Word list: O


offline

One word.

off your own bat

Bat, not back.

on-demand

Hyphenated as an adjective, as in an on-demand webcast.

ongoing

One word. But ask yourself: does this word add anything to the sentence? If not, consider removing it.

online

One word.

onto, on to

“Onto” denotes movement (generally actual physical movement) of an object or body towards a position on a surface:

  • The cat jumped onto the table.

In any other sense, write “on to” as two separate words:

  • Hold on to what you know to be right.
  • She’s moving on to a new challenge.
  • After the speech, he moved on to address the next topic.
  • Hold on to your hats.

opt in, opt-in, opt out, opt-out

No hyphen if it’s a verb. Hyphenated if used as a noun or adjective. You can opt out of cookies by using an opt-out mechanism. You can opt in to receive emails if you tick the opt-in box.

oral, verbal

See verbal, oral.