Page not found The requested page "/node%3Fpage%3D5" could not be found.‘Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.’ TS Eliot• Follow the style guide on Twitter: @guardianstyle 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 each other or one another?Some traditionalists say the former should apply only to two people (“Iniesta and Xavi hugged each other”) and the latter to more than two (“all 11 Spanish players hugged one another”).HW Fowler was unimpressed by this argument and in practice very few people make the distinction.The possessive is singular: they shook each other’s hand EADSEuropean Aeronautic Defence and Space Company; the group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus and is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium earlieroften redundant: “they met this week” or “it happened this month” are preferable to “they met earlier this week” or “it happened earlier this month” and will save space Earl’s Courtstation and districtEarls Courtexhibition centre earnrather than learn that a banker or footballer earns, say, £15m a year, readers have indicated that they would prefer us to say “is paid £15m a year” or “receives £15m a year” Earthwhen talking about the planet, but earth in such idioms as down to earth, what on earth?

etc east Asiaor south-east Asia rather than far east east coast mainlineruns from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh.e cigarette bay areaThe official name of the franchise is East Coast, currently operated by Inter City Railways, a joint venture owned 90% by Stagecoach, 10% by Virgin Trains, with trains branded Virgin Trains East Coast East Endinner east London north of the river; the equivalent district south of the Thames is south-east London EastEndersTV soap; in real life, people from the East End are East Enders EasterThe day between Good Friday and Easter Day is Holy Saturday, not Easter Saturday, which falls a week later east Midlandsbut East Midlands airport East Riding of Yorkshire council easyCouncilapproach to local government favoured by some Conservative authorities, modelled on the no-frills approach of budget airlines such as easyJet eBaybut Ebay if you cannot avoid starting a sentence or headline with it Ebolaa virus and a disease, Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) ebook, emailbut e-cigarette, e-commerce, e-learning, e-petition, e-reader ecclesiastical titlesMost Rev (archbishop), Right Rev (bishop), Very Rev (dean or provost), the Ven (archdeacon), the Rev John (or Joan) Smith – not “Rev John Smith”, “Rev Smith”, “the Revs Smith and Jones”.e cigarette before blood test

Surname only on subsequent mentions, except in leading articles E coliIt is not normally necessary to use the full name, Escherichia coli.e cigarette beavertonAs with other taxonomic names, italicise in copy but use roman in headlines and standfirsts; no full point.e cigarette drummondvilleNote that E coli is a bacterium, not a virus eco-friendlybut ecohome, ecosystem, ecotown, ecowarrior ecuEuropean currency unit, superseded by the euro Edinburgh festivalcomprises the following:Edinburgh international festivalEdinburgh festival fringe (not fringe festival, but the fringe is OK)Edinburgh international book festival editorlc: editor of the Observer, editor of the Bromley, Bexley and Eltham Leader series, etc editorsAn editor is to newspaper or website as a captain is to ship.e cigarette crystal kit

“Trust your editor, and you’ll sleep on straw” (John Cheever) -ee endings-ee means something happens to you; -er means you do something: so employee, invitee (if you must), refugee but attender, escaper, etc, rather than attendee, escapee, etc eerieweird; Erie North American lake; eyrie of eagles effect or affect?See affect effectivelyThis adverb is best kept simply to describe how something was done: “Anna managed the department effectively.” Confusion arises when it is used instead of “in effect”, which describes something that has the effect of, even if the effect was unintended or unofficial: “Her boss was off, so in effect Anna was the manager of the department” is clearer than “Her boss was off, so effectively Anna was the manager of the department.” Sometimes effectively is used in neither of these ways, but just to pad out a sentence in a feeble attempt at adding emphasis, in which case it can be safely deleted effeteThe traditional meaning is exhausted, spent or worn out, but nowadays you rarely see this word used to mean anything other than effeminate or foppish.e cigarette cool fire

Baroness Orczy used it in this sense in The Scarlet Pimpernel as long ago as 1905: “Those happy days of courtship, before he had become the lazy nincompoop, the effete fop, whose life seemed spent in card and supper rooms” efit(electronic facial identification technique) program used to create police drawings Eid al-Adha(Festival of Sacrifice) Muslim festival laid down in Islamic law, celebrates the end of the hajj.Note that eid means festival, so it is tautologous to describe it as the “Eid festival” Eid al-FitrMuslim festival of thanksgiving laid down in Islamic law, celebrates the end of Ramadan (al-fitr means the breaking of the fast) eid mubaraknot a festival but a greeting (mubarak means “may it be blessed”) Eireno: say Republic of Ireland or Irish Republic eke outThis used to mean making a small amount go further, as in “she eked out her rations by serving string instead of spaghetti”.It was a bit extra – note that eke meant “also” as used by Chaucer.

