Appendix 1

Countries of the world

Population gures are based on 2002 estimates.

Country

Capital

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan

Kabul
Tirana
Algiers
Andorra la Vella
Luanda
St Johns
Buenos Aires
Yerevan
Canberra
Vienna
Baku

Population

Currency unit

648,000
28,700
2,319,000
468
1,246,000
442
2,780,000
29,800
7,692,000
83,900
86,600

27,755,775
3,544,841
32,277,942
68,403
10,593,171
67,448
37,812,817
3,330,099
19,564,792
8,169,929
7,798,497

afghani = 100 puls

lek = 100 qintars
dinar = 100 centimes
euro = 100 cents
kwanza = 100 lwei
dollar = 100 cents
peso = 100 centavos
dram = 100 luma
dollar = 100 cents
euro = 100 cents
manat = 100 gopik

Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan

Nassau
Manama
Dhaka
Bridgetown
Minsk
Brussels
Belmopan
Porto Novo
Thimphu

13,900
620
144,000
431
208,000
30,500
23,000
113,000
46,600

300,529
656,397
133,376,684
276,607
10,335,352
10,274,595
262,999
6,787,625
2,094,176

Bolivia
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burma (Myanmar)
Burundi

La Paz
1,099,000
Sarajevo
51,100
Gaborone
600,000
Brasilia
8,512,000
Bandar Seri Begawan 5,770
Soa
111,000
Ouagadougou
274,000
Rangoon
677,000
Bujumbura
27,800

8,445,134
3,964,388
1,591,232
176,029,560
350,898
7,621,337
12,603,185
42,238,224
6,373,002

dollar = 100 cents

dinar = 1,000 ls
taka = 100 poisha
dollar = 100 cents
Belarusian rouble
euro = 100 cents
dollar = 100 cents
franc = 100 centimes
ngultrum = 100 chetrum,
Indian rupee
boliviano = 100 centavos
dinar = 100 paras
pula = 100 thebe
real = 100 centavos
dollar = 100 sen
lev = 100 stotinki
franc = 100 centimes
kyat = 100 pyas
franc = 100 centimes

Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Congo, Democratic
Republic of (Zaire)
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic

Phnom Penh
Yaound
Ottawa
Praia
Bangui
NDjamena
Santiago
Beijing
Bogot
Moroni
Brazzaville
Kinshasa

181,000
475,000
9,976,000
4,030
625,000
1,284,000
757,000
9,561,000
1,140,000
1,790
342,000
2,344,000

12,775,324
16,184,748
31,902,268
408,760
3,642,739
8,997,237
15,498,930
1,284,303,705
41,008,227
614,382
2,958,448
55,225,478

riel = 100 sen

franc = 100 centimes
dollar = 100 cents
escudo = 100 centavos
franc = 100 centimes
franc = 100 centimes
peso = 100 centavos
yuan = 10 jiao or 100 fen
peso = 100 centavos
franc = 100 centimes
franc = 100 centimes
franc = 100 centimes

51,000
56,500
111,000
9,250
78,900

3,834,934
4,390,751
11,224,321
767,314
10,256,760

coln = 100 centimos

kuna = 100 lipa
peso = 100 centavos
pound = 100 cents
koruna = 100 halers

Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic

Copenhagen
Djibouti
Roseau
Santo Domingo

43,100
23,300
751
48,400

5,368,854
820,600
70,158
8,721,594

krone = 100 re
franc = 100 centimes
dollar = 100 cents
peso = 100 centavos

San Jos
Zagreb
Havana
Nicosia
Prague

Area (sq. km)

countries of the world

Country

Capital

Area (sq. km) Population

Currency unit

Ecuador
Egypt

Quito
Cairo

271,000
1,002,000

13,447,494
70,712,345

El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia

San Salvador
Malabo
Asmara
Tallinn
Addis Ababa

21,400
28,100
118,000
45,100
1,224,000

6,353,681
498,144
4,465,651
1,415,681
67,673,031

sucre = 100 centavos

pound = 100 piastres or
1,000 milliemes
coln = 100 centavos
franc = 100 centimes
nakfa; Ethiopian birr
kroon = 100 sents
birr = 100 cents

Fiji
Finland
France

Suva
Helsinki
Paris

18,300
338,000
547,000

856,436
5,183,545
59,765,983

dollar = 100 cents

euro = 100 cents
euro = 100 cents

Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana

Libreville
Banjul
Tbilisi
Berlin
Accra
Athens
St Georges
Guatemala City
Conakry
Bissau
Georgetown

268,000
11,300
69,700
357,000
239,000
131,000
345
109,000
246,000
36,000
215,000

1,233,353
1,455,842
4,960,951
83,251,851
20,244,154
10,645,343
89,211
13,314,079
7,775,065
1,345,479
698,209

franc = 100 centimes

dalasi = 100 butut
lari = 100 tetri
euro = 100 cents
cedi = 100 pesewas
euro = 100 cents
dollar = 100 cents
quetzal = 100 centavos
franc = 100 centimes
peso = 100 centavos
dollar = 100 cents

Haiti
Honduras
Hungary

Port-au-Prince
Tegucigalpa
Budapest

27,800
112,000
93,000

7,063,722
6,560,608
10,075,034

gourde = 100 centimes

lempira = 100 centavos
forint = 100 ller

Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland, Republic of
Israel
Italy
Ivory Coast

Reykjavik
New Delhi
Djakarta
Tehran
Baghdad
Dublin
Jerusalem
Rome
Yamoussoukro

103,000
3,185,000
1,905,000
1,648,000
438,000
70,300
20,800
301,000
322,000

279,384
1,045,845,226
231,328,092
66,622,704
24,001,816
3,883,159
6,029,529
57,715,625
16,804,784

Jamaica
Japan
Jordan

Kingston
Tokyo
Amman

11,000
378,000
97,700

2,680,029
126,974,628
5,307,470

Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan

Astana
Nairobi
Bairiki
Kuwait City
Bishkek

2,717,000
583,000
717
17,800
199,000

16,741,519
31,138,735
96,335
2,111,561
4,822,166

Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg

Vientiane
Riga
Beirut
Maseru
Monrovia
Tripoli
Vaduz
Vilnius
Luxembourg

237,000
64,600
10,500
30,300
111,000
1,776,000
160
65,200
2,590

5,777,180
2,366,515
3,677,780
2,207,954
3,288,198
5,368,585
32,842
3,601,138
448,569

kip = 100 ats

lat = 100 santims
pound = 100 piastres
loti = 100 lisente
dollar = 100 cents
dinar = 1,000 dirhams
franc = 100 centimes
litas = 100 centas
euro = 100 cents

Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova

Skopje
Antananarivo
Lilongwe
Kuala Lumpur
Male
Bamako
Valletta
Majuro
Nouakchott
Port Louis
Mexico City
Kolonia
Chisinau

25,700
587,000
118,000
330,000
298
1,240,000
316
181
1,031,000
2,040
1,958,000
701
33,700

2,054,800
16,473,477
10,701,824
22,662,365
320,165
11,340,480
397,499
73,630
2,828,858
1,200,206
103,400,165
135,869
4,434,547

denar = 100 deni

franc = 100 centimes
kwacha = 100 tambala
ringgit = 100 sen
ruyaa = 100 laris
franc = 100 centimes
lira = 100 cents
US dollar
ouguiya = 5 khoums
rupee = 100 cents
peso = 100 centavos
US dollar
leu = 100 bani

krona = 100 aurar

rupee = 100 paisa
rupiah = 100 sen
rial = 100 dinars
dinar = 1,000 ls
euro = 100 cents
shekel = 100 agora
euro = 100 cents
franc = 100 centimes
dollar = 100 cents
yen = 100 sen
dinar = 1,000 ls
tenge = 100 teins
shilling = 100 cents
Australian dollar
dinar = 1,000 ls
som = 100 tiyin

countries of the world

Country

Capital

Area (sq. km) Population

Monaco

1.5
Mongolia
Ulan Bator
1,565,000
Montenegro (see Union of Serbia and Montenegro)
Morocco
Rabat
459,000
Mozambique
Maputo
799,000
Myanmar (see Burma)

31,987
2,694,432

Currency unit
euro = 100 cents
tugrik = 100 mongos

31,167,783
19,607,519

dirham = 100 centimes

metical = 100 centavos

824,000
21
147,000
37,000
268,000
120,000
1,267,000
924,000
121,000
324,000

1,820,916
12,329
25,873,917
16,067,754
3,908,037
5,023,818
10,639,744
129,934,911
22,224,195
4,525,116

rand = 100 cents

Australian dollar
rupee = 100 paisa
euro = 100 cents
dollar = 100 cents
cordoba = 100 centavos
franc = 100 centimes
naira = 100 kobo
won = 100 jun
krone = 100 re

212,000

2,713,462

804,000
77,100
463,000
407,000
1,285,000
300,000
304,000
92,000

147,663,429
2,882,329
5,172,033
5,884,491
27,949,639
84,525,639
38,625,478
10,084,245

11,400

793,341

229,000
17,075,000
26,300

22,317,730
144,978,573
7,398,074

261
616
389

38,736
160,145
116,394

2,840
61
964
2,150,000

178,631
27,730
170,372
23,513,330

Senegal
Dakar
197,000
Serbia (see Union of Serbia and Montenegro)
Seychelles
Victoria
453
Sierra Leone
Freetown
71,700
Singapore
Singapore City
618
Slovakia
Bratislava
49,000
Slovenia
Ljubljana
20,300
Solomon Islands
Honiara
276,000
Somalia
Mogadishu
638,000
South Africa
Pretoria
1,221,000
South Korea
Seoul
99,300
Spain
Madrid
505,000
Sri Lanka
Colombo
64,000
Sudan
Khartoum
2,506,000
Suriname
Paramaribo
163,000
Swaziland
Mbabane
17,000
Sweden
Stockholm
450,000
Switzerland
Berne
41,000
Syria
Damascus
184,000

10,589,571

tala = 100 sene

euro = 100 cents
dobra = 100 centavos
riyal = 20 qursh or 100
halalas
franc = 100 centimes

80,098
5,614,743
4,452,732
5,422,366
1,932,917
494,786
7,753,310
43,647,658
48,324,000
40,077,100
19,576,783
37,090,298
436,494
1,123,605
8,876,744
7,301,994
17,155,814

rupee = 100 cents

leone = 100 cents
dollar = 100 cents
koruna = 100 haliers
tolar = 100 stotins
dollar = 100 cents
shilling = 100 cents
rand = 100 cents
won = 100 jeon
euro = 100 cents
rupee = 100 cents
dinar = 10 pounds
guilder = 100 cents
lilangeni = 100 cents
krona = 100 re
franc = 100 centimes
pound = 100 piastres

