Section
2.
Words
2.1 Capitalization
Consult the Canadian Oxford Dictionary for capitalization of
individual words. For detailed information on this topic, consult Chapter 4 of The Canadian Style.
In primary titles
(such as for exhibitions, books, works of art and events), capitalize the first
letter of all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, subordinate
conjunctions and the second part of any hyphenated word (such as
“Pre-Training”): for example, “Rewriting Marpole: The
Path to Cultural Complexity in the Gulf of Georgia.” For secondary titles, use
“sentence format,” only capitalizing only the first word and any proper noun.
For
journalistic stories (such as in our e-newsletters) and any documents primarily
intended for the media, all titles
should follow “sentence format”: capitalizing the first word of the title and
any proper noun.
In general,
capitalize:
Do not capitalize:
2.2 Compound
Words and Hyphenation
Hyphenation
is often controversial. What’s important is to be as consistent as possible. In
general, hyphenate to avoid ambiguity and confusion. For terms that do not
appear in the dictionary, follow the rules for compounding and word division in
Chapter 2 of The Canadian Style. Also, please see various
hyphenated words and compound words in the list of preferred spellings.
2.3 Abbreviations
2.3.1 General
Rule
Abbreviations
should not be overused. If you do need to use an abbreviation, it must be
spelled out at first mention, with the abbreviation, acronym or initialism set in parentheses, like this: “Canadian Labour
Congress (CLC).” Abbreviation style is covered in detail in Chapter 1 of The Canadian Style.
2.3.2 The
Museums
At first
mention, the name should be fully written out: Canadian War Museum or Canadian
Museum of History. In subsequent mentions the word “Canadian” may be dropped
(War Museum or Museum of History). It is also acceptable for subsequent
mentions to simply refer to the Museum, when referring to one museum, or to the
Museums, when referring to both, as long as the meaning remains clear.
The initialisms
CMH and CWM must never be used in any text intended for public use.
2.3.3 Titles
and honorifics
More
information on protocol and civilian and military honours is provided in
Section 6 of this guide, “Corporate Terminology.”
2.3.4. Latin
abbreviations
In popular
texts, Latin abbreviations such as e.g. and i.e. should be avoided, in favour
of English expressions such as “for example.” An exception to this rule is the
abbreviation “etc.”
2.3.5 Use
of periods
While noting
the exceptions in both the The Canadian Style and
this guide, it is CMH style to avoid using periods in abbreviations. For
example, the correct abbreviation for Member of Parliament is MP, not M.P.
2.3.6 Use
of articles before abbreviations
There is no
hard and fast rule for the use of the definite article “the” before an
abbreviation. When deciding whether to use the definite article, consider
standard usage in spoken English. In general, “the” should be used before intialisms (for example, the CIA, the UN), but not before
acronyms (for example, UNESCO, NATO). There are many exceptions to this rule,
however, including university names (it is UCLA, not the UCLA) and many
commercial companies (it is IBM, not the IBM).
As mentioned
in 2.3.2, the initialisms
CMH and CWM must never be used in any text intended for public use. In
internal documents, it is preferable to refer to “CMH: and “CWM” without the
definite article (for example, “The presentation will take place at CMH”).
However, “The CMH website is temporarily unavailable” is correct, as the
definite article is attached to “website” not to “CMH.”
The choice of
indefinite article (“a” or “an”) before an abbreviation depends on whether the
abbreviation begins with a vowel or consonant sound when spoken. For example,
UNESCO begins with a “y” sound, so “a UNESCO report” is correct. IBM begins
with an “i” sound, so “an IBN computer” is correct.
2.4 Addresses and Geography
Note:
·
Canada Post requirements state that the postal code
“should be printed in
uppercase and placed two spaces to
the right of the province or territory, with one space between the first three
and the last three characters.”
·
In
all addresses, two-letter codes
should be used to indicate province or territory.
·
There
is no punctuation between the city name and the two-letter province code.
·
For
complete addressing guidelines, please consult the standards provided by Canada Post.
2.4.1 English
Museum addresses
Canadian
Museum of History
100 Laurier Street
Gatineau QC K1A
0M8
Canada
Canadian War
Museum
1 Vimy Place
Ottawa ON K1A 0M8
Canada
2.4.2 Bilingual
Museum addresses
Canadian
Museum of History
Musée canadien de l’histoire
100, rue Laurier Street
Gatineau QC K1A
0M8
Canada
Canadian War
Museum
Musée canadien de la guerre
1, place Vimy Place
Ottawa ON K1A
0M8
Canada
On posters, use this style for bilingual
addresses:
Canadian
Museum of History
Musée canadien de l’histoire
100, rue Laurier Street, Gatineau QC
Canadian War
Museum
Musée canadien de la guerre
1, place Vimy Place, Ottawa ON
2.4.3 Web
addresses
2.4.4 Email
addresses
Email
addresses for staff at both the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War
Museum are formatted as follows:
Occasionally,
a name may appear as either initials only, without its
correct French-language accents or as only one half of a hyphenated name. If
there is any question about an email address, please check with the project
authority for confirmation of the correct form.
