Introduction
We follow clear, consistent rules for using symbols, abbreviations and numbers to make our content easier to read and understand.
We use numerals for numbers, avoid Latin abbreviations like ‘e.g.’ and ‘etc.’, and write out phrases in plain English instead.
Currency symbols go before amounts with no space, and we format phone numbers with spaces for clarity.
Abbreviations are explained the first time they appear, unless they are widely recognised or part of a service name.
Symbols
We use
- & – only if it’s part of a brand name – ‘M&S’
- KB for kilobyte, MB for megabyte, and GB for gigabyte, for example 122KB.
To make our content easier to read, we do not use
- e.g.
- i.e.
- etc.
- other Latin abbreviations like ‘inst’, ‘ult’ or ‘NB’
These are replaced with appropriate phrases, including
- for example
- such as
- that is
- and so on
- January
- Please note or important
Currency
We put the currency symbol before any amount of money we write.
We do not use spaces between the symbol and the amount.
Abbreviations
We expand all abbreviations when we use them for the first time on a page.