Taiwan

Taipei

36,000

22,548,009

Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago

Dushanbe
Dodoma
Bangkok
Lom
Nukualofa
Port-of-Spain

143,000
940,000
513,000
57,000
668
5,130

6,719,567
37,187,939
62,354,402
5,285,501
106,137
1,163,724

New Taiwan dollar

= 100 cents
somoni = 100 dirams
shilling = 100 cents
baht = 100 satangs
franc = 100 centimes
paanga = 100 seniti
dollar = 100 cents

Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway

Windhoek

Kathmandu
Amsterdam
Wellington
Managua
Niamey
Abuja
Pyongyang
Oslo

Oman

Muscat

Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal

Islamabad
Panama City
Port Moresby
Asuncin
Lima
Manila
Warsaw
Lisbon

Qatar

Doha

Romania
Russia
Rwanda

Bucharest
Moscow
Kigali

St Kitts and Nevis

St Lucia
St Vincent and the
Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
So Tom and Principe
Saudi Arabia

Basseterre
Castries
Kingstown
Apia
San Marino
So Tom
Riyadh

rial = 1,000 baiza

rupee = 100 paisa
balboa = 100 centsimos
kina = 100 toea
guarani = 100 centimos
sol = 100 cents
peso = 100 centavos
zloty = 100 groszy
euro = 100 cents
riyal = 100 dirhams
leu = 100 bani
rouble = 100 copecks
franc = 100 centimes
dollar = 100 cents
dollar = 100 cents
dollar = 100 cents

countries of the world

Country

Capital

Area (sq. km) Population

Currency unit

Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu

Tunis
Ankara
Ashgabat
Funafuti

164,000
779,000
488,000
26

9,815,644
67,308,928
4,688,963
11,146

dinar = 1,000 milliemes

lira = 100 kurus
manat = 100 tenesi
dollar = 100 cents

Uganda
Ukraine
Union of Serbia and
Montenegro
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Uzbekistan

Kampala
Kiev
Belgrade

241,000
604,000
102,200

24,699,073
48,396,470
10,656,929

shilling = 100 cents

hryvna = 100 kopiykas
dinar = 100 paras

Abu Dhabi
London
Washington DC
Montevideo
Tashkent

77,770
244,000
9,373,000
176,000
447,000

2,445,989
58,789,194
280,562,489
3,386,575
25,563,441

dirham = 100 ls
pound = 100 pence
dollar = 100 cents
peso = 100 centsimos
som = 100 tiyin

Vanuatu
Vatican City
Venezuela
Vietnam

Vila

Caracas
Hanoi

14,800
0.44
912,000
330,000

196,178
1,000
24,287,670
81,098,416

vatu = 100 centimes

euro = 100 cents
bolivar = 100 centimos
dong = 100 xu

Yemen

Sanaa

540,000

18,701,257

riyal = 100 ls

Zambia
Zimbabwe

Lusaka
Harare

753,000
391,000

9,959,037
11,376,676

kwacha = 100 ngwee

dollar = 100 cents

Appendix 2

Prime Ministers
and Presidents
Prime Ministers of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom
[1721]1742
17421743
17431754
17541756
17561757
17571762
17621763
17631765
17651766
17661768
17681770
17701782
1782
17821783
1783
17831801
18011804
18041806
18061807
18071809
18091812
18121827
1827
18271828
18281830
18301834
1834
1834
18341835
18351841
18411846
18461852
1852
18521855
18551858
18581859
18591865

Sir Robert Walpole

Whig
Earl of Wilmington

Henry Pelham

Duke of Newcastle

Duke of Devonshire

Duke of Newcastle

Earl of Bute
Tory
George Grenville
Whig
Marquess of Rockingham

William Pitt the Elder

Duke of Grafton

Lord North
Tory
Marquess of Rockingham
Whig
Earl of Shelburne

Duke of Portland
coalition
William Pitt the Younger
Tory
Henry Addington

William Pitt the Younger

Lord William Grenville

Whig
Duke of Portland
Tory
Spencer Perceval

Earl of Liverpool

George Canning

Viscount Goderich

Duke of Wellington

Earl Grey
Whig
Viscount Melbourne

Duke of Wellington
Tory
Sir Robert Peel
Conservative
Viscount Melbourne
Whig
Sir Robert Peel
Conservative
Lord John Russell
Whig
Earl of Derby
Conservative
Earl of Aberdeen
coalition
Viscount Palmerston
Whig
Earl of Derby
Conservative
Viscount Palmerston
Liberal

18651866
18661868
1868
18681874
18741880
18801885
18851886
1886
18861892
18921894
18941895
18951902
19021905
19051908
19081916
19161922
19221923
19231924
1924
19241929
19291935
19351937
19371940
19401945
19451951
19511955
19551957
19571963
19631964
19641970
19701974
19741976
19761979
19791990
19901997
1997

Earl Russell
Liberal
Earl of Derby
Conservative
Benjamin Disraeli

William Ewart Gladstone

Liberal
Benjamin Disraeli
Conservative
William Ewart Gladstone
Liberal
Marquess of Salisbury Conservative
William Ewart Gladstone
Liberal
Marquess of Salisbury Conservative
William Ewart Gladstone
Liberal
Earl of Rosebery

Marquess of Salisbury Conservative

Arthur James Balfour

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Liberal
Herbert Henry Asquith

David Lloyd George

coalition
Andrew Bonar Law
Conservative
Stanley Baldwin

James Ramsay MacDonald

Labour
Stanley Baldwin
Conservative
James Ramsay MacDonald coalition
Stanley Baldwin

Neville Chamberlain

Winston Churchill

Clement Attlee
Labour
Sir Winston Churchill Conservative
Sir Anthony Eden

Harold Macmillan

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Harold Wilson
Labour
Edward Heath
Conservative
Harold Wilson
Labour
James Callaghan

Margaret Thatcher
Conservative
John Major

Tony Blair
Labour

Prime Ministers of Canada

18671873
18731878
18781891
18911892
18921894
18941896
1896
18961911
19111920
19201921
19211926
1926
19261930
19301935

John A. Macdonald
Conservative
Alexander Mackenzie
Liberal/Reform
John A. Macdonald
Conservative
John J. C. Abbott
Liberal-Conservative
John S. D. Thompson Conservative
Mackenzie Bowell

Charles Tupper

Wilfrid Laurier
Liberal
Robert L. Borden
Conservative
Arthur Meighen
Liberal
W. L. Mackenzie King

Arthur Meighen
Conservative
W. L. Mackenzie King
Liberal
Richard B. Bennett
Conservative

19351948
19481957
19571963
19631968
19681979
19791980
19801984
1984
19841993
1993
19932003
2003

W. L. Mackenzie King
Liberal
Louis Stephen St Laurent

John George Diefenbaker

Progressive Conservative
Lester B. Pearson
Liberal
Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Clark
Progressive Conservative
Pierre Trudeau
Liberal
John Turner

Brian Mulroney
Progressive Conservative
Kim Campbell

Jean Chrtien
Liberal
Paul Martin

prime ministers and presidents

Prime Ministers of Australia
19011903
19031904
1904
19041905
19051908
19081909
19091910
19101913
19131914
19141915
19151923
19231929
19291932
19321939

Edmund Barton

Alfred Deakin
Liberal
John C. Watson
Labor
George Houstoun Reid Free Trade
Alfred Deakin
Liberal
Andrew Fisher
Labor
Alfred Deakin
Liberal
Andrew Fisher
Labor
Joseph Cook
Liberal
Andrew Fisher
Labor
William M. Hughes
Nationalist
Stanley M. Bruce

James H. Scullin
Labor
Joseph A. Lyons
United Australia Party

19391941
1941
19411945
19451949
19491966
19661967
19671968
19681971
19711972
19721975
19751983
19831991
19911996
1996

Robert Gordon Menzies

Liberal
Arthur William Fadden
Country Party
John Curtin
Labor
Joseph Benedict Chiey
Labor
Robert Gordon Menzies
Liberal
Harold Edward Holt

John McEwen

John Grey Gorton

William McMahon

Gough Whitlam
Labor
Malcolm Fraser
Liberal
Bob Hawke
Labor
Paul Keating

John Howard
Liberal

Prime Ministers of New Zealand (since the emergence of party government in 1891)
18911893
18931906
1906
19061912
1912
19121925
1925
19251928
19281930
19301935
19351940
19401949
19491957

John Ballance
Liberal
Richard John Seddon

William Hall-Jones

Joseph George Ward

Thomas Mackenzie

William Ferguson Massey Reform

Francis Henry Dillon Bell

Joseph Gordon Coates

Joseph George Ward

Liberal
George William Forbes

Michael J. Savage
Labour
Peter Fraser

Sidney G. Holland
National Party

1957
19571960
19601972
1972
19721974
19741975
19751984
19841989
19891990
1990
19901997
19971999
1999

Keith J. Holyoake
Walter Nash
Keith J. Holyoake
John R. Marshall
Norman Kirk
Wallace Rowling
Robert D. Muldoon
David Lange
Geoffrey Palmer
Mike Moore
James B. Bolger
Jenny Shipley
Helen Clark

18851889
18891893
18931897
18971901
19011909
19091913
19131921
19211923
19231929
19291933
19331945
19451953
19531961

22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.

19611963
19631969
19691974
19741977
19771981
19811989
19891993
19932001
2001

35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.

