A to Z of style

This style guide covers style, spelling and grammar conventions for all content published on GOV.UK Notify, arranged alphabetically.

If there’s a point of style that is not covered here, check the GOV.UK style guide.

You can search the A to Z by:

Pressing Ctrl+f on your keyboard if you’re using a PC or ⌘+f if you’re using a Mac.
Typing the word or search term that you’re looking for.

A

abbreviations and acronyms

See the GOV.UK style guide for abbreviations and acronyms.

account

How a user signs in to Notify. An account is tied to an email address. An account is not the same thing as a service.

active voice

Use the active rather than passive voice. Try to communicate one idea per sentence. The average sentence length should be between 15 and 20 words. ‘You need to’ is usually more appropriate than ‘you must’.

address

Use address, not postal address. It’s ok to abbreviate email address to address if you’ve already made clear what you’re talking about.

Americanisms

See the GOV.UK style guide for Americanisms.

authorisation

Use the -is rather than -iz spelling, unless the word appears in JSON code, where the spelling is important. See the REST API documentation for an example of this.

B

C

contractions

Use contractions like you’re and we’ll. Avoid should’ve, could’ve, would’ve, they can be hard to read. Do not use contractions like can’t and don’t, especially when giving instructions. Use cannot, instead of can’t.

See the GOV.UK style guide for contractions.

D

dates

Dates should be written in the format Wednesday 30 June 2022. Do not add suffixes to dates (st, nd, rd, th). For date ranges, use ‘to’ instead of a dash or slash. For example, from Monday 7 to Wednesday 9 November.

dispatch or despatch

Both are correct. We use dispatch for consistency.

E

eg, etc and ie

Use ‘for example’ instead of eg. Do not use etc or ie. See the GOV.UK style guide for eg, etc and ie.

email

Email is one word. Use a lower case e unless it’s the first word in a new sentence. Never write email messages or e-mails.

email addresses

Write email addresses in full, in lower case and as active links. Do not include any other words in the link text.

emails, text messages and letters

Emails, text messages and letters, always in that order.

F

fewer

See less or fewer.

G

GOV.UK Notify

Use GOV.UK Notify the first time you mention the product on a page. After that you can call it Notify.

The Notify website, not user interface or UI.

H

headings and titles

See the GOV.UK style guide for titles.

hyphenation

See the GOV.UK style guide for hyphenation.

I

J

K

L

less or fewer

Use less instead of fewer if it sounds more natural than ‘fewer’. For example, letters must be 10 pages or less.

M

messages

Use messages if you’re not being specific about the channel.

N

Notify

See GOV.UK Notify

numbers

See the GOV.UK style guide for numbers.

O

P

phone number

Use phone number, mobile phone number or international phone number. There’s no need to write telephone in full.

plain English

All content on Notify should be written in plain English. Sometimes it won’t be obvious which plain English term to use. If you’re not sure, speak to a content designer. See Writing for GOV.UK for more information.

Q

quotes and speech marks

Use smart (curly) quotes. See the GOV.UK style guide for quotes and speech marks.

R

recipients

Use recipients rather than ‘your users’.

reply-to email address

Use reply-to email address or reply-to address, not email reply-to address.

S

spreadsheet

Users upload a spreadsheet, not a CSV or Excel file.

T

text messages

Text messages, never texts or SMS.

times

Use 9am, midday, 4:30pm. Do not use the 24h clock, or any other time format.

For time ranges, use ‘to’ instead of a dash or slash. For example, 9am to 10am. Between 9am and 10am is fine too.

For more information, see the GOV.UK style guide for times.

U

user interface (UI)