STYLE

GUIDE
 CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Abbreviations and acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Capitalisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Names of commonly misspelt organisations / places / individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Titles of books, films, articles, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Titles of individuals, military officers and judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Urdu/Arabic words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Common mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Banned words and expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Crime stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Court stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Business stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Appendices — Names of cities and states, weights and measures conversions . . . . . . .53

4
Introduction

he first style guide of Dawn was prepared and published in the new millennium

T when the paper had already been in publication for over 52 years. But that was
not too late in the day if one recalls that The Guardian — previously The
Manchester Guardian — issued its first style guide when it was a century old. Dawn’s
style guide was a parting gift to the paper from its long-standing editor, Ahmad Ali Khan,
on the eve of his retirement in March 2000. It was prepared by Saleem Asmi, who suc-
ceeded Khan Sahib.
Given all the challenges the newspaper faced in a period when the press was under
many constraints, including a period of censorship that many young journalists never
experienced, one can understand why there was such focus on the paper’s style. Even
without a guide, Dawn staffers had always followed an unofficial but uniform style.
Sometimes this even took the form of a name’s spelling being scribbled prominently on a
noticeboard in the newsroom.

Why do we need a style guide?

The idea of a style guide is to have uniformity in style across the newspaper. There are
words which can be written in various ways that are all correct. For instance, you can eat
2 apples and you can eat two apples. Both are correct, but for the paper to have a pro-
fessional look it is preferable that the same form is followed on all pages and on all days
of the week. We have also included some expressions that are not correct but often crop
up in the paper, and new terms that have crept into newspaper language have to be
addressed.
As Dawn is increasingly read internationally through dawn.com, it is also important to
make sure that it is as reader-friendly for a foreign audience as it is for Pakistani readers.
An updated style guide is therefore indispensable, particularly because of the growing
number of journalists involved in the production of the paper and the larger number of
pages produced.
An important supplement to this guide is a current edition of the Oxford English
Dictionary, especially to check if a compound word is hyphenated or written as one or two
words. The latest version can be found at www.oxforddictionaries.com/?region=uk.
It would be relevant to end with the tale of the little boy who was constantly misspelling
words. When his teacher reprimanded him and asked him why he didn’t consult the dic-
tionary when in doubt, he promptly replied that he never had doubts about spelling. To
ensure that subeditors develop some healthy doubts it is suggested that they find time to
skim through this guide.

— Editor
December 2013

5
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

• At first mention the word/name should be spelt out or the entity

described, followed by its abbreviation in brackets, eg “the Karachi
Electric Supply Company (KESC)” or “the KESC, the Karachi
power utility”

• But if the word does not appear in the story again, the first mention
should not be followed by the abbreviation/acronym in parentheses

• In subsequent mentions and in headlines, use only the

abbreviation/acronym

• Acronyms (abbreviations generally pronounced as words):

❍ Capitalise only the first letter, eg Lums, Wapda, Sim, Nadra,

Nato, Isaf, Fata

❍ If the acronym has another meaning, capitalise all letters, eg

6
 NAB, RAW, AIDS (or HIV/AIDS)

❍ Acronyms are generally not preceded by “the”: “Wapda pub-

lished a report” not “the Wapda published a report”

* But they take “the” if followed by a singular noun: “the

Nato chief said”, “he activated the Sim card”

• For abbreviations not pronounced as words, capitalise all letters,

eg KESC, NA, BISP, BBC, UN, USAID

❍ These are generally preceded by “the” in full and abbreviated

forms: “He is the chief executive officer of the Karachi Electric
Supply Company (KESC). Under his watch, the KESC has
improved bill collection.”

Some exceptions:

• AJK, GB, KP: no “the” with the full or short form, except when
followed by a singular noun:

❍ Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) is facing sectarian conflict

❍ Without increased funding, GB will not be able to equip its
police force
❍ Serious mountain climbers should not miss out on GB’s peaks
❍ The GB chief minister has asked the federal government for
funding

• GHQ and CNG, LNG, LPG: no “the” with the full or short form, except
when followed by a singular noun

❍ Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a low-cost alternative to

petrol
❍ The CNG station will remain closed tomorrow
❍ CNG stations will remain closed tomorrow
❍ He headed towards General Headquarters (GHQ)
❍ GHQ is located in Rawalpindi

• UNHCR, USAID: “the” only when spelt out:

❍ We received a grant from the United States Agency for

International Development

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 ❍ We received a grant from USAID

• ISI: “the” only with the abbreviation or when followed by a singular

noun:

❍ At the time he was director general of Inter-Services

Intelligence (ISI)
❍ At the time he was director general of the ISI
❍ He was the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief at the time

• Examples of words/names to be spelt out on first use and their

acronyms/abbreviations for subsequent use:

❍ Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)

❍ chief of army staff (COAS)
❍ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
❍ compressed natural gas (CNG)
❍ computerised national identity card (CNIC)
❍ Crime Investigation Agency (CIA)
❍ Crime Investigation Department (CID)
❍ deputy inspector general (DIG)
❍ Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)
❍ European Union (EU)
❍ Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
❍ Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata)
❍ Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FPCCI)
❍ first information report (FIR)
❍ Frontier Constabulary (FC)
❍ Frontier Corps (FC)
❍ General Headquarters (GHQ)
❍ Gilgit-Baltistan (GB)
❍ Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
❍ International Security Assistance Force (Isaf)
❍ liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
❍ liquefied natural gas (LNG)
❍ National Accountability Bureau (NAB)
❍ National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra)
❍ North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato)
❍ Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra)
❍ senior superintendent of police (SSP)
❍ Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL)

8
 ❍ station house officer (SHO)
❍ United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (Unesco)
❍ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
(Note the term is Commissioner, not Commission); the United
Nations refugee agency, UNHCR
❍ Unicef, the United Nations agency for children; Unicef, the
United Nations children’s agency
❍ United States Agency for International Development (USAID);
the American development-aid agency, USAID; USAID, the
American agency for development aid

Exceptions:

• Do not use the following abbreviations except in headlines: CJ,

CM, PM
• Names of companies and news organisations better known by their
abbreviations need not be spelt out on first use, eg BBC, CNN, AT&T
• Do not spell out the following on first use: MNA, MPA
• For the following, use abbreviations for subsequent mentions
but do not follow first mentions with abbreviations in
parentheses (see examples section below):
❍ Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
❍ National Assembly
❍ Supreme Court
❍ United Nations
❍ United States

Examples:

MPs fail to utilise BISP poverty fund

ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: Parliamentarians are underutilising funds allo-
cated to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for the current
financial year.
• According to a written reply submitted to the National Assembly, the
programme has so far disbursed only Rs18.9 billion this year. Every mem-
ber of the NA was given 8,000 forms for their constituency.
• Applicants should possess a computerised national identity card.
“Every month, the BISP sends 2.2 million money orders through
Pakistan Post,” the programme management said.

9
 Note:
❍ BISP is spelt out on first use
❍ First use is followed by its abbreviation in parentheses since
the BISP is mentioned again
❍ “Computerised national identity card” is spelt out but is not
followed by its abbreviation since it isn’t mentioned again
❍ “National Assembly” is not followed by its abbreviation in
parentheses, but the abbreviation is used on subsequent mention
❍ All abbreviations are preceded by “the”

Examples:

Refugee camps in Fata to be closed: UNHCR

ISLAMABAD, Aug 6: According to a statement by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the government has decided
to close down Afghan refugee camps in the Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (Fata).

Alternative:

According to a statement by the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, the gov-

ernment has decided to close down Afghan refugee camps in the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

A decision has also been taken to move Afghan refugees now scattered
in and around the federal capital, UNHCR added.
Camps in Fata will be closed by Aug 31.

