A US Copy Editor's Perspective: Frequently Misspelled Words

As an author, blogger and copy editor, I have a close and continuing interaction with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (Web11), as my US spelling guide and The Chicago Manual of Style, Sixteenth Edition (16CMS), as my US grammar reference.

Should 16CMS and Web11 ever contradict, 16CMS rules—particularly 16CMS 7.85 which overrides some Web11 spellings. Also Microsoft Word (MSWord) does not strictly follow Web11 (except for maybe its 2013 update, which I understand allows you to select Web11 as your default dictionary). Just because MSWord's spell-check program accepts a word as valid doesn't make it necessarily so.

Note that the first Web11 entry is the preferred spelling.

Our English language is full of exceptions and surprises, even when comparing the UK standard to our usage in the States. Here are just a few of the words I find most often misspelled:

toward [Web11's preferred spelling is without a terminal S]
backward
forward
downward
upward
backyard (n/adj)
seat belt (n)
rib cage (n)
mind-set (n)
hardworking (adj)

knelt [preferred over “kneeled”]

lit [preferred over “lighted”]

by-product (n)

side-by-side (adj)

side by side (adv)

naive [the unaccented version is preferred by Web11]

formfitting (adj)

halfhearted (adj)

heavyset (adj)

facade [the unaccented version is preferred by Web11]

oversize (adj) [note the absence of a terminal D]

heads-up (n)

T-shirt (n/adj) [note the initial cap T]

teenage (adj) [note the absence of a terminal D]

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

A US Copy Editor's Perspective: Repetitions

With 80 percent visual recall, I am wired to find repetitions in manuscripts.

Defined

A rep or reps, as I will call them now, can be any duplicated word (no matter what term, other than articles, like the and a; conjunctions, as in and or but; and assorted elemental items). Note that the dialogue tag said is not considered a rep in the usual sense, as I understand our minds gloss over it—although you don't need "he said" or "she said" for every single speaker, if conversation is properly written. But that discussion is for later.

Such reps can be found within one line, sentence, paragraph, scene or novel. Remember this quote?

It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

What a great line, appearing only at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice. Smart. Use it once, it's unique. Twice would be a rep, diluting its rarity, its surprise for the reader.

Reps can be a word (like just appearing fifty times in as many pages) or an overused phrase (e.g., on the other hand, etc.).

So they can take many forms, from one word to a full sentence or more, and don't necessarily need to be located side by side.

In fact reps may appear from book to book. While you may think your readers won't notice that you've replicated your car chase scene or your love scene from your previous novel into your current one, I don't advise doing that. Someone will recognize this and might even feel shortchanged because a new one wasn't written to entertain us with.

Also sentence construction counts for a rep, in my opinion. If you continually start off your sentences with "She..." or an intro phrase, you need to mix things up. I have to watch my propensity for too many stand-alone phrases which begin with And or But, as that too qualifies as a rep.

Even if you strictly follow form as to the variety of rhetorical devices available to us authors, don't incorporate four different kinds in the same paragraph. You have again stripped the power from each. Choose one, integrating the main idea/theme that fits this particular scene of yours, and cut the rest. Also, when using rhetorical devices, your choice of repeating word is critical. Don't waste it. Choose a hard-hitting term with plenty of emotional resonance. Or it will just appear to be the run-of-the-mill rep that it is.

I would go so far as to say that having a well-known line from someone else's novel/movie set forth also in your book is both a rep and a bad idea. Unless you want your reader knocked out of your story, already popping in the Pride & Prejudice DVD, all because you added that line, "A thousand times, yes," in your own tale.

How to Fix

As a copy editor, I either delete the majority of reps or find a suitable replacement word where applicable. For example, instead of walked, there is strolled, sauntered, paced. That takes time.

Cutting is faster. However, the reader will have no idea how many I've already taken out. Even though greatly reduced, those reps left within a book may still seem like too many. It's all relative, isn't it? So beware.

