A or An Use a before words beginning with a consonant and an before words beginning with a vowel. Whether a word begins with a vowel or a consonant is determined by pronuncation, not spelling:  'an heir' but  'a hero.' 'An LSE student' but 'a UN observer.'
A&E, accident and emergency
A level No apostrophe or hyphen when used as a noun, but hypenate when adjectival: A-level results.  The terms A levels can include AS levels and A2s.
Abbreviations Do not use full stops in abbreviations: GP, RSS.
Abbreviations that are not widely understood should be written out in full when first used, followed by the abbreviation in brackets. Thereafter use the abbreviation: Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH) has secured funding to build a new wing. This has been achieved largely through the work of BCH nurse Claire Ryder.
Do not use full stops after personal titles: Dr James Masters rather than Dr. James Masters.
Abbreviated negatives Avoid can't, don't, I'll, you're in copy unless it is a direct quote. Abbreviated negatives are acceptable in blogs.
Affect/effect Affect is a verb. It means to produce an effect on, to touch the feelings of. To effect is to bring about, to acomplish.
American spelling. We use English spelling: haematology, not hematology; labour not labor
Ampersands (&) Can be used in headings or sub-headings. It can also be used when it is part of a name, such as Marks & Spencer but not in general text.
Anaesthetic (not anesthetic)
Antenatal
Apostrophes Women's hospital, children's hospital, three GPs practice at my GP's surgery, it's (for it is), its (possession)
App
Back-up (noun, hyphenate)
Bank Holiday, Bank Holiday Monday etc
BBC BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four but Radio 1, Radio 1 Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, Radio 5 Live Sport Extra, Radio 6 Music and Radio 7
Bill and Act upper case
BlackBerry the mobile phone - plural BlackBerrys
Blood the National Blood Service (NBS) - not the National Blood Transfusion Service - operates only in England and North Wales. There is also a Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, the Welsh Blood Service (for South and Mid Wales, but not for North Wales) and the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service.
Bonfire Night initial caps. See Guy Fawkes Night
Brackets (Parentheses) Round brackets (or parentheses) contain material that could be omitted without altering the meaning of a sentence. (If an entire sentence is written in parentheses the full stop is included within the brackets.)
Breastfeed(ing), breastfed no hyphen
Breech birth
Brummie (not Brummy), Geordie, Scouse etc, people and dialect, all upper case
Bullet Points Bullet points are useful to break up text. But as with captions:
No full stop is needed at the end of the line
Unless more than one sentence is involved, as here. In this case there should be a full-stop at the end of each sentence.
Bump to Baby
Bupa not BUPA
Burton upon Trent (no hyphens)
buzzword (one word)
By-election, bylaw, bypass (noun or verb), by-product, bystander
Cabinet cap whether used as a noun or adjectivally (unless you're talking about the dining room cabinet) Cabinet Office, Cabinet Secretary (or Secretary of the Cabinet), War Cabinet. Cabinet committees should be capped, eg, the Cabinet Committee on Science and Technology.
Caesarean section babies are delivered, not born, by this surgery
CD-Rom (compact disc, read only memory); CD-i (the interactive compact disc system)
Chairman or chairwoman or chairperson. Keep lower case.
Channel 4 (not Four)
Chat show, game show, quiz show, talk show etc (no hyphens when used as noun but use the hyphen when adjectival, eg, chat-show host); note also chatline, sexline
Chickenpox (no hyphen; similarly smallpox)
Childcare (as healthcare)
ChildLine, the charity (note cap L)
Childminder
Class A, B or C drugs (cap C)
Collective nouns take a singular verb and/or pronoun. For example: The Trust has failed to defend its role.
Compass points in general are lower case. Use a capital letter for a compass point only if it is part of an official recognised place name: north Birmingham but North Korea, the west of England but the West Midlands.
Comprehensive Spending Review
Consortium, plural consortia.  GP consorita (lower case)
Curly and Straight Quotes. Curly quotes should not be used in web copy as some browsers cannot read them.
Database
Dates Look at the date as it appears on the website: Monday, 18 April 2011. Never use 18th or 2nd or 3rd etc.
1989-93 or 1991-3
From 1989 to 1993
The 1960s
If you abbreviate a decade, omit the apostrophe (swinging 60s, not ‘60s).
