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20/20 as in 20/20 vision

24/7

-t in nearly all cases, where there is a choice of past tense between a final -t or -ed, use -t, as in burnt, spelt etc. But never earnt

tad heavily overworked as synonym of a little or a bit; avoid

t'ai chi note apostrophe

tailback

Tajikistan

takeaway (meals)

take-off (aircraft)

takeover (noun), but to take over (verb)

takeover code but Takeover Panel

Taki Theodoracopulos, journalist and historian (Taki alone is acceptable after first mention)

take part prefer to participate

take the mickey

Taleban refer to the Taleban (or the Taleban authorities etc), and use the plural verb ("are" rather than "is" etc). See War on Terror

talk show, as chat show, game show, quiz show etc

talkSPORT the radio station. See radio stations

Tallinn the Estonian capital. See Baltic states

Tall Ships Youth Trust new name (Aug 2003) for the Sail Training Association

tally-ho hyphenate; plural tally-hos

Tamiflu (cap, trade name) is an antiviral drug. It is administered in capsule form. It is not an injection

Tamil Tigers this is generally sufficient, although the separatist rebels in Sri Lanka are known more formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

See Prabakharan, Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka

T&G (formerly the TGWU): the Transport and General Workers' Union (with an apostrophe)

Tánaiste (always cap, accent) the Irish Deputy Prime Minister. See Taoiseach

Tangier no final “s”

Tannoy is a trade name; use loudspeaker as generic alternative

Taoiseach always cap. See Ireland, Tánaiste

taramasalata (not taramo-). Note also hoummos, tzatziki

target beware lazy use of this word as a verb; eg, a campaign is aimed at or directed at children (rather than targeting children). Try to restrict its use to military (hostile acts) contexts. Note targeted (not targetted)

Tarmac is a trade name, but confine the cap version to the civil engineering company. Common usage allows the road surface or airport runway to be written as tarmac;

tarmacadam is not a trade name

Tartars prefer to Tatars

task force two words, eg, as in Falklands

Tate Gallery the original gallery on Millbank is known as Tate Britain, and the new one on Bankside as Tate Modern. Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives retain their names

Tate & Lyle

tattoos, tattooed, tattooing

taxman one word as colloquialism for the Revenue; similarly, no hyphen in taxpayer

TaxPayers' Alliance note caps and apostrophe

Tchaikovsky

tea bag (two words); tea biscuit, tea break, tea cloth, tea cosy, tea dance, tea garden, tea kettle, tea lady, tea leaf, tea light, tea maker, tea party, tea towel, tea trolley; but one word for teacup; likewise teabread, teacake, teahouse, teapot, tearoom (but the Commons Tea Room), teashop, teaspoon

teams normally plural, eg, “West Ham United are in outstanding form”. But sports clubs usually take the singular, especially in news stories, eg, “Manchester City Football Club was fined heavily for crowd disturbances”. Note hyphen in team-mates. See Sports special section

teargas

Tea Room cap in the Commons Tea Room, but in general usage, one word and l/c, tearoom. See Politics special section

Tebbit, Lord not Tebbitt

Technicolor is a trade name. It should be used only in the context of the making of colour motion pictures and not as a descriptive adjective or synonym for multicoloured

technology, media and telecoms companies/sector: abbreviate to TMTs

Tecs (initial cap only), short for training and enterprise councils. See Lecs

techMARK, the technology index

Teddy boy

teen avoid use as substitute for adjective teenage

Teesside no hyphen, double “s” in middle; but note Deeside in both Scotland and Wales

teetotal

Tehran not Teheran. See Iran

Telefónica note accent

telephone numbers with three groups of figures, hyphenate only the first two (eg, 0151-234 8464; 020-7782 5000). For other national numbers, write as two groups of numbers, eg, 01483 123456. Similarly, for numbers with, eg, 0800, 0845, 0870 codes, and for mobile numbers, write as two groups of unhyphenated numbers, thus: 0870 1234567, 07721 123456

Teletext replaced Oracle (at the end of 1992) as the text service for ITV and Channel 4

