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Special sections
What's
New Armed
Forces Arts
Churches
Courts
Politics
Sport
Titles
9/11 is permissible, but please try to use the full date elsewhere for
clarification, eg, "the events of September 11, 2001". Reference
to the 9/11 commission (strictly, the National Commission on
Terrorist Attacks upon the United States) also acceptable
Naafi the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes; commonly used
as the canteen for Service personnel run by the Naafi
Nafta North American Free Trade Agreement (not Area or
Association)
naive, naivety (no diaeresis)
names as a general rule, people are entitled to be known as
they wish to be known, provided their identities are clear. Thus Cassius
Clay became Muhammad Ali; but in such changes, give both names until the new
one is widely known. Note Lloyd's names (l/c). See appellations, Lloyd's
names starting stories cap both names, as GORDON BROWN said
last night ... (not GORDON Brown said ...). Where the name is too long to
contain in the first line, reconstruct the sentence to place the name away
from the start
narcotics take care to use this word correctly. See drugs
Nasa National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US);
rarely necessary to spell out nowadays
national avoid as a synonym of citizen, as in a
French national
National Air Traffic Services (caps and note plural), or the
air traffic control service (informal alternative, l/c). Abbreviate to Nats,
rather than NATS
National Anthem now initial caps for the UK anthem, God
Save the Queen
National Archives, the Public Record Office (PRO) and Historical
Manuscripts Commission (HMC) joined to form a new organisation at Kew (Apr
2003)
National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers
(full title), then NASUWT (no slash)
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States — an
acceptable short form is 9/11 commission. See 9/11 above
national curriculum (l/c)
National Health Service the NHS, or the healthservice (NHS
for headlines)
national insurance (l/c, like other taxes), in general
context, but caps for National Insurance Fund
National Lottery has changed the name of its main game (May 2002) to Lotto,
but continue to use the phrase National Lottery, or l/c national lottery as
a generic. Note also the National Lottery Charities Board is now known as
the Community Fund. See Lotto, rollover
national missile defence (NMD), the US missile defence
project (l/c when spelt out)
National Parks should be capped only with specific names (eg,
Snowdonia National Park; but "the policy applies particularly to
national parks")
National Rivers Authority (not River)
National Savings & Investments (NS&I), the savings organisation
(no longer simply National Savings)
National Security Adviser cap this top post in US political
context
National Service (caps)
National Statistics has since its formation in June 2000
incorporated the Office for National Statistics: be careful not to confuse
the two. The head of the new agency is the National Statistician; the agency
watchdog is the Statistics Commission. See Office for National Statistics
National Theatre (caps); generally omit Royal. See Lyttelton
nationalist l/c except when referring to name of a political
party. Thus Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scottish Nationalists. But in
Irish contexts, l/c.See Ireland
nationwide no hyphen, but use sparingly as it borders on
being a cliché; prefer national or nationally. See wide
Native American cap the "N" when referring to
American Indians
Nato (never NATO). The Secretary-General, in succession to Lord Robertson
of Port Ellen, is Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, former Dutch Foreign
Minister. At subsequent mention, Mr de Hoop Scheffer
Nature cap sparingly, only in the context of personifying the
power that creates and regulates the world. Also, Mother Nature
NatWest is an acceptable abbreviation for National
Westminster Bank in text or headlines
naught, come to (not nought, which means the digit 0)
nave is a central space in a church; journalists who misspell
the word are knaves
navy, naval the Royal Navy (thereafter the Navy,capped); the
Merchant Navy, the US Navy, the Brazilian Navy etc (thereafter the navy,
l/c, for all of these); naval is l/c except in titles such as Royal
Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) etc. See officers, ships, warships, Armed
Forces special section
navy ships classes are capped, but rom not ital (Leander Class, etc).
See Armed Forces section
Nazi, Nazism (caps). See communist
Neanderthal (cap, and not -tal)
nearby, near by the first is adjectival, eg,“the nearby
school was convenient”; the second is adverbial, eg, “he sat on a bench near
by”
near-demise hyphenate this and other constructions with near
nearly one in three ... is prefer singular to plural are
in these constructions. See one
Needles, The but see Solent
Neighbourhood Watch
neither takes a singular verb, eg, “neither is ...”, “neither
Bert nor Fred has any idea”. Do not use the construction neither ... or ...
