H

Haiti isn’t an island, so don’t call it one. Haiti and the Dominican Republic make up the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Half has no hyphen when used as an adverb. It does have a hyphen when used as an adjective (a word describing a noun, for example, in ‘a half-eaten lunch’, half describes the lunch).

Half-term is known as mid-term in Scotland, so avoid using it as though it’s a UK-wide term.

No apostrophe, but always has a capital ‘H’. Celebrated on 31 October in the UK.

A ‘handout’ is a noun; it’s either printed information (often to go alongside a presentation), money, or other aid.

The verb ‘to hand out’ (to give something to people) is two words. For example, ‘there are handouts with more detail, I’ll hand them out at the end.’

See disability.

Hyphenate it please.

A hangar is where aircraft live. Unless you’re messy, you’ll use a coat hanger for your clothes.

See dangling participles.

The Jewish festival of lights, reminding Jews of the time they won a battle against the Greeks to practise their religion freely. The date of Hanukkah changes every year depending on the calendar, but it’ll always fall in November or December. It lasts for eight days.

One word, whether it’s an adjective or an adverb.

Not hairbrained. For example, ‘a harebrained scheme’ for a scheme that isn’t very well thought out. A bit rude to hares, if you ask us.

No apostrophe, plenty of luxury.

Always use sentence case: all words should be in lower case except the first letter of the first word, and words that are always capitalised (for example, Cubs or Tuesday – check out capitals if you need a reminder).

On our new website, headings also function as meta titles which provide information about a page to search engines (as well as readers). Optimise them to achieve better rankings by keeping them between 60 and 65 characters, using relevant keywords and phrases, and making it engaging so people click through to the page. Avoid obscure references, and make sure the tone is appropriate (for example, a piece about bereavement shouldn’t have a pun-filled headline).

The editor (not the writer) has the ultimate decision about headlines – sorry, writers. 

This can be singular or plural. If you’re talking about where Scouts happens, use ‘meeting place’ if you can.

UK Headquarters (or UKHQ) can describe Gilwell Park in an official capacity, in other words, describing the offices staff work in. Always specify UK Headquarters or UKHQ – the hive of activity at Gilwell Park is never Headquarters or HQ. Remember, if you’re talking about an event location, or the site as a whole, it’s Gilwell Park.

Two words, and never headmaster or headmistress. Some schools have ‘principals’ instead. 

An exclamation of agreement – it’s not ‘here, here’.

A group of around 500 islands off the north-western coast of Scotland. The Inner Hebrides include the islands of Sky, Mull, Jura, Islay, Iona, and Coll; the Outer Hebrides include the islands of Lewis and Haris, North and South Uist, and Benbecula. The Inner Hebrides are separated from the Outer Hebrides by a strait (narrow waterway) called the Little Minch. 

The Outer Hebrides is also known as the Western Isles, but stick to ‘Outer Hebrides’, please.

Someone who’s only romantically and/or sexually attracted to people of another gender. Heterosexual isn’t the opposite of LGBTQ – someone could be heterosexual and transgender.

Not hiccough. Let’s not add more letters than necessary. 

The part of Scotland with all the mountains, above Glasgow and Stirling.

A language of northern India, the fourth most widely spoken language in the world.

A major religious and cultural tradition of South Asia. Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions. Hindus have a central belief of a supreme God Brahman. Brahman takes many forms, especially Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Hindus believe that life is a circle of birth, death, and rebirth.

HIV is not a disease; it’s a virus that makes people more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. It’s not the same thing as AIDS, so a HIV test is not an AIDS test. Thanks to modern treatments, very few people in the UK develop serious HIV-related illnesses – with an early diagnosis and treatment, most people with HIV won’t develop any AIDS-related illnesses and will live for a long time.

Holland is a region of the Netherlands. If you mean the whole country, say ‘the Netherlands’.

Holyrood is the home of the Scottish Parliament. Holyrood Palace is the Queen’s residence in Scotland.

A more medical term used to describe someone who’s romantically and/or sexually attracted to someone of the same gender. The term gay is more generally used.

Not hoody.

Hoover is a trademark. Say ‘vacuum cleaner’ or ‘vacuuming’ instead. 

Lower case, even if you have to use it in the name (for example, the Ritz-Carlton hotel).

Both are OK ways to refer to the delicious chickpea dip.

The organic part of soil made from rotting leaves. Not a delicious dip.

Lower case, though capitalise their given names, for example, ‘hurricane Jade’.

It’s important to include links when writing for the website because they help search engines find pages deep on the site and help our search rankings. A mixture of internal links (to the new website) and external links (to reputable sources) is best; they should all be relevant.

Check out this article for an example of best practice using internal and external links in an article.

Overall, avoid hyphens where you can: editors hate clutter (unless it’s on our desks).

When the last letter of a prefix is the same as the first letter of the word, we’ll let you use a hyphen if you really want to. There are separate rules for re- prefixes because we like to keep you on your toes.

Prefixes such as macro, mega, micro, mini, multi, over, super, and under rarely need hyphens. Follow the Oxford English Dictionary if you’re not sure.

Sometimes hyphens are important to make your meaning clear – it’s not clear whether ‘an ill prepared person’ is poorly but ready to go, or just badly organised. If you say ‘an ill-prepared person’, it’s clear. The same goes with ‘a hard-pressed person’ (not a hard, pressed one’ and ‘people warned: don’t panic-buy petrol’ (not ‘people warned: don’t panic! Buy petrol’).