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Here a quote, there a quote, everywhere a quote-quote

Monday, September 6th, 2010

When you curl up with a good book, chances are that it’s conversation-heavy. Who doesn’t love coffee and good conversation, after all? Trying to wade through a story that’s all narrative is so boring, it’s like watching your computer defrag.

I tried to read a Jack Kerouac book once that was worse because not only did no one talk, but Kerouac used little punctuation. It was 300-some pages of the world’s longest run-on sentence. He may have thought he was being unconventional and edgy, but the book was a train wreck. My favorite used-book store didn’t even want it for free.

Conversation adds pep to otherwise banal copy.  Features and profiles, such as those you might write about your company’s employees, or success stories that highlight how your products and services solved your customers’ problems, are excellent places to experiment with conversation.

Have some fun with it, too. You don’t have to stick to the traditional he said, she said. Try mixing it up with quotations within quotations or full paragraphs of quoted material. Variety shows off your versatility and helps engage readers.

Quote mark basics

Direct quotes: These are the simplest form of quotations: “Make sure you complete your assignments by Friday,” the teacher said. Robert told his wife, Suzanne, “If you go to the grocery store after work, please don’t forget the eggs.”

Quotes within quotes look like this: “When Bob Marley sang, ‘Man is a universe within himself,’ I think he was right,” Dave said. When an individual is quoting someone else, use single quotes around that content, as in my example. Here’s another one: “Did she ask, ‘What’s going on?’”  The quoted material needs single quotes, ‘What’s going on?’ and then a double quote to complete the thought.

Running quotations: Are you getting a visual of quotations growing legs and chasing you in your nightmares? It’s OK – you’re not alone. This term refers to a full paragraph of quoted material that is followed by a paragraph that continues the quotation. Do not put quotation marks after the first paragraph. Do put quote marks before the second paragraph. Here’s how this works:

“Despite the anemic economy, our company will continue with its long-range marketing plans that we developed last year,” CEO Donald Weiss said. “Our social media initiatives, in particular, are on target and surpass what our competitors are doing. We also plan to build on the momentum we’re gaining from our recent website redesign. (No quote marks here, but use a quote to kick off the next paragraph.)

“Furthermore, our management team is investigating a possible overseas expansion that would include our partners in China, France and Germany,” Weiss added. “This untapped potential could open many new doors for us in terms of market penetration and industry competitiveness.” (The CEO is finally done talking, so you need a quote mark to complete his Very Important Points.)

Unfamiliar terms or irony: Put quote marks around these so they will stand out for readers. She tried to explain what she meant by “knowns” and “unknowns.” Now for irony: The “debate” turned into a free-for-all.

Dialogue or conversation: No matter how many people are speaking and no matter how brief their thoughts are, place them in separate paragraphs, with quote marks at the beginning and end of each person’s comments:

“Will you go with me to Glade Creek?”

“No, I’ll pass.”

“Would you like to go to Lewisburg instead?”

“Sure.”

“When?”

“Let’s go now.”

Avoid fragmented quotations: Don’t use quote marks for a few ordinary words. This sentence is incorrect: The tea party candidate said he would “go home to Florida” if he lost the election. Here’s the correct usage: The tea party candidate said he would go home to Florida if he lost the election. (No quotes.)

Quoted material in headlines: Put single quote marks around any words that you pull from a story. Say you wrote a headline for a story about former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and the copy contained this quote: “I will be glad to testify during my retrial. In fact, the truth will come out when I do.”

The headline would be, Blagojevich: ‘The truth will come out’ at retrial.

That covers most of what you need to know about quotes. If you need help with any copy that falls outside my examples, I’ll be happy to help you sort it all out.

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Use this, not that

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Confusion about similar words abounds, especially when they sound alike. Writers sometimes use one word when they really mean another. Have any of these tripped you up?

Accept, except – These are often misused and confused. Accept means to receive or agree to. Should I accept the gift even though I know it’s really expensive? Except means to exclude. Everyone was invited to the party except Bob.

