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Formal tone means that the article should not be written using argot, slang, colloquialisms, doublespeak, legalese, or jargon that is unintelligible to an average reader; it means that the English language should be used in a businesslike manner (e.g. use "feel" or "atmosphere" instead of "vibe(s) ").
Instead of writing that someone took the plunge, state their action matter-of-factly. In general, if a literal reading of a phrase makes no sense given the context, the sentence needs rewording. Some idioms are common only in certain parts of the world, and many readers are not native speakers of English; articles should not presume familiarity ...
Styletips – a list of advice for editors on writing style and formatting. Manual of Style reading schedule – an essay. Related essays. Article development – lists the ways in which you can help an article grow. Basic copyediting – gives helpful advice on copy-editing. Better articles – guidance on how to make articles better.
For mixed situations, use, e.g., {{DISPLAYTITLE: Interpretations of ''2001: A Space Odyssey''}}, instead. Use of italics should conform to Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting § Italic type. Do not use articles (a, an, or the) as the first word (Economy of the Second Empire, not The economy of the Second Empire), unless it is an ...
The lead should instead give a good enough definition in the first sentence to be readable by everyone and then try to elaborate on it in the rest of the lead. It is best to explain the importance of a good lead section with an example.
Quotation marks are to show that you are using the correct word as quoted from the original source. For example: His tombstone was inscribed with the name "Aaron" instead of the spelling he used during his life. Avoid using ALL CAPS and small caps for emphasis (for legitimate uses, see WP:Manual of Style/Capital letters § All caps).
The only time you need to do something like definition is where there's some abiguity in the article title: but in this case you need only say "This article is about the city, for other meanings see Paris (disambiguation)", nothing more. Instead of a definition, always start with a solid description. Example: Anne Widdecombe is a Labour MP in ...
Previous names are often better placed in the article body (e.g. under a "History" section) than in the lead, especially if there are several of them. Aside from in the lead sentence in its own article, use the most common name found in the sources, whenever practical, when referring to an organization or other trademark name in article text.