English Language Style Guide
When something can be read without effort,
great effort has gone into its writing.
-E.J. Poncela
Updated May 2009
HR Council
English Language Style Guide
Contents
Introduction
A matter of style
Acronyms, initialisms and abbreviations
Ampersands
Capitalization
Introduction
This Style Guide contains the standards for documents created in
the English language for the HR Council for the Voluntary & Nonprofit Sector (HR Council). If you require any clarification or have
questions on topics not contained in this Guide, please contact:
Colons
Commas
Contact information
Dashes
Date and time
E-mail and websites
HR Council name
Hyphenation
Italics
Lee Rose
Communications Manager
HR Council for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector
201-291 Dalhousie Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7E5
613.244.8332, extension 225
[email protected]
Money
Names (organizations)
Names (geographical)
Non-profit, non-profit or not-for-profit?
Numbers (figures vs. words)
Percentages
Punctuation and spelling
Quotations and quotation marks
Semicolons
Word choice
Names (geographical)
Voluntary or volunteer?
A matter of style
The Canadian Style provides grammar and style guidelines for use in
Canada. This Guide refers to it frequently. In cases when the
Guide’s advice differs from that of The Canadian Style, follow the
Guide’s.
For example
Acronyms, initialisms and
abbreviations
For the provinces and territories, use the
following Canada Post abbreviations:
Alberta
AB
British Columbia
BC
Manitoba
MB
New Brunswick
NB
Newfoundland and Labrador
NL
Northwest Territories
NT
Nova Scotia
NS
Nunavut
NU
Ontario
ON
Prince Edward Island
PE
Quebec
QC
Saskatchewan
SK
Yukon Territory
YT
For the following abbreviations of titles of
persons, include a period:
Mr., Mrs., Ms. and Dr.
An acronym is an abbreviation whose letters form a word that is
pronounced as a word, such as OCASI and NATO. An initialism is
an abbreviation whose letters are pronounced as letters. HRSDC and
CPRN are initialisms.
In the body of the text, spell out a name in full on its first usage,
followed by the abbreviated form in parentheses. Use the short form
as needed throughout the rest of the document. Do not give the
short form in parentheses if it is not used again within the text.
Avoid using acronyms or initialisms in titles, headings and subheadings. If you must use one, ensure that you have spelled it out in full
earlier in the text. It may be helpful to repeat the full name occasionally, at the beginning of a section or subsection.
Although most acronyms and initialisms are not preceded by the
definite article the, abbreviated names of public service organizations, functions or programs may well be. For example, we refer to
the RCMP, but simply to HRSDC (without the article the). The familiar usage in speech often dictates the preferred practice in a
document.
Pluralize abbreviations containing capital letters with a lower-case s
alone, not an apostrophe, as in RFPs, and EDs. Abbreviations using
lower case require an apostrophe, as in c.o.d.’s. The abbreviation of
the word pages used mainly in cross-references, is pp. (with a period).
One page is p. (also with a period).
Put a comma before and after i.e. and e.g., unless they begin a passage or phrase in parentheses, in which case no punctuation is
needed other than the two periods.
For example
Capitalization of functional titles:
Executive Director Lynne Toupin, but
Lynne Toupin, executive director.
Ampersands
Avoid using the ampersand (&) except in the following cases:
•
In tables and figures where space is at a premium
•
In a corporate name if it is part of a company’s legal
designation
•
In common abbreviations, such as R&D
(research and development)
Capitalization of short forms:
The HR Council (when substituted for a
specific council, such as the HR Council
for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector)
The Annual Report (when choosing to
not refer to its full title)
This Guide (short for the HR Council
Style Guide)
Capitalization of headings:
Short-Term Goals for the HR
Council
Develop communication strategy
Capitalization
Capitalization is used to signify a specific person or thing, as opposed to a general instance of it. For example, no capitals are required for executive director in this sentence: The executive director is the
one who must approve all expenditures. Here, we are referring to any
executive director. But we would capitalize those words in this sentence: The Executive Director is currently in Toronto, attending a conference on international development. In this case, Executive Director refers
specifically to the person occupying the office of the executive director.
Do not capitalize internet and web (alone or as website).