National Party
Labour
National Party

Labour

National Party
Labour

National Party

Labour

Presidents of the United States of America

17891797
17971801
18011809
18091817
18171825
18251829
18291837
18371841
1841
18411845
18451849
18491850
18501853
18531857
18571861
18611865
18651869
18691877
18771881
1881
18811885

1. George Washington Federalist

2. John Adams

3. Thomas Jefferson
Democratic Republican
4. James Madison

5. James Monroe

6. John Quincy Adams

Independent
7. Andrew Jackson
Democrat
8. Martin Van Buren

9. William H. Harrison
Whig
10. John Tyler
Whig, then Democrat
11. James K. Polk
Democrat
12. Zachary Taylor
Whig
13. Millard Fillmore

14. Franklin Pierce

Democrat
15. James Buchanan

16. Abraham Lincoln

Republican
17. Andrew Johnson
Democrat
18. Ulysses S. Grant
Republican
19. Rutherford B. Hayes

20. James A. Gareld

21. Chester A. Arthur

Grover Cleveland
Democrat
Benjamin Harrison Republican
Grover Cleveland
Democrat
William McKinley Republican
Theodore Roosevelt

William H. Taft

Woodrow Wilson
Democrat
Warren G. Harding Republican
Calvin Coolidge

Herbert Hoover

Franklin D. Roosevelt Democrat

Harry S. Truman

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican
John F. Kennedy
Democrat
Lyndon B. Johnson

Richard Nixon
Republican
Gerald Ford

Jimmy Carter
Democrat
Ronald Reagan
Republican
George Bush

Bill Clinton
Democrat
George W. Bush
Republican

Appendix 3

Kings and Queens

of England and the
United Kingdom
Ruler

Dates of
reign

Life

Ruler

Saxon Line
Edwy
Edgar
Edward the Martyr
Ethelred the Unready
Edmund Ironside

955957
959975
975978
9781016
1016

died 959
944975
c.963978
c.9691016
c.9801016

Danish Line
Canute (Cnut)
Harold I
Hardecanute

10171035 d.1035
10371040 d.1040
10401042 c.10191042

Saxon Line
Edward the Confessor
Harold II
House of Normandy
William I (the
Conqueror)
William II
Henry I
Stephen
House of Plantagenet
Henry II
Richard I
John
Henry III
Edward I
Edward II
Edward III
Richard II
House of Lancaster
Henry IV
Henry V
Henry VI
House of York
Edward IV
Edward V
Richard III

10421066 c.10031066
1066
c.10191066
10661087 c.10271087
10871100 c.10601100
11001135 10681135
11351154 c.10971154
11541189
11891199
11991216
12161272
12721307
13071327
13271377
13771399

11331189
11571199
11651216
12071272
12391307
12841327
13121377
13671400

Dates of
reign

Life

House of Tudor
Henry VII
Henry VIII
Edward VI
Mary I
Elizabeth I

14851509
15091547
15471553
15531558
15581603

14571509
14911547
15371553
15161558
15331603

House of Stuart
James I
Charles I

16031625 15661625
16251649 16001649

Commonwealth (declared 1649)

Oliver Cromwell,
16531658 15991658
Lord Protector
Richard Cromwell
16581659 16261712
House of Stuart
Charles II
James II
William III and
Mary II

16301685
16331701
William
16501702

Anne

16601685
16851688
16891702
(Mary
d.1694)
17021714

House of Hanover
George I
George II
George III
George IV
William IV
Victoria

17141727
17271760
17601820
18201830
18301837
18371901

16601727
16831760
17381820
17621830
17651837
18191901

16651714

House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Edward VII
19011910 18411910
13991413 13671413
14131422 13871422
14221461, 14211471
14701
14611483 14421483
1483
1470c.1483
14831485 14521485

House of Windsor
George V
Edward VIII
George VI
Elizabeth II

19101936
1936
19361952
1952

18651936
18941972
18951952
b.1926

Appendix 4

Weights, Measures,
and Notation
The conversion factors are not exact unless so marked. They are given
only to the accuracy likely to be needed in everyday calculations.

British and American,

with Metric Equivalents

Metric, with British

Equivalents

Linear measure

Linear measure

1 inch
1 foot = 12 inches
1 yard = 3 feet
1 (statute) mile = 1,760 yards
1 int. nautical mile
= 1.150779 miles

= 25.4 millimetres exactly

= 0.3048 metre exactly
= 0.9144 metre exactly
= 1.609 kilometres
= 1.852 kilometres exactly

= 6.45 sq. centimetres

= 9.29 sq. decimetres
= 0.836 sq. metre
= 0.405 hectare
= 259 hectares

Cubic measure
1 cubic inch
1 cubic foot = 1,728 cu. in.
1 cubic yard = 27 cu. ft

1 square centimetre
1 square metre = 10,000 sq. cm
1 are = 100 square metres
1 hectare = 100 ares
1 square kilometre
= 100 hectares

= 0.155 sq. inch

= 1.196 sq. yards
= 119.6 sq. yards
= 2.471 acres
= 0.386 sq. mile

Cubic measure
= 16.4 cu. centimetres
= 0.0283 cu. metre
= 0.765 cu. metre

Capacity measure
british
1 fluid oz = 1.7339 cu. in.
1 gill = 5 fluid oz
1 pint = 20 fluid oz = 34.68 cu. in.
1 quart = 2 pints
1 gallon = 4 quarts
1 peck = 2 gallons
1 bushel = 4 pecks

= 0.0284 litre
= 0.1421 litre
= 0.568 litre
= 1.136 litres
= 4.546 litres
= 9.092 litres
= 36.4 litres

american dry
1 pint = 33.60 cu. in.
1 quart = 2 pints
1 peck = 8 quarts
1 bushel = 4 pecks

= 0.550 litre
= 1.101 litres
= 8.81 litres
= 35.3 litres

american liquid
1 pint = 16 fluid oz = 28.88 cu. in. = 0.473 litre
1 quart = 2 pints
= 0.946 litre
1 gallon = 4 quarts
= 3.785 litres
Avoirdupois weight
1 grain
1 dram
1 ounce = 16 drams
1 pound = 16 ounces
= 7,000 grains
1 stone = 14 pounds
1 hundredweight = 112 pounds
1 short ton = 2,000 pounds
1 (long) ton = 20 hundredweight

= 0.039 inch
= 0.394 inch
= 3.94 inches
= 1.094 yards
= 0.6214 mile

Square measure

Square measure
1 square inch
1 square foot = 144 sq. in.
1 square yard = 9 sq. ft
1 acre = 4,840 sq. yd
1 square mile = 640 acres

1 millimetre
1 centimetre = 10 mm
1 decimetre = 10 cm
1 metre = 100 cm
1 kilometre = 1,000 m

= 0.065 gram
= 1.772 grams
= 28.35 grams
= 0.4536 kilogram
(0.4535923 exactly)
= 6.35 kilograms
= 50.80 kilograms
= 0.907 tonne
= 1.016 tonnes

1 cubic centimetre
= 0.061 cu. inch
1 cubic metre = 1,000,000 cu. cm = 1.308 cu. yards
Capacity measure
1 millilitre
1 centilitre = 10 ml
1 decilitre = 10 cl
1 litre = 1,000 ml
1 decalitre = 10 l
1 hectolitre = 100 l
1 kilolitre = 1,000 l

= 0.002 pint (British)

= 0.018 pint
= 0.176 pint
= 1.76 pints
= 2.20 gallons
= 2.75 bushels
= 3.44 quarters

Weight
1 milligram
1 centigram = 10 mg
1 decigram = 100 mg
1 gram = 1,000 mg
1 decagram = 10 g
1 hectogram = 100 g
1 kilogram = 1,000 g
1 tonne (metric ton) = 1,000 kg

= 0.015 grain
= 0.154 grain
= 1.543 grains
= 15.43 grains
= 5.64 drams
= 3.527 ounces
= 2.205 pounds
= 0.984 (long) ton

weights, measures, and notation

Temperature

Power notation

Fahrenheit water boils (under standard

conditions) at 212 and freezes at 32.

This expresses concisely any power of 10 (any

number that is formed by multiplying or dividing
ten by itself), and is sometimes used in the
dictionary.

Celsius or Centigrade water boils at 100 and

freezes at 0.
Kelvin water boils at 373.15 K and freezes at
273.15 K.
To convert Centigrade into Fahrenheit:
multiply by 9, divide by 5, and add 32.
To convert Fahrenheit into Centigrade:
subtract 32, multiply by 5, and divide by 9.

102 (ten squared) = 10 10 = 100

103 (ten cubed) = 10 10 10 = 1,000
104 = 10 10 10 10 = 10,000
1010 = 10,000,000,000 (1 followed by ten
noughts)
102 = 1/102 = 1/100 = 0.01
1010 = 1/1010 = 1/10,000,000,000
6.2 103 = 6,200
4.7 102 = 0.047

To convert Centigrade into Kelvin:

add 273.15.
F
40
10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100

C
40
23
18
12
7
1
4
10
16
21
27
32
38
(approx.)

40
10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100

40
14
32
50
68
86
104
122
140
158
176
194
212
(exact)

The metric prefixes

Abbreviations
decahectokilomegagigaterapetaexadecicentimillimicronanopicofemtoatto-

da
h
k
M
G
T
P
E
d
c
m

n
p
f
a

Factors
10
102
103
106
109
1012
1015
1018
101
102
103
106
109
1012
1015
1018

Pronunciations and derivations of these are

given at their alphabetical places in the
dictionary. They may be applied to any units
of the metric system: hectogram (abbr. hg)
= 100 grams; kilowatt (abbr. kW) = 1,000 watts;
megahertz (MHz) = 1 million hertz; centimetre
(cm) = 1 100 metre; microvolt (V) = one
millionth of a volt; picofarad (pF) = 1012 farad,
and are sometimes applied to other units
(megabit, microinch).

SI units
1. Base units
Physical quantity

Name

Abbreviation
or symbol

length
mass
time
electric current
temperature
amount of substance
luminous intensity

metre
kilogram
second
ampere
kelvin
mole
candela

m
kg
s
A
K
mol
cd

2. Supplementary units
Physical quantity

Name

Abbreviation
or symbol

plane angle
solid angle

radian
steradian

rad
sr

3. Derived units with special names

Physical quantity

Name

Abbreviation
or symbol

frequency
energy
force
power
pressure
electric charge
electromotive force
electric resistance
electric conductance
electric capacitance
magnetic ux
inductance
magnetic ux density
luminous ux
illumination

hertz
joule
newton
watt
pascal
coulomb
volt
ohm
siemens
farad
weber
henry
tesla
lumen
lux

Hz
J
N
W
Pa
C
V

S
F
Wb
H
T
lm
lx

Appendix 5

Chemical Elements
Element

Symbol

actinium
aluminium
americium
antimony
argon
arsenic
astatine
barium
berkelium
beryllium
bismuth
bohrium
boron
bromine
cadmium
caesium
calcium
californium
carbon
cerium
chlorine
chromium
cobalt
copper
curium
dubnium
dysprosium
einsteinium
erbium
europium
fermium
uorine
francium
gadolinium
gallium
germanium
gold

Ac
Al
Am
Sb
Ar
As
At
Ba
Bk
Be
Bi
Bh
B
Br
Cd
Cs
Ca
Cf
C
Ce
Cl
Cr
Co
Cu
Cm
Db
Dy
Es
Er
Eu
Fm
F
Fr
Gd
Ga
Ge
Au

Atomic
no.

