• Home
  • News blog
  • Professional film and video
    • Productions
  • Other services
    • Photography
    • Podcasts and audio features
    • Copy-writing and editing
    • Media training
    • Media tools >
      • Style sheet
  • Contact us
  • About us
    • Talent
NorthLight Media Limited

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

F

fahrenheit
68F etc, use in brackets after celsius figure

far, farther, farthest
of distances, otherwise further, furthest

far east
but Middle East

fascism, fascist

fatality
use death

father of two
etc, not father-of-two

faze
disconcert phase a stage

FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation, no need to spell out

fed up with
not fed up of

feelgood factor

fete
no accent

fewer/less
fewer means smaller in number, eg fewer coins; less means smaller in quantity, eg less money

fiance
male fiancee female; but note divorcee is both male and female

figures
spell out from one to nine; integers from 10 to 999,999; thereafter 1m, 3.2bn (except for people and animals, eg 2 million viewers, 8 billion cattle)

finalise, finalised
avoid, use complete, completed or finish, finished

financial years
2004-05, etc

fine-tooth comb

firefighter
not fireman

firing line
the people who do the firing; if they are aiming at you, you are in the line of fire not “in the firing line”

firm
strictly a partnership without limited liability, such as solicitors or accountants, but may be used in place of company in headlines

first
second, third spell out up to ninth, then 10th, 21st, millionth

firstly, secondly
prefer first, second, etc

first-hand

first world war

flammable
means the same as inflammable; the negative is non-flammable

flaunt/flout
to flaunt is to make a display of something, as in flaunting wealth; to flout is to show disregard for something, as in flouting the seatbelt law

fledgling
not fledgeling

flounder/founder
to flounder is to perform a task badly, like someone stuck in mud; founder means fail: a business might be foundering because its bosses are floundering

fluky
not flukey

flyer
not flier

focus, focused, focusing

fogey
not fogy

following
prefer after, eg Mansfield Town went to pieces after their Cup exit

forbear
abstain forebear ancestor

foreign names
The French (or French origin) le or de, the Italian di and the Dutch van are all lc when the name is full out: eg Graeme le Saux, Roberto di Matteo, Pierre van Hooijdonk; but Le Saux, Di Matteo, Van Hooijdonk when written without forenames

foreign placenames
Style for foreign placenames evolves with common usage. Many names have become part of the English language (Geneva). Opt for locally used names, with these main exceptions: Archangel, Basle, Berne, Brittany, Cologne, Dunkirk, Florence, Fribourg, Genoa, Gothenburg, Hanover, Kiev, Lombardy, Milan, Munich, Naples, Normandy, Nuremberg, Padua, Piedmont, Rome, Sardinia, Seville, Sicily, Syracuse, Turin, Tuscany, Venice, Zurich

foreign words and phrases
Italicise, with roman translation in brackets, if it really is a foreign word or phrase and not an anglicised one, in which case it is roman with no accents (exception: exposé).

forensic
belonging to the courts; does not mean scientific

forego
go before forgo go without

forever
continually: he is forever changing his mind for ever for always: I will love you for ever

formula
plural formulas, but formulae in scientific context

formula one
motor racing

fortuitous
by chance, accidental; not by good fortune, lucky

fractions
two-thirds, three-quarters, etc, but two and a half

french fries, french kiss, french letter, french polish, french window

freudian slip

frontbench, frontline, frontrunner

fuel
overused as a verb

fuel card
two words

fulfil, fulfilling, fulfilment

fundraiser, fundraising

Video production company
© 2018 NorthLight Media Limited
  • Home
  • News blog
  • Professional film and video
    • Productions
  • Other services
    • Photography
    • Podcasts and audio features
    • Copy-writing and editing
    • Media training
    • Media tools >
      • Style sheet
  • Contact us
  • About us
    • Talent