fact The fact that can often be reduced to that, but not always. Check whether it confuses the start of a sentence, as it sometimes does.
factoid A factoid is something that sounds like a fact, is thought by many to be a fact (perhaps because it is repeated so often), but is not in fact a fact. In general, avoid, instead using myth for a fake fact and bit of trivia for a small, fun, true fact.
fed up with, not of. Similarly, bored with, not of.
federalist in Britain, someone who believes in centralising the powers of associated states; in the United States and Europe, someone who believes in decentralising them.
fellow Often unnecessary, especially before countrymen (“Friends,Romans, fellow-countrymen”?).
feral can mean brutish or uncultivated, but is best used of animals, children, etc, that were once tamed or domesticated but have run wild.
ferment, foment When you ferment, what you are doing is to cause something to effervesce, like yeast. But you foment trouble, sedition, revolution.
fewer than, less than Fewer (not less) than seven speeches, fewer than seven samurai. Use fewer, not less, with numbers of individual items or people. Less than £200, less than 700 tonnes of oil, less than a third, because these are measured quantities or proportions, not individual items.
Time, being viewed as a continuum, also takes less; in less than six weeks, after less than five months.
fief not fiefdom.
figures Never start a sentence with a figure; write the number in words instead.
Use words for simple numerals from one to ten inclusive, except: in references to pages; in percentages (eg, 4%); and in sets of numerals, some of which are higher than ten.
Deaths from this cause in the past three years were 14, 9 and 6.
Always use numbers with units of measurement, even for those less than ten:
4 metres, 9 miles, but four cows.
It is occasionally permissible to use words rather than numbers when referring to a rough or rhetorical figure (such as a thousand curses, a hundred years of solitude).
In all other cases, though, use figures for numerals from 11 upwards.
first to tenth centuries, the 11th century
20th century, 21st century
20th-century ideas
in 100 years’ time
two and a half years later
a 29-year-old man
a man in his 20s
20th anniversary
40-fold (but fourfold, up to and including ten)
30-something
the Sixties (etc)
The Thirty Years War is an exception.
decimal point Use figures for all numerals that include a decimal point (eg, 4.25).
fractions Figures may be appropriate for fractions, if the context is either technical or precise, or both: Though the poll’s figures were supposed to be accurate to within 1%, his lead of 4¼ points turned out on election day to be minus 3½.
Where precision is less important but it is nonetheless impossible to shoot off the fraction, words may look better:
Though the beast was sold as a two-year-old, it turned out to be two and a half times that.
Fractions should be hyphenated (one-half, three-quarters, etc) and, unless they are attached to whole numbers (8½, 29¾), spelled out in words, even when the figures are higher than ten: He gave a tenth of his salary to the church, a twentieth to his mistress and a thirtieth to his wife.
fractions and decimals Do not compare a fraction with a decimal. So avoid:
The rate fell from 3¼% to 3.1%.
Fractions are more precise than decimals (3.33 neglects an infinity of figures that are embraced by 1/3), but your readers probably do not think so. You should therefore use fractions for rough figures: Kenya’s population is growing at 3½% a year. A hectare is 2½ acres. and decimals for more exact ones:
The retail price index is rising at an annual rate of 10.6%.
But treat all numbers with respect. That usually means resisting the precision of more than one decimal place, and generally favouring rounding off. Beware of phoney over-precision.
hyphens and figures Do not use a hyphen in place of to except with figures: He received a sentence of 15–20 years in jail but He promised to escape within three to four weeks.
Latin usage It is outdated to use Latin words. So, with figures, do not write per caput, per capita or per annum. Use:
a head or per head
a person or per person
a year or per year
2 litres of water per person
prices rose by 10% a year
See also per caput.
measurements In most non-American contexts use metric units: hectares, not acres
metres, not yards
litres, not gallons
kilos (kg), not lb (never lbs)
tonnes, not tons
In American contexts, you may use the measurements more familiar to Americans (though remember that American pints, quarts, gallons, etc, are smaller than imperial ones).
Regardless of which you choose, you should give an equivalent, on first use, in the other units: It was hoped that after improvements to the engine the car would give 20km to the litre (47 miles per American gallon), compared with its present average of 15km per litre.
It is now rare to buy petrol in imperial gallons. In America it is sold in American gallons; in most other places it is sold in litres.
Note that a four-by-four vehicle can be a 4x4.
million, billion, trillion, quadrillion Use m for million, bn for billion and trn for trillion.
8m 8 bn
£8m €8 bn
A billion is a thousand million, a trillion a thousand billion, a quadrillion a thousand trillion.
per cent, percentage points Use the sign % instead of per cent. But write percentage, never %age (though in most contexts proportion or share is preferable).
