instead of it is). 2) Possession: the resident ’s flat (as in the flat of the resident ), the company’s logo. (Note: the possessive form of ‘it’ – its - does not have an apostrophe, just as you would not put an apostrophe in ours, yours or hers). When the subject ends with an s in the plural, the apostrophe comes after the letter, eg the residents ’ flat (the flat belonging to two residents).
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When the plural doesn’t end in an s, add an apostrophe followed by an s (the children’s pens, the people’s princess). Use an apostrophe in phrases such as two days’ time, five years’ training where the time period modifies a noun, but don’t use where it modifies an adjective (three weeks old). If in doubt, test by putting into the singular. Never use an apostrophe to denote a plural: use 1960s, CDs (not 1960’s, CD’s) Introduce a list with a colon. Follow each point with a capital letter. Don’t use commas or full stops between each bullet- pointed item, but use a full stop between two sentences contained in a single bullet point. Full stops can be used at the end of the list. Bullet points should be round and equivalent in size to the body font. Use a colon to deliver what has been promised in the preceding words: “A number of emergency services attended the scene: Police, ambulance and fire service.” Avoid using wherever possible. A semi-colon is often used to join two sentences, as in ‘it was the best of times; it was the worst of times’. However, can often be replaced by a full stop Commas tell the reader when to draw breath and which word to stress. They also prevent ambiguity. Check where commas are needed by reading written words out loud. Avoid using unless you have to! The rare occasion when it is acceptable to use is when quoting someone: “Help!” And then please keep it singular. Hyphenated words often lose the hyphen as they gain wider use. Drop the hyphen wherever possible unless it looks odd. Hyphens are nearly always needed in noun/adjective combinations, such as a large-scale map. See A to Z below for correct usage of commonly-used words Use double quote marks for speech, except for quotes inside quotes, eg “He clearly told me ‘I was faced with a difficult task’ when I asked him last week.” Not necessary for names of books, plays, etc. Style for quoting someone is a colon followed by double quote marks. When there are multiple, consecutive paragraphs of quoted speech, start with opening quotes for each paragraph and closing quotes at the end of the final paragraph. Do not use, except in company or team names when they do, eg P&O
Bullet points
•
Colon :
Semi-colon ;
Comma ,
Exclamation mark !
Hyphens -
“ Quotation marks ”
Ampersand &
Abbreviations All but the most common abbreviations, eg BBC, should be written in full for the first mention (with the abbreviation in brackets), so as not to alienate the one (or more) reader who doesn’t know what the abbreviation stands for. After first mention, use
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the accepted abbreviation.
Roles and ranks
District manager or Area manager – write out in full for first mention, but acceptable to abbreviate to DM or AM on second mention. Avoid abbreviating in formal publications. For police and military ranks, always write out in full to avoid confusion, eg Corporal, Sergeant, Lieutenant, etc. Can be abbreviated to Coun after first mention Use capitals for each letter if each letter is pronounced individually, eg CQC, NHS (note: do not place full stops between the letters) Doctor abbreviated to Dr in front of name. Professor is never shortened
Councillor
Organisational names
Professions and titles Junior/senior (after names)
Abbreviate to Jr or Sr
Units of measurement (Imperial)
Distance : Miles (no abbreviation), yards (yds), feet (ft), inches (in). Weight : Tons (no abbreviation), stones (no abbreviation), pounds (lb), ounces (oz). Volume : Gallons (no abbreviation), pints (no abbreviation), fluid ounces (fl oz). Speed : Miles per hour (mph) For describing area, measurements such as acre, hectare, should be written out in full. Distance : Kilometres (km), metres (m - but write out in full where it could be confused with an abbreviation for millions), centimetres (cm), millimetres (mm). Weight : Tonnes (no abbreviation), kilograms (kg), grams (g). Volume : litres (no abbreviation), millilitres (ml). Speed : Kilometres per hour (kph)
Units of measurements (Metric)
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5. Writing for the web
Reading styles differ between printed and online content.
Online articles are often browsed and skim-read - you won’t hold an online reader’s attention with a large block of text.
Writing for the web therefore needs to be different to writing for print.
