CORAL STYLE AND GRAMMAR GUIDE Updated September, 2014

Thank you in advance for helping to reinforce CORAL’s brand by following these established guidelines. Please do not hesitate to contact the communications team with suggestions, corrections, and questions about writing and usage preferences.

Writing tips

Avoid the passive voice. Although it’s very common in academic and scientific publications writing, when writing for a general audience using the passive voice can make you sound unsure or can seem like you’re avoiding responsibility.

What is a passive sentence? When the noun or noun phrase that would be the object of a sentence appears as the subject of a sentence. Look for sentences with “to be” verbs and past participles, which often end in “-ed.” Always ask yourself “who will do the action?”

Examples: . Passive Voice: Funding guidelines will be created and results will be evaluated to measure the performance that is achieved. (Who will do it?) . Active Voice: The foundation will create funding guidelines and hire a consultant to evaluate the grantee’s performance.

Avoid abbreviations. It’s OK to use MPAs, U.S., and other common abbreviations, but otherwise you should avoid alphabet soup. If an abbreviation is appropriate and will be used repeatedly throughout the piece, put it in parentheses after spelling out the name the first time.

Example: . Bay Islands Conservation Network (BICA) will study the issue. BICA’s experts will...

Avoid weak modifiers and meaningless words (very, really, a lot, key, crucial, critical, essential, serious, etc.). These aren’t banned words, but they tend to weaken your writing. It’s better to use strong verbs and to be specific. Real-world examples and compelling statistics make writing more persuasive and interesting to read.

Example: . Avoid: Our efforts really increased underwater visibility in the area.

1

. Do: We increased visibility by 80% in the area.

Avoid repetition. Don't repeat words more than absolutely necessary. If you've already called something "significant," call it "important" next time.

Write simply and avoid jargon. Less is more! Ask yourself: have I said something in a more complicated way than necessary? Funders and decision makers don’t want to spend a lot of time reading. The faster you get to the the more interested they will be.

Given our line of work, the words below are sometimes exactly the right word, but they are overused and don’t mean as much to people outside of the conservation field. Think twice about using the words below and refer to a thesaurus when needed.

. ambitious . key . analytic(al) . leverage (verb) . assessment . massive . campaign . mechanism . capacity . mitigate (mitigation) . core . optimum . critical . policy(maker) . crucial . priority . decision maker . prioritize . engage(ment) . resources . etc. . rigorous . expert(ise) . serious . impact (verb) . strategic . implement (verb) . technical . institution(al) . utilize . intense . venue . issue . world-class

Other words and phrases to avoid or use with care:

. Through this [effort/program/etc.] (and other related phrases) - Beginning a sentence this way often ends up not truly making sense, lacking clarity, or just sounding jargony. Although it is occasionally the most efficient and accurate way to describe something, use with great caution.

. Train [someone] on how to [do something] - Not wrong, just clunky. Rework when possible. (Example: Rather than "CORAL trained fishermen on how to use

2

the guide," try "CORAL trained fishermen to use the guide," or "CORAL trained fishermen on the guide's proper use.")

. What he/she said was… Instead of using so many words, try to be more concise and write “he/she said…”

Grammar and Mechanics

Avoid dangling modifiers. A dangling modifier occurs when a modifier can be misinterpreted to be associated with a word other than the intended word.

Example: . Incorrect: Organizing files every three months, the office seemed to run better. (The office can’t organize files on its own.) . Correct: Anne made the office function more smoothly by organizing files every three months.

Use commas to set off phrases. Lists, phrases, and clauses that are non-restrictive or parenthetical (i.e., the sentence would make sense and have the same meaning without them) must be set off by commas, meaning that they must **both start and end** with commas.

Examples:

These animals, including sea stars, periwinkles, and sharks, are fascinating.

The whales, having eaten many small fish, swam away.

Which vs. That Basic rule: Use commas with "which," but not with "that."

Explanation for when to use each: http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/which.htm

This and That "This" and "that" (and "these" and "those") are demonstrative adjectives—they generally can't stand alone. For instance, it's technically incorrect to say "This makes us happy." You need a noun for "this" to modify. A correct sentence would be "This decision makes us happy." (I think it's totally fine to ignore this rule most of the time, but not in more formal writing.)

3

Between vs. Among Use "between" when only two parties are involved; if there are more, you need to use "among." For example, "CORAL fosters relationships between operators and conservation managers" vs. "CORAL builds connections among managers, operators, and other stakeholders."

