Editor's Corner

Here’s a topic that’s come up more than once, but I liked how simply it was covered on this website, so I thought I’d share it with you. From the GINGER website, I introduce you to the Order of Adjectives: How to order adjectives in English.

In many languages, adjectives denoting attributes usually occur in a specific order. Generally, the adjective order in English is:

1. Quantity or number

2. Quality or opinion

3. Size

4. Age

5. Shape

6. Color

7. Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)

8. Purpose or qualifier

For example:

1. I love that really big old green antique car that always parked at the end of the street.

2. My sister adopted a beautiful big white bulldog.

When there are two or more adjectives that are from the same group, the word and is placed between the two adjectives:

1. The house is green and red.

2. The library has old and new books.

When there are three or more adjectives from the same adjective group, place a comma between each of the coordinate adjectives:

1. We live in the big green, white, and red house at the end of the street.

2. My friend lost a red, black, and white watch.

A comma is not placed between an adjective and the noun.

If you still find this a bit confusing, there are additional examples and a quiz on the GINGER website. Enjoy!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

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Here are some winter idioms and phrases that have nothing to do with the weather (descriptions from thefreedictionary.com).

A snowball effect: a situation in which something increases in size or importance at a faster and faster rate

As the wind blows: as dictated by or according to fortune, circumstance, or the natural outcome of events

Break the ice: to make people feel comfortable in a social situation

Chill out: calm down or relax

Cold feet: fear of doing something; cowardice at the moment of action

Cold shoulder: an attitude of rejection

Fair-weather friend: someone who is your friend only when things are pleasant or going well for you

On thin ice: a risky situation

Perfect storm: a chance or rare combination of individual elements, circumstances, or events that together form a disastrous, catastrophic, or extremely unpleasant problem or difficulty

Rain on someone’s parade:to spoil something for someone

Ride out the storm:to continue to exist and not be harmed during a very difficult period

Snow on the mountain: silver, grey, or white hair on one’s head, as due to aging

Snowed under: overworked; exceptionally busy

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.542.6711 | Extension: 766711

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Today’s item didn’t make it into the month of December, where it would’ve been more fitting since we’re talking about deci and deka. Better late than never, though!

The following etymologies (from Words of a Feather: A Humorous Puzzlement of Etymological Pairs, by Murray Suid) revolve around decimal and decimate.

Decimate is a classic example of “semantic inflation.” Just like people, words can exaggerate.

The story begins with the Latin prefix deci-, “ten.” Deci- and its Greek relative deka spawned a variety of words such as decade, Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), and decimal, a fraction with an implied denominator of ten. All cut and dried meanings.

Decimate comes from the Latin decem, “ten,” and –atus, a suffix denoting an action, hence “taking of one-tenth.” The Romans used the word in two ways. First, it referred to imposing a tax of 10 percent, comparable to the meaning of the English word tithe. Second, it referred to the Roman army’s method of punishing an offending group—citizens or soldiers00by killing one in ten via a lottery. This too was a very specific operation.

However, as the word began to be applied to loss of life from other causes, such as fires, floods, famine, and plagues, it came to mean not merely a loss of one tenth, but something closer to annihilation.

Happy January!

Kara Church

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Happy 2016!

I didn’t exactly time this right so we have a few more of the top ten grammar issues from 2015 today, plus we have a last-minute addition from one of you readers. Here we go!

Different Than and Different From

I’ve borrowed this description from Lit Reactor:

This is a tough one. Words like rather and faster are comparative adjectives, and are used to show comparison with the preposition than, (for example, greater than, less than, faster than, rather than). The adjective different is used to draw distinction. So, when different is followed by a preposition, it should be from (such as, separate from, distinct from, or away from). For example: My living situation in New York was different from home.

There are rare cases where different than is appropriate, if than operates as a conjunction. For example: Development is different in New York than in Los Angeles.

When in doubt, use different from.

As and Because

Here’s one we see a lot—people using the word as to mean because. The problem with this is that because isn’t always a synonym for as. For example, note how much clearer the sentence with because is:

· Your file system seems disorganized as you use the Greek alphabet to organize American names.