Do not capitalize functional titles unless they immediately precede a
person's name.
Do not capitalize spelled-out titles of individuals in the plural or
those preceded by indefinite articles (a and an). Consult The Canadian Style, Section 4.08 (d).
Capitalize short forms of document and organizational names when
they stand for the full title and are intended to carry its full force.
Do not capitalize the following plural nouns: governments, departments, divisions, and so on. As plurals, these are not specific names.
Avoid overcapitalizing nouns unless they are part of titles or headings, including commonly used words such as the program, the conference, and so on.
In headings, capitalize only the first letter of major words. Articles,
such as a and the, and prepositions should not be capitalized unless
they are the first word in the heading. Capitalize only the first word
of subheadings.
For example
Colons in vertical lists:
Service to the public includes the following:
Colons
Always use a colon to introduce a vertical list, either bulleted or
numbered.
Sending out brochures
Do not use a colon to introduce an in-line list unless the lead-in
wording to the list is a complete sentence.
Investigating complaints
Incorrect: The policy affects: staffing, contracts and travel expenses.
Answering Inquiries
Correct: The policy affects staffing, contracts and travel expenses.
Commas in dates:
I traveled to France in January 2006.
I will be unable to attend the session on
March 24 as previously agreed to.
On March 24, 2006, the new corporate
strategy took effect.
Our meeting was held on Friday, March
24, in the main board room.
Commas
Do not use a comma before the final and in a sequence unless one
or more of the items also includes and, or unless clarification is necessary.
If a date appears within a sentence, use commas as follows:
• Month and year: no commas
• Month and day: no commas
• Month, day and year: the year is preceded and followed by a
comma
• Day of the week, month, day and year: the day of the week is followed by a comma; the year is preceded and followed by a comma.
Hint for commas in dates: separate similar sequential elements with commas (i.e. elements that are spelled out such as weekdays and the names of
months, or numerical elements such as the date and year)
Contact information
For example
Contact information:
When names must be included, avoid using titles (including
Dr.,Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc.); their usage could be sexist or inconsistent.
Lee Rose
Communications Manager
HR Council
201-291 Dalhousie Street
Ottawa ON K1N 7E5
Canada
Check with addressees for the correct spelling and preferred form of
their name. Use the following order and style for contact information: name (if using), title, organization, room or suite or floor,
building, street address, post office box and station, city, province or
territory, postal code and country (if the document is for an international audience).
Formatting FYI
Make sure the city, province or territory, and postal code are on one
line, with no comma after the city and two spaces between the provincial or territorial abbreviation and the postal code.
Creating dashes in Microsoft Word
Write telephone and fax numbers as follows:
To create an em dash in Word automatically as you are drafting, type two hyphens without spaces between the words
surrounding the dash. Then insert the
spaces manually in accordance with HR
Council editorial policy.
Telephone: 613.244.8332
Cell phone: 613.244.8332
Fax: 613.244.8334
Toll-free 800.555.5555
To create an en dash in Word, type two
hyphens with spaces as your draft. Then
remove the spaces manually in accordance with HR Council editorial policy.
Dashes
The em dash
An em dash (—) sets off a word or phrase that interrupts the flow of
a sentence, such as an example, a clarification or an afterthought.
The em dash is a very strong type of punctuation and should not be
overused. It is HR Council editorial policy to set the em dash off
with spaces for ease of reading, as in this sentence: Managers — unless
otherwise notified — must attend the meeting.
The en dash
An en dash (–) is a connector that joins words or other terms into
single units, as in January 7–February 28 and pages 17–31. It conveys
the sense of the word through, often used therefore in expressions
denoting a series, like both examples above. In HR Council documents, do not insert spaces on either side of the en dash.
Date and time
Date formats
The preferred format for writing dates is the common mixed format,
as in March 15, 2006. Do not write the months in abbreviated form,
or split a date over two lines. Use plain numbers for dates: April 3,
not April 3rd.
Separate consecutive years with a hyphen rather than an oblique (/),
with no spaces before or after the hyphen. Repeat the first two digits
in the second year that follows the hyphen, as in 2005-2006.
