Fringe Programme Style Guide We have put together a Style Guide to help participants write their copy, and to answer some frequently asked questions along with The Fringe Guide to Registering a Show. The Style Guide is here to ensure that we are consistent in the way we do things across the printed programme and website and to make sure that your listings are clear, correct and user friendly. The Guide acts as the default for the way we present your listing’s copy but we also want performers and companies to be able to present their work in the way that they wish. We are therefore always happy to discuss any specific requests, questions or deviations from the Guide when you are registering your show. The Fringe Society is the publisher of the listings and holder of the copyright for the content in the official Fringe Programme and on edfringe.com. As such we reserve the right to edit copy or refuse images in order to comply with the Style Guide, or if we believe them to be inappropriate in any way. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an open access festival and The Fringe Society neither selects the shows that take part, nor controls the content of those shows and the associated promotional materials. Under no circumstances will we be liable for any content, including but not limited, to errors or omissions, or loss or damage (or claim thereof) of any kind as a result of any content submitted for publication. We endeavor to work with the performer, company or venue when making changes but please note, as the publisher, the Fringe Society’s decision is final. Please feel free to contact the programme team if you have any questions. You can reach them on [email protected] or +44 (0)131 226 0034. Style Guide – Programme Production 2016 This is the official style manual for use in creating and editing a listing for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Programme. It lists topics alphabetically, interspersing broader subjects with clarifications of spelling, punctuation and formatting in specific cases. Throughout this manual, ‘lc’ stands for lower case and ‘uc’ for upper case. We also refer to the Oxford Dictionary for spelling and use their online service http://oxforddictionaries.com/. These should be considered your primary sources for the rules and tools to make listings as clear, correct and user-friendly as possible. Accents TheseshouldbeusedonFrench,German,Spanish,Gaelicwordsetc,butnotanglicisedwordslikecafe(unlessinthe nameofanestablishmentthatusesanaccent)ornaive,apartfrom: àlacarte exposé résumé roué Institutfrançaisd'Écosse Acronyms, abbreviations, initialisms Donotusefullstopsinabbreviationsorspacesbetweeninitials. UK USA mph 4am WHSmith Op58 Useallcapitalsifanabbreviationispronouncedastheindividualletters. BBC VAT CD AKA(alsoknownas) FringeStyleGuide2016 1 Commonawards: BAFTA–BritishAcademyofFilmandTelevisionAward Tony–AntoinettePerryAwardforExcellenceinTheatre Uselowercaseinforawolorpincodeasthesearenowrecognisedwords. Ages Ageseightyearsold,butaneight-year-old;the56-year-oldactor;shewasinher20s(buttwentysomething, thirtysomething,etc). And/but Itisacceptabletostartasentencewith‘and’or‘but’,howeverbecareful. ‘n’–acontractionof‘and’thatresultsinoneword asinrock’n’rollshouldbewrittenasonewordwithapostrophesaroundthe‘n’. Ampersands Ampersand(&)useincompanynameswhenthecompanydoes:Marks&Spencer,P&O.Otherwise,‘and’isalways preferable. Eg,MarketingandSponsorship Donottreatthewordafteranampersandasifininitialposition:TomPetty&theHeartbreakers. Apostrophes