· Your file system seems disorganized because you use the Greek alphabet to organize American names.

May

Here’s a new one that somebody mentioned to me the other day. There are folks out there who are requesting something and trying to be nice, but instead of asking “Could you please plug in the phone?” “Would you please hand me a biscuit?” “May I please have some more gruel, Sir?” these folks are saying: “May you please call the client and help them?” To this, I say “Ay, carumba!” The word may expresses the possibility of something, like “It may rain tomorrow.” May also expresses or asks permission, so it is appropriate to ask, “May I feed your dog a pork chop?” But you aren’t asking for permission to call the client, you are asking somebody to make the call. It would be more appropriate in this case to use “Could you call” or “Would you call,” or even “Please call.” May just isn’t correct.

And a Happy New Year from a friend of mine:

Kara Church

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Hello and welcome to a winter wonderland where you will be schooled on the sometimes tricky combinations of the following:

· may and might

· if and whether

· since and because

I have borrowed these explanations from Litreactor, by Jon Gingerich. He has some harsh, boozy examples for you this New Year’s Eve. I must confess, I did a little bit of formatting and replace all of the e.g.s with “for example.”

5. May and Might

“May” implies a possibility. “Might” implies far more uncertainty. “You may get drunk if you have two shots in ten minutes” implies a real possibility of drunkenness. “You might get a ticket if you operate a tug boat while drunk” implies a possibility that is far more remote. Someone who says, “I may have more wine” could mean he/she doesn’t want more wine right now, or that he/she “might” not want any at all. Given the speaker’s indecision on the matter, “might” would be correct.

6. Whether and If

Many writers seem to assume that “whether” is interchangeable with “if." It isn’t. “Whether” expresses a condition where there are two or more alternatives. “If” expresses a condition where there are no alternatives. For example:

· I don’t know whether I’ll get drunk tonight. [KC – There are two alternatives that I’m not sure of. I’m not sure
whether I will or whether I won’t get drunk tonight.]

· I can get drunk tonight if I have money for booze. [KC – There is only one way I’m getting drunk tonight: I’ll get drunk
if I have money for booze.]

7. Since and Because

“Since” refers to time. “Because” refers to causation. For example:

· Since I quit drinking, I’ve married and had two children.

· Because I quit drinking, I no longer wake up in my own vomit.
[KC – Sorry, folks. These aren’t my examples. I don’t have kids and I never wake up in, well, you know.]

Have a safe holiday!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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I’m sticking with one single issue today because I don’t want to overwhelm you. I have borrowed this explanation from another website. I hope it helps! I’ve also included a couple of past links for you from Editor’s Corner on this topic.

4. Which and That (from Writer’s Digest)

The battle over whether to use which or that is one many people struggle to get right. It’s a popular grammar question and most folks want a quick rule of thumb so they can get it right.

Here it is:

If the sentence doesn’t need the clause that the word in question is connecting, use which. If it does, use that. (Pretty easy to remember, isn’t it?) Let me explain with a couple of examples.

Our office, which has two lunchrooms, is located in Cincinnati.
Our office that has two lunchrooms is located in Cincinnati.

These sentences are not the same. The first sentence tells us that you have just one office, and it’s located in Cincinnati. The clause “which has two lunchrooms” gives us additional information, but it doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence. Remove the clause and the location of our one office would still be clear: Our office is located in Cincinnati.

The second sentence suggests that we have multiple offices, but the office with two lunchrooms is located in Cincinnati. The phrase “that has two lunchrooms” is known as a restrictive clause because another part of the sentence (our office) depends on it. You can’t remove that clause without changing the meaning of the sentence.

Let’s look at another example:

The time machine, which looked like a telephone booth, concerned Bill and Ted.
The time machine that looked like a telephone booth concerned Bill and Ted.

In the first sentence (thanks to the use of which), the time machine concerned Bill and Ted. It also happened to look like a telephone booth. In the second sentence (which uses the restrictive clause), Bill and Ted are concerned with the time machine that looks like a telephone booth. They aren’t concerned with the one that looks like a garden shed or the one that looks like a DeLorean (Marty McFly may have reservations about that one).

