Style Guide
Diocesan House Style Guide
General Rules1
The official name of the Church is The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, or The Episcopal Church (USA).
Our church is organized into “dioceses” and there is at least one diocese in each state. However, some states have two or more dioceses. For example. we are in the Diocese of East Carolina, and there are two other diocese across the state.
The bishop with jurisdiction of a diocese is usually known as the “Diocesan Bishop,” and is sometimes known as “the Ordinary.” She or he may have other bishops to assist. These may be “Bishops Suffragan” who are elected in the same way as bishops, by representatives of the members of the diocese, but have no jurisdiction. However, these bishops may be assigned for responsibility in specific areas, and be delegated some authority by the diocesan. For example, the Diocese of New York, which comprises ten counties in the southern part of the state, has three bishops to assist the diocesan, each assigned a specific area of the diocese.
There are several honorary titles in use. Senior members of the staff at a cathedral are usually given the title of “Canon.” Most of these are priests, in which case they are known as “The Rev. Canon.” Occasionally, a lay person with special responsibilities is given the title of Canon, in which case they are properly addressed simply as “Canon.”
Each diocese has a cathedral, usually purpose-built, or a “pro-cathedral,” usually a fairly large church which serves as a cathedral in the absence of a full cathedral. A few dioceses have more than one cathedral. It is usual to have a Dean, who acts as head of the “chapter” or governing body of the cathedral. Some bishops prefer to retain full authority in their cathedral, in which case they may appoint a Provost.
Religious References
When referring to God, capitalize the name ‘God’ but do not capitalize pronouns (ex. he/him) and try to avoid using gender pronouns altogether.
Only capitalize the Church when referring to the global organization. In all other cases, keep it in lower-case.
Keep all general titles lower case unless referring to a specific person or place. (Ex. the diocese, the Diocese of East Carolina, the bishop, Bishop Daniel)
For the first reference to a congregation, always include the city. (Ex. St. Paul’s, Greenville. Second reference; St. Paul’s.)
Do not use ‘Episcopal’ or ‘Church’ unless it is in the proper name. (Ex. St. Paul’s (not St. Paul’s Episcopal Church) BUT, Church of the Good Shepherd)
How to Address Clergy?2
| Title | Written | Salutation | Spoken |
| Presiding Bishop | The Most Rev. | Dear Bishop | Bishop |
| Bishop | The Rt. Rev. | Dear Bishop | Bishop |
| Dean | The Very Rev. | Dear Dean | Dean |
| Archdeacon | The Venerable | Dear Archdeacon | Archdeacon |
| Canon | Canon | Dear Canon | Canon |
| Priest | The Rev. | Dear Mr./Ms. Dear Father/Mother | Mr./Ms. Father/Mother |
| Deacon | The Rev. | Dear Mr./Ms. Dear Deacon | Mr./Ms. |
Frequent Questions
A/An- Use ‘an’ when preceding a word that sounds as if it starts with a vowel sound.
Ex. It will take an hour to get there. (Hour sounds out a flat ‘a’.)
There will be a user’s meeting at 10 that evening. (user’s sounds out a ‘y.’)
Affect/Effect- Affect is a verb, effect is a noun. Most of the time, you will use affect. Tip- Replace ‘affect’ with ‘influence’ in a sentence to see if it is correct. Replace ‘effect’ with ‘result’ to determine its correctness.
Ex. The hot weather will affect (influence) the football game.
The effect (result) of the heat is not obvious to us yet.
Addresses- Spell out names of streets if standing on their own. Use abbreviations when a house number is placed in front of the street name.
Ex. The house sat on McDolan Street.
He lives at 1457 Brookdale Dr.
a.m./p.m.- Use a.m. or p.m. Do not add ‘evening’ or ‘morning’ if using ‘a.m.’ or ‘p.m.’ It is redundant. Use ‘-’ when giving a time span. Do not use :00 unless denoting minutes.
Ex. The meeting will last from 9 a.m. - 1:05 p.m.
Dates- Spell out the name of the month when using the month alone (or the month and year alone). If the date follows, then the abbreviation can be used if the month’s name is longer than 5 letters.
Ex. The meeting will be held August 2009.
The meeting was Feb. 14, 2007.
They married March 30, 2000.
-Use an apostrophe with the year only when it is possessive. Other wise just add an ‘s.’
Ex. The 1960s was a time of fun.
The stock market crash was the 1920’s most infamous event.
Its/It’s- The apostrophe is used as a conjunction (links two words together). It’s=It is. Its=possessive.
Ex. It’s cold outside.
The tree lost its leaves.
Numerals- Spell out numbers from one to nine. Use numerals for 10 and above. BUT- Use figures for all numbers that indicate height, weight, width, ages, percentages, page numbers and sums of money.