Aid, aide – Aid is assistance. Aid can also be a verb. Pakistan desperately needs aid to recover from massive flooding. Aide is only a noun and it’s a person who serves as an assistant. As a teachers’ aide, Lori helps students learn to read.

Allude, elude – Allude is an indirect reference to something. The CEO alluded to his company’s acquisition plans. Elude means to escape or avoid detection. The robber eluded police for several days.

Capital, capitol – These are a little tougher. Capital is the city where a seat of government is located. Cheyenne is the capital of Wyoming. Capital also refers to money. The struggling business needs a large infusion of capital to survive. Capitol is the building in which the U.S. Congress or state legislatures meet. Capitalize U.S. Capitol and the Capitol when referring to the building in Washington, D.C., and when writing about state capitols. The meeting was held on Capitol Hill in the west wing of the Capitol. The Virginia Capitol is in Richmond.

Complement, compliment – My personal favorites because so many people confuse them. Complement is a noun and a verb that indicates completeness or the process of supplementing something. Her new shoes complement her dress. Compliment denotes praise. I complimented her on her new dress and shoes.

Conscience, conscious – Conscience is a noun for the sense of moral goodness. She could not, in good conscience, keep the wallet that she found in the park. Conscious is an adjective that means being aware. I am conscious of the fact that he lied to me.

Ensure, insure – Use ensure to mean guarantee. We will pack everything ourselves to ensure that nothing breaks when we move. Use insure for references to insurance. The policy insures his life.

Hangar, hanger – I use these so rarely, I always have to look them up when I do. A hangar is a building. The airplane hangar is just to the left of the terminal. A hanger is used for clothes. I need to trade my wire hangers for wooden ones.

Medal, meddle, metal, mettle – Double your trouble! A medal, often made of metal, is a prize for winning something or doing something brave. She won a silver medal in the marathon. Meddle is to interfere in something that is none of your business. Her nosy neighbor liked to meddle in her private life. Metal is a shiny substance that conducts electricity and heat. The artist makes hanging garden decorations from refurbished metal. Mettle is strength of spirit or temperament. She showed a lot of mettle in finishing the race.

Premier, premiere – As a noun, a premier is a prime minister or a leader of a country. Jean Charest is Premier of Quebec. As an adjective, premiere means first in rank or position. President Obama holds the premiere place in U.S. government. Premiere is also a noun and means a first performance. The premiere of  The Lion King will be next Monday.

Reign, rein – Reign is the period a ruler is on the throne. The king began his reign in 1952. A leather strap for controlling a horse is a rein. I asked Susan to rein in her horse. She took the reins and headed back to the barn.

Sight, site – Sight is the act of seeing. It also relates to something that is seen. My mom and I went sightseeing in Ireland last year. We set our sights on traveling across the entire country, but we ran out of time. Site is about a place. The developer selected the ideal site for the new shopping center.

Stationary, stationery – Stationary means to stand still. The soldier remained stationary in his position. Writing paper is stationery. Now that so many homes and businesses have computers, few people take the time to write letters by hand on stationery.

I could go on because there are many other confusing word combinations, but I’m more interested in any that you get stuck on. Send them my way.

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A down-and-dirty guide to that vs. which

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Explaining the difference between “that” and “which” has been in my idea file for a while. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answer – it’s a common conundrum. Now that I’ve had requests to cover this topic, your wait is over!

I’m all about instant gratification, but first you must grasp essential and nonessential clauses, often referred to as restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses.

You cannot eliminate an essential clause from a sentence without changing the meaning of that sentence. In other words, an essential clause helps define the meaning of a sentence. “That” introduces an essential clause. Some examples follow:

I remember the day that we met in Paris.
This sentence wouldn’t make any sense if I wrote, “I remember the day which we met in Paris.”

That is a decision you must live with.
You’d definitely get some strange looks if you said, “Which is a decision you must live with.”

The senator said that he might run again and that, if he did, Mary Rosenthal would be his campaign manager.
Same principle as the previous examples.