Apostrophesindicateamissingletterorletters(can’t,we’d)orapossessive(David’sbook).Don’tuseanapostrophe toindicateaplural(pea’s),butbesurenottoomitonewhereit’srequired. ThepossessiveinwordsandnamesendinginSnormallytakesanapostrophefollowedbyasecondS(eg,Jones’s), butbeguidedbypronunciationanduseapluralapostrophewhereithelps:Mephistopheles’ratherthan Mephistopheles’s. Twoyears’experience(Ihavetwoyearsofexperience) Pluralnounsthatdonotendin‘s’takeanapostropheand‘s’inthepossessive:children’sgames,oldfolk’shome, etc.Phrasessuchasbutcher’sknife,goat’scheese,hangman’snoose,etcaretreatedassingular. Becarefulasnotallpluralsrequireapossessive.Sometimestherelationshipisadjectival,notpossessive: eg,FringeSchoolsPosterCompetition,BoysSchool,sportscar Sometimesthere'snothingtopossessorbepossessed(possessivephrasesneedtwonouns),ie: Twentyweekspregnant Awards and acknowledgments Awards,prizes,medalsgenerallyuc,eg,FringeFirstAwards(exception:if.comedyAwards) Award-winning,Prize-winninghyphenated,unlikeawardwinner,prizewinner.Alsoapplieswithreferencetospecificawards, eg,FringeFirst-winning. BestNewcomernomineeInitialcapsonBestandNewcomer,lcfornominee Critic’sChoiceuppercasewhenreferringtoanacknowledgedfeatureinapublication,notablytheTimeOutLondonCritics’ Choice(notethepluralpossessive);lcwhenimplyingthatacritichaschosentofavoursomethingwithagoodreview. Criticallyacclaimed-twowords,nohyphen HackneyEmpireatheatreinLondon,buttypicallyshortfortheHackneyEmpireNewActoftheYearawardforstand-up comedy. FringeStyleGuide2016 2 HeraldAngel-italicisethefirstwordasitisapublication,capupbothwords if.comedyAwards-initialcaponlyifusedatthestartofasentence. TimeOutLondonCritics’Choice Babes in arms Babesinarms,inrunningtext‘babesinarms’,noinitialcaps,nohyphenation. BBC BBCOne,BBCTwo,BBCThree,BBCFour BBCRadio1,2,3,4,FiveLive,Radio6Music Numeralsonlyusedforradio Brackets Bracketsifthesentenceislogicallyandgrammaticallycompletewithouttheinformationcontainedwithinthe parentheses(roundbrackets),thenpunctuationstaysoutsidebrackets.(Acompletesentencethatstandsalonein parenthesesstartswithacapitalletterandendswithastop.) Squarebrackets[s]*[/s]areusedtotagstarratingsinprintedprogrammecopy.Donotusesquarebracketsforany otherpurposes. Star[s]*[/s]tagsarenotrequiredforwebcopy. Brand names Ifyouarewritingto,orfor,abrand,thenspellthebrandnameastheydo. Afewcommonlyusedbrandnameswestyleastheydo: EventScotland PortaKabin SoundCloud VisitScotland However,ifyouarewritingaboutabrand,thenuseaninitialcapbutotherwisestyletheword(s)normally. British/American English PleaseuseBritishspellings.RetainNorthAmericanandAustralianspelling(ie,theater)forcompaniesthatelectto applyit. Caps versus lower caps Capitalisationshouldbereservedforpropergrammaticalusageandforcertainabbreviations(seeAbbreviationsand Acronyms).Nothingelseshouldbewritteninall-caps. IntheFringeProgramme,titlecaseisused.Showtitlesandgroupnamestakeinitialcapitalsexceptfora,an,and,at, for,from,in,of,the,to(apartfrominitialposition,afteracolonordash).AnexceptiontonormalcapitalisationisSt Mark’sartSpace. Cathedralscapup,eg,CanterburyCathedral inassociationwith–alllowercase. Collective nouns Collectivenounssuchascompany,duo,teamandtroupetakeasingularverborpronounwhenthoughtofasa singleunit,but(morecommonly)apluralverborpronounwhenthoughtofasacollectionofindividuals: ‘Thecompanyiswell-knownforitshit-and-missupdatesofAristophanes’; ‘ThecompanyarebackinEdinburghaftertheirtriumphanttouroftheUS’. FringeStyleGuide2016 3 ‘TheFringeSocietystaffarehappytohelp.’ ‘TheBoardaremeetinglaterthismonth.’ Ifyouareunsure,pleaseatleastbeconsistent. Thisalsoapplieswithreferencetopropernouns: ‘RogueShakespearearebackinEdinburghaftertheirtriumphanttour’. Colons and semi-colons Colonusebetweentwosentences,orpartsofsentences,wherethefirstintroducesapropositionthatisresolvedby thesecond,eg,Fowlerputitlikethis:todeliverthegoodsinvoicedintheprecedingwords.Acolonshouldalsobe used(ratherthanacomma)tointroduceaquotation:‘Hewasanexpertonpunctuation’,ortoprecedealist–‘He wasanexpertonthefollowing:thecolon,thecommaandthefullstop.’ Semicolonisusedtojointwocompletesentencesintoasinglesentencewhenthetwosentencesaretooclosely relatedtobeseparatedbyafullstop,thereisnoconnectingwordwhichwouldrequireacomma,suchasandorbut, andtheconditionsrequiringacolonareabsent.Thesemicolonmustbebothprecededbyacompletesentenceand followedbyacompletesentence.Usesparinglyandonlywhenconvincedyouarecorrect. Commas Commasshouldbeusedtoseparateclauses,notconnectthem. CommaSplice Thisiswhenacommaisusedtoseparatetwoindependentclauses,whenaconjunctionshouldreallybeused. Pleaseavoid. Eg, Ilovetotravel,IgoonholidaywheneverIcan. Thissentenceshouldread: IlovetotravelsoIgoonholidaywheneverIcan. Ilovetotravel–IgoonholidaywheneverIcan. Oxfordcommashouldonlybeusedifitisessentialtothereader: ‘Idedicatethisbooktomyparents,MartinAmis,andJKRowling’ ‘Idedicatethisbooktomyparents,MartinAmisandJKRowling’. SentencescontainingsimplelistsofnounsdonotgenerallyneedanOxfordcomma: ‘Theflagisyellow,greenandred’. However,morecomplexlistsmayrequiretheuseofacommaforclarity: ‘Hehadbacon,eggs,toastandmarmalade,andtea’. Usesparingly. Compass points Geographicallydistinctareasarecappedupbutareasdefinedbycompasspointsarelowercase:thenorth,the south-east,thesouth-west,etc.Equally:easternculture,westernmusic,etc. eastAsia;eastern,buttheEastEndofLondon northLondon,northWales,north-westEngland,etc.northern,northerner southLondon,south-westEngland,thesouth-east,southWales,etc. HighlandsandIslands Borders FringeStyleGuide2016 4 CentralBelt EastAnglia LakeDistrict Midlands WestCountry Currency Pricesshouldbewritteninwholepoundsandpenceifrequired. Theprogrammeregistrationfeeis£295.20. Lanyardscost£1. Dashes Dashesweuseendashestosurroundsubordinateclauseswithonespacebeforeandafter. Dates and times Datesparex:05August2016(nocommas).Inthe21stcenturybuta21st-centuryboy;10,000BC;referencesto decadesusefigures:eg,theswinging60sor1960s. Centuriesshouldbehyphenatedwhenusedadjectivally:a17th-centuryplaydealingwithlifeinthe10thcentury. Times1am,6:30pm;halfpasttwo,quartertothree;for24-hourclock,00:47,23:59. Pleasetrytobeconsistentandpreferablyusethe24-hourclock. Dictionary PleaseusetheOxfordEnglishDictionary. Edinburgh Festival Fringe EdinburghFestivalFringenotFringeFestival.Notethat,apartfrompropernames,festivaltakeslc. Also,ashowcanbeattheFringeorontheFringe,butnotintheFringe. EdinburghFestivalFringeSocietytheorganisationthathelpsorganisetheEdinburghFestivalFringe. Edinburgh AuldReekie Canons’Gait(pub) Canongate(street/areaname) CanongateKirk Holyrood NewTown OldTown George’sSquare(Assembly) GeorgeStreet(TheAssemblyRooms) StGiles’Cathedral Either/or, neither/nor Doyouhaveeitheranappleorapear? Ihaveneitheranapplenorapear. Ellipses Ifyouarecontinuingasentence,usethreedotsbeforethefirstword,nospace(‘...thecastisperfection’).Ifthe sentenceismissingitsend,threedotsafterthefinalword,nospace(‘Shedidn’twanttogothere...’).Ifthemissing