http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
Contents
Introduction
2
BBC
3
BBC logo
BBC brands
Radio station frequencies
BBC programme titles
BBC divisions and departments
BBC typefaces
BBC and broadcasting terms
Accessibility
Welsh
Disability and diversity
Writing copy
General style
Checking spelling and facts
Useful books
3
3
5
5
5
6
6
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
Portrayal
9
Sexism
Disability
9
9
Style points
Abbreviations
Ampersand (&)
Capital letters
Compass points
Contact details
Dates and events
Emphasis
Foreign words and characters
Italics
Lists
Money
Music
10
10
11
11
12
12
12
13
13
13
14
14
14
Newspapers, magazines and journals 15
Numbers
15
Place names
16
Postal addresses
16
Telephone numbers
17
Time
17
Titles and honours
17
Trade names
18
Websites
18
Weights, measures and
scientific units
19
Punctuation
Apostrophe
Brackets
Colon
Comma
Dash (en rule)
Ellipsis (...)
Exclamation mark
Full stop
Hyphen
Question mark
Quotation marks
Semicolon
Slash (/)
20
20
21
22
22
22
23
23
23
23
24
25
25
25
Spelling
26
Grammar and usage
28
Dangling/hanging participle
Singular or plural verb
Tautology and unnecessary words
eg, ie
Less, fewer
May, might
That, which, who
28
28
29
29
29
29
30
Introduction
These guidelines set out BBC-specific style points and other more general style and grammatical
points. They are designed to bring consistency to everything that is produced across all BBC
divisions, but also to allow some freedom of style for differing formats and diverse audiences.
The guidelines apply to all types of printed materials, from information for external audiences to
internal reports. They also apply to online copy, though in some cases other guidelines take
precedence when writing for the web.
Some style points may also vary slightly depending on how the copy is being used. For example,
small but important differences apply to Programme Information (PI) and other press materials.
The following symbols show where style points differ from the general house style:
PI
PI and other press materials
www
Online copy
Other guidelines
•
•
•
•
BBC branding: http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk/branding
BBC Editorial Guidelines: bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines
BBC Fair Trading Guidelines: bbc.co.uk/info/policies/commercial_guides
bbc.co.uk Standards and Guidelines: bbc.co.uk/guidelines/newmedia
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 2
BBC
BBC logo
The BBC logo is for branding only and must not appear embedded in text. Full guidelines are on
the MC&A site on Gateway.
http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk/branding
BBC brands
Television
Television channels are written in words, for example BBC One. The exception is BBC News 24.
CBBC is always written all in capitals, and note the capital B within CBeebies.
BBC Learning Zone should always include BBC. When used with the channel on which it is
broadcast (BBC Two), it can be referred to as BBC Two’s Learning Zone.
Radio
Network radio stations are written with numbers: BBC Radio 4. Note the capital X in BBC 1Xtra.
BBC should be included in all radio station names. However, where a station is mentioned several
times in a document, it is acceptable to leave out BBC (or BBC Radio from BBC Radio 5 Live) after
the first mention. Exceptions are stations that do not have Radio in their name, for example BBC 7,
BBC London, BBC GMR and BBC WM – these must always include BBC.
BBC corporate style is to use initial capitals in Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra. However, the
network’s own style is to use lower case: Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra.
New media
BBCi is the interactive TV service. It is always written with a lower case ‘i’.
The BBC website is bbc.co.uk. It is always written all in lower case, even at the beginning of a
sentence. See Websites for more on URLs.
Writing brands
• BBC Television and BBC Radio have a capital T and R only when being referred to as brands.
• Never split channel or network names over two lines of print.
Upper or lower case (see full list on following page)
• In large areas of text (text-heavy leaflets, booklets, the Annual Report, etc) and in picture
captions, BBC brands are written in upper and lower case, except CBBC which is all capitals.
• In display adverts and posters, BBC brands – except CBeebies, BBCi and bbc.co.uk – should
appear in capitals.
• In press releases, television channels should appear in capitals, eg BBC ONE, but all other
services should be in upper and lower case, eg BBC News.
BBC Nations & Regions brands
These should be written in upper and lower case:
• BBC One Wales, BBC Two Scotland, etc
In display materials, the channel in Nations brands may be written in capitals:
• BBC ONE Wales, BBC TWO Scotland, etc
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 3
BBC brands
Text and picture captions
Display materials
Television
BBC Television
BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Three
BBC Four
BBC News 24
BBC Parliament
CBBC
CBeebies
BBC News
BBC Sport
BBC Learning Zone
BBC World
BBC Prime
BBCi
Ceefax
BBC TELEVISION
BBC ONE
BBC TWO
BBC THREE
BBC FOUR
BBC NEWS 24
BBC PARLIAMENT
CBBC
CBeebies
BBC NEWS
BBC SPORT
BBC LEARNING ZONE
BBC WORLD
BBC PRIME
BBCi
CEEFAX
Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio 1
BBC 1Xtra
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
BBC 6 Music
BBC 7
BBC Asian Network
BBC Radio Kent, BBC WM, etc
BBC World Service
BBC RADIO
BBC RADIO 1
BBC 1XTRA
BBC RADIO 2
BBC RADIO 3
BBC RADIO 4
BBC RADIO 5 LIVE
BBC 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA
BBC 6 MUSIC
BBC 7
BBC ASIAN NETWORK
BBC RADIO KENT, BBC WM, etc
BBC WORLD SERVICE
Online
bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk
Nations & Regions
BBC Cymru Wales
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Scotland
BBC English Regions
BBC One Wales
BBC Two Scotland
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
BBC Cymru Wales
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Scotland
BBC English Regions
BBC ONE Wales
BBC TWO Scotland
page 4
Radio station frequencies
Write frequencies/wavelengths in the order FM, AM, LW, DAB digital radio, digital TV and online.
Don’t put a space between the number and FM or LW, and use an ampersand with a list of
frequencies/wavelengths.
• BBC Radio 4 on 92–95FM & 198LW, DAB digital radio, digital TV and online
BBC programme titles
Programme titles should appear highlighted in main text in italics, eg EastEnders, Newsnight.
Where the text is already italicised (for example, in a picture caption) the title should appear in
roman. Press releases, however, use bold for the programme title that is the subject of the release,
and italics for any other programmes mentioned.
www
Avoid using italics for online copy as they do not display well on a computer screen. Use
roman instead: EastEnders, Newsnight.
Programme titles are generally written in a mix of upper and lower case, eg The League of
Gentlemen, Sports Review of the Year, with initial capitals only for the main words (not ‘a’, ‘the’,
‘of’, etc). If in doubt, check how the title appears on screen or in published press material.