Hyphens

A good rundown of use: http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp

Prepositions Make sure you've got the right preposition to go with your verb. (There may be some discrepancies between American and British English here.) For instance, you train someone "on" or "in" something, but you teach someone "about" something.

Comprise "Comprise" is one of the most frequently misunderstood and misused words in the English language, so there's a good chance people won't notice if you use it incorrectly. However, if you happen to reach a grammarian (like Joe), he or she will frown mightily.

It's tricky, because "comprise" sounds like and has a similar meaning to "compose." However, "comprise" is a synonym for "include." Although it's correct to say "the group is composed of many stakeholders," to say "the group is comprised of many stakeholders" would be like saying "the group is included of many stakeholders." (Your English teacher vomits.) The correct phrase is: "the group comprises many stakeholders." In another common form, "The group, comprising many stakeholders, was quite large." (NOT "The group, comprised of many stakeholders, was quite large.")

Make material easier to digest with lists and bullets.

. Use a semicolon instead of a comma if lists are long, complicated, or have items with commas.

• At the staff retreat, Michael baked pies, cookies, and muffins; played Hawaiian music; and danced late into the night, amusing his guests.

. Use a to let readers know a long list is coming, especially if you use semi- colons as separators.

4

. Use bullets if your list has more than two or three items—they’re great for breaking up big blocks of dense text.

o Press tab to indent and make a subpoint. . But think twice about going to a third level or beyond.

. Give each bullet the same syntax (for example, all of the items in this bulleted list begin with a command). In addition, if one of your bullets is a sentence, they all should be sentences, and vice versa, for consistency.

. Don’t put commas or semicolons at the end of bullets; use a period only when the bullet is a complete sentence.

. Maintain parallel structure for both lists and bullets o CORAL seeks to decrease destructive fishing, improve marine park management, and tackle other local threats. o NOT: CORAL seeks to decrease destructive fishing, improvements in marine park management, and tackling other local threats.

Formatting and punctuation

With a few exceptions, CORAL uses Associated Press (AP) Style since it puts a premium on clarity and brevity. It’s also what guides many English-language newspapers and magazines, so it’s familiar to readers.

Some CORAL-specific style rules you should master:

. Colons: do not capitalize the phrase or sentence that begins after a colon (this is an exception to the AP style).

. Commas: use the serial or “Oxford” comma (a comma before the last item in a list) - Madhavi has dived in Fiji, Palmyra, and Honduras.

- Use a comma to separate two independent clauses; otherwise use your judgment. Read out loud and listen to where the reader might need to take a breath. Examples: Headquarters staff celebrated the holiday by going on a crazy scavenger hunt, and three of them felt nauseous afterwards. (Those are two full sentences connected by the conjunction “and.” CORAL’s headquarters staff celebrated the holiday by going on a crazy scavenger hunt and found several unusual items on the list. (To be a complete sentence “found several unusual items” would need a “they” in

5

front of it.)

. Dates: when including the date on memos, letters, reports, and footers, follow this format: month day, year • January 1, 2014

. Quotation marks: Periods and commas go inside the quotation marks, regardless of whether the punctuation is part of the quoted material. (American rule. Sorry, but that's the way it's gotta be.) Other punctuation goes inside if it's part of the quote, but outside if it's not. Example: "I think this rule is hella stupid!" said Sarah. (Can you believe Sarah said "hella"?)

. Footnotes: o Place footnotes at the end of a sentence or at the end of a clause. o The number follows every punctuation mark except for the , which it precedes

. Formal titles: capitalize formal titles before the name, but use lowercase after or when alone o Executive Director Michael Webster met with President Obama today. After President Obama hires Michael to be in charge of the world’s coral reefs, CORAL will need to find a new executive director.

. Money: o Use $, no need for U.S. $ o Don’t spell out until “million” ($100, $1,000, $100,000, $1 million, $1.2 billion) o Repeat “million” in range . We will award between $10 million and $20 million

. Numbers: use words for zero to nine; numerals for 10 and above

. Symbols: o Use okinas in Hawai‘i but not Hawaiian, and use all Hawaiian accents whenever appropriate o Use percent, not % or per cent

. Sentence spacing: use one between sentences, not two (or three) (computers adjust the spacing at the end of a sentence)

6

Additional exceptions and notes are described in the style sheet below. We use Merriam and Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/) for guidance on spelling, hyphenation, and other word issues. The communications team has several copies of the AP stylebook, Merriam Webster’s, the Oxford Thesaurus, and various nerdy grammar and usage books for you to use.

