:Wikipedia:Simplified Manual of Style

{{Short description|Explanatory essay about Wikipedia's house style}}

{{supplement|pages=Wikipedia:Manual of Style|MOS:SIMPLIFIED|WP:SMOS|}}

This Simplified Manual of Style is an overview of commonly used style guidelines taken from the Wikipedia Manual of Style and its subpages (together called the MoS). When a MoS guideline offers a choice of styles, choose one and use it consistently throughout an article, and do not unreasonably alter a choice that has already been made. The MoS has too many suggestions to memorize, or even to consult regularly, but because they are based on consensual discussion, they often settle time-wasting arguments. Wikipedia has no firm rules, but these suggestions help create consistent articles. For a descriptive directory of the pages which make up the Manual of Style, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Contents.

Capital letters

Use sentence case for article titles and section headings{{spaced ndash}}{{xt|Early life and education}}, not {{!xt|Early Life and Education}}. {{Manual of Style/More|AT}}

Capitalize names of scriptures like {{xt|Bible}} and {{xt|Qur'an}}, but not {{xt|biblical}}. Always capitalize {{xt|God}} when it refers to a primary or only deity, but not pronouns that refer to deities: {{xt|he}} not {{!xt|He}}. {{Manual of Style/More|#Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines}}

Avoid capitalizing names of plants and animals. Among the exceptions are scientific names ({{xt|Felis catus}}) and proper nouns occurring as part of a name ({{xt|Norway rat}}). {{Manual of Style/More|LIFE}}

The seasons ({{xt|summer}}, {{xt|winter}}, {{xt|spring}}, and {{xt|fall}}/{{xt|autumn}}) are not capitalized. {{Manual of Style/More|#Calendar items}} Similarly, the compass points ({{xt|north}}, {{xt|southwest}}) are not capitalized. {{Manual of Style/More|#Compass points}}

When in doubt about whether to capitalize something, the general rule is that Wikipedia only capitalizes that which is capitalized in the vast majority of source material. If sources veer between upper- and lower-case for something, then default to lower-case. {{Manual of Style/More|CAPS}}

Abbreviations

To indicate approximately, the non-italicized abbreviation {{xt|c.}} (followed by a space) is preferred over {{!xt|circa}}, {{!xt|ca.}}, or {{!xt|approx.}} {{Manual of Style/More|CIRCA}}

Write {{xt|US}} or {{xt|U.S.}}, but not {{!xt|USA}}. Use {{xt|US}}, not {{!xt|U.S.}}, in an article using {{xt|UK}}, {{xt|PRC}}, etc. {{Manual of Style/More|NOTUSA}}

Use "{{xt|and}}" instead of the "{{!xt|&}}" sign, except in tables, infoboxes, and official names like {{xt|AT&T}}. {{Manual of Style/More|&}}

Punctuation

=Apostrophes and quotation marks=

Use straight quote marks {{key press|"}} and apostrophes {{key press|'}} as available from the keyboard, and not alternatives such as {{!xt|“ ”}} and {{!xt|‘ ’}}. {{Manual of Style/More|APOSTROPHE}}

Italicize names of books, films, TV series, music albums, paintings, and ships—but not short works like songs or poems, which should be in quotation marks. {{Manual of Style/More|ITAL}}

Write {{xt|James's house}}, not {{!xt|James' house}}. {{Manual of Style/More|POSS}}

=Periods and commas=

Place a full stop (a period) or a comma before a closing quotation mark if it belongs as part of the quoted material; otherwise put it after: {{xt|The word carefree means "happy".}} But: {{xt|She said, "I'm feeling carefree."}} (Please do so irrespective of any rules associated with the variety of English in use.) {{Manual of Style/More|LQ}}

An ellipsis should be written as three separate dots ({{xt|...}}): not spaced ({{!xt|. . .}}), and not using the single-character option ({{!xt|…}}). {{Manual of Style/More|ELLIPSIS}}

The serial comma (for example the comma before and in "ham, chips, and eggs") is optional; be sensitive to possible ambiguity from thoughtless use or thoughtless avoidance. {{Manual of Style/More|SERIAL}}