Teletubbies (not Tellytubbies); the characters are Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, each of whom is a Teletubby

television TV is acceptable both in headlines and text. ITN (Independent Television News) is acceptable in its abbreviated form (in the same way as BBC). Write BBC Television, BBC One, BBC Two etc; but Argentine television, Norwegian television, etc (l/c unless we know it is the station's specific name). See BBC, Channel 4, Five, ITV1, radio stations

television and radio programmes are italicised. See Arts special section

telltale (one word)

temazepam is a non-proprietary sedative, so l/c

temperatures the style is 16C (61F) and minus 15C (-2F). Remember that a rise in temperature of 3C does not equate to 37F (the direct equivalent of 3C), but rather to an increase of 5.4F: do the maths! Prefer "minus" to minus-sign in text. Do not refer to temperatures as hot or cold; they are high or low. See celsius, metric

Tenant Services Authority watchdog for social tenants. See also Homes and Communities Agency, Housing Corporation

ten-minute rule (Bill) etc. See Politics special section

Tennessee

tenpin bowling

tepee use this variant for the Native American tent

Teresa see Mother Teresa; note St Teresa of Ávila (accent on cap A). Be careful to check variants of this first name, including Theresa and Thérèse

Terminal 1, Heathrow (and Terminal 2, 3, 4, 5 etc). See airports, Gatwick, Heathrow

term-time hyphenate adjectivally

Terre'Blanche, Eugene

Terrence Higgins Trust not Terence. See HIV

Territorial Army, the Territorials (cap). See Armed Forces special section

Terrorism Bill as for any other legislation, use the correct name or alternatively refer to the terror Bill, but not the Terror Bill.

For legislation going through Parliament now, see the parliamentary website index of Bills and legislation. More generally, see Politics special section

terrorist take care with this word and the associated terrorism; guerrilla is a less loaded word in the context of violent political struggle. Never use as a synonym of any dissident group that uses violence, eg, hunt saboteurs, and always try to specify groups as paramilitaries, gangster organisations or whatever. Remember, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter

Tessa tax-exempt special savings account

Test match should apply only to cricket (not rugby); for other sports, use the term international (match). See special sections on Sports, cricket, rugby league, rugby union

tête-à-tête for the plural, prefer tête-à-têtes

textbook one word, as guidebook, stylebook, rulebook etc

TGV, train à grande vitesse (not de), the French high-speed train

thalidomide l/c as the generic name of the sedative that was found in the early 1960s to cause birth defects. Recently, it has been developed as an anti-cancer drug. It has had various proprietary names: in the United States it was known as Kevidon, but was never released there beyond the trial stage. In Europe, various trade names were used: Distoval, Tensival,

Valgraine, Asmival, Contergan and Softenon

thallium the highly toxic heavy metal

Thames Barrier, Thames Estuary (caps). See rivers

Thamesmead (near Erith), Thamesdown (Wiltshire administrative district), but Thames-side

that do not be shy of this word after said, denied, claimed etc; eg, “he denied that the evidence was confusing” is more elegant than “he denied the evidence was confusing”. That is almost always better than which in a defining clause, eg, “the train that I take stops at Slough”. As a general rule, use which for descriptive clauses and place it between commas, eg, “the night train, which used to carry newspapers, stops at Crewe”. See ensure

Thatcher first mention Baroness Thatcher, thereafter Lady Thatcher. In historical context, preferable to say Margaret Thatcher at first mention, then Mrs Thatcher, eg, “Margaret Thatcher took quick action in sending the task force to the Falklands”. It would be wrong to say that her party forced Lady Thatcher from office in 1990. Note her late husband Sir Denis Thatcher (not Dennis); their twin children are Carol Thatcher and Sir Mark Thatcher, his title being by virtue of an hereditary baronetcy (Sir Mark at second mention).

See Titles special section

Theresa see Teresa

theatre always attach Theatre (cap) at first mention to names where it is part of the title, eg, the Criterion Theatre (thereafter the Criterion or simply the theatre). Some of the main London exceptions are the Old Vic, Young Vic, Palladium, Coliseum, Apollo Victoria, Donmar Warehouse, Hackney Empire; and outside London, many such as the Birmingham Hippodrome, Oxford Playhouse, West Yorkshire Playhouse etc. See Wyndham's Theatre, Arts special section

theatregoer see -goer

TheKnowledge close up, roman, for the former section of The Times

the then then is not an adjective, so do not use expressions such as "the then Prime Minister" or (worse) "the then Mr Callaghan"; say "then Prime Minister", "who was Prime Minister at the time" or "Lord Callaghan of Cardiff (then Mr Callaghan)"

The Times almost always use italics for the name of the newspaper, except in headlines. But Times Newspapers Ltd (roman), publisher of The Times and The Sunday Times, is the operating company of Times Newspapers Holdings.