If writing the decade as a word, use lower case (seventies, eighties), but numbers (70s, 80s) are always preferable online.
In general, do not hyphenate centuries: 18th century, 21st century. However, do hyphenate if adjectival: 21st-century boy.
AD goes before the date (AD 300), BC goes after (400 BC). Both go after the century: third century AD, fourth century BC.
Desktop (computer, publishing), no hyphen. See laptop
diabetes type 1, type 2 etc, l/c, no hyphen
Dot-com use hyphen for colloquial reference to internet companies, eg, the dot-com bubble
Drug names cap trade name, eg, Valium; l/c generic name, eg, diazepam
E. coli
Ecstasy (cap) the drug
Ellipsis (…) has two uses. It is always represented by three points, but the spacing around it depends on the context.
1) An ellipsis can indicate that something has been left unsaid, leaving an implication (of a joke or threat, for example) hanging in the air. In this case, treat it like a punctuation mark such as a comma, with no space before and one space after it.
If you finish a sentence with an ellipsis, no full stop is necessary to show the sentence is over:
The sentence can just tail off, like this… A capital letter marks the beginning of the new sentence.
You can, however, use a punctuation mark such as an exclamation point or question mark in conjunction with an ellipsis. In such cases, again leave a single space before the following sentence: Can I just let the sentence tail off…? Yes I can.
Similarly, you can use an ellipsis expressively in the middle of a sentence, with the result being an implication or resonant pause rather than a tailing-off. ‘Stop or I’ll shoot… myself.’
Expressive use of ellipses can be effective, but they should not be overused.  If you can achieve what you want to without one, it is usually better to do so.
2) An ellipsis can also indicate that material has been omitted from the middle of a direct quotation. If so, treat the three dots as a three-letter word, with single spaces preceding and following it:
According to Oscar Wilde: 'A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal ... is absolutely fatal.' (Omitting ‘of it’ from the quotation.)
Email
En suite (two words)
Examinations 11-plus, 7-plus, A levels, but A-level results (hyphenate only when adjectival); also AS levels, A2s, GCSE, SATs
Exclamation marks - don't use them
Facelift
Fallopian tubes cap "F", named after named after Gabriel Fallopius
First aid (noun, no hyphen); but hyphenate when adjectival, eg, first-aid qualifications
Flat-screen hyphen as in flat-screen television
Flu (no apostrophe), acceptable for influenza
Foetus, foetal not fetus etc; similarly, foetid not fetid
Fundholders (as in NHS)
Gender It is not acceptable to use his to refer to men and women. Instead, use his or her, or change to plural to avoid the issue:
A doctor should always take the interests of his or her patients into account.
Doctors should always take the interests of their patients into account.
Use humanity and humankind, not mankind. Telephones are staffed, not manned.
Do not use diminutives. Use actor, author, poet - not actress, authoress, poetess.
God cap when referring to just one, in any religion. He, His, Him also take cap. Many gods, use l/c, as in the Greek gods,  godparents, godfather, godmother, godson, goddaughter, godchild
Google cap noun; google l/c verb, googling, googled etc. Similiar rules for twittering on Twitter.
Government cap all governments, British and overseas, when referring to a specific one, eg: "The Coalition Government is introducing health service reform."  It is lower case when it is unspecific or one that has yet to be formed: "This is not sort of government I expected when I case my vote."
Also l/c government in all adjectival contexts, eg, a government minister, a government decision, government expenditure.
Government departments cap both when giving full title (eg, Department of Health), and even when abbreviated, as in Health Department etc.
Green Papercaps in official government sense. See White Paper
Green Party, or the Greens, but green issues etc l/c for generic environmental matters
Ground-breakinghyphenate adjectivally
H1N1 virus - swine flu
Haemorrhage, not hemorrage
Hardcore(one word as adjective, eg, hardcore pornography); but the hard core of the rebels (two words as noun); similarly, hard core (rubble)
Hardline(adjective), but taking a hard line
Hay feverno hyphen
Headache
Healthcare(one word) but dementia care, diabetes care
Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust (HoBtPCT)
Heatstroke but heatwave
Helpline, hotline
Hi-fi, wi-fi l/c
High street is l/c and no hyphen in general sense, as in high street prices. But cap in specifics, eg, Kings Heath High Street
HIVis a virus, not a disease. Do not write HIV virus (tautology), but use a phrase such as HIV-infected. Write HIV/Aids when appropriate regarding the virus and the condition together.
