Tomorrow, September 24, is National Punctuation Day in the United States. It is a day to love, honor, and cherish your favorite punctuation mark. My favorite way to celebrate is by sharing a few unfortunate photos with you. While many of these are spelling-related, I still think today is as good a day as any to share them with you.

· Nothing says forever like a tattoo. I hope it gets better than this unnecessary apostrophe and bad grammar.

· While you are waiting for it to get better, how about another tattoo letting people know there is “nohing” to regret? And if you’re going to say it wrong, say it bold and say it strong!

· Eww. A good, old-fashioned comma and putting the modifier in the right place would improve this gossip tidbit.

· A surefire way to upset your parents is by ordering a cake with quotation marks used inappropriately. If there is some question about your paternity, you might not want to broach the discussion at a party.

· Is it the spelling error that makes this bad? Or is it the school bus that looks like a converted bread delivery van? Perhaps it the artistry of a second-grader using a dull needle and bottle of India ink to do their own tattoo that makes me cringe a little? All I know is that this tattoo is listed as a failure, but it succeeded at bringing tears of amusement to my eyes.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Where were we? Ah yes, the final bits and piece of modal verbs. This list and advice is continued from Thursday.

· You can use modals to indicate suggestions and advice.

o You should stop eating haggis; it could save your life.

o You should consider purging the following records each quarter.

Consider your audience and the message you want to deliver. In technical documentation we want to sound certain; however, in a consulting or advisory document, the modal term might be better.

o Purge the following documents each quarter. (Technical documentation)

o Consider purging the following documents each quarter (The implied subject is “you,” but this is an incomplete sentence or bulleted item for consulting or advisory documentation.)

o You should consider purging the following documents each quarter. (This is a complete sentence with the modal verb, which may be acceptable in a less technical document.)

· You can use modals to indicate permission.

o May I leave? I am not feeling well.

o You may want to use this function to process checks.

o Employees with the View All permissions may see confidential personnel information.

Again, in technical documentation we want to sound certain. Matters of permission and policy are generally left to our customers and clients, so it is better to tell them what a product does or what they can do with a certain function and let them decide if they want to use it or who among them has the permissions.

o Use this function to process checks. (This tells you what the function does, not who should have it.)

o Confidential personnel information is visible to all employees with the View All permissions. (This tells you what is visible when you have the permissions, not who should have the permissions.)

As I mentioned before, it depends what you are writing, but in technical writing we generally prefer text without modal verbs. Here are a few more examples demonstrating how much more direct the text is without them.

With modal verbs:

· You could use this option to calculate teller totals.

· You must delete the X file before you install the Y file.

· Employees should wash their hands before returning to work.

· This product will increase your productivity.

Without modal verbs:

· Use this option to calculate teller totals.

· Delete the X file before you install the Y file.

· Washyour hands before returning to work.

· This product increases productivity.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Here are the guidelines for using slashes from the JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication and Training.

Speaking of slashes, your friendly editor may have asked you not use the term “and/or,” and to choose “and” or “or” instead.

Per the Chicago Manual of Style, “Avoid this Janus-faced term. It can often be replaced by and or or with no loss in meaning. Where it seems needed {take a sleeping pill and/or a warm drink}, try or . . . or both {take a sleeping pill or a warm drink or both}. But think of other possibilities {take a sleeping pill with a warm drink}.”

One reason not to use and/or statements is that it creates uncertainty. Here is an example, “I and/or Kara will edit your document tomorrow.” The and/or statement in this sentence can mean that I will edit your document, Kara will edit your document, or both Kara and I will edit your document.

There is also the issue of whether using and/or in a subject makes the verb singular or plural.

For example:

This message and/or attachments [is? are?] confidential.

Before you use and/or in your writing, try to determine whether the term is necessary or if there is a clearer way to express what you are trying to say.

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

For those of you fairly new to the Editor’s Corner, we have a fan favorite for you today: mondegreens. Mondegreens are misheard song lyrics. The latest purchase I’ve made is called Hit Me with Your Pet Shark: Misheard Lyrics of the 1980s, by Charles Grosvenor Jr. Here are the top nine reasons Mr. Grosvenor gives for people mishearing songs:

1) Secret belief that all songs are dirty

2) Singer has a thick accent

3) Listener made up a word or phrase to fit the rhyme

4) Words are slurred together to form a new word

5) Dropped a leading or trailing consonant

6) Use of an unusual proper name

7) Lyrics are not in a listener’s native tongue

8) Music is too loud

9) Lyrics are sung too fast

I have my own for number 10: Listener is under the influence of some mind-numbing substance.

Here are your lyrics for today:

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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This week, I’m on a modal verb kick. Today, I’ll provide you with a little more information about modal verbs and explain why we should try to minimize their use in technical documentation. Remember, last week I said modal verbs help you with a certain “flavor” in your writing. Maybe that flavor is some kind of formality or wish to sound extremely polite or as if you have no expectations for a situation. In technical writing, we want the facts! We want to be straightforward with our writing and make sure there are no misunderstandings. The “flavors” we are looking for are crisp and sharp.

· You can use modals for speculation and probability:

o Bill should have been here by 6:00 p.m.

o It must be difficult raising two children by yourself.

o If you click Enter, the transaction should be processed.