PI
Always use initial capitals for all words in the title: The League Of Gentlemen, Sports Review
Of The Year.
Research shows that audiences are not always aware that what they are watching, listening to or
buying is a BBC product, so it is essential that BBC is prominent throughout materials in order to
bring credit back to the BBC.
In promotional materials, BBC should always be included the first time the programme is
mentioned, and again in new chapters or sections. Exceptions to this rule are when the context is
explicitly BBC (press releases, press packs, the Annual Report, heavily branded foyer boards,
posters, etc) or where the programme forms part of a list of BBC programmes. In this case it must
be clear from the surrounding text that the programmes are all BBC.
It is recommended, though, that each piece of material is considered individually, taking into
account the space, the design, the prominence of the brand on the material and the audience.
BBC divisions and departments
BBC divisions and departments should always appear in upper and lower case, and the
ampersand (&) should be used for ‘and’:
• BBC Factual & Learning
• BBC Information & Archives
• BBC Marketing, Communications & Audiences
• BBC Nations & Regions
In internal documents it is unnecessary to put BBC in front of everything – Factual & Learning or
Marketing, Communications & Audiences is enough.
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 5
BBC typefaces
For printed materials, the BBC corporate typeface is Gill Sans. It can be used in three weights:
light, regular and bold. It must not be condensed or expanded.
• Gill Sans can be used in three weights:
light regular
bold
All body copy should be set in Gill Sans.
Headings should normally be in Gill Sans, although an alternative font may be used to create a
distinctive style for individual projects.
Some brand/channel guidelines may require a different font: for example, the CBBC font is Melt.
For brand guidelines, see http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk/branding.
Press releases
Arial is used for press releases. The point size for press release text is 11.
Correspondence, internal documents, etc
Arial may be used when Gill Sans is not available, for example for correspondence, internal
documents, files to be downloaded, etc.
BBC and broadcasting terms
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Building public value (lower case ‘p’ and ‘v’ for the publication title)
DAB digital radio
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (not ‘of’)
Director-General (hyphen)
Freeview, Freesat
licence fee payer (previously licence payer)
BBC iPlayer (previously iMP – BBC Integrated Media Player / BBC Interactive Media Player)
Ofcom
set-top box (hyphen)
soundbite
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 6
Accessibility
Consider whether to produce your materials in other formats or languages in order to make them
accessible to the widest possible audience. For example, you might produce versions in Welsh, in
Braille, in large print, in simplified English, in audio form or as a British Sign Language video.
Welsh
The Welsh Language Act 1993 introduced specific provision for Welsh speakers. The BBC is
committed to providing print aimed at licence fee payers in Wales in both English and Welsh. For
advice on Welsh versions, in the first instance contact Prys Dafydd (Translator, Public Affairs –
Wales) on (01) 23042.
Disability and diversity
Disability Discrimination Act 1995
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 introduced specific provisions to prohibit discrimination
against disabled people. The Act’s provisions cover any printed material that the BBC makes
available to the public. This means that, wherever reasonable, the BBC makes printed material
available in alternative formats so that it can be accessed by people with particular disabilities.
People who are partially sighted or blind
The RNIB offers information and advice on making publications accessible. It also publishes See it
Right, a pack of 12 booklets with detailed practical advice.
www.rnib.org.uk
People who are deaf or hard of hearing
The RNID offers advice and factsheets on producing information for deaf and hard of hearing
people, materials for deafblind people and the best language for writing about deaf people.
www.rnid.org.uk
People with a learning disability
People with a learning disability face extra challenges in getting the information they need, and
changing the way information is written and presented can make it easier for everyone to
understand. Many people find reading difficult so information on audio tape might be best, but if
you have to provide written material there are ways to make it easier to understand.
Mencap provides advice on how information can be made more accessible in two publications,
Am I making myself clear? and Making your website accessible for people with learning disabilities.
You can download these from the Mencap website.
www.mencap.org.uk
BBC Diversity Centre
There is a lot of useful information on the Diversity Centre site on Gateway.
http://diversity.gateway.bbc.co.uk
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 7
Writing copy
Given the BBC’s commitment to the highest standards in everything it does, it is important to
produce copy that is well written and accurate.
General style
Always think about your target audience and tailor your copy accordingly. Corporate publications
such as the Annual Report are usually written in a formal style, but material aimed at the general
public, for instance, can be much more informal.
Whoever you are writing for, aim to make your text clear and accessible.
• Use several short sentences rather than one long one.
• Use active verbs rather than passive ones.
• Use short words rather than long ones.
Plain English Campaign awards Crystal Marks for clarity in public information. Their website has
useful online guides to writing plain English.
www.plainenglish.co.uk
Checking spelling and facts
Make sure your spelling is correct and your facts are accurate. Rather than relying on computer
spell-checkers, make use of the reference sources available on Gateway. The BBC has
subscriptions to many dictionaries and databases for checking spelling, English usage, facts and
so on. These include Oxford Reference Online (Oxford English Dictionary and nearly 200 other
reference books) and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
http://research.gateway.bbc.co.uk
The following online newspaper style guides are useful for checking names of people and
organisations in the news, as well as spelling and grammar points:
Times Online: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide
The Guardian stylebook: www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide
Useful books
• Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (Profile Books, 2003) – enjoyable book that explains the
basics of punctuation
• Rediscover Grammar by David Crystal (Longman, 2004) – best-selling, very readable grammar
reference book
• New Hart’s Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors (OUP, 2005) – completely
new edition of classic reference work
• New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (OUP, 2005) – focuses on names and words that
cause difficulty or controversy
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 8
Portrayal
Be careful to use inclusive language and avoid any suggestion of bias, sexism, racism and
prejudice against disabled people.
Sexism
Don’t use ‘he’ where the meaning is ‘he or she’. Either use ‘they’ or reword the text. The same
applies to ‘his or her’ – use ‘their’ or reword the text.
Don’t use ‘man’ or ‘men’ where it is not accurate or relevant, and avoid specifying gender when
referring to a person’s job. For example:
• police officer, not policeman/woman; the police, not policemen
• firefighter, not fireman
• nurse, not male nurse
• headteacher, not headmaster/headmistress
Use common sense when words include ‘man’. For example:
• the human race or human beings, not mankind or Man
• working hours is better than man-hours
• man-made is acceptable, or use artificial or synthetic
Use words ending in ‘-ess’ with caution: ‘actor’ and ‘author’, for example, are now standard instead
of ‘actress’ and ‘authoress’.
Disability
When describing disability, make sure you use the currently acceptable terms as advised by the
main national organisations, such as blind people, deaf and hard of hearing people, people with a
disability. Ideas about what is acceptable can change and can vary among different groups.
