Nad Ali
Is our preferred spelling for the district in Afghanistan鈥檚 Helmand province - not Nad-e Ali or other variants.
Nagorno-Karabakh
ie hyphenated. A region of Azerbaijan - and the subject of dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Capital, Stepanakert.
Nasdaq
ie initial cap only (the US stock market for high-tech companies. It is purely an electronic market, unlike the New York Stock Exchange).
Nasrallah, Sheikh Hassan
(leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah). Sheikh Nasrallah on second reference.
National
The title is often misleading (eg: the National Rivers Authority does not cover Scotland).
National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers
is the full title - but it is possible to save space by using a label (eg: The teachers鈥� union, the NASUWT...) If it鈥檚 unavoidable, NASUWT is acceptable in a headline - but a better plan would be to rejig the headline. At second reference, it might be enough to refer simply to the union.
national curriculum
(ie lower case) the curriculum for state schools in England. (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each has its own.)
national executive committee (Labour Party鈥檚)
ie lower case (eg: Labour鈥檚 national executive committee has ruled that the MP should be expelled from the party). At second reference, can be the NEC or the committee. Similarly, other political committees are also lower case (eg: The Liberal Democrats faced uproar in the conference hall, after the party鈥檚 federal policy committee announced it would back a coalition with Labour and The Tory Party鈥檚 ethics committee confirmed it would investigate the affair).
National Hunt
(ie with initial caps) is horse racing over jumps (either fences or hurdles), as opposed to flat racing.
National Insurance
ie with initial caps.
National Lottery
ie with initial caps - but lower case if you refer to it as the lottery. The main draw is called Lotto.
National parties
The Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru sometimes dispute that they are nationalist - but they are certainly national. It is reasonable to refer to Scottish/Welsh nationalists, but not to the "Scottish nationalist party".
National Theatre
The full title of the London venue is the Royal National Theatre.
National Education Union, the
formed by merger of NUT and ATL. May be abbreviated to NEU ie all caps, no gaps.
National Vocational Qualification
is a qualification related to a particular industry or sector, taken at work, college or as part of an apprenticeship. NVQ at second reference.
NatWest
ie one word, with the internal capital retained.
naught/nought
naught means "nothing" (eg: All his efforts came to naught), whereas nought means the figure "0".
navy
ie lower case, even if you are referring to our own. But you do need initial caps if you name a particular one eg: the Royal Navy or the US Navy.
Nazi death camps
When reporting on World War Two, be careful about terminology. Poland considers the phrase "Polish death camps" to be libellous, even . Camps such as Auschwitz and Sobibor were in German- or Nazi-occupied Poland so use a description such as "Nazi death camp in occupied Poland".
neither
usually takes a singular verb (eg: Neither Mr Brown nor Mrs Green was at the meeting). The exception is where at least one of the alternatives in the sentence is a plural - in which case the verb is also pluralised (eg: Neither Mr Brown nor the opponents of the measure are going to pursue the issue).
Nepal
Citizens of Nepal and the language they speak are both Nepali. The adjective is Nepalese.
Netanyahu, Benjamin
(Israeli leader of the opposition) ie not Binyamin.
Netherlands, the
is the correct name for the country. It should, therefore, be used in any formal context. But Holland is synonymous in common usage - even though it in fact covers just two of the Netherlands鈥� 12 provinces (North Holland and South Holland). Let the context decide: The Netherlands has taken over the presidency of the EU but also England will play Holland in Amsterdam next week.
neurodiversity
neurodivergent people have brains that function in a way that diverge significantly from what is deemed the 鈥渟ocietal norm鈥�.
Some disabled people identify as neurodivergent, while others do not see neurodiversity as a disability.
A common misuse of language is to talk of 鈥�an individual鈥檚 neurodiversity鈥� 鈥� 鈥渁n individual鈥檚 neurodivergence would be better.
The term 鈥渘ormal鈥� is offensive in this context and should not be used 鈥� 鈥�neurotypical鈥� would be a better antonym.
new year
ie lower case. But initial caps for either New Year鈥檚 Day or New Year鈥檚 Eve.
Newcastle-under-Lyme
(Staffs) ie with hyphens.
Newcastle upon Tyne
(Tyne and Wear) ie no hyphens - and upon rather than "on".
news agencies
Use the full description if space allows, ie "the AFP news agency/the Associated Press news agency reports". But short-forms such as "AFP says" or "he told AFP" are acceptable.
news conference
And not "press conference", which might exclude some categories of journalist.
newspaper titles
Use lower case for the definite article at the start of a newspaper title, whether or not it is part of the masthead. Hence, the Sun, the Daily Telegraph, the Times. In newspaper reviews only, the title (but not the definite article) is in bold at first mention.
Note that the word "London" is not part of the title of the Evening Standard.
News of the World
The abbreviation for the defunct News of the World is NoW.
NHS
ie all caps, no gaps. If you do spell it out, it takes initial caps (National Health Service), but lower case if you shorten it to the health service.
NICE
(National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) ie contrary to the usual rule, all caps - even though it is pronounced as a word.
9/11 (11 September)
is so well-known as shorthand for the attacks on 11 September 2001 that we can use it in headlines and copy, although, depending on the context, it may also be appropriate to include a specific reference to the date of the attacks. Separate the digits with a slash, not a hyphen.
