For questions about punctuation, vocabulary and language usage a style guide is probably your best resource.
Style guides can be helpful in answering questions like:
* How do I use commas in English?
* When can I use a semi-colon?
* Do I need hyphens in the phrase 'ten-year-old car'?
* When do I use affect and when do I use effect?
These may sound like trivial questions, but when you are writing such small things do matter. And, of course, you may come up against the same (small) problem over and over again.
Sometimes style guides give different advice (eg the use of commas in British and American English), but they often agree on the basic things. Some style guides are used in particular organisations (eg the BBC, NATO). Others apply to particular professions such as law or journalism or refer to academic writing only. The United Nations has its own Correspondence Manual.
If you have a question about English style you may find help at these sites:
* The Economist Style Guide is one of the most respected style guides for British English. As the UN policy on language officially follows British English it might be worth getting a copy of this to keep in the office. It is now partly online at http://www.economist.com/research/StyleGuide/. Clear, reader-friendly and unfussy. This is highly recommended as a resource for writers at all levels.
* The European Commission's English Style Guide (updated October 2007). A superb resource for writers in an international organisation. Available as pdf file at http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf
* The Chicago Manual of Style is one of the most respected and widely used style guides for American English. The manual is not yet available in full online, but the site has searchable FAQs which may answer your questions at http://chicagomanualofstyle.org/cmosfaq.html
* Several newspapers now have their style guides online.Try The Guardian's Stylebook at http://guardian.co.uk/styleguide/0,5817,184913,00.html and The Times Style Guide at http://timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,2941.00.html.
* Some English language sites have sections on usage. A particularly good one is run by the Usingenglish.com site at http://www.usingenglish.com/english-articles.html#englishusage. See other post for links on grammar.
* If you need to write on the web, you may find a web style guide useful. There are now hundreds of these available, often giving contradictory advice. One that I have found useful and easy to consult is http://webstyleguide.com/.
* A recommended and interesting book is The Elements of International English Style by Edmond Weiss. This includes lots of tips and examples of writing for a global audience. See here.
NEW in May 2007
The United Nations Editorial Manual is now online! This resource is the first point of reference for drafting and editing United Nations documents. Based on writing practices which have evolved at New York HQ, the guidance and examples in this Manual are relevant to the whole UN system.