Don’t use words such as ‘suffer’, ‘victim’, ‘handicapped’, ‘challenged’. Some alternatives:
• suffers from, is a victim of
has
• handicapped/challenged
with a disability
• mentally handicapped
(people) with a learning disability / learning difficulties
• wheelchair-bound
a wheelchair user
• handicapped toilet
accessible toilet
If in doubt, check with the following:
RNIB: www.rnib.org.uk
RNID: www.rnid.org.uk
Mencap: www.mencap.org.uk
BBC Diversity Centre: http://diversity.gateway.bbc.co.uk
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 9
Style points
The following are printing conventions/rules and, where there are options available, BBC house
style preferences.
PI
This shows where style points for Programme Information (PI) and other press materials
differ from general house style.
www
This shows where style points for websites differ from general house style.
Abbreviations (including contractions and acronyms)
Strictly speaking:
• Abbreviation – formed by omitting the end of a word
• Contraction – formed by omitting the middle of a word
• Acronym – formed from the initial letters of a group of words; often pronounced as a word
Punctuation
BBC house style is not to use full stops in any kind of abbreviation, whether shortened words or
groups of initials:
• Mr
Mrs
Dr
Rev
St (saint/street)
• BBC
UK
MP
• etc
p (page)
ext (extension)
• JK Rowling JRR Tolkien
(no spaces between initials in people’s names)
• eg
ie
(if preferred, these may be written e.g. and i.e., but be consistent)
Exception:
• no. (number) must have a full stop; no space is needed if it is followed by a numeral: no.2
Don’t assume your audience knows what a set of initials represents. Write it out in full the first time,
followed by the abbreviation in brackets, and then use the abbreviated form:
• The Central Religious Advisory Committee (CRAC) advises the BBC on religious broadcasting
policy and programmes. You can write to CRAC with your views.
This is not necessary with organisations that are usually known by their initials:
• BBC
BTCV
CBI
TUC
UN
Acronyms – capitals or lower case
Usually, if an acronym is pronounced as a word, use an initial capital only. If it is pronounced as
individual letters, use all capitals:
• Aids
Nato
Acas
Unicef
• BBC
CD
GCSE
PC
• CD-Rom (pronounced partly as letters, partly as a word)
But follow the preference of organisations with their own names and brands:
• DfES
BAFTA
MORI
RADA
Plurals
When forming a plural of an acronym, the final ‘s’ is lower case and there is no apostrophe:
• CDs
CD-Roms
GCSEs
FAQs
MPs
See also Weights, measures and scientific units.
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 10
Ampersand (&)
Don’t use an ampersand as shorthand for ‘and’, except for BBC departments and divisions, when it
is part of a trade name, or in radio station frequencies:
• BBC Radio & Music
BBC Marketing, Communications & Audiences
• Marks & Spencer
Tate & Lyle
• BBC Radio Solent – 96.1 & 103.8 FM, 999 & 1259 AM
Capital letters
Use capital letters sparingly. Graphic designers sometimes set pieces of text all in upper case, but
avoid doing this in documents that are mostly text because it can make them difficult to read.
Headings
Avoid writing headings all in upper case. Use initial capitals as sparingly as possible for headings,
titles, page headings and subheads:
• Review of the year
Performance against objectives
Job titles
Use initial capitals for job titles, official bodies, etc:
• BBC Chairman
Director-General
Board of Governors
Compass points
Use capital letters for north, south, etc when they are part of the title of a recognised geographical
or political division or a BBC region, but lower case for more general geographical areas:
• the North East (of England)
South East Asia
BBC East
• southern England
the north of Scotland
west London
Programme titles
In general, use initial capitals for main words and lower case for small words (‘a’, ‘the’, ‘of’, etc):
• The League of Gentlemen
Sports Review of the Year
PI
For PI and press materials, use title case – i.e. initial capitals for all words:
• The League Of Gentlemen
Sports Review Of The Year
www
On websites, use title case but roman (not italics):
• The League Of Gentlemen
Sports Review Of The Year
Some programme titles have specific combinations of capitals and lower case:
• ONE life
HARDtalk
‘The’ with names of bands, organisations, etc
There is no need to capitalise ‘the’ with the names of most bands, organisations and so on, but
follow the preferences of those that do so:
• the Beatles
the BBC
• The Darkness
The National Archives
Time periods and events
Use capitals for special occasions and historical periods and events, but not centuries or seasons:
• New Year’s Day
the Middle Ages
the Fifth of November
• the 21st century
spring, summer, autumn, winter
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 11
Capitals or not
• internet, net, web, website; but World Wide Web
• Ltd, plc
• government, parliament, party, president, etc – except when referring to a specific one:
the British Government
the Scottish Parliament
the Labour Party
the President of the United States
Compass points
See Capital letters and Place names
Contact details
The following is a recommended order for listing contact details:
Name
Postal address
Telephone number
Fax number
Textphone number (note: not Minicom which is a brand name)
Email
Website
See also Postal addresses, Telephone numbers and Websites.
Dates and events
Use the following style, always writing the year in full (2006 not ’06):
• 1 February 2006
Monday 31 July 2006
Use ‘th’ etc only with a number used on its own:
• on the 14th of the month
Where used, AD comes before a date, BC after it, with a space between:
• AD 410
44 BC
Months, days of the week, special occasions, and historical periods and events take capital letters.
Seasons and centuries do not. (See Capital letters.)
• New Year’s Day
the Fifth of November
the Middle Ages
• World Wars: use First/Second World War, or World War One/Two (not World War I/II)
Write centuries in words up to the ninth, but in numerals after that. Don’t use capitals, and only use
a hyphen if the phrase is used attributively before a noun.
• the second century
the 15th century
21st-century politics
Write decades in full in figures. For the 20th century, decades may be written in shortened form in
words with an initial capital.
• the 1840s
the 1960s
the Sixties
For people’s ages in decades, use words all in lower case:
• she was in her forties
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 12
When referring to a time span, use ‘from’ and ‘to’, ‘between’ and ‘and’, or a dash (en rule) without
spaces. Don’t use a mixture.
• from 18 to 21 April
between 18 and 21 April
18–21 April
• from May to July
between May and July
May–July
For a range of years, use a slash (oblique) where a single year covers parts of two calendar years;
otherwise, use a dash (en rule).
• the financial year 2006/7
BBC Annual Report 2005/2006
• the 1914–18 war
Monty Python ran for six years (1969–74)
Emphasis
Avoid using a type style (bold, italics or underline) for emphasis. The sentence construction
normally makes it clear that a word is being emphasised. If you do need to emphasise a word, use
italics for preference.
