SJC-style-and-production-guide-2012

to denounce and banish an idea, thing or person.preventive not ‘preventative’. Hence ‘preventive medicine’, ‘preventive dentistry’ or ‘preventivemeasures’.principle and principal are often confused. Principles are rules or standards; whereas theprincipal is the person of highest rank, often head of a school. Also principal is a sum ofmoney before interest. When money is borrowed some of the repayments are towards interest,some are towards the principal.prise lever or ease open; prize reward.proactive not necessary when you mean active. As the antonym of reactive it is acceptablewhen used in the same sentence, to emphasise different kinds of reaction.prodigy person with extraordinary talents; progeny offspring.program Use this spelling, rather than ‘programme’. Fowler (1965: 463) points out that‘program’ was the regular spelling until the 19th century and that for consistency the spellingought to conform with other words derived from the Greek ‘gramma’, such as ‘telegram’,‘anagram’, ‘cryptogram’, ‘diagram’.prophecy (n) a detailed prediction dealing with philosophical, supernatural or spiritual;prophesy is the verb.prostate male gland; prostrate lying flat, face down in supplication.proved This is the past tense of ‘prove’. The word ‘proven’ is an obscure Scottish legal termoften used redundantly in phrases such as ‘proven winner’ or ‘proven track record’. Bothwinners and track records imply proof.public accountability is sometimes used by public servants or industry. Just accountable willdo, naming to whom the subject is accountable. ‘The public’ is meaningless unless clearlydefined.purdah a screen hiding Arabic or Indian women from the view of men. It can also mean the actof concealment, which suggests that a burka performs purdah (See ‘burka’).QQueensland Some common placenames present frequent difficulties. Note: South-EastQueensland, Mt Coot-tha, Story Bridge, Indooroopilly and Woolloongabba (but Wollongongin NSW). Type ‘Queensland’, not ‘Qld’, not ‘QLD’.quite/rather Unless used ironically (in quotes) the apparent qualifiers are a waste of space.quotation marks Quotation marks have a number of functions. They are used to: i) define whatexactly has been said or written by a source (see direct speech); ii) define words used in aspecial way or to emphasise the unusual sense given to a word; iii) define some titles; iv)define familiar names. Examples of (ii) are:Bathers were warned to watch for ‘Noah’s arks’.We ate some of the ‘stew’ from the bucket. In the first example, a special kind of language,rhyming slang, is used. In the second, the writer is suggesting ironically that what was eatencould hardly be described as stew.PAGE 53 – 2012UQ SJC STYLEBOOK