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.

Vital syntax

• All English Pokémon games use American English over any other variant of English. Therefore, American English spellings should be used rather than Commonwealth ones in all Bulbapedia articles. 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 utilize 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, but Pokémon Mystery Dungeon did not use it; as such, items in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series are rendered as one word with no mid-word capitals, such as "Deepseatooth."
• Locations should also be capitalized in a manner consistent with English grammar; Ruins of Alph has the A in Alph always capitalized, while numbered routes, such as Route 101, Route 217, and so on, are proper nouns and must have the R capitalized.
  • Note that the "of" in "Ruins of Alph" is not capitalized, not being a part of the a proper name.
• 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. TCG terminology of "basic Pokémon," "stage 1 Pokémon" and "stage 2 Pokémon" do not apply to other media.
  • Pikachu and several other Pokémon are considered basic in the TCG sense, yet are Pokémon that have undergone one evolution in their lifetimes, making them first-evolution Pokémon, more akin to Charmeleon than unevolved Pokémon, which their pre-evolutions are.

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 it is used as an adjective in these phrases. "Pokémon Day Care," and "Day Care" when used as a noun, are not hyphenated. While the term "Day-Care Center" does not appear in any Pokémon game, it can be assumed to be hyphenated due to it being used as an adjective rather than a noun in this phrase. All are also always capitalized.

Types

• The types themselves are always capitalized, regardless of context
• 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.
• This means that "Water-types" is never correct, as when hyphenated, they are always adjectives.
• Anime episode titles may go against the standard, such as The Grass-Type Is Always Greener! and Battling For The Love of Bug-Types!.

Capitalization

Capitalized The following are always capitalized: Pokémon Poké- Trainer Original Trainer Pokémon Professor Legendary Pokémon* Mythical Pokémon* Forme Ability Hidden Ability Egg Egg Group Evolution* Mega Evolution Berry Gym Ball Badge Symbol Shiny Single Battle Double Battle Triple Battle Rotation Battle Launcher Battle Sky Battle Horde Encounter Bag Nature Characteristic Prop Plate Contest Ribbon Accessory Backdrop Fossil Move Tutor Pokémon Day Care Day Care Day-Care Man Day-Care Lady Day-Care Couple Power Points Battle Video Pokémon Storage System Box Trainer Card Mystery Gift Safari Game Rock Mud Bait Catching Show the Underground Area Plasma Ship Shadow Ranch Stroll Décor Pester Ball Friend Area Special Episode Capture Styler Browser Special Traits Toy Pokémon Perfect Link Energy* Range* Warrior Warlord Warrior Skill Advanced Generation series Diamond and Pearl series Best Wishes series Aura Pokémon Stylist Ghost World

Uncapitalized The following are never capitalized: move item level gender form wing names of status ailments names of seasons names of weather conditions names of phenomena wild baby Pokémon rental Pokémon* substitute* physical move special move status move scalchop seamitar mystery dungeon* link kingdom* move rank* original series spirit world

CamelCase The following are formatted as CamelCase: PokéNav RageCandyBar CamelCase is not used in the Mystery Dungeon series

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) 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".