Note:

• “United Nations” is not followed by its abbreviation in

parentheses, but the abbreviation is used on subsequent mention
• Abbreviations can be spelt out or described on first use, as in
the case of UNHCR above
• Acronym (Fata) is not preceded by “the”
• UNHCR is a rare case of an abbreviation not preceded by “the”

Police titles:

• Avoid the following: “Deputy Inspector General (DIG) (Operations)

Rai Muhammad Tahir visited several police checkposts across the city.”
Instead simply say “Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rai Muhammad

10
Tahir visited several police checkposts across the city.” The department
can be left out unless it is necessary for the story, in which case it can be
mentioned separately or on subsequent use, eg:

❍ DIG Tahir, who oversees police operations for Lahore, …

❍ Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Shahid Hayat, who oversees
Karachi’s South zone, …
❍ Inspector General (IG) Ghulam Shaikh, the Sindh police
chief, …

Note:

• Police titles are only capitalised when immediately followed by a

name

• No full stops after or within abbreviations, eg: kph, kg, MW, kW,
etc, ie, Dr, Prof, Mr, PhD

• Place commas before “ie”, “eg”, “etc” but not after them, unless
needed for the flow of the sentence

• When giving initials as part of a name, add full stops after every
letter but no spaces except before the last name, eg S.G.M.
Badruddin, Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim

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CAPITALISATION

• “government” is not capitalised

❍ avoid saying “the government of Pakistan” or “ Pakistani gov-
ernment” as this is unnecessary in a Pakistani newspaper
❍ “GoP”, “govt” allowed in headlines

• “Constitution” is capitalised when referring to Pakistan’s

Constitution but not when referring to constitutions of other countries
❍ avoid saying “the Constitution of Pakistan” or “the Pakistani
constitution” as this is unnecessary in a Pakistani newspaper
❍ Specific amendments to the Constitution are also upper case,
eg 18th Amendment
❍ “Article” is upper case, but letters within the names of articles
are lower case. Sub-clauses should be given in brackets (no
hyphens) following the article number, eg Article 58(2b), Article
63

• Titles are only capitalised if followed directly by a currently

serving official’s name, eg:
❍ Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said
❍ British Prime Minister David Cameron said
❍ the prime minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, said
❍ The British prime minister, David Cameron, said
❍ prime minister Benazir Bhutto said (lower case because former
prime minister)
❍ the chief justice said
❍ “chief justice of Pakistan”, “Pakistani prime minister”, eg to
be avoided as specifying their nationality is unnecessary in a
Pakistani newspaper

• Names of ministries are only capitalised if they are the official

names, eg:
❍ Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Defence
❍ information ministry, defence ministry

• “Western” is capitalised when referring to European/North

American policies, culture, etc but not when referring to direction:
“in Western society” but “in the western United States”

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 NAMES OF COMMONLY MISSPELT
ORGANISATIONS / PLACES / INDIVIDUALS

Individuals:

• Altaf Hussain
• Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
• Asma Jahangir
• Ban Ki-moon (Mr Ban on subsequent use)
• Bashar al-Assad (Mr Assad on subsequent use)
• Brahmdagh Bugti
• Chaudhry Parvez Elahi
• Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain (“Chaudhrys”, not “Chaudhries”,
when referring to the brothers collectively)
• Ehsanullah Ehsan
• Hakeemullah Mehsud
• Hillary Clinton (Ms Clinton on subsequent use)
• Hameed Gul
• Imam Hasan
• Imam Husain

13
 • Maulana Fazlullah
• Maulana Fazlur Rahman
• Maulana Samiul Haq
• Maulvi Nazir
• “Mohammad” is the general spelling except when name is
officially spelt otherwise or in the case of Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) (see below)
• Muammar Qadhafi
• Mullah Omar
• Osama bin Laden (Bin Laden on subsequent use)
• Pervez Musharraf
• Qazi Hussain Ahmed
• Mohammad Ali Jinnah
• Raja Pervez Ashraf
• Rehman Malik
• Shah Mahmood Qureshi
• Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (but when individual’s official spelling
unknown, Dawn convention is Shaikh and Ahmad)
• Syed Munawar Hasan
• Yousuf Raza Gilani
• Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Figures from Islamic history:

• Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); “the Prophet” or “Prophet

Muhammad” (without PBUH) on subsequent use
• Caliphs’ and prophets’ names will not be followed by RA or AS:

❍ Imam Hasan, Imam Husain

❍ Hazrat Ali, Hazrat Abu Bakr, Hazrat Umar, etc

Political parties:

• Spell out on first use, followed by abbreviation in parentheses if

the party will be referred to again in the same story. Use only the
abbreviation on subsequent use:
❍ All Pakistan Muslim League (APML)
❍ Awami National Party (ANP)
❍ Baloch Students’ Organisation (BSO)
❍ Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A)

14
 ❍ Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M)
❍ Jamaat-i-Islami (JI)
❍ Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) (not just Jamiat
Ulema-i-Islam, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F or JUI)
❍ Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami (JUI-S)
❍ Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM)
❍ Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H)
❍ Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA)
❍ Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)
❍ Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP)
❍ Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT)
❍ Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)
❍ Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP)
❍ Tehreek-i-Istiqlal (TI)
❍ Tehreek-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) — note that the TMQ,
the Pakistan Awami Tehreek, the Minhaj Welfare Foundation,
Minhajul Quran and Minhajul Quran International are all
distinct organisations

Exceptions:

• Do not spell out the following on first use. Spellings are provided
in brackets below for informational purposes only.
❍ PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party, no apostrophe)
❍ PML-F (Pakistan Muslim League-Functional)
❍ PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz)
❍ PML-Q (Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid)

Militant, insurgent and terrorist organisations:

• Spell out on first use, followed by abbreviation in brackets (if

provided below) if the organisation will be referred to again in the
same story. Use only the abbreviation, if provided below, on
subsequent use:
❍ Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ)
❍ Al Qaeda (not “the Al Qaeda” unless followed by singular
noun, eg “the Al Qaeda chief”)
❍ Ansarul Islam
❍ Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)
❍ Baloch Liberation Front (BLF)
❍ Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF)

15
 ❍ Baloch Republican Army (BRA)
❍ Haqqani network
❍ Hizbut Tahrir (HT)
❍ Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)
❍ Jamaatud Dawa (JuD)
❍ Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ)
❍ Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
❍ Sipah-i-Mohammad Pakistan (SMP)
❍ Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)
❍ Sunni Tehreek (ST)
❍ Tehreek-i-Jafria Pakistan (TJP)
❍ Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM)
❍ Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

Other organisations (spell out at first use):

❍ Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC)

❍ Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)
❍ National Accountability Bureau (NAB)
❍ Pakistan Railways (PR)
❍ People’s Amn Committee (PAC)
❍ Public Accounts Committee (PAC)

Examples:

❍ Answering a question about the possibility of the Difa-i-

Pakistan Council joining the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA),
the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir said meetings were under way
among former partners to revive the MMA.
Asked whether the JI was in contact with any other political
party, he said: “Yes, we are in continuous contact with the PML-N,
the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and other parties except the PPP, the
Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Awami National Party and the
PML-Q.”

❍ The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and the Jamaat-i-Islami

(JI) have been unable to come together to revive the Muttahida
Majlis-i-Amal. The coalition fell apart over disagreements about
boycotting the 2008 polls, and the JUI-F and the JI are expected
to campaign separately for the 2013 elections.

❍ The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and the Jamaat-i-Islami have

16
 been unable to come together to revive the Muttahida Majlis-i-
Amal (MMA). The MMA fell apart over disagreements about
boycotting the 2008 polls.

Places:

• Madina
• Makkah
• Miramshah
• south Punjab (not southern Punjab / South Punjab / Southern
Punjab)
• Use new names if they have been made official, eg:
❍ Chennai, not Madras
❍ Dhaka, not Dacca
❍ Kolkata, not Calcutta
❍ Mumbai, not Bombay
❍ Myanmar, not Burma

Official buildings:

• Governor House, Chief Minister House, Parliament House,

President House and Prime Minister House capitalised, not
followed by “’s”, not preceded by “the”

• President House can also be referred to as Aiwan-i-Sadr

• Roads: spelt Shahrah-i-Iran, Shahrah-i-Pakistan, etc

Exception:

Sharea Faisal

• Change American spellings if they are part of the official names

of places or organisations, eg: Woodrow Wilson Centre, not Center;
Pearl Harbour, not Harbor; University of Michigan, Ann Arbour, not
Arbor

NUMBERS

17
 • Numbers from 1 to 9 are spelt out, 10 and above are in figures

❍ Except when paired with symbols for currency, temperature,

measurement, etc in which case 1 to 9 are also in figures, eg:
5km, Rs2 billion, 4pc

❍ Any number occurring at the beginning of a sentence is spelt

out

❍ Page numbers will be in figures even when less than 10, eg:
“His name is on page 6 of the report.”

• In numbers of four or more digits, separate each three consecutive

digits with commas, starting from the right: 10,135,793; 5,000

• Age: “Anwar Husain Khan, 26, said”. State age only when
relevant, such as in crime or accident stories and in obituaries, or
when it adds to the report

❍ “50-year-old man”, but no hyphens in “he was 50 years old”

18
 ❍ She was in her 50s

Currency:

• Units are spelt out on first use with a space between the number
and the unit but no space between the number and the currency
symbol, eg Rs5 million, Rs180 billion, $30 trillion

• Subsequent mentions and headlines contain abbreviations of

units with no spaces between numbers and units, eg Rs2.2m,
Rs80bn, $3tr

• Lakh, crore, etc should not be used. Rs100,000 for lakh, Rs1
million for 10 lakhs, Rs10 million for crore

• Example: PIA’s losses for the year totalled Rs8 billion. Over four
years, however, the airline has lost Rs120bn.

