A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Special sections

Armed Forces Arts Churches Courts Politics Sport Titles

p's and q's see apostrophes

pace italicise preposition meaning "with due deference to"

pacey

Pacific Rim, South Pacific, North Pacific etc

paedophile an adult sexually attracted to children, but pederast, a man who has sexual relations with boys. Do not confuse

page 1, page 3, page 187 etc, but a Page 3 Girl

paintings titles in italic. See Arts special section

Paisley, the Rev Ian on subsequent mention Mr Paisley (not Dr; his doctorate is honorary). His son is Ian Paisley Jr

Paiute prefer to Piute for the North American peoples related to the Aztecs

Pakistan Islamabad is the capital; Karachi, the former capital, is the biggest city. Note Ghulam Muhammad Mohtaram, in charge of security in Karachi; Baitullah Mehsud, the pro-Taleban warlord. Note also Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM); Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD); Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

See missiles

Pakistani can be used both for the people of Pakistan and adjectivally, eg, Pakistani culture

palace cap in full names, such as Blenheim Palace, thereafter the palace - except that the Palace is to be used for Buckingham Palace in stories about royalty. See Royal Family

Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh

palaeo- (not paleo-), so palaeography etc

palaeontology concerns the study of fossils and must not be confused with archaeology, which concerns human cultural remains

Palestinian National Authority (not Palestine) - usually the Palestinian Authority will suffice; but the Palestine Liberation Organisation (the PLO).

Note the following: Ismail Haniya (not Haniyeh), the Hamas leader;

the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas;

Jabalya camp;

Khaled Mashal, Mr Mashal at second mention, the supreme leader of Hamas, head of the political bureau, in exile in Damascus;

al-Shati camp

Palme d'Or top prize at the Cannes Film Festival

Palmer-Tomkinson, Tara

palmtop computers etc

pan-African note pan-African movement; Pan-Africanist Congress in South Africa

pantyhose but normally write tights

paparazzi plural; singular is paparazzo

paperboy, papergirl

papyrus plural papyruses

paraffin prefer to the American kerosene

paraphernalia (not paraphanalia)

paratroops prefer to paratroopers; a general term for troops dropped by parachute; a parachutist is a specialist in the activity. Note, The Parachute Regiment

Pardo Palace is a royal palace on the outskirts of Madrid; the Madrid art gallery is the Prado

Parent's Charter

Paris some of the more familiar place names prone to error are the Champs Élysées, the Élysée Palace, the Quai d'Orsay, the Jardin du Luxembourg (not de), the Jardin des Tuileries (not de) and the Jeu de Paume (not Pomme)

Parker Bowles, Camilla no hyphen. With her marriage to the Prince of Wales, she became Duchess of Cornwall. When in Scotland, and when he is identified as the Duke of Rothesay, she is officially the Duchess of Rothesay and may be referred to as such

Parkinson's disease

Parliament cap always in British context, and in overseas contexts when the word forms part of the institution, eg, the European Parliament, Canadian Parliament and in many Commonwealth countries. However, l/c in such as the Spanish parliament (the Cortes), the Russian parliament (Duma), the Israeli parliament (Knesset), the Polish parliament (Sejm) etc; and l/c when it is only a mooted body, such as the English parliament.

Also, l/c parliamentary, even in parliamentary private secretary (abbreviated PPS) because there are many of them; but note Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), of which there is one, and similarly Parliamentary Ombudsman. See PLP, ombudsman, and Politics special section

Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (caps) the post created in the light of the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life. He or she must not be referred to as the Parliamentary Ombudsman, who is the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. See ombudsman

Parsee prefer to Parsi

partially, partly partially is of degree, eg, partially deaf; partly is of extension, eg, partly under water

participles beware the grammar trap of the disconnected (or unrelated) participle; eg, “Judging by the lingering camera shots, X's luck was not about to change” is wrong - the present participle judging has to have a following noun or pronoun in agreement (in other words, X's luck is not doing the judging). So the sentence has to be rephrased, as “Judging by the lingering camera shots, I saw that X's luck ...”, or “To judge from the lingering camera shots, X's luck ...”

