Editor's Corner

The conditional mood expresses…wait for it…a condition! Okay, it’s a little more complicated than that. According to Wikipedia, “The conditional mood is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition.“

Here are some hints about conditional sentences:

• They often contain an auxiliary verb like would, should, or could
• The sentences often start with if, or had

Perhaps the best thing I can do is give you a bunch of examples. The auxiliary and regular verbs are bolded. These are inspired by Learn Grammar but are modified a little by me just to keep myself entertained.

• Tamara might be able to bring doughnuts if she comes earlier.
• I would like a cappuccino, please.
• If you were here, you could have done it.
• If I were in Paris, I would meet my friend Titus.
• If Judson had come here, I could have given him ten reasons he should not play the part of Juliette in our play.
• Had Yesenia participated in the dart-tossing contest, she could have won the first prize.
• I would like a glass of orange juice, please.
• I might be able to attend the jump-rope challenge if I can finish my work earlier.
• Had I been there, I could have helped you.
• If John is not in the office, he might be upstairs setting off fireworks.
• If you want to attend the class, you should sign up now.
• Had Carla started on time from home, she would not miss the flight.
• I would like a chocolate cone with nuts.
• Had Woodrow not wasted so much time, he could have finished the project
• Bob might be able to meet Anna if he comes now.

We’re almost at the end of our grammar moods. Next time the final installment: subjunctive mood.

If you’re still with me, you deserve something cute: a herd of cats!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning, and welcome to another beautiful Thursday.

I love it when my grammar resource sites provide me with unusual lists of words, which MSN did recently. They sent me (and millions of other people) a list called “10 Words That Don’t Mean What You Think They Do.” Ah, just my cup of tea! Some of these might be surprising to you, so read on and enjoy.

1. Contingency: There’s no such thing as "a contingency of experts," "of French chefs," "of Chinese ministers," or the like. A contingency is something that might happen ("We must prepare for every contingency"). A group of people is a contingent.

2. Disinterested: If you’re not interested in something, you’re uninterested. "Disinterested" means that you have no direct stake in something, financially or in some other sense. A judge in a courtroom should always be disinterested in the proceedings, though they may interest [the judge] very much.

3. Exhibit: If you go to the museum to see a Picasso exhibit, you’re just seeing one painting or print or whatever. An exhibit is a single item. Think "Exhibit A." An exhibition is a whole collection of exhibits, which is probably what drew you to the museum.

4. Flagrant: People use "flagrant" to mean obvious, as in "a flagrant error" or "a flagrant invitation." It means something stronger than that, though—not just obvious but particularly offensive or objectionable. The aforementioned error and invitation are more correctly "blatant."

5. Further: San Francisco isn’t further from New York than Boston is and you didn’t run further than you should—it’s "farther" in both cases. "Farther" refers to physical distance, "further" to non-physical or metaphorical ones ("Let’s not take this argument any further.”)

6. Infamous: This adjective gets applied to all kinds of things these days—"The restaurant’s infamous chocolate cake," "The team’s infamous victory over their rivals," and so on—when what people actually mean is "famous" or "celebrated." "Infamous" isn’t a compliment: It means disgraceful or having a bad reputation.

7. Insure: You can’t insure that something bad won’t happen. You can insure yourself—that is, buy insurance—so that you’ll be compensated if something bad does, but what you want to try to do is ensure that something bad won’t happen. "Ensure" means to guarantee or make certain; "insure" means to buy insurance or otherwise indemnify.

8. Notorious: See "infamous," above. "Notorious" sometimes gets used in the same way ("The restaurant’s notorious chocolate cake.") But it doesn’t just mean famous—it means famous in a bad way, or known unfavorably.

9. Penultimate: This is the penultimate word in this list. And, no, it’s not the last one. The last word is the ultimate one; "pen-" is a Latin prefix meaning "almost," and "penultimate" means second-to-last.

10. Tortuous: It sounds like something that tortures you, but that would actually be "torturous." "Tortuous" means winding or twisting, like a road that curves up a mountainside.

Enjoy your day!

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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Hello, hello!

Today is part three in our grammatical moods. As a reminder, here’s where we started:

Today we’re looking at the imperative mood, which is what we use for commands and requests. I don’t have much in the way of a helpful hint to remind you what it means. How about this? Imps are naughty creatures, and they like to be bossy and use the imperative. No? Sorry, that’s the best I can do.

Here are some examples of the imperative mood, including some subsections of the imperative mood. Note that the imperative uses the present tense of verbs (go, print, run, stop). Exclamation points mean strong commands; periods mean mild commands or requests.

