STYLE
Making BDO distinctive
There are some words and spellings that are easy to get wrong so here’s a reminder of how they should be used and spelled: adviser - always with an ‘e’, never ‘advisor’. alternative - there can only be two of these; otherwise they would be options or choices. among - preferred to ‘amongst’. assure/ensure/insure - the first is to guard against certain risks (hence life assurance), the second is to make certain and the third is to guard against uncertain risks (hence fire insurance). buy-out, buy out - the first is the noun, second the verb. chairman - also applies to women as a job title. complement/compliment - the first means to make up (a whole), the second is to praise. despatch/dispatc h - the first is a noun, the second is a verb. different - is always followed by from, not to. email - always a lower case ‘e’, no hyphen. ext. - acceptable shorthand for telephone extension (internal use only). euro area - two words no hyphen, lower case ‘e’. eurozone - one word lower case ‘e’.
firm - lower case ‘f’, use to describe professional organisations like solicitors and stockbrokers. firm-wide - lower case ‘f’ with hyphen. focused - with one ‘s’, not two. internet - lower case ‘i’ (internet, extranet and web all lower case). online - lower case ‘o’, no hyphen. partnership - lower case ‘p’, can be used as an alternative to ‘firm’ and also to describe a joint venture, but make sure the description is accurate. plc - all lower case, is an acceptable abbreviation for ‘public limited company’. programme/program - the latter is an American spelling that in UK English only applies to computer algorithms. UK - acceptable abbreviation for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Note that Great Britain is a geographical rather than political term and only includes the first three, while British Isles (also a geographical term) is all of Great Britain and Ireland (Northern Ireland and Eire). US or USA - acceptable shorthand for United States. while - preferred to ‘whilst’. worldwide - one word, no hyphen.
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