Foreign words and characters
Use italics for foreign words and phrases not commonly accepted as part of the English language:
• Zeitgeist
dolce vita
in vitro
fait accompli
Be careful to use foreign characters and accents correctly. In a Word document, use the Insert
menu (select Symbol), or a keyboard shortcut: for example, Ctrl + ' followed by e gives é. See the
Word Help menu (Keyboard shortcuts for international characters).
Italics
Use italics for titles of television and radio programmes, keeping BBC (if used) in roman:
• EastEnders
You and Yours
BBC Top Gear
But campaigns and seasons should be in roman:
• BBC Children in Need
Comic Relief
BBC Proms
Titles of BBC websites should normally be written in roman, but they may be treated like
programme titles and written in italics – in either case, be consistent. (See also Websites.)
• BBC History
BBC Action Network or BBC Action Network
Use italics for TV and radio programmes, films, books and booklets, CDs, plays, long poems,
operas, paintings and so on – but roman in single quotation marks for songs, short poems, and
articles in books or journals. (See also Music.)
• Strictly Come Dancing
The Lord of the Rings
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
• ‘Here Comes the Sun’ from Abbey Road
Use italics for newspapers and magazines, including ‘The’ when it appears on the masthead (see
Newspapers and magazines),
• The Independent
the Daily Mail
The Economist
Use italics for foreign words not commonly accepted as part of the English language:
• Zeitgeist
dolce vita
in vitro
fait accompli
www
Avoid using italics altogether in online copy as they do not display well on a computer
screen.
See also Emphasis.
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 13
Lists
With a list of items laid out on separate lines (with or without bullets or numbers), make sure that
the points are consistent in style and that they all follow grammatically from what comes before
them. Try to keep the points short, and avoid using more than one level of points.
If it is not important to show the order of the points, use bullets. Only use numbers to show the
order of the items, such as in a recipe. Don’t put a full stop after the numbers.
1 Preheat the oven to Gas 6.
2 In a bowl, mix together...
If the points all finish a sentence, use a colon before them – capitals and full stops are not required.
In 2005/2006, we will broadcast:
• at least 50 live music events
• a series of events to support the BBC’s Africa Season
If there is no colon before the bullet points, use capital letters at the start of each point.
BBC objectives for 2004/2005
• Underpin active and informed citizenship
• Enrich the cultural life of the nation
• Contribute to education for all
If the bullet points are full sentences, put a full stop at the end of each one.
BBC Two priorities for 2004/2005
• We will broadcast at least 240 hours of current affairs this year.
• In addition, we will broadcast at least 100 hours of news, excluding Newsnight.
If you need to write long bullet points, use normal sentence punctuation within them.
Money
Names of currencies are written in lower case:
• pound
dollar
euro
yen
Use two digits after the currency symbol, or none if it is a round number:
• £1.50
£7
€230.50
Tip: to insert a euro symbol in a Word document, hold down Ctrl+Alt+E.
Million and billion should be written in full in lower case, with no space after the numerals. In
documents that repeatedly mention sums in millions or billions, it is acceptable to abbreviate.
• £15million
£15m
£2billion
£2bn
Music
Don’t use capital letters for musical genres, except R&B (rhythm and blues) and genres that
include a proper name:
• reggae
rock ’n’ roll
country and western
Tex-Mex
Use italics for the titles of musical works, including operas and musicals, and for CDs, LPs, etc.
Use roman in single quotation marks for individual songs.
• Così fan tutte
Phantom of the Opera
• Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis
• ‘Here Comes the Sun’ from Abbey Road
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 14
Newspapers, magazines and journals
Use italics for newspapers and magazines, including ‘The’ when it appears on the masthead:
• The Times
The Sun
The Independent
• The Economist
The Spectator
The Big Issue
Titles without ‘The’ in the masthead include:
• the Daily Mail
the News of the World
New Statesman
If you are not referring to the newspaper itself, ‘the’ should be lower case and roman:
• the Times business correspondent
• he referred to the Independent article
Numbers
Write one to nine in words. Use numerals for numbers from 10 upwards and for all numbers that
include a decimal point or a fraction. The same applies to ordinals – ‘first’, ‘second’, and so on.
However, use words – even for numbers over nine – in the following cases:
• when a number comes at the beginning of a sentence
• for approximate numbers: about thirty people attended
NB: numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine are hyphenated.
Use numerals – even for numbers one to nine – in the following cases:
• when the number is an exact measurement: 5 metres, 4 tonnes
• when it is followed by million or billion: 2 million
• for page references: see page 6
• where there are two numbers in a range and one is over ten: between the ages of 4 and 11
If the number is followed by an abbreviation, don’t put a space between them (see also Weights,
measures and scientific units):
• 35mm
10kg
128MB
11am
Write percentages in numerals and with the % sign, with no space between them:
• 2%
33.3%
Write fractions less than one in words, with a hyphen where appropriate:
• one-third
three-quarters a twentieth
Large numbers
Always include commas in numbers from 1,000 upwards. Write out ‘million’ and ‘billion’ in lower
case, with a space after the number except in amounts of money (see also Money).
• 10,000
15 million viewers
£15billion
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 15
Place names
Britain or UK
Be precise about what you are referring to.
• (Great) Britain = England, Wales and Scotland (Britain usually refers to the island, Great Britain
to the political unit)
• United Kingdom / UK = Great Britain and Northern Ireland (political unit)
• British Isles = (geographical) group of islands including Britain, Ireland, Isle of Man, Isle of
Wight, Hebrides, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands
America or USA
Refer to the United States of America as the USA, not America. The adjective ‘American’ is
acceptable, but use ‘US’ if there is any danger of ambiguity.
• America = the landmass of the continents of North and South America
• North America = continent containing Canada, the USA, Mexico and the countries of Central
America
Regions
Use all lower case for north, south, etc when they are general geographical areas, but initial
capitals for recognised geographical or political divisions or regions:
• the North East (of England)
South East Asia
BBC East
• southern England
the north of Scotland
west London
When referring to a geographical area, be specific about what it is an area of:
• the north of England (not just ‘the north’, which could be the north of Britain, including Scotland)
Check the spelling and, where applicable, the punctuation of place names. For example:
• Middlesbrough (no ‘o’ after the ‘b’)
• Newcastle upon Tyne (no hyphens)
Newcastle-under-Lyme (hyphens)
• King’s Lynn (apostrophe)
Kings Langley (no apostrophe)
Postal addresses
Ideally, each of the following should appear on a separate line, with no commas:
Addressee’s name
Company (where applicable)
Building name (where applicable)
Number and street name
Town
County (where applicable – not essential as long as the town and postcode are given)
Postcode
When writing an address as part of continuous text, use commas to separate the parts of the
address, except before the postcode:
• BBC, Media Centre, Media Village, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TQ
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 16
Telephone numbers
Don’t use brackets for dialling codes: 020 8008 2034.