When required to use the all-numeric format for dates, which is not
recommended for HR Council documents, place the elements of
the date in this order: month, day, year. Separate the elements with
hyphens: 03-31-2006; or periods: 03.31.2006.
Months and days
Always spell out the names of months in the body of your text and
in footnotes. They may be abbreviated in tables, citations and references. May, June and July should not be abbreviated. Ever.
The names of the days of the week are not abbreviated, except in
tables.
Time of day
Present exact time as follows:
Correct:
11 a.m.
2:30 p.m.
midnight or noon
Incorrect:
11:00 a.m. or 11:00 AM
2:30 PM
12 midnight or 12 noon
Present time ranges as follows, using from and to and omit redundant a.m.’s and p.m.’s whenever possible.
Correct:
8:30 to 11 a.m.
11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Incorrect:
8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
11:00 AM – 2:30 pm
Time zones
Time zones are abbreviated when used with a specific time. Note
that capitals are used, without periods: 4:30 p.m. EDT.
For example
Web site addresses:
Incorrect:
http://www.hrcouncil.ca is your one stop
shop.
Correct:
hrcouncil.ca offers practical tools, information and services related to non-profit
workplace issues and HR management.
E-mail and websites
Unless absolutely required for clarity and to avoid confusion, do not
include the http:// signifier when writing out a web address. Including www is acceptable when a hyperlink is included in a written
document, but should not be used when writing the HR Council’s
web address in written documents, marketing collateral or online.
Many websites are set up with several aliases that all end up at the
same site; however, only one official URL of a site should be marketed consistently in all media. If a website has a bilingual splash
page, use its English URL in English texts and its French URL in
French texts, if available.
Formatting
Format e-mail and website addresses as hyperlinks, such as underlined blue or black type, in both print and electronic documents.
No other formatting, such as bold or italics, is required. Names of
websites that resemble URLs require no special formatting.
Surrounding punctuation
If an e-mail or website address appears in the middle of a sentence,
you may want to put it in parentheses, depending on the sentence
structure. Any punctuation marks following an e-mail address or
URL should be readily perceived as being part of the surrounding
text.
Line breaks
Avoid splitting an e-mail or website address so that part of it winds
up on the next line. If you must split it, do not use a hyphen as you
would with a word. Make the break between elements: after a colon,
a slash, a double slash or the @ symbol, but before a period or other
punctuation mark. To avoid confusion, an e-mail address or URL
that contains a hyphen should never be broken at the hyphen.
For example
HR Council name:
The HR Council for the Voluntary & Nonprofit Sector (HR Council) is a national,
non-profit organization committed to
the development and enhancement of a
skilled workforce that is focused on
building better communities and improving the lives of Canadians…the HR Council aims to contribute to the development of a sustainable, vibrant and confident voluntary and non-profit sector
workforce.
HR Council name
Write out the HR Council’s full name the first time it appears in a
document, followed by its short form in parentheses. If the organization’s name is not repeated in the text, omit in the short form in
parentheses.
Only use HR Council as the short form of HR Council for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector.
Do not use The Council, The Human Resources Council or other variations.
Remember:
• Ensure that the word profit in Non-profit is not capitalized
Hyphenation:
It is HR Council editorial policy to hyphenate the following words:
e-business, e-commerce, e-book
• Do not include the article the in the parenthetical short form
• Do not use the article the before the term HR Council for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector unless it is required to make a sentence
grammatically correct
e-mail, e-news
Hyphenation
Hyphenation of nouns and adjectives:
In the short term, we will see some
changes in our monitoring tools. (noun)
Expect some short-term changes in our
monitoring tools. (adjective)
Since hyphenation is one of the most controversial points of editorial style, consistency is key. Make the Gage Canadian Dictionary your
basic guide. For terms that do not appear in the dictionary, follow
the rules for compounding and word division in The Canadian Style,
Chapter 2.
The term small and medium-sized organizations does not need a suspending hyphen after small, since you would write small organizations
not small-sized organizations. But numerical descriptions such as a $4million project and a six-month delay require a hyphen. Terms such as
acid rain threat, private sector participation and high technology conference
do not need hyphens, since the meaning is immediately clear without them.
Some terms will be hyphenated in one context, but not in another.
This may depend on whether the term is used as a noun or an adjective.
