BEST GUIDE TO WRITING STYLE

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Saddam Hussein Sadlers Wells Sahara Sahel sailing boat St Albans St Andrews (Fife) St Catharines College (Cambridge) St Catherines College (Oxford) St Davids (Dyfed) St Helens (Merseyside), Mount St Helens in Washington state, but St Helens (Isle of Wight) St Katharines Docks (London) St Jamess Street (London) St Johns Wood (London) St Leonards St Swithins day St Thomas Hospital Salonika salutary Sam Browne sanatorium say not sanitarium is a transitive verb and hence does not require the word that after it (he said he would leave); be wary us using alleged, explained, pointed out, claimed, maintained, emphasised, refuted, rebutted, conceded, announced, admitted, asserted, affirmed and stressed as they all express an opinion about the statement Scarborough scarify schizophrenic scientific terms Scilly scotch Scottish names sculpt scurrilous sea change seasons second guess seldom sell off Sellotape semicolon seraphim serried serviceable but Earl of Scarbrough means carving permanent marks into the skin and is not therefore an intensive of scare use only if certain that is the correct medical diagnosis and never of somebody more colloquially in two minds need proper contexts or they become silly or cliches; eg nanoseconds which are not encountered in normal life Isles of Scilly, not Scilly Isles or Scillies as verb means to disable as opposed to kill; as adjective it is now restricted to whisky while the people are described as Scot, Scots or Scottish provide problems: MacDougal, McDougal. Macdougal or, rarely, MDougal and all with possibility of double l is the verb, sculpture is the noun is an extremely harsh and abusive attack on someone is a wordy cliche; change will suffice with lower case in two words as noun, hyphenated as verb; use only when there has clearly been a first guess (the minister second-guessed the conclusions of his scientifi advisers) rather than almost never just sell on its own will do is a trade name see punctuation is the plural, seraph the singular close packed, tightly pressed, and not just organised neatly into rows rather than Thessaloniki for remedial, salutory for welcoming means desert so it does not need the word desert added a belt of countries south of the Sahara, comprising Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauretania, Niger, Senegal and Sudan not sailboat at first mention, Saddam thereafter

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serviette set sewage sex worker shall

napkin is preferred confine to jellies and dinner-tables; avoid use in sense of about to: Prince Charles is set to intervene is waste matter going down into the sewers, where the sewerage system disposes of it could be anything from a VD clinic doctor to a psychiatrist; if a prostitute is meant, say so is traditionally used for the first person singular and plural (I shall have lunch at one oclock), unless imparting consent, determination or emphasis when will is used instead; will is just the other way round, being in general use for second and third person but yielding to shall for emphasis; the distinctions are known to few people and the use of shall is diminishing rapidly so it is becoming less important, but if you remember, it is nice to obey the rule

shambles sharia sheikh Shepherd Market (London) Shepherds Bush (London) short words shipment ships shock should of showcased shut sic

originally meant an abattoir, hence a place of slaughter and from that a scene of disorder or devastation or a mess, so it should be used with restraint is a system of Islamic religious law, so talking of sharia law is tautologous

give prose great vigour [see also entry under simplicity] is the electronics industries evasive word for sales; if it means sale-or-return stock in a customers warehouse we should tell the reader so, but if it really does mean sales then avoid unnecessary synonyms are inanimate objects and hence neuter so refer to one as it in medicine is an assault on the nervous system which can lead to prostration or death; it is therefore too strong a metaphor for surprised or even astonished is not only grammatically incorrect, but a sign of sloppy speech failing to differentiate between of and have, and then transcribed by ignorance into a meaningless phrase on paper avoid; an unnecessarily long word for shown rather than shut down comes from the Latin sicut meaning just as, and is sometimes inserted after a quotation in which there is a mistake so the reporter of the quote can not only be absolved of the mistake but can demonstrate his superiority at noticing a mistake of the sort he would never make. As that indicates, it is used by snobs and smart-Alecs and is therefore best avoided

signature silicon simplicity

is the specialised way one formally adds a name to documents, so signature designs, roles etc would be odd metaphors even if they were not so deeply cliched for computer chips, silicone for breast implants always use a short, simple word in preference to a long, complex or fashionable one, and never use more words than necessary. For instance instead of at this particular moment in time say now and in place of in the majority of instances write usually. In these random examples the first word is less good than the plain one in the second column additional approximately as a result of because as of now assistance attempt at this point in time at this present time construct co-worker colleague although because during increase, rise put out response, reaction complete after despite the fact that due to the fact that during the course of escalate expeditiously quickly extinguish feedback finalise following now help try now now build more about for the purpose of implement in excess of in order to in respect of interface in the course of in the event of logistics manufacture make meaningful optimum parameters pre-owned prior to purchase track record refer back relocate limits used before buy record refer move important best on account of because to for junction, meeting, during if transport to more than do, carry out

confrontation dispute, clash, war

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requirement seeing as how subsequent to after sufficient strike action

