The Guardian style guide Introduction

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often redundant since context will inform the reader:“They met this month” is preferable to “They met earlier this month” and will save space

no apostrophe

in an astronomical context; but moon, sun

inner east London north of the river (the equivalent district south of the Thames is south-east London)

TV soap
Easter Day

not Easter Sunday
eastern Europe, western Europe
East Jerusalem
East Riding of Yorkshire council
easyJet
eBay
ebook
eccles cake
E coli
e-commerce
ecstasy

(drug), lc

European currency unit, superseded by the euro

not educationalist

weird Erie North American lake eyrie of eagles

Not a synonym for in effect: “the Blair campaign was launched effectively in 1992" means the intended effect was achieved; “the Blair campaign was in effect launched in 1992" means this was not the official launch, but the event described did have the effect of launching it, whether intended or not. The word effectively is overused as well as misused, and can often be omitted

does not mean effeminate or foppish, but “weak, ineffectual or decadent as a result of over-refinement … exhausted, worn out, spent” (Collins)

(electronic facial identification technique) program used to create police drawings

no full point

(Festival of Sacrifice) Muslim festival laid down in Islamic law, celebrates the end of the hajj. Note that eid means festival, so it is tautologous to describe it as the “Eid festival”

Muslim festival of thanksgiving laid down in Islamic law, celebrates the end of Ramadan (al-fitr means the breaking of the fast)

not a festival but a greeting (mubarak means “may it be blessed”)

do not use; say Republic of Ireland or Irish Republic

no accent

director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr ElBaradei after first mention

do not use to describe anyone under 70

fabled city of gold Eldorado fabled flop of a soap

death by electric shock, so don’t say survivors of torture were “electrocuted” during their ordeal — rather that they were given electric shocks

use spaces before and after ellipses, eg “She didn’t want to go there … ”; there is no need for a full point

is intransitive; use exude if you need a transitive verb

London
embargo

plural embargos
embarrass, embarrassment
embassy

lc, eg British embassy

leave a country immigrate arrive in one

not amir
employment tribunal

not industrial tribunal
EMS

European monetary system

economic and monetary union

not by or with

not inclose

to deprive of strength or vitality

take care not to offend by saying England or English when you mean Britain or British. See Scotland

something monstrous or wicked; not synonymous with large

not on route

make certain insure against risk assure life

the point on the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake or underground explosion; frequently misused to mean the centre or focus itself

we do not define people by their medical condition: seizures are epileptic, people are not; so say (if relevant) “Mr Smith, who has epilepsy … " not “Mr Smith, an epileptic … "

erythropoietin, a performance-enhancing drug

not e’er long

exchange rate mechanism

electronic random number indicator equipment: the machine that picks winning premium bond numbers

is a language spoken in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Siberia. Please note that it has no more words for snow than does English. The people are Inuit (singular Inuk), not “Eskimos”

not expresso

not ETA
ethnic

never say ethnic when you mean ethnic minority, which leads to such nonsense as “the constituency has a small ethnic population"
ethnic cleansing

do not use as a euphemism for genocide unless in quote marks

European Union (no need to spell out at first mention); formerly EC (European Community); before that EEC (European Economic Community)

Euan Blair

Ewan McGregor

Ewen Bremner, Ewen MacAskill

currency; plural euros and cents

do not use as a prefix to everything European, but Euro-MP is an acceptable alternative to MEP

now called Disneyland Paris

includes Britain, so don’t say, for example, something is common “in Europe” unless it is common in Britain as well; to distinguish between Britain and the rest of Europe the phrase “continental Europe” may be useful; eastern Europe, central Europe, western Europe

the commission after first mention

nothing to do with the EU; it is a Council of Europe body

one word, capped: they are sceptics about the EU, not just the euro

fundamentalist wing of Christianity evangelist someone who spreads the gospel

noun and adverb: it happens every day everyday adjective: an everyday mistake

cliche; from a reader: “This seems to crop up for anything to do with children, from abduction, to death, to today's piece on musical taste. As a parent I can't cope with that many nightmares.”

term used by tabloid newspapers to denote a story that is in all of them

the carrying out of a death sentence by lawful authority, so a terrorist, for example, does not “execute” someone

by right of position or office

on behalf of one party only

not ex-pat or expatriot; this is “ex" meaning “out of" (as in export, extract), not “ex-" meaning “former" (as in ex-husband)

avoid; write “he said” not “he explained”

ECGD at second mention

not extravert

no hyphen

one word, but witness is preferable