Headings and titles

Headings set the tone, they are read more than anything else. Use them to draw readers in.

Headings start with a capital letter only – see writing appealing headlines.

√ Managing Partner update

√ All consuming

x Managing Partner Update

x All Consuming

Hyphens

Hyphens are joiners. Use them to improve clarity or to form a single idea from two or more words. There are many different reasons for using hyphens. Below are some common ones.

• ‍Hyphens can be used to group two or more words into a noun (compound nouns). For example, start-up.
• ‍When a compound adjective comes before a noun, and serves as an adjective describing the noun, use hyphens to link the words. For example, US-based partner, mid-market price, full-time job.
• Do not hyphenate these where they are verbs, or do not come directly before a noun. For example, the report will follow up on progress, the job is full time.
• ‍Do not hyphenate common words unnecessarily. Many compound words have become standard English words that do not require a hyphen. For example, worldwide, firmwide, crossborder.

Hyphenation and prefixes

• Hyphenate all prefixed words that have double vowels. For example, co-ordinator, co-ordinate, re-educate.
• ‍Pre: use a hyphen only when the following word begins with the vowel e. For example, pre-exist. In other cases, there is no hyphen. For example, prearrange, precondition.
• Multi: in general, do not hyphenate. For example, multinational, multidisciplinary multimillion.
• ‍Non: in general, always hyphenate, except for ‘nondescript’ and ‘nonsense’. For example, non-standard, non-vital.
• ‍Sub: in general, do not hyphenate. For example, substandard, subheadline.