Element

Symbol

89
13
95
51
18
33
85
56
97
4
83
107
5
35
48
55
20
98
6
58
17
24
27
29
96
105
66
99
68
63
100
9
87
64
31
32
79

hafnium
hassium
helium
holmium
hydrogen
indium
iodine
iridium
iron
krypton
lanthanum
lawrencium
lead
lithium
lutetium
magnesium
manganese
meitnerium
mendelevium
mercury
molybdenum
neodymium
neon
neptunium
nickel
niobium
nitrogen
nobelium
osmium
oxygen
palladium
phosphorus
platinum
plutonium
polonium
potassium
praseodymium

Hf
Hs
He
Ho
H
In
I
Ir
Fe
Kr
La
Lr
Pb
Li
Lu
Mg
Mn
Mt
Md
Hg
Mo
Nd
Ne
Np
Ni
Nb
N
No
Os
O
Pd
P
Pt
Pu
Po
K
Pr

Atomic
no.

Element

Symbol

72
108
2
67
1
49
53
77
26
36
57
103
82
3
71
12
25
109
101
80
42
60
10
93
28
41
7
102
76
8
46
15
78
94
84
19
59

promethium
protactinium
radium
radon
rhenium
rhodium
rubidium
ruthenium
rutherfordium
samarium
scandium
seaborgium
selenium
silicon
silver
sodium
strontium
sulphur
tantalum
technetium
tellurium
terbium
thallium
thorium
thulium
tin
titanium
tungsten
uranium
vanadium
xenon
ytterbium
yttrium
zinc
zirconium

Pm
Pa
Ra
Rn
Re
Rh
Rb
Ru
Rf
Sm
Sc
Sg
Se
Si
Ag
Na
Sr
S
Ta
Tc
Te
Tb
Tl
Th
Tm
Sn
Ti
W
U
V
Xe
Yb
Y
Zn
Zr

Atomic
no.
61
91
88
86
75
45
37
44
104
62
21
106
34
14
47
11
38
16
73
43
52
65
81
90
69
50
22
74
92
23
54
70
39
30
40

Appendix 6

Greek Alphabet
A




a





alpha

beta

gamma

delta

epsilon

zeta

 
 
 
 
 
 

eta

theta

th

iota

kappa

lambda

mu

 
 
 
!
" #
$ %&

nu

xi

omicron

pi

rho

r, rh

sigma

'
)

,
.
0

(
*
+
/
1

tau

upsilon

phi

ph

chi

kh

psi

ps

omega

Appendix 7

The Solar System

The Sun and Planets
Planet

Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto

Mean distance
from sun
(106 km)

57.9
108.2
149.6
227.9
778.3
1,427
2,871
4,497
5,914

Equatorial
diameter
(km)

Mass
(earth1)

1,400,000
4,878
12,102
12,756
6,786
142,980
120,540
51,120
49,530
2,280

330,000
0.06
0.81
1.00
0.11
318
95.2
14.5
17.1
0.002

Volume
(earth1)

Orbital
period
or year

Rotation
period
or day

1,300,000
0.06
0.86
1.00
0.15
1,323
752
64
54
0.01

87.97d
224.7d
365.3d
687.0d
11.86y
29.46y
84.01y
164.8y
248.5y

25d*
58.65d
243.0d(R)
23.93h
24.62h
9.93h*
10.66h*
17.24h*(R)
16.11h*
6.39d(R)

*At equator. (R) retrograde.

Principal Planetary Satellites

Planet

Satellite

Year of
discovery

Diameter
(km)

Mean distance from

centre of planet (103 km)

Earth

Moon

Mars

Phobos
Deimos

Jupiter

3,476*

384.4

1877
1877

27*
15*

9.4
23.5

Amalthea
Io
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto

1892
1610
1610
1610
1610

262*
3,630*
3,138*
5,262*
4,800*

181
422
671
1,070
1,883

0.498
1.769
3.551
7.155
16.69

Saturn

Mimas
Enceladus
Tethys
Dione
Rhea
Titan
Hyperion
Iapetus
Phoebe

1789
1789
1684
1684
1672
1655
1848
1671
1898

390*
500*
1,050*
1,120*
1,530*
5,150*
340*
1,440*
220*

199
238
295
377
527
1,222
1,481
3,561
12,952

0.942
1.370
1.888
2.737
4.518
15.95
21.28
79.33
550.5(R)

Uranus

Miranda
Ariel
Umbriel
Titania
Oberon

1948
1851
1851
1787
1787

480*
1,160*
1,190*
1,600*
1,550*

130
191
266
436
583

Neptune

Proteus
Triton
Nereid

1989
1846
1949

400*
2,700*
340*

118
354
551

1.12
5.877(R)
360.2

Pluto

Charon

1978

1,190*

20

6.387

*Irregular: maximum dimension. (R) retrograde.

Many other small satellites are known for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

Orbital
period (d)
27.32
0.319
1.262

1.414
2.520
4.144
8.706
13.46

Appendix 8

Collective nouns
Terms marked * belong to 15th-century lists of proper terms, notably that
in the Book of St Albans attributed to Dame Juliana Barnes (1486). Many
of these are fanciful or humorous terms which probably never had any real
currency, but have been taken up by Joseph Strutt in Sports and Pastimes
of England (1801) and by other antiquarian writers.

a *shrewdness of apes
a herd or *pace of asses
a *cete of badgers
a *sloth or *sleuth of bears
a hive of bees; a swarm, drift, or bike of bees
a ock, ight, (dial.) parcel, pod, *eet, or
*dissimulation of (small) birds; a volary of birds
in an aviary
a sounder of wild boar
a *blush of boys
a herd or gang of buffalo
a *clowder or *glaring of cats; a *dowt (= ?do-out)
or *destruction of wild cats
a herd, drove, (dial.) drift, or (US & Austral.) mob
of cattle
a brood, (dial.) cletch or clutch, or *peep of
chickens
a *chattering or *clattering of choughs
a *drunkship of cobblers
a *rag or *rake of colts
a *hastiness of cooks
a *covert of coots
a herd of cranes
a litter of cubs
a herd of curlew
a *cowardice of curs
a herd or mob of deer
a pack or kennel of dogs
a trip of dotterel
a ight, *dole, or *piteousness of doves
a raft, bunch, or *paddling of ducks on water;
a team of wild ducks in ight
a ing of dunlins
a herd of elephants
a herd or (US) gang of elk
a *business of ferrets
a charm or *chirm of finches
a shoal of fish; a run of fish in motion
a cloud of flies
a *stalk of foresters
a *skulk of foxes
a gaggle or (in the air) a skein, team, or wedge of
geese
a herd of giraffes
a ock, herd, or (dial.) trip of goats
a pack or covey of grouse
a *husk or *down of hares
a cast of hawks let y
an *observance of hermits
a *siege of herons
a stud or *haras of (breeding) horses; (dial.) a team
of horses
a kennel, pack, cry, or *mute of hounds
a ight or swarm of insects
a mob or troop of kangaroos
a kindle of kittens
a bevy of ladies
a *desert of lapwing
an *exaltation or bevy of larks

a *leap of leopards
a pride of lions
a *tiding of magpies
a *sord or *sute (= suit) of mallard
a *richesse of martens
a *faith of merchants
a *labour of moles
a troop of monkeys
a *barren of mules
a *watch of nightingales
a *superuity of nuns
a covey of partridges
a *muster of peacocks
a *malapertness (= impertinence) of pedlars
a rookery of penguins
a head or (dial.) nye of pheasants
a kit of pigeons ying together
a herd of pigs
a stand, wing, or *congregation of plovers
a rush or ight of pochards
a herd, pod, or school of porpoises
a *pity of prisoners
a covey of ptarmigan
a litter of pups
a bevy or drift of quail
a string of racehorses
an *unkindness of ravens
a bevy of roe deer
a parliament or *building of rooks
a hill of ruffs
a herd or rookery of seals; a pod of seals
a ock, herd, (dial.) drift or trip, or (Austral.) mob
of sheep
a *dopping of sheldrake
a wisp or *walk of snipe
a *host of sparrows
a *murmuration of starlings
a ight of swallows
a game or herd of swans; a wedge of swans in the
air
a herd of swine; a *sounder of tame swine, a *drift
of wild swine
a *glozing (= fawning) of taverners
a *spring of teal
a bunch or knob of waterfowl
a school, herd, or gam of whales; a pod of whales; a
grind of bottle-nosed whales
a company or trip of wigeon
a bunch, trip, or plump of wildfowl; a knob (less
than 30) of wildfowl
a pack or *rout of wolves
a gaggle of women (derog.)
a *fall of woodcock
a herd of wrens

Appendix 9

Types of language

English, like all languages, is used at many different levels of formality depending on the context
and purpose of the speech or writing. In the most
formal register, a machine might be said to be malfunctioning; in a neutral or everyday register (standard English) it will be described as not working,
and in informal contexts it will be said to be bust or
kaput. Each situation or context calls for its own
different kind of language. No one style of vocabulary and grammar is superior to another; it is their
appropriateness to the occasion that matters. In
general people naturally vary the way that they
speak or write in different situations, be they making a speech, chatting to a friend, or writing to an
elderly relative.
The technical term for a particular level of use in
language is register. Register is not the same as
accent: a person with a strong regional accent may
speak standard English, and a speaker of Received
Pronunciation (the standard accent of English as
spoken in the south of England) may use the latest
street slang.
Unless otherwise stated, the words and senses
recorded in this dictionary are classed as standard
English. Standard English is generally appropriate
in most situations and contexts. It is typically the
language of ofcial communications, broadcasting, and printed matter. It is not the same as correct English; a particular form of dialect or slang
may have syntactical rules that are just as strict and
consistent as those of standard English.