need because enough strike

terminate transportation transport utilise vendor weather conditions

end use seller weather

Words such as meaningful, special, key, dramatic, major, giant, large-scale, massive and crisis are frequently redundant. The same principle applies to whole sentences. The information we currently have at our disposal means Information we have, or perhaps our information see also entry for long words simplistic singular and plural Sinhalese situation skating ski, skied, skier, skiing slander slow down slump smelled smart smidgen Smyrna soluble Somali some Sothebys Spanish names spastic rather than Izmir means something that can be dissolved; a problem that can be solved is solvable not Somalian as in some 2,000 candidates is an affected usage, use about instead auction house are traps for the unwary, see the entry under names is a term in medical pathology meaning like a spasm or sudden muscular contraction, or having involuntary contractile movements; it therefore does not mean uncoordinated; in any case people have become sensitive to words indicating disease or incapacity so the word can cause unnecessary offence even when used accurately spate special specially specie species specious spelled spilled split infinitives means a torrent, a river in full flow, and it therefore does not mean a temporary surge or flurry means for a particular purpose; especial indicates more intense means for a specific reason and is not therefore a synonym for especially which means with particular force or applicability is a legal/economics term for cash in biological taxonomy the groupings from the widest to the narrowest run: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species; be careful in the uses of the word means plausible but misleading and fundamentally wrong; not to be confused with spurious not spelt, except for the grain species not spilt are not grammatical errors but are usually inelegant and when clumsy they can interfere with coherent thought. H W Fowler in Modern English Usage pointed out The English peaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; (5) those who know and distinguish. Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority and are happy folk to be envied by most of the other minority classes. Nevertheless split infinitives are not just inelegant but irritate many readers so their use can distract from the sense of the text and hence from smooth readability (as with prepositions at the ends of sentences). However if the sense is compromised or avoidance involves painful torture of language, it is preferable to commit a minor irritant; but it is not enough to avoid temptation - the struggle must not show, so reconstruct the sentence rather than merely shift a word spurious fake see entry for libel not up; generally slow would suffice a steep and rapid fall in economic activity; try not to dramatise financial set-backs by calling something a slump when calling it a recession would be more appropriate rather than smelt as past tense of smell since the 18thC in English it normally means elegant, so it is best to avoid the American meaning of intelligent except in specialised contexts where usage has made the meaning clear: smart card, smart bomb means simple-minded, naive or oversimplified, and is therefore not a synonym for simple see entry under verbs for making the verb agree with the subject a large ethnic group in Ceylon is often added as a superfluous appendage to other words: war situation, confrontation situation (a double mistake), crisis situation; omit it on its own for the ice version; but add the qualifier for roller skating; as Rollerblade is a trade mark it may be necessary to say in-line rollers

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stadiums stalactite stale expressions stalemate stanch start up stationary stationery stigma stocks store storm strait straitjacket stratum stressed out strike action subjunctive

rather than stadia hangs from the ceiling, stalagmites grow from the floor; the mnemonic is: tights come down, mites grow up have been overused for too long, have descended into clich, and are so tired they make for dreary, boring writing; expressions such bitter end, getting into full swing, acid test (but see more detail in the entry for clich) is the end of a chess game when no resolution or victory is possible; it therefore does not mean an impasse or stand-off is the verb meaning stopping a flow such as blood; staunch is an adjective meaning solid or fervent as in supporter start is quite enough for standing still for paper and other office material is singular, stigmata the plural rather than inventories; common stocks is also the American for ordinary shares - in Britain stocks are strictly speaking a form of bond so generally shares is the word to use for the equity issued by companies for warehouse, otherwise shop, but department store is acceptable in Meteorological Office terminology a storm is above a sever gale, is a wind of 10 or more on the Beaufort scale, which is 55mph or more is a narrow channel between two bodies of water; it is also the subject of cliches with dire or desperate as phrases for trouble not straightjacket; the word means tight or constrained as in straitened circumstances is singular, strata is plural stressed on its own is quite enough not add an unnecessary word strike will do but is an oxymoron early in the 20thC Somerset Maugham said the subjunctive mood is in its death throes, and the best thing to do is to put it out of its misery as soon as possible. His obituary pronouncement was premature and the subjunctive lingers on in educated writing as a useful way of demonstrating the hypothetical, improbable or conditional, eg if I were rich; I propose she be sacked. But when the thought is a fact or likely to be so the clause is indicative: if he was chairman last year he certainly will not be much longer; see also the entry for if

subpoena subsequent to suffixes say after instead -able, and -age may need a mute e in cases where the apparent pronunciation would alter: ageing, likeable, manageable, rateable, routeing (taking a direction), serviceable, sizeable -ise and -ised are preferred to -ize and -ized summer superlatives superfluities lower case require care and extensive research; the first typewriter, the biggest best-seller, and the like present hostages to fortune there is often a reader who can give a bigger, earlier, better, example make difficult reading; avoid: disappear from sight (disappear is quite enough), basically, clearly, of course, having said that, at this particular moment in time, but for the fact that, the question as to whether, there is no doubt that, the reason why is that, give advance notice (notice is quite enough) ; a crisis is by definition acute and an emergency grave; Sir Ernest Gowers warned that if we write the true facts are these readers may become suspicious when we mention just facts; this rule applies also to clich couplets such as bag and baggage (see entry under double-yoked) pleonasms also clutter text (eg future prospects) see separate entry superlatives supersede superstar supine surnames supermodel, etc, is just part of an inflation of labels in the world of entertainment; actress or model is quite adequate as designation even if they are extremely rich lying on ones back; prone is lying face down in Chinese, Korean and Hungarian surnames come first, so Deng Xiaoping becomes Mr Deng; Petfi Jnos becomes Mr Petfi; but take care a Chinese name has not been already reversed for Western consumption; Christian Chinese sometimes have a Christian name placed first so John Wok Pakshong is actually Mr Wok. surrealism suspended swap it is a mistake to say shares are suspended, as it is the trading in the shares that has been stopped not swop are always dangerous: the best, first, last, fastest invite challenge, so the safest option is a weak preceding wording such as, one of the

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swearwords

upset many readers and are generally unnecessary; they often suggest an adolescent attempt to shock or are a symptom of inarticulacy, neither of which are happy signs in written text; if they appear in quotations, transpose to reported speech and use an acceptable euphemism

swingeing swat syllabus symbiosis

means forcible or very large; note middle e for killing insects; swot for keen studying plural syllabuses is a term from biology for living together in a way that benefits both organisms

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