English Style Guide

Hand holding up a book in a library Photo: Torsten Silz

As the English language service provider for the FernUniversität, our goal is to support FernUni employees by providing useful guidelines and tips for writing English language texts. Because English is a language with a significant amount of variation when it comes to spelling, punctuation, etc., we have developed this guide as a supplement to the glossary to ensure a uniform external presentation of the FernUniversität and also to answer a few questions about how to use the English language in everyday work. Unless otherwise stated, we also follow this guide in our translations and editing. Of course, we can also help you adapt your documents in line with other style guides if required (e.g., applications for external funding bodies) – just contact us!

  • The FernUniversität uses American English in all English texts. This applies to spelling, punctuation, and other linguistic conventions found throughout this guide.

    In order to ensure comprehensibility for international audiences, we do make some exceptions to this rule:

    • Date: To avoid misunderstandings, it is best to write out the month: 1 April 2020. If you need to use the purely numeric form, use the European format (DD.MM.YYYY) rather than the American (MM/DD/YYYY). For more information on dates and times, see section 5.
    • Floors in buildings: Use the European standard (ground floor, 1st floor, 2nd floor, etc.) rather than the American standard (in which the floor at ground level is counted as the 1st floor).
    • Except where these terms are specifically relevant to what you are writing about (for example, in a curriculum vitae or a text relating directly to the USA), avoid using words and phrases that are limited to U.S. culture and institutions in texts for international audiences. Common examples include terms such as zip code, high school, and phrases and metaphors like “hit a home run” or “ballpark figure.”
    • Units of measurement: To make the text more accessible to a wide international audience, we recommend that you use the metric system for measurements (km, ml, centigrade, etc.) instead of the Anglo-American imperial system (miles, ounces, etc.). If you do need to give the imperial measure, it is a good idea to provide the metric equivalent in parentheses.
    • The proper names of institutions and the titles of books, films, etc., that officially use British spelling should not be changed to American English (for example, the Barbican Centre in London).

  • For the websites and public communications of FernUniversität, we follow the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary for style, grammar, and spelling, unless otherwise indicated.

  • The name of the university is not translated into English. When used in a text, it behaves according to the following grammatical rules (similar to the University of California, for example):

    If the name stands alone, it does not need an article:

    • FernUniversität in Hagen

    When the name is used as a noun in a sentence it should be preceded by a definite article:

    • The FernUniversität in Hagen is a distance-learning university.

    If you use the name as an adjective in a sentence, drop the “in Hagen” and do not use an article:

    • Around 80% of FernUniversität students study parallel to their careers.

    You can abbreviate the name FernUniversität in Hagen as “FernUniversität,” “FernUni,” or “FeU” (note the capitalization!) after the first mention. Please do not use the abbreviation “FU” – this is often used as an expletive in slang.

  • If external institutions have an official translation of their name, please use it. It is a good idea to take a look at their website. The first time you mention it, you can (for the sake of clarity) add the German name in parentheses (and/or the abbreviation, if applicable), e.g.,

    • The German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst – DAAD) provides opportunities for academic exchange.

    If there is no official translation, use the German name. If the context requires it, add a paraphrase or description in the text or a translation in parentheses:

    • The conference was organized by Hochschulforum Digitalisierung, a think tank focused on digitalization and higher education.
    • The Hochschulforum Digitalisierung (higher education forum on digitalization) advises universities on issues related to digitalization.

  • a) If possible, write out the date in international format (e.g., 1 April 2020) to avoid misunderstandings – note that in English there is no period after the day of the month. also: do not use ordinal numbers for dates (i.e., 1st April 2020). If, for space reasons, the date cannot be written out, use the European format (DD.MM.YYYY – 01.04.2020). (Note that in normal American usage, this would be written as 04.01.2020, which can lead to confusion in the rest of the world).

    b) Time is usually written in English using the 12-hour format. The 24-hour format is usually only used in timetables or in a military context:

    • 10:00–18:00 hrs = 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

    Do not literally translate culture-specific conventions such as “halb vier” or the “akademische Viertelstunde,” as this can lead to confusion. In English, for example, “half four” means 4:30 and not 3:30. For clarity, it is better to write “half past four.”

