On this page:
- Abbreviations and acronyms
- Active and passive voice
- And or ampersand (&)
- Apostrophes and when to use them
- Bold and italic text
- Bullets and steps
- Capital letters
- Colons, semicolons and hyphens
- Downloads (PDF documents)
- eg, etc and ie
- Email addresses
- FAQs
- Headings and subheadings
- Inclusive language
- Links
- Numbers including dates and times
- Plain English
- Quotation marks
Our reference manual covers style, spelling and grammar conventions for both online and offline content, arranged alphabetically.
Examples
Regulation of Investigatory Powers [Scotland] Act (RIPSA)
Additional Support Needs (ASN)
Renfrewshire Learning Disability Service (RLDS)
Cost of training incl buffet lunch is £30.00
Examples
You can apply for free school meals if your annual income is below £8,000.
The Licensing Board meets on Friday.
We carry out emergency repairs every day.
Passive writing
Passive is the opposite of active writing. Passive language can seem bureaucratic and does not focus on the person responsible for an action. Sometimes it can be a tactful choice for that reason.
Use active language most of the time and passive only if there is a reason to use it.
Examples
Funding to the hostel is to be cut.
An interview was conducted under caution.
The application must be approved by the committee.
Examples
H&M
Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership
Environment and infrastructure
Examples
Three years’ experience
The PDF’s title
2020’s top rated festivals (the top-rated festivals in the year 2020)
Personal pronouns
Use personal pronouns, instead of nouns, to show something belongs to something or someone: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours or theirs. These do not have an apostrophe.
Examples
The committee gave its approval
The nursery place is hers
The allotment is theirs
Plurals
Do not use an apostrophe to show something is plural, even if it is the plural of an acronym.
Examples
FAQs
1990s (the whole decade)
The councillors
To show something is missing
Contractions are when you leave letters out. You put in an apostrophe in the place where you’ve removed some letters or joined words together. Using contractions like “you’ll” and “we’ll” is less formal and can seem friendlier.
Avoid negative contractions, like “shouldn’t”, “can’t” and “don’t” as many users find them harder to read or understand. Use “cannot”, instead of “can’t”.
Avoid “should’ve”, “could’ve”, “would’ve”, “they’ve” too. They can be hard to read.
Examples
You’ll be able to pay by debit or credit card (for “you will”)
If you were born in the ‘90s (for “the 1990s”)
It’s easy to register for text alerts (for “it is”)
Examples
Select Continue. The Transaction complete window opens.
If you use bold too much, it’s difficult for people to scan your content for keywords. Instead of using bold for emphasis, you can:
- put keywords towards the beginning of sentences
- use headings and subheadings
- use bullets.
Italics
Do not use italics. Use ‘single quotation marks’ if referring to a document, scheme or initiative.
Examples
‘Right for Renfrewshire’
‘Team up to clean up’
‘Spend local’
Bullets and steps
Bullets
When you are adding a bulleted list:
- start your list with a line of introductory text ending in a colon
- make sure that each bullet makes sense when read this the line of introductory text
- use lower case at the start of each bullet unless the first word is the name or a person, place or organisation
- keep bullet points short but you can use commas or dashes to expand on an item
- do not put “on” or “and” after a bullet
- do not put a semi-colon after each bullet
- end the list with a full stop.
Examples
We’ve made decisions on priorities based on:
areas used for outdoor exercise
safety of pedestrians
safety of road users.
Bullets point that are sentences
Bullet points should be short and easy to scan. If your bullets are complete sentences, review the content and turn it into short paragraphs with descriptive subheadings instead.
Steps
You can use a numbered list to guide people through a process. In this case you do not need an introductory line of text.
Each step is a complete sentence and ends in a full stop.
Examples
Becoming a foster carer:
- Give us a call.
- We’ll do an initial home visit.
- You’ll take part in a preparation group where you will hear from carers and young adults.
- A social worker will find out more about you and the type of placement you can offer.
- The fostering panel will reach a decision about your suitability based on the recommendations of your social worker.
Capital letters
Do not use block capitals for large amounts of text. It’s hard to read.
Sentence case for headings and subheadings
In headings and subheadings use sentence case by putting a capital on the first word but not on the others unless a word is a proper noun.
