Writing Tips
http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
Institutional Links
-
Translation Bureau
Language Portal of Canada
-
TERMIUM Plus®
-
Index F
- face off
- faceoff
- face-off
- facilitate
- facilitator
- facsimile
- fact (1)
- fact (2)
- faculty
- fall
- false cause
- false dichotomy
- false dilemma
- Famous Five
- Farsi
- farther
- faulty comparisons
- faulty parallelism
- favour
- favourable
- favouritism
- fax
- faze
- febri-
- feel bad
- feel badly
- female
- Fenno-
- ferri-
- ferro-
- fête de la Reine
- few
- fewer
- fiber
- fibre
- figuratively
- Filipino
- financial
- financing
- Finno-
- first (1)
- first (2)
- firstly
- First Nation(s) (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- first two
- fiscal
- fiscal year
- flack
- flair
- flak
- flak-catcher
- flammable
- flare
- flare out
- flare up
- flare-up
- flaunt
- flesh out
- fleur-de-lis
- fleur-de-lys
- flier
- flori-
- floriography
- flounder
- flout
- flu
- flue
- flush out
- fluvi-
- fluvio-
- flyer
- focus
- following
- follow up on
- follow-up to
- follow up with
- foot
- forbear
- forbid (someone) to
- fore-
- forebear
- forecast
- forego
- foregoing
- foregone
- foreign imports
- foreseeable
- foreword
- for free
- forgo
- former
- for same
- for the benefit of
- for the duration of
- for the reason that
- forthwith
- forward
- forwards
- founder (1)
- founder (2)
- fragment
- Franco-
- Franco-Albertan
- Franco-Manitoban
- Franco–Ontarian
- Francophone
- Franco-Prince Edward Islander
- Franco-Saskatchewanian
- Franco-Yukon
- Franco-Yukoner
- Fredericton
- Frederictoner
- Frederictonian
- free
- free from
- free of
- free of charge
- French
- french
- French-speaking Yukoner
- French typographical rules: capitalization
- French typography: abbreviations
- French typography: italics
- French typography: numerical expressions
- French typography: word division
- Frobisher Bay
- fruct-
- fructi-
- fully justified margins
- fulsome
- fun
- funding
- further
- furthermore
- future plans
Proactive Disclosure
Important notice
Writing Tips has been archived and won’t be updated before it is permanently deleted.
For the most up-to-date content, please consult Writing Tips Plus, which combines content from Writing Tips and The Canadian Style. And don’t forget to update your bookmarks!
Search and Functionalities Area
focus
In Canadian usage, the verb focus may be spelled with a single or double s before a suffix.
- As a forensic scientist, Rosalind focuses (or focusses) on minute details.
- The speaker was having trouble focusing (or focussing) his thoughts during the noisy demonstration.
- Barbara Cass-Beggs focused (or focussed) on the musical abilities of young children.
The correct phrasal verb is focus on, and not the logically unsound focus around.
- The RCMP investigation focused on (not around) the misuse of public funds.
The plural of the noun is focuses or foci (generally encountered in the sciences).
- The political campaign organizers identified three potential focuses before the election.
- A circle has one central point, but an ellipse has two foci.
© Public Services and Procurement Canada, 2024
TERMIUM Plus®, the Government of Canada's terminology and linguistic data bank
Writing tools – Writing Tips
A product of the Translation Bureau
