A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Read about why we need an editorial style guide.

Fewer or less

Fewer is used of numbers; less is used of quantity ('Fewer men require less food').

First class degree

This should be lower case with no hyphens, so ‘first class degree’ as written by UCAS.

First-year or first year

You are a first-year student when you are in your first year of university. The same applies for second and third-year students.

Focused

Not 'focussed'.

Foreign words

Use foreign language accents in words that have become anglicised, such as 'café'. Do not italicise foreign words.

Foundation degree

Use lower case for ‘foundation’.

Full stops

Finish all full sentences with a full stop. This includes:

• page summaries
• items in a numbered list
• sentences with links in them, except when the link is an email address which comes at the end of the sentence
• image captions

Don't use a full stop when writing:

• page titles
• headings and subheadings
• alternative (alt) text for images
• a sentence that ends with a link to an email address
• text for a Call to action component
• text for a Related content button, for example, on a Text and image block component
• bullet lists
• text for a Highlights component or an Awards and accolades component

Full-time

When writing about students or study, for example, use 'full-time', not 'full time' or 'fulltime'.