I especially delete instances where the same body language is consistently used: He smiled. (Maybe shows up five times on the same page. Readers will notice and be focused on the wrong thing.) She laughed. (Not good to see this in every other paragraph of a dialogue exchange. Better to use the "she said" tag instead of a repetitious action line.) He ran his hand through his hair. (Need to find more than one mannerism to give to each character. Plus this one is clichéd, and a new one is called for.)

As an Indie author, I find my own reps in my first drafts, when copyediting my work. We all have a set peculiar to each of us. Keep a list of yours and search for them within your MSWord doc and weed them out. Maybe even add your own selection of alternatives to your cheat sheet.

Vary your sentence/paragraph lengths as well as your sentence patterns.

Compare what word starts off each of your chapters and paragraphs. Add variety. Take away the same ol', same ol'.

If you didn't read the Defined part of this post, at least review the last two paragraphs on rhetorical devices and adding in famous lines right before this How to Fix section. They already contain the suggested corrections therein.

We are authors, originators. While I think all people have some imagination, surely we, as creative types, have more. And we can command an even greater word base by consulting Web11 or a thesaurus to find another noun/verb/adjective that fits, without boring our reader with a limited vocabulary.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

A US Copy Editor's Perspective: Trademarks

Defined

For our purposes, a general definition for trademarks would be brand names, usually starting with a capital letter (exceptions are the eBay store and iPod products, for example).

Web11

Web11 gives these marks their own entry in the dictionary. Instead of listed as a part of speech (noun, verb, etc.), each is designated clearly as trademark. The only problem with this is that Web11 was issued in 2007 and a lot can happen since then. Remember trademarks can become generic, like a book whose copyright has expired then falls in the public domain.

You can visit the United States Patent & Trademark Office at http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/ to search and confirm a trademark name. However, as you'll find out once you get there, one brand can be within several different (unrelated) markets. So your search may end up with more hits than you care to sift through.

I prefer to search the Internet for the brand's actual website. It's cleaner, quicker. If there is no Legal link, then Terms of Use should give all the trademarks related to your searched-for term.

16CMS

Per 16CMS 8.152, the wording of this rule discourages using trademarks (unless you own them):

Should be capitalized if they must be used. A better choice is to substitute a generic term when available.

Applications

As a copy editor within the world of traditional publishing, I would suggest not inputting trademarks in your work for various reasons. Some trademark owners are very strict in the utilization of their brand, requiring it be an adjective, not a noun or a verb. Some trademark holders refuse its use by others in general, whereas some brand owners are more limited in this restricted approach. However, you do not want to find out about these conditions after you have already added the brand name(s) in your book(s). So I would suggest checking first with your local patent and trademark attorney, unless you have written authorization from the rightful trademark owner for your particular application of their brand name, before typing that mark in your manuscript.

From purely a copy editor's viewpoint, it takes time to fact-check trademarks. You would think it would be a quick job, but it's not. First, read the authorized website. Second, if the brand involves a number, you may find it both ways: numeric and written out, even within its authorized website. Third, oftentimes on the Net, many sites refer to these in all caps to avoid such fact-checking enterprises. So ignore those. Fourth, many brands are very creative in their spelling, and their use of hyphens and apostrophes. If you use a trademark, make sure it is correct.

Then as a reader and an Indie author, I prefer the less-trademarks-is-more approach. The only two exceptions that immediately come to my mind would be regarding makes of cars—where clarifying a souped-up racer over the family station wagon, either generally or specifically, is always the correct way to go—and guns. Otherwise a barrage of trademarks to impress me as to the wealth of a book character tends to do two things: first, it turns me off as superficial and fake (along the lines of "doth protest too much"), which has just negated the author's efforts to convince me of this fictional character's rich status. Second, it completely draws me out of the story as my focus has been diverted by a commercial mass of initially capped words. I doubt that was its creator's intent either.

Therefore, use trademarks wisely.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

A US Copy Editor's Perspective: Prefixes DO NOT TAKE HYPHENS IN GENERAL USAGE

Most prefixes don't take hyphens when joined with a word. There are exceptions, but, if you always take out the hyphen, you'll be right many more times than you'll be wrong.

