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Editorial style guide: M

Editorial guidance for terms beginning with 'M'. Use the style guide to help make your content clear, accessible, and consistent with the rest of the website.

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Read about why we need an editorial style guide.

Master’s degree

Use lowercase and an apostrophe when speaking generally, and a capital when naming a specific qualification. For example:

  • A student earns their master's degree
  • A student holds a Master of Arts from Bath

Use 'master’s' (singular) or 'master’s degrees' (plural), not 'masters’', 'Masters'' or 'Master's'.

Measurements

  • Miles (mi) for long distances
  • Metres (m) and centimetres (cm) for shorter distances
  • Kilograms (kg) for weight
  • Celsius (°C) for temperature

If you’re using the measurement in a sentence, write it as a full word, for example, 'the University is 2.1 miles from Bath Spa rail station'.

If the measurement is part of a specification, use the abbreviation, for example, swimming pool dimensions: '50m x 20m'.

Money

When writing about money in a sentence:

  • only include a pence value if it is something other than 0
  • write values under £1 in pence, for example, '45p'
  • write values of £1 or more which don't have additional pence as whole numbers with no decimal point, for example, '£1', '£10'

In tabular data, all values should be written in pounds (or the relevant currency) and include both the pound and pence value, no matter the size, for example: '£1.40'; '£750.00'; '£0.45'; '£1,000.57'

Here are some examples of correct usage:

  • Fresh sells plastic bags for 5p
  • replacement laundry cards cost £5
  • a standard wash costs £2.30
  • scientists from the Department of Chemistry have been awarded a £1.2 million grant ('£1.2m' is permissible in headlines)

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