Ian Brunskill - The Times Style Guide - A guide to English usage

Ceylonthe former name for Sri Lanka. The people are Sri Lankan, the majority group are the Sinhalese

cha-cha-chanot cha-cha

chainsawone word

chairdo not refer to anyone as a “the chair of” anything, unless in a direct quote. Neither must you use “chairperson”. A man must be referred to as a chairman and a woman as a chairwoman . Even if a person’s official title is “chair of …” use chairman or chairwoman (lower case). This is not sexist, it is simply a preference for calling things (and people) by their names, and a reluctance to allow ugly and unnecessary jargon to replace perfectly good words. A professor may, however, be said to hold the chair of theoretical physics, or whatever; a person can chair (used as a verb) a committee; and questions can be put through the chair (which is the office held). Similarly, write spokesman or spokeswoman . If the gender of the person is not clear, write spokesman

chaise longuetwo words, no hyphen; plural chaises longues (s on both words)

chamber(lower case) of the House of Commons

champagnelower case, because we use it as an English common noun rather than a French proper name. Use only, however, for the product of the Champagne region of France, to which its proper application is restricted by law; otherwise write, eg Russian sparkling wine. The champagne producers protect their name rigorously. See wines

Champions League(European football), no apostrophe

chancellor of the exchequerlower case

changeable

Changing the Guardnot … of the Guard

Channel, theupper case. Generally, no need to write “the English Channel” for the body of water between England and France

Channel tunnellower case tunnel, unless there is some possibility of confusion; also, Channel tunnel rail link

Chanukkahprefer this to variants such as Hanukkah etc, for the Jewish festival of lights

chaosoverused, and often hyperbole; confusion, disorder, upheaval, turmoil, disarray : say what is meant

charge thatan Americanism, never to be used as a synonym of allege that

charismahas become a boring cliché; try to find an alternative such as presence, inspiration etc

charters(as in John Major’s now forgotten initiative) lower case

châteauplural châteaux

Chatham House rule, thestrictly speaking just the one, so don’t write Chatham House rules. It says that information disclosed at a meeting may be used or reported by those present on condition that neither the source nor anyone else attending is identified

chat roomtwo words, but chatline one

chat show, game show, quiz show, talk showetc no hyphens when used as noun or when adjectival, eg chat show host; note also chatline, sexline

cheapgoods are cheap, prices are low

check-in(noun) but check in (verb)

checklist, checkout counternote also checkup (noun); check up (verb)

cheerleaderone word

cheeseswe tried making these all lower case. It worked, but it always seemed a triumph of consistency over common sense. Readers are used in most contexts to seeing capital letters at the start of proper nouns and adjectives, especially place names. So that is what we should do. Wensleydale, Lancashire, Red Leicester, Cheshire and their foreign equivalents simply seem more natural than the lower case alternative. This will give us a few more capital letters in the paper than we might like, but for it to become a problem, we would have to write about cheeses a lot more often than we do. Exceptions are made for cheddar and brie, which are almost universally treated as common nouns (Canadian cheddar, Irish cheddar, Somerset brie). See foodstuffs

chequebookone word, either as noun or adjective (eg chequebook journalism)

chiprefer to qi for the vital energy in oriental medicine, martial arts etc believed to circulate around the body in currents

chickenpoxno hyphen; similarly smallpox

chief constablelower case, the chief constable of Lancashire or the chief constable. Do not write, eg the chief constable of West Midlands police, but simply the chief constable of the West Midlands

chief inspector of prisons/schoolsalso chief medical officer

chief of the defence staffis the professional head of the British armed forces and the principal military adviser to the defence secretary and the government; the chief of the general staff is the professional head of the British army

chief petty officeris an NCO (non-commissioned officer) in the Royal Navy, not an officer

Chief Rabbicap at first mention when naming the individual, then the chief rabbi or refer to as Rabbi X or Lord Y (like the Archbishop of Canterbury). See capitalisation( titles of ecclesiastical dignitaries )

chief whiplower case

child access, child custodydo not use these terms regarding divorce unless in direct quotes and from lay people. Under the Children Act 1989 children are given residence with one parent and the other in disputed cases has contact . Put more simply, children live with one parent and the other is allowed to see them

childcareas healthcare

childminderone word

child pornography/child pornnever use these terms, except in direct quotes. Use instead internet child sex abuse, sex abuse images , or similar

children’s namesgenerally for under-18s, write eg John Jones at first mention and then simply John at second mention

child-sex abusers/offendersuse hyphen

chilli(plural chillies ) prefer to chili

chill outtwo words as verb; one word as noun or adjective

chimeraprefer to chimaera

chimpanzeesare apes, not monkeys

Chinesecap C in idioms such as Chinese whispers, Chinese walls

Chinese namesuse the Pinyin rather than the traditional Wade-Giles, so write Beijing, Mao Zedong (though Chairman Mao or just Mao are acceptable), Zhou Enlai etc. Normal style is to place family name first, then given name, so that the actress Zhang Zivi, for instance, becomes Zhang at second mention. For place names, follow The Times Atlas of the World except where older usage is well established, eg the special administrative regions Hong Kong (not Xianggang) and Macau (not Aomen); and the autonomous regions Tibet (not Xizang) and Inner Mongolia (not Neimengu)

chip and PINno hyphen as a noun or adjectivally

chocoholicbut shopaholic and workaholic

chopper, copternot to be used as substitutes for helicopter, even in headlines

Christdiscourage use as a casual exclamation or expletive; it offends many readers

Christ Church(the Oxford college), two words, thus, and never Christ Church College

Christchurchin Dorset and New Zealand