Online style guide
- idiosyncrasy
- ie
that is ... no punctuation
- ill-gotten gains
- illicit
is unlawful ... elicit is to draw out
- immune to
not from ... you build up an immunity to something
- impinge, inpinging
- implications
that has implications for the future health of the planet (not about)
- impostor
- impracticable
can't be done, impossible
- impractical
could be done, but not easily right now
- in extremis
- in fact
two words, as are all right and thank you
- in-laws
father-in-law, fathers-in-law, and so on
- indenting a quotation
a quotation longer than a few lines is usually indented and set off from the main body of text. To achieve this in Wallace, you must use the HTML blockquote tag.
- Indigenous
capitalise for Australian Aborigines, lower case for original inhabitants elsewhere
- Indispensable
- Infer
to deduce something ... imply is to hint at something
- inflammable, flammable
mean the same thing—not fireproof. Something that is fireproof is non-flammable
- infringe, infringing
- ingrained
'Surfing is ingrained in our national consciousness...' not ingrained on. The writer here may have been thinking of 'imprinted on'...
- innate
- innoculate
- innovation
please don't write 'new innovation'. To innovate is to introduce something new, so the newness is inherent and doesn't need reinforcing. 'New innovation' is a tautology.
See: tautology- inquiry
normally used to describe a formal investigation ... enquiry is normally used to describe the act of seeking information, as in 'enquire here'.
- install, installation, instalment
instalment in Australia, installment in the USA
- install, instalment
- insure
against risk ... assure your life ... ensure means to make sure.
- internet
- interred, interned
interred means deposited in a grave ... interned means held (as a prisoner of war, for instance)
- into
one word except where 'in' and 'to' belong to separate phrases, as in 'sworn in to the presidency' or 'I walked in to work'. Into is being used more and more often where 'in' by itself is enough. For instance, 'enter a film into the festival.' is too thrusting by far. All that's needed is enter a film in the festival.
- Inuit (plural) Inuk (singular)
in Greenland and Canada
- inverted commas
also called quotation marks, or quote marks. Our house style is to use single quotation marks everywhere except for quotes within quotes.
- investigation
carry out an investigation into or of something, then report on your findings.
- iPhone
needs its capital P
- irascible
- iridescent, iridescence
- irrespective of
regardless of ... not irregardless, there's no such word.
- issues, avoidance of
'exploring the issues of homelessness and mental illness' contains three unnecessary words.
- it's
is the contracted form of 'it is' ... its means 'belonging to it'
- italics