While all the information in this guide applies equally to website content as it does to print, your web content should additionally follow these rules for both internal and external online content.
Headings and sub- headings
Use regularly to break up long sections of text
Hyperlinks
Don’t use ‘click here’ but rather describe what it is the reader will be viewing, eg ‘To prepare for the cold snap, view our Getting Ready For Winter guide’. This makes your content more searchable. Hyperlinks are underlined and in a different colour.
Italics
Don’t use. Italics can be difficult to read online
Lists
Use a bullet-pointed list rather than a long paragraph to present a number of items For people with a visual impairment using a screen reader, we should help them understand an image on the screen even if they can't see it. They are also helpful if the image fails to load
Picture descriptions
Provide a short description of the image, which includes any wording pictured, for example:
Colleague chatting to a resident in front of a banner which reads ‘Providing homes where people love living in later life’
Website addresses
When writing on web pages what are clearly hyperlinks, you should drop the www. prefix. For example, anchor.org.uk
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6. Appendix – terminology A to Z
About
Instead of “in the order of” Use plenty or enough instead
Abundance
Adjacent
Use next to
Adverse, averse
Adverse means unfavourable Averse is having a strong dislike of or opposition to something
Advice, advise
Advice (noun) is a suggestion or counsel Advise (verb) is to give advice
Adviser
Not advisor
Affect, effect
Affect (verb) is to act upon or influence Effect (noun) is the result of an action, eg he had affected the overall effect of the programme
Afterwards
Not afterward
Ageing Agenda All right
Not aging
Plural: agendas
Not alright Not amidst Not amongst
Amid
Among
Anti
Avoid hyphenating if looks sensible without, eg antisocial, antipathy, but hyphenate otherwise
Acquire Around
Use buy or get
Use ‘about’ or ‘approximately’ instead when talking about sums of money, figures, etc
Artist
Not artiste See insure
Assure Before
Instead of ‘in advance of’ Benefited/Benefiting Both words contain only one t Biannual, biennial Biannual: twice a year Biennial: every two years
To avoid confusion, use twice a year or every two years
Brand new
Just say new
Britain
United Kingdom also acceptable. Don’t use Great Britain unless you mean to exclude Northern Ireland (GB = England, Scotland and Wales only)
Byelaw Canvas
Not bylaw or bye-law
Canvas: the cloth Canvass: seek votes or opinion
Car park
Two words
Censor, censure
Censor: prevent publication Censure: criticise severely
Century
Initial capital letter when written as ‘in the 21st Century’
Chair
Instead of chairman/chairperson
Clampdown
One word when a noun, two words when a verb (‘..will clamp down on…’)
Clichés
Avoid them …like the plague
Collective nouns
Always treat as singular, eg the government was elected,
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the committee has voted, our team has won Only one t, but committal has a double t
Commitment
Common sense
Noun. When written as commonsense (one word), it is an adjective (‘a commonsense approach’)
Complement, compliment, complimentary
Complement: to make complete Compliment: to praise A complimentary copy is free
Comprise
Comprise or comprises, not ‘comprise of’
Consult
Not consult with
Continual
Repeated over a period of time. Continuous means uninterrupted or unbroken No hyphen, but use a hyphen for: co-opt, co-author, Co-op (the store), and the role title ‘co - ordinator’
Cooperate, cooperation, cooperative, coordinate
Copyright
Where external copyright is required and granted, include the copyright information alongside the material (such as picture captions). The copyright symbol © is written by holding down CTRL+ALT+C A coroner records a verdict, a jury returns a verdict Could have, not could of. Su ch as “He could have gone home.”
