1. WOSM Staff Support Centre
  2. Communications and Branding
  3. World Scouting’s English Style Guide

Grammar, punctuation, and formatting

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✏️ British English

British English is used for all official documents and publications. The only exceptions are in the following terms:
  • World Organization of the Scout Movement
  • National Scout Organization
  • Member Organization
The word “organisation” should be used in all other contexts. 
 

✏️ Commas

We use the Oxford comma for reasons of clarity. It is used before “and” or “or” and normally appears at the end of lists.
Example: 
The Jamboree attracted participants from countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

✏️ Percentage mark

Comes immediately after a figure (20%) and is not spelt out.
 

✏️ Dashes and hyphens

Dashes and hyphens should be used sparingly and to ensure clarity and readability. They can be used to avoid the use of parentheses.
Example: 
Held in Nairobi – the first time the conference took place in East Africa – the event marked a milestone for the Movement.

✏️ Dates

Always write dates in the following order: day, month, year. Don’t use “st”, “nd”, or “th”.
For decades, use figures
Example: 
  • 19 July 2016
  • 90s or 1990s

✏️ Time

Use the 24-hour system, write times with a colon between the hours and minutes, without adding “hrs” or “o’clock.”
Example: 
11:30 
If using the 12-hour system, don’t add “.00”, and don’t leave a space between the number and the “am” or “pm.”
Example: 
9am  -  2pm
Use UTC when referring to timezones.
Example: 
10:00 UCT

✏️ Numbers

Generally, numbers from zero to ten should be written in words and numbers, and those from 11 onwards in figures. 
Write numbers in digits for graphs and tables, as well as in measurements.
Example: 
  • A total of seven countries. 
  • Some 30 organisations took part in the event. 
  • 2 kilometres
Avoid beginning sentences with a figure. Try to turn the sentence around to avoid that. 
Example: 
In 2025, there were 60 million Scouts.
A total of 50 National Scout Organizations attended the Regional Conference. 

✏️ Ordinal numbers

Spell out words for “first”, “second” and so on up to “tenth”. Ordinal numbers from 11 upwards should use “st”, “nd”, “rd” or “th” in superscript.
Example: 
The first, third, and 11th prizes were won by a Scout group from Bolivia. 

✏️ Currencies

Currencies should be written using their three-letter abbreviation in the following format:
  • USD 20,000
  • IDR 2 million
  • KES 5.6 billion

✏️ Ranges

Place a dash, “to”, or “and” between numbers and dates when stating ranges or time frames.
Example: 
  • Rows 38–40 of the conference are at the back. 
  • The 4th World Scout Education Congress took place from 1 to 3 December 2023. 
  • She served as Secretary General between 2007 and 2011.

✏️ Figures

For figures of more than three digits, use commas instead of apostrophes, decimal points, or spaces. Round up figures to the nearest appropriate amount.
Prefer: 4,000 participants
Instead of: 3,967 participants
 

✏️ Quotes

Double quotation marks (“ ”) should be used for normal quotes, with single quotation marks (‘ ’) for additional quotes or other relevant text within the quote.

Example: 
Minato said: “The president informed me that she is ‘absolutely delighted’ with the progress Scouting has achieved in her country.” 

✏️ Abbreviations and acronyms

Abbreviations and acronyms should be avoided. Where absolutely necessary, they must be spelt out in the first mention with their abbreviation in parentheses afterwards. Their abbreviation should be used thereafter.
Example: 
Member Organizations from 20 countries across the Asia-Pacific Region (APR)attended the Jamboree in Saemangeum, South Korea. Over 500 Scouts from APR countries joined in activities, ranging from hiking and abseiling to yoga and cultural workshops.