(must use nor). See none
neoconservative, neocon no hyphen
Nepad the New Partnership for Africa's Development (not African)
Nepalese for both people and language of Nepal
nerve-racking (not -wracking). See racked, wrack
Nestlé
Netanyahu, Binyamin (not Benjamin), Israeli politician
Net Book Agreement (caps)
Netherlands, the (no longer cap The). Do not use Holland as
an alternative except in sporting or historical contexts. See Holland
Network SouthEast no longer exists
nevertheless (one word, as nonetheless)
new frequently redundant. Try the sentence without it and see
if it really adds any meaning; always omit in “setting a new
record”. Avoid employing phrases such as "white is the new black"
New Age travellers (no quotes). See Gypsy, travellers
newborn (as in babies, no hyphen)
Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle-under-Lyme
New Deal caps for Labour's welfare programme; quotes at first mention
if appropriate
newfound (no hyphen)
Newhaven, East Sussex, but New Haven,Connecticut
new Labour l/c “n”, quotes not usually necessary, except when
the writer or speaker is making a particular, perhaps ironic, point. But
keep caps in slogans such as “New Labour, New Danger”. See Politics special
section
newscaster prefer newsreader
News International Rupert Murdoch is chairman and chief executive of
News Corporation (second mention, News Corp), a name changed in November
2004 from The News Corporation Limited after incorporation in the United
States; it can be described as "parent company of The Times".
A subsidiary of News Corp is News International (its full title is News
International Ltd; was News International plc until June 2003), a British
company that owns Times Newspapers Holdings. The operating subsidiary of
Times Newspapers Holdings is Times Newspapers Ltd, publisher of The Times
and The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers Holdings is chaired by Mr
Murdoch and the board includes the independent national directors of The
Times and The Sunday Times. It is thus the controlling company.
News Group Newspapers, another operating subsidiary of News International, is
the publisher of The Sun and News of the World (and Sunday
Magazine).
TSL Education Ltd (formerly Times Supplements Ltd) is another operating
subsidiary of News International and is the publisher of The Times
Educational Supplement, The Times Higher Education Supplement, The Times
Literary Supplement, Nursery World, TES College Manager and TES
Primary magazine. Worldwide Learning Ltd, a subsidiary of TSL Education,
is a provider of global distance learning solutions.
News Ltd is the Australian arm of News Corp.
Twentieth Century Fox (or 20th Century Fox in logo form), Fox News, Fox Sports
etc are part of the Fox Entertainment Group, which is 82.1 per cent owned by
News Corp.
Mr Murdoch does not "own" any of these companies, though his family
is the largest single (though not majority) shareholder in News Corp. See
BSkyB, Murdoch, The Times
newspapers and journals; use italics for titles and make sure
to use The in the title whenever appropriate. The lists that follow, though
not exhaustive, should cover the most frequently mentioned:
a. With The in the masthead: The Times, The Sunday Times,
The Sun, The Guardian, The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, The Daily
Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer, The Mail on Sunday, The
People, The European, The Scotsman, The Herald (formerly The
Glasgow Herald), The Birmingham Post, The Journal (Newcastle),
The Northern Echo, The Argus (Brighton) (no longer Evening Argus),
The Irish Times, The Spectator, The Economist, The Lancet, The Sporting
Life, The Big Issue, The Belfast Telegraph, The New England Journal of
Medicine
b. Without The in the masthead: News of the World,
Financial Times, Daily Mirror (no longer The Mirror, spring
2002), Daily Mail, Daily Express (May 2000), Daily Star, Daily
Sport, Sunday Sport, Sunday Mirror, Sunday Express, Evening Standard,
Scotland on Sunday, Yorkshire Post, Daily Post (Liverpool), Manchester
Evening News, Western Daily Press (Bristol), Western Mail (Cardiff),
Western Morning News (Plymouth), Evening Mail (Birmingham),
Evening Post (Bristol), Express & Star (Wolverhampton),
Telegraph & Argus (Bradford), Oxford Mail, Sunday Herald (Glasgow),
Sunday Independent (Dublin), New Statesman & Society (although
just New Statesman is usually acceptable), British Medical
Journal (the BMJ), Jewish Chronicle, Which?, Which Car? etc,
Racing Post, Hello!, OK!, Heat, Wallpaper (no asterisk)
c. Abroad: The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago
Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, The New York Times, Daily News
(New York), New York Post, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, USA
Today, The Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, The Globe and
Mail (Toronto), Bild am Sonntag, Stern, Der Spiegel, Die Welt,
Svenska Dagbladet, Izvestia, The Times of India, El País, Le Monde, Le
Figaro, L'Espresso (Italy), Corriere della Sera, Far Eastern
Economic Review (Hong Kong), South China Morning Post (Hong
Kong), The Straits Times (Singapore), New Straits Times
(Malaysia), The Australian (Sydney), The Sydney Morning Herald,
The Age (Melbourne), Herald Sun (Melbourne), The Jerusalem
Post, Al-Ahram (Cairo)
When the journal's name is used adjectivally, omit The, eg, the Times reporter
was attacked ...
