Editor's Corner

Several people sent this article to me yesterday (20 Common Phrases Even the Smartest People Misuse)

and I thought I’d pass the information along. I can’t say I’ve heard the first one misused at work, but I have had questions about many of the other phrases.

In general, it’s good policy to avoid clichés and idiomatic phrases in your writing. This is particularly true when communicating with people who speak and read English as a second language.

Thank you to those of you who sent these in!

(For the sake of time and space, I’ll be sending these out in a few installments. Note that the bolded phrase is incorrect. The correct phrase is included in the description.)

· Prostrate Cancer

It’s an easy misspelling to make—just add an extra r and “prostate cancer” becomes “prostrate cancer,” which suggests “a cancer of lying face-down on the ground.” Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Mayo Clinic websites include this misspelling.

· First-Come, First-Serve

This suggests that the first person to arrive has to serve all who follow. The actual phrase is “first-come, first-served,” to indicate that the participants will be served in the order in which they arrive. Both Harvard and Yale got this one wrong.

· Sneak Peak

A “peak” is a mountain top. A “peek” is a quick look. The correct expression is “sneak peek,” meaning a secret or early look at something. This error appeared on Oxford University’s site as well as that of the National Park Service.

· Deep-Seeded

This should be “deep-seated,” to indicate that something is firmly established. Though “deep-seeded” might seem to make sense, indicating that something is planted deep in the ground, this is not the correct expression. Correctica found this error on the Washington Post and the White House websites.

· Extract Revenge

To “extract” something is to remove it, like a tooth. The correct expression is “exact revenge,” meaning to achieve revenge. Both The New York Times and the BBC have made this error.

· I Could Care Less

“I couldn’t care less” is what you would say to express maximum apathy toward a situation. Basically you’re saying, “It’s impossible for me to care less about this because I have no more care to give. I’ve run out of care.” Using the incorrect “I could care less” indicates that “I still have care left to give—would you like some?”

· Shoe-In

“Shoo-in” is a common idiom that means a sure winner. To “shoo” something is to urge it in a direction. As you would shoo a fly out of your house, you could also shoo someone toward victory. The expression started in the early 20th century, relating to horse racing and broadened to politics soon after. It’s easy to see why the “shoe-in” version is so common, as it suggests the door-to-door sales practice of moving a foot into the doorway to make it more difficult for a prospective client to close the door. But “foot in the door” is an entirely different idiom.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

This one is for my buddy, Todd, who lost his lectern the other day.

From The Grammar Devotional: Daily Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl™, by Mignon Fogarty (p. 55):

Stand and Deliver: Lectern Versus Podium

Public speaking is scary enough without having to worry about what to call that thing you’re standing on or behind. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare, and remind yourself to breathe and make eye contact without being creepy. Then proceed to the podium (the raised platform where speakers stand; remember that it has the same root word as podiatrist and it’s what you put your feet on) and put your notes on the lectern (the stand for your papers; think of it as putting your lecture on the lectern).

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Good morning!

This is the last tip I have for you from Grammarly.com:

Avoid Vague Nouns and Noun Strings

All-purpose nouns, such as factor, situation, and area, lead to obscure writing.

· Vague: A college education is an important factor in finding a job in the area of accounting.

· Better: For accounting jobs, a college degree is important.

Writers in a specialty niche such as healthcare or technology often slip into jargon, resulting in noun strings that obscure meaning.

· Vague: The mammography team is working on the radiology technologist radiation protection quality improvement program.

· Better: The mammography team will complete a quality improvement program for protecting radiology technicians from excess radiation.

Writing for clarity requires a ruthless eye for editing your work; it’s helpful to walk away from your composition for a few hours and approach it with new eyes. Then cut the unnecessary, rewrite the unwieldy, and, in the words of Elmore Leonard, “Try to leave out the parts that people skip.”

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

Today’s tip is to beware of wordiness in your writing. Here are a few ways to do it, from Grammarly.com:

Wordiness is a problem for many writers, whether it’s redundancy, stating the obvious, or packing a sentence with excess detail and unnecessary modifiers.

· Wordy: Imagine in your mind what a caveman from an earlier prehistoric time must have thought about when he originally saw fire for the first time.

· Better: Imagine what prehistoric man thought when he saw fire for the first time.

For precision and clarity, excise these words from your writing: [KC – That’s excise, as in cut out—not
exercise, as in exercise your right to blather on.]