Names that identify a particular person, place or organisation should have capital letters.
Examples
Inchinnan Primary School is one of the smaller primary schools in Renfrewshire.
We are boosting the local economy and tackling unemployment through Invest in Renfrewshire.
Invest in Renfrewshire is based in the Russell Institute.
Renfrewshire Council, the Council, councils
Use capitals when referring to Renfrewshire Council or the Council, meaning Renfrewshire Council.
If you are talking about councils, in general, use lower case.
Examples
Renfrewshire Council has secured a Scottish Government grant of £341.9million
The Council set up a graffiti removal team in response to residents’ concerns
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the national association of Scottish councils
Your council tax bill includes a separate charge for water
Councillor and councillors
Use a capital when mentioning a particular councillor and a lower case when talking about councillors in general.
Examples
Contact Councillor Burns
There are 43 councillors in Renfrewshire
Colons, semicolons and hyphens
Colon
Use a colon before a quote or a bulleted list.
Semicolon
Semi-colons separate complete but closely related sentences. Try to shorten your sentences instead of using semicolons to link ideas. This will make your content easier to read.
Hyphen
Use hyphens sparingly, for example, where a word might be difficult to read or pronounce without the hyphen.
Examples
co-operate
co-ordinate
pre-empt
Or to avoid confusion when the same word has a different meaning, without a hyphen.
Examples
re-cover and recover
re-sent and resent
re-sign and resign
Downloads (PDF documents)
Information published in a PDF format is harder to find, use and maintain than standard HTML web content.
This is because PDFs:
- do not resize to fit the browser
- are not designed for screen reading
- are harder to track on analytics
- can be harder for people to access than standard web content
- are harder to reuse when sharing content across different platforms
- can make it harder for users to navigate and orientate themselves
- are less likely to be up to date.
Examples
You can bring any id that provides proof or you address, such as a recent utility bill or your driving licence.
etc and ‘other similar things’
If you want to explain that a list is not exhaustive, try putting “for example”, “such as”, “like” or “including” in front of the items on your list.
Examples
You can put products like cereal boxes, newspapers and cardboard into your blue recycling bin.
Ie or ‘that is’
ie is often used to clarify a sentence but you can use alternatives such as “meaning” or “that is”. Focus on writing content which is clear and easy to understand and then you won’t need to explain it in more detail.
Examples
customerservices.contact@renfrewshire.gov.uk
FAQs
When people are looking for answers, they tend to use search. They do not browse lists of FAQs because that is not the most efficient way to find the answer to their query. If all your subheadings begin with “how” or “what” or “when” or “why”, they are hard to scan. You can make answers easier for people to find by having keywords at the start of headings.
Do not use the FAQ format. Focus on what someone needs to know and organise your page using descriptive headings, links and bullets so that information is easy to find.
Examples
Exemptions for council tax
Digital manufacturing foundation apprenticeships
Street naming and numbering
Examples
Needs assessment
Home adaptation grants
Private tenants
Using heading styles
Make sure that you apply the right heading styles to headings and subheadings as these elements will give your digital content a structure and make your content more accessible than if you just format a heading using bold.
Examples
Page title is heading 1
Sub heading is heading 2
Sub heading of sub heading is heading 3
Inclusive language
Use language that puts people first. If you are talking about a condition that someone has, or referring to their disability, refer to the person before their disability or the condition that affects them. See Gov.uk advice on inclusive language.
Examples
People with dementia
Person with epilepsy
Young person with dyslexia
Links
Link to relevant content on our websites but also to third party websites and services where these meet a user need.
Link text should make sense out of context when you read it in isolation. It should be descriptive and include relevant keywords. It should also uniquely identify a specific page so you shouldn’t have two links with the same link text going to two different pages. Do not use “click here,” “tap here,” “read more” or “download here.”
Examples
Council house rents 2020-2021
If you are unable to vote in person, you can apply for a proxy vote. This means that you can ask someone else to vote on your behalf.
You can pay your council tax by direct debit.
Download Flexible Working Policy (PDF version – 37KB)
Examples
There are four different bins for waste collection and recycling services
All homes fall into one of eight council tax valuation bands
The workshop is aimed at 9 to 12 year olds
How to make a cup of tea:
- Boil your kettle.