Formatting nuts and bolts . Bullets and lists: see above . : base are Neue and Minion Pro: see “Logos, fonts, and color” below . Justification: left-justified, ragged right

E-mailing and editing

E-mail best practices: . Be concise. . Use correct grammar and punctuation, and proofread. . Use precise, informative subject lines. . If there are action items, state them at the beginning of the message and indicate who is responsible. . Use bulleted and numbered lists instead of long, dense . . If the subject of an email chain changes, summarize the conversation, change the subject line, and delete non-essential participants. . Only use “reply all” if requested by the sender. . Consider phone and in-person meetings, rather than e-mail, for complex topics. . Consider the possible consequences of sending sensitive or confidential information through e-mail. . E-mail entire office or large groups sparingly.

Using track changes, comments, and security when editing a document

. Turn on “track changes” when editing a document (Tools >> Track Changes). o You can always hide edits by changing view to “Final” or unchecking items in the “Show” dropdown menu of the Reviewing toolbar. . Insert comments to ask questions or raise concerns about material. . For final documents, accept/reject all changes and delete all comments. o Double check that you have accepted/rejected all changes and deleted all comments by viewing the document as “Final Showing Markup” in the reviewing/track changes bar—this view will show any remaining comments and changes. There should be no visible changes or comments.

7

o Resave, so as not to lose documented edits, until the document is final/final. . When e-mailing files externally, use a PDF, not a Word or Excel document, to ensure document integrity. . Don’t e-mail sensitive documents. . Check to see if “CONFIDENTIAL” or similar is needed in the header.

Logos, fonts, and colors

8

9

10 Word List

A AHRM Hotel Association of the Riviera Maya ASK Amigos de Sian Kaan

B Board “CORAL’s Board of Directors” and “the Board of Directors of the Coral Reef Alliance” Board member

C CI Conservation International

Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) In written text, use “the” when wording makes sense, capitalized at start of sentence, e.g., “The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is a member- supported…” and lowercased within a sentence, e.g., “Donors from the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL)….” Always follow the spelled-out version of the org with the acronym, and use the acronym in subsequent mentions, e.g., “The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is the best nonprofit in the world. CORAL’s staff rocks, too.”

CORAL Current CORAL’s print newsletter (in italics) CRLN Coral Reef Leadership Network, or when referring to individual trainers, CORAL Reef Leaders

D DAR Division of Aquatic Resources (falls under purview of the Hawai‘i State Department of Land and Natural Resources) Decision maker Two words, not hyphenated or run together DLNR Hawai‘i State Department of Land and Natural Resources

E Earth Cap when referring to the planet Earth; otherwise, lowercase: heaven and earth e-card electronic card sent via coral.org (lower case e, hyphen, lower case c) Ecotourism

E-Current CORAL’s electronic newsletter (cap E, hyphen, cap C, in italics) email all one word

F Field work FLMMA Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area Follow-up (modifier) Follow-up conference Follow up (verb) I will follow up with you. Fresh water (noun) Freshwater (adjective) Fundraiser/fundraising

G GI Grupo Intersectorial

H Hawai‘i Use the okina. If possessive, okina stays. i.e. Hawai‘i’s coral reefs are home to… I Indo-Pacific In country We’ve been working in country for five years. (noun) In-country Our in-country staff is awesome. (adjective) In-kind Its possessive It’s It is

J

K KBDC Kubulau Business Development Committee KRMC Kubulau Resource Management Committee KQCC Kubulau Qoliqoli Conservation Corridor

L Live-aboard LMMA locally-managed marine area

M MARTI Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative Micro-financing Micro-funding Microgrant(s) Run together, no hyphen Micro-lending Microenterprises Run together, no hyphen Mission Statement Unite communities to save coral reefs MLCD Marine Life Conservation District MOU memorandum of understanding MPA/MPAs marine protected area(s)

N NGO/NGOs non-governmental organization(s) nonprofit (no hyphen)

O Opt out

P Q

R Rainforest RMP Roatan Marine Park Runoff (noun) i.e., stormwater runoff Run off (verb) The polluted water runs off…

S SCUBA self-contained underwater breathing apparatus Scuba diving/diver Seawater Saltwater SMR Sustainable Marine Recreation (CORAL workshop) Stormwater

T TNC The Nature Conservancy Toll-free (hyphenated)

U UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNF United Nations Foundation User fee system(s) (not tourism fee, visitor fee, etc.)

V

W Wastewater WCS Wildlife Conservation Society Well-managed marine protected area WWF World Wildlife Fund (preferred reference is WWF)

X

Y

Z