.....................

• Use the active voice whenever possible. It is usually clearer and gives the writing more energy than the passive. Choose the passive voice when you wish to hide or soften the identity of the agent (Stages 1, 2 and 3 are graded to allow …), to focus on a particular subject (The paper was rewritten five times) or as one possible strategy to avoid discriminatory language.
  
  
• Use as few adjectives and adverbs as possible, particularly adverbs of degree, whether hedge words such as rather, pretty, a little, or intensifiers such as very, greatly, completely.
  
  
• Vary the length of sentences. Rewrite sentences that are too complex or dense.
  
  
• Use transitional words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs to help the reader understand the writer’s perspective and clarify the relationships between the ideas that are being presented. For example:

  however; nevertheless; moreover; on the other hand
  In spite of what X says, Y argues …
  While agreeing with the major emphasis of X’s argument, Y’s findings differ in two important ways: …
  Let us now look at the historical background …
  Putting this in its Australian context, we find …

13 Inclusive communication
Australian Government legislation makes it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, ethno-religious background, age or disability. ‘Writers, editors, designers and other communicators should always bear in mind the diversity within their audiences, and ensure that references to and about particular people or social groups are couched in inclusive terms.’ (Style manual 2002: 55)

Chapter 4 in the sixth edition of the Style manual includes sections on non-discriminatory portrayal of Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, of ethnolinguistic minorities in Australia, of people with disabilities, and of older and younger people.

13.1 Non-discriminatory language strategies

• recast the noun and pronoun in the plural
  Not: Each student has handed in his essay.
  But: The students have handed in their essays.
  
  
• delete the pronoun
  Not: A good editor uses her common sense.
  But: A good editor uses common sense.
  
  
• replace the pronoun with an article
  Not: Every participant should bring his instructions.
  But: Every participant should bring the instructions.
  
  
• use I, we or you instead of his, her
  Not: Every citizen must register his vote in writing.
  But: As a citizen you must register your vote in writing.
  
  
• recast the sentence to avoid pronouns
  Not: A conscientious teacher gives her students useful handouts.
  But: A conscientious teacher gives useful handouts to students.
  
  
• use the gender-free pronoun you
  Not: Every student wants his teacher to give him good marks.
  But: You want your teacher to give you good marks.
  
  
• use the gender-free plural pronoun they/their/them
  Not: Every student wants his teacher to give him good marks.
  But: Every student wants their teacher to give them good marks.
  

13.2 Avoiding discrimination
for minimising discriminatory language

• avoid suffixes such as –ess, -ette, -trix – for example, actor not actress
  
  
• use terms that are not gender specific when describing people’s roles – for example, chairperson, tradesperson
  
  
• use woman or man, not girl (or lady) or boy, for a person over 18 – young woman or young man may be appropriate for a person under or a little over 18
  
  
• be aware of the effect of tone as well as of the words used – for example, in writing which implies that women or Aboriginal people are secondary citizens in a white or male world, and such expressions as John’s pretty widow, a man and his wife
  
  
• take care of your examples, images and references, as well as of your words, in case they are chosen from and reinforce one limited section of the culture – for example, white middle-aged male
  
  
• avoid terms such as ethnics or ethnic Australians as they could be seen as implying a them and us distinction, unless being used in a straightforward, descriptive way, such as ethnic groups
  
  
• use the acronym LOTE (language other than English) rather than NESB (non English speaking background) as it does not make using English seem the reference point for everyone
  
  
• try to find out what title (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms) or term or name any particular person or group prefers
  
  
• refer to people with a disability in such a way that it does not dominate your impression of them – for example, the visually impaired is preferable to using blind

  
  for minimising discriminatory language in quotations

• the word sic, enclosed in square brackets, can be inserted immediately after the discriminatory expression
  
  
• the passage can be paraphrased in such a way that the discriminatory language is avoided

No guidance is adequate in these areas, since the social context of discrimination in Australia, and therefore also the language, is in a state of flux. But there is already a body of common experience in ways of achieving a direct, accurate, even elegant style which avoids bias. See the Style manual pp 48–62.

