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Styles TITLES Put occupational title before names of people: Manager of Bournemouth Motors Jim Smith said: "We have just laid off five staff." Use lower case for normal titles: When I spoke to general manager of Bournemouth Motors Jim Smith he said ...... general manager ....not : General Manager. Prime Ministers and ministers of state also keep the capital... Prime Minister Tony Blair..etc. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.... NUMBERS Numbers one to ten spelled out, but 11 onwards go in figures, unless they are the first word of a sentence. 1m, 1bn for millions and billions: In money, £1bn, $1m AGES Ages go between commas: Sarah Read, ten, said she saw her mum steal apples Her sister Amanda, 14, said she was feeling sick. ADDRESSES In the UK use the street number, and town: Jim Read, of 14 Buchanan Way, Bournemouth, wants to put a damper on plans to fill drains with concrete. Overseas use town and country Witness Jim Drury, of Lagos, Nigeria, said: "............... US use town and state TIMES Use 'am' and 'pm', no dots and close up to the figure: 9am, 7pm etc. Never put 7am this morning - you're saying the same thing twice. Noon is useful for midday. EG: The party will start at 10pm and go on till 4am. DATES Use month first, date second. No 'st' or 'rd' November 3, April 6, July 14, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, October 21, etc........ E.g. Nobody likes swimming in the sea on January 2 Which reminds me of a good headline for a New Year's Day swim in Scotland which ran: Many are cauld, but few are frozen SHORTENINGS At your first mention in copy use the full title: The Department for Media Culture and Sport has come to the aid of people without pianos. THEN use, 'the department' in later copy It may help to generalise in the intro and thus avoid boring full titles in an intro: The culture ministry has come to the aid ............. But in para 2, name it in full COURTESY TITLES: Sarah Smith first time around, then Miss or Ms or Mrs Smith on future occasions. No dots after Mr, Mrs, Miss In court copy, surnames only after giving full name once, first. TITLES OF ARTWORKS Titles go in italics. I read Bridget Jones's Diary last night, for the second time. Note the double s separated by an apostrophe. Others are St James's Park. For more on punctuation read English for Journalists by Wynford Hicks HEADLINES Use three to four words, with an active verb. Base it on the intro idea e.g. Masts spark furious outcry Use single quotes in headlines e.g. University 'going to rack and ruin' Never use full stops All words but first or titles go lower case GENERAL Intros: Aim for roughly 17-22 words Attribute clearly Use quotes high if possible Never write something you don't fully understand yourself. QUOTE STYLE Jim Smith said: (colon)(Space) "I hate the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party. (full stop) " (close quote AFTER full stop)