✏️ Lists

Lists of bullet points should use the following formats.
If all items are short statements:
  • Introduce the list with a full sentence, followed by a colon
  • Label each bullet point with an appropriate bullet, number, or letter
  • Use initial capitals 
  • No punctuation (e.g. semi-colon, comma) at the end of each bullet point
If all items listed are complete statements:
  • Introduce the list with a full sentence, followed by a colon
  • Label each bullet point with an appropriate bullet, number, or letter
  • Use initial capitals
  • End each bullet point with a full stop

✏️ Compass points

Use lower-case letters for compass directions such as north, north-west, and north-western, unless the term is part of an official place name or a recognised political or administrative region (e.g. southern Africa, Northern Ireland).
Some regional names are capitalised because they refer to political or widely recognised regions rather than simple directions (e.g. Central Europe, Southeast Asia).
Compound compass points should be written with a hyphen. In official names, each word is capitalised (e.g. Asia-Pacific, South-West Germany)
When compass points are abbreviated, use capital letters without full stops (e.g. NW France).
 

✏️ Names

When referring to a person in the text body, use their first name and last name. References after that should use the first name only, unless specifically requested.
Example:
María Hernández was awarded the Bronze Wolf for her decades of service to Scouting. María first joined Scouting aged five in her home country of Guatemala.

✏️ Titles

Do not use courtesy titles (e.g. Miss, Mr, and Mrs). Earned, honorific, and hereditary titles (e.g. Dr, Professor, Rabbi, His Excellency) can be used, but should not use a full stop at the end.
Example: 
Dr António Guterres 
Imam Khalid Noor
HH Princess Sama Bint Faisal Al Saud

✏️ Post-nominals

The use of post-nominals should be limited, consistent, and purpose-driven. If relevant to a story, they should be used only on the first reference and not repeated in later mentions.
Example:
Rita Campbell, MBE, spoke about her award at the conference in Tblisi. Rita said it brought a new perspective to Scouting.
Avoid using multiple post-nominals together (e.g. Edward Llewellyn, OBE, PhD, FRSA). Use honour titles instead, when appropriate. If someone is a Sir or Dame, that title generally takes precedence.
Prefer: Sir David Attenborough spoke at the event.
Instead of: David Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO…
 

✏️ Ampersand

Ampersands (&) can be used in titles or headings, but only within the text body if a recognised title, e.g. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Deloitte & Touche. Otherwise, the word “and” should be spelt out.
 
Both e.g. (for example) and i.e. (in other words/that is to say) can come after a comma or a dash, or be placed within parentheses.
Example: 
Through WOSM Services, the NSO strengthened various policies and good governance (e.g. national growth strategy, national growth plan).

✏️ Capital letters

Avoid overusing capital letters. Use them only to refer to official titles, such as organisations (e.g. United Nations) or specific events (e.g. 43rd World Scout Conference, and later references to Conference). 
Some exceptions that must always be capitalised: 
  • Scouts, Scouting, Scout
  • Member Organization
  • National Scout Organization
References to “regional” or “global” should be in lower case.
For job titles, capitalisation should be used only when a title goes before a name.
Example: 
World Scout Committee Chairperson Jidemma Chukwu 
Jidemma Chukwu, chairperson of the World Scout Committee 
If a general reference is made to words such as "organisation”, “president”, and “director”, then there is no need for capitals. 
Example: 
The presidents of both countries were invited to the World Scout Conference.
Two separate World Scout Committee subgroups are involved. 
While official event names should be written using title case, agenda items within an event (e.g. workshops, plenary sessions) should be written in sentence case. In articles, agenda items should be written to summarise and explain their aims. 
Prefer: … a workshop where participants explored how youth-led community action contributes to sustainable development at local and national levels.
Instead of: Youth-Led Community Action Workshop for Sustainable Development: Strengthening Non-Formal Education through Scouting 
 

✏️ Resource or programme names

Do not use quotation marks or italics for the titles of resources, programmes, or anything else.
Example: 
Scouting for Boys was published in 1908. 
The World Safe from Harm Policy was approved at the 41st World Scout Conference
When writing about World Scouting’s four education initiatives, use the following italicised style:
  • EarthTribe
  • HealthAllies
  • LifeSkills
  • Messengers of Peace

✏️ Contractions

Contractions (e.g. it’s, doesn’t, and couldn’t) should not be used in regular text or when paraphrasing or reporting what has been said. However, they may be used in direct quotes.
 

✏️ Accents

There is no need for accents in foreign words that have been absorbed into the English language.
Example: 
Hotel, debacle, elite, cafe, fiance, protege
 
 

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