13.3 Indigenous peoples
For indigenous peoples, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission recommends that the following forms be used to designate the original inhabitants of Australia and their descendants:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

When referring to these races individually or to persons of either race, the following terms are preferred:

Aboriginal (singular noun)
Aboriginals                                            )
Australian Aboriginals                             ) plural nouns
Aboriginal people(s)                                )
Aboriginal (adjective)
Torres Strait Islander (singular noun)
Torres Strait Islanders                             )
Torres Strait Islander people                    ) plural nouns
Torres Strait Islander (adjective)

Note the use of capitals. The word aborigine, uncapitalised, is used to refer to the original inhabitants of any other country.

14 Grammar

14.1 Usage versus prescriptive grammar
In the early nineteenth century the rules that had been developed as guides to good English came to be regarded as prescriptive, and it is only recently that these rules about what is right and wrong have given way to more flexible considerations of what is appropriate or inappropriate usage. Context-appropriate usage is now the criterion for what is acceptable, and must be interpreted in terms of the author’s own sensitivity to meaning, rhythm and the subtleties of usage in particular speech communities and levels of discourse.

Listed below are some common grammatical points where confusion can occur or prescriptive rules linger. For more details see Chapter 5 of the Style manual.

14.2 Adjectival and adverbial phrases
Adjectives and adverbs, and adjectival and adverbial phrases and clauses, need to be placed carefully in a sentence so that it is clear which word they modify. Avoid what Americans call dangling modifiers, where the word that should be modified has been dropped from the sentence. For example: Riding his bike to school, the magpie dive-bombed his head. However there are institutionalised dangling participles, such as judging by, given that.

14.3 Pronoun references

• Make sure the reference of pronouns such as it, we, this and that is clear.
  The student’s teacher told him he needed a new textbook.
  Who needed the new textbook?
  The attitude to how we teach grammar has now changed.
  Who is we in this sentence?
  The price of these books has risen from $25 to $30. This is too much.
  Is the rise of $5 too much, or the new cost of $30?
  
  
• Whom is obsolescent, but is still used generally as the object of a preposition, and in formal writing as the direct object of a verb:
  The student to whom I spoke is from China.
  Our guest speaker, whom I am very proud to present …

14.4 Agreement
The verb in a clause will usually agree with its subject in terms of whether it is singular or plural, as in:

the student is absent
the students are absent

With collective nouns, singular or plural agreement may be used, depending on whether it relates to the whole group or the individuals within it. For example:

The family is the basic social unit.
His family are all well-known musicians.

The words data and media, which take a Latin form in the plural, are now commonly used with a singular verb when they have a collective sense. For example:

The data on that is misleading.
The media has not covered that yet.

14.5 Split infinitives
Split infinitives are now in common use. Style guides including the Style manual, Fowler, and Peters (see para 31 and para 32) approve of them where the sentence would otherwise be ambiguous or artificial. The important thing is for the sentence to read well and convey the writer’s intention, either with or without a split infinitive. For instance, compare to boldly go where no man [sic] has gone before (Star Trek), which splits the infinitive, with to go boldly …, which does not. The former obviously achieves the desired effect.

15 Sentence punctuation
For a full discussion, see Chapter 6 ‘Spelling and word punctuation’ and Chapter 7 ‘Sentence punctuation’ in the Style manual.

NCELTR policy is to avoid unnecessary punctuation, but not to the point of losing clarity or readability. The only exception to minimal punctuation style is in the bibliography or reference list, which follows APA style, the standard for linguistics academics. Punctuation marks are harder to read on screen than in print, which makes it important not to write sentences with multiple clauses that need extensive punctuation for electronic media.

15.1 Full stops
The full stop, or period, is the punctuation mark that ends a sentence. For its use with captions, in tables and with abbreviations see paras 10.1, 10.2, 19–19.4. Typing convention dictates two spaces after a full stop, but the trend in typing and the common practice in typesetting is to use one space only. NCELTR uses the single space.

15.2 Commas

• Commas should be used to mark off a non-defining (or non-restrictive) relative clause – that is, one that contains information that is not essential to the definition of the subject but comments on it:
  
  The questionnaires, which were distributed to 500 students, have had an exceptionally good response rate.
  