In text, it is permissible to say "the Times political correspondent", "the Times wine correspondent" etc, although "political editor of The Times", "wine correspondent of The Times" etc are preferable. Also (in features headlines etc) The Times Gardener etc is an acceptable style to avoid a mass of italics and apostrophes. Always say "the Editor of The Times", "the deputy editor of The Times" etc.

It is permissible to say "a Times reader", "Times readers", but prefer "readers of The Times". Similarly, adjectival uses such as "a Times article", "a Times offer" are acceptable. Keep phrases such as "told The Times" to a minimum: said is usually preferable.

Also note Times Law Report (without The), but The Times Crossword etc. Again, some flexibility - to avoid a proliferation of italics - can be used in puff material etc.

For the London Film Festival, write The Times BFI London Film Festival at first mention.

For sections of the paper, whether historic or current, avoid italics: eg, times2 (l/c, closed up), The Times Magazine, Weekend Review, Money, Body&Soul (closed up), Times Travel, The Eye, TheKnowledge (closed up), Public Agenda, Career, Crème, Law (supplement), Saturday Review, Playlist, Weekend etc.

Write The Times Christmas Charity Appeal, The Times Christmas Appeal or The Times Charity Appeal (caps).

Note The Times Literary Supplement.

The Times Educational Supplement is now better known simply as the (l/c, roman) TES; what was The Times Higher Education Supplement is now Times Higher Education and branded as the (l/c, roman) THE. Both publications, with Nursery World and other publications, are owned by TSL Education. That company and its titles were bought from News International by Exponent Private Equity in 2005.

Times Archive (cap) for the online resource; Times archives (l/c) in reference to generic source material, eg, at the end of fact boxes

The Times Briton of the Year

The Times/South Bank Show Breakthrough Award

Times Online caps, roman for the website (and indeed all websites)

See correspondents, editor, exclusive, News International, newspapers

thermonuclear

Thermos must take the initial cap; it is a trade name that must always be observed

The Sunday Times Rich List

they should always agree with the subject. Avoid sentences such as “If someone loves animals, they should protect them”. Say instead “If people love animals, they should protect them”

think avoid this cliché when used as explanatory shorthand, eg, "The hotel rooms were minimalist: think Philippe Starck's Sanderson"; simply add an "of", as in "think of"

think-tanks take care in describing their ideological persuasions; we should call the Social Market Foundation (SMF), Demos and Politeia independent think-tanks; the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) free-market or right-wing think-tanks; and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) a left-wing think-tank

third adverb; prefer to thirdly

Third Way caps, new Labour's political stratagem

Third World caps

threshold

throne cap sparingly, only in terms of the institution, eg, “he deferred to the wisdom of the Throne”; in other contexts, as with the chair itself, use l/c, eg, “The Queen came to the throne in 1952”

thunderbolts are mythological and do not exist; lightning bolts and thunderclaps do exist and can also be used metaphorically

thus far avoid; prefer so far

Tiananmen Square, Beijing. The massacre took place on June 4, 1989

"tiger" economies of South-East Asia and the Pacific; use quotes for first mention, subsequently without quotes, and always l/c

time bomb, time frame, but timeline, timescale, timeshare. See bombs

time warp

times never write, eg, 6pm last night, 9am tomorrow morning; say 6 o'clock last night or (if the context allows) 6pm, or 9am tomorrow. Use a point in expressing continental time - 01.55, 14.00 etc. See seasons

Tinseltown (as in Hollywood), one word

Tipp-Ex

titles the most common solecism is to write Baroness (or Lady) Helen Brown etc when we should say simply Baroness (Lady) Brown.

No wife of a baronet or knight takes her Christian name in her title unless she is the daughter of a duke, marquess or earl.

Some titles include a place name, eg, Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, while others do not.

Follow Who's Who, where those whose place name must be included appear in bold caps, or the parliamentary website.