You can delete a nonessential clause from a sentence without changing the basic meaning of that sentence. Think of a nonessential clause as a way to elaborate. “Which” introduces a nonessential clause:

The soccer team’s trophy, which was displayed in the main hallway, is missing.
If you delete the nonessential clause, “which was displayed in the main hallway,” the rest sentence stands on its own. You know that the trophy is missing and, thanks to the nonessential clause, you know where it’s missing from.

He downloaded numerous software updates to his computer, which is the most expensive model he could get.
Taking out, “which is the most expensive model he could get,” doesn’t change the meaning of the rest of the sentence. The nonessential clause just tells you that the guy had a lot of money and could afford a pricey computer.

The company’s new product line includes advanced sorters, which feature adjustable controls and multifunctional monitoring stations, will be unveiled next week.
The important information here is that the company will reveal a new product line next week. If you can’t wait to learn more, the nonessential clause, “which feature adjustable controls and multifunctional monitoring stations,” shares some of the juicy details.

Tip: Essential clauses, phrases or words do not need to be set off from the rest of a sentence, so they don’t need commas. In contrast, commas separate nonessential clauses.

Are you up to speed on “that” vs. “which” now? If you still have questions, check out this excellent Grammar Girl post from Mignon Fogarty.

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Are you spaced out?

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Ali recently asked me why people send us copy that has two spaces after periods and other punctuation. I was tempted to tell her that it could be one of four reasons:  A) Outside writers need more breathing room than we do, B) They’re airheads, C) They were trying to extend their page counts or D) All of the above.

We’ll have to go back in history to the days of typewriters to reveal the answer. Remember typewriters? Yeah, those big mechanical things with keys that struck letters on paper. Not quite as ancient as stone tablets, but many of you may not be old enough to have used one. I learned how in high school, and the teacher drilled into us that we should always, ALWAYS put two spaces at the end of every sentence. Being the drones we were, no one ever asked why.

Here’s why: Typewriters used monospaced fonts. That means every character took the same amount of space. A “k” used the same amount of space as an “m,” for example. Because every letter was the same width, adding two spaces made it easier for readers to see where one sentence ended and the next began.

Thankfully, typewriters are now relegated to the dank, cobweb-ridden shelves of thrift shops and everyone uses computers. Most fonts on computers are proportionally spaced, so the characters are different widths. Adding extra spaces doesn’t improve readability; it only annoys those of us who have to go through the copy and delete them.

As a reminder, we follow AP Style, as do most journalists, publishers, marketers and other professionals. The AP rule is one space after a period at the end of a sentence.

The next time you’re tempted to space out, break the habit. I know you can do it!

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Finding homes for little-used words

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Fellow word nerds may understand my fascination with the English language. The rest of you probably think I’m one sentence shy of needing some serious help. Who else but brainiacs and the truly twisted delve into the dictionary for fun? I don’t enjoy crossword puzzles, but I’ll challenge you to a game of Scrabble® any day.

Do other writers keep mental lists of words that they hope to incorporate into their copy? Hey, I’ll share mine if you’ll share yours! Some words just sound cool, but they are nearly impossible to work into an everyday story. Others are old-fashioned and have fallen out of use. Here are some on my list:

Bacchanal – One of my all-time favorites, but I’ve never been able to use it, mostly because I don’t write about festivals where drunken revelry is the highlight. That’s what the word references – drunken revelry. I suppose if I were writing about this past weekend’s Lollapalooza, I could get the right context. Of course, I’d rather undergo three root canals and a colonoscopy than attend that event.

Besotted – I associate this word with a bygone era. If you’re besotted, you’re infatuated. I was recently infatuated with someone until he turned out to be a liar and a chump. Chump — now there’s a great word, too. My Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary says that chump is a “blend of chunk and lump.” Come to think of it, that’s a pretty accurate description.

Catawampus – My late grandmother used this word when I was a kid and I’ve liked it ever since. It means something is askew, as in, “That picture on the wall is hanging sideways.” According to Dictionary.com, the word originates from 1840 and is the “sort of jocular pseudo-classical formation popular in the slang of those times.” I’m not sure I know what that means, but it sounds impressive.