  
• A defining clause gives information that is essential to the identification of the subject and should not be marked off by commas:
  
  The questionnaires that contained missing pages were not returned by the students.
  
  If commas were inserted after questionnaires and pages, it would mean all questionnaires had missing pages and were not returned.
  
  
• Do not use a comma before and in a series unless it is necessary for clarity:
  
  goals, objectives and learning style
  student responses, teaching materials, student tasks, and records.

15.3 Quotation marks

• For print publications, use single quotation marks, then double for quoted material within a quotation, then single within that. If a punctuation mark is part of the quotation, it should be placed inside the quotation mark; if the punctuation mark relates to the sentence rather than to the quotation, it should be placed outside the quotation mark. For example:
  
  The teacher said, ‘Although she told me “I can’t speak English”, she was communicating very well indeed’.
  
  
• Single quotation marks are more difficult to read on screen than double, so the practice should be reversed for electronic publications:
  
  The teacher said, “Although she told me ‘I can’t speak English’, she was communicating very well indeed”.
  
  
• If the whole of a printed sentence is a quotation, the full stop should be placed inside the closing quotation mark:
  
  ‘The aim of the curriculum is to specify a range of learning outcomes.’
  
  
• But if any part of the sentence contains matter not quoted, then the final stop should be placed outside the closing quotation mark:
  
  The project coordinator stated, ‘The aim of the curriculum is to specify a range of learning outcomes,’ and added ‘expressed as competency statements’.
  
  
• Quotation marks should not be used with indirect speech:
  
  The students said that learning about culture was very important for them.
  
  or to enclose familiar expressions:
  
  Some people never learn.
  
  
• For quotations longer than a sentence or two, the quoted material should be indented and single-spaced, without opening or closing quotation marks, or italics.
  
  
• When using a non-standard colloquialism, enclose it in quotation marks, eg ‘buddy’.

15.4 Colons

• A colon is used to introduce a run-on list or one set off from the text when the items in the list are in apposition to an introductory word or are preceded by the following or as follows. For example:
  

  The class has students of many nationalities: Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Malaysian, Greek, Italian, Chilean and Argentinian.
  
  New vocabulary was presented through:
  pictures
  definitions
  word groups
  minimal context
  maximum context.
  

• A colon is required after words such as for example, including, such as, that is and namely when they introduce a list set off from the text, but not when they introduce a run-on list. For example:
  

  The Publications Team consists of experienced staff, such as:
  
  writers
  editors
  designers
  illustrators
  proofreaders.
  
  The worksheet questions tested various aspects of the text, such as characters, story structure and comprehension.
  

• A colon is not needed when the list is the complement or object of the introductory words, but is generally used when the list is set off from the text:
  

  The parts of speech he mentions are nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and prepositions.
  
  The four areas the IELTS test covers are:
  listening
  speaking
  reading
  writing.
  

• A comma is the most common punctuation to introduce a quotation or reported speech, but a colon is used in the following cases:
  
  – if the quotation is official:
  
  The Campbell Report noted that: ‘All Australian residents …’
  
  – if the quotation consists of two or more complete sentences:
  
  A workshop report noted the following: ‘The most obvious problem with the continuation classes is the small proportion of migrants who ever attend. Only about 1 in 12 of all migrants reach the classes and then there is a high abandonment rate.’
  
  – if the quotation is long enough to be indented – usually when it is more than two or three lines of text:
  
  The Style manual discusses the use of commas as follows:

  Some people use commas liberally; others use very few. In either case, the overriding criterion must be whether a comma is needed to ensure that the message is unambiguous and delivered effectively. (p 102)

15.5 Semicolons
A semicolon indicates a stronger break than a comma but weaker than that of a full stop.

It can be used to divide a sentence where the two parts are linked in meaning. There should be a full clause in each of the two parts.

The manuscript is due to arrive this week; editing can then commence immediately.

15.6 Dashes: em and en rules
The word dash refers to two main types of punctuation: the em rule and the en rule.

• dash, or em rule (—). What is generally referred to as the dash is known to typesetters as an em rule, so called because it is the width of the letter m in the particular typeface you’re using.
  
