Word usage and spelling

General guidelines

Use suffix -ise/-yse/-isation not -ize/-yze/-ization. Note that this is different from OUP’s choice, because OUP prefers to reflect the Greek roots of some such words. We prefer ‘-ise’ as it is more common in British usage and requires fewer exceptions.

DO    The presenter hypnotised his subject live on TV.
DO    They didn’t receive authorisation to take the trip.
DON’T    She wished she had organized her books alphabetically.
Retain -e where required for pronunciation: ageing/acknowledgement.

Contractions

Use of ‘hasn’t’ rather than ‘has not’ etc is fine in the majority of cases, especially informally.

Foreign spellings

Just use ‘e’ spellings, not ae or æ, where in common British usage.
DO    encyclopedia
Medieval technical words retain a ligature, but not all fonts will be able to manage ligatures. 
DO    archæology
DO    hæmatology
DO    orthopædics
Use accents and different letters in foreign words (ø, ç, capitalisation for German nouns etc) only when:
•    a word is still considered foreign and has not (yet) been absorbed into English
•    they are required to differentiate from another word (in English or the source language)
•    they are required as part of the name of a person, place, book etc.
Don’t use accents on capital letters.

Plurals

Degrees

When writing about multiple degrees, note that there is a singular and plural form for bachelors’ and masters’ degrees denoted by the placement of the apostrophe.
DO    After finishing their bachelor’s degree, one in three students goes on to study for one of our masters’ degrees.
DO    There are additional charges payable for studying subsequent bachelors’ degrees.
Use appropriate foreign (particularly ancient Greek and Latin) plural forms where still in common usage (also see alumna/ae/i/us below). 
•    nucleus → nuclei
•    stratum → strata
•    genus → genera
•    analysis → analyses
•    basis → bases
•    crisis → crises
•    phenomenon → phenomena
•    bacterium → bacteria
•    millennium → millennia
Note that more than one plural form is sometimes in use for different meanings of a word.    
•    formula → formulas but formulae in maths/chemistry
•    index → indices for maths but indexes for books
•    appendix → appendices for books but appendixes in anatomy
•    medium → media but mediums for spiritualists
•    datum → data in technical cases but points of data in everyday use

Proper names

Proper names ending in -y do not change to -ies if pluralised. 
DO    One of the most popular stories in the comic Bunty was ‘The Four Marys’. 
With compound words formed by a noun and an adjective, or two nouns connected by a preposition, pluralise the (more important) noun. 
•    Attorney General → Attorneys General 
•    brother-in-law → brothers-in-law 
•    passer-by → passers-by

Words usually spelt differently in American English

These are given for information only – do not use the US spelling unless you are quoting an American speaker or from American text (in which case the original should be kept).

British/American examples

The following words are spelt differently in British English depending on whether they are nouns or verbs, whereas American English uses only the equivalent of the British verb form or the spelling for both senses.

Tricky words

•    accommodation 
•    alumna – female former member (of college etc) 
•    alumnae – plural form for female-only former members (of college etc) 
•    alumni – plural form for either male-only or mixed-gender former members (of college etc) 
•    alumnus – male former member (of college etc) 
•    benefited 
•    biased 
•    comprise (not comprise of) 
•    co-operation (hyphenated) 
•    dependant (noun)/dependent (adjective) 
•    email (lower case and no hyphen) 
•    enquire/enquiry (preferred to inquire/inquiry) 
•    focused 
•    fundraising 
•    instalment 
•    internet (lower case) 
•    judgement (moral, academic etc) 
•    judgment (legal decision only) 
•    liaise/liaison 
•    manoeuvre 
•    no-one (hyphenated) 
•    paralleled 
•    postdoctoral (no hyphen) 
•    postgraduate (no hyphen, whether as noun or adjective) 
•    postholder (no hyphen and lower case) 
•    principal (noun or adjective: chief, main, head) 
•    principle (noun only: ethical standpoint) 
•    program (computer applications only) 
•    programme (schedule of events)
•    recommendation
•    resign (hand in one’s notice) 
•    re-sign (sign a document again) 
•    re-write
•    renumeration (use pay where possible)
•    riveting 
•    stationary (not moving) 
•    stationery (paper, pens etc) 
•    supersede 
•    till (not ‘til: not an abbreviation of until) 
•    website/webpage (no hyphen and lower case)

Personal pronouns

I is always the subject of the verb and me is always the object. 
DO    I cooked lunch. 
DO    He cooked lunch for me.
This doesn’t change if there is more than one subject or object in a sentence.
DO    Pete and I cooked lunch.
DO    He cooked lunch for Pete and me.
If you are unsure whether to use I or me in this kind of sentence, try it without the other person’s name and it will be clear which to use.
DO    He gave top marks to Serena, Keith and me. → 
DO    He gave top marks to me.    
DON’T    He gave top marks to Serena, Keith and I. → He gave top marks to I.

Myself, yourself etc

All pronouns ending in -self or -selves are reflexive pronouns and are used only to refer back to the subject of the sentence. They can never be subjects of a sentence themselves.
DO    I treated myself to a new set of speakers.
DO    Mordecai takes himself very seriously.
DO    Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?
DO    Theresa and I googled ourselves and didn’t like what we found.
DON’T    Cassandra and myself crossed the road.
Never use any of these pronouns as a more polite or formal way of addressing people, or if the subject of the sentence is different from the reflexive object (eg I must always be paired with myself).
DON’T    If you have any questions, please contact Professor Plantaganet or myself.