Decimal places:

• As far as possible avoid giving three decimal places

• With numbers below 10, aim for a maximum of one decimal place

❍ Exception: maximum of two decimal places for numbers

in trillions and, in business/economy stories, for numbers in
billions

• With numbers above 10, aim for no decimal places

❍ Exception: maximum of one decimal place for numbers in

trillions and, in business/economy stories, for numbers in
billions

• To reduce decimals, round up or down depending on whether the

next number is 5+ or less than five, eg: 2.53bn becomes 2.5bn, 1.25bn
becomes 1.3bn, 20.9m becomes 21m, 20.2m becomes 20m, 2.39pc
becomes 2.4pc

• Stay consistent throughout the story

• Per share (eg earnings per share, dividends per share): two deci-

19
 mal places allowed

❍ Example 1: not an economy/business story

* Original:

ECP seeks Rs5.1bn supplementary grant for polls

ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: The coming general election will cost about 175
per cent more than the polls held in 2008.
The expenditure incurred on the 2002 elections was Rs1.45bn which
increased by 27.22 per cent to Rs1.85bn in 2008.
About one-fourth (Rs1.259bn) of the grant sought by the ECP will be
spent as election allowance and food charges for the polling staff. In 2008,
Rs58.16 million was spent under the head and in 2002 Rs42.49m.

* Corrected:

ECP seeks Rs5.1bn supplementary grant for polls

ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: The coming general elections will cost about
175pc more than the polls held in 2008.
The expenditure incurred during the 2002 elections was Rs1.5 billion,
which increased by 27pc to Rs1.9bn in 2008.
About one-fourth (Rs1.3bn) of the grant sought by the Election
Commission of Pakistan will be spent on election allowance and food
charges for polling staff. In 2008 Rs58 million was spent under that head
and in 2002, Rs42m.

❍ Example 2: economy / business story

* Original:

ISLAMABAD, Jun 2: The PPP government unveiled its fifth budget.

Announced on Friday by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the
budget estimated an expenditure of Rs2.960 trillion and a deficit of
Rs1.105 trillion which is around 4.7 per cent of GDP.
The budget document put the federal expenditure at Rs3.23 trillion,
instead of Rs2.960 trillion announced by Mr Sheikh.
One explanation for this could be that in his speech the finance minis-
ter left out the Rs591 billion the government plans to spend on develop-
ment.
Subsidies have been reduced to Rs208.6 billion.

20
 Hence the government promises to provide only Rs135 billion to Wapda
and aims to dole out Rs50.3 billion to KESC, which got Rs45 billion in
2011-12.

* Corrected:

ISLAMABAD, Jun 2: The PPP government unveiled its fifth budget.

Announced on Friday by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the
budget estimated expenditure of Rs2.96 trillion and a deficit of Rs1.11tr,
which is around 4.7pc of gross domestic product.
The budget document put federal expenditure at Rs3.23tr instead of the
Rs2.96tr announced by Mr Shaikh.
One explanation for this could be that in his speech the finance minis-
ter left out the Rs591 billion the government plans to spend on develop-
ment.
Subsidies have been reduced to Rs209bn.
Hence the government promises to provide only Rs135bn to the Water
and Power Development Authority and aims to dole out Rs50bn to the
KESC, the Karachi power utility, which got Rs45bn in 2011-12.

Dates:

• Months are fully spelt out when on their own or with a year only, eg
January 2008, it was decided in February that …

❍ Jan, Feb, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec are abbreviated when
accompanied by dates, eg, “On Jan 8, 2008 he said he would
arrive on Feb 9 and leave in January 2009.”

❍ Unless a separate clause follows, there is no need for a comma

after a year, eg:

* It was decided on Feb 22, 2008 that the government would …

* It was decided on Feb 22, 2008, the deadline for any such
move, that the government would …

• Decades: in the 1950s, in the ’50s, she was in her 50s

• Centuries: in the 20th century, 19th-century values
❍ 400BC but AD500

• Percentages: % in headlines, pc in text with no space after figure, eg

5%, 5pc

21
 • Population: same rules for millions and billions as with currency, eg,
“In 1998 Lahore contained six million of Punjab’s 74m residents.”

• Power: megawatt, kilowatt, MW, kW

Temperature:

• Temperatures should be in Celsius

❍ On first use spell out the unit, on subsequent mentions and in

headlines use the abbreviation, eg: In February the average tem-
perature fell to 15 degrees Celsius. In June it rose to 30°C.

❍ If numbers are below 10, they are in figures when paired with
symbols, otherwise in words, eg:

* In February the average temperature fell to five degrees

Celsius. In June it rose to 8°C.

❍ In news agency stories, if given the option select temperatures

in Celsius, not Fahrenheit

❍ Temperatures in Fahrenheit in other foreign articles should be

left as is

• Time: 8am, 9pm (no full stops, upper case or spaces); 12:55pm (colon
between hours and minutes)

Weights and measures:

• Metric units should be used, eg kilometres (km), not miles;

centimetres (cm), not inches; kilograms (kg), not pounds; litres (l), not
pints, gallons or quarts; tonnes (t), not tons

Exception:

Acres (ac), since these are commonly used in Pakistan

❍ On first use spell out the unit, in subsequent mentions and in

22
 headlines use the abbreviation (in lower case), eg: The distance
between X and Y is 300 kilometres but between Y and Z is 5km.

Exception:

“metre” will always be spelt out even on subsequent use

❍ Abbreviations for megawatt and kilowatt are MW and kW

❍ Numbers below 10 are in figures when paired with symbols,

otherwise in words, eg: X is eight kilometres from Y and Y is
5km from Z.

❍ In news agency stories, select metric units if the option is avail-

able

❍ Measurements in non-metric units in other foreign articles

should be left as is
* An exception is the ton, often confused with the tonne. In
American articles, “tons” generally refers to the short ton.
Multiply by 0.907 to obtain the value in tonnes and provide
that in square brackets, eg if using this story from The New
York Times: “Nearly half of Germany’s gold reserves are held
in a vault at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Now the
German central bank wants to make a big withdrawal — 300
tons [272 tonnes] in all.”

23
 PUNCTUATION

Apostrophe:

• Indicates a missing letter or letters (can’t, we’d) or a possessive

(Rashid’s book)

• Possessives:

❍ For singular nouns ending in s, use s’s: his boss’s house,

Dickens’s house

Exceptions:

• Singular nouns formed from plural words take s’: the United States’
foreign policy, the United Nations’ relief efforts (but usual rule when
abbreviated, eg: the US’s foreign policy, the UN’s relief efforts)

❍ For plural nouns ending in s, use s’: their bosses’ houses,

students’ books

❍ For plural nouns not ending in s, use ’s: children’s games,

women’s shelters

24
 ❍ Use apostrophes in phrases where the time period modifies a
noun (two days’ time, 12 years’ imprisonment, six weeks’ holi-
day) but not where the time period modifies an adjective (nine
months pregnant, three weeks old)

Colon:

• Do not capitalise the first word after a colon. But do capitalise if it is

the first word of a quote that is a complete sentence, eg:
❍ The prime minister said: “We all need to speak as one.”

Comma:

• No comma required before “and” or “or” in a list of separate items

unless an “and” or “or” has already occurred in that list, eg:
❍ He ate potatoes, peas and carrots.
❍ He served several pies including apple, chicken and mush-
room, and pumpkin.
❍ He went to the market and bought potatoes, peas and carrots.
(There is an “and” earlier in the sentence but it is not part of the
list, so no comma after “peas”.)

Exclamation marks:

DO NOT USE except when necessary in direct quotations

Hyphens:

• Refer to the latest version of the Oxford English dictionary () to see if

a compound word needs a hyphen or space, eg: socio-economic,
sociopolitical, think tank, longlist

❍ With compound adjectives:

* Do not use hyphens where the meaning is clear, eg:

* law enforcement agencies, civil rights movement, financial

services sector

* Use hyphens where the meaning could be ambiguous

without, eg:

25
 * “black-cab drivers come under attack” vs
“black cab-drivers come under attack”

* Use hyphens to form short compound adjectives, eg:

by-election, two-tonne vessel, three-year deal, 19th-century
artist, 50-year-old man

❍ With adverbs:

* Use hyphens with short and common adverbs, eg:

ever-forgiving family, much-loved character, well-informed
man

• But a hyphen is not needed if the adverb is not followed by a noun, eg:
the character was much loved, the man was well informed, the writer is
well known

* DO NOT use hyphens after adverbs ending in -ly, eg: hotly

disputed penalty, constantly evolving newspaper,
genetically modified food

Parentheses ( ):

• If the information in parentheses is part of a larger sentence,

punctuation stays outside the brackets

• (A complete sentence that stands alone in parentheses starts with a

capital letter and ends with a full stop.)