· kind of

· sort of

· really

· basically

· actually

· generally

· typically

· for all intents and purposes

Edit your writing for redundant pairs such as:

· true facts

· past history

· free gift

· unexpected surprise

· each individual

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

Today’s misheard song lyrics (mondegreens) are continued from your contest entries and one of my own mondegreens. No, I didn’t enter myself into my own contest!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Today’s handy tidbit is about prepositional phrases. I’ve stumbled on some real whoppers here in our documentation. By the time you have logged on the system, located the record on an account, found the field in the record, and entered a value in the field, it seems like you’ve been over the hill and through the woods to Grandmother’s house and back.

From Grammarly.com:

Tip: Limit Prepositional Phrases

Use an apostrophe, not a prepositional phrase, to show possession.

· Bad: It was the opinion of the teacher that Susan was ready for third grade.

· Better: In the teacher’s opinion, Susan was ready for third grade.

Don’t use too many prepositional phrases in a sentence.

· Bad: The ultimate point of the discussion with all of the people was to reach a consensus of the group about what to do with the leftover funds from the fundraiser.

· Better: The group discussed options for the leftover fundraiser money and ultimately reached a decision.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

If you’ve ever sent a document into Symitar Editing, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the comment “Avoid passive voice.” Well, here it is again from Grammarly.com:

Avoid the Passive Voice

The passive voice is flaccid. The subject becomes a helpless thing, acted on by outside forces. In a well-written sentence, the verb is powerful and precise, an active tool at the subject’s command. For example:

· Passive: It is believed by the boxer that the power is there to cause his opponent to fall down.

· Active: The boxer thinks he has a knock-out punch.

If you feel like you could use some practice turning the passive voice to active voice (or knowing when passive is appropriate) have a look at this site for a quiz. It includes a sentence for you to rewrite, space to write it, and then their suggested rewrite: Capital Community College.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

We’re going to take a break from our grammar lessons so I can share a series of writing tips with you. Each tip is important enough that I think it deserves its own day (but I am starting with the second tip). From Grammarly.com:

The author James Michener said, “I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” If you’re an aspiring author or someone striving for clarity in your professional or academic writing, you appreciate the methodical march of the rewriting process. Each word in a sentence has a job; cut those that do nothing. These six tips will help you achieve clear and concise writing.

Trim the Fat from Flabby Phrases

Some writers use wordy phrases when a single word will do.

Use because instead of:

· Due to the fact that

· In light of the fact that

· Owing to the fact that

Use about instead of:

· Concerning the matter of

· In reference to

· With regard to

Use can instead of:

· Is able to

· Is in a position to

· Has the capacity to

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

The last group of pronouns we’re going to cover is a tiny group called demonstrative pronouns. There are only four of them: this, that, these, and those. These pronouns, like their indefinite pronoun cousins, can also do double-duty as modifying adjectives. To determine which part of speech the word is, apply the same rule you do to indefinite pronouns: if the word stands alone, it is a demonstrative pronoun; if the word is coupled with a noun, it is a modifying adjective.

Examples:

· Demonstrative pronoun: Sandra would love that! (The pronoun that stands alone.)

· Modifying adjective: Sandra would love that bracelet! (That modifies bracelet.)

· Demonstrative pronoun: This looks delicious. (The pronoun this stands alone.)

· Modifying adjective: This sandwich looks delicious. (This modifies sandwich.)

Note: In technical documentation, there is not a lot of room for demonstrative pronouns without a clear antecedent. When you send documents to the Editing department, you will often see questions such as: What is that? What does this refer to? In the business world, it is best to use your nouns and prevent the audience from having to guess what “these” or “those” are.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

For today’s Friday fare, I’m taking a break from mondegreens and returning to Tyrannosaurus Lex: The Marvelous Book of Palindromes, Anagrams, & Other Delightful & Outrageous Wordplay, by Rod L. Evans, Ph.D.

In chapters 26 and 27, Dr. Evans introduces us to tautonyms. Tautonyms are “words with two or more identical parts.” For example, the word murmur contains the repeated letters mur. The list below contains internal tautonyms, so the repeated part is somewhere inside the word. For example, in the word nonsense, the repeated part of the word is nse.

Here is the list:

· alfalfa

· assassin

· assessed

· barbarous

· Chihuahua

· Cincinnati

· contented

· fibrobronchitis

· fiddledeedee

· furfuraceous

· instantaneous

· kinkiness

· Mississippi

· metastasis

· nannander

· nonsense

· obsesses

· possessed

· quaquaversal

· redeeded

· redredge

· satiation

· seismism

· sentential

· Shoshone

· singing

· stomachache

· superperfect

· tinting

· versers

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.