Our house style
Abbreviations and acronyms
Try not to use internal abbreviations in external communications. Always think about whether people will understand them, and if there’s a more natural way to say it.
If you have to use an acronym that people might not be familiar with, always spell it out the first time. Then put the abbreviation in brackets, like this:
A note on plurals:
To create a plural of an acronym, add an ‘s’ to the end without an apostrophe, as in ‘there are several PDFs’. Usually, when you pronounce each letter of an acronym, it’s written in all capitals, like HIV. When you say the acronym like a word it only takes an initial capital, like Aids.
Some Girlguiding acronyms that are said like a word still appear in all capitals, like ICANDO and WAGGGS. Only use block capitals for acronyms like these – otherwise, avoid them.
A note on accessibility:
Screen readers often struggle with how to read out abbreviations and acronyms – another good reason to keep them to a minimum.
Capital letters
We capitalise each main word for:
• Hashtags (for readability): #AdventuresAtHome
• The names of things (proper nouns)
• Brands: Adidas, Twitter, Google
• Places: London, Europe, Pax Lodge
• People: Prince William, Beyoncé
• Awards - but not the word award itself: Guiding Star award, Silver Fish award
• Unique and marketable Girlguiding events, initiatives and publications – here are the ones we capitalise:
• Sparkle and Ice
• Wellies and Wristbands
• Magic and Mayhem
• Fearless Fun
• Big Gig
• Little Giggle
• Twisted Tech
• Girls’ Attitudes Survey
We capitalise the first word only of:
• The first word in any new line of text (in tables, lists, on badges, in email signatures, etc).
• Titles, headings, subheadings and online navigation elements like menu items and button labels.
We don’t capitalise:
• Things in general: uniforms, insurance policy, training materials, volunteers, activity centres
• Job titles, volunteer roles, teams and committees.
For example:
o We’ll be sending a free resource pack to all unit leaders.
o Our chief executive is Angela Salt.
o Tracy Foster, our chief guide, attended the meeting on behalf of Girlguiding.
o Get in touch with our complaints and compliance team if you need more information.
o Our audit and risk committee meets every quarter.
• Badges, schemes, topics, themes, qualifications, courses or unit meeting activities in running text (we capitalise the first word only if it’s at the start of a line): book lover interest badge, climbing and abseiling scheme, time travellers, skills for my future, leadership qualification, a safe space level 1, etc
• The words we use to describe Girlguiding areas, such as ‘regions’, ‘counties’, our Lanark district, our Tamworth division
• Any word to make it feel more important
• The words in URLs: girlguiding.org.uk/information-for-parents
For example, our code of conduct or the terms and conditions for our website.
If you need to check capitalisation for a particular Girlguiding term, go to our glossary.
Conjunctions, contractions and dates
Conjunctions
There’s nothing wrong with starting sentences with conjunctions like ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘or’. It’s perfectly grammatically correct and is more common these days – in fact, it can be a useful way to add a bit of energy to your writing. But use them sparingly and make sure they’re followed by complete sentences.
Contractions
Contractions shorten phrases by adding an apostrophe like ‘it’s’ or ‘isn’t’. We use contractions to give our writing a more natural, human tone – words like ‘I’ve’, ‘we’ve’ and ‘you’ll’.
In speech, we sometimes avoid contracting ‘not’ for emphasis: I did not do that! So you might want to replicate this in writing. The trick is to read your text out loud to make sure it sounds natural and flows properly.
Dates
We use this format for dates: day, month then year, as in 12 January 2023. We don’t use suffixes (12th, 20th, 1st) as these can cause spacing issues and can affect readability.
It’s often helpful to say the day too – and you only need to specify the year when it’s not obvious: Thursday 12 January.
If you’re using dates in a table, it’s fine to abbreviate the longer names of months: 12 Jan 2023.
For decades, we talk about the 1990s or the ’90s, never the 1990’s, and make sure we’re consistent..
Email addresses, hashtags, headings and ie or eg
Email addresses
Write email addresses in lowercase. If you’re writing an email address at the end of a sentence, it’s fine to follow it with a full stop.