Homeopathynot homoeopathy
Hotline, helpline
Hour and a half, an no hyphens as a noun; but hyphenate adjectivally, eg, an hour-and-a-half break. Similarly for two and a half years, two thirds.
Huntington's disease (cap H)
HyphensAvoid overuse. Often, a more elegant solution is to use one word: ‘shortlist’, ‘hardcore’, ‘landmine’ and ‘makeover’ are examples of de-hyphenated words. Do not use hyphens in ‘self build’ or ‘first time buyers’.
Do not use hyphens in conjunction with adverbs ending in ‘ly’, eg in such phrases as ‘fiercely contested goal’ or ‘warmly received speech ’.
When to use hyphens:
After prefixes (‘sub-committee’, ‘vice-admiral’)
In fractions (two-thirds’, ‘three-quarters’)
When using age as an adjective (‘one-year-old boy’; but, ‘he is a one year old’)
Where a prefix is followed by a proper name (‘pro-Palestinian’, ‘anti-Bolshevik’)
In compound adjectives (‘his heavy-knit jumper’, ‘stand-up comedian’, ‘catch-up service’)
With short and common adverbs (‘well-established, ‘much-needed’)
To avoid ambiguity. For example, to distinguish between a ‘hard-pressed editor’ and a ‘hard, pressed editor’, or ‘re-sent’ and ‘resent’
Initial letters - see capitals
Inoculate
Inpatients, outpatients (no hyphen)
Inquire, inquiry not enquire, enquiry
Internet l/c, also the net for short. Likewise world wide web
Inverted commas note that our style is ". If you are copying and pasting from a word document you will need to change them from “ to "
iPod, iPhone, iPlayer. Don't use trade name iPod as a generic term for MP3 players.
Its/it's use the apostrophe only as an abbreviation for "it is" or "it has." There is no apostrophe in the possessive form.
Jacuzzi is a trade name, so cap; the company objects to use of the name as a noun, so write Jacuzzi bath only if certain of attribution, whirlpool bath or spa bath if in doubt
Jail rather than gaol
Jet lag (two words)
Job titles the general rule is that we cap up for very senior positions and not for lower ones. We cap up the Prime Minister, the Health Secretary, the Archbishop of York but not the chief executive of a hospital trust or the chairman of the Public Inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
K avoid for 1,000 except in direct quotes, eg, "He used to earn 200k"
Kilometres per hour correct abbreviation is km/h rather than kph
Kings Heath, Kings Norton no apostrophe
Koran, the
Laptop, desk top no hyphen
Legionella, listeria, salmonella are all bacteria, not viruses.
Legionnaires' disease l/c
Less in quantity, fewer in number. See fewer
Licence (noun), license (verb), but beware oflicensee(noun), licensed, licensing
Links are good. Put links into your copy. Don't write 'click here.' Put key search terms into the text to which you are creating a link. If you are inserting a link to a page outside of NHS local make sure that it opens in a new tab. The default setting is for the link to open in the current tab. This is what we use for links within our site. To change this setting, once you have entered your URL click on the Target tab of the links options box and select New Window (_blank) from the drop down menu, then press OK to save your changes.
Lumbar as in the lumbar puncture. Lumber as in building materials, lumberjack.
M1, M6 Toll
Mad cow disease is called BSE, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Marathon l/c in general sense, but cap up for London Marathon etc.
Means-test, means-tested etc (hyphenate whether as noun, verb or adjective)
Measurements: Use metric measures for such things as distance, speed, temperature, area. Use imperial ror a person’s weight. We write stone as st and pounds as lb – 13st 11lb. (If necessary/desirable follow them with the equivalents in imperial in brackets.) The only exceptions are figures of speech, such as ‘he was miles away’.
In general, spell out measurements when they first occur in your text. Then switch to the abbreviation; for example, kilometres on first use, then km.
Don’t leave a space between the number and its measurement: 4kph, 6cm, 250g, 25C.
