T

Yes, we have an opinion on how you spell ‘ta-dah’. Exclamation mark optional.

Takeoff is a noun, to take off is a verb. For example, ‘once the plane was cleared for takeoff, Caroline decided to take off her coat’.

It’s a trademark – try ‘public address system’ instead

Team Descriptions outline who's a member of a team, what tasks there are for the whole team, and how they can be shared between team members.

We've changed from using role descriptions to team descriptions, so volunteering with Scouts becomes more about teamwork and sharing out tasks, rather than individual responsibility.

Team Leaders are responsible for making sure their team’s get tasks done. They'll also be members of Group, District or County Leadership Teams. Their goal is to make sure their Team Members are well supported in their roles.

See also Section Team Leader.

Please see UK Leadership Team.

In the north east has a double ‘s’.

Another trademark.

See numbers.

See Celsius.

It’s never Tesco’s. 

We choose to use Robert Baden-Powell’s birthday (22 February, which also happens to be his wife Olave Baden-Powell’s birthday) to thank all of our fab volunteers, who make Scouts what it is today. Girlguiding celebrates World Thinking Day on the same day.

Don’t automatically put it after the word ‘said’, but do add it in when it makes your writing clearer. For example, it’s easy to start reading ‘he said nothing by way of an explanation was given’ and assume ‘he said nothing by way of an explanation’, which isn’t the case at all. It’s much easier to understand ‘he said that nothing by way of an explanation was given’.

‘That’ also makes it clearer with certain verbs, including argue and warn. For example, ‘he argued the case for war hadn’t been made’ would be better written as ‘he argued that the case for war hadn’t been made’ (otherwise, it seems at first that the person argued the case for war). 

This one can seem tricky; we’ll try and make it as clear as possible. Generally, ‘that’ defines while ‘which’ gives extra information. For example, ‘this is the model that Sam made; this model, which Charlie made, is the best’. ‘That’ defines the model they’re talking about (the one that Sam made), whereas ‘which’ gives extra information about the best model.

‘I’m pleased with the cakes that I made from scratch’ suggests the writer is pleased with some of the cakes – the ones they made from scratch. ‘I’m pleased with the cakes, which I made from scratch’ suggests they’re proud of all of the cakes, the fact that they made them all from scratch is additional information.

Be especially careful when it changes the meaning of your sentence. For example, ‘Scout groups that are taking part in pilot projects will learn lots’ suggests that some Scout groups are taking part in pilot projects, and they’ll learn lots. ‘Scout groups, which are taking part in pilot projects, will learn lots’ suggests that all Scout groups are taking part in pilot projects.

You may have noticed that the example with ‘that’ don’t have commas, while the ‘which’ phrases are enclosed by commas. Generally, if you remove ‘which’ phrases the sentence still makes sense (in our examples, the model is still the best, I’m still pleased with the cakes, and the Scout groups will still learn lots).

Don’t remove the ‘the’ in phrases such ‘the government’ or ‘the conference’ or it sounds like you’re spouting official jargon.

The stays lowercase for newspapers, pubs, bands, and sports grounds. It’s capitalised for book titles, TV show titles, films, poems, and works of art.

Picture a large oak tree with branches and roots and you've got our new learning framework, replacing the Adult Training Scheme. The Learning Tree consists of Growing Roots and Branching Out Learning.

It's currently blossoming and growing, and will have replaced the Adult Training Scheme modules by the end of 2025.

Thermos is a trademark.

We only use ‘The Scout Association’ in governance and legal documents where we need to use our formal name. For all other occasions, Scouts reflects how welcoming and approachable we are. Try to say ‘Scouts’ (rather than ‘the Scouts’). 

They can be used as a singular pronoun (instead of he or she). Some people choose to use this pronoun and it’s a useful one if you’re not sure which pronouns someone uses.

It’s perfectly fine grammatically. In fact, most people already use ‘they’ like this without realising it. Just think of an unknown (but forgetful) person: ‘oh no – they’ve left their umbrella behind! They’ll have no way to keep themselves dry in the rain’.

Call them developing countries instead (but be aware that not everyone likes this phrase; if you’re speaking to an expert, follow their lead).

That is for the past, this is for the present or future. ‘That great time for Scouts’ would mean a time in the past; ‘this great time for Scouts’ would be a time now (or in the future). Similarly, you’d say ‘all this will be yours; that remained mine’.

One word, please.

A tic is an individual feature of someone’s behaviour that’s a habit, for example, a verbal tic might involve repeating the last word someone says, or another tic might be a muscle contraction. A tick could be a bloodsucking bug (gross), a correction mark, or the sound a clock makes.