Quotes:

• Text from another source MUST BE in double quotation marks and

attributed to a specific person, newspaper, document, etc except in
headlines, where single quotation marks should be used. A quote
within a quote goes in single quotation marks.

❍ We often use text directly from foreign newspaper articles or

official documents without putting it in quotation marks. Either
add quotation marks or paraphrase.

• Direct quotes from written text: Do not modify except in the following

26
 cases:

❍ To meet Dawn capitalisation and punctuation style, eg:

* Original: “The Prime Minister will uphold the

Constitution.”
If quoting, change to: “The prime minister will uphold
the Constitution.”

* Original: “Four senators will introduce a bill dealing with

another issue: Visas for legal immigrants.” Change “visas” to
lower case as Dawn does not capitalise the word after a
colon.

* Original: “As he makes a $350 million gift to his alma

mater—the largest in its history—Michael R. Bloomberg
will disclose the sum of his donations to Johns Hopkins.”
Add spaces on both sides of the dashes.

❍ Change American spellings to British, including on

International pages

❍Change spelling of names to meet Dawn style, eg: Gaddafi to

Qadhafi, bin Laden to Bin Laden

❍ Fix obvious misspellings

Sample paragraph from original court order:

“We may also point out that it is a fundamental right of all citizens that
their lives and properties must be protected by a State, particularly, of
those persons, who honestly and with full dedications, are discharging
their functions in order to investigate the allegations against the accused
persons, involved in the cases of corruption and the corrupt practices, who
are, prima facie, responsible for looting and plundering the wealth of this
country, and if there is any failure or disappointment and the facts come
into the notice of this Court, it also becomes its duty to look into the mat-
ter and independently ensure that the justice is done.”

When quoting:
In its order, the court said: “We may also point out that it is a funda-
mental right of all citizens that their lives and properties must be pro-
tected by a state [make “state” lower case], particularly, of those persons,

27
who honestly and with full dedication [obvious misspelling, change to sin-
gular], are discharging their functions in order to investigate the allega-
tions against the accused persons, involved in the cases of corruption and
the corrupt practices [“the” is repeated too often in the preceding claus-
es, but do not change as we should not modify quotes for grammar], who
are, prima facie [remove italics as Dawn would not italicise this foreign-
language word as it is in the OED], responsible for looting and plundering
the wealth of this country, and if there is any failure or disappointment
and the facts come into [correct word is “to”, not “into”, but do not modi-
fy for grammar/meaning] the notice of this court [make lower case], it also
becomes its duty to look into the matter and independently ensure that
the [no need for “the” but do not change as we should not modify quotes
for grammar] justice is done.”

* When quoting court judgements, official documents, NGO

reports, etc do not quote large chunks of text; try to para
phrase wherever possible.When quoting directly text MUST
BE in double quotation marks.

* When translating from Urdu, modify if needed so that the

quote is grammatically correct in English. Avoid translating
metaphors, sayings and figures of speech that do not exist in
English.

• In quotes do not replace words with abbreviations even if the word has
appeared in the story before, eg if the speaker says “National Assembly”
do not replace with “NA”

• The first word of a quote is capitalised if the quoted portion is a

complete sentence in and of itself

• If the quoted passage is fairly large and follows a statement indicating

the identity of the speaker, it should be preceded by a colon.

• If the quote is relatively short but is a complete sentence it should be

preceded by a colon or comma, eg:

❍ The prime minister said, “We all need to speak as one.”

❍ The prime minister said: “We all need to speak as one.”

• If the quoted portion is not a complete sentence, no comma/colon is

28
 needed (and the first word will be lower case), eg:

❍ Anna said updating the guide was “a difficult and

time-consuming task”.

• If more than one paragraph is quoted at a time, opening quotation

marks occur at the beginning of every paragraph but closing quotation
marks only occur at the end of the quote, eg:

❍ In that book, Albert Einstein wrote:

“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. One could
say that it has affected us quantitatively, not qualitatively. As long as there
are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable.
“That is not an attempt to say when it will come, but only that it is sure
to come. What has been changed is the destructiveness of war.”

• Place full stops, commas, question marks, exclamation marks, etc

inside quotation marks only if the quoted portion is a complete sentence
in and of itself:

❍ Anna said: “Your style guide needs updating,” and I said, “I

agree.”

❍ Anna said updating the guide was “a difficult and

time-consuming task”.

❍ Although he had been described as “fawnlike in his energy

and playfulness”, “a stripling with all the vigour and freshness
of youth”, and even as “every woman’s dream toy boy”, he struck
his companion-to-be as the kind of old man warned of by her
mother as “not safe in taxis”. Where, now that she needed him,
was “Mr Right”?

❍ In this spirit came his opening gambit: “What’s the difference

between a buffalo and a bison?”

❍ For a quote within a quote:

* “Anna said: ‘Your style guide needs updating,’ and I said:

‘I agree.’”

29
 * “Anna said updating the guide was ‘a difficult and
time-consuming task’.”

❍ When a quotation is broken off and resumed, ask yourself

whether it would naturally have had any punctuation at the
point where it is broken off. If the answer is yes, a comma is
placed within the quotation marks to represent this, but if the
words to be quoted are continuous, the comma should be outside
the inverted commas, eg:

❍“If you’ll let me see you home,” he said, “I think I know where
we can find a cab.”

❍ “My bicycle”, she assured him, “awaits me.”

❍ Square brackets must be used when the copy editor or writer

inserts text in a quote, eg:

❍ Incorrect: “They (militants) have replicated the Kirani Road

bombing,” said SP Niaz Ahmad Khosa.

❍ Correct: “[Militants] have replicated the Kirani Road

bombing,” said Superintendent of Police Niaz Ahmad Khosa.

• If text is removed from a quoted sentence, three dots are used with a
space on either side. If a sentence has ended and words that follow it are
removed, the full stop is followed by a space, then three dots, then
another space. Square brackets are used if the copy editor or writer
inserts connective tissue. For example:

❍ Full text: Fortunately, these trees have a long history with

environmentalists and activists. While we would not recom
mend that anyone try to duplicate Julia Hill’s tactics, the
future of this forest is important enough for citizens to make
their preferences clear.

❍ Shortened text:

* Fortunately, these trees have a long history with

environmentalists … While we would not recommend …
Julia Hill’s tactics, the future of this forest is important
enough for citizens to make their preferences clear.

30
 * Fortunately, these trees have a long history with
environmentalists and activists. … [and] the future of this
forest is important enough for citizens to make their
preferences clear.

• Single quotation marks should be used very rarely in news stories

❍ Use when Dawn wants to distance itself from something, eg

George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror’, ‘honour killing’. Then avoid
repeating the phrase in the same story.

❍ Otherwise single quotation marks are usually unnecessary:

* Example: They think they are being subjected to a ‘media

trial’. If directly spoken words have been used, identify the
speaker and put “media trial” in double quotes. Otherwise
there is no need for any quotation marks as the wording of
the sentence has already attributed the idea to a group of
people.

* The bowler is known as the ‘Rawalpindi Express’. No need

for quotation marks since the sentence includes “is known
as”.

❍ Avoid using single quotation marks to express sarcasm or

irony, except in opinion pieces

❍ Do not use say ‘rapist’, ‘killer’, etc in single quotation marks if

the person has not been found guilty. Instead say the suspected
rapist, the accused, etc depending on which stage the legal
process is in (see Common Mistakes section for guidance).

31
TITLES OF BOOKS, FILMS, ARTICLES, ETC

• Names of novels and story collections are in italics, names of chapters

or short stories are in single quotes

• Films and albums in italics, songs in single quotes

• Names of plays are in italics

• Art exhibitions in italics; individual paintings, sculptures, etc in single

quotes

• Newspapers, journals, magazines, websites, blogs in italics; articles in

single quotes

• “The” will be capitalised and italicised if it is part of the official name,

eg: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The
Daily Beast, but no “the” in Dawn, Gawker, Herald

• For titles in italics, all words are in capital letters except: a, an, and, at,
for, from, in, of, on, the, to (but if one of these is the first word it will be
capitalised)

• For titles in single quotes, only the first word begins with a capital
letter

Examples:

❍ The ‘Rule of law’ chapter of State of Human Rights in 2011, the

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s annual report, looks at
legislation during the year.

❍ ‘The period’ is the first chapter of A Tale of Two Cities

❍ The Beatles song ‘All you need is love’ appears on the album A
Hard Day’s Night

❍ An exhibition of paintings by Ayesha Durrani, Less Is Not More,

opened at the Drawing Room Art Gallery on Wednesday. Works

32
 shown included ‘The dance of the spirit’ and ‘Midnight in heav-
en’.