Informal language
Informal language is used more in conversation
than in writing, especially among people who know
each other, or by particular social groups or occupations. It is sometimes called slang; slang also refers
specically to the informal vocabulary of particular groups of people, for example teenagers or
members of the armed forces. Informal language is
also sometimes described as colloquial language.
Informal speech is marked by short sentences, a
preference for the active over the passive voice,
and unconventional syntax features such as omission of the subjectas in Just been shopping or
Wanna go for a drink?
Informal vocabulary typically includes extensions or reversals of meanings of established words
(e.g. wicked = very good), shortenings of words
(e.g. brill from brilliant and cred from credibility),

compound formations (e.g. airhead and couch

potato), and blends (e.g. ginormous from gigantic
and enormous), contractions such as Ill, hes, and
gonna (for going to), as well as special processes
such as rhyming slang (e.g. butchers = butchers
hook = look) and back slang, in which words are
reversed (e.g. yob = boy).
Inclusion of informal terms in dictionaries is not
a new idea: Samuel Johnson included some in his
Dictionary of the English Language (1755),
although he used the disapproving term low word.
Much informal vocabulary is short-lived, and relatively few words and uses pass into standard English. Exceptions include bogus, clever, og, joke,
prim, rogue, and snob, which were all classed by
Johnson as low words. Conversely, some words
that were once standard have passed into vulgar
slang (e.g. arse, shit, and tit): this is taboo language,
typically relating to sex or bodily functions.

Formal and technical language

In more formal writing, as is found in reports,
ofcial letters, etc., sentences tend to be longer
with more subordinate clauses, and the passive is
commoner than it is in standard or informal English. The indenite personal pronoun one is more
likely to be used than the less formal you, and upon
may be used rather than on. Formal vocabulary
includes such words as ascertain, desirous, purchase, and endeavour. More formal words are
sometimes also used for humorous effect, for
example purloin (meaning steal). Formal words are
usual in instructions and notices: alight (from a bus
or train), conveyance (for vehicle), enquire (rather
than ask), notify (rather than tell), and select
(rather than choose). The language of technical
writing has its own terminology: for example,
gravid, meaning pregnant, occurs only in medicine
and biology.

Old uses and literary language

Some expressions that were formerly common are
no longer in ordinary use but remain in the general
word stock, and are employed to give a deliberately
old-fashioned effect, for example in historical
ction or in humorous contexts. This dictionary
distinguishes between archaic expressions, which
have generally not been everyday currency for a
century or more (e.g. fain or bedchamber), and

types of language
Standard

Informal

attractive,
good-looking

bootylicious, dishy,
t, foxy, lush

clothes, clothing

clobber, duds, gear,

glad rags, threads,
togs

apparel, attire

habiliment, raiment,
vestments

criminal, villain

baddy, crim, crook,

gangsta, hood

malefactor

knave, rogue

criticize

bad-mouth, put down,

slag off, slam, slate

excoriate

dispraise

die

buy it, croak, kick the

bucket, pop your
clogs, snuff it

expire

decease

drunk, intoxicated

lashed, legless,
plastered, smashed,
tight, wrecked

inebriated

besotted

house, home

crib, gaff, pad

abode, domicile,
dwelling, habitation

drum

praise

big up

laud

cry up, magnify,

panegyrize

small

teeny, titchy, weeny

exiguous

minikin

walk

mosey, toddle, pootle,

trog

ambulate,
perambulate

fare

those that are dated: these may still be encountered occasionally, especially among older people,
or they may be words that were coined relatively
recently but then fell out of use again, such as
gasper (a cigarette) or wizard (excellent).
Some words are found chiey in literature or
poetry written in an elevated style, such as coruscate, dolorous, enshroud, or eve. Many such expressions are old words that have dropped out of
ordinary use.
The table above gives some standard English
words with their equivalents in different registers.

Dialect
A dialect is a non-standard form of language that is
used in a particular local region. Examples of English dialects are those of NE England (known as
Geordie) and of Liverpool (known as Scouse). A distinction can be made between traditional dialect,
which is generally to do with rural life and farming
practices which have mostly died out, and contemporary dialect, where speakers may not be aware
that a particular term is in fact a regional one. This
dictionary aims to include the more frequently
encountered contemporary dialect terms, such as
claggy, emmet, and scran, but in general does not
set out to record traditional dialect.

Scottish and Irish

Scottish and Irish English have a long history and a
number of distinctive features, which have in turn
inuenced North American and other varieties of

Formal

Old/literary use
beauteous, comely,
fair, pulchritudinous

English. This dictionary gives a wide coverage of

Scottish and Irish English expressions, such as
agley, dreich, howff, jaggy, and scoosh (Scottish)
and filte, gossoon, and make a hames of (Irish).

World English
English is spoken as a rst language by more than
300 million people throughout the world, and used
as a second language by many millions more. One
in ve of the worlds population speaks English
with a good level of competence, and within the
next few years the number of people speaking English as a second language will exceed the number of
native speakers. This could have a dramatic effect
on the evolution of the language: in the process of
being absorbed by new cultures, English develops
to take account of local language needs, giving rise
not just to new vocabulary but also to new forms of
grammar and pronunciation. At the same time,
however, a standardized global English is spread
by the media and the Internet.
The main regional standards of English are
British, US and Canadian, Australian and New
Zealand, South African, Indian, and West Indian.
Within each of these regional varieties a number of
highly differentiated local dialects may be found.
This dictionary includes thousands of regionalisms encountered in different English-speaking
areas of the world, although its scope must necessarily be limited. In general it is the similarity
rather than the difference between the regional
varieties that is striking, particularly in terms of
grammar.

types of language

US English
US English is of course particularly inuential, on
account of Americas dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade, and technology, including the Internet. Many terms that enter the
dictionary from the US quickly become established
in British English: some examples from the last ten
years or so are geek, nerd, school student, and 24/7.
Many US equivalents for British terms are familiar:
sidewalk for pavement, checkers for draughts,
cookie for biscuit, and vest for waistcoat. Other differences are more subtle. Some words have a
slightly different form, e.g. dollhouse (US)/dolls
house (Brit.), math (US)/maths (Brit.), tidbit
(US)/titbit (Brit.), while American constructions
that are strange to British ears include I just ate,
teach school, and a quarter of ten (rather than a
quarter to ten).

Canadian English
Canadian English is subject to the conicting
inuences of British and American English. In
vocabulary there is a lot of US inuence: Canadians
use billboard, gas, truck, and wrench rather than
hoarding, lorry, petrol, and spanner; but on the
other hand they agree with the British in saying
blinds, braces, porridge, and tap rather than shades,
suspenders, oatmeal, and faucet.

Australian and New Zealand English

The vocabularies of Australian and New Zealand
English are very similar. Both have been enriched
by words and concepts from the hundreds of
indigenous languages that pre-dated European
settlers, only about fty of which continue as rst
languages. The line between formal and informal
usage is perhaps less sharply drawn in
Australasian English than it is elsewhere: sufxes
such as -o and ie, giving us expressions such as
arvo (afternoon), reffo (refugee), and barbie
(barbecue), are freely attached to words even in
more formal contexts.

South African English

Since 1994 South Africa has had eleven ofcial
languages: English, Afrikaans (descended from

Dutch), Zulu, Xhosa, and other largely regional

African languages. English is the rst language of
only about 10 per cent of the population, but the
second language of many others. The English of
native Afrikaners has inevitably inuenced the
standard English of white South Africans, examples being such informal usages as the afrmative
no, as in How are you?No, Im ne and the allpurpose response is it?, as in She had a baby last
weekis it?

Indian English
The role of English within the complex multilingual society of India is far from straightforward:
together with Hindi it is used across the country,
but it can also be a speakers rst, second, or third
language, and its features may depend heavily on
their ethnicity and caste. The grammar of Indian
English has many distinguishing features, of which
perhaps the best-known are the use of the present
continuous tense, as in He is having very much of
property, and the use of isnt it as a ubiquitous
question tag: We are meeting tomorrow, isnt it?
The rst example reects another characteristic of
the language, which is to include intrusive articles
such as in or of in idiomatic phrases. Verbs are also
used differently, with speakers often dropping a
preposition or object altogether: I insisted immediate payment, while double possessivesour these
prices (instead of the British English these prices
of ours)are commonplace.

West Indian English

Standard British English has traditionally been
the linguistic model for the Commonwealth
Caribbean, although recently the import of US
television, radio, and tourism has made American
English an equally powerful inuence. The many
varieties of Creole, inuenced by West African
languages, are also productive. A characteristic
usage is that of the objective pronoun where
British English would use the subjective or possessive, as in me can come an go as me please or he
clear he throat. Jamaican Creole is the most widely known, and has spread beyond the region, especially to the UK, where it inuences the speech of
black Britons.

Appendix 10

English in Electronic
Communication
Electronic text communication takes a number of
different forms, chiey email, posting to online
chat rooms and newsgroups, and SMS (Short Messaging Service) messages between mobile phones.
Although all electronic communication shares certain features, each form is developing its own
specic conventions.
The vocabulary, syntax, and style of electronic
text communication is much more uid than that
found in formal writing, and may also be highly
personalized. Electronic communication is typically very informal in nature and characterized by
many features more often found in conversational
speech.

SMS (text messages)

Text messages are necessarily the most abbreviated form of communication; most mobile-phone
networks restrict users to around 160 characters
per message and the handset does not facilitate the
composing of lengthy messages. Although many
users develop their own codes, there are basic principles that govern the formation of abbreviations:
2 certain words or syllables can be represented by
letters or numbers that sound the same but
take up less space. For example, U sounds the
same as you and C sounds the same as see
(e.g. CU = see you), while the number 8 can be
substituted wherever the sound /-ayt/ occurs in
a word (e.g. GR8 = great, L8R = later)
2 words are shortened by simply omitting certain
letters, especially vowels (e.g. MSG = message)
2 abbreviations are formed from the initial letters of familiar xed phrases, such as BFN bye
for now or TTYL talk to you later.
These principles, and the abbreviations themselves, are also found to a lesser extent in conversations in chat rooms and in email. A fuller list of
SMS abbreviations is given below.