As the blessed Fowler points out (perhaps too charitably), dangling participle constructions "seldom cause real ambiguity, but they jar and can distract the reader, and are to be avoided"; eg, "Being a vegan bisexual who's into Nicaraguan coffee picking and boiler suits, you could safely assume that I vote Labour"; "Driving near home recently, a thick pall of smoke turned out to be a bungalow well alight"; "After being whipped fiercely, the cook boiled the egg"; "Flitting gaily from flower to flower, the football player watched the bee"

parties (political) Labour Party, Conservative Party, or any other party, with cap; also overseas, such as Republican Party, Democratic Party (though usually Republicans and Democrats will suffice). See Tory, Politics special section

Partition cap for the division of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan. See sub-continent

part-time, part-timer (hyphens)

partygoer see -goer

Pashtuns biggest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Prefer this designation to Pathans, by which they are also known. The language is Pashto. See War on Terror

Passchendaele

passer-by, passers-by

past use rather than last in such phrases as “the past two weeks”. See last

pastime

past tense of verbs: almost always prefer the shorter form using final -t where appropriate; eg, spelt not spelled, dreamt not dreamed (though never earnt for earned)

pâté see accents

Paterson, Jennifer see Dickson Wright, Clarissa

Patient's Charter

Patriarch Aleksi II (not Aleksei, which strictly is his birth name, not church name), the former head of the Russian Orthodox Church. See Russian names

Pavlikovsky, Paul not Pawel Pawlikowski for the Polish film director

PAYE (caps for pay as you earn)

Paymaster General no hyphen

payout, payoff no hyphens

P. Diddy for legal reasons, never refer to the producer and rapper Sean Combs as Diddy

Peace Implementation Council in the former Yugoslavia. See Contact Group

peacekeeping, peacemaking etc (no hyphens)

peal of bells, peel of an orange etc

Pearl Harbor (not Harbour). See American spellings

peccadillo plural peccadillos

pedal as in bicycle; peddle as in selling drugs or advocating ideas. Thus a pedaller is someone who pedals a bike; a pedlar is the (often shady) small trader; and a drug-pusher is a peddler

pedalo (not pedallo), plural pedalos

peers a peer or a peeress has a seat in the House of Lords. A female life peer is a peeress usually referred to as Baroness Smith. After the first mention of the Marquess of Paddington, Earl of Euston, Viscount Pimlico or Lord Holborn, call them all Lord Paddington, Lord Euston etc. See Titles special section

Peirce, Gareth the human rights lawyer is female

pekinese l/c for the dog breed. See dogs

pejorative not perjorative

Peking only in phrases such as Peking duck or Peking Man. The city is now Beijing. Note pekinese dogs. See Chinese names, dogs, Man

Peloponnese

PEN, International; the world association of writers

peninsula never peninsular when used as a noun; peninsular is the adjective, as in the Peninsular War; note the Iberian Peninsula (cap) etc for geographical features

pension funds (not pensions funds, as plural). Note final-salary scheme (with hyphen)

pensioners take care with this word. Some readers take exception to "ambiguous" usage, so it should strictly be confined to people drawing their state pension (men at 65, women at 60). If in doubt, write older people, the elderly (but beware), or as a last resort senior citizen. See elderly

peony (not paeony)

people use rather than persons wherever appropriate; exceptions would be “the law is no respecter of persons” or the ubiquitous missing persons. Take care with the apostrophe: remember that people is a plural, so the normal use is apostrophe “s”, eg, “it is the people's wish”; peoples in the sense of races can take an “s” apostrophe, eg, “the African peoples' common heritage”

people-trafficking hyphenate noun and adjective

Pep, Peps not usually necessary to spell out as personal equity plan any more

Pepsi-Cola (hyphen, as Coca-Cola)

per try to avoid in phrases such as “six times per year”; “six times a year” is preferred

per cent always takes figures rather than the word, eg, 3 per cent, not three per cent. Usually use decimals rather than fractions (3.25 per cent rather than 3¼ per cent). Use % sign in headlines, never pc, and spell out per cent in text. See percentage points

percentage, proportion do not use as a synonym of part or many if that is all they mean in a sentence; eg, instead of “a large percentage of parents objected” say “many parents objected”

percentage points take care. If the mortgage rate rises from 8 per cent to 10 per cent, it does not rise by 2 per cent, but by two percentage points. Similarly if a political party's support drops from 50 per cent to 40 per cent in an opinion poll, it has lost ten percentage points or 20 per cent of its support. See per cent

