Commas, colons and capitalisation

BBC

Politically neutral, fulsome and clearly explained, the BBC’s reliable-but-slightly-dull style guide is updated often and covers a wide range of relevant language. The fully searchable guide is a Word document, strangely.

Visit the BBC style guide →

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed have a main guide with lots of detailed advice, particularly on topics such as social media, but it is a little unwieldy to use. They have a useful UK-specific addendum.

Visit the BuzzFeed style guide →

The Economist

The Economist style guide gets points for starting its brilliant introduction by quoting Orwell’s seminal Politics and the English Language before going on to cite Mark Twain and Fowler. The guide itself also has plenty of acerbically good advice, though it’s thinner than the Guardian’s.

Visit The Economist style guide →

Gov.uk

With an authority that’s hard to argue with, the government’s own style guide is accessible and straightforward. It covers language that’s especially pertinent to policy teams. It’s not the most comprehensive though, and its entries are usually extremely brief.

Visit the Gov.uk style guide →

The Guardian

The Guardian’s editorial guide is wide and deep and the one that we use. It covers useful language for not-for-profit organisations and is well researched.

It’s not kept up to date as much as it once was, but occasional glimpses of a bitingly sharp sense of humour enhance the experience. The style guide’s homepage has been strangely mangled since the Guardian’s website became responsive, with no semblance of alphabetisation, but otherwise this is the one to beat.

Visit the Guardian style guide →

Louder Than Ten

This one is more about how to write well than a reference guide to grammar and spelling. But it nails tone and voice so brilliantly that it deserves a place in any style guide round-up. Packed full of advice-jewels such as “Don’t waste time milling around your topic with long intros or slow anecdotes. Strike swift and to the heart. Write like you could die of tuberculosis tomorrow.”

Visit the Louder Than Ten manual →

Mailchimp

Mailchimp’s style guide has a website of its own and is well designed and easy to use. There are good sections on tone and structure as well as a shorter word list. It’s excellent for editorial advice, slightly less useful for checking spelling variations. It’s published under a Creative Commons licence, so it could make a good basis for your own tailored version.

Visit the Mailchimp style guide →

A Progressive’s Style Guide

Language doesn’t just describe the world; it can affect it, perpetuating discriminatory beliefs and behaviour. The Progressive’s Style Guide, a 41-page PDF, bravely takes on some of the most difficult language issues around gender, ethnicity and violence. It does so in a balanced way, with informed explanations of why one form may be preferable to another.

The Diversity Style Guide attempts a similar task, with more than 700 terms related to ethnicity, disability, immigration, sexuality and gender identity. Also useful is the Conscious Style Guide, which groups useful language articles and resources around areas such as disability, age and ethnicity.

Visit the Progressive’s Style Guide →

The Telegraph

A little more old-fashioned than its competitors, the Telegraph takes its style seriously, but with occasional cartoons and wry touches: “Mansion: tabloid. Its use by us can only be satirical.”

It’s badly out of date, however – Hosni Mubarak is still “President of Egypt” – and it betrays a certain cultural worldview. To the rest of the world he may be a quarter of The Smiths, but to the Telegraph style guide Morrissey is “Morrissey, Neil”.

Visit the Telegraph style guide →