If you want to know a tad more about the exceptions, then leave in the hyphen when two Is (anti-inflammatory for example) or two As (intra-arterial) come together. This is generally correct all the time. 16CMS* 7.85. However, when two Es fall together, look up each such conjoined word in Web11**. This combo seems to have many more exceptions, such as these dictionary entries: preemergence yet pre-engineered.

Also anytime a prefix or suffix is added to a proper noun, a hyphen (or sometimes an N-dash) is needed.

Back to prefixes in general.

In Web11, you'll find these prefixes listed with a hyphen following each entry: anti-, bi-, mid-, pre-, etc., but THE HYPHEN IS JUST TO HIGHLIGHT ITS PREFIX CAPABILITY. DO NOT USE THE HYPHEN WHEN JOINING WORDS TO THESE PREFIXES in general. Just like when looking up other words within Web11, you'll find "distinguisher" elements depending on how the word is used: adverb, adjective, preposition, etc. So the prefix form may be designated by the hyphen after (or the hyphen before when speaking of suffixes), but that is all it is. An identifier. Remember "less" is a word in and of itself, and yet "-less" is the suffix form. Again the hyphen (before or after) is just to highlight how this particular prefix/suffix entry is available for joining with other words. WITHOUT THE HYPHEN. Here are four examples taken directly from Web11: childless, witless, dauntless, fadeless.

Can you tell this is a particular pet peeve of mine? Ha! We all have them. This is one of mine. But it also makes me a great copy editor.

And I share this knowledge to help make your manuscripts shine with a professional polish. Best wishes and many successes to us all.

*CMS = The Chicago Manual of Style, Sixteenth Edition
**Web11 = Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

A US Copy Editor's Perspective: What Are the Two Most Common Errors Found in Manuscripts?

Hyphens and commas.

Hyphens

The majority of the errors of the first can be corrected simply by consulting Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (Web11), either manually or possibly from selecting Web11 as your default dictionary within Windows 8 or Microsoft Word (MSWord) 2013. Since I have neither, I am going by secondhand info here.

However, I do know firsthand that my MSWord 2010 edition does not have Web11 as its default for spell-checking functions, because there are misspelled words that are overlooked and correct words that have suggested spelling options given for them.

I bought a hard copy of Web11 and uploaded on my computer the disk that came with it. I use the resident soft copy as it's great and much faster than any free online Internet version while that remains as an option. Remember also that the online version does not give you full access to all the Web11 entries that are within the hard copy or its soft copy.

There are many hyphenation exceptions (like when two As or two Is are run together, and sometimes when two Es are found side by side), but your copy editor can help out there for all you Indie authors.

Of course the Web11 is for US authors. UK authors and others around the globe have their own preferred reference and style guides.

Commas

In general there are five easy rules for authors to know about in dealing with commas. The rest can be covered when your copy editor reviews your manuscripts. Here's my choice five:

16CMS 6.24 (paraphrased): Parenthetical elements midsentence take a pair of commas. Example: I was, at the least, mortified. NOTE: This sentence still makes perfect sense when you delete the phrase, the pair of commas and what was in between. Ending up with this: I was mortified.

16CMS 6.25 (paraphrased): The only one-word intros that require commas are: therefore, indeed and however. Example: However, I was tired. NOTE: When internally placed, a pair of commas is needed (per 16CMS 6.24 above). As in: I was, however, tired. Otherwise I would suggest no commas for other single words, especially with stand-alone LY-ending adverbs, unless for a pause effect or to add clarity for the reader.

16CMS 6.28 (paraphrased): If you have two complete sentences (each with its own subject and verb) that are conjoined by a conjunction, then a comma must precede the conjunction. Example: I had to run to the store for bread, but I needed to leave soon to avoid traffic. NOTE: Here is an exception example: I suppose that you know what you are doing and you can be trusted. Technically "I suppose that" is shared by both parts of this sentence, with "I" as the shared noun and "suppose" as the shared verb, so no comma is needed before its conjunction "and."

16CMS 6.29 (paraphrased): If a noun is shared within two clauses conjoined by a conjunction, no comma is needed before the conjunction. Example: I had to run to the store for bread and would need to leave soon to avoid traffic. NOTE: "I" is the shared noun here. Because each phrase is not a complete sentence on its own, no comma precedes the conjunction "and" here (as also discussed in 16CMS 6.28 above).