For orders:

• Leave now!
• Get out of my room!

For requests:

• Please print three copies for me.
• Get me a water when you are in the kitchen, would you?

To give advice:

• Try before you buy.
• Take care when feeding alligators.

To give instructions:

• Turn left at Piggly-Wiggly.
• Go to the right after you pass the Union 76 station.

To issue a warning:

• Watch out!
• Duck and cover!

And that’s it for today! I hope you are having a great summer.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good day to you all!

In my last article, I brought up grammatical moods. I think it might’ve been more fun to lend you my mood ring and see what color it turned. Then, I could tell you if you were feeling happy, loving, peevish, stormy, or whatever the color equated to.

Instead, though, I’m going to continue on from the indicative mood to the interrogative mood. I think we’ve seen enough movies about wars and captives to know that interrogate means “to question.” And that’s how you can remember what this mood is all about: questions. More precisely, from the OSU Writing Center: The interrogative mood “is used to express a sense of uncertainty by asking a question. The question contains an auxiliary verb (helping verb) and then a main verb.”

Another hint? Question marks indicate an interrogative sentence. The verb tense can change, but again, watch for the question mark and helping verbs.

The interrogative mood can go a little deeper too. According to the site Worksheets Planet, there are four different types of questions. Here they are with examples for each type.

Yes or no questions: These sentences can be answered simply with yes or no.

• Does Bea like ice cream with sprinkles?
• Is your neighbor friendly?

Wh-questions: These sentences use wh- words (who, what, where, when, why, how, how many) to begin the sentence.

• What is your favorite color?
• Who is your favorite water polo player?
• Where did you go to college?
• Why did you bring your cobra to the picnic?
• When is Sheri quitting her job?
• How did you find out about Chuck’s birthmark?

Choice questions: These questions offer a choice of several options.

• Do you prefer the pink sweater or the blue one?
• Would you like coffee or tea?
• Do you want to leave at noon or 1:00 p.m.?

Tag questions: This type of question is made up of two parts, where the first part is a positive statement, and the second part is negative (or the contrary).

• You’re going to the fair, aren’t you?
• Jay is getting married, isn’t he?
• You bought your son a birthday present, didn’t you?

That’s it! More than you ever wanted to know about the interrogative mood. Now, would you like to buy a ring?

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning, folks!

Today we’re going to get into some grammar. I know, I know. It’s not as fun as idioms and games and new words, but I’ve received some questions on conditional and subjunctive moods, so let’s go through these and the other three moods. I’ll cover them over several days to (hopefully) avoid any meltdowns.

First, a preview. What is a grammatical mood? Mood refers to the different verb forms and how they show the purpose of a sentence. The five main forms we’re talking about in English are:

There are some resources that only refer to three moods (indicative, imperative, and subjunctive) and refer to the other two moods as tenses. We’re going to use all five of these and cover them separately. Let’s start with the indicative mood today!

From GrammarBook.com: The indicative is by far the most common of the moods. It is used whenever you are giving a fact or making an ordinary statement.

The indicative mood generally uses the simple past, simple present, and simple future tense of the verb. Here are a few sentences written in the indicative mood. (The past and future tenses in parentheses.)

Fact:

Joe loves swimming. (loved, will love)

Alabama is in the southern part of the United States. (was, will be)

Sandra drinks Mai-Tais and floats in the pool. (drank/will drink, floated/will float)

Opinion:

She has great taste in business casual clothes. (had, will have)

Dimitri believes his scooter is the fastest. (believed, will believe)

Amy thinks she makes the best apple pie. (thought she made, thinks she will make)

Next time, we’ll have a look at the interrogative mood.

And to make you feel better:

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good day to you all!

I came across a list of words on Dictionary.com that made me smile because they remind me of my mom. She was also a language lover, and when I was very young, she used to make me laugh (and sometimes cringe) with her silly word jokes. For instance, she would often offer me a napple or a norange. Or when I was going out, she might tell me to have an ice time. Who said dads (and CEOs—y’all know who I’m talking about) are the only ones who can tell corny jokes?

The list of words I found came to English from other languages (usually French), but they were misheard and eventually had the wrong article (a or an) applied. This most often happens with words that begin with an n or a vowel, as you’ll notice in the following partial list. The word orange is actually on the list, so we’ll start with that one:

Orange: This word is derived from the Arabic word nāranj, which then passed into French through the Romance language of Old Occitan. The n at the beginning of the word nāranj disappeared because the French indefinite articles un and une end with an n sound (just like the English articles a and an)—so une nāranj eventually became une orange in French and an orange in English.

