75
20
Return to Contents
Postnominals
Remember that you do not need to list all awards, degrees, memberships etc
held by an individual – only those items relevant to your writing.
The order for postnominals is:
• civil honours
• military honours
• QC
• degrees, in the order
– bachelors’
– masters’
– doctorates
– postdoctoral
• diplomas
• certificates
• membership of academic or professional bodies.
Do not include a BA for Oxford/Cambridge graduates if they also have the MA.
academic qualifications
In order of academic precedence; masters’ degrees with * are equal to an MA
for this purpose
• DD (Doctor of Divinity)
• DCL (Doctor of Civil Law)
• DM (Doctor of Medicine)
• DLitt (Doctor of Letters)
• DSc (Doctor of Science)
• DMus (Doctor of Music)
• DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy)
• DClinPsych (Doctor of Clinical Psychology)
• DEng (Doctor of Engineering)
• MCh (Master of Surgery)
• MSc (Master of Science)
• MLitt (Master of Letters)
• MPhil (Master of Philosophy)
• MSt (Master of Studies)
• MTh (Master of Theology)
• MBA (Master of Business Administration)
• MFA (Master of Fine Art)
• MPP (Master of Public Policy)
• MA (Master of Arts)
• MBioChem (Master of Biochemistry)*
• MChem (Master of Chemistry)*
• MCompSci (Master of Computer Science)*
• MCompPhil (Master of Computer Science and Philosophy)*
• MEarthSci (Master of Earth Sciences)*
• MEng (Master of Engineering)*
• MMath (Master of Mathematics or Mathematics and Statistics)*
• MMathCompSci (Master of Mathematics and Computer Science)*
• MMathPhil (Master of Mathematics and Philosophy)*
• MPhys (Master of Physics)*
• MPhysPhil (Master of Physics and Philosophy)*
• BD (Bachelor of Divinity)
• BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law)
• MJur (Magister Juris)
• BM BCh (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery)
• BLitt (Bachelor of Letters)
• BSc (Bachelor of Science)
• BMus (Bachelor of Music)
• BPhil (Bachelor of Philosophy)
• BA (Bachelor of Arts)
• BFA (Bachelor of Fine Art)
• BTh (Bachelor of Theology)
Consider giving the name of the awarding university (using a shortened form
if required and if easily recognisable (Oxf, Camb, UCL, MIT etc) if academic
qualifications are relevant.
A space is used to separate degrees from the same institution, and a comma
is used to separate sets of degrees from different institutions; if the same
level degree has been awarded by more than one institution, list them in
alphabetical order of institution.
Professor Xavier Postlethwaite, QC, BEng PhD UCL, MA PhD Camb, MA
DPhil Oxf, PhD Manc, FRS
Sir Charles Overlord, VC, BA S’ton
See www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/calendar for further detail if required.
75
21
Return to Contents
Highlighting/emphasising text
Bold
Use bold sparingly to emphasise the part of your text you wish to stand
out. This could be someone’s name, a deadline date or another key piece of
information.
Punctuation which follows bold text should not itself be bold (unless the whole
sentence is in bold type).
If you are transcribing a speech, you might want to use bold text (or italic text)
to emphasise words in writing on which the speaker placed particular emphasis
in speech.
The Man Booker Prize for 2012 was awarded to Hilary Mantel;
this was the second time that she has won.
Applications can either be made online or emailed to sample@email.com.
The deadline for submissions is noon on 2 April and any applications
received later than this will not be considered.
Italic
Use italics to flag part of your text which is different from that surrounding it.
Titles of books, journals, plays, films, musical works etc should be given in
italics if they are a complete published work; if you are referring to an individual
short story, song, article etc within a larger publication, use single quotation
marks (see also Quotation marks under Punctuation).
I, Robot
contains nine short stories, of which ‘Little Lost Robot’ is my
favourite.
The number-one single in the hit parade this week is ‘Candy’ by Robbie
Williams, from the album
Take The Crown
.
If the title includes ‘The’ or ‘A’ as the start of the title, italicise that as well.
A Tale of Two Cities
has perhaps the most famous opening sentence
in English literature.
Use italics for foreign words and phrases embedded within your text, including
species and genera names in Latin.
There are nine
ex officio
members of Council.
When producing its annual report, the committee shall consider,
inter alia
, any relevant HEFCE evalutions.
A seven-sisters rose bush (
Rosa multiflora
) can be either white or pink.
Dante tells us that above the entrance to the Inferno is inscribed
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’entrate
.
Plurals, past tenses or other grammatical changes to italicised titles or phrases
should only be italicised up to the end of the title or phrase – do not italicise
the s, ed etc – and punctuation should only be italicised if it is part of the title,
quote etc. Note that it is not always easy to tell whether a full stop/comma is
in italic.
The remaining
Gazette
s of Michaelmas term are published on 22 and
29 November and 6 December.
Changes to regulations need to be
Gazette
d at least eight weeks
before they are due to take effect.
Underlining
Avoid using underlining for emphasis; this generally suggests hyperlinks,
especially on webpages.
61
22
Return to Contents
Word usage and spelling
Common confusions in word usage
Confused words
How they differ
Example
among vs between
• Among is used for undifferentiated items.
• Between is used with individual, named items.
• She couldn’t decide among all the colleges.
• She couldn’t decide between Magdalen or St Hilda’s.
mutual vs reciprocal
• Mutual is used when more than one person has the same feeling/opinion
as another towards a third party/object/concept etc.
• Reciprocal is used when two or more people feel, think or act in the
same way about or to one another.