The word has come to mean something rather different, namely scraping by, as in “she eked out a living doing the occasional subbing shift at the Sunday Times” ElBaradei, Mohamedformer director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, ElBaradei after first mention elderly peopleor older people, not “the elderly”; do not use to describe anyone under 75 El Doradofabled city of gold Eldoradofabled flop of a TV soap Electoral Reform Societycampaigns for “a democracy fit for the 21st century”; the related company Electoral Reform Services provides an independent balloting and polling service to political parties, trade unions and other organisations electra complexthe female equivalent of oedipal complex electrocutiondeath by electric shock, so don’t say survivors of torture were “electrocuted” during their ordeal - rather that they were given electric shocks elegypoem of mourning; eulogy speech of praise.The adjective elegiac, sometimes misspelt “elegaic”, is very popular with writers on upmarket newspapers seeking an alternative to “sad” Elephant and Castle area; Elephant & Castle station elephant in the roomLike governments and reality TV series, metaphors that we once welcomed into our lives as refreshing can become all too familiar, to the point of tedium – and this cliche is a fine example.

At its height, elephants were not only in the room, but had taken over the whole house: “elephants in the room” included trade figures, policy, lack of policy, climate change, Iraq, the US, Europe, anti-Americanism, men, women, single women, a new French football league, race, religion, Islam, Catholicism, Tessa Jowell, Andrew Neil, Jimmy Greaves, fatness, thinness, Stalinism, Hitler and Tony Blair’s departure from office.The phrase seemed destined for the elephants’ graveyard but there is evidence that, used imaginatively, it may still be effective: “There’s only so long they can ignore this elephant in the room [the Iraq war] before it takes a dump on the carpet” (Gary Younge, 5 July 2010); and, from the same writer: “Money in American politics was already an elephant in the room.Now the supreme court has given it a laxative, taken away the shovel, and asked us to ignore both the sight and the stench” (30 January 2012) elisionmeans omission, not the conflation of one or more thing ellipsisUse a space before and after ellipses, and three dots (with no spaces between them), in copy and headlines: “She didn’t want to go there ... ” There is no need for a full point emanateis intransitive; use exude if you need a transitive verb Embankment, thein London; the tube station is just Embankment embassylc, eg British embassy; not necessarily an excuse to use the Ferrero Rocher joke yet again emigrateleave a country; immigrate arrive in one.Hence emigrant and immigrant, emigration and immigration emotionalshowing emotion; emotive causing emotion.“Badger culling is an emotive issue.

No wonder people get emotional about it.” “Tired and emotional” is a euphemism for drunk empiresBritish empire (but British Empire Medal), Roman empire, etc emulateThe traditional meaning of emulate is to attempt to equal or surpass, so “try to emulate” is strictly tautologous.But nowadays if you say “he emulated Thatcher”, everyone will think you mean that he succeeded, so you do need to qualify it: “He sought to emulate Thatcher, but ended up doing a poor imitation of Major” enamoured ofnot by or with enclavea piece of land totally surrounded by a foreign territory, eg San Marino and Vatican City, both enclaved within Italy; an exclave is politically attached to a larger piece of land but not physically conterminous with it because of surrounding foreign territory, eg the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichivan, which is is bounded by Armenia, Iran and Turkey enervateto deprive of strength or vitality England, Englishshould not be used when you mean Britain or British, unless you are seeking to offend readers from other parts of the UK (we published a map of England’s best beaches, with the headline “Britain’s best beaches”) English HeritageCharity now solely responsible for care of 400-plus sites across England.

Not to be confused with Historic England English Natureis now Natural England enormityIt might sound a bit like “enormous”, but enormity refers to something monstrous or wicked, such as a massacre, and is not just another word for “big” en suitetwo words, whatever estate agents might claim ensuremake certain; insure against risk; but you can assure someone’s life by taking out an insurance policy epicentrepoint on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus of an earthquake or underground explosion; frequently misused to mean the centre or focus itself and is also not a synonym for “dead centre”.After one of our misuses in 2010 a reader (for more than 60 years) wrote: “How is it that so many highly educated people, whose business is words and communication, do not understand that a prefix such as epi is there for a purpose: it changes the meaning of the root word” epilepsyA person with epilepsy might have a seizure, rather than a fit.Seizures are epileptic, people are not – we do not define people by their medical condition; so say (if relevant) “Joe Bloggs, who has epilepsy” not “Joe Bloggs, an epileptic” epinephrine autoinjectordevice for injecting epinephrine (adrenaline), most often used for the treatment of anaphylaxis; normally abbreviated to EpiPen epithalamiumpoem written for the bride on her way to the marital chamber, such as the poem by Andrew Motion, his first as poet laureate, on the marriage of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999 EPOerythropoietin, a hormone produced by the kidneys that controls red blood cell production.

