Style Guide
This is Whisper’s writing style guide. Feel free to add to it or change it.
Grammar
Section titled “Grammar”Treat “Whisper” as singular
Section titled “Treat “Whisper” as singular”In modern British English it’s common even in educated writing to treat an organisation as plural (“Whisper are going to…”, “Whisper have…”), but we need a consistent rule for all our writing, so Whisper should always be treated as singular (“Whisper is going to…”, “Whisper has…”). This has the advantage of also being correct for American English, in which treating an organisation as plural is considered wrong.
Vocabulary
Section titled “Vocabulary”“Run with Whisper”
Section titled ““Run with Whisper””It usually sounds better to encourage people to “run/volunteer/skydive with Whisper” instead of “for Whisper”.
Explain Ugandan words
Section titled “Explain Ugandan words”Ugandan expressions will normally need a brief explanation the first time they’re mentioned on a page, for example:
- “boda-boda (motorbike taxi)”
- “jiggers (flesh-burrowing fleas)”
- “posho (maize or millet porridge)”
- “this month 10 floors were smeared (sealed with a traditional cow dung polish)”
Spelling
Section titled “Spelling”Use -ise rather than -ize
Section titled “Use -ise rather than -ize”Both “realise” and “realize” are correct in British English, although verb forms with -ize are rare enough outside academic publishing and the Oxford University Press that most speakers of British English see them as “American”. Because Whisper’s audience is mostly UK-based and we’re writing sales copy, we should use -ise.
Whisper’s web address
Section titled “Whisper’s web address”For clarity, use mixed case when giving Whisper’s web address: www.WhisperHealth.org.