Consistency is one of the big goals in good technical writing, and it can be one of the hardest to attain. This page, from Intelligent Editing who make the PerfectIt consistency checking add-in for Word, lists 10 of the most common problems, based on an analysis of 2400 documents.
RANK TYPE OF ERROR EXAMPLE FREQUENCY 1 Phrases in capitals The word ‘Government’ in one location but ‘government’ elsewhere. 79.7% 2 Hyphenated phrases The phrase ‘decision-making’ in one location but ‘decision making’ elsewhere. 62.5% 3 Heading case inconsistencies Two headings at the same level but one in title case and the other in sentence case. 40.3%
I might have to look at that add-in – it could be useful.
It’s very useful if you’re a Word user (though they do have an online version too).
The difficulty with ‘Government/government’ is that it can be correct to have both — cap ‘G’ when you’re referring to a specific government or government department, as it’s a title; and lower case ‘g’ for government in a generic sense. However, PerfectIt not only identifies the inconsistencies, but you can change them on a case-by-case basis, or all at once.
–Rhonda