The dialling code should always be written in one block:
• 01222
07850
For dialling codes beginning with 02, such as 020 for London and 028 for Northern Ireland, the
correct grouping is the three-digit dialling code followed by the number in two blocks of four:
• 020 8008 2034
028 9032 6453
For 08xx and 09xx numbers, use the grouping preferred by the owner of the number, which is often
chosen to make it easier to remember:
• 08700 100 222
0870 272 272
08457 48 49 50
Time
In general, use the 12-hour clock. Put a full stop between the hour and minutes, but don’t use 00
for times on the hour. Don’t put a space before am or pm, and don’t use full stops in am or pm.
• 2am
6.30pm
Note that am is short for ante meridiem which means ‘before noon’, and pm is post meridiem, ‘after
noon’, so 12 o’clock (whether day or night) cannot be am or pm. Use 12noon or 12midnight, or
simply noon or midnight.
PI
www
For PI and press materials, and websites, include 00 for times on the hour: 2.00am.
BBC World Service uses the 24-hour clock, with a colon between the hour and minutes: 14:30.
When writing a time span, use ‘from’ and ‘to’, ‘between’ and ‘and’, or a dash (en rule) without
spaces. Don’t use a mixture.
• from 10am to 3pm
between 10am and 3pm
10am–3pm
Titles and honours
Royalty
Use the full title for the first occurrence, then the shortened version:
• HM The Queen or Her Majesty The Queen
The Queen
• HRH The Prince of Wales
The Prince or Prince Charles
For other titles, see the Times Online Style Guide.
www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,2941,00.html or see the Quick Clicks at the bottom of the
homepage www.timesonline.co.uk
Honours and official designations
As with other abbreviations, don’t use full stops in MBE, etc. Where a person is entitled to several
sets of letters after their name, the order is:
• decorations and honours (e.g. OBE, MBE, DFC)
• appointments made by or on behalf of the Queen (e.g. QC, JP)
• educational degrees (e.g. BA, PhD)
• medical qualifications (e.g. FRCS)
• memberships of learned societies or professional institutions (e.g. RA)
• appointments or offices (e.g. MP)
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 17
Trade names
Avoid using proprietary names to refer to general products:
• MP3 player (not iPod)
game console (not PlayStation)
textphone (not Minicom)
If referring to a trade name, be careful to use the correct mix of capitals and lower case:
• iPod
easyJet
eBay
QuarkXPress
Websites
The BBC website is bbc.co.uk. It is written all in lower case, even at the beginning of a sentence.
Extract from the bbc.co.uk brand guidelines:
Avoid using ‘online’ and ‘website’. In body copy, bbc.co.uk, bbc.co.uk/sitename or BBC Brand X
are acceptable. Use of BBC with ‘online’ and ‘website’ (eg BBC News Online, BBC News website,
BBC website, BBC Online) is not permitted and should be replaced by bbc.co.uk, bbc.co.uk/news
or BBC News. An exception to this rule is when ‘online’ and ‘website’ are used without ‘BBC’ to
refer to platforms, eg ‘on TV, on radio and online’ or ‘on AM, on digital TV and online’.
For the full guidelines, go to the MC&A site on Gateway.
http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk/branding
Titles of BBC websites should normally be written in roman, especially the generic sites. However,
titles of specific sites may treated like programme titles and written in italics. Whichever you use,
be consistent.
• BBC History
BBC Science & Nature
• BBC Action Network or BBC Action Network
Website URLs
Always check that a URL works by entering it in a web browser.
For bbc.co.uk sites, URLs should include no more than one slash. Don’t put a slash at the end.
• bbc.co.uk/history
bbc.co.uk/football
bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
Give the shortest URL that works. It is usually not necessary to give the full path as it appears in
the browser address box.
• bbc.co.uk/bitesize
browser shows: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revision/
• bbc.co.uk/football
browser shows: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/ football /default.stm
www
URLs on bbc.co.uk sites:
• Unclickable bbc.co.uk URLs should appear without ‘www’: bbc.co.uk/news
• Clickable URLs should include ‘www’: www.bbc.co.uk/news
Non-BBC sites may or may not include www in their URL. Follow the usage of the site owner. Don’t
use the http:// prefix unless there is a risk that it may not be clear that it is a URL.
As a general principle, give the main website URL rather than the URL of a page further inside the
site. Websites often change their structure and the URL of a ‘deep’ page may change.
Most URLs are written all in lower case. However, some URLs are case-sensitive so make sure
you use the correct mix of upper and lower case.
When giving a URL within a piece of text, use normal sentence punctuation after it, such as a full
stop if the URL comes at the end of a sentence.
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 18
Weights, measures and scientific units
Use numerals for the quantity, even for numbers below ten, followed by a space if you are using
the full word for the unit. If using the abbreviation, don’t put a space after the numerals and don’t
use full stops.
• 5 kilogrammes
100 metres
128 megabytes
• 5kg
100m
128MB
Be careful to use the correct mix of upper and lower case in abbreviations:
• g, kg (gram, kilogram)
• mm, cm, m, km (millimetre, centimetre, metre, kilometre)
• MHz (megahertz)
• KB (kilobyte), MB (megabyte), GB (gigabyte)
In general, use metric rather than imperial measurements – for example, celsius rather than
fahrenheit for temperatures, grams and kilograms for weights rather than pounds and ounces. But
a person’s height can be in feet and inches and weight in stones and pounds
If using imperial measurements, follow them with the metric equivalent in brackets:
• 5 miles (8 kilometres)
Online metric converters:
www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions.html
http://gocanada.about.com/library/nmetric.htm
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 19
Punctuation
Punctuation is there to help clarify the meaning of what you have written. Wrongly used, it can
confuse that meaning.
Here’s an example of a sentence with no punctuation:
• We have one problem only I know his mistress
This can have several interpretations depending on how you punctuate it:
• We have one problem: only I know his mistress.
• We have one problem only: I know his mistress.
• We have one problem only, I know: his mistress.
• We have one problem only I know: his mistress.
So you can see that for the reader’s sake it is important to get it right.
Punctuation is also there to make what you have written readable. For example, If you are
struggling with a long sentence with several sub-clauses separated by commas, break it down into
shorter sentences.
