DGT Branding Toolkit and Style Guidelines

WRITTEN STYLE

Collective nouns Words like Trust, the finance team or government sometimes look as if they’re plural, but they’re not.

A colon should not be followed by a dash (not even if it introduces an indented list)

Colons are regularly used to introduce examples, as in for example: Colons should also precede a sentence which is quoted in full: Lesley Dwyer, Chief Executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The improvements we have made will ensure better care for our patients.”

Always remember that collective nouns are singular. So, for instance, you should say: The Trust is doing this, or the finance team team is responsible for…

Not The Trust or the finance team are doing this. Only use the plural if you have previously specified that there are several people involved.

"But not when just a part of a sentence is being quoted: Lesley Dwyer urged staff to “be patient focused at all times”

For instance: Some members of the government are reviewing…

Commas Use commas to separate adjectives in a sentence, for example: An ambitious, enterprising staff member But where the last adjective is linked more closely to the substantive than the preceding adjectives the comma is generally omitted, for example: A little old lady. In lists of individual items, do not put a comma before and – for example: service leads, central office staff and multi disciplinary teams. The exception to this rule is where a sequence of items includes another and (this is known as the Oxford comma or full Oxford stopping):

Colons and semicolons Semicolons are used to link two or more clauses in a sentence which are more or less of equal weight and are linked together: To complete the task in four hours is excellent; to finish it in three is amazing.

or

The course is divided into five sessions: introduction to the issues; getting started; after the first six months; reviewing progress; and planning for the future.

She had visited neurology, accident and emergency, and physiotherapy departments.

Whereas the semicolon links equal or balanced clauses, the colon generally indicates a progression in some way: To run the marathon in four hours is excellent: an achievement that should be rewarded.

Be aware of how commas can change the context of a sentence. This is a real example from a US newspaper: ‘Buckingham Palace said that prince Andrew, son of Queen Elizabeth and a navy helicopter pilot, would sail with the invincible.’