    c) In English, there are different options for abbreviating the days of the week and months. For the sake of consistency, the days of the week and months are abbreviated as follows on the FernUniversität websites:

    • Weekdays: Mon. Tue. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. and Sun.
    • Months: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. and Dec.

    d) Months, days of the week, and holidays are treated as proper nouns in English and are always capitalized. Seasons and times of day, on the other hand, are not proper nouns and are written in lower case:

    • December is the first month of winter.
    • I will see you on Tuesday morning.

    e) Currency designations are written in lower case; proper names in connection with currency designations are written in capital letters (e.g., euro, pound; Australian dollar). The FernUniversität uses the plural euroswhen referring to the currency euro. If you are using the 3-letter ISO currency code, this should be placed before the amount with a non-breaking space: e.g., EUR 9.95. If you are using Word, for example, you can press the ¶ button to show hidden formatting symbols. The non-breaking space appears as a °. Currency symbols are placed without a space before the amount: $2,300.

    f) In English, the comma is used as the thousands separator, while the decimal separator is a period – in other words, the opposite to German. For example, one thousand euros and twenty cents is written as follows: €1,000.20.

    g) The Chicago Manual of Style specifies that the numbers from zero to one hundred should be written out. However, on the FernUniversität web pages, numbers 11 and above are written numerically to facilitate reading.

  • a) Salutations: Mr. and Ms. correspond to the German terms “Herr” and “Frau.” The salutations Mrs. and Miss are outdated and rarely used in professional contexts. Academic titles or titles of office (such as Dr., Professor or President) replace Mr. or Ms. (“Dear Dr. Smith” or “Dear President Biden,” but not “Dear Ms. Dr. Smith”).

    If you do not know the name of person(s) you are writing to and want to keep your salutation gender-neutral, use the following:

    To Whom It May Concern,

    Alternatively, it may also be appropriate to use one of the following:

    Dear Colleagues,
    Dear Team,
    Dear [name of company/group]

    The first line after the salutation starts with a capital letter:

    Dear Professor Smith,

    Thank you for your email.

    b) Closing lines: Common closing phrases for formal correspondence in English are “Sincerely” or “Yours sincerely.” For more informal correspondence or if you know the addressees personally, you can use “Best Regards” or “Best wishes.”

    c) Postal addresses: To avoid potential delivery problems, do not translate postal addresses. If you are providing addresses for visitors, specific details such as “Stockwerk” or “Gebäude” can be translated as floor or building, respectively. Proper names such as street names must always be given in German. The exception to this are cities that have a fixed name in English, e.g. München -> Munich or Köln -> Cologne).

  • Culture-specific terms/degrees such as Abitur, Magister, Habilitation, Diplom and PD (Privatdozent) are not translated. Capitalize and italicize these words and explain the meaning if necessary:

    • His generation was the last to earn Magister degrees.
    • She is currently working on her Habilitation, or postdoctoral qualification.

    Do not confuse the academic degrees doctorate/doctoral degree and Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy). Use Ph.D. only in such cases where a Ph.D. degree is specifically meant, not another doctoral degree such as an LL.D. (Doctor of Laws). The German Dr. can be translated as doctorate/doctoral degree, but not as Ph.D.:

    • He holds a doctorate/doctoral degree in physics (German equivalent: Dr. rer. nat.).
    • I’ve been working on my Ph.D. for two years already (no German equivalent).

  • Generally speaking, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends using lowercase words for nouns and compound nouns that are not considered proper nouns, such as “artificial intelligence,” “cloud computing,” or “skill set.” Proper names are always capitalized: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the White House, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Many adjectives (and adverbs) derived from proper nouns are often also capitalized: Kafkaesque, German, Islamic, Orwellian. If in doubt, check in a dictionary.

    a) Headings and titles

    According to Chicago Rules, the following words are capitalized in headings (as well as in book, journal, and essay titles): the first and last words, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions.

    The following words are written in lowercase: articles (the, a and an); prepositions; conjunctions (such as and, but, for, or and nor); the word as in all grammatical functions:

    • Information about the FernUniversität’s Coronavirus Response
    • Distance Learning as a Way to Combine Work and Study

    Book and journal titles should be written in italics; chapter titles and essay titles are in quotation marks.

