Like check boxes, radio buttons allow you to select from a set of options.

Unlike check boxes (which allow you to make multiple selections), radio buttons allow you to select only one option at a time. For example, in the previous image, selecting Always Send a Read Receipt clears the current selection (Never Send a Read Receipt).

Why Are They Called “Radio” Buttons?

Radio buttons (in a user interface) are similar to the preset buttons on older radios. Only one button could be pushed in at a time, so pressing one button caused another button to pop out.

Joe Haupt / Wikimedia Commons

Modern radios work the same way—you can’t select two preset stations at once—but without the dramatic popping-out action.

How to Describe Radio Buttons

In general, it is not necessary to say “radio button.” Refer to a radio button by its label alone; for example, “Select Always Send a Read Receipt.”

If you must refer to the button itself (for example, when describing the user interface to a software developer), use the term “radio button,” not “option button.”

Ben Ritter | Technical Editor | Symitar®
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Oh my goodness! I never know when I’m going to touch a nerve with y’all, but apparently I did yesterday. I received quite a few emails from readers about the rule of using one space after a period, and most of them were not happy emails.

First, let’s calm ourselves down by looking at a photo of my new puppy, Harvey, and my old doggie, Bella. Deep breath. That’s it.

Now, for some official information:

· Our JHA Style Guide says to use one space after a colon or period.

· The Chicago Manual of Style, a reference we use, says to use one space after a colon or period.

· The Microsoft Manual of Style, also a reference we use, says: “Use only one space after a period in both printed and online content.”

I know; change can be difficult. I grew up using a manual typewriter, and then received an electric typewriter for my 18th birthday. Back then, when Courier New was the only font, two spaces made sense. Now we have many different fonts designed for printed and online material, and we don’t need that extra space. Get rid of it…it’s a pox on your paper!

If you’d like to hear from an expert, Grammar Girl has written an article on the topic here.

If you think the editors here won’t notice, well, we will. We’ve been posting about this topic for several years now, and we will go through your documents to search for (and replace) double spaces.

Still not convinced? Here are some past articles on the same topic. Viva la single space!

· https://episystechpubs.com/2013/01/08/editors-corner-one-space-period/

· https://episystechpubs.com/2014/11/20/nifty-nugget-how-many-spaces-after-a-period/

· https://episystechpubs.com/2013/04/26/editors-corner-rules-do-change/

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

This one’s for those of you who have asked, wondered, or argued about whether we should use one or two spaces after a period. From our big daddy guidebook, the Chicago Manual of Style and its April Q&A:

Q. I recognize all writing formats today say there is to be one space between the period of a sentence and the first letter of the next sentence. I believe this fails to take into account studies that refer to visual cues that assist the reading process. So I start here with you to request this be fully discussed and reviewed with the hope that we may at minimum note that two spaces are acceptable between sentences. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

A. I’m so sorry to report that that ship sailed long ago. You are a lone voice, crying in the wilderness. Too little, too late; a bolted horse, a dollar short. No metaphor can express how hopeless this is. Our best advice to you is to look for a silver lining in the single space.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Last Monday, I shared a story about asking my Aunt Ola for cookies. She educated me on the difference between the words can and may.

In that post, I pointed out that some writers have been using may (giving permission) when they should be using can (indicating ability). This was my example showing the incorrect usage: “You may run the programs in any order.” I assumed that the writers were being overly polite.

A wise Editor’s Corner subscriber, Jolie L., pointed out that part of the confusion could be that, along with asking for permission, the word may also implies possibility. Her excellent example is, “You may see a crazy man in a black hat on the way to work. Just ignore him."

Jolie is absolutely right. The word may can be used to ask for permission, and it also can be used to imply a possibility. And that brings us to another word pair that we should look at: may and might.

The thing to remember with these two words is that you use may to express what is possible, factual, or could be factual:

· I may go on vacation in June.

And you use might to express what is hypothetical, counterfactual, or remotely possible:

· If I win the lottery, I might retire the next day.

It’s a matter of degree. Things that may happen are more likely to happen than things that might happen. While it’s a subtle distinction, it’s good to know the difference—just in case there’s an Aunt Ola in your life.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.278.0432 | Extension: 765432

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Dear Editrix,

I’ve noticed folks using the words perspective and prospective incorrectly. Could you write something about these words so that people use them correctly?

