Online style guide
- fahrenheit
- far east, near east
but Middle East
- Far North Queensland
all capitalised
- fare, fair
'How are the Icelanders fairing?' This question made it all the way to our website. What the producer wanted to ask was how Icelanders were getting on, not what kind of funfairs they were enjoying. Faring is what's needed here..
- fascinated by
fascinated by the goings-on next door ... fascinated by her smile ... the general public are fascinated by disasters (not with)
- faze
nothing fazed her. But she was going through a difficult phase
- federal
lower case when not part of an official title. So it's 'at state and federal levels...' or 'that's funded by the federal government'.
- Federal Court
is capitalised, as in 'full bench (lower case) of the Federal Court
- fell swoop
one fell swoop
- fetid or foetid
stinking
- fetus
a listener has kindly pointed out that 'foetus' is not the correct spelling according to the British Medical Association. That's good enough for us.
- fewer, less
fewer people cook at home now they have less time to spend in the kitchen. Fewer than 8 items at this checkout, so we get less congestion in the queue. If you can count individuals, it's fewer; if it's a smaller mass of something, it's less.
- fiance (m), fiancee (f)
but divorcee for both male and female
- Fibro
trademark, so capitalise
- fiery
a fiery discussion, etc
- film titles
should be italicised
See: italics- film-maker or filmmaker
- first and foremost
- first lady
France's first lady, America's first lady, not 'French first lady' or 'American first lady',
- first world war
cold war, Vietnam war, WWII and so on
- firsthand, first hand
a firsthand account ... I heard about it first hand
- flak
- flammable, inflammable
mean the same thing, not fireproof. Something that is fireproof is non-flammable.
- flaunt, flout
display, as in 'flaunt your wares' (flout is disregard, as in 'flout the rules')
- Flickr
- flyer
single-sheet advertising material
- focus, focused, focuses, focusing
- foetid or fetid
stinking
- fogey
- fold (suffix)
'The population increased sixfold over 200 years' means it was six times larger at the end of 200 years than it was at the beginning. It's a tautology to say 'increased by sixfold'. Manifold means having multiple parts, as in 'it has manifold uses.'
See: tautology- foot and mouth disease
- footy
- forbear
to refrain. Your forebears are your ancestors.
- foregone conclusion
- foreseen, unforeseen
- forestall, forestalment
- foreword
comes at the front of a book, but we move forward
- forgo
do without. Forego means to go before
- former singer with
Judith Durham is a singer who once sang with The Seekers. She cannot be described as a 'former singer with The Seekers' because she is still a singer today.
- former veteran
'former Iraq veteran' doesn't make sense if you're describing someone still alive. To be a veteran of something means you have past experience which can never change, so 'former' is superfluous here. Likewise, an Olympic gold medallist can never be described as a 'former medallist' unless they've been stripped of their medal for some reason.
- formerly
before, at a previous time. Formally means in a formal manner.
- formula, formulas
not formulae
- fractions
For fractions to publish correctly online, you need to use the following HTML code. If you copy and paste actual fractions from other documents our publishing system will treat them as illegal characters and your story will fail.
- Frances, Francis
Frances is normally the girl, Francis the boy
- Fremantle
A Western Australian port city south of Perth
- french letter, french window, French language
- Frisbee
trademark, so capitalise
- from ... to
'Everyone from trainers, bookies, bar staff and punters are feeling it...' doesn't make sense. If you have a 'from' you need a 'to'. Everyone from trainers and bookies to bar staff and punters ...
And 'Everything from city design to modern art to the basic box...' doesn't make sense either. We need two points, from and to. So we can say 'Everything from city design and modern art to the basic box.' We want to throw the stone from one shore to the other, not skip it over the water.
- fulsome
excessive or cloying
- fusillade