percentages take care in their calculation, a frequent pitfall for journalists; and note that if there is a 50 per cent rise in the value of the orange against the apple, say from £1 to £1.50, that translates to a 33 per cent fall in the apple against the orange (and not a 50 per cent fall), from £1.50 to £1

perestroika roman

performance-related pay

Performing Right Society (not Rights); in 2009, it rebranded as PRS for Music

perfumier prefer to perfumer

Pergau Dam (in Malaysia). See dam

perihelion the point in a planet or comet's orbit when it is nearest the Sun. Cf aphelion, when it is farthest from the Sun

permanent secretary cap when specific, l/c when general reference. See Politics special section

Persia use Iran for the modern state, and never Persian Gulf except in historical context. See Gulf

Persson, Göran note accent; former Swedish Prime Minister and former leader of the Social Democratic Party

Personal Investment Authority (PIA), not Investments, was subsumed into the Financial Services Authority (FSA)

personnel prefer people or employees or workers wherever possible

Perspex is a trade name, so must cap

peshmerga ("those who face death"), roman, l/c, for the Kurdish fighters in Iraq

Peterhouse, the Cambridge college, never takes College after the name. Neither does Christ Church, Oxford; nor do any Oxford or Cambridge colleges ending with Hall, eg, Lady Margaret Hall. Nor do, eg, Queen Mary and Royal Holloway at the University of London. See Cambridge, University of; London, University of; Oxford, University of

petfood (no hyphen); similarly, catfood, dogfood

petrol bomb not Molotov cocktail

phalangist (in Lebanon). See falangist

Pharaoh (not -oah), pharaonic (adjective l/c)

phenomenon, plural phenomena: beware the use of phenomenal as a cliché meaning remarkable or big

philistine l/c noun, adj re boorishly uncultured etc; Philistine cap noun, adj re Philistia and its inhabitants, eg, Goliath

Philip beware this and its variant Phillip, eg, the Times journalists Philip Howard, Philip Webster and Philip Collins

Phillips (no apostrophe), the auction house; but Philips, the Dutch electronics company

phoney (not phony)

phosphorus (noun), but phosphorous, phosphoric (adjectives); phosphorescence;

also note white phosphorus; white phosphorus bomb for adjective and noun, and its adjectival use

photo-finish, but photo call (two words); likewise, photo opportunity

photofit (l/c), but Identikit (cap)

phytophthora l/c and roman generically for the tree fungal infection; but note Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae, subsequently P. ramorum and P. kernoviae, for the definitive species

Picketts Lock in North London (no apostrophe)

Picture of Dorian Gray, The (not Grey), Oscar Wilde's novel

pidgin English (not pigeon)

piecemeal, piecework

pigeonhole(d) (do not hyphenate)

pigheaded

Pigott-Smith, Tim (not Piggott), the actor, but Lester Piggott (the jockey)

Pilates cap for the exercise method

pilgrims are l/c, but the Pilgrim Fathers; note The Pilgrim's Progress

Pill, the (contraceptive), but morning-after pill (l/c)

Pimm's the drink

PIN (not Pin), personal identification number. Do not write PIN number, a tautology. Note chip-and-PIN is hyphenated as a noun or adjectivally

ping-pong l/c, hyphenate

pinstripe(-s) (-d)

pitbull (terrier)

pitot tube forward-facing hollow tube on the outside of an aircraft that senses the pressure of the air coming into it and thus informs the airspeed indicator. Pitot tube failure was implicated in the crash of Air France Flight 447 in June 2009 in the Atlantic en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris

pitstop (motor racing)

pizzazz

PKK the Kurdistan Workers' Party (not Kurdish). In Kurdish, it is known as Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan

place name constructions two ugly devices to avoid are, eg, a Gosport, Hampshire, housewife, and Manchester's Piccadilly station; say instead a housewife from Gosport, Hampshire, and Piccadilly station, Manchester

place names use the online Ordnance Survey gazetteer or refer to the hard-copy Bartholomew Gazetteer for place names in England, Wales and Scotland, and The Times Atlas of the World for the rest of the world. But there are exceptions; beware, eg, the revised Welsh county names, see unitary authorities. See also, eg, foreign places, Spanish regions