• When italicised titles appear in text that is in italics (as in a tag line),
they should be rendered in plain text, eg:
❍ The writer is a former editor of Reader’s Digest, The Indian
Express and Khaleej Times.
❍ The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
❍ Note that the comma after “Digest” is in italics, as is the full
stop after “Times” and the ’s after “Dawn”; the reverse applies if
the titles appear in plain text, eg “The writer is Dawn’s corre-
spondent in Delhi.”

33
 TITLES OF INDIVIDUALS, MILITARY
OFFICERS AND JUDGES

Military

❍ Army
* Full name with abbreviated title on first use, last name
with abbreviated title on subsequent use
* Examples:
• First use: Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Lt Gen Rashad Mahmood, Maj
Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa
• Subsequent use: Gen Kayani, Lt Gen Mahmood, Maj Gen Bajwa
• Three exceptions (use first, not last name on subsequent use): first use:
Gen Ziaul Haq, Gen Yahya Khan, Gen Ayub Khan; subsequent use: Gen
Zia, Gen Yahya, Gen Ayub

❍ Navy and air force

* Full name with spelt-out title on first use, last name with
abbreviated title on subsequent use, eg: first use: Admiral
Mohammad Asif Sandila, subsequent: Adm Sandila
* Example of titles and abbreviations: Admiral (Adm), Vice
Admiral (Vice Adm), Rear Admiral (Rear Adm), Captain
(Capt), Commander (Cmdr), Commodore (Cdre), Air Chief
Marshal (ACM), Air Marshal (Air Marshal – not

34
 abbreviated), Air Vice Marshal (AVM), Air Commodore (Air
Cdre)

❍ When not accompanied by names, titles should be spelt out

and lower case, eg: the admiral said, the general remarked, he
was a lieutenant general when he was killed in action
❍ If plural, “s” goes after “general”, eg: lieutenant generals,
major generals
❍ No hyphens in titles, whether abbreviated or not

• Judiciary

❍ Full name with title on first use, last name with title on subse-
quent use
❍ Examples of first and subsequent use:
* Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice
Chaudhry
* Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Hussain

• Retired judges and military personnel

❍ For retired but living personnel, use “retired”— without brack-
ets — before the title, but only on first use. Subsequently, the
prefix should be “Mr” eg:
* First use: retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, retired Justice
Nasir Aslam Zahid
* Subsequent use: Mr Musharraf, Mr Zahid

❍ If the person also has another title, separate the two titles if
needed to make sentence less clumsy, eg:

❍ Avoid: “National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman

retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari stepped up his war of words
against the superior judiciary on Saturday, heaping allegations
of bias in reply to contempt of court charges.”

* Other options: “National Accountability Bureau (NAB)

Chairman Fasih Bokhari stepped up his war of words
against the superior judiciary on Saturday. The retired
admiral heaped allegations of bias in reply to contempt of
court charges,” or “Retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari, the
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, stepped
up his war of words against the superior judiciary on

35
 Saturday.”

❍Avoid: “The meeting was being chaired by Chief Election

Commissioner retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim.”

* Other options: “The meeting was being chaired by retired

Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim. In his remarks, the chief
election commissioner noted that …” or “The meeting was
being chaired by the chief election commissioner, retired
Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim.”

Example:

❍ Original:

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has

renewed its efforts to seek a role in the scrutiny of statements of assets
and liabilities filed by legislators with the Election Commission.
Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari, the NAB Chairman, called on Chief
Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim and offered
to assist with verification of assets and key electoral reforms relating to
political finance.
Adm Bokhari said the bureau would provide lists of NAB convicts to the
commission.
Justice Ebrahim said the commission was open to all good proposals and
promised to examine the set of proposals from the NAB chairman.
The NAB’s former chief, Lt Gen Munir Hafeez, had asked the EC in 2006
to assign his organisation a role in probing the veracity of statements sub-
mitted by candidates.

❍ Corrected:

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has

renewed its efforts to seek a role in the scrutiny of statements of assets
and liabilities filed by legislators with the Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP).
Retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari, the NAB chairman, called on the chief
election commissioner, retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, and
offered to assist with the verification of assets and key electoral reforms
relating to political finance.
Mr Bokhari said the bureau would provide lists of NAB convicts to the

36
commission.
Mr Ebrahim said the commission was open to all good proposals and
promised to examine the set of proposals from the NAB chairman.
NAB’s former chief, retired Lt Gen Munir Hafeez, had asked the ECP in
2006 to assign his organisation a role in probing the veracity of statements
submitted by candidates.

• Those who have died do not carry a title or Mr, Ms etc. Examples of
first and subsequent use:
❍ Benazir Bhutto; BB in headlines, Benazir in text (not Bhutto)
❍ Mao Zedong, Mao (no Chairman before name)
❍ Muammar Qadhafi, Qadhafi (no Col before name)
❍ Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Bhutto
❍ “Hitler” on first and subsequent use
❍ Exceptions: Gen Zia, Gen Ayub, Gen Yahya. Certain figures
from Islamic history, see Names section

• Convicted criminals and known terrorists do not carry Mr, Ms etc

37
 URDU/ARABIC WORDS

The following is a guide for how to spell Urdu/Arabic words, when to ital-
icise them, and when to use English equivalents instead. For words not list-
ed here, italicise if they do not appear in the Oxford English Dictionary ()

• Ahmadi — not Qadiani

• emir — not amir
• atta — use flour or wheat flour instead
• bhatta — use extortion or protection money instead, depending on
context
• bund — use barrage, dam or embankment instead depending on
nature of structure
• burqa
• chadar
• chakki — use “small-scale flour mill” instead
• challan, challaned — avoid; instead use the correct English equivalent
depending on nature of legal document, eg:
❍ the police filed an FIR / filed charges / registered an FIR / reg-
istered a case / filed a case / booked a person
❍ the police submitted an investigation report
❍ the police submitted an interim investigation report
❍ the court framed charges / indicted the suspect
❍ the complainant lodged a case

38
• chehlum
• dal — use pulses
• dharna — use sit-in or peaceful demonstration
• dhoti
• Eidul Azha
• Eidul Fitr
• Eid-i-Miladun Nabi
• fateha
• ghazal
• Hadith
• hari — use peasant instead; if using in a direct quote or specific
political context, provide explanation (landless peasant, sharecropper,
etc) depending on context
• hartal — use strike
• hijab
• jaloos/juloos — use procession
• jalsa — use public meeting, rally, procession, etc depending on nature
of event
• jihad
• jirga
• jiyala — use party activist instead
• katcha (riverine plain)
• katchi abadi
• kabab
• lashkar
• lassi
• lathi-charge
• madressah — plural madressahs, not madaris (unless part of
organisation’s name, eg Wafaqul Madaris)
• majlis — use when referring to Muharram gatherings. Otherwise use
religious gathering, parliament, assembly, committee, etc depending on
context
• maulvi
• mullah
• Muharram
• mujahideen
• mushaira
• nazm
• Quran
• Quran khwani
• raag (or raga, which is not italicised)
• Ramazan

39
• roti — use bread
• shaikh — only capitalised when followed by name
• shalwar kameez
• Sharia
• sherwani
• Shia — not Shiite. Plural is Shias.
• Sunnah
• soyem
• taluka
• tehsil
• thana, thanedar — use police station, police officer, SHO instead
• ulema
• ummah
• urs — use if referring to Sufi saints, otherwise say death anniversary
• wadera — unless appearing in direct quotes, use landowner, village
head, etc depending on context
• zamindar — use landowner instead
• zina — do not use except in cases under the Hudood Ordinance.
Otherwise use adultery or fornication depending on circumstances.

40
COMMON MISTAKES

• accused vs suspect: be careful when calling someone an accused

❍ Being named in a complaint registered with the police does

not make someone an accused

❍ A person should only be called an accused only when he/she

has been indicted by the court.

❍ Prior to being indicted the person should be called a suspect

• antiterrorism and counterterrorism should not have hyphens

• all-party conference / APC: unless all parties are actually invited, do

not use except in direct quotes (spelling should be all-party, not
all-parties or all-parties’). Otherwise say multiparty conference. If
absolutely necessary use in single quotes, eg:

❍ The March 2 “all-party conference” will be a show of unity

against violent extremism, the prime minister said.

❍ The PML-N chief has reiterated his stand that his party will
not attend the multiparty conference on Balochistan convened
by the prime minister.

❍ The PML-N chief has reiterated his stand that his party will
not attend the ‘all-party conference’ on Balochistan convened by
the prime minister. (Do not use single-quotes version repeatedly
in one story.)

• the Pakistan Army: preceded by “the” and “army” is upper case

• arrested from: correct phrase is “arrested at”, eg “He was arrested at

his house,” “He was arrested at Jinnah International Airport.”