  A pair of dashes (or em rules) may be used to mark off a parenthetical element when commas or parentheses would not have enough impact. NCELTR prefers the use of the spaced en rule following the current practice in modern typography. For example:

  Three elements of phonation – loudness, pitch and timbre – are introduced in the Rheme of clause 1.
  

• en rule (–). The en rule is a shorter rule, or half an em.
  
  An en rule is used in spans of figures, in expressions relating to time or distance, and to express an association between words that retain their separate identity. For example:
  

  pages 53–4, Brisbane–Mackay, Commonwealth–State relations, hand–eye coordination
  

• spaced en rule ( – ). The spaced en rule is composed of an en rule with a space either side. It is used where it makes the meaning clearer or more easily readable, especially to connect compound items which have internal space. For example:
  

  Adult migrant education entered a new phase over the next decade (1991 – 2001) …
  
  rather than
  
  Adult migrant education entered a new phase over the next decade (1991–2001) …
  
  Advanced level proficiency – although there are some mistakes, you are able to understand and use complicated English …
  
  rather than
  
  Advanced level proficiency - although there are some mistakes, you are able to understand and use complicated English…
  

15.7 Slashes

• A slash – also known as a diagonal, oblique or solidus – is used to express alternatives (male/female, books and/or journals) and to express the words per, a or an with symbols or abbreviations (80 km/h – but 80 kilometres per hour).

15.8 Punctuation in lists

• In a list set off from the text, usually no punctuation is used at the end of each item.
  

  Social life can be divided into four broad domains of language use:
  
  – family
  – community
  – work
  – education.

  However, if the items are complete sentences, an initial capital and a full stop should be used.
  

  Generic structure analysis can be approached in the following way:
  
  – Categorise the text according to its sociocultural purpose.
  – Label the stages of the text with functional labels.
  – Indicate which stages are obligatory and which are optional.
  

• Semicolons should be used at the end of each item in a run-on list if there are phrases that already contain commas. A full stop is then used for the last item.
  

  Also present were:
  
  – clear, mutual respect, trust and professional interaction, maintained by constant communication between partners, thus pre-empting any potential areas of conflict;
  – flexibility of the partners to changing circumstances, as demonstrated by their responsiveness to the developing needs of the class.

16 Spelling, word punctuation and setting
For standard spellings consult the third edition of the Macquarie dictionary, published in 1997.

Spelling should be consistent throughout any one text. If in doubt, look the word up. As a quick reference, a list of word groups with variable spellings, with the NCELTR preference, is given at 16.1.1.

The spelling in quotations or in foreign names should not be changed. The word sic, enclosed in square brackets, can be inserted after a misspelt word.

Many software packages contain a spellcheck facility, but the use of spellchecks alone is not recommended. They are often based on American spellings, and they do not identify spellings that are incorrect in the context in which they occur – for example, their instead of there, he instead of the.

16.1 Spelling variants
The Macquarie dictionary provides the standard spellings for an Australian audience. When writing for a wider audience, particularly on the Internet, other considerations arise:

• Australian spelling conventions may be unfamiliar to the reader
  
  
• Australian standard spellings may be seen as British convention as opposed to the American.

The following list presents common groups of variable spellings with the preferred form for NCELTR Publishing and a usage note to provide a wider context.

16.1.1 Preferred spellings
-er/-or
Rule: Where there is a choice between the –er and –or endings for agent nouns, use the –er ending (for exceptions see Usage note ⁵ ). Agent nouns formed from verbs ending in –ate always take the –or ending, as in communicator.

Examples:
adapter
adviser
conjurer
convener

-ing/-eing
Rule: For verbs that end in e, drop the e when forming the present participle (for exceptions see Usage note⁶ ).

Examples:
aging
cringing
queuing

-ise/-ize
Rule: Use –ise rather than –ize for verb endings.⁷

Examples:
contextualised
maximise
minimising
organise

-l/-ll
Rule: Use l for uninflected forms of verbs ending with l (see Usage note for exceptions⁸ ).