Plaid Cymru (the Welsh Nationalist Party)

plain-clothes hyphenate adjectivally

plane, on a higher (not plain)

planes always prefer aircraft or jets (where applicable). Avoid airplanes. See aircraft

plant names much confusion can be pruned away:

family names - roman with capital (Poaceae, grass family; Rosaceae, rose family);

genus (plural genera) - italic with capital (Miscanthus, Cattleya, Malus). Can abbreviate to italic capital with full stop where followed by species or cultivar name (M. sinensis for Miscanthus sinensis; C. 'Bow Bells' for Cattleya 'Bow Bells');

species name - italic and l/c even when formed from proper noun. Always combine with genus name (Miscanthus sinensis, Cattleya trianaei [for Mr Triana], Malus sylvestris);

cultivars - roman with capital for each main word. If following cv (meaning cultivar), no quotes; if after genus, species or hybrid name, single quotes (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Winter Beauty'; Hamamelis x intermedia cv Magic Fire; H. mollis 'Brevipetala'; Paeonia 'Souvenir de Maxime Cornu'). Getting them right is important to avoid confusion with popular names;

popular/common/vernacular names - no quotes, roman and no caps unless a proper noun is involved. Platanus x acerifolia is the London plane; Malus sylvestris the wild crab or European apple. Eryngium giganteum is known as Miss Willmott's ghost but also contains a cultivar 'Silver Ghost' - the first stands for the entire species, the second for one distinctive form of the species.

See aubrieta, wisteria

Play-Doh (proprietary)

play down preferred to downplay

play-off

plays titles in italics. See Arts special section

PlayStation

plc (all l/c), can usually be dropped from company names. See LLP, Ltd

plimsoll the footwear; Plimsoll (cap) line the load line on the hull of a ship

PLP, the Parliamentary Labour Party. See Politics special section

plurals make corporate bodies and institutions singular unless this looks odd. Thus “The National Trust is ...”, but sports teams are plural, eg, “Arsenal were worth their 8-0 lead”. Whether singular or plural, always maintain consistency within a story. But treat nouns such as couple, family and public as plurals

plus, minus do not use as variants of and or without. NB, pluses and minuses

Poe, Edgar Allan

poetess avoid (say poet). See feminine designations

Poet Laureate (caps) for a specific one, l/c for the generic; as for chancellors, prime ministers, presidents etc, the plural is poets laureate, l/c

poetry or blank verse quotes spacing should be as follows around the slash to separate the lines:

The play's the thing/ Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king

point-to-point

Polaroid is a trade name, so must cap

pole l/c for an end of the Earth, and, adjectivally, polar; but the North Pole, the South Pole; also the magnetic North Pole, the geographical North Pole

Polgar, Judit see chess names

Police Complaints Authority was replaced in April 2004 by the Independent Police Complaints Commission

police forces cap the word Police when it is part of the full name of the force. This applies to the following forces:

Metropolitan Police, City of London Police;

Avon & Somerset Police; British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police, Bedfordshire Police, Cleveland Police;

Dorset Police (Force), Essex Police, Greater Manchester Police, Humberside Police, Kent Police, Lincolnshire Police, Merseyside Police;

Northamptonshire Police, Northumbria Police, North Yorkshire Police, Nottinghamshire Police;

Port of Dover Police; Port of Liverpool Police;

South Yorkshire Police, Staffordshire Police, Surrey Police, Sussex Police, Thames Valley Police, Warwickshire Police, West Midlands Police, West Yorkshire Police, Wiltshire Police;

Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent Police, North Wales Police, South Wales Police;

Central Scotland Police, Grampian Police, Lothian & Borders Police, Strathclyde Police, Tayside Police;

Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary)

Other forces use Constabulary instead of Police:

Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Cheshire Constabulary, Cumbria Constabulary, Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, Derbyshire Constabulary;

Durham Constabulary, Gloucestershire Constabulary, Hampshire Constabulary, Hertfordshire Constabulary;

Lancashire Constabulary, Leicestershire Constabulary, Norfolk Constabulary, Suffolk Constabulary;

West Mercia Constabulary;

Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary, Fife Constabulary, Northern Constabulary

so either give that full title or say Cambridgeshire police (l/c), Hertfordshire police etc.