Tired Talking in Texas

Dear Tired,

It would be my pleasure to review these words! Here are some shortened definitions from Merriam-Webster (in black) and my examples (in blue).

perspective (noun)

1: the technique of representing on a plane or curved surface the space relationships of natural objects as they appear to the eye

2: the interrelation in which parts of a subject are mentally viewed : the aspect of an object of thought from a particular standpoint : configuration

3: a visible scene; especially : one giving a distinctive impression of distance : vista

4: the appearance to the eye of objects in respect to their relative distance and positions

5: a perceptible appearance

Examples:

· From the perspective at the top of the Empire State Building, everything looks tiny.

· I moved from across the room until I was almost nose-to-nose with Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. Though the perspective was completely different from one end of the room to the other, Venus was consistently vibrant and beautiful.

prospective (adjective)

1a: likely or expected to be or become something specified in the future <a prospective mother><a prospective teacher><a prospective heir><showing homes to prospective buyers>

b: likely or expected to happen <She was so wrought up by her prospective loss that she could only think of rash, impossible, destructive things to do. — Theodore Dreiser, The Titan, 1914>

2: concerned with or relating to the future : effective in the future

Examples:

· The prospective mothers practiced their breathing and soaking in tubs during their water birth class.

· To impress the prospective clients, the sales team dressed in their finest suits and served champagne and caviar for an afternoon snack.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Good morning!

Yes, I know we earned our independence from England a long time ago, but I thought this article on the Union Jack was interesting. In addition, for your viewing pleasure, I compiled a graphic of the original flags that make up the current flag.

From The Grammarist:

Union Jack

The Union Jack is a symbol that is well known throughout the globe. We will examine the meaning of the term Union Jack, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

The Union Jack is the national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The 1801 design combines the symbols pertaining to the various political factions of the time. The distinctive graphic is a result of combining the crosses representing St. George, the patron saint of England, St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, and St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. By this time, Wales was already considered a principality of England. The Jack in Union Jack refers to the name for a small flag flown on the jackstaff of a ship, which is a pole extending from the bow of the ship. This jack designated the nationality under which the ship was registered. Note that both words are capitalized in the term Union Jack. The national flag of Great Britain may also be called the Union Flag. The term Union Jackery is a term that means the act of enthusiastically waving the Union Jack, displaying overenthusiastic patriotism.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Yesterday, we discussed how Americans say bloody murder to mean in a loud, violent manner. (For example: I took a bite of Dominic’s dessert and he screamed bloody murder because he hates sharing.)

It appears that while we talk about bloody murder, other English speakers refer to blue murder, but it has the same meaning. I have cut this article down for our purposes, but the full article is at World Wide Words (complete with British spelling and punctuation).

Blue murder

This idiom is largely restricted to Commonwealth countries. Americans prefer to cry bloody murder, which is more expressive and easier to understand. Either way, it means to make a noisy and extravagant protest.

As long as the bite does not come in the form of double-digit inflation, it’s all sweetness. Cross that mark, and they’re all screaming blue murder. The middle-class loves a free lunch, subsidised healthcare and education.

The Hindustan Times, 6 Aug. 2011.

Using colours as metaphors for emotion is probably as old as human language, though they’re deeply determined by culture. In English we have phrases such as white with rage, green with jealousy, see red, yellow streak and tickled pink. The emotional associations of blue are more varied than those of most colours. It has among others indicated constancy (true blue), strained with effort or emotion (blue in the face), indecent or obscene (blue movie) and fear or depression (as in blue funk, which in the UK means to be in a state of fear but in the US to be depressed)….

Bloody murder in its semi-literal sense is much older: it goes back at least to the sixteenth century:

There’s not a hollow cave or lurking-place,
No vast obscurity or misty vale,
Where bloody murder or detested rape
Can couch for fear but I will find them out.

Titus Andronicus, by William Shakespeare, c1591.

This sense was still the usual one in Britain in the period in which blue murder appeared and remained so afterwards. The figurative meaning of bloody murder is peculiarly American and began to appear in the 1860s, usually in the form yell bloody murder. There seems to be no direct link between the two phrases. In particular, blue murder doesn’t appear to be a euphemism for bloody murder….