Examples:
appal
enrol
enthral
fulfil

Rule: Use ll for inflected forms of verbs ending with l (see Usage note for exceptions).

Examples:
appalled, appalling
enrolled, enrolling
enthralled, enthralling
fulfilled, fulfilling

-ment/-ement
Rule: Do not include an e before nouns ending in –ment.⁹

Examples:
abridgment
acknowledgment
judgment

-or/our
Rule: Use –our rather than –or spellings.¹⁰

Examples:
colour
honour
humour
labour

-re/-er
Rule: Use –re rather than –er spellings.¹¹

Examples:
centre, centred
fibre
kilometre
theatre

-s/-ss
Rule: Do not double the s for inflected forms of verbs ending in a single s (see Usage note for exceptions ).¹²

Examples:
chorus, chorused, chorusing
bias, biased
focus, focused, focusing

-t/-tt
Rule: The t at the end of verbs should only be doubled in inflected forms if the word’s stress falls on the syllable that ends in the t – as in admitted (see Usage note for exceptions ).¹³

Examples:
ballot, balloted, balloting
limit, limited, limiting
market, marketed, marketing
target, targeted, targeting

-yse/-yze
Rule: Use the –yse spelling rather than –yze. ¹⁴

Examples:
analyse
catalyse
paralyse

16.1.2 Miscellaneous preferred spellings
disc (in contexts such as biology: disc flower; medicine: invertebrate disc; the phonograph industry: compact disc)
disk (in computing: hard disk, floppy disk)¹⁵
program¹⁶
supersede ¹⁷

16.2 Plurals
There are sometimes alternative ways of forming the plurals of nouns that are borrowed into English from other languages (loanwords) – by adding the standard English plural suffix –s, -es etc, or by using the plural form from the language of origin. For example, appendix can become appendixes/appendices, bureau can be bureaus/bureaux, curriculum can be curriculums/curricula.

Rule: Use the English plural form for loanwords.

Examples:
appendixes
bureaus
curriculums
syllabuses
symposiums

16.3 Word punctuation
Some punctuation marks affect the form of a word, including the apostrophe and the hyphen and the full stop. The use of stops in abbreviations is addressed in para 19, and sentence punctuation in para 15.

16.3.1 Apostrophes

• Apostrophes indicate contractions and possessives. To form the possessive of a singular noun, add an apostrophe and an s ( the cat’s tail, the government’s new policy); to form the possessive of a plural noun ending in s, add an apostrophe after the s ( the cats’ tails, the governments’ policies). For plurals which do not end in s, add an apostrophe and an s ( the children’s hats). The same rules apply for proper nouns, except ancient and biblical names (Jesus’ words, Achilles’ heel).
  
  
• In statements of joint ownership, only the last name has the apostrophe and s added (my sister and brother’s cat, Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas). If the ownership is not joint, each name has the apostrophe and s (Claudia’s and Roberto’s cars, Mozart’s and Beethoven’s symphonies).
  
  
• Apostrophes are also used to form the plural of letters (p’s and q’s, A’s and B’s), but not the plurals of abbreviations or numbers (PhDs, Mas, 1970s).
  
  
• Apostrophes are not used in the possessive of pronouns (his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs).
  
  
• Apostrophes are used to mask missing letters in two-word contractions (can’t, won’t, I’ll, she’ll, it’s).
  
  
• The most common confusion is between it’s, meaning it is, and its, the possessive of it: The dog wags its tail when it’s going for a walk.

16.3.2 Hyphens
The hyphen (-) is the shortest of the three dashes (compare em and en rules, para 15.6). It is used in word division and in forming complex words and compound words (see para 16.4). For guidelines on breaking words that come at the end of a line, refer to the Style manual (pp 93–4).

16.4 Word setting
The decision as to whether to set a word or phrase that consists of separate elements (such as prefixes, suffixes, independent words) solid, with hyphen(s) or spaced, is not always straightforward. The following paragraphs present some of the rules that govern this decision, and list some examples.

16.4.1 Complex words
Complex words consist of words that are combined with prefixes, suffixes or other uninflected words (known as combining forms) that modify their meaning.