Note the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (formerly the UK Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary)

Do not cap when referring to a local division, eg, Luton police, or police in Luton. See branch

policemen do not use this word if we mean police officers, including women; likewise, firefighters rather than firemen

police ranks wherever possible outside lists, avoid the inelegant abbreviated forms such as Det Con, Det Chief Insp. Spell out, even if inconvenient sometimes. The use of WPC (Woman Police Constable) is allowed historically, eg, WPC Yvonne Fletcher (murdered outside the Libyan Embassy in London in 1984). But contemporarily, use PC, eg, PC Sharon Beshenivsky (shot dead in Bradford, 2005). More generally, use PC for all constables. PC is also acceptable in headlines. Compound titles do not take hyphens in the police force. Detective Sergeant X becomes Sergeant X after the first mention. Inspector and all ranks above, eg, chief inspector, superintendent, chief superintendent, assistant chief constable, deputy chief constable, chief constable are usually Mr/Mrs/Ms/Dr after first mention. See Beshenivsky, chief constable

Police Staff College, at Bramshill, Hampshire; or simply the police college (l/c), Bramshill

policyholder, policymaker, but policy document

Politburo (usually cap)

politics treat as singular when talking of the form or process of government; plural when meaning a particular set of principles, ideas etc.. eg, "Politics is a popular subject at many universities"; "What are your politics?" (Fowler). See Politics section

pollock prefer to pollack for the fish

polo-neck shirt (adjectival) but poloneck when used as noun

polonium-210 hyphenate as for any isotope

Pom, Pommy, plural Pommies cap the Antipodean slang for an English person

poncey

Pond cap as a sobriquet for the Atlantic

Pontin's apostrophe

the Pope not usually necessary to give his full name, eg, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II (unless several popes (l/c, generic) are mentioned in a story), but always cap when used specifically. Note papacy, pontiff (l/c). See Churches special section, Ratzinger

poppadum

populist should not be confused with, or used as a synonym of, popular; it means supporting the interest of ordinary people, or pandering to mass public taste

Porritt, Jonathon; despite his baronetcy, he prefers not to use Sir

Portakabin, Portaloo trade names: always use the capital. If in doubt, use generic phrases such as portable building, toilet, lavatory

Porton Down is the location of two quite distinct research establishments, one public health and the other military. The former has not undertaken any human experiments with Service personnel

Portuguese never Portugese

possessives do not use inelegant "geographic possessives" such as London's East End, Colorado's Breckenridge ski resort: write the East End of London, Breckenridge, the Colorado ski resort. Similarly, do not use the possessive in phrases such as BBC One's Panorama programme: write the BBC One Panorama programme, or simply Panorama on BBC One

possibly like many qualifiers, this word can (usually) be omitted

postage stamps note that there is nothing novel about the Royal Mail putting images of living people who are not royalty on its stamps (eg, Roger Taylor, appropriately the drummer of Queen, in 1999; Sir Edmund Hilary, the Everest mountaineer, in 2003; and the 2005 victorious Ashes cricketers). The philosophically inclined may also like to speculate about how, eg, Nativity scenes or representations of Santa Claus do or do not break the guidelines about the Royal Mail generally not depicting living non-royalty on its stamps.

Write 1st-class and 2nd-class for stamp denominations

postal addresses in news and features, prefer to say Bromley, southeast London (rather than Kent), and Kingston upon Thames, southwest London (rather than Surrey) etc. This leaves the old counties such as Middlesex to be used principally in their historical or sporting contexts.

