writing tips

each other vs. one another

Thu, 02 May 2013 07:08:59 -0400

Grammarians disagree about whether this is a rule or a style preference, which tells me that it really is a style preference. Either way, my own preference is that each other refers to two while one another refers to more than two.

The two suspects did not look at each other as they were led into the courtroom.

The four suspects did not look at one another as they were led into the courtroom.

on to versus onto

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:18:15 -0400

Onto is one word when we mean on top of, upon, or into a position that is on something.

On is an adverb followed by the preposition to, and it usually means onward and upward.

Onto examples:

The officer was injured as he jumped onto the roof while chasing the suspect.

Fans chanted “Kevin! Kevin” as the player was loaded onto the stretcher.

Police say a man admitted pushing the victim onto the tracks.

On to examples:

He resigned effective immediately, saying he wanted to move on to new opportunities.

About 60 percent of New York City high school graduates go on to college.

The mother was holding on to her two children when they were swept away by the flood. (This is one case where “on to” doesn’t mean onward and upward)

One trick – if you can insert “up” or “down” before “on,” then onto is the right word, as in: jumped UP onto the roof, loaded UP onto the stretcher, pushed DOWN onto the tracks, etc.

meteorwhatnow?

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 06:42:14 -0500

A meteor is a meteoroid passing through Earth’s atmosphere. Once it has struck Earth’s surface, it’s a meteorite.

OK

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 14:46:28 -0500

You see lots of variation on this. OK, Okay, okay. I prefer the concise OK. And here are its other forms:

OK’d

OK’ing

OKs

pleonasms, or redundant words

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:42:35 -0500

I started thinking about this amid all the coverage of Beyonce’s National Anthem, when many described the song as being “pre-recorded.” The “pre” in this case is redundant. You don’t need it. You get the same meaning by saying “recorded” music.

There are many phrases like this that contain extra words we don’t need.

Here is a list, with the redundant part in parenthesis.

(advance) planning

(advance) reservations

(advance) warning

all meet (together)

(armed) gunman

(12) midnight

(12) noon

12 years (of age)

autobiography (of my life)

(basic) fundamentals

(burning) fire

(close) proximity

cold (temperature)

commute (back and forth)

consensus (of opinion)

(current) situation

each (and every)

(empty) space

(end) result

filled (to capacity)

(free) gift

(frozen) ice

(general) public

green (in color)

join (together)

(natural) instinct

never (at any time)

(null and) void

now (at this time)

(past) experience

(personal) belongings

(poisonous) venom

(pre-)recorded

reason is (because)

(regular) routine

(suddenly) exploded

surrounded (on all sides)

(tragic) death

(unexpected) surprise

whether (or not)

alumni and all those other forms

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:30:09 -0400

Alumni refers to a group of men and women who have attended a school, alumnus refers to a male graduate and alumna refers to a female graduate. Use alumnae for references to more than one female grad.

fiance, fiancee

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:40:00 -0400

Amazing how often I see this mixed up.

Fiance is the man, fiancee is the woman.

punctuation and quotes

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:45:05 -0400

Commas

Commas ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go inside quotation marks.

Example: Clinton’s book, “My Life,” sold 900,000 copies in its first week.

Question marks

They ALWAYS go inside quotation marks, and when we quote someone asking a question, use a question mark and NO comma or period afterward.

Example: “When will police do something about the violence in our neighborhood?” the boy’s mother asked.

Periods

They ALWAYS go inside quotation marks.

Example: The tribute to Houston featured many of her songs, including “I Will Always Love You.”

Semicolons

Semicolons go outside quotation marks.

Example: She said she loved the book “Game Change”; she hasn’t seen the movie yet.

Colons

Colons also go outside quotation marks. This often comes up in headlines.

Example: Christie on “Morning Joe”: I’m Not Running

Introducing direct quotes

Use a comma to introduce a one-sentence quotation within a sentence, but use a colon for quotations of more than one sentence.

Smith said, “We are cooperating with the investigation.”

Smith said: “We are cooperating with the investigation. We deny that any crime took place.”

lie in state

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:23:22 -0500

Only those entitled to state funerals may formally lie in state, and state funerals take place in the Capitol’s rotunda in Washington.

So when an official dies and his casket is placed in a city courthouse, for example, he does not lie in state.

Those automatically entitled to state funerals are the president, former presidents and presidents-elect. Beyond that, the president can designate any others for state funerals.

lots - it never has an apostrophe

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:24:53 -0500

Unless you are referring to Lot’s wife or the parking lot’s borders.

abbreviating the months

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:36:49 -0500

When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

Example: His sentencing was set for Aug. 13.

Spell out all months when using alone, or with a year alone.

