The following is a list of tricky words, phrases to watch, and other Queen's anomalies.
- academic year, not Academic Year
- adviser, not advisor
- alumnus/alumna/alumni/alumnae. All refer to those who matriculate at the university. Do not capitalize any form.
- alumnus (m. sing., generic pl.); alumna (f. sing.); alumni (m. pl., generic pl.); alumnae (f. pl.)
- bachelor’s degree, not bachelors degree
- curriculum (s.); curricula (pl.)
- database, not data base
- dependant (n.); dependent (adj.)
- doctor, not Dr. (unless used as a title with a surname)
- emeritus/emerita/emeriti
- professor emeritus (m.); professor emerita (f.); professors emeriti (pl.)
- extracurricular, not extra-curricular
- GPA, not G.P.A.
- health care (n.); health-care (adj.); with the exception of the Queen's program Master of Science in Healthcare Quality
- i.e. (use “that is”)
- master’s degree, not master degree or masters degree
- okay, not OK or o.k. or Ok
- pediatrics, not paediatrics (Queen's style is to avoid the digraph ae whenever possible.)
- post-doctoral, not postdoctoral or post doctoral
- post-graduate diploma, not post graduate diploma
- post-secondary, not postsecondary
- program, not programme
- questionnaire
- resumé
- set up (v.); setup (n.)
- task force, not taskforce
- term, not semester
- thank you (verb phrase); thank-you (noun or adjective)
- thesis, theses
- X-ray, not X-Ray or x-ray
Avoid archaic language, such as thus or alas.
For attribution, use present tense in feature articles (he says, she says) and past tense in time-sensitive news articles (he said, she said).