• checkpost is one word

41
• Constitution: upper case when referring to Pakistan’s Constitution,
lower case when referring to any other country’s constitution

• Dawn should be in italics

• defunct: do not use to mean banned, correct usage is for something

that is no longer existing or functioning. Lashkar-e-Taiba, for example, is
banned but not defunct.

• elections, not election: Pakistan will hold general elections in May and
local elections in June. However: his election to, he stood for election.

• eurozone: one word, lower case

• use “execution” only when a legal process is followed, eg do not use

for killings carried out after Taliban ‘trials’

• few / a few: not interchangeable, eg:

❍ “Visitors to the Punjab University Book Fair faced few prob-

lems” implies visitors had a smooth experience

❍ “Visitors to the Punjab University Book Fair faced a few prob-

lems” implies visitors did not have a smooth experience

• gunman: means a criminal or attacker with a gun. Do not use for guard
or policeman.

• Hyphens are often misused, particularly in military titles and

compound words. See Punctuation section for more details.

• India-held Kashmir, not Indian-held Kashmir / India-occupied

Kashmir / Indian-occupied Kashmir

• internet is lower case. Use this rather than the web or the net.

• judgement, acknowledgement, abridgement take an “e” before “m”.

The “e” is left out in American English.

42
 •

long march / million march / million-man march: most marches in

Pakistan are not particularly long and do not include a million people.
Avoid using except in direct quotes. Otherwise say “protest march”. If
absolutely necessary use in single quotes:

❍ The March 2 “million march” will be a show of the ummah’s

unity against the United States and a referendum against sup-
porters of US policies, said Dr Mairajul Siddiqui, the city chief of
the Jamaat-i-Islami.

❍ The protest march led by Tehreek-i-Minhajul Quran chief Dr

Tahirul Qadri, which began a day earlier from Lahore, is nearing
Islamabad.
❍ The ‘long march’ led by Tehreek-i-Minhajul Quran chief Dr
Tahirul Qadri, which began a day earlier from Lahore, is nearing
Islamabad. (Avoid this and do not use single-quotes version
repeatedly in one story.)

• Pakhtun, not Pashtun (change even in agency stories); language is

Pashto

• Police/the police: use “the police” when referring to the police as an

institution, just “police” when referring to a group of individuals, eg:

❍ According to a source in the police, the inquiry team visited

43
 the crime scene
❍ The capital administration allowed police to exhume the bod-
ies of two girls who were killed in November 2012
❍ Police arrived on the scene within minutes

• rally (meeting of people showing support for a cause) and procession

(group of people/vehicles moving forward) are not interchangeable

• “sit in exams” is incorrect, correct usage is “sit exams”, eg: “Students

of government schools will sit exams on Sunday.”

• Taliban: do not use without specifying Afghan Taliban,

Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, etc,
especially in agency stories

• Do not replace real with fictitious names when identities need to be

concealed. Instead use the victim, the complainant, the attacker, the
accused, etc. If absolutely necessary, use initials.

• “He was Shia”, not “he was a Shia” (same for Sunni, Muslim, Christian,
Hindu, gay, black, etc). Also “he was Jewish”, not “he was a Jew”.

• Terrorist / militant / insurgent / extremist etc: use with caution:

❍ As far as possible avoid using “terrorist”. Terrorists carry out

attacks designed to create a state of terror in the pursuit of goals
that are political, religious, or ideological. But the word also car-
ries political overtones and value judgements. Instead use a pre-
cise description of the perpetrator, eg: bomber, attacker, gunman,
kidnapper, hostage-taker

❍ In the same way, better to describe the act (eg: kidnapping,

suicide bombing, rocket attack) rather than label it terrorism

❍ Under no circumstances should “act of terror” be used, the

correct term is “act of terrorism”

❍ In the same way, avoid potentially biased terms such as free-

dom fighter, the resistance, freedom struggle etc

❍ If necessary those fighting in Kashmir can be described as

“pro-independence Kashmiri militants”, “militants fighting for

44
 the independence of India-held Kashmir”, etc
❍ The preferred term for all of the above is militant or militant
group/organisation, which simply conveys using violence for a cause

❍ Another option is insurgent, if the attacker is fighting against a

state or invading forces. When in doubt about the politics, use
militant instead.

❍ Extremists, fundamentalists and fanatics are not necessarily

violent, they simply hold extreme political or religious views. If
describing an attack carried out as a result of such views, say
violent extremist.

❍ A fundamentalist simply implies literal interpretation of a

scripture or discipline. Again, not necessarily violent.

• Rape and sodomy cases:

❍ Do not mention the name of the complainant or publish pho-

tos of them — even if they have appeared on TV or given quotes
to the media

* Only exception is if they have become a public activist for

the cause, eg Mukhtaran Mai or Kainat Soomro. In such
cases the editor’s approval must be sought before Dawn
mentions a particular person’s name for the first time.

❍ If the complainant is a minor, their name or photograph will

not be published under any circumstances

❍ Someone accused in a rape or sodomy case will not be named or

called “the accused” unless they have been indicted (ie charges
have been framed by a court). They will not be called “rapist”
until they are convicted. Before indictment, say “the suspect”.

❍ Use “rape victim” or “the complainant” rather than “rape sur-

vivor”

• Blasphemy cases:

❍ Do not publish names of those accused of blasphemy but if it

45
 is required then the editor or shift in-charge should be consulted
❍ Do not publish photographs of those accused of blasphemy

❍ Always specify the relevant section of the blasphemy laws —

Section 295-B or 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code

❍ Incorrect:

* “A sessions court on Thursday sentenced ABC (name of

the person) to death for blasphemy.”

❍ Correct:

* “A sessions court on Thursday sentenced ABC to death on

a blasphemy charge.”

46
BANNED WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

• announced to
❍ “The prime minister has
announced one day of nation-
al mourning,” not “has
announced to observe one-day
national mourning.”
❍ “Awami Muslim League
chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed
has announced that he will
challenge the postponement
of by-elections,” not “has
announced to challenge the postponement of by-elections.”

• assured that, informed that: do not use without mentioning who is

being assured or informed, eg:

❍ Incorrect:
* Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira
assured that the matter would be resolved according to
constitutional provisions
* The Wapda chairman informed that the government had
approved Rs24 billion for the Neelum-Jhelum project
* The Foreign Office spokesperson assured that the
government would do everything possible to facilitate the
working of foreign election observers

❍ Correct:
* Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said
the matter would be resolved according to constitutional
provisions
* The Wapda chairman informed investors that the
government had approved Rs24 billion for the
Neelum-Jhelum project
* Diplomats were assured that the government would
facilitate foreign election observers

47
• anti-polio vaccination team, anti-polio vaccination campaign,
anti-polio vaccine, etc: correct terms are polio vaccine, polio vaccination,
polio vaccination team (but anti-polio campaign). Same applies for
measles or other diseases.

• artiste: instead say actor, painter, sculptor, dancer, writer, film-maker,

etc

• cell phone: use mobile phone

• “concerned authorities” is incorrect, as the authorities are not

worried. Use “the authorities concerned”.

• eunuch(s): use transgender person/people or transgender

individual(s)

• Eve teasing: say sexual harassment instead

• in-charge: do not use as a noun (eg “He was serving as in-charge of the
Crime Investigation Department in the city.”) Instead use chief, head,
etc

• it is pertinent to mention: wordy and unnecessary

• jiyala: banned except when occurring in direct quote, when it should

be in italics. Use political activist, party member, etc.

• Pathan (except in direct quotes or as part of a name) is banned: for the

people use Pakhtun (not Pashtun), for the language, Pashto

• prayed to the court: use “asked the court”

• proscribed: unless in quote or from official statement, “banned” is

preferred

• Shiite: use Shia

• southern Punjab / South Punjab / Southern Punjab: correct term is

south Punjab

• target killing: correct term is targeted killing. Note that it refers to

ideologically or politically motivated killings of specific individuals,

48
usually by gunfire, so would not include murders committed during
crimes or bombs or gunfire targeting general members of a community
(eg firing at a bus carrying Hazara Shias)

• turned turtle: say “turned over”

• ‘war on terror’: banned unless referring specifically to America’s

Bush-era policies, eg “president George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror’”. Never
use as a general term or in reference to Pakistani actions or actions of
subsequent American administrations. Instead use fight/struggle/war
against terrorism/militancy/insurgency etc depending on context.