    Note: For titles and headings in a language other than English, capitalize the first word and capitalize the remaining words according to the capitalization rules of that language.

    b) Official course titles, degree programs, faculties, institutes, teaching areas, seminars ,and research groups and areas are capitalized:

    • Students enrolled in the Computer Science program may take History of Computer Science as an elective.
    • The Gender Politics research group includes researchers from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

    (c) Academic disciplines, theories, and methods are lowercase unless they are part of a program or faculty name and as long as they do not include any proper nouns:

    • To complete my degree, I have to take courses in history and psychology.
    • According to Newton’s first law, an object in motion stays in motion.

    d) The official names of academic degrees are capitalized:

    • He has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature.

    If academic degrees are referred to in a general manner, they are written in lower case:

    • I’m thinking about getting a bachelor’s degree.

    e) Academic titles and service titles are capitalized if they constitute part of the name:

    • On Monday, President Ada Pellert gave a speech welcoming the new FernUniversität students.
    • We are pleased to announce that Professor Baker is joining the faculty.

    If titles and service titles appear as part of a following description, they are written in lower case:

    • Ada Pellert is president of the FernUniversität.
    • Matthew Baker, professor of economics, holds a doctorate from Yale.

  • a) Quotation marks: British vs. American

    In American texts, quotes are enclosed in double quotation marks; a quote inside another quotation is in single quotation marks. Periods and commas (but not semi-colons or colons) are always placed inside the quotation marks, even if they are not part of the quoted material:

    • Patterson remarks: “The poem refers to the sea as ‘the wandering fields of barren foam.’”

    In contrast, British style uses single quotation marks for quotations and double quotation marks for quotations within a quotation. Periods and commas that are not part of the quotation are placed outside the quotation marks:

    • Patterson remarks: ‘The poem refers to the sea as “the wandering fields of barren foam”.’

    b) Commas

    We recommend placing a comma before and in lists with three or more elements (the so-called Oxford comma). This is not mandatory, but very often improves the comprehensibility of the text and prevents any ambiguities:

    • She bought her favorite foods, dish soap, and sponges.

    c) Abbreviations: Salutations and academic degrees

    In American English (unlike British English), a period is always placed after Ms., Mr., and Dr.

    Abbreviations of academic degrees are written with a period:

    • B.A., M.A., B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., etc.

    d) Titles of books, articles, courses, projects, etc.

    The titles of books, magazines, movies, and plays are written in italics. Book chapter titles, journal articles, and unpublished papers are enclosed in quotation marks. Project names, lecture series, and course titles are capitalized and do not include quotation marks:

    • The article “New Methods for Research” was published in the Journal of Research Methods.
    • He gave a talk called “Frontiers in Machine Translation” as part of the Developments in Translation Technology lecture series.
    • Professor Smith is head of the Psychology of Emotion research group and teaches Introduction to Psychology every semester.

  • Words like team, family, and group are usually used with a singular verb in American English: The team is working on an interesting project.

    In British English, however, the verb can also be plural: The team are working on an interesting project.

  • Contractions such as can’t, don’t, and wouldn’t are common in spoken and informal English, but are not considered good style in formal written texts.

  • Replace gender-specific terms with gender-neutral variants:

    postman – postal carrier

    policeman – police officer

    chairman – chair

    Avoid the generic masculine (example: If a student realizes he needs more time for his paper, he can request an extension).

    Where possible, use one of the following alternatives:

    • Rephrase your sentence using 2nd-person (you) pronouns: If you realize you need more time...
    • Replace the singular subject with a plural: Students who need more time for their papers...
    • Try replacing the masculine pronoun with a gender-neutral noun and using a passive verb: If a student realizes that more time is required to complete a paper, the student can request an extension
    • If none of the above options is possible, use the pronoun they in the singular: If a student realizes they need more time for their paper...
    • Combining the male and female pronouns he or she, she or he, she/he and he/she is also possible, but should be avoided because they represent only two gender categories and such sentence constructions are also somewhat unwieldy.
International | 26.06.2024