Also avoid the clumsy possessive form such as Manchester's Moss Side, London's East End; say Moss Side, Manchester, the East End of London. There is no need to use postcodes except when giving an address for information. See addresses, London, Sidcup

postcode (no hyphen)

Postcomm the postal regulator. See Post Office, regulators

postgraduate, undergraduate (noun and adjective both one word)

Post-it Notes (proprietary, cap P and N)

Post-Modern (caps, hyphen) when used to describe a style of art; postmodern to describe an attitude to life. See artistic movements

post mortem wherever possible write post-mortem examination in reports, though post mortem is acceptable nowadays in headlines

Post Office the rebranding as Consignia was dropped in late 2002, but the new name Royal Mail Group was adopted, one of whose trading subsidiaries is Post Office Ltd (or the Post Office, colloquially), which runs the big urban post offices. Other subsidiaries are Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels delivery) and Royal Mail (post delivery). Note l/c post office for the branches, sub-post office, sub-postmaster, sub-postmistress. See Consignia

postwar, prewar (adjectives, commonly referring to the Second World War). Do not use adverbially (as in “there were a million unemployed prewar”)

potatoes (plural, as tomatoes)

pothole (as in caving or road surfaces), potholer

Potters Bar no apostrophe. Location of fatal train crash on May 10, 2002

pound do not use the £ symbol by itself, except in headlines

PoW (prisoner of war); plural PoWs

Powell, General Colin keep the General despite his civilian political status

power measured in watts, megawatts etc, eg, a 60W light bulb. Beware confusion with consumption of energy, measured in watt-hours etc. How much energy it consumes depends on how long it is on. See energy, megawatts

Powergen was formerly PowerGen

power sharing (noun), power-sharing (adj)

power stations take great care in expressing capacity and output correctly. See megawatts

PPE the university degree is philosophy, politics and economics (not politics, philosophy etc)

PPP see Private Finance Initiative

Prabakharan, Velupillai the leader of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka

practical, practicable do not confuse. Practical means adapted to actual conditions or (of a person) able to make things function well; practicable means capable

of being effected or accomplished

practice (noun); practise (verb). It is an inexcusable practice for sub-editors to confuse the two; writers should practise getting it right

Prado gallery, Madrid. See Pardo Palace

praesidium not presidium

Praetorian relating to the Praetorian Guard, or resembling it, especially with regard to corruption

praying mantis (not preying)

prearrange

Pre-Budget Report caps

precede hence preceded

précis use accent

pre-Columbian before Columbus

predilection (not predeliction)

pre-empt

prefixes such as super, mega, multi, eco, over, under, micro, mini rarely need a hyphen: supersize; megarich; multifaceted (but exceptions when two vowels fall together: multi-ethnic, and see entry under multi); ecofriendly, eco-warrior; overrule, oversensitive, overuse (exception is over-age, see entry for over as prefix); underperforming, underreact (exception under-age); macroeconomic; microskirt; miniskirt

pregnant avoid the infelicitous phrase she fell pregnant

premier do not use in text as a synonym of prime minister, though very occasionally its use in the headline of a foreign story (never British) may be permitted. Generally, confine the word to heads of government of, eg, the Canadian provinces, Australian states and some British overseas territories, when it should take a cap. Premiership is preferable to prime-ministership

premiere, of a play, ballet etc (no accent)

Premier League the top division of English football, formerly known as the Premiership. In Sport, and perhaps in Business contexts, but rarely in News, it may be appropriate to refer to the sponsor at first mention, eg, the Barclays Premier League. The organisation running it remains the FA Premier League.

At the next level, the Championship, League One and League Two are all sponsored by Coca-Cola and run by the Football League. Again, News will not normally need to refer to the Coca-Cola Championship, but this may be appropriate for Sport and perhaps in Business at first mention.

In non-league football, the Blue Square Premier is the name for what used to be the Conference. Below it are the Blue Square North and the Blue Square South

The Premiership was sponsored previously by Barclaycard and, before that, Carling. Historically, write first division, second division etc l/c. The previous sponsor was Nationwide.

See Sports special section, Football special section

premise is an assumption in an argument;

premises (property) take the plural verb, eg, “the premises are well positioned”

Premium Bonds caps

prenuptial no hyphen; likewise the informal prenup

prepay, prepaid etc no hyphens

prepositional verbs avoid wherever possible. Examples such as measure up to, get on with are acceptable on the odd occasion. Others such as consult with, meet with (where the preposition is tautologous) are hideous and must never be used

Pre-Raphaelite see artistic movements

Presbyterian beware, especially with the adjective Scots. See Church, and Churches special section

present better than current but often redundant

President of any country, also President of the European Commission, cap at first and all subsequent mentions when used as a variation for a specific person, eg, "President Obama said that … the President said that … "; "Richard Nixon was the President until 1974". Write, eg, President Yushchenko of Ukraine (simply President and surname and country) at first mention. Lower case when using president more generally, eg, "Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States". Also l/c presidency (as in the French presidency of the EU), and note that presidents of companies or organisations will normally take l/c, though this rule should be relaxed for leading national organisations, academic institutions etc such as President of the Royal Society, President of the TUC etc. Note also presidential (l/c), thus vice-presidential (l/c, hyphen). See Prime Minister

press always l/c except in titles such as the Press Complaints Commission. See broadsheet, media

prestigious try to avoid this much overworked word and find an appropriate substitute such as highly regarded, admired, eminent, esteemed, leading, noted, outstanding, powerful etc

Pret A Manger (restaurants), no accents, cap A

pre-tax hyphenate

pretension, but pretentious

prevaricate must not be confused with procrastinate. The first means to speak or act evasively; the second to defer action, to be dilatory

preventive not preventative

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC for short), the merged accountants

pricey prefer to pricy

primary care trust l/c unless specific, eg, Devon Primary Care Trust

prime meridian (l/c)

Prime Minister cap for every country, but only in reference to a specific person, eg, "Gordon Brown said that … the Prime Minister said that … "; "Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990". Thus lower case when using prime minister more generally, eg, "Being prime minister has affected many men's health"; "This is a prime minister with much still to prove". Similar capitalisation and lower-case rulings for President/president when referring to a head of government. Never say, eg, Prime Minister Gordon Brown or even Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister (Times readers will know who Mr Brown is); say instead Gordon Brown at first mention, then the Prime Minister at next mention. Never use Premier for the British Prime Minister, and never use PM except sparingly in headlines. See Premier, President

prime time noun, primetime adjective

primeval

Prince avoid the familiar forms of Prince Charles and Prince Philip at least until they have been given their full designation of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh; even then, prefer the Prince and the Duke at subsequent mentions. Note The Prince's Trust.

Prince William at first mention, thereafter simply William (or for variation the Prince, if not ambiguous); similarly, Prince Harry at first mention, thereafter simply Harry (or for variation the Prince, if not ambiguous). See royal, Royal Family

Princess of Wales see Diana, Princess of Wales,

Princes Street, Edinburgh

principal (noun or adjective) means chief, main, important, head etc; eg, the principal of a college, or the team's principal objective. It must never be confused with principle, which is a noun meaning concept, ideal, rule, moral etc; eg, her Christian principles

the Principality cap in Welsh context

printout one word as noun

prior to avoid wherever possible; use before

prise apart not prize

Prison Service caps; Prisons Board caps and note “s”; Director-General of the Prison Service caps; Chief Inspector of Prisons caps. See Governor, Long Lartin, Probation Service.

Locations of jails can be found on the Prison Service website

prison visitors these are members of the National Association of Prison Visitors, who visit prisoners in the "social" sense of visiting; previously, there were also members of prison boards of visitors, who visited as watchdogs in an official role. The central organisation for this function is now called the Independent Monitoring Board Secretariat. Each prison has a body called, for example, the Winchester prison independent monitoring board

Pritt Stik (initial caps)

Private Finance Initiative (PFI), sometimes known as a Public Private Partnership (initial caps)

private sector, public sector do not use hyphens even when employed adjectivally, eg, public sector pay (as high street shopping)

privatised industries see regulators

Privy Council, but Privy Counsellors (not Councillors)

prize money no longer use hyphen as adjective and noun; but hyphenate adjectivally, eg, prize-money donors

prizewinner (one word); eg, a Nobel prizewinner (unspecific Nobel award), but winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (a specific award); also, a Nobel prize-winning novel.