49
CRIME STORIES

• Mentioning the locality where a crimes takes place is more important

than mentioning the police station concerned:

❍ The police station can be mentioned if the crime took place in

a large locality, eg Orangi, or if the story will quote police offi-
cers from the station concerned

❍ If mentioning the station, use “in the jurisdiction of”, not

“within the remit of”

❍ Otherwise the station is not needed but the locality should be

mentioned, eg “The body was found in DHA Phase VI” rather
than “The body was found in the jurisdiction of the Darakhshan
police station”

• No need for FIR numbers unless critical to the story

• No need for vehicle registration numbers unless critical to the story

• See “accused vs suspect”, “target killing” and “rape and sodomy

cases” in Common Mistakes and Banned Words and Expressions
sections

50
COURT STORIES

• Avoid listing all the members of a bench which has more than three
members

• For quoting court judgements/orders, see Punctuation section

• Avoid archaic or formal language, eg: “he prayed to the court”, “he
requested the court” (use “asked the court” instead), “took illegal
gratification” (use “took bribes”)

• Avoid legal jargon; make text simple and clear for readers with no
knowledge of legal terms

• See “accused vs suspect” in Common Mistakes section

51
 BUSINESS STORIES

• Carefully read Numbers and Abbreviations sections

• “Rate of inflation”, “inflation rate” are unnecessarily wordy since

inflation is a rate

• Be careful about the difference between per cent and percentage

points. When a growth rate (inflation) rises from 2pc to 3pc, that is an
increase in the underlying quantity (prices) of 1pc, but an increase in
the growth rate (inflation) of one percentage point, eg:

If month-on-month inflation was 6pc in November and 7pc in December:

❍ Correct:

* Inflation rose to 7pc in December

* Prices rose 1pc in December

* Inflation rose one percentage point in December

* Incorrect: Inflation rose 1pc in December (if inflation had

risen 1pc, it would have gone from 6pc to 6.06pc, not 7pc)

Example:

❍ Original:

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: Pakistan’s inflation was up 7.93 per cent in

December from a year ago, its slowest pace of increase in 32 months.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation measured through the Consumer
Price Index increased by 0.23 per cent from November, according to data
released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
For the first half of the 2012-13 fiscal year, inflation rose at an average
of 8.32 per cent over the same period last year. The statistics bureau esti-
mated that annual inflation would remain around 8.5 per cent.
Core inflation, which is non-food and non-energy inflation, rose 9.8 per

52
cent in December from a year ago, but witnessed a slight increase when
compared with November.
In December, total food inflation was 7.19 per cent from a year ago and
non-perishable food items witnessed a surge of 9.40 per cent. However, the
prices of perishable items decreased 5.52 per cent in December this year
over last year.

❍ Corrected:

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: Pakistan’s year-on-year inflation stood at 7.9pc in

December, the lowest rate in 32 months.
On a month-on-month basis inflation measured through the Consumer
Price Index was 0.2pc, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau
of Statistics.
For the first half of the 2012-13 fiscal year, prices rose 8.3pc over the
same period last year. The statistics bureau estimated that annual infla-
tion would remain around 8.5pc.
Year-on-year core inflation, which is non-food and non-energy inflation,
rose to 9.8pc in December, witnessing a slight increase from November.
Food inflation was 7.2pc, with non-perishable food items witnessing a
surge in prices of 9.4pc. However, the prices of perishable items decreased
5.5pc.

53
 APPENDICES — NAMES OF CITIES AND STATES,
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES CONVERSIONS

Appendix 1

CITIES — Please use new names

Old names New names/spellings

Benares Varanasi
Bombay Mumbai
Calcutta Kolkata
Cawnpore Kanpur
Dacca Dhaka
Jullundur Jalandhar
Madras Chennai
Mecca Makkah
Medina Madina
Poona Pune
Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram

STATES AND PROVINCES

Former Yugoslavia now comprises:

Serbia
Montenegro
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Kosovo
Slovenia
Macedonia

Former Soviet Union consists of:

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus

54
Estonia
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova
Russia
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Ukraine

The former Czechoslovakia is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia

The names of Indian states have been changed as follows:

East Punjab stands divided into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh
Madras in south India is now Tamil Nadu
Mysore is Karnataka
Assam has been broken into Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland

55
Appendix 2

COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

Countries Inhabitants Related Adjective Currency & subunit

Afghanistan Afghan Afghan afghani = 100 plus

Albania Albanian Albanian lek = 100 qindarka
Algeria Algerian Algerian dinar = 100 centimes
Angola Angolan Angolan kwanza =100 centavos
Argentina Argentinean Argentine peso = 100 centavos
Armenia Armenian Armenian dram = 100 lummas
Australia Australian Australian dollar = 100 cents
Austria Austrian Austrian euro = 100 cents
Azerbaijan Azerbaijani Azerbaijan manat = 100 qepiq
Bahamas Bahaman Bahamian dollar = 100 cents
Bahrain Bahraini Bahraini dinar = 1000 fils
Bangladesh Bangladeshi Bangladeshi taka = 100 poisha
Barbados Barbadian Barbadian dollar = 100 cents
Belarus Belarusian Belarusian rubel = 100 kapeikas
Belgium Belgian Belgian euros = 100 cents
Belize Belizian Belizian dollar = 100 cents
Benin Beninese Beninese franc = 100 centimes
Bhutan Bhutanese Bhutanese ngultrum=100chetrum
Bolivia Bolivian Bolivian boliviano=100centavos
Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnian Bosnian marka = 100 pfenig
Brazil Brazilian Brazilian real = 100 centavos
Brunei Bruneian Bruneian dollar = 100 sen
Bulgaria Bulgarian Bulgarian lev = 100 stotinki
Burkina Faso Burkinabe Burkinan franc = 100 centimes
Burma (now Myanmar) Burmese Burmese kyat = 100 pyas
Burundi Burundian Burundian franc = 100 centimes
Cambodia Cambodian Cambodian riel = 100 sen
Cameroon Cameroonian Cameroonian franc = 100 centimes
Canada Canadian Canadian dollar = 100 cents
Cape Verde Islands Cape Verdian Cape Verdian escudo = 100 centavos
Central African Republic Central African Central African franc = 100 centimes
Chad Chadian Chadian franc = 100 centimes
Chile Chilean Chilean peso = 100 centavos
China Chinese Chinese yuan = 100 jiao
Colombia Colombian Colombian peso = 100 centavos
Comoros Comoran Comoran franc = centimes

56
Congo Congolese Congolese franc = 100 centimes
Costa Rica Costa Rican Costa Rican colon = 100 centimes
Croatia Croat/Croatian Croatian/Croat kuna = 100 lipas
Cuba Cuban Cuban peso = 100 centavos
Cyprus Cypriot Cypriot euro = 100 cents
Czech Republic Czech Czech koruna = 100 halers
Denmark Dane Danish krone = 100 ore
Djibouti Djiboutian Djiboutian franc = 100 centimes
Dominica Dominican Dominican dollar = 100 cent
Dominican Republic Dominican Dominican peso = 100 centavos
Ecuador Ecuadorean Ecuadorean dollar = 100 cents
Egypt Egyptian Egyptian pound = 100 piastos
El Salvador Salvadorean Salvadorean colon = 100 centavos
Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinean Equatorial Guinean franc = 100 centimes
Eritrea Eritrean Eritrean nakfa = 100 cents
Estonia Estonian Estonian euro = 100 cents
Ethiopia Ethiopian Ethiopian birr = 100 cents
Fiji Fijian Fijian dollar = 100 cents
Finland Finn Finnish euro = 100 cents
France French French euro = 100 cents
Gabon Gabonese Gabonese franc = 100 centimes
Gambia, the Gambian Gambian dalasi = 100 bututs
Georgia Georgian Georgian lari = 100 tetri
Germany German German euro = 100 cents
Ghana Ghanaian Ghanaian cedi = 100 pesawas
Greece Greek Greek euro = 100 cents
Grenada Grenadian Grenadian dollar = 100 cents
Guatemala Guatemalan Guatemalan quetzal = 100 centavos
Guinea Guinean Guinean franc = 100 centimes
Guinea Bissau Guinean Guinean franc = 100 centimes
Guyana Guyanese Guyanese dollar = 100 cents
Haiti Haitian Haitian gourde = 100 cents
Honduras Honduran Honduran lempira =100 centavos
Hungary Hungarian Hungarian forint = 100 fillers
Iceland Icelander Icelandic krona = 100 aurar
India Indian Indian rupee = 100 paisa
Indonesia Indonesian Indonesian rupiah = 100 sen
Iran Iranian Iranian rial = 100 dinars
Iraq Iraqi Iraqi dinar = 1000 fils
Ireland, Republic of Irish Irish euro = 100 cents
Israel Israeli Israeli shekel = 100 agoras
Italy Italian Italian euro = 100 cents