16CMS 6.36 (paraphrased): If your intro phrase has a verb in it, then a comma should follow that phrase. Example: If you had not driven me, I am sure I would have gotten lost.

Again there are many exceptions within 16CMS as to usages of commas (like none are needed around Jr. or Sr. or III as referring to names). These your copy editor can address.

In Closing

Per 16CMS 7.85, "In general, Chicago [Manual of Style] prefers a spare hyphenation style..."

Per 16CMS 6.16, the comma is for "a slight pause" or for "ease of reading."

As a copy editor and an Indie author, I am very interested in making our Indie manuscripts as professional as possible. To that end I believe both author and copy editor alike should always consult Web11 first, then 16CMS second, especially if you are an Indie author who is not a copy editor and has also chosen not to use such services. Whether you attempt to tackle the five comma rules above is up to you and how much you love learning more about our English language as used here in the States. But if you do, you will have given your manuscript an undeniable polish.

Best wishes to all.

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

Two More Grammar Lessons

Again, these are basics addressed here, yet I see misused too often in print.  So, today's grammar lessons are on (1) double versus single quotes and (2) hyphenated words versus compound words.

Double versus Single Quotes

Double quotes surround any dialogue.  That's the easiest-to-remember rule.  Example:  "I'm going to the grocery store.  Y'all want anything?" she asked. 

Just remember to use them in pairs.  UNLESS you have a multiple-paragraph monologue spoken by a single speaker, then start each paragraph with an opening quote for paragraph one, paragraph two, on to the ending paragraph.  Which is the only paragraph that ends with a closing quote (see CMS 11.36).

Double quotes can also surround text that is not dialogue.  Example:  She didn't consider herself a "real" author because she had not yet sold anything. 

In the above context, the quotations around the word real were used to show emphasis, just as my italicized font of the same word produces its own emphasis.  Whether you use quotes or italics probably depends on what other quotes and italics are nearby, in my opinion.  Keep 'em varied yet concise and clear is my mantra.

Single quotes are ONLY used within double quotes.  Example:  "Do you know what he said to me?" she yelled.  "He said, 'You are no longer pretty to me anymore.' He told me that to my face.  Can you believe it?" she railed, then fell into the chair exhausted. 

That is the ONLY time you use single quotes.  If I can later think of any exception to this rule, I'll let you know.

Hyphenated Words versus Compound Words

A compound word is just that:  two words, equally usable alone, one word here and another word there, but with a third existence as a compound word.  Examples:  paperwork, homework, silverware, stemware, lovemaking. No hyphens are found within these compound words.  They are not compound words if a hyphen rightfully belongs between.

I find a lot of improperly hyphenated words in my reading.  It may boil down to something as simple as not being able to interpret Webster's correctly.  Anyway, that is my assumption here as it can be misleading when you look up any prefix or suffix.  Examples:  pre-, post-, anti-, mid- for prefixes and -ful and -less for suffixes.

Even though "pre-" has its own entry within Webster's, that DOES NOT MEAN all words that start with this prefix must have the hyphen next.  Wrong.  The hyphenated entry highlights the prefix nature of this combination of letters.  The hyphen denotes the need for this prefix to be joined with other words.  The hyphen at the END of this prefix demands that any conjoining of a word must be at the back end.

Just like a suffix such as "-less" and "-ful" only allow for mating with a word at the front end.  You do NOT retain the hyphen.  Examples:  mindless and roomful.

These prefixes and suffices are NOT WORDS.  Not in their standalone hyphenated forms found in Webster's.  These are simply letter groupings awaiting a word to complete them.

I have Webster's uploaded to my laptop so I can see a listing of all words combined with "pre-" that are deemed hyphenless by Webster's.  If a particular word is not on that list, then, yes, it should be written to include the hyphen.

Within its many incarnations, whether online, digital or hardcopy, Webster's uses a raised dot to separate its syllables.  For a TRUE hyphenated usage, there is a longer hyphen shown.  I presume that is to differentiate it from the shorter hyphenlike dividers used within its pronunciation guide falling directly below or behind the syllable view of the word.  To avoid confusion.  Which we should all keep in mind.