Always check with Debrett or Who's Who if in the slightest doubt, available at knowuk. See Titles special section

titles of books, films, discs, programmes, songs etc avoid initial caps for every word (eg, do not write The Hound Of The Baskervilles). As a rule of thumb, use l/c for prepositions, conjunctions, definite and indefinite articles, eg, Don't Cry for Me, Argentina; Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick; Rikki Don't Lose That Number; The Hound of the Baskervilles

to be fair this phrase is often a waste of space and its introduction could be seen as casting a hint of doubt on the fairness of what went before

toilet can now use interchangeably with lavatory as appropriate. Reserve the use of loo for informal contexts

together with avoid; prefer simply with; also beware such tautology as blend together, meet together, link together etc

Tolkien, J. R. R. (not Tolkein); see Hobbit, Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings

toll used with of or on, depending on context: "The war took its toll of the inhabitants", "Years of pumping iron have taken their toll on his body". Note M6 Toll

tomatoes plural, as potatoes

Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey (not Unknown Soldier)

Tomlinson, Mike (prefer to Michael), the former Chief Inspector of Schools

tons, tonnes prefer to use tonnes in most contexts, though in historical passages tons would be more appropriate; and note "tons of help" metaphorically

Tontons Macoute (in Haiti); plural, no final “s”

too-wit too-woo render thus how an owl sounds

Top Salaries Review Body became the Senior Salaries Review Body

Topshop, Topman one word for these fashion emporiums

Top Ten, Top 20, Top 40 etc in musical or other lists

tormentor prefer to tormenter

tornado, plural tornados (storms); also Tornado, Tornados (aircraft)

torpedo, but plural torpedoes

Torvill (Jayne) and Dean (Christopher)

Tory, Tories acceptable alternative for Conservative(s), especially after first mention. Do not write Tory Party with cap “P”, but Tory party is permissible.

See Conservative Party, committee, select committees and Politics special section

totalisator, tote take l/c, no quotes; the Tote refers to the organisation. See Racing special section

touchpaper

Tourette syndrome

towards not toward

townhouse one word

Townsend, Peter the group captain linked with Princess Margaret in the 1950s

Townshend, Pete guitarist of The Who

Toys 'R' Us

tracheostomy, tracheotomy note no "a" in the middle. The -ostomy is the surgical formation of an opening into the trachea that follows an (emergency) incision, the -otomy

tracksuit one word; but shell suit

Trade Descriptions Act

trade-in (noun or adjective), but trade in (verb)

trademark one word

trade names many names of products, services and organisations in common use are proprietary. They should not be used as generics and must be given a capital letter. There is a risk of legal action for failure to do so. Examples include Baby Bonds, Biro, Bluffer's Guide(s), Catseye, CinemaScope, Dictaphone, Filofax, Formica, Hoover, Jacuzzi, Jeep, Kodak, Land Rover, Lycra, Outward Bound, Perspex, Polaroid, Portakabin, Portaloo, Rollerblade, Rolls-Royce, Rough Guide, Scrabble, Sellotape, Tannoy, Technicolor, Thermos, Walkman, Xerox, Yale lock; there are others. Be especially careful about drugs; try to use non-proprietary words such as aspirin, sleeping pills etc. See thalidomide

trade unions (plural), not trades unions; but Trades Union Congress. See TUC

train companies South West Trains (no hyphens); ScotRail; Virgin CrossCountry; c2c (the Southend line); WAGN (no need to spell out West Anglia Great Northern); South Central (no longer Connex South Central); First Great Western; First Great Eastern etc

trainspotter, trainspotting (no hyphens)

Traitors' Gate at the Tower of London

tranquilliser, tranquillity

transatlantic, transcontinental; but cross-Channel. See Channel

transgender see sex change

transistor do not use on its own in sense of transistor radio

transpire means to come to light or to leak out. Do not use as an alternative of to happen or occur

Transport for London (abbreviate TfL) replaced London Transport. Do not write Transport in London

transsexual no hyphen; but see sex change

trans-ship

Trans-Siberian Railway

Transvaal, but a Transvaler. See South Africa

trauma, traumatic avoid in the clichéd sense of deeply upsetting, distressing etc; it should be confined to its medical meaning of severe shock after an accident or stressful event

travellers, New Age travellers. See Gypsy, hippy

traveller's cheques

Travellers Club (no apostrophe). See London clubs

Triads cap in Chinese gangster context. See Mafia, yakuza

Tricolour cap for the French flag, l/c in more general context

trillion originally American for a thousand billion (or a million million, 1,000,000,000,000), and now accepted in British usage with that meaning, superseding the earlier British definition of a trillion as 1 followed by 18 zeros

Trinidad & Tobago ampersand for the football team but Trinidad and Tobago politically etc