Chat rooms and email

The language used in email, chat rooms, and newsgroups is not as restricted by space considerations
as text messaging , but short messages are favoured
because they save disk space, are more likely to be
read by browsing users, and because composition
time is limited if users are participating in real-

time conversations. Plain text is favoured, since it

ensures that a message will be readable on almost
any hardware or software conguration, but this
means that one cannot use italics, bold face, and
other presentational effects to indicate tone, attitude, signicance, etc. Instead, capital letters,
punctuation, and emoticons (arrangements of keyboard characters to represent facial expressions)
are used to comment on ones text.
Sentences often follow patterns typical of
speech, with features including the omission of
subjects (e.g. Going back to the missus every Sunday
instead of Hes going back to the missus every Sunday) and the use of llers such as like and innit.
Informality or light-heartedness is also signalled
by the users choice of spelling, correct forms often
being less favoured than phonetic or semiphonetic spellings (the shop seems to have bin closed
for a cuppla daze). Other features of spelling and
punctuation include the writing of two or more
words as one (abit, alot), the disregard of commas
and full stops, and the omission of the apostrophe
(e.g. dont instead of dont).
Some of the more established abbreviations used
in all types of electronic communication are listed
below:
AFAIK
AFK
ASL
ATB
B
BAK
BBL
BCNU
BFN
B4
BRB
BTW
C
CUL8R
F2F
F2T
FWIW
FYI
GAL
GR8
HAND
H8
HSIK
HTH

as far as I know
away from the keyboard
age, sex, location
all the best
be
back at the keyboard
be back late(r)
be seeing you
bye for now
before
be right back
by the way
see
see you later
face to face
free to talk
for what its worth
for your information
get a life
great
have a nice day
hate
how should I know?
hope this helps

english in electronic communication

IANAL
IMHO
IMO
IOW
JIC
JK
KIT
KWIM
L8R
LOL
MOB
MSG
MYOB
NE
NE1
NOYB
NO1
OTOH
PCM
PLS
PPL
R

I am not a lawyer, but

(as a disclaimer)
in my humble opinion
in my opinion
in other words
just in case
just kidding
keep in touch
know what I mean?
later
lots of luck/laughing out loud
mobile
message
mind your own business
any
anyone
none of your business
no one
on the other hand
please call me
please
people
are

ROTF(L)
SIT
SOM1
SPK
TTYL
TX
U
WAN2
W/
WKND
WU
X
XLNT
XOXOX
YMMV
YR
2
2DAY
2MORO
2NITE
3SUM
4

rolling on the oor (laughing)

stay in touch
someone
speak
talk to you later
thanks
you
want to
with
weekend
whats up?
kiss
excellent
hugs and kisses
your mileage may vary (i.e. your
experience may differ)
your
to, too
today
tomorrow
tonight
threesome
for

Emoticons
Emoticons typically represent a facial expression and are used chiey to mark the tone of the
preceding sentence or to indicate the writers feelings. The following are some of the more
commonly seen:

:-)
:-(
:-c
:-X
:-Q
;-)
X=
:-P
:-D

happy (a smiley)
unhappy
very unhappy
my lips are sealed
I dont understand
winking
ngers crossed
sticking ones tongue out
laughing

:-(
:-/
:-|
:-o
:-*
O:-)
:-Y
:-V

crying
sceptical
bored, indifferent
surprised
kiss
angel
aside comment
shouting

Appendix 11

Guide to Good
English
1. PARTS OF SPEECH
In this section the traditional names are used for
parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, and preposition). Two other
terms are sometimes used in describing grammar.
One is modier, which means any word that
modies the meaning of another word (usually a
noun). It is broader in scope than adjective and
includes, for example, table in table lamp as well as
bright in a bright lamp or the lamp was bright. The
other is determiner, which means any word such
as a, the, this, those, and every which you put
before a noun to show how you are using the noun
(as in a re, the re, this re, those res, and every
re).

Nouns
A noun is a word that names something: a person
(woman, boy, Frances), a thing (building, tree), or
an idea (birth, happiness). A common noun names
things generally, whereas a proper noun names a
particular person, place, or thing. Collective
nouns, such as audience, family, generation, government, team, are nouns which refer to groups of
people or things. They can be treated as singular
or plural: see agreement below.

Proper nouns
Proper nouns are normally spelled with a capital
initial letter and refer to persons or things of
which there is only one example (Asia, Ark Royal,
Dickens). The term is sometimes understood more
broadly to include geographical and ethnic designations such as American and Ashanti, which
behave like common nouns, for example in allowing the forms an American and the Ashanti. Some
genuinely proper names can also behave like common nouns in certain uses, for example a ne
Picasso (= a painting by Picasso), another Callas
(= a singer comparable to Callas). In these uses it
is usual to retain the capital initial letter.

Verbal nouns
A verbal noun (also called a gerund) is a form of a
verb ending with -ing that acts as a noun, for
example smoking in the phrase no smoking and in
the sentence Smoking annoys people. It should be
distinguished from smoking used as an adjective
(a smoking fire) and as the present participle of
the verb (The man was smoking).

Because a verbal noun is a part of a verb as well

as being a noun, it keeps some of the characteristics of verbs in its grammatical behaviour; for
example the forms They objected to me swearing
(non-possessive) and They objected to my swearing (possessive) are both established in ordinary
usage, although the second, in which swearing is
treated as a full noun, is often preferred in more
formal writing.

Verbs
A verb is a word that describes an action (go, sit,
put) or state (be, live) and is normally an essential
element in a clause or sentence. A verb is
classied as transitive when the action affects a
person or thing called the object (We lit a fire), and
as intransitive when there is no object (She
smiled).

Using the correct tense

Tense is the location in time of the state or action
expressed by a verb. English verbs properly have
only two tenses, the present (I am) and the past (I
was). The future is formed with shall or will,
other forms of the past are formed with auxiliary
verbs (I have been / I was being), and the past perfect is formed with the past tense of have (I had
been).
The tense used mostly corresponds to actual
time, apart from conventional uses such as the socalled historic present, used for dramatic effect
in narratives (as in George gets up and walks over
to the window), and the future used in polite
requests (as in Will that be all for now?).
However, choice of tense (called sequence of
tenses) becomes more complex in reported
speech. If a simple statement such as Im afraid I
havent finished is put into indirect speech by
means of a reporting verb such as said, thought,
etc., the tense of the reported action changes in
accordance with the time perspective of the
speaker: He said he was afraid he hadnt finished.
The tense of the reported verb can stay the same
if the time relative to the speaker is the same as
that relative to the person reported: She likes
beans can be converted either to She said she liked
beans or to She said she likes beans, and I wont be
here tomorrow can be converted either to I said I
wouldnt be here tomorrow or to I said I wont be
here tomorrow.

guide to good english

shall and will

With I and we, shall should be used to form the
simple future tense (expressing a prediction of a
future action), while will is used to express an
intention to do something:
t I shall be late for work.
t We will not tolerate this rudeness.
With you, he, she, it, and they, the situation is
reversed; simple future action is expressed with
will, while shall expresses an intention or command:

Each was required to undertake that if it were

chosen it would place work here.
2 be or were at the beginning of a clause with the
subject following:
Were I to get drunk, it would help me in the
fight.
All books, be they fiction or non-fiction, should
provide entertainment in some form or other.
2 in certain xed expressions and phrases, e.g. be
that as it may, come what may, perish the
thought, so be it, and others.

t He will be late for work.

t You shall join us or die!
In speech, these distinctions are often not
observed.

should and would

The situation is similar with should and would.
Strictly speaking, should is used with I and we,
while would is used with you, he, she, it, and they:
t I should be grateful if you would let me know.
t You didnt say you would be late.
In practice, however, it is normal to use would
instead of should in reported speech and conditional clauses, such as I said I would be late.

Active and passive

Verbs can be either active, in which the subject is
the person or thing performing the action (as in
France beat Brazil in the final), or passive, in which
the subject undergoes the action (Brazil were beaten by France). In the passive voice verbs are usually formed with be, and the subject is expressed as
an agent introduced by the preposition by.
The passive is also used for impersonal constructions with it:

Participles
There are two kinds of participle in English: the
present participle ending with -ing as in We are
going, and the past participle ending with -d or -ed
for many verbs and with -t or -en or some other
form for others, as in Have you decided?, New
houses are being built, and Its not broken.
Participles are often used to introduce subordinate clauses that are attached to other words in a
sentence, e.g.
Her mother, opening the door quietly, came into
the room.
A stylistic error occurs with so-called unattached,
misrelated, or dangling participles, when the
participle does not refer to the noun to which it is
attached, normally the subject of the sentence:
p Recently converted into apartments, I passed
by the house where I grew up.
Certain participles, such as considering, assuming,
excepting, given, provided, seeing, speaking (of),
etc., have virtually become prepositions or conjunctions in their own right, and their use in a
grammatically free role is now standard:
t Speaking of money, do you mind my asking
what you did with yours?

It is believed that no action should be taken.

It is felt that your complaint arises from a
misunderstanding.
Other verbs besides be can be used to form socalled semi-passives (as in He got changed, They
seem bothered). Here changed and bothered are
behaving almost more like adjectives.

Subjunctive
The subjunctive is a special form (or mood) of a
verb expressing a wish or possibility instead of
fact. It has a limited role in English:
It was suggested he wait till the next morning.
Fundamentalist Islam decrees that men and
women be strictly segregated.
In these sentences, the verbs wait (in the rst)
and be (in the second) are in the subjunctive; the
ordinary forms (called the indicative) would be
waits and are.
There are other typical uses of the subjunctive:
2 after if (or as if, as though, unless) in hypothetical conditions:

Adjectives and adverbs

An adjective is a word used to describe a noun,
such as sweet, red, or technical. An adverb is typically a word used to modify a verb, adjective, or
other adverb, such as gently, lazily, or very.

Position
Most adjectives can be used in two positions:
either before the noun they describe, where they
are called attributive, as in a black cat and a
gloomy outlook, or after a verb such as be, become,
grow, look, or seem, where they are called predicative, as in the cat was black and the prospect looks
gloomy.
Some adjectives are nearly always used in the
predicative position and cannot stand before a
noun (e.g. afraid), while others are only found in
the attributive position (e.g. main).

Adjectives following a noun

In many xed standard expressions, adjectives
denoting status are placed immediately after the

guide to good english

nouns they describe, e.g. in court martial, heir
apparent, poet laureate, president elect, situations
vacant, and the village proper. In other cases, an
adjective follows a noun as a matter of sentence
structure rather than peculiarity of expression:
The waiter picked up our dirty glasses in his
fingertips, his eyes impassive.

Position of adverbs
Adverbs normally come between the subject and
its verb, or between an auxiliary verb and a main
verb:
She dutifully observes all its quaint rules.
Roosevelts financial policy was roundly
criticized in 1933.
But for emphasis, or when the adverb belongs
closely to what follows the main verb, it comes
after the verb and before a following adverbial
phrase:
There is little chance that the student will
function effectively after he returns home.

Sentence adverbs
Some adverbs (such as clearly, happily, hopefully,
thankfully, unhappily) refer to a whole statement,
and form a comment associated more closely with
the speaker or writer than with what is said. In
this role they are called sentence adverbs.
Sentence adverbs often stand at the beginning of
the sentence:
Clearly, we will have to think again.
Sentence adverbs are well established in English,
although the use of thankfully and (in particular)
hopefully can arouse controversy:
s Hopefully the road should be finished.
Although objection to such use is articial, be
aware that some people may take exception to
these words, especially in written or formal contexts.

