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Twenty-first Century Grammar   and the Serial Comma

Twenty-first Century Grammar   and the Serial Comma. Grant Writers' Network of Greater Houston Brownbag Meeting April 14, 2010 Ann B. May Hewlett –Packard Company Houston, Texas. What hasn’t changed. Punctuation Grammar Spelling.

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Twenty-first Century Grammar   and the Serial Comma

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  1. Twenty-first Century Grammar  and the Serial Comma • Grant Writers' Network of Greater Houston Brownbag Meeting • April 14, 2010 • Ann B. May • Hewlett –Packard Company • Houston, Texas

  2. What hasn’t changed • Punctuation • Grammar • Spelling

  3. What has changed and why? Influence of the Internet & social media Bad Good Shorter sentences More labels and headings • Explosion of fonts, colors, and formatting • Skimming • Searching • Linking and jumping around • Texting and email • Slashes and dashes

  4. Other trends • Gender-neutral • Acronyms that use s (not ‘s) for plural forms • Compounds moving from hyphenated compound to a closed compound (online, onsite) • Less punctuation in general • New words

  5. Three grammar rules that can now be broken • Never end a sentence with a proposition. • Never split an infinive. • Never begin a sentence with a conjunction. Words such as and, but, or, nor, if, because, since, however, yet

  6. Apostrophes Use an apostrophe for three reasons: • To show possession • To indicate a contraction (don’t, the ‘80s) • To prevent misreading in plurals of letters or some words (p’s and q’s and do’s and don’t’s) Usage change: Do not use apostrophes to make words or acronyms or decades plural. If in doubt, leave it out.

  7. Possessive pronouns do not need apostrophes Possession Contraction it’s (it is) you’re (you are) • its • your • his • hers

  8. Quotation marks When used with other punctuation: • Periods and commas (the little things) go inside quotation marks • Colons and semicolons go outside • Question marks and Exclamation marks (the tall marks): it depends Creative punctuation [Not “Creative” punctuation] http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/

  9. Comma errors Rule: use a comma and a conjunction to join two independent clauses in compound sentences. • Don’t use a comma if you have a compound verb. • We will send the package by FedEx, and follow up with a phone call. (incorrect) • We will send the package by FedEx and follow up with a phone call. (correct) • Don’t use a comma by itself • We will send the package by FedEx, later we will follow up with a phone call. (incorrect) • We will send the package by FedEx, and later we will follow up with a phone call. (correct)

  10. Commas, continued • Commas in a series of items (the serial comma) • Most style guides (and English teachers) say to use it consistently to prevent misunderstanding. • Technical editors say to use it consistently. • Journalism teachers say to leave it out. • Commas to set off nonessential information. • If you use a comma to set off a parenthetical phrase, an unessential phrase, use two commas. If the phrase is at the beginning or end of the sentence you only need one comma.

  11. Common grammar problems • Subject-verb agreement: look for the subject • Don’t be tricked by words in between the subject and the verb. An important function of the managers are delegating responsibility. (incorrect) An important function of the managers is delegating responsibility. (correct)

  12. Modifiers that are unclear or are too far from the word they modify • Dangling participles • While reading the report, the conclusion became clear. (incorrect) • While reading the report, I quickly reached a conclusion. (correct) • http://www.infoplease.com/cig/grammar-style/dangling-modifiers-counterintelligence.html has good examples of dangling modifiers.

  13. Misplaced modifiers Make sure you get the modifier close to the word it modifies. • She borrowed a computer from a coworker with insufficient memory. • She borrowed a computer from a coworker, but it had insufficient memory. • The computer that she borrowed from a coworker had insufficient memory. #1 may be true, but it is probably not the intended meaning. Rewrite the sentence.

  14. Ambiguous antecedents It’s better to repeat the word itself than use a pronoun. • If the computer prints an extra page, throw it away. (This could be interpreted as throw away the printer.) • If the computer prints an extra page, throw the page away.

  15. Latin abbreviations Avoid them. It’s better to stick to English, so everyone understands what you mean. A common error is to use both e.g. and etc. in the same phrase. e.g. means for example; “this is only a sample” etc. means “and there are more like it; this is only a sample.”

  16. Words that are often confused or misused Check the dictionary to be sure. • principle/principal • complement/compliment; • cite/site; • all right/alright • comprise/compose For examples, see http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0200807.html

  17. Editing your own work • When you are the writer, proofreading your own work, it’s easy to miss something. Try to get somebody else to read it over. • When editing your own work: • First work on the content and the organization. Then look at what you have written. • It may help to work on a printed copy, rather than on the computer. • Work at the sentence level. • Make one pass for each item in the checklist.

  18. The favorite places for errors • On the title page • In a heading • In a caption, in the first line, first paragraph, or first page of copy • Close to another error (Errors frequently cluster. When you find one, look for others nearby.)

  19. More places to look for errors The 5 most common problems that are discovered at the last minute, even after everyone has checked everything ( Error-Free Writing, by Robin Cormier) • Incorrect pagination • Table of contents that does not match the text • Incorrectly numbered graphs or tables • A typo in a running head • A typo on the cover or the title page

  20. Editing checklist • Spelling • Grammar • Punctuation • Numbered sequences such as lists, figures, tables, sections • Alphabetical order • Cross-references or links point to the correct locations • Table of contents matches the final pagination • Check and double-check numbers, in words or figures, such as prices, rates, dates, percentages.

  21. Spelling and grammar checkers Do they work? Yes, but…they miss a lot. For example: • They’re, their, there • Principle/principal • Loose/lose • Due/do • Fewer than/less than

  22. Tips for using spelling and grammar checking software • Customize the spelling checker dictionary with names and organizations that you use frequently. • Delete from the dictionary words that you commonly misspell. • Search for your common typos, such as sever (for server) and manger (for manager). • Run the spelling checker twice on material that has a lot of names of people or organizations. It is easy to accidentally press ok if you are moving rapidly through the material. • Remember to resave the file after you run the spell check.

  23. References • The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition. You can even subscribe to the online version at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org • Merriam-Webster Online http://www.merriam-webster.com/ References, supplemental • A Concise Guide for Grammar and Style - http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001600.html • For words that are often confused: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0200807.html • Eleven rules of writing http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/

  24. References, supplemental • United States Government Printing Office Style Manual http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual/browse.html • Top Ten Grammar Problems, Rutgers University • http://wire.rutgers.edu/p_grammar_top10.html • Apostrophe Protection Society has an online test for practicing http://www.writing-kit.com/apostrophes/index.html • good examples of dangling modifiers http://www.infoplease.com/cig/grammar-style/dangling-modifiers-counterintelligence.html • University of Colorado http://www.colorado.edu/Publications/styleguide/index.html

  25. Style and Grammar Reference Books • The old standards: • The Elements of Style (Original Edition) by William Strunk • The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press Staff • Journalism style • The Associated Press Stylebook 2009 (Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law) by Associated Press • Action Grammar: Fast, No-Hassle Answers on Everyday Usage and Punctuation by Joanne Feierman • Technical Writing • Handbook of Technical Writing, Ninth Edition by Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu • For government documents, detailed examples, suggestions for presenting information in tables • United States Government Printing Office Style Manual • http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual/browse.html • GPO offers an online bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov • Also available through Fondren library at Rice http://library.rice.edu/collections/eresources/u-s-government-online-bookstore • For fun • Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynn Truss

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