bitisinthemiddle,threedotswithaspaceontheend(‘Shedidn’twanttogothere...thecastisperfection’). FringeStyleGuide2016 5 Exclamation marks Generallyavoid,andifyoumust,onlyuseone. Explicit words Pleasebearinmindyouraudiencewhenconsideringtheuseofanyexplicitorpotentiallyoffensivewords.Explicit wordsmaybeincludedinashow’stitleorcopy.However,f*ckandc*ntwillberepresentedassuchbyreplacingthe keycharactersofthewordwith*symbols.Thisisreflectiveofthegeneraloffensecausedbythesewords. Half Halfnohyphenwhenusedadverbially:histrouserswereathalfmast;thescoreswerelevelathalftime.Hyphen whenusedadjectivally:ahalf-priceticket;ahalf-eatensandwich.Theboyissixandahalf;asixandahalf-year-old boy. Halfhourbutahalf-hourperformance. Headings For show titles in the Fringe Programme, title case should be used. Also use for titles of other plays, novels, poems etc used in show copy. Capitalise the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading: The Fringe Guide to Registering Your Show Use lowercase only for conjunctions (words like and, or, nor, and but), articles (the words a, an, and the), and prepositions (words like as, at, by, for, in, of, on, per, and to), as long as they aren’t the first word in a title or subtitle. Hyphenation Hyphenthereisnoneedtousehyphenswithmostcompoundadjectiveswherethemeaningisclearand unambiguouswithout(eg,civilrightsmovement,financialservicessector,etc).Hyphensshouldbeusedtoform shortcompoundadjectives(eg,stand-upcomedian,19th-centuryartist,etc).Alsousehyphenswherenotusingone wouldbeambiguous(eg,todistinguish‘black-cabdriverscomeunderattack’from‘blackcab-driverscomeunder attack’).Donotusehyphensafteradverbsendingin–ly(eg,internationallyacclaimed),butwhenanadverbisalso anadjective(eg,hard),thehyphenisrequiredtoavoidambiguity(it’snotahard,pressedperson,butahard-pressed one;anill-preparedreport,ratherthananill,preparedone).Usehyphenswithshortandcommonadverbs:wellestablishedprincipleofstyle(notethoughthatintheconstruction‘theprincipleofstyleiswellestablished’thereis noneedtohyphenate). Wordsdefinitelynothyphenated: Cooperate Coordinate Email Website Online Rewrite subtotal MC, Emcee BothacceptedasalternativeforMasterofCeremonies.Emceeisthederivativenowcommonlyusedtodescribea vocalistperformingtoabeatinhiphopmusic. Measurements Pleaseusemetricwheneverpossible. FringeStyleGuide2016 6 cm-centimetre kph–kilometresperhour kg–kilos km-kilometre mm-millimetre mph–milesperhour m–metre mile M–million K–thousand Miss, Mr, Mrs, Ms AlphabetiseasMiss,Mister,MrsandMsrespectively.Donotuseafullstop. Multicultural, multimedia, multimillion but multi-ethnic, multi-talented Music Acappellashouldbelowercase‘acappella’inrunningtext.AlphabetiseunderA. BandnamesCheckonlineforreference-Editors,notTheEditors.TheBeatles,notBeatles.TheRollingStones,not RollingStonesetc.Bandstakeapluralverb(Editorsareoverrated,IronButterflyweretheloudestbandofthe60s, etc). ClassicalmusicMozart’s41stSymphony(orSymphonyNo41)inC,K551;Rachmaninov’sPianoConcertoNo2; Schubert’sSonatainAminorforPiano,D845;Op58,No2.Noquotationmarksrequired. GenresAllmusicgenresaregenerallylowercase,unlessbeingusedinatitle. Hiphop-twowords Honky-tonkisonewordwithahyphen Rockstar-twowordswhenreferringtoanindividualperformerwhohashighprofilestandingwithintherockgenre. Singer/songwriter-oneword Newspapers and magazines Presssourcespublishedpresssourcestakeinitialcaps,areitalicisedandomittheprefatory‘the’whencitedin brackets.So:(EdinburghEveningNews),(List),(Scotsman),(ThreeWeeks),(Times).Presssourcesotherwiseretain