See Nobel Prize, Turner Prize

Probation Service caps, as Prison Service

probe use only in a scientific, medical or space context. Never to be used as inquiry, even in headlines

problem be sparing with use of this overworked word

procrastinate means to defer action, to be dilatory. See prevaricate

Procter & Gamble (-er and ampersand)

Procurator Fiscal, Crown prosecutor in Scotland. See Courts special section

prodigal, the Prodigal Son take care, as the precise essence of prodigality is wastefulness squandering (rather than going far away from home and coming back). Other words, such as wayward or wandering, may be more appropriate in some contexts

profanities see four-letter words, obscenities

Professor of History, Psychology etc (caps when given as specific designation after a name); thereafter, the professor or Professor X. See university posts

proffer, proffered; not profer, proferred

profits especially in Business stories should always state the basis of the figure (pre-tax, operating etc)

program (computers); programme (the arts etc)

"pro-life" beware this contentious phrase for the anti-abortion lobby (especially in US context); use the phrase anti-abortion wherever possible, but when “pro-life” is unavoidable always quote it

Proms acceptable abbreviation of Promenade Concerts; Promenaders; and the Last Night of the Proms

prone means lying face down; supine, face up

proof legally, the standard of proof is the level of proof required of a party to discharge its burden of proof.

In a criminal context, the burden is with the prosecution to prove the facts essential to its case and the standard of proof is beyond reasonable doubt;

in a civil context, the burden rests with the party bringing the action and the standard of proof is on a balance of probabilities. See Courts special section

proofread one word; also proofreader, proofreading

propeller (not -or); propellent (prefer to propellant)

prophecy (noun), prophesy (verb)

property see real estate

proportion see percentage

pros and cons

protagonist means a supporter (of either side) in a debate or quarrel; it does not mean advocate or proponent

protégé if female, protégée

protester never -or; but see demonstrator

Protestant beware of using for all Christians who are not Roman Catholic. See Churches special section

proven not proven is the Scottish legal verdict. In general use, prefer proved to proven; but proven and unproven may be used as a colloquial alternative

provided that (not providing that)

the Province see Ireland

provinces, provincial take great care of these words in the context of “outside London”. Many regard them as patronising; use the regions or regional wherever possible

PRS for Music the rebranded (2009) Performing Right Society

prurient means having an unhealthy obsession with sex; it does not mean puritanical

PSBR the public sector borrowing requirement

public one of the few collective nouns where the plural is preferred, eg, "the public are concerned about their safety". See collective nouns

public house pub is fully acceptable in text or headlines

public interest immunity certificate (abbreviate to PIIC, or simply the certificate)

publicly (never publically)

Public Record Office not Records; from Apr 2003 part of the National Archives

public school independent school is now a preferable term; say public schoolboys, public schoolgirls, if we have to use the phrase

public sector see private sector

Puffa jacket (must cap P, trademark); use padded or quilted jacket as the generic

Pulitzer prizes. See Nobel for when to cap

pullout (noun, one word); but to pull out (verb)

punctuation some important reminders:

Commas keep commas where they should be logically in “broken” sentences. Thus, the comma goes outside in the following example: “The trouble is”, he said, “that this is a contentious issue.” Omit the comma before if, unless, before, since, when unless the rhythm or sense of the sentence demands it. Avoid the so-called Oxford comma; write “he ate bread, butter and jam” rather than “he ate bread, butter, and jam”.

Dashes should not be used in place of commas. Too many dashes can be ugly and disruptive.

Note that punctuation marks go inside the inverted commas if they relate to the words quoted, outside if they relate to the main sentence, eg, She is going to classes in “health and beauty”. If the whole sentence is a quotation, the final point goes inside, eg, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.”

Interrogation marks are never used with indirect questions or rhetorical questions, eg, “She asked why he did not laugh.”

Parentheses should be used sparingly; try to use commas instead. Use square brackets when writing words into a direct quote that were not said, but which explain context or meaning, eg, “I condemn [this totalitarianism]” when a speaker has said “I condemn it”.

With ellipses, use three points with full space after last word, then thin-spacing between points, then full space before next word; for example, not only ... but also

puns an enjoyable device for headline writers. Restrict their use to funny or light stories or features and if in doubt, avoid; but if irresistible, make sure they are in good taste

Punxsutawney the location of the Groundhog Day festivities is in Pennsylvania but not at all near Philadelphia, about 290 miles away

Puritan do not use the word for the 16th/17th-century religious group as a contemporary adjective; write puritanical

putsch a military seizure of power, as in coup

pygmy, pygmies

Pyramids the three main Pyramids at Giza (including the Great Pyramid) should be capped. But there are many other pyramids (l/c) throughout Egypt

Pyrenees no need for accents unless referring specifically to the French département

pyrrhic (as with victory), l/c

Last edited: July 23, 2009