Avoid comma splices. {{Manual of Style/More|#Semicolons}}

Picture captions should not end in a full stop (a period) unless they are complete sentences. {{Manual of Style/More|CAPTIONS}}

=Dashes and hyphens=

Avoid using a hyphen after a standard -ly adverb ({{xt|a newly available home}}). {{Manual of Style/More|HYPHEN}}

A hyphen is not a dash. Hyphens are used within words or to join words, but not in punctuating the parts of a sentence. Use an en dash (–) with   before and a space after; or use an em dash (—) without spaces. See Wikipedia:How to make dashes. Avoid using two hyphens {{nowrap|(--)}} to make a dash; and avoid using a hyphen for a minus sign. {{Manual of Style/More|DASH}}

Use an en dash, not a hyphen, between numbers: {{xt|pp. 14–21}}; {{xt|1953–2008}}. An en dash is also to connect parallel terms: {{xt|red–green colorblind}}; {{xt|a New York–London flight}}. Use spaces around the en dash only if the connected terms are multi-unit dates: {{xt|January 1999{{spaced ndash}}December 2000}}. {{Manual of Style/More|ENDASH}}

Dates and numbers

Write {{xt|number 1}} or {{xt|No. 1}}, but not {{!xt|#1}}. Comic books are an exception. Do not use the symbol {{!xt|№}}. {{Manual of Style/More|NUMBERSIGN}}

Write {{xt|12,000}} for twelve thousand, not {{!xt|12.000}}. {{Manual of Style/More|NUM#Delimiting (grouping of digits)}}

Both {{xt|10 June 1921}} and {{xt|June 10, 1921,}} are correct, but should be consistent within an article. A comma is not used if only the month is given, such as {{xt|June 1921}}. {{Manual of Style/More|#Choice of format}}

{{xt|400 AD}} (or {{xt|AD 400}}) and {{xt|400 BC}} are correct; but so are {{xt|400 CE}} and {{xt|400 BCE}}. As always, use one style consistently in an article. {{Manual of Style/More|NUM#Year numbering systems}}

Use {{xt|one, two, three, ..., eight, nine}} in most cases, not {{!xt|1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}} (exceptions include times and dates, equations, sport scores, most measurements, and data in tables). Use digits for {{xt|10}} and higher (though some such numbers also may be written as words, when it helps clarity). {{Manual of Style/More|NUM}}

Markup

Instead of an ordinary space, use   (a non-breaking space) to prevent a line from ending in the middle of expressions like {{xt|17 kg}}, {{xt|565 BCE}}, {{xt|2:50 pm}}, {{xt|£11 billion}}, {{xt|129 million}}, {{xt|{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}}}, {{xt|5° 24′ 21.12″ N}}, or {{xt|Boeing 747}}; also after the number in {{xt|123 Fake Street}}, and before Roman numerals in {{xt|World War II}} and {{xt|Pope Benedict XVI}}. Use   in the same way inside a wikilink. (An alternative: enclose the whole expression using the template {{tl|nowrap}}.) {{Manual of Style/More|NBSP}}

It does not matter how many spaces come after a period because extra spaces will not show, although blank lines will create one extra line. {{Manual of Style/More|#Spacing}}

Use wikilinks, but only for words and phrases that are most likely to be helpful if clicked. Make sure each link goes to an article on the intended subject, and not to a disambiguation page or incorrect destination. {{Manual of Style/More|#Links}}

References

There are multiple citation styles. The most common uses {{tag|ref}} (ref tags) to create footnotes (sometimes called endnotes or notes), which will appear in the reference or endnote section. This citation should immediately follow the text to which it applies, including any punctuation (with some exceptions). {{Manual of Style/More|REFPUNC}}

Usage

English Wikipedia prefers no major national variety of the language over any other. These varieties (e.g., U.S. English, British English) differ in vocabulary (soccer vs. football), spelling (center vs. centre), and occasionally grammar. {{Manual of Style/More|ENGVAR}}

Avoid words like I, we, and you, except in quotations and names of works. {{Manual of Style/More|PRONOUNS}}

Avoid phrases like {{!xt|note that}} and {{!xt|remember that}} (which assume "you" for the reader); and avoid such expressions as {{!xt|of course}} and {{!xt|obviously}}. {{Manual of Style/More|NOTED}}