57
Ivory Coast Ivorian Ivorian franc = 100 cents
Jamaica Jamaican Jamaican dollar = 100 cents
Japan Japanese Japanese yen = 100 sens
Jordan Jordanian Jordanian dinar = 100 piasters
Kazakhstan Kazakh Kazakh tenge = 100 tiyins
Kenya Kenyan Kenyan shilling = 100 cents
Kuwait Kuwaiti Kuwaiti dinar =1000fils
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz Kyrgyz som = 100 tyiyn
Laos Laotian Laotian kip – 100 ats
Latvia Latvian Latvian lar = 100 santims
Lebanon Lebanese Lebanese pound = 100 piastres
Lesotho loti = 100 lisente
Liberia Liberian Liberian dollar = 100 cents
Libya Libyan Libyan dinar = 1000 dirhams
Liechtenstein Liechtensteiner franc = 100 centimes
Lithuania Lithuanian Lithuanian litas = 100 centas
Luxembourg Luxembourger euro = 100 cents
Macedonia Macedonian Macedonian denar = 100 denis
Madagascar Madagascan Madagascan ariary = 5 iraimbilanja
Malawi Malawian Malawian kwacha = 100 tambala
Malaysia Malaysian Malaysian ringgit = 100 sen
Maldives Maldivian Maldivian rufiyaa = 100 laaris
Mali Malian Malian franc = 100 centimes
Malta Maltese Maltese euro = 100 cents
Marshall Islands dollar = 100 cents
Mauritania Mauritanian Mauritanian ouguiya = 5 khoums
Mauritius Mauritian Mauritian rupees = 100 cents
Mexico Mexican Mexican pesos = 100 centavos
Micronesia, Micronesian Micronesian dollar = 100 cents
(Federated States of)
Moldova Moldovan Moldovan leu – 100 banis
Monaco Monacan Monacan euro = 100 cents
Mongolia Mongolian Mongolian tugrik = 100 mongols
Montenegro Montenegrin Montenegrin dinar = 100 paras
Morocco Moroccan Moroccan dirham = 100 centimes
Mozambique Mozambican Mozambican metical = 100 centavos
Namibia Namibian Namibian dollar = 100 cents
Nauru Nauruan Nauruan dollar = 100 cents
Nepal Nepalese Nepalese rupee = 100 paisa
Netherlands, the Dutch Dutch euro = 100 cents
New Zealand New Zealander dollar = 100 cents
Nicaragua Nicaraguan Nicaraguan cordoba =100 centavos

58
Niger Nigerien Nigerien franc = 100 centimes
Nigeria Nigerian Nigerian naira = 100 kobo
North Korea North Korean North Korean won = 100 chon
Norway Norwegian Norwegian krone = 100 ore
Oman Omani Omani rial = 1000 baiza
Pakistan Pakistani Pakistani rupee = 100 paisas
Panama Panamanian Panamanian balboa = 100 centesimo
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean Papua New Guinean kina = 100 toea
Paraguay Paraguayan Paraguayan guarani =100 centimos
Peru Peruvian Peruvian sol = 100 centimos
Philippines Filipino/Filipina Philippine piso = 100 centavos
Poland Pole Polish zloty = groszy
Portugal Portuguese Portuguese euro = 100 cents
Qatar Qatari Qatari rial = 100 dirhams
Rumania Rumanian Rumanian leu = 100 bani
Russia Russian Russian ruble = kopecks
Rwanda Rwandan Rwandan franc = 100 centimes
St Kitts and Nevis dollar = 100 cents
St Lucia St Lucian St Lucian dollar = 100 cents
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian Saudi Arabian rial = 100 halalas
Senegal Senegalese Senegalese franc = 100 centimes
Serbia Serb/Serbian Serbian dinar = 100 paras
Seychelles, the Seychellois Seychellois rupee = 100 cents
Sierra Leone Sierra Leonean Sierra Leonean leone = 100 cents
Singapore Singaporean Singaporean dollar = 100 cents
Slovakia Slovak Slovak euro = 100 cents
Slovenia Slovene Slovenian euro = 100 cents
Solomon Islands Solomon Islander dollar = 100 cents
Somalia Somali Somali Shilin = 100 senti
South Africa South African South African rand = 100 cents
South Korea South Korean South Korean won = 100 chon
Spain Spaniard Spanish euros = 100 cents
Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Sri Lankan rupee = 100 cents
Sudan Sudanese Sudanese dinar = 100 dirhams
Suriname Surinamer Surinamer dollar = 100 cents
Swaziland Swazi Swazi lilangeni = 100 cents
Sweden Swede Swedish krona = 100 ore
Switzerland Swiss Swiss franc = 100 centimes
Syria Syrian Syrian pound = 100 piasters
Taiwan Taiwanese Taiwanese yuan = 100 cents
Tajikistan Tajik Tajik somoni = 100 dirams
Tanzania Tanzanian Tanzanian shilling = 100 cents

59
Thailand Thai Thai baht = 100 satangs
Togo Togolese Togolese franc = 100 centimes
Tonga Tongan Tongan pa’anga = 100 sentis
Trinidad and Trinidadian & Trinidadian & dollar = 100 cents
Tobago Tobagonian Tobagonian
Tunisia Tunisian Tunisian dinar = 1000 millimes
Turkey Turk Turkish lira = 100 kurus
Turkmenistan Turkmen Turkmen manta = 100 tenge
Uganda Ugandan Ugandan shilling = 100 cents
Ukraine Ukrainian Ukrainian hryvnia= 100 kopykas
United Arab Emirates dirham = 100 fils
United Kingdom Briton British pound = 100 pence
United States of America American American dollar = 100 cents
Uruguay Uruguayan Uruguayan peso= 100 centesimo
Uzbekistan Uzbek Uzbek som = 100 tyyns
Vatican City Vatican euro = 100 cents
Venezuela Venezuelan Venezuelan bolivar = 100 centimos
Vietnam Vietnamese Vietnamese dong = 10 hao
Yemen Yemeni Yemeni rial = 100 fils
Zaire Zairean Zairean zaire = 100 makutas
Zambia Zambian Zambian kwacha = 100 ngwee
Zimbabwe Zimbabwean Zimbabwean dollar = 100 cents

60
Appendix 3

WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND UNITS

Conversion factors are not exact unless so marked.

Metric, with British equivalents:

Linear measure

1 millimetre = 0.039 inch

1 centimetre = 10mm = 0.394 inch
1 decimetre = 10cm = 3.94 inches
1 metre = 100cm = 1.094 yards
1 kilometre = 1,000 metres = 0.6214 mile

Square measure

1 square centimetre = 0.155 sq inch

1 square metre = 1.196 sq yards
= 10,000 sq cm
1 are = 119.6 sq yards
= 100 sq metres
1 hectare = 100 ares = 2.471 acres
1 square kilometre = 0.386 sq mile
= 100 hectares

Cubic measure

1 cubic centimetre = 0.061 cubic inch

1 cubic metre = 1.308 cubic yards
= 1,000,000 cubic centimetres

Capacity measure

1 millilitre = 0.002 pint (British)

1 centilitre = 10ml = 0.018 pint
1 decilitre = 10cl = 0.176 pint
1 litre = 1000ml = 1.76 pints

61
Weight

1 milligram = 0.015 grain

1 centigram = 10mg = 0.154 grain
1 decigram = 100mg = 1.543 grains
1 gram = 1000mg = 15.43 grains
1 decagram = 10g = 5.64 drams
1 hectogram = 100g = 3.527 ounces
1 kilogram = 1,000g = 2.205 pounds
1 tonne (metric ton) = 0.984 (long) ton
= 1,000kg

Temperature

Fahrenheit: water boils (under standard conditions) at 212°F and

freezes at 32°F.
Celsius or Centigrade: water boils at 100°C and freezes at 0°C.
To convert Centigrade into Fahrenheit: multiply by 9, divide by 5,
add 32.
To convert Fahrenheit into Centigrade: subtract 32, multiply by 5,
divide by 9.

°F °C °C °F

-40 -40 -40 -40

-10 -23 -10 14
0 -18 0 32
10 -12 10 50
20 -7 20 68
30 -1 30 86
40 4 40 104
50 10 50 122
60 16 60 140
70 21 70 158
80 27 80 176
90 32 90 194
100 38 100 212
(approx) (exact)

62
Roman numerals

1I 12 XII 40 XL 200 CC
2 II 13 XIII 49 XLIX 400 CD (CCCC)
3 III 14 XIV 50 L 500 D
4 IV 15 XV 60 LX 900 CM
5V 16 XVI 70 LXX 1000 M
6 VI 17 XVII 80 LXXX 1900 MCM
7 VII 18 XVIII 90 XC 1995 MCMXCV
8 VIII 19 XIX 99 XCIX 2000 MM
9 IX 20 XX 100 C
10 X 21 XXI 101 CI
11 XI 30 XXX 144 CXLIV

63
64