Ian Jolly
is style editor, BBC newsroom in London
Blog posts in total 7
Posts
Steamed up about train stations
Passionate feelings about what to call the place where trains stop raises questions about the BBC’s responsibilities towards the English language.
Who is medalling with our language?
How did words we have always treated as nouns suddenly become verbs? It is something we try to avoid in BBC news, although we recognise that constant usage can make such changes difficult to resist.
BBC News style on grammar and spelling is not Strictly to everyone’s taste
We’re not saying the BBC is infallibly correct and the audience wrong - just that we have made certain choices and are happy to explain them.
To boldly go with usage rather than the rules of grammar
Like painting the Forth Bridge, looking after a style guide is a task that is never finished. There are always additions to be made as colleagues continue to get wrong words and phrases that had seemed obvious to you.
Is the BBC getting caught in the transatlantic drift?
The BBC may be an international broadcaster - and indeed communicates in many languages through the World Service - but its use of English is among the things most likely to generate audience discontent.
If the cap fits: why Nato but not Bbc?
Barely a week goes by without at least one BBC News website reader asking why acronyms are in lower case.
BBC News style guide goes public
The good thing about a style guide is that it is always right. It is your view on how things should be done - well, apart from observing rules of grammar and spelling (although sometimes spelling does offer a little leeway).
