Editor's Corner

For those of you who have been eagerly awaiting the next six most common grammar mistakes in social media—your wait is over! Here is part two of yesterday’s article by Deb Donston-Miller. (If you missed part one, or want to read the entire article click here: http://tinyurl.com/bqvwstk.) The text and opinions below are Ms. Donston-Miller’s; the italics below are mine.

Punctuation in General: As author Lynne Truss taught us, "eats, shoots, and leaves" is very different than "eats shoots and leaves." In addition, "Apples iPhone" is wrong; "Apple’s iPhone" is right. "Facebook, which recently went public released its first earnings report" is wrong; "Facebook, which recently went public, released its first earnings report" is right. You get the idea.

Lose and Loose: This one really drives me nuts. You "lose" your keys. The dog gets "loose."

Then and Than: If you drink too much coffee, "then" you will likely be jittery. I like the original Parent Trap better "than" the remake with Lindsey Lohan.

Using Apostrophes to Make Words Plural: This is a mistake I have seen on signs all across the country. For some reason, people seem to think that you should use an apostrophe to make a word plural. You don’t! You may say "tomato’s" and I may say "tomatoes," but unless the tomato owns something, I would be right.

I and Me: "I" is the subject pronoun and "me" is the object pronoun. If that means nothing to you (and I wouldn’t blame you if it didn’t), just use this simple trick to determine which pronoun is correct: Try the sentence with just the pronoun. So, if you have the sentence "Sally and [I/me] went to the store," which sounds right? "I went to the store" or "Me went to the store"? (Hopefully, the former sounds right to you.)

Good and Well: Watching Toddlers and Tiaras the other night (yes, I admit it), I was dismayed that every parent said to his or her child after a performance, "You did really good!" Good is an adjective; well is an adverb. The creepily made-up youngsters all did well, not good.

[KC – Suddenly I find myself cringing for repeating grammar lessons from someone watching
Toddlers and Tiaras; that I even know what that is makes me cry.]

Hello and welcome!

Today I have the first part of an article on the eleven most common grammar mistakes in social media, by Deb Donston-Miller. The reason I am including these isn’t to chastise you for poor spelling habits or shortcuts while texting. I am including these because they are also the most common mistakes I run into while editing documents at work. (To read the entire article click here: http://tinyurl.com/bqvwstk.) To make her explanations clearer, I have added italics below.

I’ve been an editor for a long time, so it’s been my job to correct mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, and syntax, among other things. It’s not my place to correct friends and colleagues on social media, but I would like to offer up a list of the mistakes that I see most. I truly believe that respecting the language earns you respect in return.

1. It’s and Its: I see people mix up its and it’s a lot. People often use it’s to convey possession. That would seem to make sense because an apostrophe usually indicates possession, but it’s is a contraction for it is. Its is a possessive pronoun. So, "It’s time to eat the doughnuts" is correct. "Its fleece was white as snow" is also correct.

2. Your and You’re: This one seems to cause people a lot of problems, too (more on "too" later). Your is a possessive pronoun. You’re is a contraction for you are. "My mother is smarter than your mother" is correct. "You’re the best mother in the world" is also correct.

3. To, Two, and Too: To is a preposition. ("It’s a long way to Tipperary.") Two is a number. ("Two roads diverged in the woods.") Too is a synonym for also. ("I, too, am excited about the start of the Olympics.")

4. There, Their, and They’re: Homonyms certainly seem to give people a lot of trouble, don’t they? There means in or at a place. ("There are miles to go before we sleep.") Their is a plural possessive pronoun. ("They ate their fair share.") They’re is a contraction for they are. ("They’re shipping up to Boston.")

5. Sentence Starters and Endings: Every sentence must start with a capital letter and end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point. Period.

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

S Y M I T A R

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Happy Friday, everyone! I just want to take a minute to thank Christine Estrada, John Thomas, and Jane Gredvig for recommending the Editor’s Corner to co-workers this week. Thanks to you, we have just passed 500 subscribers!

Now, today’s selection is from Daily Writing Tips. The original list contained 25 terms we’ve borrowed from the German language—I’ve narrowed it to 15. (See http://www.dailywritingtips.com/25-german-loanwords/ for the full article.)

The German language has provided English with a huge inventory of words, many of them pertaining to music, science, and politics, thanks to the influence of German-speaking people on those areas of human endeavor. Here are some of the more useful German terms borrowed into English.

