A-Z House Style Guide
- e- #
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Use a hyphen after ‘e’ when referring to things that are done on or that involve the internet, eg e-newsletter, e-communications, e-cards, e-commerce, e-shopping. The exceptions are email and eBay.
- earth/creation/planet/globe #
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Use earth, or creation when it works.
Avoid planet and globe as they can sound dated.
- east/East, eastern/Eastern etc #
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Names of areas are capitalised if they part of the title of a recognised geographical area or political division, eg East Africa, Eastern Europe, East Anglia but they are not capitalised if the are descriptions in general terms, eg east London, eastern France.
- east/East, the #
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Lower case for the eastern part of a country, upper case for the area covering southern and eastern parts of Asia: There will be snow in the east… martial arts from the East.
- eg/for example #
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Don’t follow eg with punctuation; never separate it with dots. Do introduce it with a comma and a space: Use italics for unfamiliar foreign words, eg barrios.
- either #
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Is followed by or. ‘Neither’ is followed by ‘nor’. Both refer to two options – and two options only. Yes: either x or y. No: either x, y or z. Yes: x, y or z.
- elder/older, eldest/oldest #
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Use elder/eldest: his elder sister; the elder of her two sons; their eldest child was a girl of 12; the two eldest attend the same school.
- ellipsis, aka dots or leader #
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Three dots, one space after, no space before, eg I don’t know what to do… I’ve tried everything. Avoid using at the beginning of a sentence. If used at the end of a sentence, no full stop is needed as the ellipsis is in place of it. An ellipsis can be followed by a questions mark or exclamation mark.
- em dashes #
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We do not use em dashes. This is an em dash—it is longer than an en dash (so more like the length of an ‘m’ rather than an ‘n’) and has no space either before or after.
- email contact #
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The standard email address for all Tearfund communications is: info@tearfund.org
- empowerment #
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Use the words empower and empowering carefully, particularly not to suggest that people from higher income countries are giving power to people from lower income countries. It should not be used in the context of transformation and enabling, particularly with regard to individuals’ lives and rights. This is to make sure that we are not suggesting that the person ‘empowering’ is somehow more powerful. For example, instead of saying ‘The project empowered and equipped ten families to stand up for their rights’, it would be better to say ‘Through the work of the project, ten families felt empowered and equipped to stand up for their rights’.
- en dashes (long dashes) #
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This is an en dash – it’s as long as an ‘n’ and therefore longer than a hyphen. Write them using insert symbol or CTRL + – (far top right of keyboard) or find them in ‘special symbols’.
En dashes are used to add information or explain something as an aside: Where you include a fact – whether it’s an aside or something crucial – make sure you separate it off at both ends with the same kind of punctuation. Use a maximum of two per sentence. There should be a space before and after the dash. Brackets or commas would do the same job, so vary which you use so that the text is not over-heavy with one type of punctuation.
En dashes are used to add emphasis to the end of sentences: Locals have begun rebuilding the city walls – against all odds. Again, there is a space before and after the dash.
En dashes are used to mean ‘to’: during the period 1837–1850; September–December; 7–9am; chapters 8–10; 3–4,000; the Settle–Carlisle railway. They are used without a space. So: 12 June–15 July; 10.15am–2.15pm. Do not use an en dash to replace ‘to’ if the word ‘from’ is used. So: I worked in Denmark from 2005 to 2007 not ‘I worked in Denmark from 2005–2007’. Do not use an en dash in place of ‘to’ except with figures: He received a sentence of 15–20 years in jail but He promised to have escaped within three to four weeks; 3–5 July.
En dashes are used to mean ‘and’: the Blair–Brown deal; the Hindu–Muslim issue.
However, they should not be used to mean ‘and’ if the word ‘between’ is used. So: the period between 1925 and 1960 not ‘the period between 1925–1960’.
Compare brackets, commas and hyphens.
- energy #
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Refer to clean energy, and off-grid energy.
Avoid ‘renewable energy’ as clean encompasses more.
- Environmental and Economic Sustainability (EES) #
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This is one of Tearfund’s three main priorities.
Always make sure that EES is explained, and that we don’t talk about it in a jargonistic way.
First letters should be capitalised when referring to this aspect of Tearfund’s work, but not when referring to an outcome. Eg:
Yes: Environmental and Economic Sustainability is a new priority area for Tearfund, but not a new area of work.
Yes: This is why environmental and economic sustainability is so crucial.
- etc #
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No full stop after it (unless, of course, it is at the end of a sentence). No need for a comma before it: List your key interests, skills etc.
- evangelical #
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Lower case ‘e’. Broadly speaking, it means people who believe the Bible is the word of God, ie not liberals. Be aware it means different things in different countries and has an association with narrow-mindedness for some in the UK.
- evangelism #
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Sharing the gospel.
Use with care as they are loaded words / phrases. Don’t use this word to describe Tearfund’s approach.
- exclamation marks #
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Use very sparingly. Readers tire of them easily and they can sound over-bubbly.
- expatriate #
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These terms have unhelpful associations with the colonial era and are suggestive of a male-dominated, white society. These should never be used to refer to Tearfund employees, instead use international staff.