Wracked – Unless you’re writing about someone who is lying awake at night because of doubt, pain or guilt, this one is a bit tough to work into a story. As an aside, it’s easy to confuse this word with “rack, which means framework. The Associated Press Stylebook entry for “wrack,” “rack,” “wracked” and “racked” is confusing enough to make my head spin. I love a challenge, so maybe this will be a topic for a future Style Guru.

This is just a quick list of some of my favorite words. I’ll reveal more in a future post. (I know you’re going to count the days!) Let me know what words make the grade for you and why. In the meantime, read more about the value of a dictionary and why you should keep one for a reference tool.

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Test Your Grammar IQ

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Who doesn’t relish a challenge, especially when it comes to dependent clauses, parallelism and collective nouns? OK, so that’s a stretch, but go with it. Find the errors in the sentences below and I’ll send you a fabulous prize. Not really, but what have you got to lose?

  • Neither an e-mail or a phone call to the family were returned immediately.

“Neither” is a correlative conjunction, which means it always pairs with “nor.” I also threw in an agreement trick. “Were” is incorrect – it should be “was.” Corrected, the sentence is, “Neither an e-mail nor a phone call to the family was returned.”

  • Marketers say they will devote 41 percent of their 2010 budgets to TV advertising, compared to 51 percent two years ago.

“Compared to” and “compared with” are not interchangeable. Use “compared to” when comparing two or more items that are similar. For example, “She compared her work for the disabled sailors’ organization to her efforts to connect service dogs with wheelchair-bound adults.” Use “compared with” when juxtaposing two or more items to illustrate similarities or differences. The example I provided above should have used, “compared with.”

  • The car moved backwards into oncoming traffic and the impact was really loud.

Although you might think about changing “impact” since incorrect use of the word is a big peeve for me, I threw that in to trip you up. “Backwards” should be “backward.”

  • The way it looks now, he will not be traveling to see his sister since he doesn’t have any money.

I threw this one in as an example of bloat. There’s no reason to write, “he will not be traveling to.”  Instead, write, “The way it looks now, he will not visit his sister because he doesn’t have any money.” Succinct is usually better.

  • The general consensus is that we should close the store next year.

“General consensus” is redundant.

  • If bloggers could figure out a way to monetize their writing, they would be better able to make a living.

Words that end in “ize” are jargon. Please eliminate “monetize,” “monetization” and the like from your copy. Instead, use “revenue,” “make money” or “profit from.”

How did you do? Even if you missed some of these, don’t give up on grammar, style and punctuation. By investing a little time and effort into learning and breaking bad habits, you’ll get better. I’m sorry I don’t have a giveaway, but your reward will be better business communications – and that can only help your company.

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Preposition snafus, plurals and other grammar missteps

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Since newspapers seemingly can’t afford to hire more copyeditors, the ones who are still at the helm are probably overtaxed. I don’t have to hunt for errors anymore – they pop right off the page. I finally finished reading a stack of issues of The Wall Street Journal that had been piling up while I was on vacation and found several mistakes:

July 18

“The Trouble With Teacher Tenure” – Saturday detention for this headline writer. The trouble is he or she forgot there’s more than one teacher in this country. It should be, “The Trouble With Teachers’ Tenure.”

July 14

“Planning for the Unthinkable” – The text in the headline is fine, but the individual who laid out the page put “Planning” and “for” on the first line and “the Unthinkable” on the second deck. So much for not ending headlines with prepositions. Rewrite the headline or move “for” to the second line. (This was in a dreaded “special section,” which in reporters’ parlance, means copy the newsroom has to churn out to fill ad space. Translation: No one read it.)

“He argues that this was even more intrusive ‘because it was done without the knowledge of customer.’” The genius that didn’t catch this mistake must be the same one who believes that only one teacher is working. The error is included in a story about privacy concerns associated with smart phones. Smart-phone makers obviously have more than one customer. (By the way, Associated Press style is smart phones, two words. This is relevant for the next example.)

June 16

In a single issue, the newspaper referenced “smart-phones” and “smartphones.” The paper’s style is “smartphones,” one word.