Pronouns
A pronoun is a word such as I, we, they, me, you,
them, etc., and other forms such as the possessive
hers and theirs and the reexive myself and themselves. They are used to refer to (and take the
place of) a noun or noun phrase that has already
been mentioned or is known, especially in order to
avoid repetition, as in the sentence When she saw
her husband again, she wanted to hit him.

Reflexive pronouns
Reexive pronouns are the type formed with -self,
e.g. myself, herself, and ourselves, used in sentences in which the subject of the verb and the
object are the same person or thing, as in We
enjoyed ourselves and Make yourself at home.

Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word such as and, because, but,
for, if, or, and when, used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. On the use of and and
but at the beginning of a sentence, see SENTENCES
below.

Prepositions
A preposition is a word such as after, in, to, and
with, which usually stands before a noun or pronoun and establishes the way it relates to what
has gone before (The man on the platform, They
came after dinner, and What did you do it for?).
It is sometimes stated that a preposition should
always precede the word it governs and should not
end a sentence. However, there are cases when it
is either impossible or not natural to organize the
sentence in a way that avoids a nal preposition:
2 in relative clauses and questions featuring
verbs with linked adverbs or prepositions:
What did Marion think she was up to?
They must be convinced of the commitment
they are taking on.
2 in passive constructions:
The dress had not even been paid for.
2 in short sentences including an innitive with
to or a verbal noun:
It was my dancing he objected to.

2. INFLECTION
Inection is the process by which words (principally nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)
change their form, especially their ending, in
accordance with their grammatical role in a sentence.

Verbs
Verbs normally add -s or -es to form third-person
present-tense forms (changes, wants), -ed to form
past tenses and past participles (changed, wanted),
and -ing to form present participles (changing,
wanting). However, some verbs form tenses by
changing their stem (throw, threw, thrown), and
others are completely irregular (have, had, had;
go, went, gone).
Verbs drop a nal silent -e when the sufx
begins with a vowel (as in shave, shaving). But a
nal -e is usually retained to preserve the soft
sound of the g in twingeing and whingeing. It is
also retained where it is needed to avoid confusion with similar words, for example in dyeing
(from dye) as distinct from dying (from die).

Nouns
English nouns normally form their plurals by
adding -s, or -es if the singular form ends in -s, -x, z, -sh, or soft -ch (as in church but not loch).

guide to good english

Nouns ending in -y form plurals with -ies (policy,
policies), unless the ending is -ey, in which case the
plural form is normally -eys (valley, valleys).

Nouns ending in -f and -fe

Nouns ending in -f and -fe form plurals sometimes
with -fs (handkerchief, handkerchiefs; oaf, oafs;
proof, proofs; roof, roofs), sometimes -ves (calf,
calves; half, halves; knife, knives; shelf, shelves) and
occasionally both -fes and -ves (dwarf, dwarfs or
dwarves; hoof, hoofs or hooves).

Nouns ending in -o
Plurals of nouns ending in -o cause difculty in
English because there are few convenient rules
for choosing between -os (as in ratios) and -oes (as
in heroes).
As a guideline, the following typically form plurals with -os:

loudest). Words of two syllables ending in -l double the l (e.g. cruel, crueller, cruellest).
Adjectives of three or more syllables use forms
with more and most (more beautiful, most interesting, etc.).

Adverbs
Adverbs that take -er and -est in preference to (or
as well as) more and most are:
2 adverbs that are not formed with -ly but are
identical in form to corresponding adjectives
(e.g. runs faster, hits hardest, hold it tighter).
2 some independent adverbs (e.g. often and
soon).
Adverbs ending in -ly formed from adjectives (e.g.
richly, softly, wisely) generally do not have -er and
-est forms but appear as more softly, most wisely,
etc.

2 words in which a vowel (usually i or e ) precedes the nal -o (trios, videos).

2 words that are shortenings of other words
(demos, hippos).
2 words introduced from foreign languages
(boleros, placebos).
Names of animals and plants normally form plurals with -oes (buffaloes, tomatoes).

Adjectives and adverbs:

comparatives and superlatives
Adjectives
An adjective has three forms: a positive (hot,
splendid), a comparative (hotter, more splendid),
and a superlative (hottest, most splendid).
Adjectives that form comparatives and superlatives using -er and -est in preference to (or as well
as) more and most are:

3. SENTENCES
A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense, contains a main verb, and begins with
a capital letter and ends with a full stop (or the
equivalent such as a question mark or an exclamation mark).
There are three basic kinds of sentence:
2 a simple sentence normally contains one statement: the train should be here soon.
2 a compound sentence contains more than one
statement, normally joined by a conjunction
such as and or but: I have looked at the evidence
and I have to say it is not sufficient.
2 a complex sentence contains a main clause and
one or more subordinate clauses, such as a conditional clause beginning with if or a relative
clause introduced by which or who: The story
would make headlines if it ever became public.

2 words of one syllable (e.g. fast, hard, rich, wise).

2 words of two syllables ending in -y and -ly (e.g.
angry, early, happy, holy, likely, lively) and corresponding un- forms when these exist (e.g.
unhappy, unlikely). Words ending in -y change
the y to i (e.g. angrier, earliest).
2 words of two syllables ending in -le (e.g. able,
humble, noble, simple), -ow (e.g. mellow, narrow,
shallow), and some ending in -er (e.g. clever,
tender).
2 some words of two syllables pronounced with
the stress on the second syllable (e.g. polite,
profound, but not antique, bizarre, and others).
2 other words of two syllables that do not belong
to any classiable group (e.g. common, cruel,
pleasant, quiet).
Words of one syllable ending in a single consonant double the consonant when it is preceded by
a single vowel (glad, gladder, gladdest; hot, hotter,
hottest) but not when it is preceded by more than
one vowel (clean, cleaner, cleanest; loud, louder,

Relative clauses: using words

like who and when
A relative clause is one connected to a main clause
by a relative pronoun or adjective such as who or
whom, which, whose, or that, or by a relative
adverb such as when and where. (These words,
apart from that, are collectively called wh- words,
and a wh- word means any of these.) Most problems with this kind of clause are to do with the
choice between that and a wh- word, principally
which, who, or whom. For much of the time that is
interchangeable with any of these words, and it is
the more usual choice in everyday writing and
conversation.
There are two types of relative clause, called
restrictive and non-restrictive. A restrictive
clause gives essential information about a noun or
noun phrase that comes before (She held out the
hand that was hurt). A non-restrictive clause gives
extra information that could be left out without

guide to good english

affecting the structure or meaning of the sentence
(She held out her hand, which I clasped in both of
mine). A restrictive clause can be introduced by
that, which, who, or whose and is not normally preceded by a comma, whereas a non-restrictive
clause is normally introduced by which, who, or
whose (and not usually that), and is preceded by a
comma.
Sometimes that is more idiomatic than which,
for example when the construction is based on an
impersonal it or an indenite pronoun such as
anything:
There is something that I forgot to mention.
Is there anything that you want?
That is also more usual when which already occurs
earlier in the sentence in another role, for example as an interrogative word:
Which is the one that you want?

Beginning sentences with and

and but
It is not wrong to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and or but. The practice is common in literature and can be effective. It is also
used for other rhetorical purposes, especially to
denote surprise (And are you really going?) and
sometimes just to introduce an improvised afterthought (Im going to swim. And dont you dare
watch).

Negatives and double negatives

A repeated negative of the type He never did no
harm to no one is incorrect. However, a double
negative is acceptable when it is used with intentional cancelling effect as a gure of speech, as in
It has not gone unnoticed.
Double negatives also occur, especially in
speech, in uses of the type You cant not go (= you
cannot consider not going, i.e. you have to go), in
which not go is effectively a single idea expressed
in a verb phrase.

4. AGREEMENT
Agreement is the process of making words t the
context of sentences, for example ensuring that
the singular form of a verb accompanies a singular
subject. For most of the time we apply the rules of
agreement instinctively, but problems can arise in
sentences involving certain phrases and combinations.

Agreement within phrases

Awkward phrases
Some expressions can cause uncertainty because
they are grammatically ambiguous or combine

seemingly contradictory roles, for example phrases such as more than one and either or both:
More than one dealer has shown an interest in
the painting.
The meaning is clearly plural, but the grammar
remains singular because one is closer to the verb
as well as being the dominant word in its phrase
(we could not say More than one dealer have
shown an interest in the painting).
s The purchaser gets a licence to use either or
both products.
Here there is a problem of agreement with the following noun, because either calls for the singular
form product whereas both calls for the plural
form products; both wins out because it is closer to
the noun. Usually a better solution is to rephrase
the sentence to avoid the problem altogether:
t The purchaser gets a licence to use either or
both of the products.

Compound subjects
Two nouns joined by and are normally treated as
plural:
Speed and accuracy are top of the list.
But when the two nouns form a phrase that can be
regarded as a single unit, they are sometimes
treated as singular, even when one of them is plural:
Fish and chips is my favourite meal
When a singular noun forming the subject of a
sentence is followed by an additional element
tagged on by means of a phrase such as as well as,
accompanied by, or together with, the following
verb should be singular and not plural, since the
singular noun is by itself the true subject:
The little girl, together with her friend Kerry, was
busy filling her bucket with sand.

Singular and plural nouns

Singular nouns treated as plural
Some nouns are singular in form but are used with
a verb that can be either singular or plural, or in
some cases only plural. The commonest of these
are the collective nouns which stand for a group or
collection of people or things, such as audience,
committee, crew, family, generation, government,
group, jury, team, and many others.
The general rule with words like these is to treat
them as singular when the emphasis is on the
group as a whole and as plural when the emphasis
is on the individuals that form the group:
A group of four young men in overalls was
standing close to him.
(singular)
The jury retired at the end of the day to consider
their verdict.
(plural)
Some collective nouns are fully plural:
By and large the police do a good job.

guide to good english

Plural nouns treated as singular

Other nouns are plural in form but are treated as
singular, either always or in some meanings. Chief
among these are the names of branches of knowledge or science, such as acoustics and mathematics, activities such as billiards and gymnastics, and
diseases such as measles:
Acoustics is taught as part of the extended
course.
The figures show that measles is on the increase.
Other plural nouns, such as data, media, and agenda, are now commonly treated as singular.
Depending on their meaning, they are either
countable nouns, which can be used with a or an
and have plural forms, e.g. agendas, or mass
nouns, which do not have a plural form but are
used in the singular with words such as this and
much:
The media has lost interest in the subject.
This data is in a form that can be used by other
institutions.
Some plural words adopted unchanged from other
languages, such as spaghetti and grafti, develop
singular meanings:
The furniture had been damaged and graffiti
was daubed on the walls.

