After Deadline: A Times Topics Grammar Blog

I found an interesting blog that also happens to be part of The New York Times, like the Grammar News section I mentioned in a previous post. The blog is called After Deadline and examines “questions of grammar, usage and style encountered by writers and editors of The Times.”

This is potentially an informative and useful resource for those in journalism using AP style.

Tuesday’s post tackled varied subjects, from the phrase “openly gay,” describing when it is in/appropriate to use it to the recurring mistake of calling people who have moved from Puerto Rico to the United States “immigrants,” when in fact, they are not immigrants but U.S. citizens.

There is also a section called Bright Passages in which the author, Philip B. Corbett, brings our attention to what he calls “sparkling prose” that has been featured in various articles in The Times. I really enjoyed this section for the deft composition skills that it showed off and for that fact that rather than simply pointing out mistakes, as many grammar blogs do, it offered the reader a chance to admire some of the more resourceful and pithy phrasing in current reporting.

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APA Reference Citations in Text

I frequently see authors make errors when citing references in the text of scholarly papers in APA style.

A few things to remember:

1. When a reference has only two authors, remember to cite both at every occurrence in the text. APA does not shorten when there are only two authors.

2. When a reference has three to five authors, cite all of them the first time it is mentioned in the text. Subsequent citations within the same paragraph, can be shortened to include only the first author followed by et al. (but remember that et al. should be in Roman typeface rather than italics and that there should always be a period after al.). Also, the year should be included when it is the first citation in the paragraph (in following citations within that paragraph, you can omit the year).

For example, the first citation would look like: “Rodney, Stokes, and Barrister (2007) limited the scope of their first study to high school students.”

The second citation within that paragraph would look like: “Rodney et al. did not”

If you were to start a new paragraph, you would need to be sure to include the date again, like so: “Rodney et al. (2007) tried”

3. When two references with the same year and first author shorten the same, to distinguish, you should cite the surnames of as many additional authors to the first as needed to distinguish and then shorten with et al.

4. When an article has six or more authors there is no need to cite all of them the first time; you can immediately shorten to the surname of the first author and the year followed by et al.  

You can find all of these details and more in the APA manual in section 3.95, pp. 208-209.

Cheers!

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While versus Although

Ok, I’m on a roll here, so one more post regarding mistakes I often see authors make. As you may have guessed from the title, I’m referring to while and although.

When writing, an author should always use while to connect events that occur simultaneously. In other instances, an author can use and, but, although, and whereas instead of while.

For example, used incorrectly, one might write, “Bosten and Measure (1996) found that students tested well, while Bonner (1998) found that students tested poorly.”

To correct this, one should instead write, “Bosten and Measure (1996) found that students tested well, whereas Bonner (1998) found that students tested poorly.”

One way you can ensure that you’ve done this is by using the find and replace feature in Word. Find the word while and verify that it has been used correctly or replace it with one of the substitutes mentioned here. This guarantees that you’ll find all of the offenders (if there are any).

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Since versus Because

A brief but important post today that again falls into the category of frequent writers’ mistakes.

Since is best used to indicate the passage of time, because should be used in all other instances. For example, “The ballerina was promoted to lead dancer since her stamina had improved.” This sentence is imprecise and since should be replaced with because, “The ballerina was promoted to lead dancer since her stamina had improved.”

A example using since correctly is, “Greenpeace has been saving whales since 1975.”

This applies whether you’re using Chicago, MLA, or APA style.

Cheers!

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That versus Which

When we’re talking about the relative pronouns that and which, we need to be careful which ones we use. This mistake again falls in with those that I find are very common in manuscripts of all types.

That clauses are called restrictive, meaning they are essential to the meaning of the sentence. For example, “The objects that were valuable were kept and stored.” That were valuable is essential to the meaning of the sentence.

Which clauses, however, can simply add information and are then considered nonrestrictive, or they can be essential to the meaning of the sentence and are then considered restrictive. For a nonrestrictive example, “The objects, which were considered valuable at one time, were no longer thought to be valuable and were discarded.” You can take out the clause “which were considered valuable at one time,” read the sentence without it, and the sentence still makes sense. It’s merely adding additional information.

In the restrictive sense, the writer removes the commas that set off the nonrestrictive clause and the meaning changes a bit, “The objects which were considered valuable at one time were no longer thought to be valuable and were discarded.” APA style prefers the use of that when the meaning is meant to be restrictive.

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Grammar News from The New York Times…

For all you grammar lovers out there (and maybe haters too!) there’s a fabulous feature in The New York Times that you can access online under Times Topics called Grammar News. It features the On Language columns by William Safire (always an interesting read) as well as a wide selection of articles about grammar.

Some of you out there may already be familiar with this resource but for those just starting out in the editing and writing business, it’s a good and interesting source that you may not have yet come across.

You can also research grammar articles at Questia.com, which features free, full-text books, journals, and articles on thousands of topics. For example, if you’re preparing to become or already are a Language Arts or ESL (English as  second language) teacher, you could find the complete text of The Teacher’s Grammar Book by James D. Williams in this online library and read it for free. I love two things about this site: that it’s free and full text. How could you not love that!

Enjoy!

