User:Amgine/SG Details-T
| Amgine's style guide details |
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| 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
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-t
Where possible, use the -t as opposed to the -ed suffix to form the simple past or past participle of verbs. This is controversial in some cases, believed by some (primarily North American) contributors to be archaic. In fact the -t form is far more widespread than many realize, is often more succinct, occasionally avoids confusion with an adjectival form (eg, the learned scholar learnt in her youth.) The following are especially recommended:
| Preferred | Deprecated |
|---|---|
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table
Avoid verb use; in the UK it means to bring forward or take action, while in the USA it means the opposite.
tableau
Singular. Plural form is tableaux.
table d'hôte
Although derived from French, the phrase has a specifically English sense of a complete meal for a fixed price, and so is not italicized as a foreign term.
tad
Overused, clichéd.
Tajikistan
Adjective, proper noun, and language are all Tajik.
take-off, takeoff
The noun.
take off
The verb, never hyphenated.
takeover
The noun.
take over
The verb.
take part
Avoid; prefer participate.
take the mickey, take the piss
Never use except in direct quotes (and then, never censor as take the p— or anything similar.)
Taliban
Not Taleban. A plural proper noun. (Translation of Pashto طالبان: "students" or "seekers")
talk show
Not talkshow.
tally-ho
Hyphenated; plural tally-hos.
The woolen hat named after Tam o'Shanter from the eponymous Robert Burns poem.
Trade name of oseltamivir, an anti-viral drug. It is not a vaccine.
Tamil Tigers
Full formal title is Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but Tamil Tigers is sufficient in most cases. However, do not shorten to either Tamil or Tigers alone; either might be misleading as over-broad.
Tangier
No final 's'.
The vice-executive head of the Irish government, similar to Deputy Prime Minister. Note the title is not capitalizedi in Irish Gaelic, but it is capitalised when used as a proper noun in English.
The executive head of the Irish government, similar to Prime Minister. Note the title is not capitalized in Irish Gaelic, but it is capitalized when used as a proper noun in English.
target
Avoid use as a verb; prefer to aim, to direct. Attempt to restrict its use to military/hostile actions
tariff
Never tarriff.
tartan
Tartan is most commonly used to describe a plaid woolen fabric, generally one whose coloring pattern is associated with a military or Scottish association. By no means are these patterns limited to such organizations, or solely associated with the British Isles; similar patterns date from the Neolithic era.
Taser
Trademark; the generic term is stun gun. Note that most countries classify this weapon as deadly
tattoos, tattooed, tattooing
Also, tattooer, tattooist, tattooment, and tattooage. But never tattoed.
taxman, taxpayer
No hyphen. Taxman is cliché, and often pejorative, therefore avoid use except in direct quotes.
Tchaikovsky
Full name Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Clichéd loan-word from Yiddish; avoid. Plural is tchotchkes.
tea words
| Two words | One word |
|---|---|
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There are regional variations and exceptions; a private Japanese-style tea house differs from a retail teahouse, for example.
teams
Sporting teams are generally plural, no matter the actual proper noun, in most contexts. Example: The Wild are leading in their conference. The exception is in business reporting. Example: The New York Jets reported its largest annual revenues.
team-mate, team-mates
Hyphenate.
techMARK
The FTSE techMARK 100, in that capitalization, a technology index on the London stock exchange.
teen
Do not use as a substitute for the adjective teenage, teenaged.
teetotal
Not teatotal, or other variants.
Tehran
Not Teheran.
Telefónica
Full name Telefónica S.A., note acute accent.
telephone numbers
In general, there is no benefit, ever, to reporting a phone number on Wikinews.
If a phone number must be recorded, use the country code with prefixed '+', and the national phone number format which usually involves a city or area code number, sometimes a local exchange number, and finally the phone number. For example, a US phone number might appear as +1 123 456-7890. A UK number might appear as +44 0151-234 8464. Note that specific punctuation is the style used in the given country; hyphenation and parentheses are used as sparingly as possible.
television
TV is acceptable in either headlines or body text. Use full station title on first use, abbreviations are acceptable thereafter (Canadian Television Network, thereafter CTV; Australian Broadcast Company Television, ABC-TV, etc.) Where a specific broadcaster is not known, use the construction [region] television, for example, Norwegian television blah blah.
Television programme titles are italicized, as with other creative works. See #titles of works.
temperatures
The preferred form, except in articles specifically about weather events in the United States, is 15C (59F), minus 20C (-4F). Note the use of "minus", not negative. Outside parens, prefer the word and not the symbol. There is no need to use ° or the word degree. Do not refer to temperatures as "hot" or as "cold"; use high or low.
Avoid the use of temperature changes; they are very prone to errors. A temperature rise of 2C is not a rise of 36F - it is actually a rise of approximately 4F.
tenpin
Not ten-pin. Tenpin bowling is the sport, while each pin is also a tenpin, particularly in the UK.
terrace house
Not terraced house.
terrorist, terrorism
In almost all cases, avoid use except in direct quotes. In particular, avoid gratuitous use as a marketing ploy by groups attempting to spin or bias the press, such as "anti-terrorism legislation" or "war on terrorism". Terms such as guerrilla or insurgent, paramilitary, armed gangsters, or similar are generally more specific and may be more applicable to a given situation.
Be aware a government or state actor may use terror as a tool to govern or exert influence, and in fact is usually better equipped and positioned to do so than any small group of opposition.
Test match
For cricket or rugby, capitalised. For cricket this is used only for games between official Test nation teams (Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe.) For rugby it is used for matches between official national teams. Other matches are lower-cased test matches.
tête-à-tête
With circumflex and grave accents.