- Put a teabag in a mug.
- Add boiling water to mug.
10 to 999,999
In text, higher numbers should be written in figures, using commas to show thousands. If a number is used to start a sentence or in a heading or subheading, spell it out in full.
Examples
Seven hundred people attended the job fair
Around 77,000 people live in Paisley
You can apply for the grant if your annual income is less than £6,900
Millions, billions and trillions
Use m for million, bn for billion (one thousand million or 109) or tn for trillion (one million million or 1012) for money and quantities.
You do not need a space between the figure and the unit of measurement.
Use million, billion or trillion in full when the figure relates to people or animals.
Examples
The UK generated 222.9m tonnes of waste
Scots’ household wealth now tops £1tn
This project is part of the £1.13bn City Deal
Scotland’s population is around 5.45million
Decimals
Express decimals as numbers. Use up to two decimal places and add a 0 at the start where there is not a number before the decimal point.
Examples
0.78
0.5
64.32
Percentages
You should use two separate words for “per cent” in most cases but you can use a % sign in a table of figures.
Examples
Women make up around 73 per cent of the Council’s workforce
29.62% (in table)
Ages
Do not use hyphens in ages.
Examples
Ronnie is in his 40s and took part in a workshop to improve his interview skills
All nurseries have places for 3 to 5 year olds
Sheltered housing meets the needs of people who are over 60
Measurements
When giving measurements, use numbers and spell out the unit of measurement the first time that you mention it. After that you can use abbreviations. If it’s only mentioned once, do not use an abbreviation.
Examples
20kilograms (kg)
37°C
62mm
Dates
Use the format day month year without a comma.
Examples
The Centre opens on 18 June 2020
When you have a timescale that gives a date range use “to” between the two dates and not a dash.
Examples
10 November to 16 November 2020
If space is an issue, for example, in a table, you can use shortened forms of months.
Examples
Date of board meeting | Start time | Location |
29 Jan 2020 | 2pm | Council Chambers (Renfrewshire) |
27 Feb 2020 | 2pm | Council Chambers (Renfrewshire) |
Only use the endings “st”, “nd”, “rd” and “th” if you are talking about a century or anniversary.
Examples
An icon for the 21st century
80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain
Decades
If you are talking about a decade, it’s a plural so does not have an apostrophe. It should have an apostrophe at the beginning if it is a shortened version, that is, you leave the century part off.
Examples
Out of town shopping centres, like Braehead, became popular in the ‘90s
There was mass unemployment in Linwood after the car plant closure in the 1980s
Times
For times of day, use digits and the am and pm format. Separate hours and minutes with a colon, if required.
Examples
11:30am
7pm
Midday (not 12 noon, noon or 12pm)
Opening hours
When you have opening times and a time range, use the 12 hour clock and add “to” between the opening hours instead of a dash.
Examples
9am to 4pm
Or, not forward slash
Use “or” to separate options not “/”
Examples
2 or 3 times
text or phone
Plain English
The Plain English Campaign offers advice on making your writing easier to read. This involves
- choosing short words
- writing in short sentences
- using active language
- avoiding jargon
- explaining technical terms.
See the Plain English Campaign’s A-Z of alternative words.
Examples
See the Scottish Government publication ‘Review of additional support for learning implementation: report’
Double quotation marks
Use double quotation marks in body text for direct quotations.
Examples
“When I hit 40, I thought ‘it’s now or never’.”
Quoting chunks of text
If you are quoting paragraphs of text, use double quotes. Use open quotes for every new paragraph but close quotes only at the end of the final paragraph.
Examples
“My new life is trying to understand what beauty is about, and ‘pretty’, and ’emotions’. The new me is all about making things kind of neat and fun.
“And so this is a Philippe Starck juicer, produced by Alessi. It’s just neat. It’s fun. It’s so much fun. I have it in my house but I have it in the entryway. I don’t use it to make juice.
“In fact, I bought the gold-plated special edition and it comes with a little slip of paper that says: ‘Don’t use this juicer to make juice’. The acid will ruin the gold plating.”
Don Norman, ‘Three ways good design makes you happy’. TED2003.