Hashtags (#)
Initial capitals for each word in the hashtag: #GirlsAttitudes We use these in social channels like Twitter and Instagram. Avoid using hashtags in other places, as they’re harder to read than normal text and have no real function beyond social media. The only exception is if the hashtag is part of the official name of something.
Headings
Only the first letter of the first word should be capitalised, unless it’s a proper noun.
For example: How to use the Girlguiding brand.
ie and eg
Avoid using these abbreviations. They indicate Latin phrases, and it’s much clearer to write out what they mean in plain English. They’re also harder for screen readers to pick up.
Remember: ie means in other words, while eg means for example. If you’re short of space and have to use the abbreviations, use them without full stops.
Money, numbers, percentages and phone numbers
Money
Use the £ symbol instead of writing out the word ‘pounds’. And don’t use decimals unless there are pence to include: £45 not £45.00
Numbers
We write all numbers as digits. Research has shown this is much better for readability especially on screens.
If it feels awkward to start a sentence with a number, try to reword it to avoid this. And if you’re using ‘one’ in a phrase where the digit looks strange, write it as a word instead: ‘she’s one of a kind’, for example.
When talking about ages, we hyphenate the compound: 12-year-olds.
Percentages
To help with readability, always use the symbol instead of spelling out the word: 50%, not 50 per cent.
Phone numbers
Break these after the area code, for example:
• 020 7834 6242
• 0161 941 2237
• 028 9042 6025 not 0289 042 6025 (Northern Ireland)
Break UK mobile numbers into groups of digits: 5 then 3 and 3: 07XXX XXX XXX.
Prepositions, singular or plural, spelling, times and websites
Prepositions
It’s fine to end sentences with words like ‘of’ or ‘to’ or ‘from’, just like you would when speaking. You’d say ‘who should I speak to?’ not ‘to whom should I speak?’.
Singular or plural
Girlguiding and The Guide Association take a singular verb: Girlguiding is…
Spelling
We use British spelling not American. If in doubt, check the Guardian and Observer online style guide or the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.
Times
Write times like this: 9.30am, 10pm Use the 12-hour clock (11pm) rather than the 24-hour clock (23.00).
Websites
We don’t include the ‘www’ when writing website addresses:
girlguiding.org.uk.
This is no longer necessary, and people usually leave it out when speaking web addresses, plus not all web addresses include it.
Avoid giving links or breadcrumbs (such as Get involved > Ways to donate > Leave a legacy) in printed text and PDFs, as these can easily become outdated and impossible to follow. Instead, say ‘look for <X> on our website’.
Punctuation
Ampersands (&)
Only use ampersands in brand names (Marks & Spencer). In normal sentences, spell out the word ‘and’ to help with readability.
Apostrophes
Apostrophes can be tricky. But they’re important – getting this basic punctuation wrong looks unprofessional and can irritate people.
We use an apostrophe for 2 reasons:
1. To show that a letter or letters have been left out: don’t forget, I’m here. See contractions.
2. To show possession: this month’s publication. If the owner is plural, the apostrophe usually comes after the s. If the plural doesn’t end in an s, you put the apostrophe before the s: children’s.
So, the bees’ knees is talking about more than 1 bee. And the bee’s knees? Just the 1 bee.
There are 2 situations that can cause problems, so watch out for them:
1. Ordinary plurals don’t need apostrophes. ‘We sell apple’s and pear’s’ is wrong.
2. It’s or its? It’s means it is or it has. Its means belonging to it, which is unusual because it shows possession but doesn’t need an apostrophe: the company is confident about its future..
Brackets
Use these sparingly to hold ‘by the way’ information – too many can get in the way of readability. We use round brackets (like this), not square ones [like this].
If you’re putting a whole sentence into brackets, put the full stop inside too. (This is a full sentence in brackets, so it has its full stop inside.)
If you’re only putting part of a sentence inside the brackets, then you need to put the full stop outside (like this).
Colons
We use colons mainly to introduce lists. They can also be used in sentences to introduce a quotation or when the second part of the sentence is expanding on the first. But it’s usually better to split ideas into shorter sentences.
Commas
Use commas in sentences where you’d pause if you were saying it out loud.