Medicines The first letter of the brand name is uppercase but the generic term is lowercase. The drug Adapin, along with others in the doxepin family, is used to treat depression.
(If in doubt about whether something is a brand name or a generic term, look it up onMedicines by Name.
Met Office formerly the Meteorological Office
Metres as in distance; meters, as in gas or parking etc
Midwife-led
Mobile phone, cellphone in US only
More than is for numbers, over is for tables. More than 2,500 people attended the rally. The cat jumped over the table.
MORI must cap
Mother's Day or Mothering Sunday (not Mothers')
Mother-to-be hyphens
Motor neuron (no final e) disease but note the Motor Neurone Disease Association
National curriculum (l/c)
National grid (l/c, generic, for pylons, wires etc); National Grid (cap, the power company)
National insurance (l/c, like other taxes), in general context, but caps for National Insurance Fund
Nato (not NATO)
Neither takes a singular verb, eg, “neither is ...”, “neither Bert nor Fred has any idea”. Do not use the construction neither ... or ... (must use nor). See none, either
Neonatal
Newborn (as in babies, no hyphen)
New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, but the new year, new year's resolutions and Chinese new year
NHS Blood and Transplant
NICE use the u/c acronym at subsequent mentions for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (note Health as an addition to the original name)
No one two words, no hyphen
Noon (not 12 noon, 12am or 12pm)
norovirus -  lower case 'n'
Numbers
Numbers one to nine should be written as words. Numbers 10 to 999,999 should be in figures (use commas to break up 4 digit numbers and above). For larger numbers use million or billion rather than writing out the zeros.

• One to nine
• 10 to 999,999
• 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000
• £3million
• 5 billion stars
• 3 million homeowners
• 5 billion sheep

Exceptions:

• Where numbers are used in tables or with measurements and percentages such as 9cm and 3%
• Widely used phrases (‘a thousand things to do’)
• Figures can be used in headlines and subheadings (Eat Your 5 a Day)
• Don‘t start a sentence with numbers if you can avoid it. If you have to start with a number, then write it out in full.
• Never use words and figures together. Write either ‘nine to ten’ or ‘9 to 10’.
• Do not use Roman numerals unless they are part of a name.

Other number related examples

• 0.75
• £20 (not £20.00)
• 17th century

Olympics or the Games (u/c both) can be used as a short form of the Olympic Games. Cap Olympic even when used adjectivally, eg, an Olympic athlete. Note International Olympic Committee (no final “s” on Olympic).
ombudsman, ombudswomankeep l/c in general context, eg, "he referred the matter to the ombudsman" but cap for specifics, as in the Health Service Ombudsman.
Omega-3, omega-6etc, l/c and hyphen, for fatty acids
Onlinel/c one word
On to unlike into is two words. "Phil moved on to better things" (but he did collapse onto the floor).
Open-heart surgery
Overshould not be confused with "more than."  "More than" is for numbers. "Over" is for tables
Palmtop computers
Parkinson's disease
pathfinder GP (lower case)
Per cent use the words within text, but % is acceptable in headlines and if you writing about data and using tables etc.
Pilatescap for the exercise method
Postnatal
Professor  The first time write Professor Clare Golding, of urinary medicine at Birmingham University. The second time write Prof Golding.
Punctuation
Phil is going to classes in "health and fitness".
"Health is fitness, fitness, health."
"I need to get fit because I'm going to South America," said Phil.
Quotation marksWe use ".  If copying and pasting from Word, the quotation marks will appear differently. Change each set to "
When quoting, start each paragraph with a set of quotation marks, even if they have not been closedfrom a previous paragraph.
R&B
Register office not registry office
Reverendat first mention, the style is "the Rev Tom Jones" then Mr Jones.
Reviewtakes the cap in names of government programmes, such as Strategic Defence Review, Comprehensive Spending Review
Rough Guideis a trademark so generic phrases such as "a rough guide to ..." must be avoided.