June 15

“Brown Rice Linked to Lower Diabetes Risk.” The issue here is that the paper ended the first deck of the headline with the preposition, “to.”

That’s enough picking on The Wall Street Journal for now. I need to spread the wealth.

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Who vs. whom

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Imagine my despair when I realized I’m down to the grammar dredges in my ideas folder. Those would be my least favorites, such as “who” vs. “whom” and “that” vs. “which.” I guess I can’t avoid these forever, so I’ll start with “who” vs. “whom.”

Who/whom is one of the more difficult English grammar distinctions to remember. Even in college, I always thought of it as royal pain, especially in Professor Pamela Yagle’s introductory grammar and style classes. Seriously, who (or is it whom?) says, “Whom did you vote for?” or “You asked whom to the dance?” Throw a sentence like that out at your next office party and you’ll be eating lunch alone until you retire. You might as well grow Vulcan ears and a tail.

I’ll spare you all the technical grammatical explanations that go along with subjective and objective personal pronouns and skip right to the best part – the shortcut. And you get it for free! Back in the day, I usually had to rely on the “he/him” trick to figure out the correct word. I’ll admit I still have to use it at times, but at least I’m human, which is more than you can say for the Office Social Outcast above.

Check to see which pronoun can replace the questionable word: If it can be replaced with “he,” use “who.” If “him” fits better, use “whom.” It’s not infallible, but it will work a lot of the time.

Here are some examples:

Who/whom went on vacation last week?
He went on vacation. That means “who” is correct.

The adviser who/whom the president said had leaked the information was asked to resign.
The president said he had leaked the information, therefore, “who” is correct.

Who/whom did the grand jury indict?
The grand jury indicted him, therefore, “whom” is correct.

Justin, who/whom we all love to hear sing, will not be at the concert next week.
We love to hear him sing, so “whom” is correct.

I need to explain another trick – “they/them.” Some people would charge you big bucks for this knowledge, but I believe in sharing. To figure out which word to use in the following sentences, replace “who” with “they” and “whom” with “them.”

Research has shown that children who/whom have been overprotected often become adults for who/whom life is difficult beyond the family circle.
They have been overprotected, therefore, the correct word is “who” in the first part of the sentence and life is difficult for them beyond the family circle, so the correct word is “whom” in the last part of the sentence.

If you’d like a more detailed explanation of sentence construction using “who” and “whom,” check out When Words Collide: A Media Writer’s Guide to Grammar and Style. You can pick one up for about $20 and it’s loaded with other excellent information that will help you in all forms of writing.

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Diagramming sentences: What’s that?

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Trying to ease back into Style Guru mode on the heels of vacation is a fruitless endeavor. My mind is focused on mountains, vineyards and sunsets – not dangling modifiers, misplaced clauses and subject-verb agreement.

Between winery tours in Virginia, one of my friends, who teaches reading in elementary school, told me that schools no longer teach kids how to diagram sentences. What? Are you kidding me? We’re both 40-something and this skill was ingrained in us. The Schoolhouse Rock series reinforced what we’d learned (“Conjunction Junction” was always one of my favorites) in a way that just about all of my classmates could absorb.

The kids at my friend’s school learn about articles, prepositions, conjunctions and such, but they don’t have to identify the subject, noun, verb, adjective and other basic parts of a sentence. That’s what diagramming is all about, and it’s not rocket science. Did someone decide it’s too difficult?

Occasionally, I run across tests that children in the 1800s had to pass to move on to the next grade and they’re exceptionally more difficult than anything I had to take. Maybe not teaching how to diagram a sentence goes along with the general dumbing down of America.

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Delivering a eulogy for ‘in order to’

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Here lies “in order to.” People loved the phrase so much; they used it in just about every context – from white papers and websites to newsletters and blogs. I lost count how many times it showed up, along with how many gray hairs it gave me. I know you will all miss the phrase and recall it fondly, but now it’s time to say goodbye.

This may surprise you, but there’s no reason to use “in order to” in your copy when you can use “to.” It won’t change the meaning and it’s more succinct. Read more about word economy here.

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