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chat room two words, but chatline one
chat show, game show, quiz show, talk show etc no hyphens when used as noun or when adjectival, eg chat show host; note also chatline, sexline
cheap goods are cheap, prices are low
check-in (noun) but check in (verb)
checklist, checkout counter note also checkup (noun); check up (verb)
cheerleader one word
cheeses we tried making these all lower case. It worked, but it always seemed a triumph of consistency over common sense. Readers are used in most contexts to seeing capital letters at the start of proper nouns and adjectives, especially place names. So that is what we should do. Wensleydale, Lancashire, Red Leicester, Cheshire and their foreign equivalents simply seem more natural than the lower case alternative. This will give us a few more capital letters in the paper than we might like, but for it to become a problem, we would have to write about cheeses a lot more often than we do. Exceptions are made for cheddar and brie, which are almost universally treated as common nouns (Canadian cheddar, Irish cheddar, Somerset brie). See foodstuffs
chequebook one word, either as noun or adjective (eg chequebook journalism)
chi prefer to qi for the vital energy in oriental medicine, martial arts etc believed to circulate around the body in currents
chickenpox no hyphen; similarly smallpox
chief constable lower case, the chief constable of Lancashire or the chief constable. Do not write, eg the chief constable of West Midlands police, but simply the chief constable of the West Midlands
chief inspector of prisons/schools also chief medical officer
chief of the defence staff is the professional head of the British armed forces and the principal military adviser to the defence secretary and the government; the chief of the general staff is the professional head of the British army
chief petty officer is an NCO (non-commissioned officer) in the Royal Navy, not an officer
Chief Rabbi cap at first mention when naming the individual, then the chief rabbi or refer to as Rabbi X or Lord Y (like the Archbishop of Canterbury). See capitalisation (titles of ecclesiastical dignitaries)
chief whip lower case
child access, child custody do not use these terms regarding divorce unless in direct quotes and from lay people. Under the Children Act 1989 children are given residence with one parent and the other in disputed cases has contact. Put more simply, children live with one parent and the other is allowed to see them
childcare as healthcare
childminder one word
child pornography/child porn never use these terms, except in direct quotes. Use instead internet child sex abuse, sex abuse images, or similar
children’s names generally for under-18s, write eg John Jones at first mention and then simply John at second mention
child-sex abusers/offenders use hyphen
chilli (plural chillies) prefer to chili
chill out two words as verb; one word as noun or adjective
chimera prefer to chimaera
chimpanzees are apes, not monkeys
Chinese cap C in idioms such as Chinese whispers, Chinese walls
Chinese names use the Pinyin rather than the traditional Wade-Giles, so write Beijing, Mao Zedong (though Chairman Mao or just Mao are acceptable), Zhou Enlai etc. Normal style is to place family name first, then given name, so that the actress Zhang Zivi, for instance, becomes Zhang at second mention. For place names, follow The Times Atlas of the World except where older usage is well established, eg the special administrative regions Hong Kong (not Xianggang) and Macau (not Aomen); and the autonomous regions Tibet (not Xizang) and Inner Mongolia (not Neimengu)
chip and PIN no hyphen as a noun or adjectivally
chocoholic but shopaholic and workaholic
chopper, copter not to be used as substitutes for helicopter, even in headlines
Christ discourage use as a casual exclamation or expletive; it offends many readers
Christ Church (the Oxford college), two words, thus, and never Christ Church College
Christchurch in Dorset and New Zealand
christened Christians are christened; ships, trains and people not known to be Christians are named
Christian, Christianityunchristian, non-Christian, antichristian, Antichrist
Christian Democrat cap when referring to specific European parties for both noun and adjective, as in Christian Democrat MP
Christian names take care in context of non-Christians; in such cases use forename or first name
Christian terms mostly lower case when possible but cap eg the Bible, the (Ten) Commandments, the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, Mass, Holy Communion (and simply Communion), Eucharist, Blessed Sacrament, Advent, Nativity (also cap adjectival Advent calendar, Nativity play), the Scriptures; also when naming the persons of the Trinity, God (the Father), Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit; but then follow the Vatican and Lambeth Palace in using lower case for he/his except where clarity demands a cap (“Isaiah looks forward to God rescuing His people”, ie God’s, not Isaiah’s). Cap the names of books of the Bible: the Book of Revelation, Acts of the Apostles, the Gospel of (or According to) Matthew; but generally lower case for the apostles, the disciples, gospel, the gospels. Use lower case for evensong, matins. There are columnists and feature writers who like to use eg God, Christ and Jesus as harmless exclamations or mild expletives; they should know that this offends many Times readers
Christmas Day, Christmas Eve seem to need caps
church cap in names — the Church of England, St James’s Church, Piccadilly etc — but otherwise only if absolutely necessary to distinguish an institution from a building (“the Church is often said to be in terminal decline, but the church I attended on Sunday was absolutely packed”). Context will usually suffice to make clear which is meant, so lower case should be possible more often than not
Church in Wales not Church of Wales for the disestablished Anglican church once headed by Dr Rowan Williams
churchwarden one word
cinemagoer as concertgoer, operagoer, theatregoer etc
cipher not cypher
circa abbreviate simply as c (roman) followed by a space
City of London the City, City prices
