Language

Using language in your content

Everything you need to know about language and spelling.

Acronyms and abbreviations

Spell out the name or term in full

Spell out the name or term in full the first time you use it within the body text of a section, then immediately follow it by the acronym in brackets. After that you only need to use the acronym.

Write out the acronyms in full again the first time you use them in a new section of your page or document. You should follow this rule for government departments or schemes.

Do not italicise or use full stops in acronyms.

Do this	Not this
Invitation to Tender (ITT) dynamic purchasing system (DPS) Government Commercial Agency (GCA)	Invitation to Tender (I.T.T) Dynamic Purchasing System DPS G.C.A GCA

Do not use acronyms in section headings or subheadings 

Only use acronyms in the body text of your web page, document or email.

Do this	Not this
Ten years of Government Commercial Agency Today we celebrate 10 years of Government Commercial Agency (GCA).	Ten years of Government Commercial Agency (GCA) Today we celebrate 10 years of GCA.

Capital letters

Abbreviations and acronyms should use capitals (GCA, BBC) even if the subject you are talking about is lower case. For example, a dynamic purchasing system would be (DPS).

Commonly known acronyms

An acronym is commonly known if it is thought that 80% or more of the population should be able to recognise it. Where something is commonly known by its abbreviation, only use the abbreviation. This includes:

• UK
• EU
• US
• BBC
• IT
• NHS

Abbreviations to avoid

There are some abbreviations that you should avoid using. Always spell these out fully or use an alternative word:

Abbreviation to avoid	Alternative (if relevant)	Exception
Eg	For example	Use ‘eg’ in tables only where space is limited, other wise always spell it out in full
Etc	Do not use this	–
Ie	That is	Only use in tables, where space is limited. Otherwise spell it out in full
NB	Note	–

Contractions

Contractions are words that combine 2 or more other words in a shortened form, usually with an apostrophe.

For example, the contraction for “cannot” is “can’t”.

Avoid using negative contractions like “don’t” or “won’t”. These can be harder for some audiences to read and understand. Often they are misread as the opposite of what they say.

Instead spell them out fully so “cannot”, “will not”, “do not”.

Avoid “should’ve”, “could’ve”, “would’ve”, and “they’ve” too. These can also be hard to read.

Do this	Not this
We should have read the buyer guide to know that we cannot buy through direct award using this agreement.	We should’ve read the buyer guide to know that we can’t buy through direct award using this agreement.
They have agreed to extend the deadline so we will not miss the cut off date.	They’ve agreed to extend the deadline so we won’t miss the cut off date.

Word choice and plain language

Everything we write should be in plain language (also known as plain English). This means using language that is clear, simple and easy for all readers to understand no matter their experience or knowledge.

Research shows that 80% of people prefer sentences written in plain language. Expert users had an even greater preference for plain language, especially when discussing complex issues.

We should always aim to be as concise as possible and use the simplest words that fit our context.

For example:

• ‘buying’ or ’buy’ instead of ‘procurement’ or ‘procure’
• ‘help’ instead of ‘aid’
• ‘use’ instead of ‘utilise’
• ‘need’ instead of ‘requirement’

Jargon and technical terms

Avoid using complex, long or formal words where short and simple will do. Our readers should not need to spend time translating what we write. If you need to include technical terms, you must explain what the term means in plain language or link to our glossary if relevant.

Find out more about words to watch and words not to use.

Metaphors

Some audiences may not be familiar with some phrases or may find it difficult to understand the meanings behind metaphors. Use the simplest words you can for the context and always say exactly what you mean.

Do not use metaphors or phrases like:

• one stop shop
• time is money
• going or moving forward
• ring fencing
• drive (unless referring to driving a vehicle)
• covers
• ad hoc

Active voice, not passive

Using active verbs or ‘voice’ instead of passive can help to make your sentences shorter, clearer and easier to read.

Active voice typically describes sentences where the subject of the sentence is performing an action and is the focus.