Example: The festival takes place every February.
Example: There were fewer bike summonses in October 2010 when compared with October 2009.

what to capitalize in headlines and titles

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:08:54 -0500

Rules on this vary by publication and outlet, so you’ll see acceptable differences everywhere.

Here are my go-to rules for what not to capitalize in basic title case.

Articles: an, the, a

Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for

Short prepositions: as, at, from, in, into, of, off, on, onto, over, to

Important note: when these words are the first or last word in the headline or title, you DO capitalize them.

lie and lay

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:05:58 -0500

To lie means rest in or get into a horizontal position. To lay something means to place it elsewhere, and it always takes a direct object.

Example: He lies on the sidewalk.

Example: The prosecutor plans to lay the case aside until next year.

What complicates this is that the past tense of lie is also lay.

Example: He lay on the sidewalk overnight.

And the past tense of lay is laid.

Example: The prosecutor laid the case aside until next year.

The present participle looks more like the present form. Present participle of lie is lying and of lay is laying.

Example: He is lying on the sidewalk.

Example: The prosecutor is laying the case aside until next year.

holiday style sheet -- my gift to you

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:28:11 -0500

Bible – capitalized on its own, but biblical is lowercase

Champagne – capitalized, as it refers to sparkling wine from a particular region in France

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day – both eve and day are capitalized

dreidel – not capitalized

egg nog – two words, not capitalized

fruitcake – one word, not capitalized

Kriss Kringle, not Kris. It’s derived from the German “Christkindl,” or “baby Jesus”

Kwanzaa – capitalized. Runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1

Magi – capitalized. Refers to the three wise men

Mass – always capitalized, although modifiers like “midnight Mass” are not capitalized

menorah – not capitalized

Nativity scene – only first word is capitalized

New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day – again, both eve and day are capitalized

North Pole – capitalized

yule, yuletide – both lowercase

who and whom

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:08:54 -0500

Who is the subject, and never the object of the sentence.

Example: The suspect, who was arrested Monday, is set to be arraigned on murder charges.

Example: The victim said she did not know the man who robbed her.

Whom is used as the object of the sentence.

Example: The suspect, whom police found hiding in the closet, is set to be arraigned on murder charges.

Example: All 10 victims, only five of whom have been identified, appeared to have connections to the same workplace.

Here’s a trick to test whether you should use whom or who. Try the same phrase with an object pronoun, like him, her or them, and then try it with a subject pronoun, like he, she or they. If the object pronoun works, you use whom. If the subject pronoun works, use who.

Example, using the first who example above:

HE was arrested Monday (subject pronoun)

HIM was arrested Monday (object pronoun)

HE is the one that works, so in that case you’d use who.

Example, using the second who example above:

HE robbed her (subject pronoun)

HIM robbed her (object pronoun)

HE is the one that works, so you use who.

Example, using the first whom example above:

Police found HIM hiding in the closet (object pronoun)

Police found HE hiding in the closet (subject pronoun)

HIM is the one that works, so in that case you’d use whom.

Example, using the second whom example above:

Only five of THEM have been identified (object pronoun)

Only five of THEY have been identified (subject pronoun)

THEM is the one that works, so you’d use whom.

Achilles' heel or Achilles's heel?

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:31:07 -0500

Some tricky apostrophe rules here:

For singular proper names ending in s, the rule calls for only adding an apostrophe, as in Agnes’ book, Tennessee Williams’ plays, Ludacris’ album.

For singular nouns ending in s, you add an ‘s unless the next word begins with an s, as in mistress’s house and mistress’ shoe.

For plural nouns that end in s, add only an apostrophe, like muscles’ pain and mathematics’ rules.

affect and effect

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:36:18 -0500

In most cases, affect is the verb, or action word, while effect is the noun, or object. When something affects a situation, it has an effect on it.

Here’s a trick to help you remember that affect with an “a” is the verb and effect with an “e” is the noun:

The apple affected Amy. The effect was excellent.

some holidays have apostrophes, some don't

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:55:10 -0500

Here are the correct styles:

Veterans Day, no apostrophe.

New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day.

Groundhog Day, not plural.

Presidents Day.

Valentine’s Day.

St. Patrick’s Day.

Fourth of July, July Fourth, Independence Day.

Columbus Day.

farther, further

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:41:54 -0500

Farther is for physical distance, further is for figurative distance and time.

The crash was farther down the road than first reported.

The district attorney promised to investigate further.

you can't evacuate people

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:34:18 -0500

Well you can, but it’s messy. Sorry, I’m from the old school on this. Evacuate means to empty, so when you evacuate people, it means to gut them.

The building was evacuated, the neighborhood was evacuated, the people were not. The people were moved.