· Blitz (“lightning”): used only literally in German, but in English refers to a sudden movement, such as a rush in a contact sport

· Carabiner (“rifle”): an equivalent of the English word carbine, this truncation of karabinerhaken (“riflehook”) refers to a metal loop originally employed with ropes in mountaineering, rock climbing, and other sports and activities but now widely employed for more general uses

· Delicatessen (“delicate eating”): a restaurant or food shop selling meats, cheeses, and delicacies

· Doppelgänger (“double-goer”): in German, refers to a look-alike, but in English, the primary connotation is of a supernatural phenomenon — either a spirit or a duplicate person

· Gestalt (“figure”): something more than the sum of its parts, or viewed or analyzed with other contributing phenomena

· Hinterland (“land behind”): originally a technical geographic term; later, in both German and English, came to connote undeveloped rural or wilderness areas, and in British English has a limited sense of “artistic or scholarly knowledge,” as in “Smith’s hinterland isn’t very impressive”

· Kitsch: something of low taste and/or quality, or such a condition

· Leitmotiv (“leading motive”): a recurring theme, originally applied to music and later literature and theater but now in general usage

· Poltergeist (“noisy ghost”): a mischievous and/or malicious apparition or spectral force thought responsible for otherwise inexplicable movement of objects

· Schadenfreude (“harm joy”): enjoyment of others’ misfortune

· Sturm und drang (“storm and stress”): turmoil, drama

· Verboten (“forbidden”): prohibited

· Weltschmerz (“world pain”): despair or world-weariness

· Wunderkind (“wonder child”): a child prodigy

· Zeitgeist (“time ghost”): the spirit of the time, or a prevailing attitude, mentality, or worldview

And for something completely unrelated—the makings of a frightening vacation from the English Fail Blog (http://www.englishfailblog.com/):

Capitalization rules can be tricky. After the correct answer, you will find a brief explanation of the rule used for that sentence.

The stats and correct answers for today’s quiz:

ABAB – 3

BBBB – 7

CBAB – 31

BBAB – 6

BAAA – 47

Total respondents: 94 (Terrific!)

#1

Correct Answer: B

I plan to take economics as well as Statistics 101 next semester.

Explanation: Capitalize specific names of courses and those derived from proper nouns.

#2

Correct Answer: A

It’s a federal offense to open another person’s mail without permission.

Explanation: Capitalize federal or state when used as part of an official agency name or in government documents where these terms represent an official name. If they are being used as general terms, you may use lowercase letters.

#3

Correct Answer: A

Would you mind repeating that again, Professor?

Explanation: Capitalize any title when used as a direct address.

#4
Correct Answer: A

Gloria Dubois, the mayor of Portland, will be attending the meeting tomorrow.

Explanation: Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name. Do not capitalize when the title is acting as a description following the name.

Kara Church

Today’s quiz is on capital letters. We’ve done one of these before, but I’ve noticed that people still get very excited about their subject matter, and tend to use capitals where they don’t belong.

Choose the correct answers, then use the voting buttons (in Outlook) to send in your selections. Answers and explanations will be provided sometime this afternoon. Good luck!

Choose the correct sentence from each group:

#1

A) I plan to take economics as well as statistics 101 next semester.

B) I plan to take economics as well as Statistics 101 next semester.

C) I plan to take Economics as well as Statistics 101 next semester.

#2

A) It’s a federal offense to open another person’s mail without permission.

B) It’s a Federal offense to open another person’s mail without permission.

#3

A) Would you mind repeating that again, Professor?

B) Would you mind repeating that again, professor?

#4

A) Gloria Dubois, the mayor of Portland, will be attending the meeting tomorrow.

B) Gloria Dubois, the Mayor of Portland, will be attending the meeting tomorrow.

Material created by Jane Straus and Co. Copyright by Jane Straus.

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

S Y M I T A R

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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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 may not be an exciting topic, but it is one of the top ten things we look for in documents that we edit. Parallel construction provides structure and clarity to your writing and it makes editors everywhere love you.

The following article is from Grammarbook.com:

Parallel Construction

Sentences and lists are awkward when they contain a series of items with inconsistent grammatical structure. But as your reader scans through a series of items with parallel grammatical structure, the relationships between different items of information become clear. Here’s an example:

Which of the two sentences below is easier to follow?

At the February meeting we will hold a discussion of the new health plan, whether to revise the procedures manual, and then a draft will be developed of the early retirement policy.

At the February meeting, we will discuss the new health plan, decide whether to revise the procedures manual, and draft an early retirement policy.

In the second example, the parallel verb tenses saved space and helped us grasp the ideas immediately. To help your writing flow smoothly and make sense, use the same format for items you present in a series.

The same approach applies to lists, which are much easier to read when the grammar is parallel.

Incorrect Example
The agenda for the March meeting includes the following goals:

· Discussion of the new health plan

· Whether to revise the procedures manual

· The early-retirement policy will change

Correct Example
The agenda for the March meeting includes the following goals:

· Discussing the new health plan

· Deciding whether to revise the procedures manual

· Revising the early-retirement policy

Parallel construction can help you organize your thoughts, make your writing flow smoothly, and make your meaning clear immediately. (Now that sentence is a good example of parallel construction!)

And from the English Fail blog, a special gift for the hot weather: some not-so-tasty liquid refreshment!

Today I’ve grabbed another topic from the e-mail bag: a versus an.

Dear Editrix,

When I run spellcheck and the grammar checker, they always suggests “a” instead of “an” in the following sentence: “I just sent you an e-mail.” Why would it not be “an,” since e-mail starts with a vowel?

