A-Z House Style Guide
- under #
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No: ‘under 3,000 elephants’ (unless you really mean it) or ‘under two years ago’.
Yes: Fewer than 3,000 elephants; less than two years ago.
- units; measurements and weights #
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Use metric for weights of things, linear distances of less than approximately 800m (half a mile), athletic events and distances, area and volume of most liquids (except pints of milk, blood and beer). So: grams, kilograms, tonnes (1 metric tonne = 1,000kg), centimetres, millimetres, square metres, hectares, litres, millilitres. Measure rainfall in millimetres.
Show temperatures as 30ºC (86ºF). To convert from one to the other, go to http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm Use Centigrade, not ‘Celsius’, but generally use ºC.
With whole numbers, one to ten in words, 11+ in numerals, followed by centimetres or cm depending on context. Use a space if using the full word (centimetre), but no space if using ‘cm’. So one centimetre or 11 centimetres or 14cm. With non-whole numbers, use numerals: 1.4cm or 7.2 centimetres. The same goes for other measurements and weights.
Use imperial for linear distances greater than approximately 800m (half a mile), speed, pints (of milk, blood, beer), weights of people and babies, heights of children and adults. One to ten miles, but 2.5 miles, 11 miles (try to keep as whole numbers). So: One mile an hour; 70mph; Jake weighed 8lb 2oz (Note lb never ‘lbs’); his father weighed 15 stone; Emma was 5’6″ (straight quotes). Use imperial for colloquialisms. I noticed a six-inch/two-foot gap in the wall; the garden must have been six foot square; there were acres of space. Compare: The house was 5.5m wide (precise). As adjectives: a 20-stone man, a six-inch gap, a ten-tonne truck BUT a 30cm ruler.
- until, till, ’til #
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Use until. Use ‘till’ only for soil or a shop till. ‘Til may be ok in poetic language or spoken word and so on.
- up-to-date/up to date #
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Use up-to-date when it precedes a noun and up to date when it follows a noun. Which is the most up-to-date version? The manual is completely up to date.