their‘the’,lcandwithoutemphasis,inrunningtext:theGuardian,theNewYorkTimes,etc.Whenreferringtothe citywhereapresssourceispublished(whenthisisnotpartofthetitle),placeitafterthepublicationandacomma, eg,(Advertiser,Adelaide).Citingtelevisionorradiopresssources,stationsrequirenoemphasis.Websites,when usedascitedsources,shouldlisttheregistereddomainnameofthesitehomepage(nohttp://orwww.)without emphasis,usinginitialcapsonthename(nospaces)butnotsuffixstring.So:Guardian.co.uk,Scotsman.com, TimeOut.com. ThreeWeeksisoneword,the‘T’and‘W’bothtakefullcaps.Itisaprintedpublication. No one Notno-one Numbers Spelloutfromzerotonine. Numeralsfrom10to999,999. Thereafterusemorbnforsums,quantitiesorinanimateobjectsincopy,eg,£10m,5bntonnesofcoal;butmillion orbillionforpeopleoranimals,eg,1millionpeople,3billionrabbits,etc.Also:1,000(nospaces),not1000. FringeStyleGuide2016 7 Adjectivesofsequencefollowthesamerules: spelloutfirsttoninth,then10th-21st,millionth. Inshowtitlesandgroupnames,numbersshouldbealphabetised,exceptwhenputtingaseriesoflistingsina numericsequence.However,nosentenceshouldstartwithanumeral.(Eg,‘Seventypeopleappliedforyourjob.’) Ageseightyearsold,butaneight-year-old;the56-year-oldactor;shewasinher20s;twentysomething, thirtysomething;underfives,under18s. Centuriesshouldbehyphenatedwhenusedadjectivally:a17th-centuryplaydealingwithlifeinthe10thcentury. Datesparex:03August2008(nocommas). Inthe21stcenturybuta21st-centuryboy;10,000BC; Referencestodecadesusefigures:eg,theswinging60sor1960s. 60s,70s,80s–nopossessiveapostrophe. First,second,thirdratherthanfirstly,secondly,thirdly,etc;spelloutuptoninth,then10th,21st,millionth. Halfnohyphenwhenusedadverbially:histrouserswereathalfmast;thescoreswerelevelathalftime.Hyphen whenusedadjectivally:ahalf-priceticket;ahalf-eatensandwich.Theboyissixandahalf;asixandahalf-year-old boy. Halfanhourbutahalf-hourperformanceor30minuteshow. Heights6’7”withaspacebetween6and7isacceptable,otherwisesixfeet,seveninches. Times1am,6:30pm;halfpasttwo,quartertothree;for24-hourclock,00:47,23:59. Phonenumbers Telephonenumbersareunhyphenated.Checkifathree-,four-,orfive-digitareacodeapplies,thenformat respectively:01234567890,01234567890,01234567890. Ifplacedafterthelastsentenceinthecopy,theyrequirenofullpoint,unlesstheyarepartofasentence:eg,for bookingdetails,call01234567890. Possessive apostrophe See Apostrophes Quotations Quotationmarksusesinglequotes(‘’)atthestartandendofaquotedsection,withdoublequotes(“”)forquoted wordswithinthatsection.Placefullpointsandcommasinsidequotesforacompletequotedsentence,otherwise thepointcomesoutside.Annasaid:‘Yourstyleguideneedsupdating,’andIsaid:‘Iagree.’But:Annasaidupdating theguidewas‘adifficultandtime-consumingtask’. [ForShowRegistrationteamonly-Quotationmarksforemphasis Quotationmarksaroundaparticularwordorphrasemaybepermittedinordertoconveyironyordeliberately undermine-foreffect-theliteralmeaningofthatwordorphrase,inasituationwherebynootherphrasingor formattingcanadequatelyconveythis. Forexample,‘UncleJohnlovedaglassof“gingerbeer”everyevening.’Or,‘We’llrevealthe“truths”behindthis contentiouscampaign’] FringeStyleGuide2016 8 (Sic) Ifthereisanerror/unusualspelling,archaisms,grammar,punctuationintheoriginaltext,youcanindicatethisusing (sic)nexttotheword.Thistellsyourreaderthatthis‘error’isdeliberateandpartoftheoriginalquotedtext,rather thanatypo. Star ratings Starratingsshouldnotbeenclosedinquotationmarkswhenlistedontheirown.Alwayscitethesourceofthe rating.Separateanextendedseriesofstarratingsfromvarioussourceswithsemicolons.Astarshouldberendered