• Recommended reading: Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (Profile Books, 2003) – an
enjoyable book that explains the basics of punctuation
Apostrophe
The apostrophe has two main uses:
• to show possession – ‘of’, ‘belonging to’
• to show where letters have been left out
Possession, belonging
Add ’s (apostrophe and ‘s’) to a singular word or name, to a plural that doesn’t end in ‘s’, and to a
name ending in ‘s’ where both ‘s’ sounds are pronounced:
• tonight’s show
the BBC’s future plans
• people’s expectations
children’s television
• Jonathan Ross’s agent
Dickens’s last novel
Don’t use an apostrophe in possessive pronouns – hers, its, ours, yours, theirs:
• a friend of yours
theirs is not to reason why
Add an apostrophe only (no ‘s’) to a plural that ends in ‘s’, and to a word or name ending in ‘s’
where this is not pronounced:
• Gardeners’ Question Time
MPs’ salaries
• for goodness’ sake
Mrs Bridges’ cooking
Dumas’ novels
An apostrophe is also used when referring to the length of a period of time:
• one week’s time
two years’ time
Sometimes the names of organisations and places do not follow the rules:
• Citizens Advice Bureau
St Thomas’ Hospital
Earls Court
Be careful where you put the apostrophe with plurals that do not end in ‘s’ – women, people,
children, etc. If you are not sure, think what the phrase would be with ‘of’ in it:
• women’s interests = interests of women (NOT womens’ interests = interests of womens)
• people’s opinions = opinions of people (NOT peoples’ opinions = opinions of peoples)
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 20
Where letters have been left out
Common phrases with apostrophes include:
• o’clock (originally ‘of the clock’)
• rock ’n’ roll (NB: make sure both apostrophes print the right way round as ’, not ‘. Word will automatically
put ‘ if an apostrophe comes after a space, so to insert ’, go to the Insert menu and select Symbol.)
Use contractions like the following only in informal writing:
• don’t (do not)
we’ll (we will)
it’s (it is, it has)
you’re (you are)
It’s or its
It’s is an abbreviation of ‘it is’ or ‘it has’. Its isn’t – it is a possessive meaning ‘of it’.
• it’s on BBC Two (it’s = it is)
• it’s been shown before (it’s = it has)
• the BBC is run in the interests of its viewers and listeners (its = ‘of it’)
Who’s is an abbreviation of who is. Whose means ‘of whom’.
• Terry Wogan, who’s the most popular presenter on Radio 2... (who’s = who is)
• Jennifer Saunders, whose credits include Absolutely Fabulous... (whose = of whom)
The greengrocer’s apostrophe
So-called because it is often used wrongly in plurals on signs (banana’s, potato’s). Apostrophes
are not used in plurals, even in abbreviations and decades:
• bananas
potatoes
CDs
GCSEs
MPs
the 1990s
However, it is acceptable in a few cases to use an apostrophe for clarity:
• dot the i’s and cross the t’s
• do’s and don’ts (NB: not don’t’s)
www
On websites, use ‘straight’ apostrophes, not ‘curly’ ones: ' not ‘.
Brackets
Round brackets (parentheses) are used to set off an interruption to a sentence, such as extra
information or an aside:
• Marcel Proust (1871–1922) also died young.
• BBC Casualty is not (despite speculation in the press) going to four episodes a week.
Square brackets [ ] are used for words added to a direct quotation to clarify what is being said, or
to keep the meaning when part of a quotation is left out:
• “It [Titanic] was the best moment of my career,” said Kate Winslett.
• “Sam had a relatively ordinary upbringing ... [but] the influence of her eccentric great-aunt could
not be underestimated.”
Never put a comma before an opening bracket.
• If the sentence requires a comma (to separate two clauses), it goes after the closing bracket.
If the brackets contain a complete sentence, the full stop goes inside the brackets. Otherwise, it
goes outside the brackets.
• GCSE Bitesize programmes begin in March. (See page 6 for more information.)
• GCSE Bitesize programmes begin in March (see page 6 for more information).
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 21
Colon
The colon points forward: it indicates that what follows is an elaboration or explanation. It can also
be used to introduce a list. Never put a dash after a colon.
• Part of radio’s appeal is its portability: people want to listen around the house and on the move.
Comma
The comma is a way of dividing a sentence into units of meaning, the equivalent of a short pause
when speaking.
It can be used when joining two complete sentences with a word such as ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘so’ or ‘while’.
• Many people pay for satellite or cable, but increasing numbers are choosing Freeview.
Use two commas to bracket off a ‘weak interruption’ in a sentence – something that can be
removed without disturbing the sense of the sentence.
• Steven Spielberg, one of the most successful directors of all time, is working on a new movie.
Make sure that the bracketing commas are in the right places. In this example, many people would
put the first comma after ‘coat’, but if you then remove the interruption between the commas, you
can see that this is wrong.
• He put on his coat and, being cold, added a scarf as well.
Be careful not to put two bracketing commas where they are not needed. For example, if you
remove the name Steven Spielberg from this sentence, it makes no sense:
• The film director, Steven Spielberg, is one of the most influential people in Hollywood.
It should be:
• The film director Steven Spielberg is one of the most influential people in Hollywood.
When using commas to separate items in a list, you only need a comma before the final ‘and’ if the
meaning would be unclear without it.
• The comics featured were Monkhouse, Davidson and Enfield.
• The comics featured were Monkhouse, Davidson, and Hale and Pace.
Dash (en rule)
In print, a dash or en rule (–) is longer than a hyphen (-). When used to separate parts of a
sentence, it should have a space on either side.
A dash can be used to introduce a list or explanation, or as a slightly longer pause than a comma:
• Radio 3 will celebrate the achievements of three composers – Beethoven, Webern and Bach
It can also be used to show the title of an episode of a series:
• Casualty – Full On
A pair of dashes can be used to bracket off information inside a sentence:
• The BBC’s no-smoking campaign – presented by Dale Winton – got more publicity than ITV’s
A dash (not a hyphen) can be used to show a range, in place of the word ‘to’, ‘and’ or ‘between’. In
this case, there should be no spaces on either side of the dash.
• pages 16–23
0900–0925
18 September–27 November
• the London–Bristol train the Tyson–Lewis fight
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 22
Ellipsis (...)
An ellipsis is a series of points that show that words have been omitted within or at the end of a
sentence or quote. It can also make a sentence trail off suggestively.
Use three points only. Put spaces before and after when using an ellipsis within a sentence, but
not when it comes at the end of a sentence.
• He talked about his work ... and the influence of the professor.
• You know what they say – the grass is always greener...
• They never had any trouble with the neighbours, until now...
Exclamation mark
Resist the temptation to use exclamation marks, except for a genuine exclamation in direct speech.
Full stop
Put a full stop at the end of a complete statement. Do not connect two statements with a comma.
Full stops are not required with initials in names (J Smith) or in abbreviations, eg BBC, UK, RSVP.
Note the exception: no.1 as an abbreviation for number 1.
