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

christenedChristians are christened; ships, trains and people not known to be Christians are named

Christian, Christianity unchristian, non-Christian, antichristian, Antichrist

Christian Democratcap when referring to specific European parties for both noun and adjective, as in Christian Democrat MP

Christian namestake care in context of non-Christians; in such cases use forename or first name

Christian termsmostly lower case when possible but cap eg the Bible, the (Ten) Commandments, the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, Mass, Holy Communion (and simply Communion ), Eucharist, Blessed Sacrament, Advent, Nativity (also cap adjectival Advent calendar, Nativity play ), the Scriptures ; also when naming the persons of the Trinity, God ( the Father ), Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit ; but then follow the Vatican and Lambeth Palace in using lower case for he / his except where clarity demands a cap (“Isaiah looks forward to God rescuing His people”, ie God’s, not Isaiah’s). Cap the names of books of the Bible: the Book of Revelation, Acts of the Apostles, the Gospel of (or According to) Matthew ; but generally lower case for the apostles, the disciples, gospel, the gospels . Use lower case for evensong, matins . There are columnists and feature writers who like to use eg God, Christ and Jesus as harmless exclamations or mild expletives; they should know that this offends many Times readers

Christmas Day, Christmas Eveseem to need caps

churchcap in names — the Church of England, St James’s Church, Piccadilly etc — but otherwise only if absolutely necessary to distinguish an institution from a building (“the Church is often said to be in terminal decline, but the church I attended on Sunday was absolutely packed”). Context will usually suffice to make clear which is meant, so lower case should be possible more often than not

Church in Walesnot Church of Wales for the disestablished Anglican church once headed by Dr Rowan Williams

churchwardenone word

cinemagoeras concertgoer, operagoer, theatregoer etc

ciphernot cypher

circaabbreviate simply as c (roman) followed by a space

City of Londonthe City, City prices

civil list(lower case unless clarity demands caps) has been replaced by the sovereign grant (also lower case unless clarity demands caps)

civil partnershipcommonly referred to as gay marriage before gay marriage became legal. A suggested shorthand for headings is civil union

civil service, also civil servants lower case as a noun unless clarity demands a cap. Otherwise lower case in adjectival use, eg a civil service memorandum. Lower case for the administrative grade, ie permanent secretary, deputy secretary and assistant secretary , when used as part of the full title; thus, Sir Alfred Beach, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Defence

civil wargenerally lower case but by convention cap the English Civil War and the American Civil War

claimdo not use when simply said or declared would do. The word carries a suspicion of incredulity. Also, avoid the loose construction in sentences such as “The firm launched a drink which is claimed to promote learning ability”. This should read “… a drink which, it is claimed, promotes learning ability”. Do not allow terrorists to “claim responsibility” for their crimes

claims and factsremember to distinguish between a claim and a fact, particularly in headlines/standfirsts. Witnesses to rioting telling amid confusion of up to 600 people dead did not justify an unequivocal standfirst death toll of 600; if claims are made, say who is making them

clamour, clamouringbut clamorous

clampdownnot banned, but use as little as possible

Clapham Junctionis not Clapham. It is not even in Clapham. They are separate places and their names are not interchangeable. Clapham is in the London Borough of Lambeth; Clapham Junction is in the Battersea part of Wandsworth. A reader helpfully noted, at the time of the London riots in August 2011: “The Victorians are responsible for the confusion that has persisted for generations. When they opened their large interchange station in 1863 they designated it Clapham Junction because that district was then much more genteel than working-class Battersea”

clarinettist

Class A, B or C drugs(cap C)

clichés and hypeWe are lucky to have intelligent and sophisticated readers. They buy The Times to avoid the hype and the stale words and phrases peddled by some other papers. Words such as shock, bombshell, crisis, scandal, sensational, controversial, desperate, dramatic, fury, panic, chaos etc are too often ways of telling the readers what to think. Let them decide for themselves.

Any list of proscribed formulas is soon out of date, as old clichés give way to new. There may be nothing inherently wrong with the words or phrases themselves. They gain currency in the first place because they seem vivid, amusing, fresh. Soon, however, they become fashionable, are overused, grow tired and stale, then finally cease to mean anything much at all. A good writer or editor will know when a word or phrase has outlived its usefulness

climate change levylower case, no hyphen

clingfilmlower case, one word

cliquey

clock towertwo words

closed-circuit television

Clostridium difficileis a bacterium, not a virus. Write C . difficile at second mention (and as a bonus do not pronounce it “DIF-ficil”: it is not French but Latin. Try “dif-FI-chil-ay”)

clothingsay menswear, women’s wear, children’s wear, sportswear

cloud-cuckoo-landtwo hyphens

cloudsno need to italicise the names. Four main types: nimbus produce rain; stratus resemble layers; cumulus resemble heaps; and cirrus resemble strands or filaments of hair. Prefixes denote altitude, ie strato (low-level), alto (mid-level) and cirro (high-level)

clubbable

co-the prefix does not normally require a hyphen even before an e or another o unless confusion or utter hideousness might result. Thus co-operate (but uncooperative ), co-opt, co-ordinate (but uncoordinated ), coeducation, coexist

CO2use subscript

coalface, coalfield, coalmine(each one word) similarly coalminer (but prefer miner)

coalitionlower case noun or adjective, eg the coalition government

coastguardlower case and one word, in the British context; but note the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (caps for full name), although the coastguard service (generic) retains the lower case. The US coast guard

coastslower case south coast, east coast, west coast and north coast in all contexts

coats of armssee heraldry

Coca-Cola(hyphen); note also the trademark Coke. Similarly Pepsi-Cola. If in doubt about the identity of a beverage, write the lower case generic cola