• ‘I disagree with the government’s policy on carrots.’
‘So do I. The feeling’s mutual.’
• ‘I won’t steal your cheese.’
‘I won’t steal your cheese either. We have a reciprocal arrangement.’
less vs fewer
• Less is used with nouns which are not countable objects: if you could use
much to describe having a lot of the noun, use less.
• Fewer is used with countable objects: if you could use many to describe
having a lot of the noun, use fewer.
• ‘I can’t eat that much cheese: please give me less.’
• ‘I can’t eat that many sprouts: please give me fewer.’
effect vs affect (verb)
• Effect as a verb means to bring about, or to have the result that.
• Affect as a verb means to have an impact on or to change something;
it also means to simulate something which is untrue.
• A glass of brandy may effect his recovery [bring his recovery about].
• A glass of brandy may affect his recovery [have an impact on whether
he recovers].
• He affected to have drunk only one glass of brandy [when he had
actually drunk more than one glass].
effect vs affect (noun)
• Effect as a noun means the impact something causes.
• Affect as a noun means somone’s outward appearance of their
psychological state.
• The storm had wide-reaching effects.
• His affect was one of cheerful indifference.
infer vs imply
• Infer is to read a meaning into a statement
which has not been explicitly stated: to read between the lines.
• Imply is to suggest something without
explicity stating it: to hint at something
(usually something negative).
• He told me that these one-size-fits-all gloves fit most people’s hands.
I inferred that he thought my hands were too big, and resented what
he was implying.
compared to
vs compared with
• Comparing something to another thing highlights a (perhaps
metaphorical) similarity
• Comparing something with another thing highlights the differences
between them
• Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
• Price comparison websites allow you to compare one company’s prices
and policies with those of their competitors.
115
23
Return to Contents
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.
Derren Brown hypnotised his subject live on TV.
They didn’t receive authorisation to take the trip.
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.
encyclopedia
medieval
Technical words retain the ligature.
archæology
hæmatology
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
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 ending in -y do not change to -ies if pluralised.
One of the most popular stories in
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
gin and tonic gins and tonic
94
24
Return to Contents
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)
• riveting
• stationary (not moving)
• stationery (paper, pens etc)
• supersede
• till (not ‘til: not an abbreviation of until)
• website/webpage (no hyphen and lower case)
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
-our
-or
colour/color
-ise
-ize
organise/organize
-yse
-yze
analyse/analyze
-re
-er
centre/center
-lling
-ling
travelling/traveling
-lled
-led
travelled/traveled
-ller
-ler
traveller/traveler
The following words are spelt differently in British English depending on
whether they are nouns or verbs, whereas American English uses only the
British verb form or the spelling for both senses.
UK noun
UK verb
US noun
US verb
defence
defend
defense
defend
licence
license
license
license
offence
offend
offense
offend
practice
practise
practise
practise
pretence
pretend
pretense
pretend
64
25
Return to Contents
Miscellaneous
Personal pronouns
I is always the subject of the verb and me is always the object.
I cooked lunch.
He cooked lunch for me.
This doesn’t change if there is more than one subject or object in a sentence.
Pete and I cooked lunch.
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.
He gave top marks to Serena, Keith and me. He gave top marks
to me.
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.
I treated myself to a new set of speakers.
Mordecai takes himself very seriously.
Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?
Theresa and I googled ourselves and didn’t like what we found.
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).
If you have any questions, please contact Professor Plantaganet
or myself.
Plural or singular?
Use singular verbs for describing faculties, teams, groups etc.
The faculty has voted to keep the building open.
The Oxford Quidditch team has won the first British Quidditch Cup.
To disambiguate when talking about the individuals who make up a group,
use ‘the members of’ or ‘each member of’.
The members of the faculty are mostly absent during vacations.
Each member of the faculty has an email address.
Addresses, phone numbers, websites etc
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://
www.ox.ac.uk/gazette
https://www1.admin.ox.ac.uk/councilsec/governance/committees
www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/
51
26
Return to Contents
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.
For the cost of placing an advert, see the
Gazette
website’s
Classified
advertising
page.
For the cost of placing an advert, see www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/
classifiedadvertising.
For the cost of placing an advert, see www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/
Classifiedadvertising.
email addresses
These are case sensitive in the part before the @: Gazette@admin.ox.ac.uk
is not the same as gazette@admin.ox.ac.uk. 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 national publications.
To contact us, ring Bill on 01865 778899.
Include international code for international publications (eg +44 1865).
To contact us, ring Bill on +44 1865 778899.
Mobile numbers follow the same format as above.
To contact us, ring Bill on 07777 778899.
To contact us, ring Bill on +44 7777 778899.
For local/internal publications, give extension numbers and include in brackets
the number to dial from outside the University phone network.
To contact us, ring Bill on (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).
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.
The event takes place at the Sheldonian Theatre at 8pm on 12 October.
9
Acknowledgement and thanks
Our grateful thanks go to:
• Dr Serenhedd James, St Stephen’s House, for advice on ecclesiastical matters,
general proofreading and the splendid example at the end of p19.
• Linda Loder for giving such engaging presentations of such dry subject matter.
• Joanna Bason and Andrea Roger for writing such a helpful guide to addressing
titled individuals and allowing us to use it and refer others to it.
• Nadja Guggi for designing and typesetting the guide so patiently.
• All the members of the style guide review panel, past and present.
7
If you have any queries about using this guide,
please contact:
Public Affairs Directorate
University of Oxford
Wellington Square
Oxford OX1 2JD
gazette@admin.ox.ac.uk
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