Erythropoietins produced by cell culture are used for treating anaemia resulting from chronic kidney disease and other conditions.In sport, EPO is a banned substance used to enhance performance in cycling and other endurance sports equableunvarying; equitable fair“His temperament, like the climate, was equable.None the less, he demanded a more equitable share of the proceeds” Equality and Human Rights Commissionbody created in 2007 to bring together the work of the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission; may be called EHRC, or simply the commission, after first mention Equatorial Guineaformerly Spanish Guinea, a country in central Africa that became independent in 1974; do not confuse with Guinea or Guinea-Bissau, other African former colonies Erdoğan, Recep TayyipTurkish politician, elected prime minister in 2003 ere or e’er?ere long (soon), ere now (before); e’er, which you might come across in an old poem, is an abbreviation of ever ERMexchange rate mechanism, the system that preceded Emu and the single currency Ernieelectronic random number indicator equipment: the machine that picks winning premium bond numbers erupt burst out; irrupt burst in escapersnot escapees, despite the apparently unstoppable advance of the -ee suffix (can it be long before readers become “readees”?)

Eskimois a language spoken in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Siberia.Note that it has no more words for snow than English does for rain.The people are Inuit (singular Inuk), not “Eskimos” especially or specially?The former means particularly (“he was especially fond of crab”) or in particular (“this policy is aimed at Ukip voters, especially those in marginal seats”).The latter means for a special reason (“she made crab sandwiches specially for him”).If a company claims a product has been designed “especially for you”, it hasn’t EtaBasque separatists; ETA estimated time of arrival ethnicnever say ethnic when you mean ethnic minority, which leads to such nonsense as “the constituency has a small ethnic population” ethnic cleansingshould not be used as a euphemism for genocide unless quoting someone EUEuropean Union (no need to spell out at first mention); formerly EC (European Community); before that EEC (European Economic Community) EU presidentsThere are three, so don’t say “EU president” or “president of the union” without making clear which you mean: president of the European commission (currently Jean-Claude Juncker), president of the European parliament (currently Antonio Tajani), or president of the European council (sometimes referred to as president of the EU), appointed for a two-and-a-half-year term with the possibility of renewal once (currently Donald Tusk).

To add to the confusion, there is also a presidency of the council of the European Union, held by a national government, which rotates among member states every six months EU27not EU-27 or EU 27 eurocurrency; plural euros and cents Euroshould not be used as a prefix to everything European, but Euro-MP is an acceptable alternative to MEP Euro Disneyruns what is now called Disneyland Paris Europeincludes Britain, so don’t say, for example, something is common “in Europe” unless it is common in Britain as well; to distinguish between Britain and the rest of Europe the phrases “continental Europe” or “elsewhere in Europe” may be useful central Europe, eastern Europe, western Europe European commissionthe commission after first mention; do not abbreviate to EC European convention on human rights European councilEU institution; not to be confused with the Council of Europe European court of human rightsnothing to do with the EU: it is a Council of Europe body; sits in Strasbourg.

To avoid confusion, call it the “Strasbourg court” or the “human rights court” after first mention rather than the “European court” European court of justicethe highest court in the European Union in matters of EU law; sits in Luxembourg European stability mechanismESM for short Euroscepticsceptical about Europe, not just the euro evacuateYou can evacuate a place, or people from a place.So “the islands were evacuated of thousands of people” and “thousands of people were evacuated from the islands” are both correct evangelistsomeone who spreads the gospel eventuallyoften unnecessary, as in “the FTSE 100 drifted back, eventually closing 33.9 points lower at 5244.2”; the stock market always closes eventually every dayadverb meaning daily: it happens every day everydayadjective meaning commonplace: an everyday mistake every parent’s nightmareavoid this cliche evoke or invoke?If you invoke the spirit of Picasso, you’re trying to summon his soul up from the grave; if your paintings evoke the spirit of Picasso, it means their style reminds viewers of that artist’s work exaltpraise someone; exult rejoice“Tony Blair was exalted as exultant New Labour supporters exulted” exceptional above average; exceptionable something you take exception to“The roast beef was exceptional, the yorkshire pudding exceptionable” exclamation marksUse sparingly!

(As Scott Fitzgerald said, it is like laughing at your own jokes) exclusiveterm used by tabloid newspapers to denote a story that is in all of them executionthe carrying out of a death sentence by lawful authority, so a terrorist, for example, does not “execute” someone ex officioby right of position or office; ex parte on behalf of one party only exorcisedhaving had evil spirits removed; often used erroneously for exercised having one’s passions inflamed by something expat, expatriatenot ex-pat or expatriot; this is “ex” meaning “out of” (as in export, extract), not “ex-” meaning “former” (as in ex-husband).The term is redolent of the days of empire and used only to describe Brits abroad, who might more accurately be termed emigrants Export Credits Guarantee DepartmentECGD at second mention “extrajudicial killing”should be used only when quoting someone eyesis being used increasingly for “considers”, but it doesn’t mean that.