Royal, royaltyl/c for royalty but cap the Royal Family; royal is usually l/c when used adjectivally, as in royal wedding, royal couple, royal baby, royal approval, royal visit, the royal wave but takes the cap in titles such as Royal Collection, Royal Yacht etc
Sainsbury's
Saintcan be abbreviated to St
Sat-navl/c and hyphen
SATs (standard assessment tasks) have been replaced by national curriculum tests. SATs is The term SATs is not used formally by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, but continues to be used informally by parents, teachers and politicians. As appropriate, the phrase "national curriculum tests, known as SATs", may be employed. In headings, do not use SATs, except in the formal, historical context; suggested alternatives are tests, school tests, national tests, curriculum tests
Subheadings use heading 2, then heading 3, then heading 4 and so on
Schoolchildren(one word), schoolgirl, schoolboy, schooldays, schoolteacher but school-leaver
Seasons always l/c when unattached, ie, spring, summer, autumn, winter; but Winter Olympics etc. Note also summertime, wintertime, springtime, but British Summer Time (BST), and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). See times
Second World War, not World War II/Two etc
Select committees and parliamentary committees capped at first mention, or when full title is given, eg, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee; thereafter, the select committee, or the committee.
Selfridges
Sellotape is a trade name
Sex offenders register(l/c, no apostrophe)
Shortlist(one word as noun or verb)
Sickbed one word
Silicon Valley, silicon chips,but silicone implants
Sim card
Slimlinel/c one word
Smartcard(one word), as scratchcard, swipecard
Spacing use a single space after commas and fulstops
Spokesman, spokeswoman or spokesperson
Stationary(not moving), stationery (writing materials - think e for envelopes)
Stratford-upon-Avon except in the parliamentary constituency, which is Stratford-on-Avon
Superhighway(as in information superhighway)
24/7
T'ai chil/c with apostrophe
Takeaway (meals)
Take-off(aircraft)
Takeover(noun), but to take over (verb)
Tannoyis a trade name
Technicoloris a trade name
Telephone numbers do not hyphenate
Temperatures Use metric measaurements
Tens machine
Time Use the 12 hour rather than the 24 hour clock. Martha had to take her drugs at 2pm each day not Martha had to take her drugs at 14.00 each day.
No gap between number and am or pm (3am, 5pm). No need to use pm twice for a length of time (as in 3.30-6pm), but when am and pm are used, this should be denoted (3am-6.30pm).
Write daytime (one word) but night-time (hyphenated).
Titles  Use upper case for the titles of books, films, plays, websites. As a rule of thumb, use l/c for prepositions, conjunctions, definite and indefinite articles, eg, Don't Cry for Me, Argentina
Tourette syndrome
Tracheostomy, tracheotomynote no "a" in the middle
Try to"I will try to inform patients,"  not "I try and inform patients."
Twentysomething, thirtysomething, fortysomethingetc
Twenty20cricket
Twin towers (of the former World Trade Centre in New York, destroyed in the 9/11 attacks) l/c
Twitter cap for the platform, l/c for tweeting
two minutes' silence(the) on Remembrance Day
Two thirds, three quarters etc, but a two-thirds share (hyphenate adjectival use). Such expressions usually take the plural verb, eg, "three quarters of the doctors prefer carpets in their surgeries," the same applies even in “one third of the doctors prefer carpets in their surgeries” but "two thirds of the bus was empty."
UKacceptable abbreviation for United Kingdom in both text and headlines meaning Great Britain and Northern Ireland
U-turn
Valentine's Day normally omit the St, and keep cap for Valentine card etc
Velcro is a trade name
Vitamin A, B, Cetc l/c "v"
Vodafonenot Vodaphone
Wap as in mobile telephones, short for wireless application protocol (not WAP)
Water birth
Web chat two words
Website one word
Weights and measures "He was 6ft 7in"  but  "she was only a few feet away." "She weighed 8st 12lb" but "he needed to lose a fewl pounds from his belly."
Wellbeing
Whiskyis from Scotland. Whiskey  is from Ireland or America.
White Paper caps, as with Green Paper. Full names of the White Paper, caps for each initial letter.
WHOspell out at first mention, World Health Organisation, then the WHO
Wi-Fi
Working families tax credit (l/c, and families not family)
World wide web (as with internet), l/c; and the web for short, also website
X-ray
Year 1, Year 3, Year 12etc in schooling contexts
Yearsnote that two and a half years is spelt out, unless an age ("she is 2½")
YouTube
Zeitgeist l/c
Zimmer frameis a trade name

Last updated 04 April 2011