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Armed Forces Arts Churches Courts Politics Sport Titles

O2 arena, the subscript (Alt Control 2 in Hermes publication system), l/c arena

oast house (two words)

Oath of Allegiance as sworn by new MPs; the oath at subsequent mentions. See Politics special section

Obama Administration www.whitehouse.gov/administration/

the secretaries of the US Cabinet are, in order of seniority, at the following departments:

State Hillary Clinton www.state.gov

Treasury Timothy Geithner www.treasury.gov

Defence Robert Gates www.defenselink.mil

Justice Eric Holder, the Attorney-General www.usdoj.gov

Interior Ken Salazar www.doi.gov

Agriculture Thomas (Tom) Vilsack www.usda.gov

Commerce secretary-designate Gary Locke www.commerce.gov

Labor (note spelling) Hilda Solis www.dol.gov

Health and Human Services vacancy www.hhs.gov

Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan www.hud.gov

Transportation Ray LaHood www.dot.gov

Energy Steven Chu www.energy.gov

Education Arne Duncan www.ed.gov

Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki www.va.gov

Homeland Security Janet Napolitano www.dhs.gov

President Obama and his wife Michelle have two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 (their ages on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009)

Note that Jill Biden, the wife of Joe Biden, the Vice-President, is Dr Biden at second mention

Other key appointments are: Ron Kirk, the Trade Representative; Susan Rice (Dr at second mention), the Ambassador to the UN; Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff; Lawrence Summers, the director of the National Economic Council; and James Jones, the National Security Adviser

See Administration

oblivious of (not "to"); means forgetful of, unaware of. It does not mean ignorant or uncomprehending

O'Brien, Conor Cruise; likewise Edna

obscenities “four-letter words” and profanities should be avoided because they upset many readers. However, in direct quotes and where they are essential to the story, style obscenities thus with asterisks; f***, f***ing, c***, p***y etc. See four-letter words

occupied territories, the (all l/c). See Israel , Palestinian National Authority

occurred (not occured)

o'clock see times

ocker a boorish person

Occam's razor (prefer to Ockham's) aka the principle of economy

octogenarian

octopuses (plural of octopus, not octopi)

Oder-Neisse line (the boundary between Poland and Germany)

Odone, Cristina (not Christina), journalist

O'Donnell, Sir Gus the Cabinet Secretary; Sir Gus at subsequent mention

OECD the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

oedipal (l/c) as pyrrhic, oriental

Oeic (open-ended investment company), cap as with Tessas and Isas

of avoid expressions such as "all of the people attending", "half of the children replied"; say simply "all the people", "half the children" etc

of all time do not use this meaningless phrase, as in “best golfer of all time”, in any circumstances

offbeat no hyphen

Office for Fair Access regulator concerned with university entrance places, may be rendered as Offa at subsequent mentions

Office for National Statistics formerly the Central Statistical Office, now forms part of the agency called National Statistics: be careful not to confuse the two. See National Statistics

Office for Standards in Education, but Ofsted usually sufficient on its own. See regulators

officers (naval and military) do not call ratings or NCOs officers. See Armed Forces special section

Ofqual the independent examinations regulator for England

oil-drilling, oil-fired, oil-slick, oil-tanker, but oildrum, oilfield, oilrig, oil platform. See Brent Spar

oil-seed rape (use hyphen)

OK do not write okay

Olazábal, José María note the accents. See golf special section , Spanish

old see elderly

Old Boy caps for the former pupil of a school; likewise Old Girl

Old Chigwellian, Old Dunstablian, Old Etonian, Old Harrovian, Old Pauline, Old Shirburnian, Old Wykehamist etc

Old City, Old Town cap when a well-established area, eg, in Jerusalem. Also cap as in Old Havana

Old Masters (caps to avoid confusion)

Olivier, Laurence (not Lawrence), Lord Olivier

Olympics can be used as a short form of the Olympic Games. Similarly, the Games (always capped) can be used (same rule for Games in Commonwealth Games etc). Always cap Olympics and Olympic even when used adjectivally, eg, an Olympic athlete. Note International Olympic Committee (no final “s” on Olympic).

In reference to the London Olympics of 2012, no need to capitalise venues that do not yet exist, eg, the Olympic (note no -s) aquatic centre.

Tessa Jowell is the Olympics (note -s) Minister (caps)

ombudsman, ombudswoman keep l/c in general context, eg, “he referred the matter to the ombudsman”; but cap for specifics, as in the Local Government Ombudsman, the Legal Services Ombudsman, and even the unofficial title of Parliamentary Ombudsman (the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration). Do not confuse the Parliamentary Ombudsman with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, an entirely separate post. Note that the Financial Ombudsman Service replaced the Banking, Building Societies, Insurance, Investment, Pensions, and PIA Ombudsmen

omega-3, omega-6 etc, l/c and hyphen, for fatty acids

on behalf of is a frequently misused phrase. It means in the interest of (a person etc) or as representative of (eg, “acting on behalf of his client” is correct). It must not be used as a verbose way of saying by; eg, “the book betrays a lack of understanding on behalf of the author” is wrong

on board prefer to aboard. See Armed Forces special section

ondes Martenot the electronic keyboard instrument

ONdigital an ITV digital pay-TV service that ceased in 2002

one use the singular verb in structures such as “one in three says that ...”. Also use the singular in "Nearly one in three is ... "