Trinity College Dublin no comma

triple crown in rugby union. See Sports special section, rugby union special section

tripos l/c for the final honours degree examinations in all subjects, eg, the history tripos, at the University of Cambridge

trinitroglycerin no terminal "e" needed. See glycerin

trolleys (plural of trolley, not -ies)

Tromsø (terminal letter ø) northern Norwegian city

Troödos mountains in Cyprus (diaeresis on second o)

Trooping the Colour (not of the Colour); also, beating retreat

tropical storm cap as part of title, eg, Tropical Storm Linda; similarly, Hurricane Andrew (caps). See hurricane

Tropics, the (cap); note also the Tropic of Capricorn/Cancer, but tropical, subtropical l/c

Troubles, the see Ireland

troubleshooter (one word); also troublespot

truck permissible in certain contexts. See lorry

Truman, Harry S. (former US President); Truman Capote, the writer; Truman, Christine, the tennis player (now Christine Janes); but Trueman, Fred, the cricketer

trumpeters, buglers cavalry regiments have trumpeters, infantry regiments have buglers. They are not interchangeable

try to the verb try must be followed by to before the next verb, never by and, eg, “I will try to cross the road”, not “I will try and cross the road”

Tsar (not czar), Tsarevich, Tsaritsa (not czarina); caps with the name, l/c in general sense. But note exceptions for government-appointed co-ordinators such as drugs czar,

mental health czar

TSB formerly the Trustee Savings Bank, now part of Lloyds TSB

T-shirt

Tube (cap) acceptable in context on its own for the London Tube, or London Underground. Also cap the various lines such as Central Line, Metropolitan Line, Victoria Line etc.

See Transport for London, Underground

tuberculosis prefer tuberculous as the adjective for the disease, rather than tubercular

TUC the Trades Union Congress. Note, first mention, General Council of the TUC, thereafter general council. General Secretary of the TUC should be capped (as leader of the national body), but general secretaries of individual unions retain the l/c

tug-of-war

tunku (Malaysian prince); cap before name, otherwise l/c. See Malaysia

turbo-jet, turbo-prop see aircraft

Turin Shroud (caps), then the shroud (l/c)

Turkestan prefer to Turkistan

Turkey parties take the cap, as in Motherland Party, Welfare Party, True Path Party etc

Turkoman plural prefer Turkomans

turn down prefer reject or refuse (except of beds)

Turner, Adair in formal contexts write Lord Turner of Ecchinswell at first mention, then Lord Turner

Turner Prize but note Turner prizewinner, Turner prize-winning artist etc; see Nobel Prize

turnlines are in bold, set left, eg, Continued on page 2, col 7 or Continued from page 1

turn-off, turn-on (nouns), but no hyphens in turnout, turnaround, turnabout

Tussauds, Madame see Madame Tussauds

Tutankhamun never permit a break as Tutan-khamun; if the name has to be broken on a turn, it may be hyphenated as Tut-ankhamun or Tutankh-amun

Tutsis see Hutus

TV see television

TV-am no longer exists

Twentieth Century Fox (or 20th Century Fox in logo form), Fox News, Fox Sports etc are part of the Fox Entertainment Group, 100 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times. See News International

twentysomething, thirtysomething, fortysomething etc

Twenty20 the limited-overs cricket format. See Sport special section, cricket special section

Twin Towers (of the old Wembley Stadium) caps

twin towers (of the former World Trade Centre in New York, destroyed in the 9/11 attacks); the northern tower and the southern tower (all l/c). See War on Terror

Twitter cap the name of the "What are you doing?" website; l/c tweet for the verb to post on it. See Hoover/hoover and Google/google

twofold, threefold, fourfold, tenfold etc

two minutes' silence (the). See Armistice Day, Remembrance Sunday

two thirds, three quarters etc, but a two-thirds share (hyphenate adjectival use). Such expressions usually take the plural verb, eg, “three quarters of the children prefer horror films”; the same applies even in “a third of the children prefer blancmange”. But note “two thirds of the bus was empty”

Tyne and Wear (not &)

typify, typified etc (not typefy)

tyrannosaurus roman, l/c when used as the common name of the dinosaur. But write Tyrannosaurus rex (itals), and T. rex at subsequent mentions, for the scientific name

Tyrol (not Tirol)

tzatziki note also hoummos, taramasalata

Last edited: May 20, 2009