Nobel Prize
All initial caps in Nobel Peace Prize - but the specifics of other prizes are not capped up (eg: Nobel Prize for chemistry).
none
takes a singular verb (eg: None of our aircraft is missing).
no-one
ie with a hyphen.
Nordic
The Nordic countries are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
North America
should be used only to mean the continent of North America - which includes Canada and Greenland.
northern hemisphere
ie lower case.
Northern Ireland Assembly
ie initial caps for the full title - but lower case assembly at second reference, or when referred to more informally, eg the Stormont assembly. Assembly members in Belfast are MLAs (members of the legislative assembly).
Northern Ireland Executive/executive
is a mandatory coalition made up of the first minister and the deputy first minister (who are co-equals) and 11 other ministers. Capped up for the full title (eg: The Northern Ireland Executive declared its opposition); otherwise lower case (eg: The executive was headed by Brian Barnes).
Northern Ireland Office
Headed by the Northern Ireland secretary (title capped up if accompanied by name).
Northern Ireland terminology
Some broad guidelines - check with Belfast if in doubt.
nationalist/republican (lower case, except in the names of organisations) Broadly, people in Northern Ireland who want to see a united Ireland tend to call themselves nationalists, while those supporting the right to use violence to achieve it call themselves republicans. Focus on political rather than religious affiliation.
unionist/loyalist (again, lower case, except in the names of organisations) should not be used as synonyms. Both want union with Great Britain. The label "loyalist" usually implies support for a degree of extremism in pursuit of that aim. As above, the emphasis should be on political affiliation, not religious.
paramilitaries - do not give spurious respectability to bombers and gunmen, of whatever affiliation, by duplicating their own military-style terminology ("Brigades" etc).
Irishman/Irishwoman are terms that are acceptable for people from the Republic and people from Northern Ireland if we know that is their preferred designation. Ulster or Ulsterman/Ulsterwoman can be used in a direct quote or as part of the title of an organisation.
North Pole
ie initial caps.
No 10
(Downing Street) ie initial cap, and not "Number Ten".
Npower
is our style for the company (rather than "npower", which is how it refers to itself).
nuclear missiles
There are three types of nuclear missile:
Short-range: below 500km
Medium-range: 500 to 5,000km (intermediate missiles)
Long-range: in excess of 5,000km (strategic or intercontinental missiles).
number one
is the way to write it if you mean The Beatles had 27 number one hits or Harry Harris is Australia鈥檚 number one tennis player - and not "no 1", "No 1" or "no one".
Numbers
For the most part, we use words for single-figure numbers, digits for anything above nine (ie eight, nine, 10, 11) - except with abbreviated units of measurement (eg: 3kg) and with percentages (eg: 4%).
However, in headlines we can use numerals for numbers below 10, as in Boy, 8, hurt in rollercoaster crash or Pound falls to 5-year low.
顿辞苍鈥檛&苍产蝉辫;start a sentence or headline with digits (eg: Fifty MPs have been expelled; Four per cent of the patients have died) except with listicles, where using a digit may better suit the tone of the article.
The same rule works for ordinal numbers: (eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th).
Millions and billions are spelled out, except where they are used with currencies or in headlines (five million people, 10 billion grains of sand, 拢5尘). And remember that billion is widely accepted as meaning "one thousand million" (not "one million million").
Fractions are written as words or, where appropriate, as a decimal (eg: three-quarters or 0.75).
With heights, weights etc, follow our usual convention with numbers where the following unit is not an abbreviation eg: They walked two miles (3.22km); The troops are 20 miles (32km) from Baghdad; The child weighed less than two stone (12.7kg) at the time of his death.
But all numbers are expressed as digits if the accompanying units are abbreviated eg: Mr Atlas said he had once weighed 6st 9lb (42.18kg). Anderlecht have signed a striker who is 6ft 8in (2.03m).
Football, rugby etc use digits for scores eg: Arsenal 2-3 Leeds.
Cricket uses digits for all numbers, both in stories and in summaries eg: Anderson took 3-42.
Tennis scores use digits for all numbers, without commas between sets eg: Smith beat Jones 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-4). Note that tiebreak scores are inside brackets and separated by dashes.
Winning margins in matchplay golf are written in digits with an ampersand eg: Morris beat Rose 4&3.
Golf holes are referred to as the 3rd, 4th etc (not "the third", "the fourth" etc).
In Athletics events such as the 100m, where times below 10 seconds are regularly achieved, all numbers should be written as digits - and the word "seconds" need not be used throughout eg: X took gold with a time of 9.93 seconds. In second place was Y, on 9.94. And the bronze medal went to Z, on 9.96.
Elsewhere, the first reference to a time in athletics should spell it out in full, following the usual convention with numbers below 10 eg: one hour two minutes 23.34 seconds (with no commas between units). After that, switch to a more compact style eg: 1:03:25.67.
Insert commas into numbers of four digits and above eg: The race attracted a crowd of 65,000 - but not necessarily in athletics events eg: A smaller crowd watched the final of the men鈥檚 1500m - where the figure is pronounced "fifteen hundred").
The "One" in Formula One is written as a digit eg: Formula 1 or F1.