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Writing for the web:

4.Writing in our house style

On this page:

    Introduction

    Many common words and phrases can be written in different ways (for example, e-mail, email or Email) and spelling and punctuation can change over time as language develops. Our house style sets out the approach we should use for spelling and punctuation to make sure our website is consistent, clear and professional.

    House style - A to Z

    Looking for an alternative word?

    Check out The Plain English Campaign. Their website has hundreds of plain English alternatives to complex words and phrases.

    As well as an A to Z glossary, you can use their lookup tool and access lots of other useful Plain English guides.

    Access free guides on the Plain English Campaign website

    Abbreviations and acronyms

    Avoid unnecessary abbreviations. It is better to write ’for example’ rather than ‘eg’.

    Use in other words instead of etc.

    Use that is instead of i.e.

    Spell out lesser known abbreviations in the first occurrence, putting the acronym in brackets afterwards. For example: East Yorkshire Motor Services’ (EYMS) and EYMS thereafter.

    Well known acronyms do not need to be spelt out. For example: BBC, ITV, MP, OBE, RAF, NVQs. Note that no full stops are used.

    Capital letters should be used if the abbreviation is pronounced as individual letters. Otherwise spell out the word. For example: Ofsted or Unison.

    You should avoid using internal abbreviations. For example, CFS, PER, PPI.

    When referring to a specific elected member, use Councillor Smith initially and Cllr Smith thereafter.

    Addresses

    It is acceptable to write an address either on 1 line or as a block.

    On 1 line:

    East Riding of Yorkshire Council, County Hall, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire HU17 9BA

    As a block:

    East Riding of Yorkshire Council
    County Hall
    Beverley
    East Riding of Yorkshire
    HU17 9BA

    Ampersands (&)

    Avoid using ampersands unless they are part of an established name or branding. For example, Marks & Spencer or Park & Ride.

    Apostrophes

    Apostrophes have two main uses.

    An apostrophe shows that a letter or letters have been left out. For example:

    • it’s for it is
    • you’re for you are
    • don’t for do not
    • can’t for cannot
    • what’s instead of what is

    An apostrophe also shows possession. To show that something belongs to one person, use an apostrophe followed by an ‘s’. For example:

    • the customer’s complaint (the complaint of one person).

    To show plural possession – something belonging to more than one person – the apostrophe must follow the ‘s’. For example:

    • the customers’ complaint (the complaint of more than one person).

    If the plural doesn’t end in ‘s’, use the apostrophe ‘s'. For example:

    • the children’s playground.

    For names ending in 's’, just add an apostrophe:

    • Mr Williams’ decision.

    The possessive form of ‘it’ does not need an apostrophe  as it works in the same way as ours, theirs, his and hers. For example:

    • East Riding of Yorkshire Council is pleased with its rating. 

    Ordinary plurals do not need an apostrophe. This includes: 

    • 1980s - MPs
    • GCSE, 
    • DVDs, CDs.

    Bold or underlining

    Only use bold text to highlight titles, headers and important information. Underlining text and using italics makes writing much harder to read, particularly for people with a visual impairment.

    Brackets

    If the words that appear inside your brackets are not a complete sentence, place the terminal punctuation after the closing bracket (like this).

    (A complete sentence that stands alone in brackets must start with a capital letter and end with a full-stop, like this one.)

    Bullet points

    Use bullet points instead of trailing lists as they aid skim-reading. The following rules apply to the use of bullet points:

    • make sure each item reads on logically from the introductory sentence
    • have a visual space between the lead-in line and the first bullet
    • aim to front load the bullets so they are not repetitive and work well with screen readers
    • do not use capital letters, unless the bullet starts with a proper noun or there is more than one sentence per bullet 
    • do not use a full stop or semicolon at the end of single words or phrases in a bullet-pointed list
    • use a full stop on the final line of a bullet list where all the items start with a lowercase letter.

    Example #1. (Where sentence continues and finishes)

    The council is offering tips on looking after compost and composters during winter. These include:

    • covering the compost with old carpet or cardboard to keep it warm
    • continuing to turn the compost, but first checking for sleeping hedgehogs.

    Example #2. (When then is more than one sentence per bullet)

    The council is offering tips on looking after compost and composters during winter. These include:

    • Covering the compost with old carpet or cardboard. This helps to keep it warm.
    • Continue to turn the compost. Make sure you check for hedgehogs.

    Capitals

    Minimise the use of capitals. Use the following guidelines:

    • Job titles, council teams and directorates should be written in lowercase. For example, Susan Jones, principal planning officer, planning and development control.
    • Capitals should be used for government departments. For example, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) or the Department of Health (DH).
    • If referring specifically to ‘the Government’, a capital G should be used. For example, ‘the new coalition Government has announced…’ If referring to the government in general, lower case should be used.
    • Capitals should be used in titles. For example, the Duke of Westminster, the King, the Queen.
    • Acts of Parliament should have capitals. For example, Freedom of Information Act 2000. Bills should be lowercase.
    • Artistic and cultural institutions should be capitalised. For example, East Riding Treasure House, National Centre for Early Music, Sewerby Hall and Gardens, Beverley Art Gallery.
    • If you are referring to a particular library, capitals should be used. For example, Hessle Library. If you are referring to a library more generally, use lowercase. For example, the library in Hessle.The same rules apply to children’s centres. For example, Sure Start Children’s Centre Bridlington, but the children’s centre in Bridlington. 
    • A levels, not a levels.
    • Government agencies, public bodies and quangos should be capitalised. For example, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
    • There’s no need to use capitals for the seasons – autumn, winter, summer, spring.
    • Headings and subheadings do not need to be capitalised.