However, most shouts of blue murder have been about more trivial matters and the expression has become a disapproving comment that points up the disparity between the amount of noise and the petty nature of the protest: “anyone would think you were being murdered, the noise you were making”.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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The other day during a speech in Toastmasters, I was telling a story from my childhood and I talked about my brother screaming “bloody murder.” Shawn, my manager, and the man assigned to be grammarian for the meeting, brought up my use of that term and wondered where it came from. He also mentioned how “bloody” was not an acceptable word at the dinner table, if you were eating with his British relatives.

I thought I’d look into it, since I wasn’t sure if the use of bloody was as a swear word or if it was being used as something you might see with a messy murder. Here is what I found.

Our faithful Merriam-Webster defines bloody murder as I was using it:

1: in a loud and violent manner (ran off, screaming bloody murder)

2: in vehement protest (screaming bloody murder over the pay cut)

They also provide the date 1833 as the first use.

Moving on to the American Heritage Dictionary, we get a little more information:

scream bloody murder

Angrily protest as loudly as possible, as in When Jimmy took her teddy bear, Lauren screamed bloody murder, or Residents are screaming bloody murder about the increase in property taxes. The scream here may be either literal (as in the first example) or figurative, which is also true of invoking murder as though one were in danger of being killed. Versions of this term, such as cry murder, date from the 1400s.

Because the word bloody is a swear word in other English-speaking countries, I continued my research and I found another article titled “Blue Murder.” We will continue with that tomorrow, so I don’t take too much of your time today.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Good Monday morning, esteemed readers.

I know many of you will remember being chastised when you incorrectly asked your mean old Aunt Ola (or whatever her name was), “Can I have another cookie?” She probably was too stingy to give you another cookie, but she took pleasure in rubbing your nose in your grammatical mistake. She always said something like, “I’m sure you are able to eat many more cookies, Donna, but you may not have another one today.”

As you have probably guessed, the correctly worded question is “May I have another cookie?”—and I have unresolved issues with Aunt Ola.

It is interesting to note that, at least in professional writing, we often make the opposite mistake. We often use the verb may when we should use can.

For example, I often see sentences like this one: “You may run the programs in any order.” This sentence is incorrect, because rather than giving our clients permission, we mean to tell them that they are able to run the programs in whatever order they choose. My theory is that we think may sounds more polite.

To get it right, all you have to remember is you should use can when asking for or indicating the ability to do something:

· Can your brother keep a secret?

· Fido can beat Spot on the agility course.

You should use the word may, on the other hand, when you want to ask or give permission:

· May I have another cookie, you old coot?

· You may borrow my car while yours is in the shop.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.278.0432 | Extension: 765432

Symitar Technical Publications Writing and Editing Requests

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Good morning lads and lasses! In honor of our elementary school days, I have a Friday vocabulary quiz for you. I found this quiz on the Daily Writing Tips website. There’s no prize for getting them all right, but I thought you might enjoy it anyway. Have a lovely weekend!

In each sentence, choose the correct word from the pair of similar terms. (If both words possibly can be correct, choose the more plausible one.)

1. He was __________ about whether the change was a good idea.

a) ambivalent

b) ambiguous

2. Her score on the test was __________.

a) exceptionable

b) exceptional

3. His __________companion became even more obnoxious as the night wore on.

a) arrant

b) errant

4. I asked them to __________ my latest short story.

a) criticize

b) critique

5. She delivered the __________ at her father’s memorial service.
a) elegy

b) eulogy

Solutions

1. He was ambivalent about whether the change was a good idea.

Ambivalent means contradictory or unsure. Ambiguous, on the other hand, involves something that can be understood in two or more possible ways.

2. Her score on the test was exceptional.

Exceptional is the right word in this context. Exceptionable means being likely to cause objection.

3. His arrant companion became even more obnoxious as the night wore on.

Arrant means without moderation, while errant means traveling or given to traveling.

4. I asked them to critique my latest short story.

Critique means to evaluate both the merits and demerits, while criticize usually means to find faults on something.

5. She delivered the eulogy at her father’s memorial service.

Eulogy is a commendatory oration or writing, while elegy refers to a poem or song.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.278.0432 | Extension: 765432

Symitar Technical Publications Writing and Editing Requests

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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