A fall from 4% to 2% is a drop of two percentage points, or of 50%, but not of 2%. (See also per cent.)
ranges Write:
5,000–6,000
5–6%
5m–6m (not 5–6m)
5 bn–6 bn
But:
Sales rose from 5m to 6m (not 5m–6m); estimates ranged between 5m and 6m (not 5m–6m).
ratios Where to is being used as part of a ratio, it is usually best to spell it out.
They decided, by nine votes to two, to put the matter to the general assembly, which voted, 27 to 19, to insist that the ratio of vodka to tomato juice in a bloody mary should be at least one to three, though the odds of this being so in most bars were put at no better than 11 to 4.
Where a ratio is being used adjectivally, figures and dashes may be used, but only if one of the figures is greater than ten:
a 50–20 vote
a 19–9 vote
Otherwise, spell out the figures and use to and hyphens:
a two-to-one vote
a ten-to-one probability
finally Do not use finally when you mean at last. Richard Burton finally marries Liz Taylor would have been all right second time round but not first.
flaunt, flout Flaunt means display; flout means disdain. If you flout this distinction, you will flaunt your ignorance.
focus can be a useful word. It is shorter than concentrate and sharper than look at. But it is overused.
-fold Use -fold only for increases, not decreases.
footnotes, sources, references see footnotes, sources, references in Part 3.
foreign languages and translation Occasionally, a foreign language may provide the mot juste or a good joke. Sometimes it may be hard to translate a word satisfactorily, or it may be unusually evocative. But try not to use foreign words and phrases unless there is no English alternative, which is unusual.
names of foreign companies, institutions, groups, parties, etc should usually be translated. So:
the Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (not the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie
the German Christian Democratic Union (not the Christlich Demokratische Union)
the Shining Path (not Sendero Luminoso)
the National Assembly (not the Assemblée Nationale)
But if an abbreviation is also given, that may be the initials of the foreign name:
UMP for France’s Union for a Presidential Majority
SPD for the Social Democratic Party of Germany
PAN for Mexico’s National Action Party
Break this rule when the name is better known untranslated:
Forza Italia
Médecins Sans Frontières
Parti Québécois (Canada)
yakuza (not 8-9-3)
placenames Some placenames are better translated if they are well known in English:
St Mark’s Square in Venice (not Piazza San Marco)
the Elysée Palace (not the Palais de l’Elysée)
titles of foreign books, films, etc The titles of foreign books, films, plays, operas and TV programmes present difficulties. Some are so well known that they are unlikely to need translation:
“Das Kapital” “Mein Kampf” “Le Petit Prince” “Die Fledermaus”
And sometimes the meaning of the title may be unimportant in the context, so a translation is not necessary:
“Hiroshima, Mon Amour”
But often the title will be significant, and you will want to translate it. One solution, easy with classics, is simply to give the English translation:
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” “The Leopard” “War and Peace” “The Tin Drum”
This is usually the best practice to follow with pamphlets, articles and non-fiction, too.
But sometimes, especially with books and films that are little known among English-speakers or unobtainable in English (perhaps you are reviewing one), you may want to give both the original title and a translation, thus:
“11 Septembre 2001: l’Effroyable Imposture” (“September 11th 2001: The Appalling Deception”)
“La Règle du Jeu” (“The Rules of the Game”)
“La Traviata” (“The Sinner”)
Foreign titles do not need to be set in italics. Treat them as if they were in English.
Note that book publishers follow different rules here. (See italics.)
translating words and phrases If you want to translate a foreign word or phrase, even if it is the name of a group or newspaper or party, just put it in brackets without inverted commas, so: Arbeit macht frei (work makes free)
Pravda (Truth)
zapatero (shoemaker)
forensic means pertaining to courts of law (held by the Romans in the forum) or, more loosely, the application of science to legal issues. Forensic medicine is medical jurisprudence. Forensic does not mean very careful or very detailed.
forgo, forego Forgo means do without; it forgoes the e. Forego means go before. A foregone conclusion is one that is predetermined; a forgone conclusion is non-existent.
former see ex-.
former and latter Avoid the use of the former and the latter whenever possible. It usually causes confusion.
founder, flounder If you flounder, you struggle clumsily or helplessly. If you founder, you stumble (if you’re a horse), collapse (a building) or sink (a ship).
Frankenstein was not the monster, but its creator.
free is an adjective or an adverb (and also a transitive verb), so you cannot have or do anything for free. Either you have it free or you have it for nothing. Resist to the death the increasingly common (mis-)usage.
French names see names.
fresh is not a synonym for new or more. “A few hundred fresh bodies are being recovered every day,” reported The Economist improbably, two months after a tsunami had struck. Use with care.
full stops see punctuation.
fulsome is an old word that Americans generally use only to mean cloying, insincere or excessively flattering. In British English it can also mean copious, abundant or lavish. But these meanings are now tending to merge.