When used with brackets, the full stop appears inside the brackets only if they contain a complete
sentence. Where the brackets fall within a sentence, the full stop goes outside the brackets.
• GCSE Bitesize Revision programmes begin in March. (See page 6 for more information.)
• GCSE Bitesize Revision programmes begin in March (see page 6 for more information).
Hyphen
Hyphens are used to link words together. It is difficult to give clear-cut rules for them, but the main
aim is to aid understanding and avoid ambiguity. Compare the following, for example:
• a little used car (a car that isn’t new)
a little-used car (a car that isn’t used much)
• twenty odd people (twenty people who are odd) twenty-odd people (just over twenty people)
Use hyphens when a compound (two or more words in a phrase) is used attributively (like an
adjective) before a noun:
• the award-winning series The Blue Planet
• a peak-time programme aimed at 15-year-old children
• he is a well-known actor
• up-to-date information is available online
Do not use a hyphen if the compound comes after a verb, or if the first word of the compound is an
adverb ending in ‘ly’:
• coverage of the Paralympics will be shown in peak time
• the programme is aimed at 15 year olds
• his hatred of spiders is well known
• the information is not up to date
• a publicly funded television service
Sometimes a hyphen is used to show that two words are linked in a phrase, wherever they occur:
• the injury was work-related
• he was a happy-go-lucky character
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 23
Prefixes
English has a huge number of prefixes. Some of them are normally followed by a hyphen, but most
are not (and the tendency not to use a hyphen is growing). If in doubt, check in a dictionary (though
different dictionaries may give different versions!).
Many prefixes can be used in either way. For example:
• antisocial
anti-apartheid
• bypass, byline, byword by-election, by-product
• email
e-commerce, e-learning
• nonconformist
non-smoker, non-speaking
• semicolon, semiprecious semi-conscious, semi-detached
In general, use a hyphen:
• if the last letter of the prefix is the same as the first letter of the other part of the word:
de-escalate
pre-empt
re-establish
co-operate
co-ordinate
(but cooperate and coordinate are also acceptable)
• to avoid confusion with a similar word: re-sign (sign again) resign (quit)
• when the prefix ‘co’ means ‘fellow’:
co-production co-author
• to make a word easier to read:
by-election
by-product
non-speaking under-developed
• when followed by a capitalised word:
pan-BBC
pre-Raphaelite
un-American
• after ‘ex’, ‘ill’ and ‘pro’:
ex-husband ill-advised
pro-government
Suffixes
Many nouns that include a suffix such as ‘up’, ‘off’, ‘on’ or ‘out’ are hyphenated (or written as one
word), but verbs should be written as separate words with no hyphen.
• follow-up
check-up
runner-up
sign-off
knockout
• to follow up to sign up
to kick off
to log on
to knock out
Recommended use (or not) of hyphens
• Director-General
• email, but e-commerce, e-learning
• mid: mid-Atlantic, mid-seventies, mid-air, but midsummer, midwinter
• multichannel, multimedia
• no one
• the North East, but in north-east Scotland
• offline, online
• programme maker, but programme-making
• public service broadcasting
• set-top box
• website
• worldwide
• 24-hour news
Question mark
Use a question at the end of a direct question. Do not use one at the end of an indirect question.
• “Do you know Ant and Dec?” he asked.
• He asked if I knew Ant and Dec.
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 24
Quotation marks
(speech marks, inverted commas)
Use double quotation marks for dialogue and quoted material. (This is newspaper style; in books it
is normal to use single quotation marks.) Punctuation at the end of a sentence comes inside the
quotation marks if the quote is a full sentence, but not otherwise.
• “I’ll be home later than I thought,” said Matt, “so don’t come till 8 o’clock.”
• Halliwell’s Film Guide calls The Exorcist a “spectacularly ludicrous mishmash”.
Use single quotation marks for a quote within a quote, for emphasis or for an unfamiliar or new
word or phrase.
• “No,” explained Sue. “What I said was ‘Go if you want to.’ It was her own choice.”
• He was wearing lots of ‘bling’.
For quotes of more than one paragraph, use opening quotes for all the paragraphs, but closing
quotes only at the end of the last paragraph.
www
On websites, use ‘straight’ quote marks, not ‘curly’ ones: ' " not ‘ “.
Semicolon
A semicolon indicates a more distinct break or pause than a comma:
• To err is human; to forgive, divine
You can also use semicolons to punctuate a list which might be confusing if you used commas:
• Innovations included the comedy series Marion and Geoff on BBC One; The Wire, a run of
plays from new writers on BBC Radio 3; and Jetset, a new format for the National Lottery.
Slash (/)
(forward slash, oblique or solidus)
Use a slash, with no spaces, to separate alternatives:
• You must have knowledge of journalism and/or PR work to succeed in the job.
When a year runs over part of two calendar years:
• BBC Statements of Programme Policy for 2005/2006
(2005–2006 indicates a period of two years)
To separate lines of poetry when they are run on as a single line:
• Let us go then, you and I/While the evening is spread out across the sky/Like a patient
etherised upon a table (TS Eliot)
In URLs (see also Websites):
• bbc.co.uk/pressoffice
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 25
Spelling
Use your computer spellchecker, but make sure it is checking for UK English, not US (in Word, go
to Language in the Tools menu, then Set Language). Spellcheckers also have limitations – they
will highlight a word spelt wrongly, but not a word spelt correctly and used wrongly.
If you want to look up a word, the BBC has subscriptions to Oxford Reference Online (Oxford
English Dictionary and nearly 200 other reference books).
