Capital Letters:
Use a capital for…
Someone’s name/title, i.e., President Michael D. Higgins.
The name of a committee.
A religion/religious label.
Abbreviations
Days of the week, months and holidays.
Countries, landmarks and languages.
Trademarks.
Don’t use a capital for…
A title that is preceded by “the”, i.e., the president, Mary McAleese, or a title that follows a name.
Impermanent committees/groups or rough descriptions/
Non-specific use of the word “god”.
Seasons. “This spring…”
Headlines should not feature a capital letter in every word, i.e., Late grants cause student hardship.
Collective Nouns
Collective nouns should always be singular, e.g. The Government has…, The staff is…, The Students’ Union is… If you are referring to a collective’s constituents, use the plural, e.g. The council are at sixes and sevens, The staff are at each other’s throats.
Colons
Colons should be used after a statement which precedes a list, e.g. His basket is full of fruit: apples, pears, bananas and plums.
Common Problems
The word none is derived from not one. Thus it is always followed by the singular, e.g. None of the workers was pleased with the outcome. Not one of the workers were pleased with the outcome.
A couple is two. A few is ‘a small number of’, usually three or four. Several means more than five. A dozen is 12.
Prefer their to his or her. Where the sex is not stipulated, use “their”.
Conjunctions
Avoid using too many conjunctions. Too many conjunctions can result in a long, rambling sentence. “And” and “but” are examples of conjunctions.
Dates
Dates must be written as Monday, 5 January 2009.
Italics
Use italics for:
Titles of books, newspapers, films, albums etc but use single inverted commas for minor titles within a larger body of work (articles, poems, stories, tracks etc.), e.g. “Sin’s recent article ‘The Style Sheet,’ caused great confusion among writers…”
The names of ships and aircraft, e.g. The Titanic.
Foreign phrases. e.g. “We found ourselves in a cul de sac.”
Emphasis. Capital letters should never be used for emphasis.
Jargon
Avoid using jargon or slang. It is generally used to express a simple term in a more complicated way. Simple and normal language is always best.
Numbers
Numbers from one to one ten must be written as words, except when used statistically. Numbers from 10 and upwards must be expressed as figures.
In the case of a set use digits for all. e.g. He asked for 9 soldiers and received 99.
Use figures for volume, part, chapter, and page numbers.
Figures are also used for years, including those below one hundred.
Numbers at the beginning of sentences and approximate numbers should be expressed in words, as should ‘hundred’, ‘thousand’, etc., if they appear as whole numbers:
Paragraphs
Do not add an line of return between paragraphs.
Percentages
Per cent should be expressed as a digit and the per cent symbol, i.e., 4%. If a figure is not used or unknown use words, e.g. “a large percentage of people…”
Quotation Marks
Double quotation marks(“”) must always be used for speech. She said; “Double quotation marks should always be used…”
When quoting someone, always take their words verbatim: write exactly what they said. If a lengthy quote veers off the subject you may use an ellipses [...] to remove irrelevant information.
It is very poor form to quote someone out of context.
Single quotation marks can be used for a quotation within a quotation, e.g., “She told the writers that ‘single quotations should be used when quoting within a quote’…”
Single quotations marks can be used for terminology, e.g. Though referred to as a ‘professor’, Mr Smith never in fact completed his PhD.
Semi-colons
In Sin, we use semi-colons when introducing a quote or statement, e.g., She stated; “This style guide provides some essential information.”
A semicolon is used to connect two independent clauses which are related.
Do not use a semicolon to connect two sentences when there is already a conjunction (and, but, etc.) between them, e.g. Twelve workers started the project; only five remain not Twelve workers started the project; but only five remain.
Time
Times must be expressed numerically and followed by “am” or “pm”.
Titles
A person’s title should come before their name, e.g. President Barack Obama not Barack Obama, President
The first mention of a person in an article must include their title. They can then be referred to as Mr, Mrs, Ms, etc., on each subsequent mention, e.g. Mr Obama.
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