civil list (lower case unless clarity demands caps) has been replaced by the sovereign grant (also lower case unless clarity demands caps)
civil partnership commonly referred to as gay marriage before gay marriage became legal. A suggested shorthand for headings is civil union
civil service, also civil servants lower case as a noun unless clarity demands a cap. Otherwise lower case in adjectival use, eg a civil service memorandum. Lower case for the administrative grade, ie permanent secretary, deputy secretary and assistant secretary, when used as part of the full title; thus, Sir Alfred Beach, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Defence
civil war generally lower case but by convention cap the English Civil War and the American Civil War
claim do not use when simply said or declared would do. The word carries a suspicion of incredulity. Also, avoid the loose construction in sentences such as “The firm launched a drink which is claimed to promote learning ability”. This should read “… a drink which, it is claimed, promotes learning ability”. Do not allow terrorists to “claim responsibility” for their crimes
claims and facts remember to distinguish between a claim and a fact, particularly in headlines/standfirsts. Witnesses to rioting telling amid confusion of up to 600 people dead did not justify an unequivocal standfirst death toll of 600; if claims are made, say who is making them
clamour, clamouring but clamorous
clampdown not banned, but use as little as possible
Clapham Junction is not Clapham. It is not even in Clapham. They are separate places and their names are not interchangeable. Clapham is in the London Borough of Lambeth; Clapham Junction is in the Battersea part of Wandsworth. A reader helpfully noted, at the time of the London riots in August 2011: “The Victorians are responsible for the confusion that has persisted for generations. When they opened their large interchange station in 1863 they designated it Clapham Junction because that district was then much more genteel than working-class Battersea”
clarinettist
Class A, B or C drugs (cap C)
clichés and hype We are lucky to have intelligent and sophisticated readers. They buy The Times to avoid the hype and the stale words and phrases peddled by some other papers. Words such as shock, bombshell, crisis, scandal, sensational, controversial, desperate, dramatic, fury, panic, chaos etc are too often ways of telling the readers what to think. Let them decide for themselves.
Any list of proscribed formulas is soon out of date, as old clichés give way to new. There may be nothing inherently wrong with the words or phrases themselves. They gain currency in the first place because they seem vivid, amusing, fresh. Soon, however, they become fashionable, are overused, grow tired and stale, then finally cease to mean anything much at all. A good writer or editor will know when a word or phrase has outlived its usefulness
climate change levy lower case, no hyphen
clingfilm lower case, one word
cliquey
clock tower two words
closed-circuit television
Clostridium difficile is a bacterium, not a virus. Write C. difficile at second mention (and as a bonus do not pronounce it “DIF-ficil”: it is not French but Latin. Try “dif-FI-chil-ay”)
clothing say menswear, women’s wear, children’s wear, sportswear
cloud-cuckoo-land two hyphens
clouds no need to italicise the names. Four main types: nimbus produce rain; stratus resemble layers; cumulus resemble heaps; and cirrus resemble strands or filaments of hair. Prefixes denote altitude, ie strato (low-level), alto (mid-level) and cirro (high-level)
clubbable
co- the prefix does not normally require a hyphen even before an e or another o unless confusion or utter hideousness might result. Thus co-operate (but uncooperative), co-opt, co-ordinate (but uncoordinated), coeducation, coexist
CO2 use subscript
coalface, coalfield, coalmine (each one word) similarly coalminer (but prefer miner)
coalition lower case noun or adjective, eg the coalition government
coastguard lower case and one word, in the British context; but note the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (caps for full name), although the coastguard service (generic) retains the lower case. The US coast guard
coasts lower case south coast, east coast, west coast and north coast in all contexts
coats of arms see heraldry
Coca-Cola (hyphen); note also the trademark Coke. Similarly Pepsi-Cola. If in doubt about the identity of a beverage, write the lower case generic cola
cock a snook not snoop, please
cockfight no hyphen, as bullfight and dogfight
cockney lower case for the person, the dialect and adjectival use
codebreaker, codebreaking one word
coeducation(al) but permissible to use co-ed in headlines as coed would look hideous
coexist
cognoscenti roman, not italic
Coldstream Guards may be called the Coldstream and the men Coldstreamers or Coldstream Guards; neither should be called Coldstreams
Cold War caps
collarbone one word
collectibles (not -ables) items sought by collectors
collective nouns usually use the singular verb, as with corporate bodies (the company, the government, the council etc). But this rule is not inviolable; the key is to stick to the singular or plural throughout the story: sentences such as “The committee, which was elected recently, presented their report” are unacceptable. Prefer plural use for the couple, family, music groups and bands, the public, sports teams
Colombia is the country; Columbia is the Hollywood studio, university, river and Washington district. Also, note British Columbia and pre-Columbian
colons throw meaning forward and introduce lists
Colosseum in Rome; Coliseum in London
Coloureds (in South Africa), cap; not to be used in any other context
comedienne avoid; use comedian (or, if you must, comic) for both sexes
comeuppance no hyphen
commander-in-chief, officer commanding lower case
Commandments cap in biblical context, as the Ten Commandments, the Fourth Commandment
commando plural commandos (not -oes)
commas Unnecessary commas interrupt the flow of a sentence; omit the comma before if, unless, before, after, as, since, when unless the rhythm or sense of the sentence demands it.