Subjects and objects

When the subject of the verb be is singular but the
part that follows is plural, the verb should generally agree with its subject, regardless of what follows:
The only traffic is ox carts and bicycles.
When the subject is a singular collective noun, the
verb may be in the plural, following the usual pattern with such nouns:
Its prey are other small animals.

Indefinite pronouns
Pronouns such as each, either, neither, and none
are called indenite pronouns. When used on
their own like a noun, they can vary between singular and plural. They are treated as singular
when the emphasis is on the individuals:
Neither the chairman nor the chief executive is
planning any dramatic gestures.
None of them has had enough practical experience to run the company.
and as plural when the emphasis is on the collection or group as a whole:

word (his, her, etc.) to use when referring to a

subject whose gender is not specied. The safest
option is to put his or her:
Every student should hand in his or her assignment by Tuesday.
But this can be awkward, especially when the sentence continues for some time with repeated references back to the original subject. In cases like
this it is now acceptable to use a plural form of
pronoun:
Every student should hand in their assignment
by Tuesday.

Either or and neither nor

A problem arises when one of the alternatives in
an either ... or ... or neither ... nor ... construction is
singular and the other plural. Here, the normal
choice is to make the verb agree with the one closer to it:
t Either the twins or their mother is responsible
for this.
But often a better solution is to recast the sentence to avoid the problem:
t Either the twins are responsible for this or
their mother is.

Personal pronouns
I, we, he, she, and they are subjective pronouns,
which act as the subjects of verbs, while me, us,
him, her, and them are objective, acting as the
objects of verbs and prepositions:
Its a tiny bit boring, between you and me.
The boys are coming with Gavin and me.
After the verb be it is more natural and usual to
use me, us, him, her, or they (the objective pronouns), although what follows be is not an object
but a complement:
I said it was only me.
Thats us sitting on the bench.
The subjective forms (I, we, he, she, or they) are
not wrong but often sound stilted, especially the
rst-person forms I and we:
s I said it was only I.
It is, however, usual to use the subjective forms
when a relative clause (introduced by who or that)
follows:
t It was I who did it.

Neither his mother nor his father earn much

money now.
None of the staff were aware of the ransom
demand.

Plural pronouns used in the singular

There is often uncertainty about what possessive

5. PUNCTUATION
The purpose of punctuation is to make writing
clear, by clarifying the structure of continuous
writing and indicating how words relate to each
other.

guide to good english

Full stop
The principal use of the full stop is to mark the
end of a sentence that is a statement:
Bernard went over to the bookcase and took
down an atlas.
This applies to sentences when they are not complete statements or contain ellipsis:
London. Implacable November weather.
If an abbreviation with a full stop comes at the
end of a sentence, another full stop is not added:
Bring your own pens, pencils, rulers, etc.

Comma
The role of the comma is to give detail to the
structure of sentences and to make their meaning
clear by marking off words that either do or do not
belong together. It usually represents the natural
breaks and pauses that you make in speech, and
operates at phrase level and word level:

At phrase level
You should use a comma to mark off parts of a sentence that are separated by conjunctions (and, but,
yet, etc.). This is especially important when there
is a change or repetition of the subject, or when
the sentence is a long one:
Mokosh could foretell the future, and she could
change herself into any form she pleased.
Readings are taken at points on a grid marked
out on the ground, and the results are usually
plotted in the form of computer-drawn diagrams.
It is not normally correct to join the clauses of a
compound sentence without a conjunction:
p His was the last house, the road ended with
him.
Nor is it correct to separate a subject from its verb
with a single comma:
p Those with the lowest incomes and no other
means, should get the most support.
A comma also separates parts of a sentence that
balance or complement each other, and can introduce direct speech, especially in continuation of
dialogue:
He was getting better, but not as fast as his
doctor wished.
Then Laura said, Do you mean that?
An important function of the comma is to prevent
ambiguity or momentary misunderstanding:
Mr Hogg said that he had shot, himself, as a small
boy.
Commas are used in pairs to separate elements in
a sentence that are asides or not part of the main
statement:
All history, of course, is the history of wars.
Commas are also used to separate a relative clause
that is non-restrictive (see relative clauses
above):

The money, which totals more than half a million,

comes from three anonymous donors.
A single comma sometimes follows adverbs,
phrases, and subordinate clauses that come at the
beginning of a sentence:
Moreover, they had lied about where they had
been.
When the sun began to sink, she could take the
riverside walk to the hotel.
A comma is always needed with however when it
means by contrast or on the other hand:
However, a good deal of discretion is left in the
hands of area managers.

At word level
A comma is used to separate adjectives having the
same range of reference coming before a noun:
a cold, damp, badly heated room
The comma is omitted when the adjectives have a
different range of reference (for example, size and
colour) or when the last adjective has a closer relation to the noun:
his baggy green jacket
a distinguished foreign politician
Commas are used to separate items in a list or
sequence:
The visitors were given tea, scones, and cake.
(The nal comma before and is regarded by many
people as unnecessary and left out; this dictionary
always includes one.)
Leave out the comma between nouns that occur
together in the same grammatical role in a sentence (called apposition):
My friend Judge Peters was not at home.
But use one when the noun is a piece of extra
information that could be removed from the
sentence without any noticeable effect on the
meaning:
His father, Humphrey V. Roe, was not so
fortunate.

Semicolon
The main role of the semicolon is to mark a grammatical separation that is stronger in effect than a
comma but less strong than a full stop. Normally
the two parts of a sentence divided by a semicolon
balance each other, rather than leading from one
to the other:
The sky grew bright with sunset; the earth
glowed.
Honey looked up and glared; the man scurried
away.
You can also use a semicolon as a stronger division
in a sentence that already contains commas:
What has crippled me? Was it my grandmother,
frowning on my childish affection and turning it
to formality and cold courtesy; or my timid,

guide to good english

fearful mother, in awe of everyone including,
finally, me; or was it my wifes infidelities, or my
own?

Colon
Whereas a semicolon links two balanced statements, a colon leads from the rst statement to
the second. Typically it links a general or introductory statement to an example, a cause to an
effect, or a premise to a conclusion.
He was being made to feel more part of the
family: the children kissed him goodnight, like a
third parent.
You also use a colon to introduce a list:
The price includes the following: travel to
London, flight to Venice, hotel accommodation,
and excursions.

Apostrophe
The principal role of the apostrophe is to indicate
a possessive, as in Tessas house and the towns
mayor.
Singular nouns form the possessive by adding s
(the dogs bark = one dog), and plural nouns ending in -s add an apostrophe after the -s (the dogs
barks = more than one dog). When a plural noun
ends in a letter other than s, the possessive is
formed by adding s : the childrens games, the
oxens hoofs, etc.
Beware of an apostrophe wrongly applied to an
ordinary plural, particularly in words ending in -o
but also in quite harmless words such as apples
and pears (e.g. p pears 30p a pound).
Beware also of confusing the possessive whose
with whos, which is a contraction of who is (e.g.
p Whos turn is it?).
For names ending in -s, the best course is to add
s when you would pronounce the resulting form
with an extra s in speech (e.g. Charless, Dickenss,
Thomass, The Timess); and omit s otherwise (e.g.
Bridges, Connors, Herodotus). With French
names ending in (silent) -s or -x, add s (e.g.
Dumass, le Rouxs) and pronounce the modied
word with a nal -z.
An apostrophe should not be used in the pronouns hers, its, ours, yours, and theirs.
Be careful to distinguish its from its. Its (no
apostrophe) is a possessive meaning belonging to
it, whereas its (with an apostrophe) is a contraction meaning it is or it has:
Give the cat its dinner.
Its hard to know where to start.
An apostrophe is not normally used in the plural
of abbreviated forms (e.g. several MPs were standing around), although it is used in the possessive
(e.g. the BBCs decision to go ahead with the broadcast).
Another important use of the apostrophe is to
mark contractions such as Ill, theyve, couldnt,
and shes.

Hyphens
In print a hyphen is half the length of a dash, but
in writing there is often little noticeable difference. While the dash has the purpose of separating words and groups of words, the hyphen is
meant to link words and parts of words. The use of
hyphens is very variable in English, but the following guidelines reect generally agreed principles.
The hyphen is used to join two or more words so
as to form a single word (often called a compound
word), e.g. free-for-all, multi-ethnic, right-handed,
and punch-drunk. Straightforward noun compounds are now much more often spelled either as
two words (boiling point, credit card, focus group)
or as one, even when this involves a collision of
consonants, which used to be a reason for putting
in the hyphen (database, earring, breaststroke). In
American English compound nouns generally
written as two words in British English are often
written as one word.
There are two cases in which a compound
spelled as two words is made into a hyphened
form or a one-word form:
2 when a verb phrase such as hold up or back up is
made into a noun (hold-up, backup);
2 when a noun compound is made into a verb
(e.g. a date stamp but to date-stamp). Note that
a normal phrasal verb should not be hyphenated: write continue to build up your pension not
continue to build-up your pension.
A hyphen is often used:
2 to join a prex ending in a vowel (such as coand neo-) to another word (e.g. co-opt, neoImpressionism), although one-word forms are
becoming more usual (cooperate, neoclassical).
2 to avoid ambiguity by separating a prex from
the main word, e.g. to distinguish re-cover (=
provide with a new cover) from recover and resign (= sign again) from resign.
2 to join a prex to a name or designation, e.g.
anti-Christian, ex-husband.
2 to stand for a common second element in all but
the last word of a list, e.g. two-, three-, or fourfold.
2 to clarify meanings in groups of words which
might otherwise be unclear or ambiguous (e.g.
twenty-odd people came to the meeting).
You should also use a hyphen to clarify the meaning of a compound that is normally spelled as separate words, when it is used before a noun: an upto-date record but the record is up to date.
There is no need to insert a hyphen between an
adverb ending in -ly and an adjective qualied by
it, even when they come before the noun: a highly
competitive market, recently published material.
When the adverb does not end in -ly, however, a
hyphen is normally required to make the meaning
clear when the adverb precedes the noun: a wellknown woman (but the woman is well known).