Our style – a legend
It’s been said that our style is legendary. And here, finally, is the legend to our style.
Generally speaking we aim for a warm, conversational tone of voice which avoids jargon and sticks to plain English. When read out loud, it should sound like something someone would actually say. It should also get quickly to the heart of the matter and be easily understood. To help with this, we aim to minimise the use of capital letters and to keep sentences short.
There is more guidance about plain English and other writing guidelines on the intranet here: http://gossweb.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/nccextranet/index.aspx?articleid=15498
Names/titles
Nottingham City Council and City Council when referring to Nottingham City Council should always be capped up; the council is lower case
Councillor should be written in full in the first instance; Cllr is acceptable subsequently
Portfolio Holder is two words
(Deputy) Leader of the Council and (City) Council (Deputy) Leader are all acceptable and capped up as shown
It’s the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and the Sheriff of Nottingham
You can’t go wrong with Robin Hood (unless you claim he’s from anywhere but Nottingham), but Maid Marian is with an ‘a’ not an ‘o’
Council officers are referred to by their position and name only, such as Chief Executive Ian Curryer - do not use Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms
Places
The city when referring to Nottingham should remain lower case
St Ann’s has an apostrophe
Cap up all words in The Meadows, The Forest, Forest Fields, The Park, Goose Fair and Old Market Square
Bulwell only has two Ls at the end
Both words in East Midlands are capped up
It’s the University of Nottingham, not Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent University, not Trent University Queen’s Medical Centre includes an apostrophe and can subsequently be referred to as QMC; Queen’s Road also has an apostrophe but Queens Drive and Queens Walk do not
St James’s Street has a grammatically redundant but locally acceptable S after the apostrophe
Nottingham Forest (never, ever Notts Forest) play at the City Ground, which is in the county; Notts County FC play at the County Ground, which is in the city and also known as Meadow Lane or the Meadow Lane Stadium
The Nottingham War Memorial is on Victoria Embankment (the Cenotaph is in London)
It’s Nottingham Station, not Nottingham train station, railway station or, unless you’re a trainspotter, Midland Station
The tram system is called Nottingham Express Transit, also referred to as NET. Tram stop is two words
Broadmarsh is one word, Bridlesmith Gate is two words, Hounds Gate and Sheriffs Way have no apostrophes
The big building in the Old Market Square is the Council House, never city hall
(Local) Government phrases
Government when referring to Central Government is always capped up; local government is not
Council should be used rather than local authority wherever possible
They are councillors, not members
The City Council is a single body and so it’s the council is, not the council are. The council can be referred to as we, especially in quotes, so: The City Council is launching a new service. “We are delighted to launch our new service,” said Councillor Collins.
Workplace Parking Levy is three words as shown
Antisocial behaviour is two words – no hyphen in antisocial
Roads are always just roads, never carriageways or highways; similarly it’s always pavements, never footpaths (unless referring to the legally defined right of way only open to pedestrians) or footways
We favour citizens over residents and colleagues over staff, but all are acceptable. Where possible, use other descriptors – families, children, local people
Abbreviations
Abbreviations are best avoided if possible. If required, it should be spelled out in full at first reference, for example: ‘The Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) has funded the new tram extensions’
Never use NCC as an abbreviation for Nottingham City Council, or Nottm City Council and definitely not Notts City Council. In fact avoid using Nottm, Notts or Nttm generally
Councillor should be written in full in the first instance; Cllr (but not Coun) is acceptable subsequently
Quotes, punctuation and headers
Names and titles before quotes are presented as follows: Councillor Jane Doe, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, said: “Comma after name, comma after title, full colon and space before opening quotation marks.” Note that the full-stop (or other punctuation mark) is placed inside the quote marks
We use single inverted commas ‘like these’ for indirect quotes; but when someone speaks “their words appear inside double quotation marks.”
We generally use said, in the past-tense, rather than says or other options such as commented etc
When quotes continue beyond a paragraph, quote marks are not closed until the end of the quote, as follows: “The quotation marks are not closed at the end of the first paragraph.
“This is to ensure the reader knows that the person is still speaking.”
Capital letters in headlines are reserved only for the first word and proper nouns, so: Nottingham City Council headlines look like this which means that Headlines Do Not Look Like This and with the exception of some marketing material SHOULD NOT LOOK LIKE THIS
Headlines in press releases are aligned left, not centred
Avoid the use of exclamation marks at all costs. They are either too frivolous or a bit shouty
Avoid the use of brackets – often dashes like these work fine – and never use them in quotes
When using a series of bullet-points, do so as follows:
• Begin each point with a capped-up word • Do not use any punctuation at the end of each point • Only place a full-stop on the last point.
Include a full-stop in sentences which end with a web address like this www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk.
