The European Style Sheet
This style sheet sets out the fixed editorial formats used by The European. It applies to editorial copy, commercial partner features, advertiser-supported articles, captions, standfirsts, headlines and supplied contributor copy.
The European uses clear UK English, newspaper-style formatting and consistent presentation of names, dates, figures, measurements, money, titles, credits and commercial disclosures.
Where a contributor, advertiser or commercial partner supplies copy in another style, The European style takes precedence unless legal, contractual or brand-name accuracy requires otherwise.
Measurements
Distance
Use miles first, followed by kilometres in brackets.
Do not leave a space between the number and km.
Examples:
- 3.2 miles (5.2km)
- 10 miles (16km)
- 62 miles (100km)
- a 3.2-mile (5.2km) internal cycle path
- a 10-mile (16km) route
- a 62-mile (100km) journey
For adjectival use, hyphenate the imperial figure:
- a 3.2-mile (5.2km) cycle path
- a 10-mile (16km) road
- a 500-mile (805km) journey
Height and depth
Use feet first, followed by metres in brackets.
No space between the number and m inside brackets.
Examples:
- 6ft (1.83m)
- 30ft (9.1m)
- 80ft (24.4m)
- a 30ft (9.1m) statue
- an 80ft (24.4m) dive
For scuba diving copy specifically, metres may be used first where the certification, safety limit or dive profile is normally expressed in metres.
Example:
- The wreck lies at 18m to 24m (59ft to 79ft).
For athletics, do not provide the equivalent distance in feet.
Example:
- “The athlete ran the 400m in just over 21.2 seconds and jumped more than 12m in a single leap.”
Area
Use sq ft first, followed by square metres in brackets.
Use sq ft and sq m.
Do not use “square feet” or “square metres” unless the context requires more formal wording.
Examples:
- 2.7m sq ft (257,000sq m)
- 1.5m sq ft (140,000sq m)
- a 2.7m sq ft (257,000sq m) business park
- 544,000sq ft (50,500sq m) of new infrastructure
Use “m” for million in measurements where space is tight.
Examples:
- 2.7m sq ft
- 1.5m sq ft
Do not use MM SQF, M SQF, SQF or SQM in editorial copy.
Weight
Use stone and pounds first for people in UK-facing copy, followed by kilograms in brackets where useful.
Examples:
- 15st (95kg)
- 12st 4lb (78kg)
Use kg first for scientific, medical, sporting or international copy where kilograms are the standard measure.
Temperature
Use Celsius first, followed by Fahrenheit in brackets only where useful.
Examples:
- 38C (100F)
- temperatures reached 40C (104F)
No degree symbol.
Speed
Use mph first, followed by km/h in brackets.
Examples:
- 30mph (48km/h)
- 70mph (113km/h)
Numbers
Spell out one to nine.
Use figures for 10 and above.
Examples:
- six companies
- nine countries
- 10 jobs
- 23 multinationals
- 430 academic institutions
Always use figures for:
- ages
- money
- measurements
- percentages
- rankings
- dates
- times
- scores
- temperatures
- page numbers
- legal clauses
Examples:
- aged 6
- 5.2 miles
- 85 per cent
- ranked 4th
- clause 19
Large numbers
Use m and bn in headlines and standfirsts.
Use million and billion in body copy and alongside the figure.
Examples:
Headline or standfirst:
- US$1.186bn
- £105bn
- 2.7m sq ft
Body copy:
- US$1.186 billion
- £105 billion
- 2.7m sq ft
Do not use MM for million in editorial copy.
Percentages
Use per cent in body copy.
Use % only in tables, charts, graphics or where space is extremely tight.
Examples:
- 85 per cent of workers
- 48 per cent of exports
- more than 93 per cent of internet traffic
Do not mix per cent and % in the same article unless a table or graphic requires it.
Money
Use the currency symbol before the figure.
Examples:
- £43
- €50
- US$173 million
- US$1.186 billion
Use US$, not USD $.
Use £, not GBP, in editorial copy.
Use €, not EUR, in editorial copy.
Use conversions where useful for UK readers.
Examples:
- €50 (£43)
- US$173 million (£136 million)
In headlines and standfirsts, use:
- US$1.186bn
- £105bn
- €50
In body copy, use:
- US$1.186 billion
- £105 billion
- €50
Dates
Use this format:
- June 26, 2026
- Friday, June 26, 2026
- January 31, 2020
Do not use:
- 26 June 2026
- June 26th, 2026
- 26/06/26
Decades
Use:
- the 1930s
- the mid-1930s
- the late 1950s
- 1980s Britain
No apostrophe.
Do not use:
- the 1930’s
- the Eighties unless in a headline or feature where the tone justifies it
Centuries
Use 16th-Century style.
Examples:
- 16th-Century architecture
- a 19th-Century painting
- 20th-Century politics
- the 21st Century
Hyphenate when adjectival.