Always properly attribute material from another newspaper: never say “a report
in another newspaper ...” but “a report in The Guardian ...”
etc. However, the general phrases media reports or press reports are
acceptable when material has been widely disseminated
Newton Abbot single t for the Devon market town
New Year Honours or New Year's Honours List
(caps); also the Queen's Birthday Honours. See honours
New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, but the new year,
new year's resolutions and Chinese new year
New York City, New York State (caps), to distinguish them;
usually New York will be sufficient for the city, and upstate New York is
permissible. Normally, l/c state in contexts such as the state of Virginia,
but see Washington
New Zealand never NZ, even in headlines
NHS Blood and Transplant, a special health authority replacing (Oct
2005) UK Transplant and the National Blood Authority. See blood
NHS Plan the Government's 2000 health policy. Italicise only
with reference to the document itself, The NHS Plan
NICE retains its u/c acronym, but is now the the National
Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
Nicolson, Sir Harold; but Jack Nicholson, the actor
Nietzsche
nightclub
nightmare use only in its proper sense of an unpleasant
dream, not as a lazy cliché for something that goes wrong
night-time (hyphen), but daytime (one word)
Nikkei average
Nimby(ism) acronym for "not in my backyard",
initial cap
Nissan cars, but Nissen hut
No 10, or 10 Downing Street not Number 10 or
Downing St. See Downing Street, Politics special section
"no" campaign (note quotes and l/c), the anti-euro
lobby group that also believes the UK should remain in the EU
no-fly zone
no man's land
no-no
no one (two words, no hyphen)
“no” vote, “yes” vote
“no win, no fee” legislation/agreementetc. See
Courts special section
Nobel Prize for Literature, Medicine etc; or Nobel
Peace/Literature Prize, but Nobel prize (unspecific), Nobel prizewinner,
Nobel laureate (l/c “l”), Nobel prize-winning author etc
nonagenarian (not nono-)
noncommittal (no hyphen)
nonconformist, but the Nonconformist Church and Nonconformist
churches (buildings). See Churches special section
non-cooperation. See co-operate
none almost always takes the singular verb, eg, “none is
available at present”. However, very occasionally a plural is permissible,
eg, “None of them are better singers than the Welsh” or “none of them have
done their best” (where the inelegant alternative would be “none of them has
done his or her best”). See neither
nonetheless (one word)
non-existent
non-profitmaking
non-stop (hyphenate)
noon (not 12 noon); and never say 12am or 12pm.See midnight
normalcy avoid; say normality instead
Norris, Steve prefers this designation to Steven Norris
north, northeast, northern etc; for when to cap,see compass
points
northerner, southerner (l/c)
Northern Ireland. See Ireland
Northern Ireland Assembly members are abbreviated MLAs; AMs for the Welsh
Assembly; MSPs for Scottish Parliament. Cap A for Assembly at
second mention in Wales and Northern Ireland; cap P for Parliament in
Scotland
northern lights (aurora borealis) l/c. Similarly aurora australis, the
southern lights
Northumberland, the county; Northumbria is ahealth, police or
tourist authority
North West Frontier Province, in Pakistan (NWFP acceptable
after first mention); note initial caps, no hyphens
North York Moors (not North Yorkshire Moors). See Yorkshire
notable (no middle “e”)
Note cap in the diplomatic sense
not only ... to be followed by but (and
usually) also; often better to say simply both ...
and
nuclear terms should be used with precision. Takespecial care
not to confuse fission and fusion
numbers write from one to ten in full, 11upwards as numerals
except when they are approximations, eg,“about thirty people turned up”.
Keep consistencywithin a sentence: say “the number injured rose from eightto
fourteen”, and do not mix fractions and decimals. At thestart of a sentence,
write all numbers in full. ordinals: write out up to
twentieth, then 21st, 33rd, 95th etc. But birthdays and anniversaries, write
out up to tenth, then 11th, 45th etc. Note 42nd Street, 38th parallel etc.
See birthday, millions, currencies, fractions
numberplate (on vehicles etc; one word). See motoring terms
Nuremberg (NOT -burg)
Nursing, Royal College of (not Nurses)
NVQ national vocational qualification (l/c when spelt out)