· https://episystechpubs.com/2015/03/31/editors-corner-which-witch-is-which/

· https://episystechpubs.com/2015/04/01/editors-corner-whiches-and-whats/

· https://episystechpubs.com/2014/02/13/editors-corner-commas-clauses-and-nonessential-elements/

· https://episystechpubs.com/2015/09/15/editors-corner-dependent-vs-independent-clauses/

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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One of our dear readers asked if we could do an end-of-year review of the top ten errors or “problem children” we see in our daily editing. I have asked the editors for input, and here is a combination of things from us, from other editors, and from a few of you. I think we’ll cover the top ten over a few days so you can savor them properly.

First, let’s start with some general errors.

1. Too Many Capital Letters
This seems to bother all of us. Jackie, Donna, and I have written over 10 articles on proper nouns, common nouns, and capitalization, yet we see these errors daily. Some basic rules:

· Proper nouns are capitalized. Proper nouns name specific people, places, things, and ideas. For example: George Washington; Gibraltar; Symitar®; the Tower of London; Truth, Justice, and the American Way (when Superman uses the phrase).

· Common nouns are not capitalized. Common nouns are the generic names of people, places, things, and ideas. For example: dog, man, home, park, pizza, and truth.

· Just because something is important, does not mean it should be capitalized in a sentence.

· The dictionary is your friend. When you aren’t sure if something is a common noun or proper noun, check the dictionary.

· Want more information on this topic? Go to the Editor’s Corner and type capitalization, proper noun, or common noun in the Search field and press Enter.

2. Too Much Passive Voice
Yes, I’m sure this is a real surprise to you. This topic has been beaten mercilessly to a pulp. Or should that be, “We beat this topic to a pulp”? When you are writing, try to remember this general format:

ACTOR + ACTION + OBJECT

The operator + performs + a backup.

The teller + enters + the transaction.

From there, you can expand more on what, where, how, and why things are happening. You can add that flair that makes your day. But start here with the actor/subject—don’t start with the object and tell us what happened and completely leave out the “doer.”

The credit union’s president + buys 20-pound turkeys + for each of his stellar employees. Yay.

3. Too Many Deadwood Phrases and Redundancies
Okay, enough of the lecturing. I will just say that we try to trim our technical documentation of “deadwood,” redundant phrases, and fluff. Here are a couple of websites that will give you an idea of the things lawyers might add to your documents and that we will take away.

· Redundancies

· Deadwood

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Good morning. I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. I enjoyed some time with my extremely loud, exuberant family.

We had a friendly family game of 31 on Boxing Day (December 26th). 31 is a card game that’s easy to learn and fun to play. If you’re interested, you can find the rules here.

I didn’t win the game, but I didn’t lose miserably either. I finished somewhere in the middle. And I made this comment: “Well, I’m not really a card sharp.”

Everyone looked at me like I’d just lit my eyelashes on fire. They all insisted that the term is “card shark” not “card sharp.” And they didn’t insist politely. They attacked like a swarm of killer bees. In my own house. Right after I fed them dinner.

And this is why I love Google. My sister whipped out her phone and informed everyone that both terms are correct. A few sources I’ve looked at since then state that a card sharp is someone who cheats at cards while a card shark is someone who spends a lot of time playing cards and is very good at it.

Turns out, I should have said “shark.” It’s more in line with what I meant, but I won’t tell them that now.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

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Good morning and happy (almost) holidays! Your gift for today is the final installment of Grammar Girl’s article on color-related idioms. The gift for five of you (yes, five) are some lightly used books.

I’m working from home today, so I don’t have all the titles for you, but the winner of the malapropism book is Adele Witzke Schumaker in Allen, Texas. The other books are Signspotting 3, 4, and 5, and part 2 of a book on Bad Grammer (sic). The winners of those books are:

· Alma Cayaban

· Scott Rose

· Robert Tresscott

· Jess Woodland

I’ll get your books in the mail next week. In the meantime, congratulations! Enjoy your holiday and weekend.