Numbers
Numbers one to ten should be written out as words and in numbers thereafter. If you start a sentence with any number, it should be written out as a word.
Times on the hour are written as 4am or 1pm without any full-stops or colons (it should not say 4.00am); after the hour it is shown as 4.15am etc. Twenty-four hour clock formats such as 04:00 or 13.00 are not used. Also it’s preferable to use 12pm or 12am although there may be occasions when it’s suitable to use noon/midday or midnight - but never 12noon
Dates are shown Monday 14 July with the day, date and month in that order. They generally don’t need the year. If referring to today, it should be followed by the date in brackets
It is acceptable to use £4 million or £4m but £1,000 should not be presented as £1k
Prices are shown £2, not £2.00
Other style pointers
Contractions such as don’t, isn’t, can’t are acceptable, and often preferable in quotes
Seasons should be lower case – autumn, etc
The insertion into text of capped up words such as FREE should be avoided AT ALL COSTS – precisely because of how that sounds in your head
We say disabled people and elderly people, not the disabled or the elderly
A person makes an enquiry, an official body carries out an inquiry
It is always someone who, not someone that
It’s just meet, not meet with
Avoid local government buzzwords like empower, going forward, step change
Don’t use complicated or formal words when simple, commonly used words will do. So:
• Assist = help • Concerning = about • Permitted = allowed • Approximately = about or around • Purchase = buy • Commence = start • Retained = kept • Utilise = use
Active words are favoured, so use providing rather than provision of It is, by definition, wholly unprecedented for something to be unique, so avoid using it inaccurately. In the unlikely event there is a genuine opportunity to use it, never describe something as very unique – it either is or it isn’t
Things are outside Nottingham or outside a building, not outside of
While is preferable to whilst, and among is better than amongst
The internet is lower case and it’s email, not e-mail or Email. And wi-fi is lower case and hyphenated
Some commonly confused words (largely borrowed from the BBC style guide)
Affect/effect
The verb ‘to affect’ means ‘to have an influence on’; ‘to effect’ means ‘to cause, accomplish’. In most cases affect will be the verb, effect the noun
Complement/compliment - To complement means to make complete or supply what is lacking. Whether as a noun or verb, compliment means (to) praise
Discreet/discrete - First means ‘careful’ or ‘tactful’; second means ‘distinct and separate’
Formerly/formally - First means previously; second according to convention
Illicit/elicit - First means illegal; second is to extract something, usually information
Licence/license - The noun is licence with a ‘c’ (eg: driving licence); the verb has an ‘s’ (eg: licensed to kill)
Peddling/pedalling – Street sellers peddle; cyclists pedal
Practice/practise – The noun has a ‘c’; the verb has an ‘s’. He’s a practising lawyer running his own practice
Principal/principle – First means ‘first in order of importance’ or a school head; second means ‘a rule or belief governing one’s personal behaviour’
Inter/intern – Our cemeteries section might inter, or bury, an old person; a new person at medical school might be an intern or a prisoner could be interned Use ‘fewer’ when you can count something, as in The committee wants to have fewer meetings next year. If you cannot count it, use ‘less’, as in Voters are calling for less bureaucracy.
They’re/their/there – These are not inter-changeable, as the first is a contraction of they are; the second is possessive; the last generally indicates a position, so: They’re putting their things over there
Your/you’re – If you are shortening ‘you are,’ then you must use you’re, since your is possessive – otherwise you’re mangling your words
Specific/pacific – First means clearly defined/identified; second means quiet, peaceful or (capped up) the ocean
Renumeration/remuneration - First means renumbering; second means payment
Could have/should have/would have/must have – Never could of, should of etc…
Spelling
Don’t rely on your computer’s spell-check, as it’s prone to suggest American spellings. As a general rule, refer to the Oxford English Dictionary - and where there is an option, choose the first definition.
One exception is that we use ...ise rather than ‘...ize’ so, recognise and not ‘recognize’; specialise and not ‘specialize’. It is also our style not to use ‘x’ in the middle of a word where there is an alternative spelling of ‘ct’ - hence, inflection - and not ‘inflexion’; reflection - and not ‘reflexion’; connection - and not ‘connexion’.
Punctuation
Apostrophes indicate either possession (eg: the children's nanny, the emperor's new clothes, journalists' pay) or the omission of one or more letters (eg: It's a lovely day today; Who's been sleeping in my bed?) There is no apostrophe in the possessive its (eg: Virtue is its own reward).
Dates do not require apostrophes (eg: 1900s) - unless the century is omitted (eg: the England squad of ’66).
Neither are apostrophes generally needed for plurals (eg: MPs, MBEs) There should be an apostrophe before the word ‘time’ in sentences such as The game will be played in two weeks’ time or They stop work in an hour’s time.