http://research.gateway.bbc.co.uk (click on the Reference Collection tab or on Reference in the
Website Directory on the homepage)
General
Use -ise endings (English spelling) rather than -ize (American):
• centralise
emphasise
organise
realise
summarise
Be careful with words that can be spelt two ways:
• licence (noun): TV licence
to license (verb): TV licensing
• defence (English spelling)
defense (American spelling)
• practice (noun): practice makes perfect to practise (verb): you have to practise every day
(NB: in American usage, ‘licence’ and ‘practice’ are verbs; ‘license’ and ‘practise’ are nouns)
Two words, not one
• a lot
• all right
• any more
• under way
Some troublesome words
• accommodation (two ‘c’, two ‘m’)
• adapter = writer who adapts, for example, a book for TV
adaptor = electrical device
• affect (verb) = make a difference to, have an influence on
effect (noun) = change that is the result of something; (verb) = cause to happen, bring about
• ageing (preferred, but aging is also acceptable)
• biased, focusing, focused (one ‘s’)
• choose = pick (present tense)
chose = picked (past tense)
• complementary = combining with something to make a complete whole
complimentary = expressing praise; (ticket, etc) free of charge
• definite (‘i' not ‘a’)
• dependant (noun)
dependent (adjective)
• disc = used for recordings, as in compact disc
disk = used in computers
• discreet = careful in order to avoid embarrassment
discrete = individually separate and distinct
• embarrass (two ‘r’, two ‘s’)
• enquire = ask; enquiry = question
inquire = undertake a formal investigation; inquiry = formal investigation
• ensure = make sure
insure = take out insurance
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 26
• everyday (adjective): an everyday occurrence
every day (adverbial phrase): I drink tea every day
• forever = continually: I’m forever getting this wrong
for ever = until the end of time: I will love you for ever
• forward = direction
foreword = preface to a book
• fulfil, fulfilment (one ‘l’ each time)
• harass (one ‘r’, two ‘s’)
• home in on = aim at, focus on, move towards
hone = sharpen
• independent (‘e’ not ‘a’)
• install (two ‘l’), instalment (one ‘l’)
• judgement, acknowledgement (preferred to ‘judgment’ and ‘acknowledgment’)
• led (not ‘lead’) is the past tense of ‘lead’: it led to a lot of discussion
• liaison (‘i' before and after the ‘a’)
• loose = (adjective) not tight; (verb) release
lose = mislay; be defeated
• medieval, encyclopedia (preferred to ‘mediaeval’, ‘encyclopaedia’)
• meter = instrument that measures
metre = unit of length
• millennium (two ‘l’, two ‘n’)
• principal = (adjective) main, chief; (noun) head, leading person, boss
principle = (noun) rule, belief
• program = computer application
programme = TV, radio, etc
• separate (‘a’ in the middle, not ‘e’)
• stationary = not moving
stationery =paper, etc
Tip: a cAR can be stationARy, papER is stationERy
• story = tale, narrative
storey = floor of a building
• their = of them
there = in that place
• unmistakable (no ‘e’)
• worldwide (one word, except in World Wide Web and World Wide Fund for Nature)
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 27
Grammar and usage
Dangling/hanging participle
This is when the first part of a sentence, which is intended to modify a noun, doesn’t refer to the
noun that is the subject in the main part of the sentence. It is left dangling or hanging. Try to avoid
dangling participles by rewording the sentence.
For example:
• As a child, football was Billy’s favourite sport.
“As a child” refers to Billy, but the subject of the main part of the sentence is “football”.
This can be reworded in a couple of ways:
• As a child, Billy’s favourite sport was football.
• When he was a child, football was Billy’s favourite sport.
A dangling participle is bad style, although the meaning is often clear. Sometimes, though, it can
change the meaning or make it nonsensical:
• Walking home, a tree fell on his head.
(The tree was walking home?)
• Riding along on my bicycle, a dog knocked me over. (The dog was riding the bicycle?)
Singular or plural verb
Collective/group nouns
A collective/group noun (eg government, committee) takes a singular or a plural verb depending on
whether it is considered as a single unit or as a group of individuals:
• The committee was divided
The jury has retired to consider its verdict
• The public are not in favour
The audience are enjoying themselves
The important thing is to be consistent and not to mix singular and plural.
When referring to organisations, such as the BBC, always use a singular verb:
• The BBC is established under a Royal Charter
Names of countries take a singular verb, even for a plural name such as the United States, but use
a plural verb when referring to a country’s team or to any sports team:
• The United States is bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south
• England have qualified for the World Cup
• Renault have signed a new driver
With ‘none’, ‘a number of’ and percentages, use a singular verb if the noun is a collective/group
noun, but a plural verb if the noun is an ordinary plural:
• None of the viewers have complained about the language used
• A number of viewers have complained about scenes of violence
• 85% of the population lives within the reception area for DAB digital radio
• 73% of households have access to digital terrestrial television
Media, criteria, phenomena
The singular forms are:
medium
The plural forms are:
media
criterion
criteria
phenomenon
phenomena
Use a singular or plural verb as appropriate. However, when ‘media’ refers to the press, it is
treated as singular and takes a singular verb.
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 28
Tautology and unnecessary words
Tautology is saying the same thing twice in different words and should generally be avoided. Some
bad examples are: past history, future prospects, joint co-operation, mutual agreement, new
departure, pair of twins, past history, temporary respite, up until.
Other words, such as ‘situation’ and ‘conditions’, are often unnecessary:
• in an emergency situation = in an emergency
• in bad weather conditions = in bad weather
eg, ie
• eg means ‘for example’ and introduces one or more examples of what comes before it:
they liked guitar-based rock, eg Coldplay and Travis
• ie means ‘that is’ or ‘in other words’ and introduces an amplification or explanation:
a computer peripheral, ie a printer that is connected up to it
Note: these can be written e.g. and i.e., according to preference. Whichever form you use, make
sure you are consistent.
Less, fewer
‘Less’ is the comparative of ‘little’ and ‘fewer’ the comparative of ‘few’. Use ‘less’ with
singular/uncountable nouns; ‘fewer’ with plural/countable ones.
• he had less money than before but fewer problems
• fewer people watched Celebrity Big Brother this year than last year
May, might
These both refer to the possibility of something happening. They tend to be used almost
interchangeably, but there is a difference between them.
When talking about the present, ‘might’ suggests that something is possible but unlikely. Compare:
• we may go to Spain on holiday next year
• we might go to Spain on holiday next year
When talking about the past there is a more definite difference – ‘may’ leaves it open whether
something was the case, ‘might’ does not:
• he may have been hurt in the accident (but I don’t know if he was or not)
• he might have been hurt in the accident (but he wasn’t)
When talking about possibilities ‘if’ something had happened, use ‘might’:
• if she had gone to university, her life might have been different
In indirect or reported speech, use ‘might’:
• he said they might go to Spain on holiday next year
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 29
That, which, who
Use ‘that’ or ‘which’ with things, and ‘who’ with people:
• this is the house that Jack built
• this is the old woman who lived in a shoe
This type of usage is called ‘defining’ or ‘identifying’, because it identifies a particular thing or
person.
A clause that adds extra information is called ‘non-defining’ or ‘non-identifying’. Use ‘which’ or ‘who’
preceded by a comma:
• this house, which Jack built, is full of rats
• this old woman, who lived in a shoe, had so many children she didn’t know what to do
Some troublesome words
• biannual = happening twice a year
biennial = happening every two years
• disinterested = impartial, not influenced by considerations of personal advantage
uninterested = not interested
• flaunt = show off, display
flout = express contempt for (flout the law)
• literally = word for word, without metaphor, without exaggeration – often used as an intensifying
adverb but can lead to absurdity, e.g. “she was literally beside herself”
• unique = unequalled, the only one of its kind – so a thing cannot be “very unique”
BBC House Style and Writing Guidelines
page 30