Are there other such examples where the “proper” use of “a” (vs. “an”) seems to run opposite common thinking?

Sincerely,

A or an English Fan

Dear Fan,

Regarding the first question, you are correct—the appropriate article for “e-mail” is “an e-mail.” I can’t answer for certain why the grammar checker might be correcting that phrase, but here is a little secret: the Microsoft spelling and grammar checkers are not always correct. For example, spellcheck hates the word “lets” and insists it is a contraction every time, all the time.

There are several ways to add to your dictionary, define which words and terms to autocorrect, and tinker with your grammar and spelling settings. In our version of Outlook, you can make these changes in File → Options → Mail → Editor Options. Be careful in here, though. You don’t want to turn off all of the electronic help these options provide.

As for your second question, there are exceptions to the rule which says: Use a before words that start with consonants; use an before words that start with vowels. This is a more accurate version of the rule, that should help with the quirky situations:

“…use a before words that start with a consonant sound and an before words that start with a vowel sound.”*

For example, it is an hour, not a hour, because hour sounds like it begins with a vowel. The same goes for “a university,” “a user,” etc.

For more information on this topic, see Grammar Girl (link below). If you’d like to read a little more about this part of speech (articles) in general, go to the Purdue OWL (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/).

*Quote from Grammar Girl (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/a-versus-an.aspx).

Hope this helps!

Editrix

If you are a Facebook fan, Twitter fanatic, e-mail aficionado, or tend to get excited when you are communicating with others, you may be familiar with the use of more than one exclamation point (!). Somebody asked me, “When is it okay to use more than one exclamation point at the end of a sentence?”

The nice answer:

The Chicago Manual of Style tells us: “An exclamation point (which should be used sparingly to be effective) marks an outcry or an emphatic or ironic comment.” [KC – Note the article here: An exclamation point. One. Singular. Alone. Uno. Un. Έʋα.
Ein.]

My answer:

Never!

I won’t be as cruel as some who say “a person’s sanity is inversely proportional to the number of exclamation marks they use!” (http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Multiple_exclamation_marks), but I will say again that you only need one at the end of a sentence. The only time you should see an exclamation point in technical material is when you are writing about a warning or error that displays in the software.

http://dmxart.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/grammar-police-exclamation-point-disposal-squad/

Dear Editrix,

Here’s a question that always has me wondering. Hopefully the answer is not too complicated or I won’t remember it.

Is there a rule about when you use a semicolon before the word however vs. just ending the sentence and starting a new sentence with However, and any other proper way of using however? Enquiring minds want to know.

Sincerely,

Enquiring Minds

Dear Enquiring Mind,

There’s never a simple or easy answer with English. 🙂

Here’s the “why” and the “when” of the semicolon used with however, borrowed in part from the Purdue OWL (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/01/):

However is an independent marker word. An independent marker word is used at the beginning of an independent clause.

These words can always begin a sentence that can stand alone. When the second independent clause in a sentence has an independent marker word, a semicolon is needed before the independent marker word.

Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz; however, it was hard to concentrate because of the noise.

Some common independent markers are: also, consequently, furthermore, however, moreover, nevertheless, and therefore.

The “where” to place however in a sentence is less formulaic. Placement depends on the sentence flow and where you want the emphasis to be. Some say that putting however at the end of a sentence is inelegant; putting it at the beginning is considered informal.

As an editor, my issue with it is that many people use it too often. It is sometimes used as a buckle to combine two independent clauses, which is not a problem in itself. The problem is that these clauses are often gigantic and unclear, and adding a fancy word in between only makes them longer, not better.

I’ve included some sentences to give you an idea of the flow and flavor as they’re changed by the placement of the word. (The middle sentence does not require a semicolon because it is not two independent clauses):

• However, the runt of the litter became an alpha male.
• The runt of the litter, however, became an alpha male.
• The runt of the litter became an alpha male, however.

So, that’s the short answer! For (a lot) more on however see the article below.

· http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/starting-a-sentence-with-however.aspx

Warm regards,

Editrix

Yesterday, I received a pleading e-mail to go over the difference between the words passed and past—a pet peeve of one of our managers, so take note! Here is a brief explanation and a few examples to get you past the grammarlicious terms. For more information on these frequently confused words, there is a more lengthy post on the topic at DailyWritingTips.com (http://www.dailywritingtips.com/passed-vs-past/).

Passed

Passed is the past participle of the verb “to pass.”

· Pass (transitive verb)
I passed the hospital on my way to the rally.

· Pass (intransitive verb)
She passed through life without a worry.

· Pass (intransitive verb, sometime used as euphemism for “die”)

He passed last night at bedtime, after we sang his favorite hymn.

Past

Past can be used as several different parts of speech:

· adjective
Don’t be angry at your sister for past offenses.

· adverb
I thought the dog would stop, but he just ran past.

· preposition
Dorothy has a horrible fake ID—she can never get past the bouncer!