Examples:
- a 16th-Century church
- a 19th-Century novelist
No hyphen when used as a noun.
Examples:
- the 16th Century
- by the late 19th Century
Capitalise Century.
Time
Use:
- 9am
- 5.30pm
- 11pm
- noon
- midnight
Do not use:
- 9:00am
- 5:30 p.m.
- 12 noon
- 12 midnight
Use time zones where needed.
Examples:
- 9am GMT
- 5.30pm CET
- 11pm UK time
Ages
Use figures.
Examples:
- aged 45
- a 45-year-old woman
- the 45-year-old
- children aged six, eight and 10
Hyphenate adjectival ages.
Examples:
- a 12-year-old girl
- a 70-year-old man
Do not use:
- a 12 year old girl
- a twelve-year-old girl
Names and titles
Use full name first and title second on first mention.
Example:
- David Best, general manager of the Monopoly Hotel in Frankfurt
Use surname only on second mention in news copy.
Example:
- Best said the hotel had focused on talent and infrastructure.
Capitalise formal titles before names.
Examples:
- President Emmanuel Macron
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer
- Professor Howard H. Stevenson
Lower case titles after names.
Examples:
- Emmanuel Macron, the French president
- Keir Starmer, the prime minister
- Howard H. Stevenson, emeritus professor at Harvard Business School
Use job titles plainly. Avoid long corporate titles unless necessary.
Organisations
Use the full name on first mention, followed by the acronym in brackets where the acronym will be used again.
Example:
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Use the acronym thereafter.
Do not introduce an acronym if it appears only once.
Use official company spellings only where they are part of the registered or public brand name.
Avoid unnecessary legal suffixes such as Ltd, GmbH, SA, LLC and Inc unless legally or contextually required.
Acronyms
No full stops in acronyms other than for “U.S”.
Use:
- UK
- U.S
- EU
- UN
- OECD
- NHS
- BBC
- CEO
- R&D
- AI
Do not use:
- U.K.
- US.
- E.U.
- C.E.O.
Capitalisation
Use lower case wherever possible, including in the headline.
Capitalise proper nouns, official names and formal titles before names.
Examples:
- the government
- the prime minister
- the president
- the university
- the company
- the park
- the report
- the study
Capitalise when part of the formal name.
Examples:
- University of Oxford
- World Economic Forum
- The European
Do not capitalise sectors.
Examples:
- life sciences
- advanced manufacturing
- specialist services
- clean energy
- artificial intelligence, save for the acronym “AI”
Hyphenation
Use hyphens to avoid ambiguity and in compound adjectives before nouns.
Examples:
- high-value industries
- long-term growth
- early-stage companies
- 16th-Century architecture
- 3.2-mile (5.2km) cycle path
- U.S-based company
- Europe-wide ranking
- state-backed firm
- publicly listed company
Do not hyphenate after adverbs ending in -ly.
Examples:
- highly educated workforce
- globally recognised ranking
- newly appointed chief executive
Do not use excessive hyphenation where the meaning is clear.
Punctuation
Use commas, brackets, full stops, hyphens as above or en dashes. Do not use em dashes.
Use single spaces after full stops.
Use Oxford commas only where they prevent ambiguity.
Examples:
- life sciences, advanced manufacturing and specialist services
- France, Germany, Italy and Spain
Use brackets sparingly.
Example:
- 3.2 miles (5.2km)
Avoid contrastive sentences wherever possible.
Example:
The cloud didn’t look like a tractor. It looked like a car.
Correct:
The cloud looked like a car rather than a tractor.
Quotes
Use double quotation marks for direct speech and soundbites.
Examples:
- “Companies assess where they can grow over the next 10 to 15 years,” Smith said.
- The tractor was “larger than anything the farmer had seen before”, according to the report.
Use single quotation marks only inside a quote.
Example:
- “The phrase ‘high-value industry’ needs to be clearly defined,” he said.
Use said as the standard attribution.
Examples:
- he said
- she said
- Carazo said
- the company said
Avoid quote verbs such as:
- insisted
- declared
- boasted
- enthused
- opined
Quotes must be verbatim.
Quotes may be shortened, but the meaning must not be changed.
Do not invent quotes.
Do not improve quotes by adding words the speaker did not say.
Ellipses and quote edits
Use ellipses only where removed words matter to the reader.
Example:
- “The decision depends on talent… and the strength of the ecosystem,” he said.
Do not use ellipses to make a quote appear more dramatic.
Use square brackets only where an inserted word is necessary for clarity.
Example:
- “They [the companies] need room to expand,” he said.
Use this sparingly.
Italics
Use italics for:
- book titles
- film titles
- newspaper and magazine titles
- ship names
- artwork titles
Example:
- The book, A Pigeon’s Life, was penned by the London-based author Roger Kent.
