Using good punctuation and grammar enhances accuracy and helps us get the right message out, therefore making our communication easier! This page provides information on when to use it and examples.
Abbreviations
Always use the full title in the first instance and only if you plan to use the subject again later on in the text, e.g., ‘Mole Valley District Council (MVDC)’. Acronyms should be in capitals without full stops
Ampersand symbol
Don’t use this in general; text or when describing a council service – it should only be used when it’s part of an organisation’s official title
Apostrophes
Used to indicate one of three things:
- That a letter(s) has been missed, e.g. ‘I cannot’ becomes ‘can’t’
- To indicate ownership, e.g., ‘Mole Valley’s population’. If the word ends with a ‘s’, the apostrophe should be added on its own at the end
- To show expressions of time, e.g., ‘Wednesday’s meeting’
Brackets
Use sparingly to add something to the sentence. The sentence, however, should still make sense without them
Capital letters
Do capitalise…
- Proper names, such as ‘Mole Valley District Council’
- Proper names of organisations, such as ‘Citizens Advice’
- Full job titles in conjunction with postholder, e.g. ‘Karen Brimacombe, Chief Executive’
- Places names, such as ‘Dorking’ or ‘Leith Hill’
- Months, days, and special days, e.g. ‘February, Thursday, New Year’s Day’
- Languages and nationalities, e.g. ‘English’ or ‘Italian’
- Directorate names in full, such as ‘People and Environment’
- Council services when used in full, e.g. ‘Parks and Environment’
- Established groups e.g., ‘Scrutiny Committee’, but lowercase when talking about them in general
- When writing about specific projects and schemes, partner organisations and outside bodies or government departments e.g., ‘Citizens Advice’, or ‘Surrey County Council’
- For titles that go before the name, e.g., ‘President Biden’
- At the start of a sentence, for abbreviations and acronyms
- For names of buildings, streets, and areas
Don’t capitalise…
- Council – unless it is using the full title, e.g ‘Mole Valley District Council’
- Government – unless it is part a specific name, e.g., ‘Local Government Association’
- Councillor unless it forms part of a title, e.g., ‘Councillor Stephen Cooksey’
- Portfolio holder when referencing councillor’s roles
- County or district unless they start a sentence
- When referring to jobs or positions in general
- General terms such as leisure centres, libraries, councils, or charities
- Seasons of the year, e.g., ‘spring’ or ‘summer’
- For points of the compass, e.g., ‘north /south’ unless part of a proper name
- For common digital words such as website, email, and intranet
- For nouns that are not proper names
- For subject headings (apart from the first word)
Colons
Used to introduce a list, e.g. ‘Only three people turned up to the meeting: John, Bert and Ernie’ or to make a break when something explanatory follows, e.g. ‘She has achieved her ambitious plan: she was a member of the board’
Commas
Use for a breathing pause, in a list, to introduce an embedded relative clause e.g., ‘Sally, who worked in housing, went to the meeting’ or to separate a main clause from a subordinate clause e.g. ‘The meeting was cancelled today, due to the adverse weather conditions’
Dates
Write as 16 May 2022
Write date ranges as 2020 to 2022 (no dash)
Financial years should be written as 2022/23
Dashes
Use when you want to make a break, like a colon, e.g. ‘I have always known what I want to be – a teacher’
Exclamation marks
Shows a feeling – but this can be misinterpreted, so be careful when using one
Full stops
One space after a full stop
Hyphens
Use them to distinguish between similar words, e.g., ‘resign and re-sign’. They can also be used in double-barrelled adjectives, e.g., ‘middle-aged’ or in phrases, e.g., ‘t-shirt’ and to avoid works with two consonants or vowels, e.g., ‘pre-empt’. They should be used when spelling out numbers
Inverted commas
To show direct speech, use double inverted commas, otherwise it is a single inverted comma. The full stop comes inside the inverted comma(s) when what is inside is a full sentence, it comes outside when it is not a full sentence. Use single inverted comma when quoting from a report, e.g. ‘The “average family” doesn’t exist’. All direct speech inside the inverted commas must begin with a capital letter, even if it is in the middle of a sentence and must be followed by a comma. You must start a new line for each new speaker
Numbers and figures
- Use £ and p, not pounds and pence
- Spell out whole numbers in text
- Write millions and billions as £1m and £1bn
- Do not include redundant zeroes – use £1 or 99p
- Do not use ‘K’ as an abbreviation for thousand
- Use numbers when including a decimal point
- Use when giving page references, ranges of numbers or when giving financial information
- Avoid using fractions – convert them into decimals/percentages
- Numbered lists and bullet points can be useful when guiding a user through a process
Question marks
Used at the end of a direct question, not at the end of indirect questions or polite requests
Semi-colons
Acts as a weak full stop or a strong comma – ‘I drive an old car; Steve drives a new one’. They can also be used to separate the items in a list, especially if each item is long, and the items are unrelated
Telephone numbers
In a sentence or email signature, use the word telephone, e.g., 01306 885001
For internal content, where you reference an extension number, write x3019
Leave a space between the area code and the remaining digits, same applies to mobile numbers