Spelling
Among, not amongst
Antisocial is one word. When quoting the Act (ASBA), Order (ASBO), or referring to the Government’s ASB Unit, the word has a hyphen: Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, Anti-social Behaviour Order, Anti-social Behaviour Unit.
The Scottish Act has no hyphen: Antisocial Behaviour Act (Scotland).
Bed and breakfasts – use this the first time you refer to them, then switch to B&Bs.
Case law (two words), but caseload and caseworker.
Dependent or dependant
Dependent is the adjective, and dependant is the noun (ie referring to the person who is dependent).
e-card
-ed or -t? We use -t. Example: spelt, not spelled; learnt, not learned.
-er and -or Where there are two ending options for a word, always use the English ending of -er rather than the American one -or. Example: adviser, not advisor (though advisory).
Factsheet is one word.
Flowchart is one word.
Focused, not focussed.
Homeowner, one word, no hyphen.
Home ownership, two words, no hyphen.
Ibid. Short for ‘ibidem’, which means ‘in the same place’. Used when authors are repeatedly citing the same source.
ID is fine, ie photo ID.
internet takes an initial lower case, as does intranet.
Judgement has an e in, except when it is a court judgment.
Liaise
License is the verb; licence and licensee are the nouns. Examples: driver’s licence, a licensed driver.
Multilingual is one word.
Newsletter
No one is two words (unlike someone).
OK, not okay or ok.
Online
On to is two words, except where you are describing the act of moving physically onto something. Example: ‘They moved on to the next agenda item.’ ‘They walked onto the sand.’ ‘They walked on to the beach.’
Outreach
Practise is the verb; practice is the noun. Example: ‘a doctor’s practice’, ‘he was practising medicine.’
Program is for computers. Programme applies to everything else.
Right to Buy (when referring to scheme itself), but lower case ‘right to buy’ (when referring to a person’s right to buy).
‘Try to’, not ‘try and’.
Wallchart is one word.
Website is one word, as are email and online. Web page is two words. Email, internet, intranet, web and website are all lower case.
While, not whilst.
will, in the case of leaving a legacy, is lower case.
Speak the same language using our digital glossary
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