As with most English grammar rules, there are exceptions.  In the preceding paragraph, I used the word hyphenlike.  It is not found in Webster's whether I look up "hyphenlike" or "hyphen-like" or under just "-like."  Therefore I have chosen to conjoin the noun with the suffix.  You will note though that Webster's separates any occurrence of three Ls in a row by inserting a hyphen.  Example:  bell-like (per Webster's).  That's a good rule to follow as three Ls in a row makes a red flag pop up in my mind with a misspelling alert.

Believe me, you do not want your readers stopping midsentence to question you on your spelling or grammar.  You do not want confused readers either.  So keep these structural basics in mind especially as we authors create our novels.  However, it is just as useful in the business world or when writing a complaint letter or a love letter, for that matter.

Communication is critical.  How many problems have erupted from a sheer miscommunication?  So let's try to avoid all that and get our thoughts and desires eloquently and succinctly shared with our intended audience.

P.S.  As I end this blog, I am reminded that some people will misinterpret what we are saying, no matter how painstakingly well said, based on their own experiences or mind-set.  We have no control over that.  A man who thinks all women love shopping for clothes in a mall is the victim of a generalization and, while I cannot change that oversimplification, I can choose to not be around him as his personification would irk me to no end.  I hate being lumped into a grouping where I do not belong.  My uniqueness is smothered, suffocated.  For all my commonalities with the female sex, I am an individual and like being seen for my own attributes.

Just like the credo for authors (every reader is not your intended audience), there is a similar axiom for people (everyone will not like you or see you for who you are).  That is why those rare few who see me as I see me are so precious to me.

Seek those in your life.  You will be richly rewarded.

Quick Grammar Lesson Number Three: Proper Nouns/Names

To cap or not to cap, that is the question here for our Indie-publishing authors.

This one is easy.  If you can find the name on a map (for an actual geographic place/landmark) or on a birth certificate (for real people such as factual details for a biographical work), each are proper nouns/names and should be initial capped (each word starts with a capital letter).  Same thing holds true for your fictional towns and made-up characters because your readers expect a character's name as well as that character's town/city and state to take that format.

Of course, shortening Elizabeth to Liz is commonplace and both require a capital letter at the beginning, because even though Elizabeth may be one lady's given name and thus shown on her birth certificate, so can Liz be someone else's actual given name and also typed that way on her particular birth certificate.  A shortening of a name does not make it a nickname per se.

However, true nicknames, pet names, not a derivative of a first name, such as sugar, sweetheart, dumpling, honey, baby, sweet pea, etc., would all be as shown here with no initial caps.  Just to be clear, I am only using italics for emphasis.  When you use a nickname in your manuscript, no italics are necessary, unless you are being snide or snarky and want to show that to your readers.

Look up within Webster's "nickname" and then "proper name" which bounces immediately to "proper noun" for the distinctions discussed here.  Your chosen style manual should confirm as well.

There are accepted exceptions to every rule, but just keep in mind what makes it clear to your reader.  Like if your heroine's name actually is Sugar . . .

Next Grammar Lesson: Dealing with N-Dashes and M-Dashes

You can go your whole life without needing these two.  HOWEVER, if you are an Indie-pubbed (my shorthand term) author doing it all yourself, you have need to know.  These punctuation marks are also called the En Dash and the Em Dash.

As set forth in earlier posts, my style guides—as a freelance corporate copy editor and as an author—include Webster's 11th edition and the Chicago Manual of Style 15th edition (or more commonly called the CMS, used for both novels and nonfiction work).   You may need a medical-based style manual or, if you write for newspapers, you will be using the Associated Press Stylebook aka the AP Stylebook.  Choose yours.  No matter the reference guide, there are still unifying guidelines throughout.  Like using nouns, verbs, punctuation marks.  Like if you are a U.S.–based English-speaking person, spelling book as B-O-O-K.

For those of you interested, the N-dash along with the M-dash can be found within MSWord's word processing system under the Insert tab, then choose Symbol and finally click on the Special Characters tab.  The regular old dash we all use to make hyphenated words is the shortest.  Then the N-dash is a little longer, but the M-dash is the longest.  You may have used one without knowing it.  Anytime you have used a double dash to add in a side thought, well, you were using the shorthand typing version of the M-dash.

Here's an example of where each should be used:

Hyphen:             He is one good-looking guy.
N-Dash:            The verse can be found at James 1:1–3.
Also N-Dash:    A North Dakota–style cold front struck our southern city. 
M-Dash:           She was young and tanned and probably weighed 120 pounds—oh, for the day when my scale stopped there!
Also M-Dash:    "I just thought—" she bit her lip "—that you cared for me."

So hyphens we probably all know how to use within the grammatically correct sphere, or can confirm with a quick check of Webster's.

If you are with a big or little publishing house, their production department works with the design of the books and the special characters, so they will have people to change any misused hyphens to their proper N-dash or M-dash punctuation before the manuscript is printed.

Again, if you are both the publisher and the author of your Indie works, then here's the scoop:

The N-dash is used for numbers (like the Bible verse quoted above) or for two-word proper nouns being modified into an adjective grouping (like North Dakota–cold being used as an adjective.)

The M-dash is for those off-tangent thoughts, to set them apart from the main line of thinking.  The M-dash can also be used within dialogue (see above) in place of the ellipsis (that three-dot punctuation mark that denotes a longer pause than say a comma and probably an interrupted speech pattern, either cut short by the speaker or by another person).

Webster's remains a monster go-to reference guide and, I'll repeat from yesterday's post, it gives a short grammar lesson when you look up "apostrophe."

The difference in the length of each of these dashes is miniscule, yet I think it serves a great function.  Even if our eye registers the three of them as "alike," I think our brain connotes the difference and gives each its own weight.  Like the shortest one, the hyphen, the dash, makes two-word combos into, essentially, one word.  Our readers skim over them just like the word "a."

I believe the N-dash is there to cause our neurons to take note, to take just a jot's pause to realize we may have read the location for looking up one verse, but it is actually the span of several.  Or to give our northern-based readers cause to smile when they read of a North Dakota–cold weather front hitting the South.  And the big one—the M-dash.  Shows us to take a moment to shift gears.

Our English grammar rules really do serve a function.  Like well-placed commas tell a reader when to pause and a period when to stop, then move on.  Isn't it wonderful that we can communicate to our readers "watch out, missing letter(s) here" by the simple use of an appropriately placed apostrophe.  It kind of boggles the mind.  Like the order of the universe.  But that's just it in a nutshell.  Order.  So consult your reference guides, or hire a qualified freelancer, and keep on learning.

P.S.  See today's additional Quote below, courtesy of Michelangelo.  It is so appropriate.  He states "I am still learning."  So true!

Two Down and Dirty (and Easy to Remember) English Grammar Tips

I need to know this stuff to make for clean, concise communication when I copy edit another author's work, as well as for my own use when I am writing my novels and in my nonfiction How-To books.  So I'll share my insights with you, distilling down a select pair here to its essence--what it does, how it works in our sentences.  If you understand the "why," then it is easier to replicate later.

This post has to do with commas and apostrophes.  Before you change screens, answer me this:  Do you know how to make "you all" into the proper contraction?  It ain't "ya'll" if that was your first response.

APOSTROPHES

Just remember that ONE of the ways to use an apostrophe is to show A MISSING LETTER OR TWO.  So, you all would properly become y'all.  Do not becomes don't.  Cannot (yes, run together, not two separate words--check out Webster's for yourself) becomes can't.  Whenever you have a missing letter or two, that is where you place the apostrophe.  So "because" would become "she said so just 'cause."

Another usage of apostrophes is to show possession, but that gets involved, what with plural possessive alone, so we'll just skip that until I have the time for another grammar lesson.

