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V, vs. Spell out vs or v as ‘versus’ with brackets and no full stop (vs) on its first appearance, then use the abbreviation vs with no full stop. (Use hovertext in HTML.)
Spell out confidence interval on first appearance and then the abbreviation (CI). Use CI thereafter.
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Write first as artificial intelligence (AI) then AI throughout.
B
Banned words
UKHSA) GDS calls these 'banned words'. In practice we use some of them, but take the general point that we should avoid bureaucratic cliches and jargon where possible.
Avoid using these words:
agenda – (unless it’s for a meeting), use ‘plan’ instead
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- front-load sentences
- use headings
- use bullets
(UKHSA) In practice we do us bold to highlight some words, especially in instructions, especially in safety critical documents.
Brackets
Use (round brackets).
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It is preferable to avoid using them, so ideally rewrite the sentence so as to avoid them. The example above could possibly be redone as a bullet list with a colon after 'counts', thus eliminating the need for square brackets.
The following sentence could be rewritten to avoid the secondary brackets by either writing 'these include' before the list or converting the methods to a bullet list.
Creagh and others examined the effectiveness of different methods of sterilisation (sodium hypochlorite solution, modified sodium hypochlorite solution [not using the recommended method], boiling, modified boiling [not using the recommended method], scalding, or other) on bacterial contamination of baby feeding bottles and teats used by 100 mothers in Ireland in 1976 (6).
Could be written as:
Creagh and others examined the effectiveness of different methods of sterilisation on bacterial contamination of baby feeding bottles and teats used by 100 mothers in Ireland in 1976 (6). These included:
- sodium hypochlorite solution
- modified sodium hypochlorite solution (not using the recommended method)
- boiling
- modified boiling (not using the recommended method)
- scalding
- other
Britain
See 'Great Britain'.
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- government - see government
- minister, never Minister, unless part of a specific job title, like Minister for the Cabinet Office
- department or ministry - never Department or Ministry, unless referring to a specific one: Ministry of Justice, for example
- white paper, green paper, command paper, House of Commons paper
- budget, autumn statement, spring statement, unless referring to and using the full name of a specific statement - for example, “2016 Budget”
- sections or schedules within specific named acts, regulations or orders
- director general (no hyphen), deputy director, director, unless in a specific job title
- group and directorate, unless referring to a specific group or directorate: the Commercial Directorate, for example
- departmental board, executive board, the board
- policy themes like sustainable communities, promoting economic growth, local enterprise zones
- general mention of select committees (but do cap specific ones - see above)
- the military
(UKHSA) in some cases we capitalise Protected Titles, that is where a particular role is specified in legislation, for example Food Examiner in the 'Ready to eat' guidelines.
chair of governors
Lower case.
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You can use 'right-click' if the user needs to right-click to open up a list of options to progress through the user journey.
CO2 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide/a-to-z-of-gov-uk-style#co2
(UKHSA) Use capital letters and a regular 2.????
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ie - used to clarify a sentence - is not always well understood. Try (re)writing sentences to avoid the need to use it. If that is not possible, use an alternative such as ‘meaning’ or ‘that is’.
(UKHSA) EC regulations
Remove the No. signifying number. So 'Regulation (EC) No. 178/200210)' becomes 'Regulation (EC) 178/200210)'.
One word.
Email addresses
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Use the minus sign for subtraction. In Word, type 2212 then Alt and x.
Use the correct symbol for the multiplication sign (×), not the letter x. To do this, on your keyboard press Alt and then, on the numeric keyboard 0125.
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(UKHSA) When units are long - 4 characters and over - you can add a space to make it easier to read: 724 kcals, 20,000 cfu/ml – This also allows them (in HTML) to be given hovertext, which can't be done if the unit is flush against the number.
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Do not use a space, so n=6. (Same with p=, c=, m=).
N/A
Separate with a slash. Only use in tables.
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