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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.'

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