Apron: This word derives from Middle French (14th century) but the sound of the French word, naperon, caused confusion in English—again because of the articles a and an. English speakers began referring to this protective article of clothing as an apron rather than a naperon.

Notch: This is another Middle French word. It came to us as oche from France in the 16th century. It meant “an incision made to keep a record.” But it was misheard and misspelled, or maybe some silly jester like my mom got ahold of it and changed an oche to a notch.

Nickname: This word comes from Middle English, not French. The word eke meant also or in addition, and an ekename became our modern English term a nickname. The odd thing about this word is how eke turned into nick, which does not mean also,as eke does.It is simply a misheard sound that stuck.

Newt: This creature was originally known as the ewt (a word that derived from eft, an obsolete word meaning lizard). The same mistake with the articles a and an changed this creature’s name from an ewt to a newt. I don’t think my mom knew that, but she would love it.

Adder: This Old English word was originally nǣdre, but as with all the other words on this list, a nǣdre became a nadder, which became the venomous snake we know today: an adder.

That’s it for today. I’m a little tired and hungry now. I’m going to take an ice little break and eat a napple.

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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G’day, mates!

I had so much fun with Australian slang in one of my June Editor’s Corner articles,

that I wanted to share the latest words I collected from the show City Homicide. Here are some more translations for you.

That’s it for now! We’ll see if I find any good new cop shows to watch on BritBox, and maybe I can give you some more phrases from other English-speaking countries.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

I’m sure you’ve been waiting eagerly for this next set of homonyms! You’ve seen the triplets, now I have larger groups of words that sound the same, but each of them is spelled differently and means something different. You can (but don’t have to) give me grace for those that are from other languages.

As before, definitions are from me and from Merriam-Webster (M-W) where marked.

Quadruplets:

· adds = perform addition; increase

· ads = advertisements; notices or announcements to attract customers

· adz = (M-W) a cutting tool that has a thin arched blade set at right angles to the handle and is used chiefly for shaping wood (less common variant than adze)

· adze = See previous. More common spelling of the tool (adz). [KC – I’d bet that adz is more common for Scrabble players!]

· cinque = Five [KC – If you pronounce this French word like the French would, it’s a homonym for “sank” rather than “sink.”]
(M-W) 1: Five, especially the number five in dice or cards
2: cinques plural: change ringing on 11 bells that are treated as 5 pairs, the tenor bell added after each change

· sink = Submerge

· sync = Synchronize; make happen at the same time

· synch = See previous. Less common spelling of sync

· cite = To refer to another source; to name in a citation

· cyte = A mature germ cell [KC – I’ve only ever
seen this as a suffix, like erythrocyte or leukocyte.]

· sight = Vision. (M-W) Something that is seen; a spectacle

· site = A location, a place

· medal = (M-W) A small usually metal object bearing a religious emblem or picture

· meddle = To interfere (generally with something that is none of your business)

· metal = (M-W) Any of various opaque, fusible, ductile, and typically lustrous substances that are good conductors of electricity and heat, form cations by loss of electrons, and yield basic oxides and hydroxides

· mettle = Stamina; strength; courage

· peak = The top of a mountain; the form of a well-made meringue; the shape is generally wider at the bottom and pointier at the top [KC – And thus you see why I don’t write definitions for
Merriam-Webster.]

· peek = To take a quick look at; (M-W) To peer from a place of concealment

· peke = Nickname or abbreviation for Pekinese (M-W) Any of a Chinese breed of small, short-legged dogs with a broad flat face and a profuse long soft coat

· pique = To arouse interest [KC – I almost always
hear it used with curiosity, for example, “The cryptic message from an old boyfriend piqued his curiosity.”

Quintuplet:

<![if !supportLists]>· seau = (M-W) A pottery pail that forms a part of the typical 18th century dinner service

· sew = To fasten something (usually fabric) together with stitches

· so = (M-W)

· soe = A large wooden tub or pail

· sow = To plant seeds

Sextuplet:

· air = The gases we breathe

· are = (M-W) a unit of area equal to 100 square meters.

· e’er = Contraction of “ever”. Means always.

· ere = Before

· err = To make a mistake

· heir = A person who inherits something (usually from a parent or predecessor)

Septuplet:

· raise = To lift up; to stir up (a commotion)

· rays = (M-W) any of the lines of light that appear to radiate from a bright object; a type of marine animal

· rase = erase (archaic)

· raze = To completely demolish; knock a building down to the dirt

· rehs = (Reh, singular) Abbreviation for “rehearing”

· réis = (Plural of real) The unit of currency in Brazil (and formerly Portugal before the Euro)

· res = a particular thing; matter. A mixture of sodium salts found as an efflorescence in India

That’s it for now, my friends. For the full list, see multinyms here.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning to you all!

