supported students ’
HELP debt Not ‘ HECS debt ’
high-income ( adjective )
high-profile ( adjective )
high-tech ( adjective )
homegrown
hypertension , hypotension The first means abnormally high blood pressure , the second means abnormally low blood pressure
I
immigrant See ‘ emigrant ’
Indigenous Use an uppercase ‘ I ’ when referring to Indigenous Australians . Use a lowercase ‘ i ’ when referring to the indigenous people of another country , or indigenous plants or animals . ‘ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples ’ or ‘ communities ’ is the preferred group identifier , but you may use ‘ Indigenous peoples ’ or ‘ communities ’ where space is limited .
interdisciplinary
internet
K
kick-start
Koori , Kooris Aboriginal peoples of south-eastern Australia . Do not use this term to refer to Aboriginal peoples from other areas .
L
La Niña The tilde is essential , as it changes the pronunciation to ‘ La Ninya ’
Labor ( ALP ), but note that the British , New Zealand and Israeli parties are spelled ‘ Labour ’. Capitalise factions of the ALP : Left , Socialist Left , Right , Centre Left , Centre Unity .
labour movement
large-scale ( adjective )
lead ( present tense ), led ( past tense )
learnt Not ‘ learned ’
life cycle
life span
lifesaving ( noun )
lifestyle
lifetime
LinkedIn
live stream
local government longstanding
long term ( predicative adjective , such as ‘ in the long term ’), long-term ( attributive adjective , such as ‘ long-term plan ’)
low-income ( adjective )
M
mad cow disease
major-general , major-generals
man-made
manning
manoeuvre , manoeuvring
man-of-war Rather than ‘ man-o ’ -war’ for old warships and for the Portuguese man-of-war sea creature
master ' s degree
master ' s by research
master ' s by coursework
master plan
matrix , matrixes
mid- Write ‘ midday ’, ‘ midnight ’, ‘ midweek ’, ‘ midyear ’, ‘ midsummer ’, ‘ midlife ’ and ‘ midgame ’ as one word . Hyphenate ‘ mid-1990s ’, ‘ mid-autumn ’ and lesser-used compounds . Refer to the Macquarie Dictionary when in doubt .
Writing Style Guide | Spelling 59 | Back to contents