Word choice

Capitalize Black when used as an adjective in a racial, ethnic, or cultural sense:

• Black people, Black culture, Black literature

African American (no hyphen) is also acceptable for those in the United States, though the terms are not necessarily interchangeable.

Lowercase brown and white when used as an adjective in a racial, ethnic, or cultural sense:

• brown people, white culture

Do not describe a country as developing. If a generalization must be used, PATH prefers low-income, lower-middle-income, or low-resource. These broad categorizations are imperfect and evolving and should be avoided if possible.

PATH prefers woman or women not female for both adjective and noun:

• Zambia's all-woman laboratory team produced the results.
• A woman-owned business; a woman president.

Use female when sex rather than gender is necessary for accuracy; for example, to describe participants in a clinical trial.

Whenever possible and appropriate, use gender-neutral words and phrases to make your writing as inclusive as possible. Examples include omitting a pronoun, using an article in place of a pronoun, dropping gendered suffixes such as -ette and -ess, and using terms such as chair not chairman. Visit this page to learn more about editing for gender neutrality.

Identified pronouns

When referring to a specific, known person, use that person’s identified pronouns—for example:

• Dr. X got their medical degree from Harvard Medical School.

If the audience might be unfamiliar with the pronoun (e.g., ze, zir), consider adding a note for clarification.

The singular they

When referring to a nonspecific person, an individual whose pronouns are unknown, or when the gender of a hypothetical person is irrelevant within the context, use the gender-neutral third-person pronouns they, their, themselves, and so on.

These pronouns have traditionally and without controversy been used to refer to a plural antecedent of any gender. (Antecedent: the word that will be replaced by another word—usually a pronoun—later in the sentence.) More recently, however, these pronouns are accepted in formal writing to refer to a singular antecedent of unknown gender. These pronouns are known collectively as the singular they. The singular they avoids making assumptions about an individual's gender. For example:

• The participant brought their own laptop.

The singular they was and remains widely used in spoken English but has traditionally been discouraged in formal writing. This has changed.

APA Style provides excellent guidance; noting, for example, that sexist bias can occur when pronouns are used carelessly, as when the pronoun he is used to refer to all people, when a gendered pronoun is used exclusively to define roles by sex (e.g., the nurse . . . she), or when he and she are alternated as though these terms are generic. APA also advises to avoid using combinations such as he or she, she or he, he/she, she/he, s/he, and (s)he as alternatives to the singular they because such constructions imply an exclusively binary nature of gender and therefore exclude individuals who do not use these pronouns. These forms can also appear awkward and distracting, especially with repetition.

For more information

• See Gender neutrality in writing.

As a verb, affect means to influence or have an impact on (e.g., small changes affect them greatly). As a noun, it means the mood a person may project by body language or facial expression (e.g., his affect was grim).

As a verb, effect means to bring about (e.g., they worked hard to effect a change). As a noun, it means the result of an action (e.g., small changes can have a great effect).

To assure means to convince or inform positively that something will occur:

• We assured the donor that the project would be completed on time.

To ensure means to take action that guarantees that something will occur:

• We ensured that the project would be completed on time by setting and keeping strict deadlines.

To insure means to protect against financial loss:

• We insured the laboratory equipment for $50,000.

Complementary means completing or supplementing. Complimentary means free or expressing praise or admiration.

To comprise means to include, contain, or consist of. To compose means to make, create, or constitute (i.e., make up the constituent parts of, form the basis of). The traditional rule is that the whole comprises the parts; the parts compose the whole:

• The coalition comprises eight organizations; eight organizations compose the coalition.

The main thing to know is to avoid the passive form of comprise, as this usage is disputed:

• Use this: The coalition is composed of eight organizations.
• Not this: The coalition is comprised of eight organizations.

The word data is plural, thus data are, data show, data demonstrate. The singular is datum (a single piece of information).

These words are not interchangeable. To digitize is to convert analog data into digital form. To digitalize is to use digital technology to improve business processes and workflows.

The abbreviation e.g. means for example; the abbreviation i.e. means that is. PATH’s style is to use these abbreviations only inside parentheses, with periods (full stops), and followed by a comma.

It is generally preferable to use titled in reference to a published work:

• The report, titled Our Year in Review, is available online.

Entitled means furnished with the means to seek or claim something:

• The vouchers entitled the mothers to collect planting vines from local farmers.