Gender-neutral singular pronouns

When making a general statement, or if the gender of the subject is unknown or irrelevant, gender-neutral language is preferred. Unless the text is referring to a specific person, we recommend using using 'they' instead of ‘he/she’ or ‘s(he)’. 
DO    If the applicant is shortlisted, they will be invited for interview. 
Or rewrite the sentence to avoid using pronouns that make assumptions.
DO    Shortlisted applicants will be invited for interview.
If you are writing about a specific person, use their pronouns.
DO    A cyclist in Oxford must be aware of their surroundings at all times. They will often have to take evasive action because of other road users.
DO    A day in the life of an Oxford student often includes meeting their tutor.
DON’T    After applying to Oxford by 15 October, a prospective student will be told whether they have been offered a place in January.

Plural or singular?

Use singular verbs for describing faculties, teams, groups etc.
DO    The faculty has voted to keep the building open.
DO    The Oxford team has won the first British Cup.
To disambiguate when talking about the individuals who make up a group, use ‘the members of’ or ‘each member of’.
DO    The members of the faculty are mostly absent during vacations.
DO    Each member of the faculty has an email address.

Footnotes

Footnote markers

Footnotes are not helpful or appropriate in many circumstances; try to use them only in academic texts or formal reports. 
When placing a footnote marker in text, place it immediately after the full stop if the footnote refers to the whole previous sentence; if the footnote refers only to a word, phrase or clause, place the footnote marker immediately after the reference (and inside the full stop if the reference is to the end of, but not the whole, previous sentence). Use superscript for the footnote reference but do not surround it with brackets. 
DO    The full text was published in the Gazette of 1 December1 and in the minutes of the meeting2. 
DO    An application form may be collected from our office3.

Footnote text

Footnote text should be a smaller type size than the rest of the text; you may wish to precede footnotes with a hard rule to demark the end of the main text on that page. Only begin a footnote with a capital letter and end with a full stop if the footnote forms a complete sentence. 
¹www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1december2015/notices 
² The minutes are available upon application to the secretary of the committee. 
³ 17 High St, Oxford OX1 1BC

Addresses, phone numbers, websites etc 

Links

Try and insert links at the end of a sentence, as links tend to disrupt reading patterns. Use active verbs like ‘read’ or ‘submit’ and make them specific.
DON’T    click here for more information
DO    Find out how to apply for a visa loan
Do not use headings or subheadings as links.
Consider carefully whether the content behind the link should open in the same tab of the web browser or a new tab.
It is often best to let the user decide how they want to open a link. However, there are some general guidelines to consider:

Opening link in new tab or the same tab?

Use the same tab when
•    you are linking to a page within your own website
•    the user has nothing left to do on the original page (for example when you link from an overview page to more detailed content)
Open a new tab when
•    you are linking to something that’s not a webpage (a PDF or similar)
•    the user is in the middle of a process, and the link leads to background information the user should refer to (for example selection criteria or policies)

URLs

Omit http:// unless the URL does not begin with www and omit any trailing slash at the end of the URL, unless the URL does not work without it – check before you omit (but ensure that any links in online documents retain the http:// so that they point to the correct place).

For secure websites, include the https:// 
DO    https://gazette.web.ox.ac.uk
DO    www.admin.ox.ac.uk/councilsec/governance/committees
DON’T    https://gazette.web.ox.ac.uk/

Referring to webpages

Only capitalise the first word (and any proper nouns), but consider instead using the actual URL for disambiguation in print or hyperlinking the descriptive text. Never change the capitalisation within a URL as it may cease to work. 
DO    For the cost of placing an advert, see the Gazette website’s Classified Advertising page. 
DO    For the cost of placing an advert, see https://gazette.web.ox.ac.uk/classified-advertising-gazette.

email addresses

These are case sensitive in the part before the @: [email protected] is not the same as [email protected]. In practice, the majority of ISPs ignore this distinction, but consider carefully whether to use upper case if required to avoid ambiguity (eg between lower-case l and number 1).

phone numbers

Use spacing between parts of numbers (international code, area code, phone number) to make it easier to read.
Include full area code (eg 01865) for online/external publications.
DO    To contact us, ring 01865 778899.
Include international code for international publications (eg +44 1865).
DO    To contact us, ring +44 1865 778899.
Mobile numbers follow the same format as above.
DO    To contact us, ring 07777 778899.
DO    To contact us, ring +44 7777 778899.
For local/internal publications, give extension numbers and include in brackets the number to dial from outside the University phone network.
DO    To contact us, ring (2)78899.

street addresses

Give full address, including postcode, when writing to a primarily non-Oxford audience (postcodes allow people to find buildings more easily online).
DO    The event takes place at the Church of St John the Evangelist, 109A Iffley Road, Oxford, OX4 1EH.
If writing for a local audience (eg advertising a concert), the name of a well-known building is enough on its own.
DO    The event takes place at the Sheldonian Theatre at 8pm on 12 October.