P - Editorial Style Guide
P
Palate: Is the roof of the mouth, overused in food reviews. Palette is a piece of wood.
Parliament: Cap as in Houses of Parliament but lower case for parliamentary
Parkinson’s disease: Cap name only
Parsons Green: No apostrophe
Part-time: Hyphenate but pastime one word
Passer-by: Hyphen. Plural ‘passers-by’
Past history: Is just history
Pastime: Note one t, as in hobby
Patient’s Charter: Cap up both words, as Citizen’s Charter
Pavilion: One l
Payout: One word as payoff
Pedal, pedallers: As on a bicycle, peddle, peddlers as in drug dealers
Per annum: Say a year, annually
Percentages: Write ‘per cent’ as two words in full in copy. Headlines and straplines use %. Never use pc.
Peerage: A peer or peeress has a seat in the House of Lords.
Duke, duchess: First reference Duke of Dorking then the duke.
Viscount, viscountess, earl, countess, marquess, marchioness: First reference Earl of Denham, Countess of Denham etc, then Lord/Lady Denham.
Baron: Is always Lord. Baroness is Baroness for first mention then Lady
Baronet, knight: Sir Cliff Richard then Sir Cliff
Dame: Dame Judi Dench then Dame Judi.
Personal details: Always try to get full names and addresses, age, job, marital status including children. Particularly important in human interest stories and court stories. We are building a picture of people’s lives for readers
Phone no apostrophe before the ‘p’.
Phone numbers style • 020 8710 6427 • 01279 722 222 • 0800 555 111 • 07900 564 668
Pictures: Bylines as follows:
Photo by Toby Vandevelde HOU183678
Contributed
Photos by Toby Vandevelde HOU18378/5/3
Picture by Google
Planners are the council officers in the planning department. They are not councillors
Playgroup: One word
PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3
Plummet: One t as plummeted
Inspector and higher ranks: Write title in full first time then refer to Mr or Mrs
Detective Sergeant: In full then DS
Sergeant: In full then Sgt
Detective Constable: Always DC
Constable: Always PC
Police Community Support Officer: In full first time, then PCSO
Plainclothes police: Not plain clothes or plain-clothes
Portakabin: Is a trade name. Use portable office cabin or portable classroom. See trade names
Post mortem: Lower case post mortem, never use autopsy
Post Office: Caps for the organisation and Harefield Post Office but lower case for corner post office
Postwar: One word as prewar, no hyphens
Practice: Practice is the noun, practise is the verb, e.g. doctors practise medicine at their practice.
Best practice.
Pre-school: Hyphenate
Press: Lower case when referring to the press as a body
Preventive medicine: Note spelling
Principal: Is the person, principle is the fact
Prior to, Previous to: Use Before
Prizegiving: One word as prizewinner, prizewinning
Procter and Gamble note spelling
Prophecy: Is the noun, Prophesy the verb
Prosecutor
Protester: Not protestor
Pyjamas: Not pajamas
Pubs: It’s The Royal Sun pub. Note lower case in pub. Do not use boozer
Punters: Use in connection with betting only
Classifieds
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