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a cap. Otherwise lower case in adjectival use, eg a civil service memorandum. Lower case for the administrative grade, ie permanent secretary, deputy secretary and assistant secretary, when used as part of the full title; thus, Sir Alfred Beach, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Defence

      civil war generally lower case but by convention cap the English Civil War and the American Civil War

      claim do not use when simply said or declared would do. The word carries a suspicion of incredulity. Also, avoid the loose construction in sentences such as “The firm launched a drink which is claimed to promote learning ability”. This should read “… a drink which, it is claimed, promotes learning ability”. Do not allow terrorists to “claim responsibility” for their crimes

      claims and facts remember to distinguish between a claim and a fact, particularly in headlines/standfirsts. Witnesses to rioting telling amid confusion of up to 600 people dead did not justify an unequivocal standfirst death toll of 600; if claims are made, say who is making them

      clamour, clamouring but clamorous

      clampdown not banned, but use as little as possible

      Clapham Junction is not Clapham. It is not even in Clapham. They are separate places and their names are not interchangeable. Clapham is in the London Borough of Lambeth; Clapham Junction is in the Battersea part of Wandsworth. A reader helpfully noted, at the time of the London riots in August 2011: “The Victorians are responsible for the confusion that has persisted for generations. When they opened their large interchange station in 1863 they designated it Clapham Junction because that district was then much more genteel than working-class Battersea”

       clarinettist

      Class A, B or C drugs (cap C)

      clichés and hype We are lucky to have intelligent and sophisticated readers. They buy The Times to avoid the hype and the stale words and phrases peddled by some other papers. Words such as shock, bombshell, crisis, scandal, sensational, controversial, desperate, dramatic, fury, panic, chaos etc are too often ways of telling the readers what to think. Let them decide for themselves.

      Any list of proscribed formulas is soon out of date, as old clichés give way to new. There may be nothing inherently wrong with the words or phrases themselves. They gain currency in the first place because they seem vivid, amusing, fresh. Soon, however, they become fashionable, are overused, grow tired and stale, then finally cease to mean anything much at all. A good writer or editor will know when a word or phrase has outlived its usefulness

      climate change levy lower case, no hyphen

      clingfilm lower case, one word

       cliquey

      clock tower two words

       closed-circuit television

      Clostridium difficile is a bacterium, not a virus. Write C. difficile at second mention (and as a bonus do not pronounce it “DIF-ficil”: it is not French but Latin. Try “dif-FI-chil-ay”)

      clothing say menswear, women’s wear, children’s wear, sportswear

      cloud-cuckoo-land two hyphens

      clouds no need to italicise the names. Four main types: nimbus produce rain; stratus resemble layers; cumulus resemble heaps; and cirrus resemble strands or filaments of hair. Prefixes denote altitude, ie strato (low-level), alto (mid-level) and cirro (high-level)

       clubbable

      co- the prefix does not normally require a hyphen even before an e or another o unless confusion or utter hideousness might result. Thus co-operate (but uncooperative), co-opt, co-ordinate (but uncoordinated), coeducation, coexist

      CO2 use subscript

      coalface, coalfield, coalmine (each one word) similarly coalminer (but prefer miner)

      coalition lower case noun or adjective, eg the coalition government

      coastguard lower case and one word, in the British context; but note the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (caps for full name), although the coastguard service (generic) retains the lower case. The US coast guard

      coasts lower case south coast, east coast, west coast and north coast in all contexts

      coats of arms see heraldry

      Coca-Cola (hyphen); note also the trademark Coke. Similarly Pepsi-Cola. If in doubt about the identity of a beverage, write the lower case generic cola

      cock a snook not snoop, please

      cockfight no hyphen, as bullfight and dogfight

      cockney lower case for the person, the dialect and adjectival use

      codebreaker, codebreaking one word

      coeducation(al) but permissible to use co-ed in headlines as coed would look hideous

       coexist

      cognoscenti roman, not italic

      Coldstream Guards may be called the Coldstream and the men Coldstreamers or Coldstream Guards; neither should be called Coldstreams

      Cold War caps

      collarbone one word

      collectibles (not -ables) items sought by collectors

      collective nouns usually use the singular verb, as with corporate bodies (the company, the government, the council etc). But this rule is not inviolable; the key is to stick to the singular or plural throughout the story: sentences such as “The committee, which was elected recently, presented their report” are unacceptable. Prefer plural use for the couple, family, music groups and bands, the public, sports teams

      Colombia is the country; Columbia is the Hollywood studio, university, river and Washington district. Also, note British Columbia and pre-Columbian

      colons throw meaning forward and introduce lists

      Colosseum in Rome; Coliseum in London

      Coloureds (in South Africa), cap; not to be used in any other context

      comedienne avoid; use comedian (or, if you must, comic) for both sexes

      comeuppance no hyphen

      commander-in-chief, officer commanding lower case

      Commandments cap in biblical context, as the Ten Commandments, the Fourth Commandment

      commando plural commandos (not -oes)

      commas Unnecessary commas interrupt the flow of a sentence; omit the comma before if, unless, before, after, as, since, when unless the rhythm or sense of the sentence demands it.

      Keith Waterhouse, as so often, had sound advice: “It is not the function of the comma to help a wheezing sentence get its breath back. That, however, is how the comma earns much of its living in journalism.” If your sentence needs a comma just to stop the reader collapsing in a heap before reaching the end, you might do better to recast it as two sentences anyway.

      There is often no need for a comma after an adverbial formation at the beginning of a sentence: “Last

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