Rules:

a) Prefixes are not generally followed by a hyphen, except:

• to avoid a double vowel, and sometimes two vowels coming together, eg anti-immigration, anti-union, de-emphasise, pre-empt (but note cooperate, coordinate, extraordinary) ¹⁸
  
  
• before a capital letter, eg pre-Columbian, anti-European, un-Australian
  
  
• before a date, eg pre-1600, post-1945
  
  
• after ex meaning former, eg ex-husband, ex-president
  
  
• to distinguish separate meanings, eg re-form and reform, re-creation and recreation.

b) Non-lexical items (usually prepositions) are generally followed or preceded by a hyphen.

Examples

Prefixes		Combining forms (premodifying)	Combining forms (postmodfying)
audio- audiovisual bi- bilingual co-19 cooperate coordinate, coordinator hyper- hyperlink hypertext inter- interaction, interactive interpersonal interrelated meta- metadata multi- multicultural multidimensional multifaceted multiskilled, multiskilling non- 20 nonsexist language nonverbal non-native speakers non-standard non-recognition non English speaking non English speaking background para- para-professional post- postdoctoral postgraduate postmodernism pre- predetermine prepackaged presupposes re- redesign reorder rephrased rereading restructured restructuring rewrite semi- semiautonomous semiformal socio- sociocultural sub- subheadings subtitles		cross- cross-cultural cross-sectional e-21 email in- in-house on- online ongoing on-site over-22 overemphasise over-representation self- self-assessment self-determined self-help self-monitoring well- well-developed well-known		-down shut-down (noun) -off one-off -out print-out (noun) -up follow-up pop-up

16.4.2 Compound words
Compound words consist of two (or more) separable parts, each of which can stand as a word in its own right. The compound may, however, be set in one of three ways: spaced, hyphenated or set solid. There is a good deal of variance in the way in which noun compounds are set, but those for adjectives are relatively clear cut. Both types are discussed below.

• compound adjectives

  – compound adjectives take hyphens when used attributively (ie preceding a noun). The words of which they consist may otherwise be spaced, according to their role in the sentence. Compare:
  
  first-class honours                            travelling first class
  a real-life experience                        it happens in real life
  the decision-making                        process decision making is an art
  
  – compound adjectives that involve an adverb ending in -ly are left spaced, eg finely honed, nationally recognised

• compound nouns
  
  – common nouns used as modifiers or base forms are normally set solid in compounds:

Compound modifiers	Compound base forms
work workforce workmates workplace workstations	-work framework homework piecework roadwork

– when a single-syllable noun is followed by an inflected verb, the term is usually set solid: bookmaker, leavetaking, wordprocessor; when the noun consists of more than one syllable, the term is presented with a hyphen or as two words: record-keeping, language testing

17 Capitals
The modern tendency is towards less capitalisation. Capitals are nevertheless regularly used for:

• specific and proper names to distinguish them from general and common names, eg Jean Bennett, Thomas Henry Wilson
  
  
• personifications, eg Beauty, Time
  
  
• nicknames and epithets, eg Alexander the Great
  
  
• names of organisations, institutions and other such bodies when they are given in full, eg Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Macquarie University, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Amnesty International, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, but not when they are subsequently referred to by their generic element, eg the university, the department, the company
  
  
• some organisations, when referred to in full and when subsequently referred to in official publications by their generic element:
  

  the House of Representatives                    the House
  
  the Federal Parliament                               the Parliament

  But government is lower-cased in both official and other publications when it does not refer to a specific entity or is used adjectivally:

  local government
  
  good government
  
  government policy

  And some words connected with specific institutions are capitalised so that they are distinguished from their generic meaning, eg the Treasury, the Budget, the Crown, the Bar, the Bench, the Cabinet, the Chair, the Constitution
  

• nationalities, races, tribes, place names, eg the Chinese, African-Americans, Buddhists, North Queenslanders, the Darling Downs, but not venetian blinds
  
  
• trademarks, eg Kodak, Kleenex
  
  
• computer and Internet terms such as CD-ROM, Internet, Net, World Wide Web and Web ²³
  
  
• days, months, feasts, ceremonies, time zones, eg Friday, July, Christmas, Anzac