Ex. There are nine boys on the team, but 20 people on the field.
The box weighed 9 pounds.
-Fractions- spell out fractions less than one using hyphens between the words. Use numerals for anything over one.
Ex. There is one-half of the sandwich left.
It has 1.5 liters left.
-Large Numbers- spell out ‘millions’ and ‘billions’ instead of using zeros.
Ex. They expect the population to grow by 2 billion people in 10 years.
-Money- always use the dollar sign ($). Only use the decimal when indicating cents.
Ex. That watch cost $100 dollars.
Those sunglasses cost $99.99.
That/Which- Use ‘which’ when the clause/phrase can be left out and the sentence does not change. Use a comma to separate the ‘which’ clause/phrase from the sentence. Use ‘that’ when the sentence will be altered if the clause/phrase is removed. Do not set it apart with commas. This is called an essential clause/phrase.
Ex. The car, which will be here tomorrow, is red. ( ‘Which will be here tomorrow’ is a non-essential phrase/clause.)
The engine that runs hot will melt the wires. (If you remove ‘that runs hot,’ the sentence will not mean the same thing.)
Titles- Titles of books, newspaper/magazine articles, movies and television shows should all be contained in quotation marks. Capitalize magazine names but do not put them in quotation marks. Capitalize the first word in every title, and then every word four letters or longer.
Ex. I read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” last week.
He likes to watch “Gone With the Wind.”
He reads the Times magazine, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal every afternoon.
Titles (proper names)- Capitalize proper names and titles when used as a proper name. Titles that are not used as a proper name remain lower-case.
Ex. I had to go to the bishop’s office.
I met with Bishop Daniel for lunch.
Who/Whom- The easiest tip is to test to see which word to use by rearranging the sentence and substituting ‘he/him’ in its place to see which one sounds better.
Ex. I do not know to whom I should send this letter.
(I should send this letter to him.)
Who is going with me?
(He is going with me.)
Comma Usage
Appositives (The extra information in a sentence)
Incorrect:
Steve Jobs Apple Computer founder held a conference today.
Correct:
Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers, held a conference today. (The appositive- word or phrase that repeats what is said before it, is always enclosed by commas)
City/State Names
Incorrect:
Greenville NC is home to East Carolina University.
Correct:
Greenville, NC, is home to East Carolina University. (Comma between city and state and between state and the rest of the sentence.)
Comma Splice/Independent Clauses (Stand-Alones)
Incorrect:
I went shopping, I bought a dress.
Correct:
I went shopping. I bought a dress.
OR
I went shopping, and I bought a dress.
OR
I went shopping; I bought a dress.
Introductory Clause/Phrase/Word
Incorrect:
Although I fell down I still won the contest.
Correct:
Although I fell down, I still won the contest.
Coordinate Adjectives (Scary)
When there are two or more words in a row that describe the noun and are equal (meaning they can be put in any order in the sentence and still make sense), these words then need a comma between them.
Incorrect:
The strong hard wind blew.
The stubborn mean ugly frog would not move from that spot.
Correct:
The strong,hard wing blew.
The stubborn, mean, ugly from would not move from that spot.
The old, gray wool coat fit just fine. (Note; old and gray are coordinates therefor separated by commas, but wool describes another aspect of the coat and does not get a comma.)
The white picket fence was freshly painted. (Note; white and picket describe two different aspects of the fence and are not separated by commas.)
Spelling
altar (table in church)
alter (to change)
online
Tips for Writing Online and Writing Articles for “Cross Current”
Remember that users/readers are busy and will only glance over material to find specific information.
Make sentences conversational.
Make it personal. This is an instance where using ‘you’ is acceptable.
Make sentences simple and straightforward.
Use lists whenever possible.
Write information and facts instead of telling long stories.
Use short paragraphs. Writing long paragraphs is hard on the eyes.
Don’t write in all caps.
Start with the main point. Keep it news-like.
Attract attention with a catchy heading.
Keep people up to date by marking your calendar and updating regularly.
For “Cross Current”- Look for stories with a personal slant that are enjoyable to read instead of giving just the pure facts.
Refer to APA style guide for specific grammar and punctuation rules not listed here.
Submitting Photos
Please send all high resolution photos to newsletter@diocese-eastcarolina.org.
Photos must be at least 300 dpi.
Please save photos with a descriptive title.
All photos must also have the name of the photographer, description of the photo, names of any people in the photo, proof of photo release (if applicable), and any extra information concerning where to credit the photo.
1 From the Episcopal Church Style Guide located at www.episcopalchurch.org
2 From the Episcopal Church Style Guide located at www.episcopalchurch.org