Until is almost always better, especially at the start of the sentence or before a verb. Never use til or ’til.

See dates and times.

Tipp-Ex is a trademark (not that it’s very common nowadays).

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).

For publication titles, use initial capitals for the main title (capitalise every word except a, and, at, for, from, in, of, on, the, to – unless they’re the first word in the title). If there’s a subheading separated by a colon, don’t use capitals after the colon. For example, ‘The Style Guide: a fascinating journey through grammar’. There’s no need to use italics.

For the rules on writing website titles, check out headings, headlines, and web page titles.

Top Awards are the highest awards our Scouts can achieve, definitely something to be proud of. The awards themselves (for example, the Chief Scout’s Bronze Award) should always be capitalised.

The holy book of the Jewish faith. The Torah is written in Hebrew and is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Christians call this part of the Old Testament). Every Synagogue has its own Torah scrolls, handwritten in Hebrew. People don’t touch the Torah – it’s kept in a safe place in a Jewish temple, and people use a pointer (a yad) to follow the words.

The storm is lowercase tornado (plural tornadoes); the aircraft is Tornado (plural Tornados).

Could you just say ‘record’ instead? The answer’s probably yes, so you probably should.

Use a generic alternative when you can; if you need to use a trademark, make sure you spell and capitalise it properly.

We’ve tried to list some common trademarks in this guide but ones that didn’t quite make the cut include Tarmac (call it asphalt) and Taser (stun gun, please). If your favourite trademark’s missing, by all means let us know. If it’s an important one, we may even add it.

Please see Learning.

A new volunteer role in County/ Area/ Region Leadership Teams that's here to support and deliver the transformation of our volunteer experience, and eventually support the roll-out of any other changes in the future too.

Transgender is an umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth. It’s an adjective, not a noun – Sam is transgender, or Sam is a transgender person. People are never a transgender or transgendered. Transsexual is not an umbrella term and should never be used unless you’re describing someone who’s asked you to use it. Transgenderism is not acceptable – say ‘being transgender’ or ‘the transgender community’ instead.

A transgender man (sometimes shortened to trans man, female-to-male, or FTM) is someone who’s assigned female at birth but identifies and lives as a man. A transgender woman (sometimes shortened to trans woman, male-to-female, or MTF) is someone who’s assigned male at birth but identifies and lives as a woman. Transgender men are men; transgender women are women. People are (usually) assigned female or male at birth, they’re not ‘born’ a woman or a man.

Always use the name and pronouns a transgender person asks you to. If you’re not sure, ask; if you can’t ask, stick with the singular ‘they’ (never use ‘it’). Always respect individual people’s wishes about how they’d like to be described.

In context, it describes the steps a trans person may take to live in the gender with which they identify. Each person’s transition involves different things – not all trans people want or are able to have medical intervention; some do. Transitioning can also involve telling other people, dressing differently, and changing official documents. Never talk about a ‘sex change’. Don’t use terms such as ‘pre-operative’ or ‘post-operative’ – people don’t have to have surgery to transition.

The collective name for the Buddhist sacred texts. The Tripitaka has three sections and contains the teachings of the Buddha and his companions, comments on those teachings, and rules for monks.

Scout Troops are capitalised; other troops are lowercase.

A trooper is a soldier (so you could ‘swear like a trooper’). A trouper is a member of a troupe, or a dependable worker (so you could say ‘the Creative team are real troupers’).

In Northern Ireland during the late 20th century.

Trustees are responsible for the running of a charity, looking after governance, and making sure key policies are being followed. Please capitalise Scouts' Trustees.

Trustees are appointed at Annual General Meetings, or are ex officio Trustees, due to being Lead Volunteers, or Youth Leads. Previous role name: Executive Committee Members.

Trustee Boards look after the governance of our 8,000 Scout charities across the UK. They’re made up of Trustees. Previously known as Executive Committees, this change took place in April 2023. The changes align with good practice guidance from charity regulators and help reinforce the purpose of Trustee Boards.

You never ‘try and’ do something.

Not tee shirt or t-shirt.

Another trademark. Try ‘plastic tub’ or ‘plastic container’ instead (unless the point is that it’s a Tupperware, in which case, capitalise it). 

Capitalise it please.

Twitter is capitalised. People tweet; in the past tense, they were tweeting (or they tweeted). The people who use Twitter are ‘Twitter users’ or ‘people who use Twitter’… no need for terms like ‘twitterer’, please.

Is one word, no hyphen.