Dashes
These can be used between parts of sentences instead of commas or semicolons. They add a little more emphasis and can also be a useful way of breaking up long sentences – but be careful not to overuse them. Shorter sentences are usually more readable.
Exclamation marks
Use exclamation marks sparingly, as they can give your writing a slightly hysterical tone. We don’t throw in exclamation marks as an easy way of sounding encouraging. Whenever you find yourself using one, always check how it reads without. Then only use it if you think it adds an important emphasis.
Forward slashes
It’s best to avoid these – especially phrases like and/or, which can confuse readers.
Full stops
We use these at the ends of sentences, and that’s it.
Hyphens
When referring to people by their age, we hyphenate the compound: 14-year-olds.
Sometimes 2 or more words join together as a description before a noun. It’s best to hyphenate these where there’s any chance of confusion:
• You need to make 3 monthly payments. (3 payments in a month)
• You need to make 3-monthly payments. (1 payment every 3 months)
There’s usually no need to hyphenate the words when they come after the noun:
• We’re meeting face to face next week - but we’re having a face-to-face meeting
• That document is up to date - but an up-to-date document .
Semicolons
Avoid semicolons. These are used to join closely related sentences – it’s almost always better to split them into shorter sentences instead.
Quotations
Use single quotation marks. For quotes within quotes use double quotation marks.
The chief guide told the girls, ‘My mum always used to say to me “you can be whatever you want to be”’.
Look and layout
Bold
Use bold sparingly to emphasise words, numbers and dates. It’s a great way of making something stand out at first glance, so bold text is ideal for key information such as headlines. Don’t overuse bold, as it can make things harder to read. And never use it for an entire paragraph – when everything is in bold, nothing stands out.
We use bold for headings in non-digital communications. For anything that’s going to be read online (like our website, online PDFs and Word documents), it’s best to apply our heading styles (H1, H2, etc) for consistency and accessibility.
Bold italic
Bold italic makes text hard to read, so stick with bold alone.
Italics
Avoid using italics – they make writing look cluttered and affect readability, especially on screens.
Underlining
Avoid underlining text - except for links. It can make words crowd together and affect readability.
Headings and sub headings
Don’t use end punctuation, except when you need a question mark. Don’t use a full stop at the end, and think long and hard about using exclamation marks.
Use a capital letter only at the start and lower case after that.
Do: What adults do in guiding
Don’t: What Adults Do in Guiding.
Links
We avoid using phrases like ‘click here’ and ‘read more’ when linking. Instead we make our links clearer and more meaningful so that they stand out and indicate where they lead to.
Don’t: If you have any questions about undertaking a disclosure recheck, please visit our FAQs on our website here.
Do: You’ll find more information in our disclosure recheck FAQs.
Lists or bullets
Introduce lists with a colon, and use bullet points like this:
• Item 1
• Item 2
Start each item in the list with a capital letter. If the items in the list are full sentences, put a full stop at the end, just as you would on a normal sentence. For phrases, there’s no need for a full stop at the end. And each list should be one or the other, not a mixture of the 2. Or, to put it another way:
• If the items in the list are full sentences, put a full stop at the end, just as you would on a normal sentence.
• For phrases, there’s no need for a full stop at the end.
• And each list should be one or the other, not a mixture of the 2.
Start your lists off with bullets. Only use numbers if you’re listing a sequence or starting your list off with a number phrase (such as ‘10 great reasons to join Girlguiding’).
Margins
Always align margins to the left – never justify, as the uneven spacing this creates affects readability.
Spaces
Use a single space after a full stop. Like this. Double spaces after full stops are related to how manual typewriters worked and are bad for readability – plus they look old-fashioned.
Use a single line between paragraphs, like here.
Inclusive language
We want everyone to feel welcome at Girlguiding. So, we avoid language that excludes or makes assumptions about anyone. Everyone’s different and has their own language preferences. It’s always best to ask or listen to how the person describes themselves, and use that language where you can.
This style guide covers the specifics of our writing across all channels. As most of our communications are online, our style reflects best practice for readability on screens – putting accessibility at the heart of our stylistic decisions. If you need to look something up that isn’t included here, check the Guardian and Observer style guide. This is our default guide for advice on how to handle things like punctuation, capitalisation, spelling and grammar.