For example
Sums of money in a text:
$3500
$35 000
$350 000
Italics
Italic type is used to set off words and phrases, call attention to them
or indicate their special status.
Italicize the following:
• Titles of books, pamphlets, published reports and studies, films,
most works of art, newspapers, magazines and other periodicals
Foreign currencies:
C$20 Canadian dollars (when other currencies are used in the document)
• The complete names of policies and acts, as in the Food and Drugs
Act
• French or foreign words that have not been anglicized
US$20 American dollars
In web publications, only the above items can be italicized.
A$20 Australian dollars
The Canadian Style, Chapter 6, details other uses for italics that are
acceptable in print publications. As well, in print publications, you
can use italics to emphasize a word, but do so sparingly. In web publications, use a bold typeface instead. In print publications, you can
also use italics to show different levels of headings. In web publications, this should be avoided.
£20 British pounds
(or simply 20 pounds)
¥20 Japanese yen
(or simply 20 yen)
Do not italicize names of websites or French, Latin or foreign words
that have been anglicized (consult the Gage Canadian Dictionary for a
list of Latin words written in italics).
Money
Sums of money are usually expressed in figures, except where they
refer to round or indefinite amounts or are used in a formal, literary
or legal context. As is the rule for ordinary numbers, use a space
rather than a comma in sums of money of five figures or more, and
close up sums of money of four figures. In financial documents,
however, commas may be used.
When the currency is understood to be Canadian dollars, do not
identify it as such. When you cite other currencies in the same
document, identify them.
For example
Corporate capitalizations:
TransCanada Pipelines
QuickMail Systems
Names (organizations)
Confirm all organization names cited in your texts. The best way is
to consult the organization itself or check its official website. Use
abbreviations such as Ltd. and Inc., but avoid Bros., Assoc., Co. and
Corp., especially in the main body of the text.
Spell out Ltd. and Inc. only when the full legal name of the firm
must be shown. When a company is commonly known by an acronym or initials, use its full name on first reference, followed by the
acronym in parentheses. You can then use the acronym as needed.
Use the corporate name in the style preferred by the company, including variations in capitalization and spacing [see example, left].
Use an ampersand (&) or other unusual typographical symbol only
if it is part of the organization’s legal name.
Where official English versions of French corporate names exist, use
them accordingly. If there is no English version, use the French
name without translation and without any special treatment such as
italics or quotation marks. If you include an unofficial translation
with the French name, put it in parentheses and do not capitalize it;
this will indicate that it is not a legally recognized company name.
Names (geographical)
While French place names in Canada generally retain their accents
in English texts, there are some legitimate exceptions. With very few
exceptions, the names of Canadian cities are not translated.
A few items to note:
Quebec, the province, does not take an accent.
Québec, the city, does.
Montréal always has an accent.
Write Trois-Rivières, not Three Rivers.
Formatting FYI
Referring to the sector:
When referring to the broad sector, use
the word and, not / or & between the
words voluntary and non-profit. Note
that the word voluntary always precedes
non-profit.
For example
Numbers:
Incorrect: 11 organizations are already
complying with the new legislation.
Correct: Eleven organizations are already
complying with the new legislation.
Non-profit, nonprofit or not-forprofit?
While all three versions are in general use, HR Council style recommends using the hyphenated term non-profit as in non-profit organizations. Use the terms nonprofit or not-for-profit only when they appear
in the legal name of an organization or in the title of a published
document or report.
Avoid referring to organizations as non-profits or for-profits in formal
documents or reports. Use non-profit organizations and for-profit organizations instead. Using the term non-profit to describe an organization
is acceptable in less formal applications (i.e. headlines, workshop
descriptions or blog posts).
Charitable organization is preferred over the term charity (An act of
charity to a charitable organization).
Numbers (figures vs. words)
Spell out numbers between one and nine, and write as figures all
numbers 10 and above. An exception to this practice is a reference
to a chapter, as in Chapter 7. Do not begin sentences with a figure;
break the guideline and write as words all numbers that begin sentences.
If numbers in a series are both lower and higher than nine, write
them all as figures, as in this example: The above three organizations
have reported 5, 9 and 10 amendments to the draft policy, respectively.