Coroner
Could
Council Tax
Initial capitals
Court
Capitals when referring to a specific court, then lower case in following references eg Manchester Magistrates’ Court...The court...Also note it is Magistrates Court, but Manchester magistrates. Court of Appeal rather than appeal court As a noun, one word. As a verb, two words: “to crack down on.” Fire can cause £1m of damage or damage estimated at £1m, not £1m worth of damage. Damage in itself is not worth anything
Crackdown
Damage
Defuse, diffuse
Defuse is to render harmless Diffuse is to spread about
Dependant, Dependent
Dependant (noun) as in a person who relies on another, dependent (adjective) as in ‘our trip is dependent on the weather’ Always different from, not different to or different than
Different
Discreet, discrete
Discreet means being careful and prudent Discrete is having distinct or separate parts
Disk, disc
Disk: Used for anything relating to computers. Disc: all other uses, eg disc brakes, she slipped a disc Neutral or unbiased. Uninterested means not displaying interest, bored
Disinterested
Earth Effect
Capital E when referring to the planet
See affect
Effectively
To do something well. Do not confuse with ‘in effect’
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Elicit, illicit
Elicit means to bring to light, eg “to elicit a response.” Illicit means illegal
Elearning
No hyphen and lower case, just as in email
Embargoes Note plural spelling. Singular form is embargo Eminent, imminent Eminent means well-known or distinguished Imminent is when something is about to happen Enormity
Means horrible beyond description, don’t use to mean huge
Enquiry Ensure
See inquiry See insure
Farther, further
Farther relates to distance Further is used in the sense of additional
Fire service
Fire service. Use firefighter instead of fireman/woman. Ranks of fire officers should always be written in full: chief fire officer, divisional officer, station officer, leading firefighter
Focused
Not focussed
Frontbench, frontrunner
One word with no hyphen
Frontline
When referring to colleagues, use resident-facing instead
Fundraising, fundraiser
One word with no hyphen
Full-time
Hyphenated
Graffiti
Plural of graffito, although unlikely will be used in the singular When describing time, hyphenate: one-and-a-half hours, but use alternative where possible: 90 minutes Take care to avoid ambiguity. Note this one from the Guardian : “Landmine claims dog UK arms firm.” One word. Use to replace headmaster/headmistress
Half
Headlines
Headteacher
Heatwave
One word
Hiccup
Not hiccough
High street
Only use capitals when referring to a street of that name
Hi-tech
Hyphenate
Hospitals
Write out hospital names in full. It is a hospital, not an hospital
Humour, humorist, humorous Housing Benefit
Note spelling
Initial capitals
-ise
As a suffix, use rather than – ize: sympathise, surprise (exception: capsize)
Illicit
See elicit
Imminent
See eminent
Industrial tribunals
Haven’t existed since 1998, when they became employment tribunals Insure: taking out insurance Ensure: to make certain/secure from harm Assure: setting someone’s mind at rest Inquiry: when an investigatory process is under way, eg public inquiry
Insure, ensure, assure
Inquiry, enquiry
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Enquiry: to ask a question generally
Jail
Not gaol
Jewellery
Note spelling
Kids
Slang - don’t use. Preferred words are children or young people
Latter
Is the second of two, not the last of a series
Last
Use previous when referring to editions (previous edition) – unless it really is the last
Lawsuit
One word
Learn
Learned is past tense, learnt is the past participle: She learned, she had learnt Less means smaller in quantity, eg less money, less crime. Fewer means smaller in number, eg fewer coins, fewer crimes. Simple rule: if it is a plural, use fewer
Less, fewer
Licence, license
Licence is a noun, license is the verb
Lifelong Lifetime
One word
One word Lightning, lightening Lightning: electrical discharge from storm cloud. Lightening: getting lighter Literally
Avoid using. Means something has actually occurred – but often misused to describe something that hasn’t happened: “Bolton Wanderers literally came back from the dead.”
