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Gas Works. Two words when referring to the park on Lake Union.

gay, lesbian. Identify a person's sexual orientation only when it is pertinent, and don't refer to "sexual preference" or to a gay, homosexual or alternative "lifestyle." Use gay (n. and adj.) to describe men and women attracted to the same sex, though lesbian is the more common term for women. Avoid using homosexual except in clinical contexts or references to sexual activity. Instead of referring to lesbians and gays, consider using gay women and men or lesbians and gay men. Lowercase gay and lesbian except in names of organizations. Don't refer to gays with disparaging and offensive terms. Use gay and queer carefully in other contexts. See sex, sexism and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Health of Public Health--Seattle & King County.

gender. See sex, sexism.

general manager. Capitalize as an official title before a name, and lowercase when standing alone or after a name between periods: General Manager Ron Burton; Ron Burton, general manager, said ... See capitalization, titles.

general public. See public.

genus. See family, genus, species.

get. Get is good English. It's an entirely acceptable, simpler substitute for obtain, procure or receive.

get-together (n.).

GIF. Acronym for graphics interchange format, an image format for Web graphics. The acronym is acceptable but should be explained somewhere in the copy. Lowercase gif in file names: flowchart.gif.

give and take. Cliché. Use sparingly. Consider replacing with compromise, concession, exchange or discussion.

glamour, glamorous

go-between (n.).

goodbye. Not goodby.

good, well. As a modifier, good is always an adjective, which means that it describes nouns and pronouns (or persons, places and things): good English, good swimmer, a good many. As a modifier, well is usually an adverb, which means it describes verbs, adjectives and other adverbs: to sing well, well-paid employee. Well also can be an adjective but usually when describing someone's health: She is quite well. See bad, badly; well.

good will (n.), goodwill (adj.).

Google, Googled, Googling. Google is the trademark for a Web search engine. Use of the trademark symbol -- ™ -- is unnecessary unless Google is named in a county advertising materials. Always capitalize the name and the verb forms. Unless use of Google is essential, use a generic equivalent (lowercased): Web search engine, browser search tool, searched the Web.

governmental bodies. Capitalize the full, proper names of federal, state and local governmental agencies, departments and offices: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the state Department of Ecology, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the county Department of Adult Detention. Also, capitalize the shortened version: the Health and Human Services Department, the Ecology Department, Natural Resources and Parks Department. But lowercase the department. See abbreviations and acronyms; cities and towns; county; ecology, Ecology; Washington.

Capitalize the full names and shortened versions of King County departments, divisions and other organizational units. See capitalization.

government, governmental. Always lowercase the noun government, never abbreviate: county government, state government, the U.S. government. Use governmental as the adjective: a governmental agency.

governor. Abbreviate and capitalize before a name: Gov. Lowercase after a name and when standing alone. In business correspondence, spell out before a name. See correspondence, titles.

GPA. The abbreviation for grade-point average (capitalized, no periods) is acceptable in all uses.

grade, grades. Hyphenate both the noun forms (second-grader, 10th-grader) and the adjective forms (a second-grade student, a 10th-grade student). But a student is in the second grade or the 10th grade. When referring to letter grades, use B-plus, C-minus, etc., not B+ or C-. Don't enclose grades in quotation marks. Use an apostrophe with plurals of single letters: straight A's, all B's and C's.

grammar. Commonly misspelled. Also see spelling.

grant-in-aid, grants-in-aid.

graphic design. According to King County Executive policy, all graphic design (and printing) for county documents must be done by King County staff unless external production is approved by the County's Printshop Services (internal link). All King County documents must also follow the County's Graphic Standards (internal link), especially for use of the county logo. Also see Creating an enticing design in the County's Plain-language writing guide.

grass roots (n.), grass-roots (adj.). Cliches. Consider rephrasing to avoid these expressions.

grease. See collective nouns.

greater. Capitalize when used to identify a community and its surrounding region: Greater Seattle.

Green Lake. Two words, always. At least in Seattle, there's no water body named Greenlake. If needed for limited space in charts, tables and maps, abbreviate as Lake as Lk.

ground breaking (n.), ground-breaking (adj.).

ground cover. Two words.

groundskeeper. One word.

groundwater. One word.

group, group names. Capitalize when giving the full name of King County work group: Project Support Services Group. Takes singular verbs and pronouns. See capitalization, collective nouns.

Growth Management Act. Spell out on first reference. May be abbreviated as GMA on future references.

guardrail. One word.

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