User:SnorlaxMonster/Pokémon Syntax

This article is a proposed guideline for Bulbapedia. Please discuss the proposed guideline and suggest possible changes on the article's talk page.

This is a list of the grammar conventions and syntax officially used when describing the Pokémon series. Bulbapedia should use all of these conventions when relevant—note that quotes should remain the way they are originally and not changed to fit these conventions. Remember that consistency with these conventions is very important, and your cooperation is appreciated.

This list is being constantly updated, and is intended as a reference rather than something to memorize (except for the content listed under "vital syntax"). If you would like to suggest an addition or modification for this page, please do so on the talk page. This page is maintained by SnorlaxMonster.

General approach

Bulbapedia aims to match the syntax used in official sources, particularly the Pokémon games.

Changing names

When discussing topics in general, their most recent name should normally be used.

When discussing a topic in the context of a particular medium or product, the terminology used normally should match the terminology used in that product. For example, when discussing the Thunder Stone in general it should normally be rendered with a space ("Thunder Stone"), but when discussing the Thunder Stone in Pokémon Gold and Silver, it should be rendered without a space ("Thunderstone") to match how it was displayed in those games.

The anime is primarily an audiovisual medium, not a written medium, so context-sensitive spelling is typically not applied. When discussing a Thunder Stone in the original series, the item should be rendered with a space ("Thunder Stone"), despite this formatting not appearing in Pokémon media until much not later. However, differences in name should still be respected; for example, while in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver the tower in Ecruteak City is known as the Bell Tower, in the Generation II games and the anime it is referred to as the Tin Tower, so it should still be referred to as the "Tin Tower" when discussing the anime.

Vital syntax

• American English spellings should be used rather than Commonwealth ones in all Bulbapedia articles. (This consistent with most English language Pokémon games, as well as much of Pokémon media as a whole.) Exceptions are made if the spelling is officially the Commonwealth one, such as "Catalogue."
• 's should be included at the end of singular possessives ending in s. While it is correct to either omit or include the s after the apostrophe in these cases, Bulbapedia follows the games' convention (for a multitude of reasons, including the games' usage) and appends the s. For example, Iris's should be used, not Iris'.
• The Pokémon games use the serial comma where applicable; as such, Bulbapedia follows this convention and also uses the serial comma.
• The word Pokémon is always capitalized, as well as the names of Pokémon species. So are nouns starting with "Poké," such as Pokégear, PokéNav and Poké Flute. Note, however, that there is no one common trend for spelling of words beginning with "Poké"—they can be written as a compound word, with the second part of the word capitalized or uncapitalized, or as two words with the second word capitalized. Also note that this applies to many nouns starting with "Pokémon," such as with Pokémon Trainer.
• The plural of "Pokémon" is "Pokémon" and the plural of every Pokémon species is the same as the singular, much like moose or sheep. For example, Those Pikachu are Electric-type Pokémon.
• Items and all words in them are always capitalized; they are considered proper nouns for the purposes of Bulbapedia. "Leftovers," "Escape Rope," or "Water Stone" are all correct as written; a page would not be titled "Water stone."
  • Prior to Generation VI, CamelCase was common in the games due to character limitations, but later games have largely moved away from its use. The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games typically did not use CamelCase, instead only capitalizing the first letter of words that would be CamelCase in the core series games (e.g. "Deepseatooth").
• Specific types are called "the Water type" and "the Rock type" when used as nouns and "Water-type" and "Rock-type" when used as adjectives, while their subject pages are Water (type) and Rock (type), respectively. Squirtle is a "Water-type" is not correct; Squirtle is a Water type and Squirtle is a Water-type Pokémon are. When linking as an adjective, it is preferred that {{type|Water}} is used rather than {{t|Water}}-type.
• Evolutionary levels should be designated as "unevolved," "first evolution," and "second evolution" for Pokémon that have undergone zero, one, and two evolutions respectively during their development. The TCG terminology of "basic Pokémon," "stage 1 Pokémon" and "stage 2 Pokémon" do not apply to other media.
  • For example, in the TCG Pikachu and several other Pokémon are considered Basic Pokémon, but have a pre-evolved form, making them first-evolution Pokémon. This discrepancy typically applies to evolutionary families that include a baby Pokémon.

Hyphenation

• "Super effective" is never hyphenated. It formatted with a space when used as the object of a conjugation of the verb "to be" ("The attack was super effective"), but is formatted as one word when used adjectivally in front of a noun ("A supereffective attack").
• "Day-Care Couple," "Day-Care Man," "Day-Care Lady," and "Day-Care Checker" are all hyphenated as "Day-Care" is used as an adjective in these phrases. "Pokémon Day Care" and "Day Care," when used as nouns, are not hyphenated.

Types

Types themselves are always capitalized.

