Style guide

Tense and voice

Reporting pieces are written in the third person and in the past tense unless the present tense gives a meaningful reason.

Names and titles

People are named in full on first mention and by surname thereafter. We do not use honorifics except in direct quotation.

Numbers and dates

Numbers under one hundred are spelled out. Dates are written 11 March 1984, not March 11, 1984.

Quotations

Quotations are exact. We do not insert words into a quotation in brackets to repair grammar.

Italics

We italicize the titles of books and films, foreign-language words on first occurrence, and the names of named places aboard ships.

Sentences

We write short sentences when we can and long sentences when we must.

The exclamation point

We use no exclamation points outside of dialogue, and we are sparing even there.

Emoji

We do not use them.