Aboriginal
cap n. and adj. in Australian context

accents
use them in French and German words that take italic.

In foreign words that have become part of the English vocabulary - cafe, cliche, detente, denouement, debacle, protege etc - no accent is required.

Exceptions: résumé, lamé and exposé. Without accents these can be confused with existing English words.

Keep accents on proper names. Thus: 'Arsène Wenger was on holiday in Bogotá with Gérard Houllier.'

In general, other marks such as Turkish should be avoided for fear of introducing errors as much as difficulty in checking. Scandinavian spellings, however, ought to take the å, ä, ö, ø etc as they are treated as extra letters of the alphabet rather than indicators of inflection

acronyms
such as Nato, Unesco etc should have an initial capital only. The rule is: if you can say it, lower case it.

Unfamiliar acronyms should be spelt out on first mention. Where this would be long-winded - or would leave the reader none the wiser - give the acronym and a description, e.g. rather than Nasdaq (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation) say Nasdaq, the hi-tech stocks exchange

act
lower case, whether parliamentary or not. See capitals

addendum(s)
Latinate -um neuter endings that are a part of the language - cf stadium- take an (s) plural.

Exceptions: data, media, bacteria, which retain the Latin plural and also take a plural verb

addresses
no street number, except when referring to a place a reader might want to write to; no abbreviations for road, street and so on, initial caps for all parts of address, and no commas after street numbers or before postcodes, where used.
See also phone numbers

Adidas
use initial cap on this and any other firms that use the lower case for their initial letter. Keep caps that break up a one-word name (cf EastEnders) as in EasyJet.

In general, where companies have resorted to unusual typography for undoubtedly innovative and exciting reasons of branding and marketing, we will follow our style,not theirs

administration
and government down with them both, all the time

i.e. the Clinton administration, the French government, and also the British government

adviser
and thus, protester

Afrikaans
language, Afrikaner people (Afrikander cattle breed)

ageing

aircraft
designations usually take hyphens after initials, e.g. B-52, MiG-23.
And they are aircraft, or aeroplanes, but absolutely not airplanes

A-level

alternative
possibility of choice between two things, or actions. You cannot have two, or more, alternatives: they then mutate into choices or options

Ali, Muhammad

all right
alright is not all right

America's Cup

amid
not amidst, among not amongst and while not whilst

Andalucia

Anglicisation
In general, we should go with local spellings, particularly for places outside western Europe. Places with historical resonance, such as Munich, are best kept anglicised.

animals
pronoun 'it' unless gender established

anorexic
is not a superlative of thin. Anorexia is an illness. Like schizophrenia, it should not be used as a cheap and lazy metaphor.
Anyone who thinks of using a phrase such as 'positively anorexic' should think again.
Very hard

Ansaphone
trade name, use initial cap. Otherwise: answering machine.
Also use cash machine, not Cashpoint (TM of Lloyds Bank)

anticipated
acted in advance. Otherwise, expected

anti-semitic
no cap

apostrophes
ending in -s use use -s's (Dickens's house): for plurals, use -s'

Argentina, Argentinian

army
lc in all cases

art movements
upper case for Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Dadaism, Gothic, Impressionism, Pop Art, Surrealism, Modern etc.
Avoid 'modern art' - use contemporary instead. (Modern art is OK for headlines)

aspirin

asylum seeker
no hyphen

au pair

avant garde
no hyphen

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