Rehoboth communications and publications follow the Australian Government Style Manual in almost all instances. However, there are a few grammatical and spelling preferences that we have adopted.
Capitalisation #
Proper nouns (nouns that serve as the name for a specific or unique place, person, or thing) generally require an initial capital letter for each word in the noun. Common nouns (nouns that name person, place, or thing that is not specific or unique) and adjectives, on the other hand, should not (e.g. book, teacher, country).
The following terms should be capitalised:
- Term – when referring to a Rehoboth school term (e.g. Term 3)
- Semester – when referring to a Rehoboth school semester (e.g. Semester 1)
- Year – when referring to a Rehoboth year level (e.g. Year 3, Year 8)
- Pronouns referring to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit (e.g. He, Him, His)
- Bible, Biblical, Scripture – when referring to the Holy Bible
- Names of school programs (e.g. Endeavour Program, SoundsWrite Program, Deep Dive Program)
Oxford Comma #
We will use the Oxford (or serial) comma in written communications. The Oxford comma is an additional final comma in a list of things.
Example:
- Incorrect: Please bring me a pencil, eraser and notebook.
- Correct: Please bring me a pencil, eraser, and notebook.
- Incorrect: The industries most affected are retail trade, wholesale trade and accommodation and food services.
- Correct: The industries most affected are retail trade, wholesale trade, and accommodation and food services.
- Incorrect: She thanked her parents, Julie and God.
- Correct: She thanked her parents, Julie, and God.
Single Spacing after Periods #
In the age of typewriters when letters striking paper was not quite precise, it was common to insert two spaces after a full stop to clearly denote the start of a new sentence. The need for this no longer exists with modern word processing, so we do not include two spaces after a full stop.
Use of Contractions #
The use of contractions (don’t, we’re, hasn’t, etc) should be minimised in writing as far as possible. This is because people for whom English is a second language can find the convention more difficult to follow than reading out the two words in full.
Contractions are a reflection of how we speak and so they tend to more informal. In this context, they are useful and acceptable because they reduce the number of syllables being spoken and are therefore easier to understand in conversation.
Where a piece of communication is clearly written from an individual (e.g. a one-to-one email to a parent, a teacher writing to their class) the careful use of contractions is acceptable. This is because the communication is more like a spoken conversation.
Contractions should be avoided in all professional writing (e.g. policies, reports, ‘official’ communications).
Exemptions to this rule can include:
- Titles (Mr, Mrs, Dr)
- Legal abbreviations (Inc for ‘Incorporated’, Cth for ‘Commonwealth’)
However, these exemptions should never be ended with a full stop unless the contraction ends the sentence (e.g. ‘The Association for Christian Education Inc operates Rehoboth Christian College’)
Use of Apostraphes in Years and Decades #
Years and decades ending with an ‘s’ should not include an apostraphe.
Example:
- Incorrect: 1970’s
- Correct: 1970s
In the case of class year levels, the use of an apostraphe in a collective pronoun should be avoided in written communications.
Example:
- Incorrect: Year 8’s, Year 8s
- Correct: Year 8 students’, Year 8 students
Time and Use of AM/PM #
For time in written communications, 12 hour time should be used. This necessitates using am/pm to denote morning and afternoon or evening.
Abbreviations, such as ‘7pm’, should not be used. It should always be clear what time you are referring to.
Use a colon between the hours and minutes and set am/pm in lowercase without periods immediately following the text (no space) in written communications.
Example:
- Incorrect: 8.30 AM
- Correct: 8:30am
- Incorrect: 7pm
- Correct: 7:00pm
When listing a duration (for example, in an event invitation) ‘am’ and ‘pm’ should be used to denote the correct period of day.
Correct examples:
- 7:00-9:00am
- 8:30am-12:30pm
- 1:30-3:30pm
Dates #
We will apply Australian style conventions to dates in written communications. This progresses logically from day to month to year.
Written Dates
Commas are not necessary between the month and year.
It should always be clear to your reader what day and date you are referring to. Full day and month names should be used in complete sentences. Abbreviations of dates and months should only be used where space is limited (for example, in tables, illustrations, charts, or notes), and must be used consistently (for example, if you abbreviate the day, you must also abbreviate the month).
A suffix attached to dates (e.g. 22’nd’, 3’rd’) is not required and should never be set in superscript if used.
Example:
- Incorrect: Fri, November 7, 2021
- Correct: Friday 7 November 2021
- Incorrect: The Principal called an urgent meeting for Thurs 22 Feb.
- Correct: The Principal called an urgent meeting for Thursday 22 February.
- Incorrect: Monday the 27th of March
- Correct: Monday 27 March
Numeric Dates
Use numeric dates in tables or when space is limited. Numeric dates should follow the same sequence of day, month, year and use a forward slash to separate digits.
The ‘0’ numeral should be used at the beginning of any days or months up to tenth.
Example:
- Incorrect: 7.5.21
- Correct: 07/05/21
Common Grammatical Issues #
We do not use ampersands (‘&’) in written communications as they are considered very informal. Always use ‘and’ in full, including for Rehoboth titles. Ampersands may be used in acronyms, because in such cases it is being used as an abbreviation:
- Incorrect: Marketing & Communications Plan
- Correct: Marketing and Communications Plan
- Incorrect: Head of Teaching & Learning (HTL)
- Correct: Head of Teaching and Learning (HOT&L)
Plural words and names end in an ‘s’ without an apostrophe:
- Incorrect: The Smith’s are wonderful
- Correct: The Smiths are wonderful
Always use an apostrophe for possessive names (even if a word ends in an ‘s’):
- Incorrect: Jesus’s prayer
- Correct: Jesus’ prayer
- Incorrect: The Smith’s dog had six puppies
- Correct: The Smiths’ dog had six puppies
Australian spellings are always preferred over American (e.g. replacing ‘z’ with ‘s’, inserting a ‘u’, replacing ‘er’ with ‘re’ etc):
- Incorrect: Apologize, organize, recognize, analyze
- Correct: Apologise, organise, recognise, analyse
- Incorrect: Color, honor, flavor
- Correct: Colour, honour, flavour
- Incorrect: Center, theater, meter
- Correct: Centre, theatre, metre