inedfringewareas[s]*[/s]forProgrammecopy.Usejust*forwebcopy,notagsarerequired. ‘Itwasafive-star,award-winningshow’. ‘TheyreceivedfivestarsfromtheScotsman’. Programmestyleforquote,starratingandattribution: ‘Amazing’*****(Scotsman). That or which? ‘that’defines,‘which’givesextrainformation(ofteninaclauseenclosedbycommas):ThisisthehousethatJack built,butthishouse,whichJohnbuilt,isfallingdown;TheGuardian,whichIreadeveryday,isthepaperthatI admireaboveallothers.Notethatinsuchexamplesthesentenceremainsgrammaticalwithout‘that’,butnot without‘which’. Theatre RetainNorthAmericanandAustralianspelling(ie,theater)forcompaniesthatelecttoapplyit. TraverseTheatre RoyalLyceumTheatre FestivalTheatre King’sTheatre BedlamTheatre Titles Booktitles,songtitles,filmsandplaysarenotitalicised.Thenamesofwebsites/webpagesarenotitalicised. Donotusequotemarks. Newspapersandmagazinesareitalicised–theScotsman,theTimes,theEconomistetc. Onlinesourcesdonotuseitalics. Tricky words acknowledgementnotacknowledgment. anymoreisalwaystwowords. anytimeoranytime?Useitasonewordlikethis:Josaidthemeetingcanbescheduledanytime.Butifyou’reusing itasanadjectivetomodifyanounitshouldbetwowords:Beewon’thaveanytimeuntilThursday. dependentordependant?Adependantissomeonewho’sdependentonsomeoneelse. effectoraffect?Mostofthetimeyouuseaffectasaverbandeffectasanoun:‘Whenyouaffectsomething,you haveaneffectonit.’ biannualcanmeantwiceayearoronceeverytwoyears. Biennialmeansonceeverytwoyears.Besttospelloutwhichoneyoumean. compliment–anexpressionofpraiseoradmiration complement–athingthatcontributesextrafeaturestosomethingelseinsuchawayastoimproveit emailisonewordwithnohyphen. EventBrite FringeStyleGuide2016 9 EventScotland everydayistwowordsexceptwhenit’sanadjective Facebook focusingnotfocussing,focusednotfocussed internet–noinitialcap iOS–lowercase‘i’,capsOS judgementnotjudgment(exceptinlegalterms:ajudgemakesajudgment.Buthecanshowbadjudgementwhen makingthatjudgment). learntorlearned?LearntistraditionallyBritishsoifyou’rewritingforanon-UKaudience,you’llbesaferusing learned.Otherwiseyouraudiencemightthinkyoucan’tspell. licenceisthenoun licenseistheverb,EdinburghLicensingBoard,aPremisesLicence,TheatreLicenceetc. ‘Iamgoingtoapplyforalicence’. Thecouncilwilllicenseyourvenue. live-stream/live-streamed live-tweet online(oneword,nohyphen). onseason/offseason–asanoun,twowords optin/optout–asanoun,twowords pageview–oneword PowerPoint(oneword,capitalPinthemiddle). practiceisthenoun practiseistheverb principle–afundamentaltruthorproposition‘theguidingprincipleoftheFringeSociety...’ principal–firstinorderofimportance real-time SoundCloud stationarymeansstandingstill. stationeryispensandpencilsandallthat(‘eforenvelope’isaneasywaytorememberit). straightawaynotstraightaway. ThreeWeeks Tumblr Twitter VisitScotland webpageistwowords websiteisoneword wifi–oneword Wordpress YouTube Web and email addresses Websites:shouldbewritteninlowercasewiththewww/httpsetc,omitted(asappropriate).Ifplacedaloneafter thelastsentenceinthecopy,theyrequirenofullpoint,unlesstheyarepartofasentence:Ifaweboremailaddress comesattheendofasentence,itshouldhaveafullstopafterit.Evenifit’sattheendofaparagraph. Fordetails,visitedfringe.com. Websitesascitationsincopyshouldtakeinitialcapstomakethemreadable: BroadwayBaby.com FringeStyleGuide2016 10 One4Review.co.uk Words definitely not hyphenated... Cooperate Coordinate Email Website Online Rewrite subtotal FringeStyleGuide2016 11
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