Texan, Texas
The adjectival form is Texas, as Texas Cowboys, Texas wildlife, while the noun for a person from Texas is Texan.
textbook
Single word, no hyphen, same as guidebook, handbook, etc.
Thaksin Shinawatra
The former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin at second mention. (Note: Convicted of fraud and corruption in absentia, Thaksin is now a citizen of Montenegro.)
thallium
Highly toxic element.
thalidomide
Highly teratogenic pharmaceutical.
that
Overused, and often incorrectly used. "That" defines, "which" gives additional information.
In news writing, use "that" to connect a subordinate indicating clause, or as a determiner to indicate a specific noun. Do not use as a pronoun, adverb. Do not assume constructions "[name] said" must be followed by "that"; only use that when necessary for clarity. He said no explanation would be forthcoming sounds like an exact quote, which might be misleading. He said that no explanation would be forthcoming is less ascriptive, however She said the effort must be made is more vigorous than She said that the effort must be made.
Acceptable usage:
- Live simply that others may simply live.
- The route that I take is shorter.
Questionable usage:
- She said that the parliament was united on the issue.
Unacceptable usage:
- He was that ill he could not get out of bed.
- That was an exciting event.
- Who was that you were talking with?
- The marathon was not that challenging.
(See also which)
the
Upper case in titles of books, poems, works of art, television or radio shows, place names. In most other contexts, lower case. Note especially, newspapers are lower case, the Washington Post, the Globe and Mail, or the Times.
the then
Do not use this construction. Use constructions such as then Prime Minister, or who was President at the time, or Mrs Clinton (then Miss Rodham). Note: no hyphen.
theatre, theater
In names, generally lowercase where appended as the Bolshoi theater, Shanghai Grand theater, upper case where preceding in names as Theatre Royal, Covent Gardens, Theatre Rhinoceros.
there is, there are
May often be omitted without any alteration to the meaning of the sentence. There are three challengers aiming to get the job vs. Three challengers aim to get the job.
theirs
Ownership is without an apostrophe.
thermonuclear
Thermos
This is a trade mark, and needs capitalisation.
think
Avoid constructions similar to think early-Edwardian. Simplest alteration is to add the word 'of': think of early-Edwardian.
think-tank
Preferred over thinktank or think tank.
thirdly
Do not use except in direct quotes. (Also do not use firstly, secondly, etc.)
they
Must agree with subject in number.
Third World
Caps. Avoid as the term is dated and objectionable (referring to countries neither aligned with the western powers nor the eastern powers during the w:Cold War.) Prefer instead newly industrialized countries, developing economies, or developing nations, or related constructions.
titles of address
See Social titles
titles of works
The title of a work may be presented typographically in several ways, and on Wikinews the title of a periodical is italicized, eg The Times of London. The title of a given article in the periodical is capitalised in the style of that periodical, and italicized, eg: Outside the Box, not Life outside the box (title case style, not sentence case style.) Note capitalisation styles do not necessarily apply to the subtitle, if any.
thorough
Over-used and often bombastic; avoid clichés/pleonasm use such as thorough investigation, thorough inquiry, thorough check, and thorough reform.
thoroughbred, thoroughgoing
Never hyphenated.
threefold, threepence, threesome
No hyphens.
3G
Third generation mobile telephony.
threshold
Not threshhold.
Tiananmen Square
Located within Beijing.
tidal wave
Avoid use other than related to tides. See tsunami.
time
General formats:
- 6 a.m. not 6:00 a.m. nor ever 06:00 a.m.
- 10:30 a.m., or whenever the minutes are known but are not 00.
- 7 o'clock last night or in the morning, but 7 p.m. yesterday, 7 a.m. tomorrow.
- noon, never 12 noon or 12 p.m. Likewise, midnight.
Weeks begin on Monday, but Sunday references to the following week are this week. Avoid starting anything with Last week...
Do not insist on placing a time reference at the start of the sentence or paragraph. You would not say "I this morning ate breakfast," so do not write "The Premier this morning announced..." Make the time element a natural part of your sentence. "The initiative announcement was one of several in the Premier's morning press conference."
time words
| Single word | Separate | Hyphenated |
|---|---|---|
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Timór-Leste
Formerly East Timor. Full title Democratic Republic of Timór-Leste. Yes, I know en.WN uses East Timor: it is wrong in doing so.
titles of works
Book titles, poems, songs, albums, and any other artistic work are not italicised, quoted, nor in bold font. Words in a title are capitalised, excepting a, and, at, for, from, in, of, the, to; the exception to the exceptions being when in the initial position or after a colon.
titles of people
Social titles are uniquely relevant to geography. The general rules described in the Style guide serve for most situations. A planned sub-section will be SG Details-Social titles.
to be fair
The phrase is generally over-used. However, the use as subjunctive clause preceding a statement, eg To be fair, his economic policies..., must be avoided. The phrase is unnecessary, and biasing as it introduces doubt regarding earlier statements.
today
In general, avoid. See rant at Relative time.
toilet
Refers to the room, not the lavatory
tomorrow
In general, avoid. See rant at Relative time.
total
Avoid verb use; prefer add up to, amount to, similar constructions. Noun use is normal.
See also numeracy regarding creating sums.
tsunami
The preferred term for a seismic-induced sea wave. Tsunami is a term borrowed from Japanese (津波, 津浪, つなみ), and usually refers to a wave caused by tectonic or volcanic forces.