Style Guide for writers

Style Guide for writers

1. Use English/UK English, do not use American English. (Set your word processor to UK English). E.g. organise is spelt with an ‘s’, not as in ‘organize’.

2. Abbreviations

   • It is alright to abbreviate the names of institutions once they have been introduced in full. For example, the first reference to Sonia Gandhi might be “Sonia Gandhi, Member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh,” but subsequent references can simply say “MP”.
   • Do not abbreviate words simply because their abbreviated form might be well understood by the readers. For example, always write “government” and not “govt.”
   • Referring to the United States: USA or United States or the US when used in noun form. US or American in the adjective form.
   • Skip expanding known abbreviations
     BBMP
     BWSSB
     BDA
     UN
     UNESCO
     WHO

3. Apostrophe

   Make sure that you’re not confusing the possessive with the contraction. It’s is short for ‘it is’, and its indicates belonging, as in “I now understand its value”.

4. Brackets (or parantheses)

   Be sure to include a space before and after the beginning and end of the bracketed material. For example: All lawmakers (both MPs and MLAs) must obey the law.

   Avoid extensive usage of text in brackets, i.e. through the article. If you are anyway meaning to elaborate through use of brackets, use hyphens “–” instead. Too many parantheses in news articles tend to be reader-unfriendly.

5. Currency

   When referring to rupee currencies, use the dot as a separator between the symbol and the amount. Rs.1000 not Rs 1000.

6. Numbers
   • Numbers from one to nine must be written in words. Numbers from 10 onwards to be written in numerals.
   • While referring to money, numbers from one to nine may be written in numerals. For e.g., Rs.2 lakhs, Rs.2 crores.
   • When using percentage: Write as one/two/…nine per cent AND 10 per cent (for numbers between one and nine, use words, and for 10 onwards, use numerals. Always write out per cent).
7. Date

   Use the following format: 10th February 2007

8. Use of single and double quotes

   DC – only when you quote someone, judgments

   SC – ‘manicured’ parks. Also use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation.

9. No salutations like Mr/Mrs/Ms

   Last name for men, or given name

   First name for women

10. Capitalisation

    Government functionaries by designation – small letters
    chief minister
    prime minister
    governor
    municipal commissioner
    police commissioner

    Government/Institutions name
    Lokayukta
    Supreme Court
    Prime Minister’s Office
    High Court

    Government functionaries referred to individually in name and designation
    Commissioner of Police Shankar Bidari
    Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph

11. Italicisation

    Italicise all names of publications, books, movie names, plays

    Italicisation of Indian language words- Play it by the ear- italticise for names of herbs, plants, etc.

    No need to italicise words popular English-Indian words like Guru, Pandit, Tulsi

12. Legislators (MPs, MLAs, Councillors)- names of constituencies needed

13. AM and PM should be spelt in caps, with no period between them.

    WRONG: 6 am; 6 a.m; 6 A.M.
    RIGHT: 6 AM, 10 PM

14. Use of period (full stop) after a quote:

    The comma and period always go outside the closing quotation mark

15. Usage of short forms:

    Short forms like i.e, etc, viz, and e.g should be used only in brackets, and should be spelled out as ‘that is’, ‘and so on’, namely’ and ‘for example’ respectively in text.