In technical writing, we want to concentrate on concreteness and exact information:

o Click Enter to process the transaction.

· You can use modals to discuss ability:

o She could crochet better than her grandmother.

o Mr. Farrow can speak three languages.

o The system could calculate the monthly mortgage payment if you entered the total loan amount and percentage rate.

In technical writing, we want to know precisely what the system can and will do under certain circumstances:

o Enter the total loan amount and percentage rate to calculate the monthly mortgage payment.

· You can use modals to indicate obligation.

o You must complete these steps before you can continue.

In technical writing, you want to be direct and straightforward. You don’t want to change the intended meaning of the sentence, but consider the following revision for the previous example:

o Complete these steps before you continue.

Tomorrow: Merry mondegreens.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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As I mentioned yesterday, modal verbs are also called “helping” or “auxiliary” verbs. To get the real flavor of how English modal verbs are used, this article from the Frankfurt International School does a great job explaining. Sometimes I find that English as a Second Language (ESL) lessons break down our language into more digestible pieces than English grammar books do. J

Modal verbs

The modal verbs include can, must, may, might, will, would, should. They are used with other verbs to express ability, obligation, possibility, and so on. Below is a list showing the most useful modals and their most common meanings:

Note: Many native English speakers will use can to request permission. For example, “Can I watch TV?” Many native English speakers are also asked, in return, “I don’t know, can you? You may turn on the TV.” This correction may be met with appreciation or a smack to the head, depending on who is correcting whom.

Tomorrow: Modal verbs and technical documentation.

Friday: Merry mondegreens!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

There are new guidelines for indicating time of day and time zones in the JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication and Training.

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

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Good afternoon, folks! I promised I’d get into modal verbs one of these days and that day is upon us.

So what is a modal verb?

Modal verbs (also called auxiliary, helping, or defective verbs) are verbs that express things such as possibility, likelihood, obligation, permission, and ability.

What are the modal verbs in English?

From the McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage:

What is so special (or defective) about modal verbs?

· In the present tense, they don’t require an “s” for the third person singular.

For example: “she will be there,” not “she wills be there.” With regular verbs, the third person singular requires an “s,” such as “she sells seashells,” or “he runs with abandon.”

· The modal verb must is the only verb in English with a present form but no past form.

· Modal verbs are followed by the infinitive of other verbs, without the “to.” (This may sound confusing because we call the infinitive the “to form” of a verb. “Infinitive” actually means the verb is not finite—it can’t be the main verb in a sentence.)

· For example:

o “You must come on Thursday,” not “You must to come on Thursday.”

o “She will write to you afterwards,” not “She will to write to you afterwards.”

· Modal verbs form questions by inverting words.

For example:

o “He can go” becomes “Can he go?”

o “She should run” becomes “Should she run?”

o “The weather will be good” becomes “Will the weather be good?”

Tomorrow: The softer, gentler side of modal verbs.

Mmmmm…a la mode!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Per the JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication and Training, do not use check and uncheck as verbs to describe putting a check in a check box. Use select and clear instead.

Example:

· Clear the All caps check box and select the Small caps check box.

Thank you,

Jackie Solano

Technical Writer, Episys Technical Publications

Symitar®

8985 Balboa Avenue

San Diego, California 92123

Direct Line: 619-542-6711

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Here are the last few items from jury duty. J I also have a little treat for you at the very bottom of this email.

These definitions are from the following glossaries:

• http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/portal/page?_pageid=55,1643485&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
• http://www.glenncourt.ca.gov/court_info/glossary.html
• http://www.nycourts.gov/lawlibraries/glossary.shtml

• deliberations: This occurs after a trial when a jury goes into its assigned private room to think about and discuss evidence and testimony to help it reach a verdict. [KC – Also known as going from the jury box to a more enclosed box. All of the evidence and the twelve jury members are sent
  to a room and closed in to finally talk about the case. Up to this point, there is no chatting with anyone about what we’ve seen or heard. We all went around the table and had an opportunity to discuss what evidence and testimony seemed true and how we thought
  we might decide. Where there was misunderstanding or disagreement, we continued to discuss the evidence.]

• foreperson: A member of a jury, usually the first juror called and sworn, or a juror elected by fellow jurors, who delivers the verdict to the court.

• beyond a reasonable doubt: In a criminal case, the accused’s guilt must be established "beyond a reasonable doubt." Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof that leaves you with an abiding conviction that the charge is true. [KC – This was a criminal case, so the decision had to be unanimous. The prosecutor’s job was to prove that Mr. X was guilty
  beyond a reasonable doubt. If there was doubt, we were tasked to find him innocent.]

• verdict: The formal decision or finding made by a jury, which has been impaneled and sworn for the trial of a case, and reported to the court. [KC – Unfortunately for Mr. X, the jury found him guilty of having a blood alcohol level above .08 while driving. So that the jury doesn’t base the verdict on the defendant’s past or on potential
  punishment, sentencing is done at a separate time and the jury is not involved.]

I never forget a promise and I know I promised you more mondegreens (misheard song lyrics). While I was on jury duty, I went through two new books and started collecting some for you. Here are a few from The Ants Are My Friends by Martin Toseland.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Kara

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