COMMAS

There is some debate about the serial comma--for example:  She carried her books, lunch and coat in her arms versus She carried her books, lunch, and coat in her arms.  I happen to think the first version is the way to go.  And for a couple reasons.  Number one, it's less messy, less cluttered.  But, number two,  mainly because of this tip:  When using a comma to separate individual adjacent words (apart from the clause-based comma as shown outside of the closing parenthesis here), only use a comma where there is not already an "and" (avoid duplication) or where "and" would still work (ensure clarity).  A comma CAN mean "and."  You don't need both, in my opinion.  Therefore, if you already have an "and" there, don't use the comma.

Plus there are some cases where an adverb modifies an adjective or another adjective modifies an adjective and you don't need a comma because you don't need an "and" there.  Here's a sentence to illustrate:  They were having pretty cold weather.  In this instance, "pretty"--which can be an adjective, noun, adverb or verb--is working as an adverb.  "Cold" is acting as an adjective modifying the noun "weather."  But you don't even have to have a working knowledge of adverbs vs. adjectives vs. nouns.  All you need to know is that you do not need a comma between serial words if "and" would not work there in its place.

Again back to our sample sentence:  They were having pretty cold weather.  If you believe this sentence needs two commas, insert an "and" where you think the commas should go.  Try reading this and maintaining the intent of the original sentence:  They were having pretty and cold and weather.  Not good.

What if you decide it just needs one comma?  Then you end up with a sentence (under the "and" construction) that would read:  They were having pretty and cold weather.  Still not the meaning intended.  Therefore, I contend this sentence needs no commas because "and" does not work in its stead.

Does that help?  I hope so.  Whether we are authors or bloggers or have need to write something for general consumption, we should communicate clearly.  Commas, of course, can have other usages--like setting off an introductory phrase as I already pointed out above or it can set off a phrase within a sentence in such a way that if you took out the opening comma and the closing comma and all the words in between, then the sentence would still make sense when read (like taking out ", of course," near the beginning of this sentence).

The English language is replete with grammar and spelling rules.  Some make sense, some don't.  But regardless of whether you are writing for a literary audience or a reading-for-fun audience, whether you are writing dialect (y'all) or colloquialisms (soft drink vs. pop) or slang (gonna) or jargon (send the RFA and RFP ASAP to the DA), you now know if you need commas and also where to place the apostrophe when you cut out some letters from the Webster-based spelling of a word.

Even Webster's will give you a short grammar lesson when you look up the word "apostrophe."

Oh, and you should have your favorite reference books from which you can state, "This is why I do this."  Be it Webster's 11th Edition and the Chicago Manual of Style 15th/16th Editions (for fiction and nonfiction)--which happen to be my two go-to volumes--or the Associated Press Stylebook (aka AP Stylebook for newspapers), at least have a standard to follow.  There are various style manuals out there.  Search the web for the medical-related version and others for the one you most need.

While you are searching the internet, Webster's has an online dictionary that now has a tab entitled "New Words & Slang" which may be of help to you.   Look for it at http://nws.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/ or check out http://urbandictionary.com.

A final note.  There is such a thing as a "style sheet" within the traditional publishing houses.  It is called a "sheet" and not a "manual" because it is just that--pages, not a bound book for sale.  For the house where I freelance, they have chosen to override certain Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) rules.  The "style sheet" DOES NOT replace the 956-page CMS "style manual."  That would be like saying the list of the twenty words that the local third-grade students need to learn to spell by next week will now replace ANY dictionary.  No.  Of course not.

I hope this sheds a little light on a very complex subject.  For us authors, we need to be some order of grammarians to communicate well with our readers.  When I was young and devouring books, I sat with a dictionary by my side, looking up words that I did not understand.  Now that I am an adult and an author, I really don't want my educated readers pulling out Webster's like a challenge in Scrabble to prove whether or not my word was misspelled.  I don't want my novels interrupted by anything--for I want my readers to finish my books in one sitting.  To be that engrossed in my creation is my goal.  Thus, I plan on removing any such distractions from within my tales.

So turn on spell check and grammar check within your word processing system for your commercial writings, as well as clicking the spell check icon provided for within your blog or your email program or even on the Kindle Boards.  Utilizing this simple tool will stop your reader from taking an unplanned detour from your words to consult a dictionary instead.