Use conventions to make your writing clear, consistent, and localisable.

Here we take you through how we use grammar at Water Babies, as well as how this can differ when writing about our international businesses. 

Ampersands    

These are the ‘&’ symbols. We don’t use them in blocks of text. But they can appear in franchise names and titles. 

Apostrophes     

These are used to make a word possessive. Use ’s to make a singular word possessive. Use s’ when the word is plural. The possessive of Water Babies is Water Babies’. 

Capitalisation   

For headings use sentence case, and avoid capitalising other words unless they are names or titles. Never use all capitals or capitalise email addresses or URLs. 

Commas  

Use your ‘common’ sense. When you find yourself taking a breath in a sentence, use a comma. Or for when you’re making lists. 

Conjunctions   

Yes. We love these; they give our writing an informal, friendly tone. It’s where we start a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’ (the exact thing we are always told to avoid in school). 

Contractions  

These are words made by shortening and combining words. For example: don’t, aren’t, we’re). Use them as they add an informality and sound more conversational. 

Dashes and hyphens  

Hyphens are used to connect words in a sentence, in particular compound adjectives (a single adjective made up of more than one word). For example: The United Kingdom is an English-speaking country.   

A dash is different and used to tell the reader that two or more parts of a sentence are linked or to break up dialogue – there is a space on either side of a dash. In most fonts, a dash is a double hyphen. 

Dates*  

Start with the day of the week, then date and then month. For example Wednesday 10 April. Don’t use the ordinal indicators (nd and th etc).  When writing the date numerically, use the format: DD/MM/YY. 

Full stops   

These always go inside quotation marks. Where there is character limitation on social media, there should only be one space after a full stop. 

Ellipses  

These can be used to indicate a trail in thought, like this…but use sparingly.   

Exclamation Points  

These go at the end of sentences to express excitement! Use these sparingly as they are solitary creatures and prefer to stand alone. And when writing a quote, put them inside the speech marks. 

Fractions  

Always spell out fractions. For example: two-thirds not 2/3. 

Italics   

Use italics to refer to article titles, books etc. Like our Fish Toys. 

Money*  

When writing about UK currency, use the £ symbol before the number and decimals rather than commas, like this: £1.25. 

Names and titles    

Capitalise the names of departments but not the word ‘team’ (Marketing team). Capitalise individual job titles (Marketing Executive). When referring to roles in general terms, don’t capitalise. For example: photographers not Photographers. 

Numbers   

Individual numbers 1-10 should be written out in words. Spell the number out when it begins a sentence. Numbers over four digits get commas (24,000 or 6,369). 

Percentages  

Use the symbol (%) instead of spelling out ‘percent’. 

Photo captions  

Do not italicise photo captions, instead make the text a couple of points smaller than the main text. If several names are listed, begin the caption like so: From left: Joe, Jane, etc. 

Quotation marks   

Use single quotation marks. Double quotation marks for a quote within a quote. As an example, relaying a conversation: ‘Last night, my friend said, “What were you thinking?”’ 

Ranges and spans   

Use a hyphen to indicate a time period (2-3 days) 

Semi-colons   

These are used to join two closely related but independent clauses, like this; try to use them sparingly and use full stops instead.   

Slashes   

Use a space either side of a forward slash (e.g. baby / toddler instead of baby/toddler). This improves readability for people with dyslexia. 

Spelling  

Always use the British versions of spellings (‘ising’ rather than ‘izing’). 

Swearing  

We never ever swear in our written communications. 

Telephone numbers*  

Write UK telephone numbers with a space after the first five digits (01404 548348). But format London numbers like this: 020 8858 5242. 

Temperature   

Use the degree symbol and a capital ‘C’ for Celsius like this: 30°C. 

Time*  

The use of the 24-hour clock system and 12-hour clock system differs from country to country. In the UK, we use the 12-hour clock system. We use a full stop to separate the hour and minute. For example: 2.30pm. 

URLs of websites   

Drop the ‘www’ before the website URL (waterbabies.co.uk). 

Writing about Water Babies  

Always write our name as ‘Water Babies’; never ‘Water babies’, ‘Waterbabies’ or ‘WaterBabies’. When referring to Water Babies use the third-person singular: ‘Water Babies ‘is’ an amazing organisation.’ 

International Variations:  

Dates   

Canada and USA 

Start with the day of the month, followed by the date and then year. When writing the date numerically, the format is: MM/DD/YY.  

China  

The date is written with the month before the date, with a comma before the year. For example: May 30, 2019. When writing the date numerically the format is: YY/MM/DD.  

Germany   

Start with the day of the week, followed by the date and then the month. The format for writing dates numerically is: DD.MM.YY, using full stops instead of dashes.   

Netherlands and Ireland 

Start with the day of the week, followed by the date and then the month. The format for writing the date numerically is: DD/MM/YY.  

Money   

Canada and USA 

When writing about Canadian currency, the symbol comes before the number. For example. $100. Full stops are typically used instead of commas. For example: $1.25.  

China  

When writing about Chinese currency, use the proprietary symbol called ‘Yuan’. For example: ¥1,1,345.21. If the symbol is not available, use RMB before the amount. For example: RMB 1,345.21.   

Germany   

When writing about currency in Germany, the symbol typically followers the amount. For example: 100 € with a space between the number and symbol. Commas are typically used to separate numbers. For example: 99,95 €. 

Ireland  

When writing about currency in Ireland, the symbol comes before the amount. For example: €100. Full stops are typically used instead of commas. For example: €99.95.   

Telephone numbers  

Canada  

The format is to write the country code followed by the three-digit area code, a three-digit central office code and a four-digital station code.  

China  

In China, the format of writing telephone is to write the appropriate area code followed by a space and the rest of the telephone number. 

Ireland   

Ireland uses area codes which are either two or three digits long. After the area code, write the number out fully without spaces.  

The Netherlands  

Start with the area code, followed by a space, the next three-digits and then the final three-digits. 

USA 

The format is to write the country code followed by the three-digit area code, a three-digit central office code and a four-digital station code. 

Time   

Canada  

In Canada, the 12-hour clock system is used. AM and PM are written with periods. For example: a.m and p.m.  

China  

In China, they use both the 12-hour clock system and the 24-hour clock system. Use the 12-hour clock system.  

Germany  

In Germany, the 24-hour clock system is used.  

Ireland   

In Ireland, the 12-hour clock system is used.   

The Netherlands  

In The Netherlands, the 24-hour clock system is used. 

USA 

In the USA, the 12-hour clock system is used 

Please note that there may be variations even within the countries, but these general guidelines should help you maintain Water Babies brand consistency.