    Collective nouns

    Collective nouns that are the names of bodies or organisations take the singular form of the verb:

    • Good example: East Riding of Yorkshire Council is…
    • Bad example: East Riding of Yorkshire Council are…

    Commas

    Commas are necessary to separate items in a list, or to indicate a subsidiary clause within a sentence – that means a part of the sentence that tells you more, but is not essential to the sentence’s main meaning. The sentence would still make sense without it.

    For example:

    • The visits, which run until the end of December, involve students aged from four to 16 years. 

    Note: You could leave out ‘which run until the end of December’ and it would still make sense.

    If you are writing as simply and clearly as possible, there is no need for a lot of commas.

    Council specific
    • East Riding of Yorkshire Council should always be capitalised
    • The word ‘council’ alone does not need to be capitalised
    • Do not put ‘the’ before ‘East Riding of Yorkshire Council’
    • Council directorates and main service areas are not capitalised
    • Do not capitalise cabinet, planning committees, and so on
    • ‘Councillor’ is capitalised when the full name is given, for example, Councillor Stephen Parnaby OBE. Use lowercase when referring in general to councillors.
    • Avoid using the word ‘member’.

    Dates

    When writing a date, follow the style of these examples:

    • 19 May
    • 19 May 2008
    • Monday, 19 May
    • the 70s, the 1990s – no apostrophe required
    • 1976-79 but 1981-92 to show periods of time
    • 2010/11 to show academic or financial year
    • in summer 2010 – seasons should always be lower case

    Equal opportunities

    It is important that the language we use does not exclude any member of our audience. 

    • Use ‘he or she’ together, rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’ when you mean people of either sex. Alternatively, you can replace ‘he or she’ with ‘their’. 
    • Use ‘women’ and ‘men’ rather than ‘ladies’ or ‘gentleman’. Look for alternatives to words that could be perceived as sexist. For example, use ‘staffing’ rather than ‘manning’, ‘head teacher’ rather than ‘headmaster’ or 'headmistress’, and ‘police officer’ rather than ‘policeman’ or ‘police woman’.

    Exclamation marks

    Exclamation marks (!) should be used very sparingly.

    Full stops

    Do not use full stops after headings or after abbreviations.

    Where a bulleted list ends in a link, leave off the final full-stop.

    Where a sentence ends in a link, retain the final full-stop.

    Grammar and punctuation

    The modern style of punctuation favours a ‘less is more’ approach. This helps to keep text looking simple, clean, and avoids confusion.

    Clean, modern punctuation also makes text easier to read on a computer screen.

    Italics

    Italics should be used for titles of books, films, plays, television programmes, newspapers and titles of reports. For example, The Guardian, BBC Look North.

    Numbers

    Write numbers zero to nine as the written word and numbers 10 to 999,999 as figures, except:

    • at the start of a sentence – always write the number out in full
    • in a table – always write the number as a numeral
    • when writing a measurement – always use numerals such as £5, 10kg, 8pm
    • when writing about education stages – always use numerals such as year 6, key stage 1
    • if you are writing numbers that are joined by a hyphen – ages 5 -16.

    Telephone numbers should always be written with the area code in brackets:

    • (01482) 393939.

    Use the 12-hour clock:

    • 7am, 8pm. Refer to 12 noon and 12 midnight rather than 12pm and 12am.

    For events that run over a period of time, use:

    • 1-3pm or 10am-4pm.

    There is no need to use the noughts, as this makes it harder to read. For example:

    • 10.00am-4.00pm.

    Use first, second and third, up to ninth – use numbers for 10th onwards.

    Money should always be written in figures. If referring to millions or billions, spell out million in the first instance and use ‘m’ thereafter. For example:

    • £8 million, then £5m.

    Per cent (%)

    For the numbers zero to nine, use words followed by per cent. For example:

    • one per cent
    • nine per cent

    Then from ten onwards, use numbers and the percentage sign. For example:

    • 10%
    • 50%

    The symbol % is acceptable for all numbers in charts and tables.

    Telephone numbers

    Telephone numbers should be written consistently, with the area code in brackets (01482) 393939.

    Mobile numbers should be split after the first five digits 07954 982044.

    Oblique symbol

    The oblique symbol ‘/’ means ‘or’ and should only be used in tables and in website addresses. In normal text, always write out ‘or’. If you have ‘and/or’ in your text, replace it with ‘x and y or both’.

    Quotation marks

    Double quote marks “ “ should only be used for direct speech. Single quotes should be used when quoting from any other source.

    Employee confidential helpline

    0330 380 0658

    Speak to fully qualified counsellors and support specialists at any time, 365 days a year.

    Use code 107574 to access the online resources.

    More about the employee assistance programme

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