Note: there may be times when you need to use passive voice instead of active. This can include when you do not know the group or person doing the action.

Do this	Not this
We cancelled the event because of the rain	The event was cancelled because of the rain
They arranged the meeting for Tuesday	The meeting was arranged for Tuesday
On Thursday, we wrote the buyer guide	The buyer guide was written on Thursday
We published the agreement webpage last week	The agreement webpage was published last week

Capitalisation and nouns

The casing of your text can affect the readability of your content. You should only use upper case at the beginning of sentences, for names, and for months and days.

Never use capitalisation for emphasis and do not use BLOCK CAPITALS for text. Block capitals can distort the shape of a word which can make it difficult for some audiences to read.

Sentence casing

Always use sentence casing, even in page titles and service names. Sentence case is where the first letter of the first word is capitalised, and all other letters and words that follow are in lowercase. The exceptions to this are proper nouns.

Proper nouns

A proper noun is a specific (not generic) name for a person, place or thing. This includes buildings, brand names, faculties, departments, institutes, schools, names of groups, directorates and organisations.

We should always capitalise proper nouns, no matter where they are within a sentence.

Do this	Not this
Judicial Board Knowledge and Innovation Group Thursday November Housing Reform Bill Right to Buy (as in the scheme)	judicial board knowledge and innovation group thursday november housing reform bill right to buy

Collective nouns

Collective nouns refer to a group or type of collective. These include words such as ‘committee’ and ‘government’. These words should not be capitalised unless they are used at the beginning of a sentence.

Do this	Not this
The government passed a new law We sat in a committee meeting for 2 hours Committee meetings have an important place in the process	The Government passed a new law We sat in a Committee meeting for 2 hours committee meetings have an important place in the process

Capitals for government departments

• Attorney General’s Office (AGO)
• Cabinet Office (CO)
• Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
• Department for Education (DfE)
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
• Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)
• Department for Transport (DfT)
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
• Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)
• HM Treasury (HMT)>
• Home Office (HO)
• Ministry of Defence (MOD)
• Ministry of Justice (MOJ)

For more information about capitalisation, check that section of the gov.uk style guide.

Referring to Government Commercial Agency

When writing for Government Commercial Agency (GCA), the best practice is to use personal pronouns. This means referring to GCA as ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ and the customer as ‘you’ in most instances.

There are some exceptions to this rule to ensure clarity. These are:

• when your message is for a specific group of customers only, refer to that group by name (for example, suppliers only or buyers only)
• when we are 1 of a number of organisations mentioned in a paragraph (it is best to fully name all organisations for clarity)
• when using ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ would cause confusion or doubt about where the information is coming from and who it is for

• Words to watch

  We often use terms that have different meanings depending on the context. This can make it difficult to know if we should be using certain terms and when.

  View words to watch.

• Words not to use

  Many words in the English language have more than one meaning which can make them difficult to understand for some users, particularly those with English as a second language.

  Use clear and plain language alternatives to avoid confusion.

  View words not to use.

Explore more of our style guide

Our style guide is designed to help you communicate in a clear and consistent way.

• Accessibility

  Accessibility is the practice of making information meaningful and usable for as many people as possible.

  Find out how to make your content accessible.

• Brand guidelines

  We created these brand guidelines to explain how we use our brand to consistently communicate with our customers visually and verbally. Includes our tone of voice, our brand colours how to use our brand mark (logo).

  Find out more about our brand guidelines.

• Formatting

  Everything you need to know about how to format your content. Includes links, bullet pointed lists, heading styles and punctuation.

  Find out how to format your content.

• Numbers

  Everything you need to know about formatting and writing numbers in your content. Includes dates and time, percentages and how to write about ages.

  Find out how to use numbers in your content.

• Checklist

  When you have finished writing your piece of content, use our checklist to check you have followed the style guide and are ready to publish.

  View our checklist.

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Glossary

Find explanations for common terms and abbreviations used in public procurement.

Explore our glossary.