migrant See ‘ emigrant ’
minus Spell out in all cases ( for example , ‘ minus 10 degrees ’ not ‘– 10 degrees ’) except for financial credit ratings or equations , where the minus symbol is used .
minister Use all lowercase letters for generic references . For proper nouns , use ‘ Health Minister ’ ( for example ) as a short title and ‘ Minister for Health ’ as the longer title .
multi- Most words beginning with this prefix do not need a hyphen ( for example , ‘ multiracial ’, ‘ multimedia ’ and ‘ multidisciplinary ’). Refer to the Macquarie Dictionary when in doubt .
myUNSW
N
nation-building
non-English-speaking
no-one Use a hyphen
Northern Hemisphere
New Year ’ s Eve But ‘ the new year ’ in generic references
NSW No need to spell out unless your audience is international , in which case spell out only in the first reference
NSW Labor Council
O
online
onsite ( adjective )
over-represented
P
Parkinson ’ s disease
policymaker
post-doctoral
postgraduate
practice ( noun ), practise ( verb )
prerequisite
program Not ‘ programme ’
Pro Vice-Chancellor , [ Subject ] For example , ‘ Pro Vice- Chancellor , Indigenous ’
Q
qubit When referring to a quantum bit , any time after the first mention
R
re- Typically no hyphen is needed unless the first letter after the prefix is a vowel ( for example , ‘ redesign ’, ‘ redevelop ’ and ‘ re‐examine ’). Refer to the Macquarie Dictionary when in doubt .
risk-taking
road trip
royal commissions Use uppercase initial letters for the full titles of royal commissions ( such as ‘ Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody ’) then refer to it thereafter as ‘ the commission ’. Use lowercase initial letters for ‘ royal commissioner ’ but start with an uppercase letter for ‘ Commissioner ’ when referring to a specific person (‘ Commissioner Kenneth Hayne ’).
S
salt water ( noun ), salt-water ( adjective )
school Use all lowercase letters when referring to a school generally , but capitalise the full name of a specific school ( for example , the School of Computer Science & Engineering ). When necessary , list the school first , then the faculty it operates within .
sceptic , sceptical , scepticism But ‘ Australian Skeptics Inc .’
Nura Gili
Writing Style Guide | Spelling 69 | Back to contents