Long-term Massive Medieval
Hyphenated
Avoid using, major is often suitable
Not mediaeval
Media
Is plural and includes TV, radio and newspapers
Minibus, minicab, minivan
One word
Minuscule Motorway
Note spelling
Style is M6, M62. Junctions in capitals – eg M67, Junction 5
Motorcycle, motorbike Nationwide
One word
One word and no initial capital letter
Naught, nought Naught: nothing. Nought: the figure 0 New developments Where new developments have not yet been officially
named, use the following format to avoid confusion with existing Anchor properties: [New care home/assisted living development/retirement village], [name of street], [name of town/city], For example: Our new care home in New Street, New Town
New Year’s Day
Initial capital letters, but new year is lower case
No-one
One word and hyphenated
Not-for-profit
Note spelling Note spelling
Occur, occurred Offhand, offside
One word, but note: off-licence
On-site
Hyphenated Hyphenated Note spelling
One-to-one
Ordnance Survey
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Over
When talking numbers, try to use ‘more than’ instead: “damage valued at more than….” This avoids confusion, such as “He tripped over six feet of cabling.” In most cases ‘a’ is better than ‘per’, eg 12 a day. But if per is used, it needs to be followed by another Latin word, eg per annum, per capita. Use English instead of Latin wherever possible Two words. Avoid % or pc in written text, but % is acceptable where space is limited, such as in charts or in presentations
Per
Per cent
Persons
Avoid, use people instead
Post office
Use capitals when naming the organization, but the local buildings are post office (lower case)
Practice, practise
Practice: noun. Practise: verb
Pressurise
Is to enable something to withstand pressure. A person is put under pressure Principal: head of a col lege or main objective, eg “The principal means of achieving.” Principle: rule or standard, eg “principles of teaching” Programme: on television or programme management Program: for computers Who is used for people, that/which for things: The man who…; the chair which…
Principal, principle
Programme, program
Pronouns
Protester
Note spelling, not protestor
Provided that Questionnaire Racecourse, racehorse
Not providing that
Note spelling
One word
Radios
Plural - note spelling
Re/re- (words beginning with)
Use re (no hyphen) when followed by the vowels a, i, o or u (when pronounced as “yu”) , or any consonant: rearm, rear range, reinforce, rebuild. But use re- when followed by e or u: re-examine, re-urge
Religion Review Roundup
Always use title of religious officials in full Is to look back on, a revue is a show
One word
St John Ambulance
Not St John’s Ambulance
Said
Saying ‘he/she said’ after or before a quote should generally be used instead of ‘he/she commented upon, exclaimed, interjected’. These are all too wordy One word, also use pupil but avoid schoolgirl/schoolboy
Schoolchildren
Seasons
Lower case, ie spring, summer
Seize
Note spelling
Shoplifting
One word One word
Shortlist
Short-term
Hyphenated Note spelling Not syphon
Siege
Siphon
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Some time
Two words, but sometimes is one word
Storey
Of a building eg three storey Stationary: immobile Stationery: pens, paper, etc Tip: Remember, e for envelopes
Stationary, stationery
Sublet Suing Swap
No hyphen Note spelling
Not swop
Target, targeting, targeted
Note spelling
Tax
VAT always written in caps, but not written out in full; income tax is lower case
Telephone Television
Instead of phone
Can abbreviate to TV Not terraced house
Terrace house
That
Is often superfluous and can be omitted
There, their, they’re
There – as in “There are three flats” or “It is better over there” Their means belonging to them, such as “Their coats” They’re – a contraction of “they are” Take care. Newspapers have been forced to pay substantial damages to the trade name owner following inappropriate use. Only use trade names when you are certain the product was involved and always use initial capital letter. Examples of common trade names and
Trade names
acceptable alternatives are: Sellotape – use sticky tape
Outward Bound – use outdoor centre Portacabin – use portable building Biro – ball-point pen Hoover – use vacuum cleaner
Try to T-shirt
Not try and do something
Hyphenated and with initial capital T
Underspend
One word
Unique
It’s the one and only – never qualified as ‘almost’ or ‘very’ unique
Uniform
Use workwear instead
union flag Up to date
Not Union jack, which describes the flag pole. No capitals No hyphens as in ‘the files are up to date’, but hyphens in the adjective ‘up -to- date methods’
Use
Not utilize One word
Wellbeing Well-known
Don’t describe someone as “well - known” in an article. If you need to say it, they’re not; if they are, you don’t need to say It
Wheelie bins
Note spelling
While
Not whilst
Who/whom
Use ‘who’ when he, she or they would fit; whom if him, her or them would fit
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Whose
Belonging to. Note: ‘who’s’ is a contraction of “who is”
Wi-Fi
Note hyphen and capitals
Withhold Workforce Workwear Worthwhile
One word One word One word One word
X-ray Xmas
Note spelling
Avoid. Use Christmas instead
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