A year ago, one of my coworkers decided to challenge me by asking me to find sets of three-word or four-word homophones. (Homonyms are two or more words that sound alike, but have different origins, spellings, or meanings, such as carat, carrot, caret, and karat.) He acknowledged that I’d covered some of these, like there, they’re, their and to, two, too, but he wanted more. He wanted four-word homonyms and more.

Well, I waited an entire year, and here I am, ready to serve up some examples on a big ‘ol platter. You should remember that in the old days, before my word nerdom, I played basketball, ran track (oh so poorly), and worked it on swim team for four years. I love a challenge, a race, or a game.

Today I have the first batch for you, the triplets. This is just a partial list, but I’ll provide you with the rest next time. Definitions and examples are from me or with the help of Merriam-Webster (M-W).

Triplets

· aisle = A row between groups of seats

· I’ll = Contraction for “I will”

· isle = An island, often a small island

· bald = Without hair or covering (for example, the black oak tree is bald in the winter)

· balled = Formed into a ball (she balled up the snow and threw it at her brother)

· bawled = Cried (out loud and vigorously)

· censer = A vessel for burning incense

· censor = Someone who reads materials, watches movies, or reviews other materials for objectionable matter.

· sensor = (From M-W) A device that responds to a physical stimulus (such as heat, light, sound, pressure, magnetism, or a particular motion) and transmits a resulting impulse (as for measurement or operating a control)

· cent = (America) A penny. 1/100 of a U.S. dollar

· scent = A smell; an odor. (From M-W) An odor left by an animal on a surface passed over, or a characteristic or particular odor especially one that is agreeable.

· Sent = Past tense of “to send.” (From M-W) To cause to go; propel; throw in a particular direction; drive; to dispatch by means of communication.

· ewes = Female sheep

· use = To put into service; expend; consume

· yews = Type of evergreen trees

· gild = To cover with gold

· gilled = To entangle in a gill net (From M-W) Gill net: a flat net suspended vertically in the water with meshes that allow the head of a fish to pass but entangle the gills upon withdrawal.

· guild =Association of people with similar interests (From M-W) Especially: a medieval association of merchants or craft makers.

• knot = (From M-W)a: an interlacement of the parts of one or more flexible bodies forming a lump or knob (as for fastening or tying together)

b: the lump or knob so formed

c: a tight constriction or the sense of constriction

• naught = nothing

· not = used as a function word to make negative a group of words or a word

• taught = Past tense of to teach. To convey information to others; to help others learn.
• taut = Tight; without slack; (skin) not loose or flabby

· tot = A small child

Next time I’ll give you the quadruplets and more!

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It’s another beautiful day—a perfect day to talk about plain language.

What is plain language? It is a style of writing, most often used in professional settings to communicate something as briefly and clearly as possible. It is written with a simple structure. Typically, the sentences and paragraphs are short: they are written in active voice, they use clear, universal vocabulary, and they avoid filler (unnecessary) words. This kind of writing gets right to the point and provides only the details that are needed to help a reader understand; it is intended to make the job of reading as easy as possible. It is the kind of writing we strive for in all our documentation and client correspondence.

Plain writing is not a dumbing down of material. In fact, it is often used in legal documentation, technical documentation, and governmental documentation to ensure that difficult concepts are clearly communicated and easily digested. To make it accessible to the widest range of people, the Grammarly blog says, “It avoids jargon, complex sentence structure, and any potentially confusing vocabulary. This includes figurative language like metaphor and allusion, which may include references that readers with different backgrounds find difficult to understand.” Grammarly provides these clean, crisp examples:

Example 1

The enrollment period for international students begins on November 14 and ends on December 5. Please submit all of your documents to the International Education office on or before December 5. You will receive your course schedule by January 11.

Example 2

All driving tests are administered by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Please arrive for your test with two forms of identification (a passport, student ID, or government-issued ID is acceptable). Wait in the designated waiting area until you are called to the desk. The receptionist will then bring you to the testing area.

I know that a lot of you write creatively as a hobby or a side job. And for that kind of writing, an expanded vocabulary, imagery, symbolism, repetition, and other figurative language makes the writing and the reading more fun. When writing professionally, however, your readers expect the efficiency of plain language. Give them what they want. Always review and revise your writing to make sure it is clear and concise. And all of you Jack Henry associates can use this link to send your editing to a JH editor who will check it for plain language and other One Company JH standards.

Here’s hoping your day is anything but plain.

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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