Be consistent with these suffixes throughout a document—for example, do not use epidemiologic and epidemiological in the same report. In most cases, the meaning is the same, and consistency is the only issue. However, in some cases (e.g., classic and classical, historic and historical), the suffix does make a difference. Take care to use the correct term.

If is conditional (if X, then Y): “If the syringe is automatically disabled, it cannot be reused.”

Whether is used for indirect questions: “The government wants to know whether the device works reliably.” Follow whether with or not only when whether means regardless of whether: “In our survey, the midwives disclosed that they must work whether or not they have adequate lighting and supplies.”

Although immunization and vaccination are sometimes used interchangeably, each term has a specific medical meaning. Immunization is the induction of immunity, the protection of a susceptible patient by the administration of a vaccine to render the patient immune. Vaccination is the act of administering a vaccine, the introduction of the vaccine into the body for the purpose of conferring immunity. Immunization is a broader term because the ultimate goal of vaccination is to confer immunity. For that reason, immunization, rather than vaccination, is often used to describe programs, rates, and systems.

Its is a possessive form: “Our subgrantee maintains high standards in its work.”

It’s is a contraction for it is: “It’s often necessary to survey both clients and health workers.”

Use less than to describe degree, value, time, or distance: less than 60 decibels, less than $10,000, less than 5 percent, less than 30 minutes, less than 15 miles.

Use fewer or fewer than to describe a numerical quantity: fewer people, fewer than 100 women.

You may use under with ages. Both are correct: less than five years old; under five years old.

Otherwise, use under only to describe physical location.

In scientific and technical documents, use more than (or greater than) to describe quantity, duration, or degree: more than 3,000 women, more than 30 years, more than 5 percent.

When a more casual tone is desired or for variety and expediency, you may use over for quantity. Both are correct: PATH has worked in Vietnam for more than 40 years; PATH has worked in Vietnam for over 40 years.

You may also use over with ages. Both are correct: more than five years old; over five years old.

Otherwise, use over only to describe location or termination: the strap fits over the vaccine carrier, the project is over.

In most PATH materials, the pronouns we and our are appropriate:

• At PATH, we work to improve health equity.

Within other contexts, such as when collaborating with partners on a joint publication, the pronouns it and its are appropriate:

• PATH has been headquartered in Seattle since 1977, when its predecessor PIACT was founded.

Which is correct depends on context and tone.

Principal refers to the person or thing that is of first importance or has the greatest influence: the principal issue, the principal investigator. It may be used as a noun or adjective. Principle refers to a guideline, rule, or underlying idea. It is always used as a noun.

Depending on context and preference, you may use either scale or scale up.

Like certain other collective nouns (army, for example), whether staff takes a plural or singular verb depends on context. When staff members can be substituted, the verb should be plural: “PATH staff are often residents of the countries where they work.” When the group is meant, the verb should be singular: “PATH staff is primarily composed of individuals from the countries where we work.”

Use USA only in postal addresses. Otherwise, use United States (noun) or US (adjective). Note that PATH uses US when referring to US government agencies, even at first mention:

• PATH has many offices outside the United States.
• The results in Myanmar matched those in two US studies.
• The project was funded by the US Agency for International Development.

Whenever possible, use use, not utilize.

Use which to introduce a clause that adds relevant but nonessential information (the information is nonessential in that it can be removed without harming the meaning of the sentence); these “nonrestrictive” clauses are set off with commas:

• PATH’s work to increase child immunization rates, which remain extremely low in parts of Africa, will be featured in an upcoming publication on the logistics of mass immunization programs. [The clause which remain extremely low in parts of Africa is relevant but nonessential to the main point of the sentence.]

Use that to introduce a clause that is essential to convey the proper meaning; these “restrictive” clauses are not set off with commas:

• PATH’s projects that aim to increase child immunization rates will be featured in an upcoming publication on the logistics of mass immunization programs. [The clause that aim to increase child immunization rates is essential for knowing which PATH projects will be featured.]

Use while to denote a concurrent event: “While one health worker loaded the vaccine carrier, the other reviewed the list of children due for vaccination.” Sometimes, however, while is used to denote contrast, in a manner similar to although or whereas.

For this reason, while can be ambiguous. When precise language is required, such as in formal documents or instructions, be careful to use while to indicate simultaneous action and although or whereas to emphasize difference.