• As adjectives, types are "<typename>-type."
  • Example: Squirtle is a Water-type Pokémon.
• As nouns referring to a Pokémon of that type, they are "<typename> type"
  • Example: Squirtle is a Water type.
  • Example: Blaine specializes in Fire types.
• As nouns referring to the types themselves, they are "<typename>" or "the <typename> type."
  • Example: Fire is super effective against Grass-type Pokémon.
  • Example: The Steel type was introduced in Generation II.

Types rendered with a hyphen are adjectives, so should never be pluralized. For example, "Water-types" is never correct. (Anime episode titles may go against the standard, such as The Grass-Type Is Always Greener!.)

Capitalization

Capitalized

The following are always capitalized:

• Pokémon
• Trainer
• Original Trainer
• Pokémon Professor
• Legendary Pokémon
• Mythical Pokémon
• Forme
• Ability
• Hidden Ability
• Egg
• Egg Group
• Evolution (when referring to the concept)
• Mega Evolution
• Berry
• Gym
• Poké Ball
• Badge
• Symbol
• Shiny Pokémon
• Types of battles (Single Battle, Double Battle, Horde Encounter, etc.)
• Bag
• Nature
• Characteristic
• Prop
• Plate
• Ribbon
• Accessory
• Backdrop
• Fossil
• Move Tutor

• Box (Pokémon Storage System)
• the Underground

• Shadow Pokémon
• Décor

• Friend Area
• Special Episode

• Browser

• Special Traits
• Toy Pokémon

• Perfect Link
• Warrior
• Warlord
• Warrior Skill

Uncapitalized

The following are not capitalized:

• move
• item
• level
• gender
• form
• wing
• names of status ailments
• names of seasons
• names of weather conditions

• names of phenomena
• wild Pokémon
• baby Pokémon
• rental Pokémon
• substitute (the doll created by the move Substitute)
• physical move
• special move
• status move

• scalchop
• seamitar

• link (Pokémon Conquest)
• kingdom (Pokémon Conquest)
• move rank (Pokémon Conquest)

The names of all people, Pokémon, moves, Abilities, items, Trainer classes, stats (except accuracy and evasion), and villainous teams are also always capitalized, as are officially named locations (places like "Kurt's house" do not count).

All unofficial terms are lowercase by default, with the exception of the names of generations. While the term "generation" is uncapitalized, specific generation names (e.g. Generation II) are.

Special cases

The term "ponigiri" is not capitalized; however, it is capitalized when used in item names (Red Ponigiri, Blue Ponigiri, and Purple Ponigiri) and the name Ponigiri Shop. However, the services offered by the Ponigiri Shops—which share their names with the Ponigiri items—are not capitalized.

The

Present

The following always have "the":

• The Slowpoke Well
• The Glitter Lighthouse
• The Tin Tower
• The Bell Tower
• The Whirl Islands

• The Cave of Origin
• The Sky Pillar

• The Eterna Forest
• The Vista Lighthouse
• The Spear Pillar
• The Snowpoint Temple

• The Skyarrow Bridge
• The Driftveil Drawbridge
• The Tubeline Bridge
• The Dreamyard
• The Desert Resort
• The Relic Castle
• The Cold Storage
• The Celestial Tower
• The Abyssal Ruins
• The Entralink
• The Entree Forest

• The Pokémon Global Link
• The Pokémon Dream World
• The Global Battle Union
• The Pleasant Forest
• The Windswept Sky
• The Sparkling Sea
• The Spooky Manor
• The Rugged Mountain
• The Icy Cave

• The Bittercold

Absent

The following do not use "the":

• Victory Road (all)
• Geonet
• Pal Park
• Soul Dew

• Viridian Forest
• Indigo Plateau

• Trainer Tower

• Marvelous Bridge
• Pinwheel Forest
• Liberty Garden
• Gear Station
• Mistralton Cave
• Chargestone Cave
• Twist Mountain
• Unity Tower
• Dragonspiral Tower
• White Forest
• Black City

Deviations

While Bulbapedia aims to follow the games' formatting in most circumstances, there are a number of cases in which it does not. Some of these are listed below.

• While Pokémon the games classify as neither "Male" nor "Female" are officially "Gender unknown", Bulbapedia refers to such Pokémon as "Genderless". This is because the term "Gender unknown" gives readers the impression that Bulbapedia is simply missing the information, rather than that being the intended display. However, the term "Gender unknown" is used on Bulbapedia is some cases, such as in the title of the Egg Group "Gender unknown (Egg Group)".
• The fan terms base stats, effort values (EVs), and individual values (IVs) are used due to their overwhelming dominant usage among fans, as well as the official names conflicting with their commonly understood usages among fans. While base stats have no official name, EVs are officially known as "base stats" and IVs as "individual strengths".