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Chicago Manual of Style Online 15th Edition: Free Trial

Did you know you can now get an unlimited access free trial of the Chicago Manual of Style online? The trial period lasts 30 days, during which time you get to evaluate how you like accessing the book online. I signed up to see how I liked it and was happy with the results, especially the search feature, which made looking for those sometimes elusive details in the quite large CMS manual a bit easier and quicker.

If you don’t have a hard copy of the CMS manual at home already, and only need access to it for a short time, signing up for the free trial is a good way to get all the info you need without investing up to $50.00 for the hard copy.

However, if you’re an editor like myself, or someone who frequently writes in Chicago style and needs access to the manual beyond the 30 day trial period, it’s not the best deal around. You can sign up to continue unlimited access for a year for only $30.00. Not bad considering you can spend, as I mentioned, upwards of $50.00 for the hard copy; however, I’d personally rather not spend $30.00 on an ongoing yearly basis to access CMS online. Although I liked the search feature, I also like to mark my manuals with flags, marginalia, and by underlining certain important bits.

Cheers!

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5 Ways a Blogathon Can Help You Find Your Inner Blogger (or maybe just become a better blogger)

As you may know, I’m participating in the 2nd Annual WordCount Blogathon, in which more than 40 freelance writers have committed to blogging every day in May. See a list of all the participants here.

While taking part in this experiment of sorts, and getting into the habit of writing for myself at least a little bit every day, I’ve also learned a few things that can be attributed directly to my participation:

1. Clearly Focused Attention. This blogathon has helped me tremendously with starting a new blog by focusing my attention on it intensely. Otherwise, I’m certain I would still be meandering through posts on a semi-regular/spotty basis with no real direction. Speaking of direction…

2. Direction.  I think I’m beginning to figure out what this blog is about (beyond the simple editing and writing part), what I’d like to and need to include, and where I might like to end up a whole lot sooner than I might have just posting whenever I felt like it. The fact that I’m posting every day has given me a sense of cohesiveness.

3. Ideas. Again, because I’m posting every day, I’m thinking and reading regularly about what I need to do to improve this blog, including its content, its readership, and its ability to be found on the internet (that is, SEO). I’ve posted a few blogging tips and links to other people’s blogging tips previously.

4. Establishing Regularity. Obviously, a month of posting every day has established regularity and boosted readership; however, looking beyond this initial month, I think the blogathon and its forced regularity will allow me to establish a slightly less intense but no less regular posting pattern. I fully believe that after posting every day for a month, I will be able to committ to posting at least three days a week and stick to it. I’m developing a habit and its even becoming something I look forward to.

5. Strategies. With all this regular posting bearing down on me night after night, I’ve developed strategies for preplanning topics and usually have at least the bare bones of a post or two lined up ahead of schedule. (I still have to get down writing my posts for the weekend ahead of time, but I think by then the blogathon will be over!)

So, although you may not be participating in this blogathon or have the opportunity to particiapte in an “official” one anytime soon, I highly recommend that you challenge yourself to participating in your own personal blogathon. This practice is especially helpful if you are starting a new blog or have a blog that’s been faltering for some time. And if you don’t think you can stick to it yourself, better yet, get your blogger friends involved and start your own group blogathon.

Cheers!

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Good Writing Skills are Important: Supreme Court Decides What an Adverb Modifies & Comma Quirk Irks Rogers

Since beginning this blog, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a good writer and editor (I think it’s more than just grammatical correctness; however, that’s sure one crucial ingredient). I’ve also been thinking about what the implications of good and bad writing and editing can be and how writing and editing skills can effect people beyond their expectations. As these thoughts were roaming around my head, nagging at the back of my consciousness, I ran into two articles that seem to illustrate my point (that writing well is extremely important) to a weirdly heightened degree.  I thought I would share them with you since I found them astonishing, funny, interesting, and bizarre all at once.

In the first one, Supreme Court Decides What an Adverb Modifies, an illegal immigrant being tried for using fake social security and green cards (Flores-Figueroa v. United States) is saved from having an extra two years added onto his sentence by the adverb “knowingly.”

In the second one, Comma Quirk Irks Rogers, a misplaced comma may cost Rogers Communications Inc. an extra $2.13 million to use utility poles in the Maritimes. That’s one mighty piece of punctuation.

Enjoy!

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APA Style Prefers Active Voice!

Probably the most common error in scientific writing is the use of passive voice. According to the APA manual, “verbs are vigorous, direct communicators” and writers should “use the active voice rather than the passive voice” (p. 41, 2.06).

For example, in the passive voice, one might write: “A computer-based approach was designed by the authors to enhance motivation and self-regulated learning.”

To correct this sentence using active voice, one would write: “The researchers designed a computer-based approach to enhance motivation and self-regulated learning.”

More vigorous, yes?

A few other notes about verbs: In scientific writing, it is appropriate, in fact necessary, to use the past tense to address an action that happened in the past, such as when discussing another study. For example, the correct verb is: “Jones and Smith (1994) presented similar results in their study on self-regulated learning.” Using “presented” rather than “present.” This is another extremely common mistake I frequently see in my editing projects.

There are times when a good sentence is best written in passive voice, such as in expository writing, when the focus is the person or object receiving the action rather than on the actor.

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