In first-person pieces, try to avoid the use of one as a synonym of I

one member, one vote no hyphens unless used adjectivally, as in a one-member, one-vote system. See Politics special section

One Nation Tories, One Nation politicians etc (cap O and N)

one-time do not use as synonym of former as in “one-time chairman” etc

One 2 One the former mobile phone company (note the spaces)

ongoing avoid this ugly adjective; say continuing if anything is necessary

online one word in computer context

only take great care to place only before the word or phrase it qualifies; “she only touched the key, but did not press it; she touched only the key, not the switch; she touched the only key”. Similarly, “he only played cricket” is wrong; “he played only cricket” or, if emphasising he, "Only he [ie, not any of the others] played cricket"

on to unlike into, two words generally better than one, as in “she moved on to better things”, though “he collapsed onto the floor” is acceptable

Opec the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. See acronym

opencast mining

open-heart surgery; open-door policy (if this overworked phrase has to be used); open-plan living room, office

open skies (l/c, no longer quotes at first mention only, for adjective and noun), international airline bilateral access agreements; hyphenate adjectivally, eg, open-skies policy

openly gay do not use this phrase. The Times does not "out" gays so it is redundant. Mention that someone is gay if it is relevant

operations see medical terms

ophthalmologist, ophthalmic etc (not opthalmic)

Öpik, Lembit accent

Opposition the same cap or l/c rules apply as to Government - cap as a noun but generally l/c as adjective; eg, “He accused the Opposition of lying”, but “He said it was an opposition lie”. See Politics special section

Opus Dei the conservative organisation is a personal prelature of the Pope, and so should not be referred to as a sect. See Churches special section

or need not be preceded by either, though it is strengthened thereby if two options are mentioned. Usually avoid a comma before it

oral must not be confused with verbal; it means pertaining to the mouth, often in the spoken context (eg, the oral tradition, by word of mouth); verbal means pertaining to words (contrasted with, eg, physical or choral). Take care. See verbal

orang-utan hyphen

Orders in Council are approved, not signed, by the Queen

organic food never say that organic farmers use no chemicals; they frequently use a limited range

ordinals see under numbers

Ordnance Survey, and ordnance in military contexts; but ordinance as in regulations. For place names, see the Ordnance Survey gazetteer

Orient, the; wherever possible, say the East. The adjective is oriental, l/c. The East London football club is Leyton Orient, but was known as Orient from 1966 to 1987, and Clapton Orient from 1898 to 1939

orientate, orientation prefer this to orient, oriented etc. See disorientate

Orkney or the Orkney Islands, not the Orkneys. See Shetland

Oscar Award(s), or the Oscars caps. Note that as the word Oscar and the Oscar statuette are both trademarks belonging to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences we should not use the word in such phrases as "the annual beauty Oscars" to describe unrelated competitions of excellence. See arts awards, Golden Globes, Rolls-Royce

OSCE the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe replaced the former CSCE (Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe). In January 2009, it had 56 participating states, including some in Central Asia and North America as well as Europe.

Ouija (board) takes the cap as it is proprietary. See seance

Outback, the (in Australia)

outdoor (adjective); but the outdoors

outpatients, inpatients (no hyphen)

OutRage! the homosexual “outing” group

outside never say outside of

-out suffixes in nouns, generally join up rather than hyphenate, as in fallout, knockout, printout, callout, dropout, bailout etc (but to fall out etc)

Outward Bound must be used only when referring specifically to the work or courses of the Outward Bound Trust Ltd, and never in general use in phrases such as outward bound-style activities. Use alternatives such as outdoor pursuits, adventure training, outdoor adventure courses etc. Outward Bound's lawyers pounce on every perceived infringement of its service mark. See trade names

over do not use as a synonym of more than when followed by a number, eg, "she waited over four hours for the train" should be "... more than four hours ..."; "there were over 60 victims" should be "... more than 60 ...". See more than

over as prefix wherever the word does not look too ugly, dispense with the hyphen, even when this leads to a double “r” in the middle; thus, overcapacity, overestimate, overreact, override, overrule, overuse, overvalue; an obvious exception where the hyphen is essential is over-age; similarly, for words beginning with under: see under-age

overall one word as adjective, but use sparingly

overestimate often confused with underestimate: note that the importance of writing "Its importance cannot be overestimated" cannot be overestimated

overly do not use as an alternative for over or too

Overseas Development Administration (not Agency) no longer exists; it was subsumed into the Department for International Development.

See departments of state and government offices

owing to see due to

Oxbridge be sparing in using the term as a “catch-all” for Oxford and Cambridge universities

Oxford, University of colleges and halls are:

All Souls College; Balliol College; Blackfriars; Brasenose College; Campion Hall; Christ Church; Corpus Christi College; Exeter College; Green Templeton College (after merger of Green College and Templeton College in 2008); Greyfriars; Harris Manchester College; Hertford College; Jesus College; Keble College; Kellogg College; Lady Margaret Hall; Linacre College; Lincoln College; Magdalen College; Mansfield College; Merton College; New College; Nuffield College; Oriel College; Pembroke College; The Queen's College; Regent's Park College; St Anne's College; St Antony's College; St Benet's Hall; St Catherine's College; St Cross College; St Edmund Hall; St Hilda's College; St Hugh's College; St John's College; St Peter's College; St Stephen’s House; Somerville College; Trinity College; University College; Wadham College; Wolfson College; Worcester College; Wycliffe Hall.

See Russell Group

Last edited: August 12, 2009