Do not italicise company names, report titles or campaign names unless there is a specific reason.
Headlines
Headlines should be direct, factual and based on the strongest angle.
Do not use colons in headlines unless doing so adds genuine value. Do not use em dashes.
Preferred:
- UK universities take top four places in European global rankings
- Home routers named Europe’s forgotten internet security risk
- Costa Rica medtech exports hit US$10.9bn
- Venice access fee plan sparks boycott threat
Avoid:
- Talent for a global economy
- Scale, Baby, Scale: Why AI for Science is not enough
- Innovation in Action: How Costa Rica is leading the way
Use single quotation marks in headlines only where needed and generally only to make a point without a direct source or to summarise something succinctly.
Example:
- Home routers named ‘forgotten internet security risk’
Standfirsts
Standfirsts should add information to the headline.
Use one or two sentences.
Include the author’s name where required by the section and italicise that name.
Example:
- Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial lead U.S. News list as research-focused ranking evaluates more than 2,250 universities worldwide.
Avoid repeating the headline.
Avoid marketing language.
Avoid overlong standfirsts with too many clauses.
When including the author’s name, italicise that name.
Example:
- Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial lead U.S. News list as research-focused ranking evaluates more than 2,250 universities worldwide, writes Frank Kent
Standfirsts online and in print end with no full stop.
First paragraphs
The first paragraph must carry the strongest point.
Use the news, finding, claim, conflict, ranking, appointment, result or consequence.
Do not open with generic background.
Avoid openings such as:
- As global industries seek…
- In today’s fast-changing world…
- Against a backdrop of uncertainty…
- In an era of transformation…
Preferred:
- British universities have taken the top four places in a new ranking of Europe’s best global universities.
- Home routers represent one of Europe’s biggest overlooked security risks, researchers have warned.
- Costa Rica’s medical device exports have grown from US$288 million in 2000 to US$10.9 billion in 2025.
Body copy
Avoid corporate phrases and AI stock fillers in editorial, such as:
- value proposition
- strategic destination
- ecosystem, unless genuinely needed
- transformative
- cutting-edge
- world-class
- game-changing
- innovative, unless supported
- unique, unless provable
- solutions, where a clearer word exists
- stakeholders, where people, companies, investors or regulators would be clearer
Contributor copy length and content
For Opinion & Analysis and Lifestyle articles, we generally aim for a minimum length of 1,000 words and a maximum of 1,600 words.
Longer pieces will be considered where the subject warrants additional space, although they may be edited or cut to fit. Articles significantly longer than 1,600 words should normally be supplied with suitable photographs or other images to break up the copy. Contributors must ensure that the publication rights for any supplied images are clear.
Opinion pieces must contain a clear opinion or argument. They should do more than describe or summarise a subject.
Analysis pieces must be based on new research, fresh evidence or new findings and should provide the reader with something beyond information that is already widely available.
Lifestyle pieces should be informative, engaging and useful to the reader.
All contributor copy should be written in clear, simple English. Avoid unnecessary jargon, academic language, corporate terminology and complicated sentence structures. Write for an informed general reader rather than a specialist audience.
AI-generated copy will never be published as supplied. Any contributor copy that appears to have been generated wholly or substantially using AI may be edited, rewritten or rejected on receipt at the sole discretion of The European. The decision on whether such copy can be brought up to publication standard, or should be spiked, rests entirely with the editorial team.
Copy that falls substantially outside these guidelines may be edited, shortened, returned to the contributor for revision, or spiked without notification.
Picture captions
Captions should be factual, concise and useful.
Use this format:
- The Grand Auditorium at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Credit: Jon, CC BY 2.0
For Wikimedia Commons and Creative Commons images, use shortened credits.
Examples:
- Credit: Chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Credit: Jon, CC BY 2.0
- Credit: Comune di Venezia, CC BY 3.0
Do not include long source URLs in published captions unless required.
Do not use promotional captions.
Image credits
Every image used online must have a credit. If it is supplied by the contributor or advertiser and no brand name is necessary, use “Supplied”.
Main “hero” images are credited at the foot of the piece.
In print, photographs can be published without individual credits so long as the article refers to the images on its final page.
We do not publish images unless rights are clear.
Links
Links should be used in all editorial online where that piece refers to a major breaking story or fact that requires corroboration.
All pieces online should contain internal links to previous content by The European.
Avoid raw URLs in body copy.
Preferred:
- visit awebsite.com
Rather than:
- visit https://www.awebsite.com
Spelling preferences
Use:
- adviser
- amid
- among
- while
- focused
- website
- online
- wellbeing
- workforce
- policymaker
- healthcare
- clean energy
- net zero
- life sciences
- artificial intelligence on first mention, AI thereafter
Avoid:
- advisor, unless in an official title
- amidst
- amongst
- whilst
- focussed
- web site
- on-line