Percentages
When writing a percentage, use a figure: The study found that 35% of
employees favour the new approach. HR Council style is to use only the
percentage sign (%), not the words per cent or percent. This is in accord with current usage, and saves space in print documents.
Punctuation and spacing
Follow these general tips regarding punctuation and spacing:
Use only one space, not two, after these full stops: period, colon,
exclamation mark and question mark.
Do not put any spaces before, between or after an ellipsis, as in the
following: In her speech, the Executive Director…offered three alternatives
to the current staffing practices.
Put one space before and after an em dash, as in the following:
Managers — unless otherwise notified — must implement these guidelines.
Do not put any spaces before or after an en dash, as in The Annual
Report for 2005–2006 discusses the following initiatives.
Do not put a space before or after an oblique (/) when it is used between individual words, letters or symbols.
Put one space before and one space after an oblique if one of the
elements contains spacing between its words, as in decision maker /
manager. No spaces are required if there is no other internal spacing,
as in supervisors/managers.
Quotations and quotation marks
Put quotation marks around the titles of the following:
• Articles from newspapers, magazines and other periodical
• Chapters of books
• Lectures, papers, dissertations and theses
• Unpublished manuscripts
• Radio and television programs
You can also use quotation marks to set off definitions, words used
in an ironic or special sense and slang or technical terms, but do so
sparingly.
Do not put quotation marks around the names of websites.
Put commas and periods within closing quotation marks unless a
high degree of accuracy is required (such as in legal documents).
Avoid using “air quotes” for emphasis in written copy. We are a national organization, not a junior high school.
For example
Semicolons:
The investigation report was timely; legislation on the same issue had just been
passed.
The audit team presented its findings to
the clients; the response was positive,
although they had asked many questions.
The active voice:
The Policy Committee approved the
funding, not Funding was approved by
the Policy Committee.
Semicolons
Use semicolons in lists if the elements in the list are long and complicated, or if they contain internal punctuation. You can use semicolons this way in vertical lists, but you may want to consider eliminating them for ease of reading, especially in web documents.
You can use the semicolon between two independent clauses (two
separate sentences) instead of a period to emphasize the logical connection between the ideas. Overuse of the semicolon to connect independent clauses will make the document look academic or even
archaic. This use is less common in current business writing.
Word choice
Using about and for:
Click here for more information about
the HR Council, not Click here for more
information on the HR Council; We’re
developing a plan for announcing our
new website, not We’re developing a
plan around announcing our new website.
In general, try to use the simplest, most readily understood words.
Avoid jargon and acronyms unless your entire audience is sure to
understand what you are saying.
Strive for economy of words, avoiding phrases and modifiers where
a single word would suffice.
Write in the active voice as much as possible.
Use labour force rather than workforce when the subject includes both
existing and potential employees (macro level): The non-profit labour
force). Workforce should be used when referring to an organization or
group’s current employees (micro level): The Salvation Army’s workforce includes 2300 men and women.
Choose people, or individuals with disabilities, not disabled people or the
disabled.
Use two words when every day is a noun with modifier: the report is
filed every day. Use one word when everyday is an adjective: an everyday
occurrence.
Use both from and to or and rather than a dash or hyphen to indicate a range: from two to four weeks; between $1 million and $2 million;
noon to 3 p.m.
Avoid using over when you mean to say more than, particularly with
reference to quantities. Use during to indicate a period of time.
Use under way as two words, not one.
Choose use rather than utilize.
For example
The voluntary and non-profit sector:
Correct:
The voluntary and non-profit sector in
Canada employs nearly 1.2 million people.
Voluntary or volunteer?
Avoid using the terms voluntary or volunteer when describing the
work of the HR Council. The terms voluntary, volunteer and voluntary
organizations are often misunderstood and used inaccurately when
referring to the work of the HR Council.
The non-profit sector is made up of
many different sub-sectors.
In most instances, refer to the sector as the voluntary and non-profit
sector. When space is at a premium, non-profit may stand alone, voluntary may not.
Incorrect:
The word voluntary must appear in the HR Council’s full name: HR
Council for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector.
The voluntary sector in Canada employs
nearly 1.2 million people.