6. Green-Eyed Monster

Our sixth color is green and the idiom green with envy, which means jealous and dates from the mid-1800s. Shakespeare used other green-related phrases, indicating that the association between green and jealousy has been around much longer than 160 years. For example, you’ll find the phrase green-eyed monster in Othello, the green sickness in Anthony and Cleopatra, and green-eyed jealousy in Merchant of Venice. In fact, it seems we can go back to the Ancient Greeks and their humors, to propose an origin for the phrase. Remember the bile we mentioned when discussing the phrase white-livered? [KC – How could we forget, Grammar Girl? We love reading about that stuff first thing in the morning!] It seems that the Greeks thought if you were sick, the body produced too much bile, making you look green. We have probably all looked green at some point when feeling sick.

7. Black Humor

Seventh and last in our list of colors is black. Black humor, or black comedy, is a style of satire that highlights very serious issues through comedy. The term comes from the French l’humour noire and was coined by Surrealist André Breton around 1940. This phrase debuted in English around 1965, and you’ll also hear the terms dark humor and dark comedy to refer to this extreme kind of satire. Although the phrases are somewhat new to the language, the concept has been around for a few centuries.

A famous example of black comedy is Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, published in 1729. This short work “modestly” suggests how the British should eat Irish babies. [KC – Great. Just when you think it couldn’t get worse.] Of course Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels, was not serious; his outlandish—even funny—statements brought attention to the problem of Irish poverty. Here’s a sample: “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.”

It is easy to see why the color black is used in this idiom, because of the horror involved—both the fiction (eating babies) and the reality (starvation).

Well, that’s all for now. We hope that our discussion of black humor at the end didn’t turn you a little green.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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It’s the second day of color-related idioms from one of my favorite folks, Grammar Girl! Let’s continue the list today with yellow journalism and rose-colored glasses. Perhaps today’s phrases will be a little more festive and peppy than those of yesterday?

4. Yellow Journalism

Color number four—yellow—moves us to a different kind of sensation: sensational journalism, also known as yellow journalism. This style of reporting, which was at its height in the late 19th century, favors sensationalism over facts. It all came about because of a rivalry between newspaper magnates Joseph Pulitzer, owner of the New York World, and William Randolph Hearst, owner of the Journal. The World published a popular cartoon that featured a character called the Yellow Kid, and this cartoon increased sales tremendously. The Journal realized this and hired the artist away, causing a bidding war. Both papers also increased circulation by focusing their reporting on the Cuban struggle for independence, sometimes bending the truth. These days, our newspapers and Internet news sites are filled with banner headlines, colorful comics, and an abundance of illustrations, and we can thank the yellow journalists of the late 1890s for developing these now-commonplace techniques.

5. Rose-Colored Glasses

Rose is our next color. We use the words rose-colored and rosy to mean optimistic, as in the expressions looking through rose-colored glasses and things are looking rosy. If someone looks at the world through rose-colored glasses, she is perhaps being overly optimistic and in denial. The idea of an idyllic worldview being rosy dates from at least the 17th century, but Merriam-Webster.com dates the idiom rose-colored glasses to 1926. Theories about why it means optimistic abound, and we’ll cover a couple.

The first takes us to Victorian times and the thought that an artist could liven up a painting by adding extra roses to it. That sounds reasonable, as does the second theory, which holds that early mapmakers paid such close attention to detail that they needed to keep their spectacles clean with rose petals.

An interesting factoid that came up during research is worth sharing, though it likely has nothing to do with the meaning of rose-colored and rosy: In the early 1900s, some farmers started to place rose-colored glasses on their chickens to reduce cannibalization. The thinking was that the glasses would keep the chickens from recognizing blood on other chickens, which apparently triggers the attack instinct. I wonder if these glasses work or if their use was overly optimistic. [KC – I am a little concerned for Grammar Girl. From roses to chicken attacks—even the chance for something cheerful has passed her by in this article.]

Pulitzer Prize

Hearst Castle

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services