Standard
style for the Museums (such as in press releases) is to use English email
formatting on English-language documents and French email formatting on
French-language documents, regardless of the addressee’s mother tongue. The
email suffixes (@historymuseum.ca or @museedelhistoire.ca, for example) are
interchangeable as far as delivery of messages is concerned.
2.4.5 Geography
and direction
All Canadian
place names must follow the standards set by the Geographical Names Board of Canada. For place names in
Quebec, the authority is the Commission de toponymie du Québec (searchable in French only).
Note that the capital of New Brunswick is “Saint John” (not “St. John).
Only two
Canadian municipalities have official English and French names: Grand Falls/Grand-Sault
and Caissie Cape/Cap-des-Caissie. All other municipalities have only one
authorized form: thus, Montréal and Québec (the city) retain their accents. In
English, Québec (the city) should be written as Québec City.
The use of
the expression the “New World” is acceptable in an appropriate historical
context. For example, we can use the term when adopting the European
perspective: “The earliest attempt by the English to establish a colony in the
New World.” But, in contexts where the inclusion of a First Nations perspective
needs to be emphasized, “New World” should be replaced with a descriptive term
such as “North America.”
For
directional adjectives, use an initial capital only when referring to areas
that are recognized as being set apart by politics, climate, language or
economy: the West, Western Canada, Central Canada, Eastern Canada, the North,
the Far North, the Far East, etc. This applies to the adjectival form as well:
Western Canadian, Far Eastern, etc.
Otherwise, use lower case, as in “a northern wind.” When referring to
directions, use lower case, as in “the truck was headed west.”
Compass
points are abbreviated using the first letter of each point capitalized,
without periods: N, E, S, W, NW, SW, SE, etc. Use periods only when used in an
address (such as Queen St. E.).
2.5 Lists
If you are
going to use lists, ask yourself what kind of list you should use. If the order
of your items doesn’t matter, make a bulleted list. If your items need a
specific sequence, use numbers or letters. If the order isn’t important, you
could list items alphabetically by the opening word.
If the
lead-in statement to your list is a complete sentence, use a colon to introduce
your list. If your lead-in is a sentence fragment, no pre-list punctuation is
necessary. If your list items are complete sentences, then capitalize the first
letter of each. If they are sentence fragments, use lower case. Also capitalize
if the list is made up of single words or if the elements are more easily
understood on their own than together. Here are two examples:
My favourite
things are
The following
factors affected yield:
2.6 Trade
Names
Trade names
take an initial capital. If they are used in a negative context, it is better
to replace them with the generic term (if one exists). For example, Styrofoam®
could be replaced with polystyrene. Always check whether trade names require
the registered or trademark symbol. If needed, these appear immediately after
the name (no space) and in superscript: Kleenex®, IMAX®. These symbols should be included in all
texts, including signs, labels, posters, etc.
2.7 Elimination of Bias and Stereotyping
For details
on the elimination of bias and stereotyping in written communications, consult
Chapter 14 of The Canadian Style.
Elimination
of sexual, racial and ethnic stereotyping is very important at both CMH and CWM.
Moving toward inclusive language ensures the full human development and respect
given to everyone, regardless of sex, race or ethnicity.
Avoid words
that use “man” as a prefix or suffix. Consider substituting another word: firefighter instead of fireman; humanity instead of mankind; manufactured
instead of manmade; worker instead of workman;
fisher instead of fisherman;
labour instead of manpower; representative instead of spokesman; artisan
instead of craftsman; mail carrier instead of postman; and entrepreneur
instead of businessman.
Don’t use
modifiers that refer to gender, age, sex, religion or race unless they are
relevant to the statement. Avoid terms that may give offense to a particular
nationality or group. Be conscious that many derogatory terms are more subtle
than others. Don’t use “he,” “him” or “his” to refer to both sexes. Use they or
their.
Also be sure
to check cultural and historical facts where necessary. For example, Inuit women
fished; it is therefore not appropriate to use “fishermen” in such a context.
However, a text on 18th century tools used by lumbermen is likely to be
correct, as women were not hired to cut trees at that time.
2.8 Spelling Exceptions and Preferences
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary is the
spelling authority of CMH and CWM. If more than one spelling is listed in the
dictionary, the preference is to use the first spelling listed. The following spelling
exceptions and preferences apply: