Crystal Clear Proofing

Proper Use of "Me" and "I"

2012-04-20T08:30:00.002-05:00

Two of the most common words used incorrectly, both in written material and in speech, are "me" and "I."

Technically, "I" is a nominative pronoun used as a subject of a sentence, while "me" is an objective pronoun, used as an object. The problem usually arises when connecting objects in a sentence. "I" is not an objective case word, but it is used simply because to most people it just sounds better.

Using "I" works for the nominative case when you and the other person are subjects of a sentence; however, if you and the other person are objects of the sentence, using "I" is not correct.

For example, "Mary and I are going to the conference" works. "You" and "Mary" are subjects of the sentence. Remove "Mary" and you have, "I (am) going to the conference."

Being objects in a sentence changes correct structure. Simply leave out the second object(s), or person(s). For example:

You may be tempted to write or say, "Would you like to join Mary and I at the conference?" By removing the second object (Mary) you have, "Would you like to join I at the conference?" Now try, "Would you like to join me at the conference?" It's easy to see that the proper sentence should be, "Would you like to join Mary and me at the conference?"

It really is just as simple as removing that second object. Let's try it again:

"Please explain proper word choice to Christine and I."
"Please explain proper word choice to Christine and me."
Remove the second object (Christine) and you have: "Please explain proper word choice to I," or, "Please explain proper word choice to me." See how easy it is to recognize the proper sentence?
"Please explain proper word choice to Christine and me."

Of course there are some instances where you can avoid your own internal dilemma by simply using the first-person plural and stating, "Would you care to join us at the conference?' or, "Please explain proper word choice to us."

Pronoun Tips

2012-01-31T16:50:00.002-06:00

Pronouns take the place of nouns.

Subject Pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they

Object Pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, them

Rule: Use a Subject Pronoun (also called Nominative Case), not only as the subject of a sentence, but after 'to be' verbs when the pronoun renames the subject.

'To be' verbs: is, are, was, were, will be, may be, may have been

Example: He is my friend.
'He' is the subject of the sentence, so use a subject pronoun.

Example: Enrique and she are friends.
'Enrique' and 'she' are the subjects of the sentence.

Example: It is I who called.
I comes after the 'to be' verb 'is' and renames the subject 'it.' Therefore, use the subject pronoun.

Rule: Use an Object Pronoun (also called Objective Case) when the pronoun is the direct object, the indirect object, or the object of the preposition.

Example: Ella met him at the restaurant.
'Him' is the direct object.

Example: Ella will give him his money back.
'Him' is an indirect object because you can mentally put the word 'to' in front of it. 'Money' is the direct object.

Example: Between you and me, this will never work.
'You' and 'me' are the objects of the preposition 'between.'

Rule: Use reflexive pronouns—myself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, ourselves, yourself, yourselves—to refer back to another noun or pronoun in the sentence.

Correct Example: I did it myself.

Incorrect Example: Please give it to Roger or myself.
In this sentence, 'myself' does not refer back to another noun or pronoun.

(: IF THE ABOVE GRAPHIC APPEARS JITTERY, YOU'VE HAD TOO MUCH CAFFEINE! :)

Source: Grammarbook

15 Frequently Confused Pairs of Verbs

2011-11-15T18:53:00.006-06:00

These similar-looking words below have dissimilar meanings. Make sure you’re using the correct one in each pair.

1. Amused/bemused: To be amused is to be entertained; to be bemused is to be confused.

2. Appraise/apprise: To appraise is to evaluate; to apprise is to inform.

3. Ascribe/subscribe: To ascribe is to attach an idea to a source; to subscribe is to hold belief in an idea.

4. Attain/obtain: To attain is to reach; to obtain is to acquire.

5. Barter/haggle: To barter is to trade; to haggle is to negotiate.

6. Born/borne: To be born is to be brought forth; to be borne is to be carried along.

7. Borrow/loan: To borrow is to receive something for temporary use; to loan is to provide something on those terms.

8. Careen/career: To careen is to lean over to one side or to sway; to career is to hurry carelessly—not to be confused with the alternate meaning of a chosen pursuit, a profession or occupation. (Additionally, to 'carom' is to ricochet.)

9. Censor/censure: To censor is to ban; to censure is to reprimand.

10. Criticize/critique: To criticize is to judge harshly or in a negative manner; to critique is to evaluate.

11. Denigrate/deprecate: To denigrate is to defame or belittle; to deprecate is to disapprove or de-emphasize (but can also, like denigrate, mean to disparage).

12. Differ/vary: To differ is to disagree or to be distinct from; to vary is to change (although differ can also refer to 'variation').

13. Espouse/expound: To espouse is to support; to expound means to state, explain, or defend (which is also distinct from the phrase “expand on,” which means to provide additional or digressive details).

14. Rebut/refute: To rebut is to argue in response to another argument; to refute is to deny an argument.

15. Wangle/wrangle: To wangle is to obtain by underhanded means; to wrangle is to wrestle.

Source: Daily Writing Tips

The Apostrophe with Numbers, Letters and Abbreviations

2011-11-02T06:44:00.007-05:00

Rule: The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.

Example: She consulted with three M.D.s.

BUT

Example: She went to three M.D.s’ offices.
The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive.

Example: She learned her ABCs.

Example: the 1990s

NOT

the 1990’s

Example: the ’90s or the mid-’70s

NOT

the ’90’s or the mid-’70’s

Example: She learned her times tables for 6s and 7s.

Exception: Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.

Example: Please dot your I’s.

You don’t mean Is.

Example: Ted could not distinguish between his 6’s and 0’s.

You don’t mean Os.

Source: Grammarbook

Hyphenating Between Words

2011-08-17T06:40:00.001-05:00

Many of us get confused about when to hyphenate between words. For example, should you write nearly-extinct wolves or nearly extinct wolves?

Nearly answers how close to extinct wolves are/were. Adverbs answer the questions how, where, and when.

Adverbs do not get attached to adjectives with hyphens. Therefore, the adverb nearly, like most "ly" words, does not get hyphenated.

Only compound adjectives—adjectives that act as one idea with other adjectives—get hyphenated in front of nouns.

Example: The crowd threw out the barely edible cake.
The word barely is an adverb answering how edible the cake was.

Example: newly diagnosed disease
The word newly is an adverb answering when.

Example: We live in a two-story building.
The word two does not answer how, when, or where. It is acting as one idea with story to describe the noun building. Therefore, two-story is a compound adjective requiring a hyphen.

Example: The announcer offered a blow-by-blow description of the boxers' punches.
Blow-by-blow is acting as one idea. Therefore, it is a compound adjective.

Example: Our building is two stories.
When the description follows the noun, do not hyphenate.

Source: Grammarbook

Commas Before "and" in a Series

2011-08-03T06:01:00.001-05:00

In American English usage, a comma should precede and with three or more items in a series.

Example: I would like to order a salad, a sandwich, and dessert.

Newspapers and magazines do not generally use this rule, as print space is too valuable to use on what might be considered extraneous punctuation. However, print publications will use the final comma before and if it is needed to avoid confusion.

Example: Her $10 million estate was split among her husband, daughter, son, and nephew.

Omitting the comma after son would have led the reader to believe that the son and nephew had to split one-third of the estate (each receiving one-sixth), rather than understanding that each relative received one-fourth of the estate.

Source: Grammarbook

Parallel Construction

2011-06-29T06:09:00.006-05:00

Sentences and lists are awkward when they contain a series of items with inconsistent grammatical structure. But as your reader scans through a series of items with parallel grammatical structure, the relationships between different items of information become clear. Here’s an example:

Which of the two sentences below is easier to follow?

At the February meeting we will hold a discussion of the new health plan, whether to revise the procedures manual, and then a draft will be developed of the early retirement policy.

At the February meeting, we will discuss the new health plan, decide whether to revise the procedures manual, and draft an early retirement policy.

In the second example, the parallel verb tenses saved space and helped us grasp the ideas immediately. To help your writing flow smoothly and make sense, use the same format for items you present in a series.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Source: Grammarbook

Demonstrative Adjectives

2011-06-15T06:30:00.003-05:00

This/That/These/Those – Demonstrative Adjectives

The demonstrative adjectives—this/that/these/those—tell us where an object is located and how many objects there are.

This/That
This and that are used to point to one object. This points to something nearby while that points to something “over there.”

Examples:
This dog is mine.
This is mine.
That dog is hers.
That is hers.

These/Those
These and those refer to more than one object. These points to things nearby while those points to things “over there.”

Examples:
These babies have been smiling for a while.
These are mine.
Those babies in the nursery have been crying for hours.
Those are yours.

Source: Grammarbook

Happy Mother's Day or Happy Mothers' Day?

2011-05-03T17:09:00.002-05:00

Mother's Day is officially singular; it's the day you are supposed to honor your own mother.

Woodrow Wilson made Mother's Day an American national holiday in 1914, and it's always celebrated on the second Sunday in May.

Source: GrammarGirl

The Impotence of Proofreading

2011-04-13T05:47:00.005-05:00

Here's something a little different for your viewing enjoyment! Even if you've seen this video before, take a break from your busy blogging schedule and treat yourself to a good laugh! Sit back, enjoy, and have a delightfully HAPPY day!

Source: YouTube

You've Got "E-mail" or You've Got "Email"?

2011-03-30T06:24:00.015-05:00

Last week, the editors of the Associated Press Stylebook created a stir by announcing a change in their recommended spelling: "e-mail" is now "email."

The social media website Mashable implied that the change is long overdue, running the story with the headline "AP Stylebook finally changes 'e-mail' to 'email.'"

On the other hand, the New York Times announced that they'll stick with "e-mail." What this shows is that using a hyphen in "e-mail" is a style choice, and Mashable is more permissive than the Associated Press, which is more permissive than the New York Times when it comes to language change.

When the AP Stylebook editors were asked why they made the change, they said most of their writers already turn in articles with the "email" spelling, and copy editors found "e-mail" increasingly difficult to police. They emphasized that they don't consider themselves to be on the leading edge of language change; instead, they "bow to common usage."

This creates yet another "writer/author preference" as to which version to use. Just remember to be consistent!

Source: GrammarGirl

HAPPY Spring...and
Have a HAPPY Day!

Assure, Ensure and Insure

2011-03-23T06:05:00.010-05:00

Assure, ensure, and insure can be confusing. Here are the definitions along with some examples to help clarify the distinctions for you.

Assure: to promise or say with confidence
Example: Let me assure you that I will be at the meeting at noon.

Ensure: to make sure something will/won’t happen
Example: To ensure my family’s safety, I have installed an alarm system.

Insure: to issue an insurance policy
Example: I will insure my home with additional fire and flood policies.

Source: Grammarbook

Happy "Words Matter Week!"

2011-03-09T06:35:00.005-06:00

It's hard to believe it's been an entire year since we last recognized and celebrated Words Matter Week! This is a day of great importance no only to those of us working in the writing, editing or publishing professions, but to everyone. If words didn't matter, we'd all be reading material with misspellings, grammar and punctuation faux paus, poor structure — and I shudder to think what syntax would be like! The importance of words and the proper use of then is important, but without proper syntax, much of what we'd be reading simply wouldn't make sense.

Take an extra moment during this week to be grateful for the references you use in your writing, and (if applicable) the proofreader or editor who knows words, punctuation, grammar, syntax — and how to make your work shine with the clarity of a diamond!

Have a HAPPY day!

Quotations Within Quotations

2011-03-02T07:04:00.002-06:00

Almost all of us have found ourselves confused with double and single quotation marks. When do we use single quotes? Where does the punctuation go with single quotes? With just a few rules and examples, you will feel surer about your decisions.

Rule: Use single quotation marks inside double quotation marks when you have a quotation within a quotation.

Example: Bobbi said, “Delia said, ‘This will never work.’”

Notice that what Delia said was enclosed in single quotes. Notice also that the period was placed inside both the single and the double quotation marks.

The American rule is that periods always go inside all quotation marks.

Example: Bobbi said, “I read the article, ‘A Poor Woman’s Journey.’”

Rule: Question marks and quotation marks, unlike periods, follow logic with their placement. If a quote inside a quote is a question or exclamation, place the question mark or exclamation mark inside the single quotes.

Examples: Bobbi said, “Delia asked, ‘Will this remote control work on my TV?’
”Bobbi said, “Delia shouted, ‘Get your hands off me!’”

Rule: If the question is inside the double quotes, place the question mark between the single and double quotes.

Examples: Bobbi asked, “Did Delia say, ‘This will never work’?”

(Because you will rarely need an exclamation mark within the double quotes and not within the single quotes, there is little sense discussing this.)

Rule: In the above three examples, only one ending punctuation mark was used with the quotation marks. The rule is that the “stronger” mark wins. Question marks and quotation marks are considered stronger than the period. Period!

Source: Grammarbook

Capitalization After Colons

2011-02-16T06:17:00.001-06:00

Have you run across the situation where one sentence ending with a colon is followed by another sentence? Do you capitalize the first word of that second sentence? Why would you use a colon between the two sentences rather than a period or a semicolon?

Rule for colons between sentences: Use a colon instead of a semicolon or a period between two sentences when the second sentence explains or illustrates something in the first sentence.

Capitalization rule with sentences after colons: If only one sentence follows the colon, do not capitalize the first word of the new sentence. If two or more sentences follow the colon, capitalize the first word of each sentence following.

Example: One of my favorite novels is by Kurt Vonnegut: his novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, is often funny, yet packs an emotional punch.

Example: Garlic is used generously in Italian dishes: It greatly enhances the flavor of pasta. Garlic also enhances the flavor of lasagna, one of my favorite dishes.

Now, should you capitalize the first word after a colon if it begins a list rather than a new sentence?

Rule for capitalizing with lists after colons: Do not capitalize the first word of a list after a colon.

Example: I like the following Italian dishes: pasta primavera, eggplant Parmesan, and lasagna. (Parmesan is capitalized because it comes from the Italian city of Parma.)

Source: Grammarbook

Capitalization of Job Titles

2011-01-12T06:27:00.002-06:00

With capitalization of job titles, there are rules and then there is the “rule.” The rules are based on some precedent while the “rule” is based on ego. Let’s go over the rules that have precedent first.

Rule: Capitalize job titles immediately preceding the name when used as part of the name.

Example: We asked Chairperson Leong to join us at the meeting.

Rule: Capitalize job titles immediately following the name when the word the does not appear in front of the job title.

Examples: Ms. Leong, Chairperson, will join us at the meeting.
Ms. Leong, Chair, will join us at the meeting.
Mr. Hanson, Editorial Advisor for The Independent Journal, helped draft the article.

Rule: When the appears in front of the job title, do not capitalize.

Examples: Mr. Hanson, the editorial advisor, helped draft the article.
The chairperson, Sarah Leong, will join us at the meeting.
Mr. Cortez was the senior managing director of the Baskin Group.

Rule: Capitalize titles in signature lines.

Examples: Sarah Leong, Chairperson
Craig Hanson, Editorial Advisor

Rule: Do not capitalize titles when used descriptively.

Example: Ms. Leong, who will chair the meeting, is always on time.

“Rule”: The “ego rule” is that you may have to ignore the above rules in real life. If someone in your office (as in your boss) wants his or her title capitalized in all situations, then do so. Generally, the higher in rank someone is in an organization, the more likely his/her title will be capitalized at all times.

Source: Grammarbook

HAPPY New Year!

2010-12-29T07:51:00.001-06:00

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce~

HAPPY Holidays!

2010-12-22T06:09:00.001-06:00

Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It's lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It's higher thought and a greater plan. It's glorious dream in the soul of man." 

~Wilfred A. Peterson (The Art of Living)

Teach us to value most eternal things. 
To find the happiness that giving brings... 
To know the peace of misty, distant hills. 
To know the joy that giving self fulfils. 
To realize anew this Christmas Day. 
The things we keep are those we give away.

~Marvin Davis Winsett ("A Christmas Prayer")

Wishing everyone a very healthy, safe and HAPPY holiday!

Spelling Challenge

2010-12-01T06:27:00.003-06:00

It's time for a Spelling Challenge! Grab a cup of java, a sticky note and pen, and write down the correct spelling for the ten words below!

NO PEEKING!

1. amatuer
2. tarrif
3. liason
4. carberator
5. reccommend
6. afficionado
7. athiest
8. comemmorate
9. occurrance
10. viscious

If you spell all ten words correctly, you get the beautiful sparkling gold glitter star! Good Luck!

ANSWERS:

1. amateur
2. tariff
3. liaison
4. carburetor
5. recommend
6. aficionado
7. atheist
8. commemorate
9. occurrence
10. vicious

Whether or not you got your star, everyone gets this spray of PURPLE glitter stars for your efforts!

Have a HAPPY day!

HAPPY Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T06:27:00.006-06:00

Have a Wonderful Turkey Day!

Hugs,
♥ Crystal ♥

To Google, or to google

2010-11-17T06:57:00.002-06:00

Google executives would rather you didn't use "Google" as a verb since doing so threatens their trademark, but as you know, it's very common to hear people say, "I Googled it," to mean they searched for something on Google.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary lists the verb "google" as lowercase, but notes that it is often capitalized. The Oxford English Dictionary draft entry shows the verb "Google" capitalized, but some of the example sentences have it lowercase. In searching for an older, analogous situation, I discovered that Bryan Garner says "xerox" is usually not capitalized when it's used as a verb, but sometimes it is.

There doesn't seem to be an absolute rule, although companies prefer that you capitalize trademarked terms if you insist on using them as verbs. The best advice I can give you is to pick a style and stick with it. As an editor, I respect the preference of companies and trademarks, and capitalize titles, especially Google!

Source: Grammar Girl

Vocabulary

2010-11-10T07:17:00.002-06:00

Increase your vocabulary with not-very-common and/or not-frequently-used words.

Today's Weird Word is: advertent, and its pronounciation is: \ad-'vr-tnt\.

Advertent is a adjective meaning: giving attention – heedful.

Marcia listened to everything we said with an advertent expression on her face, then proceeded to tell us, point by point, exactly why she disagreed with us.

Rules Do Change

2010-11-03T07:47:00.000-05:00

Spacing After Periods

Originally, typewriters had monospaced fonts, so two spaces after ending punctuation marks such as the period were used to make the text more legible. However, most computer fonts present no difficulty with proportion or legibility, so use just one space after a period, colon, question mark, or exclamation point at the end of a sentence. You will not be struck by lightning, I promise!

Quotation Marks and Punctuation

In Grandma’s day, a period used with quotation marks followed logic: Example: Myrtle said the word “darn”. The period went outside the quote because only the last word was in quotation marks, not the entire sentence. Example: Myrtle said, “I would never say that.” The period went inside the quotation mark because the entire sentence is a quote.

Today, in American English usage, the period always goes inside the quotation mark.

Example: Myrtle said the word “darn.”

This does not follow prior grammatical logic, but...things DO change!

Source: Grammarbook

Thoroughness Challenge

2010-10-27T06:11:00.003-05:00

The Thoroughness Challenge is a post consisting of paragraphs that contain spelling and/or grammatical errors. The paragraphs with the errors corrected and highlighted in red can be found at the end of the post.

Note: The purpose of the Challenge is thoroughness. You're only looking for errors in spelling and/or grammar. Names and places will NOT be misspelled, nor will there by any changes to punctuation or sentence structure.

Your Challenge today is about the early days of search engine optimization and contains 37 errors.

Good Luck!
*******************************************************************************
Webmasters and content providers began optimzing sites for search engines in the mid 1990s. Initially, all webmasters needed to do was submit the address of a page, or URL, to the varous engines which would send a "spider" to "crawl" that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return infomation found on the page to be indexed. The prosess involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine's own server, where a second progam, known as an indexer, extracts varous information about the page, such as the words it contains and where these are located, as well as any weight for specfic words, and all links the page contains, which are then placed into a schedular for crawling at a latter date.

Site owners started to recogize the value of having there sites highly ranked and visable in search engine results, and the phrase "search engine optimazation" probably came into use in 1997.

Early versions of search algorithyms relied on webmaster-provided infomation such as the keyword meta tag, or index files in engines. Meta tags provide a guide to each page's content. Using meta data to index pages was found to be less than reliable, however, because the webmaster's choice of keywords in the meta tag could potentally be an innacurate representaton of the site's actual content. Inacurate, inconplete, and inconsistant data in meta tags could and did cause pages to rank for irrelavant searches. Web content providers also maniplated a number of atributes within the HTML source of a page in an attempt to rank well in search engines.

By relying so much on factors such as keyword density, which were exclusivley within a webmaster's control, early search engines suffered from abuse and ranking maniplation. To provide better results to their users, search engines had to adept to ensure their results pages showed the most relavant search results, rather than unrelated pages stuffed with numrous keywords by unscrupulus webmasters. Since the sucess and popularity of a search engine is determned by its ability to produce the most relavant results to any given search, allowing those results to be false would turn users to find other search sources. Search engines responded by develping more complex ranking algorythms, taking into account addtional factors that were more diffcult for webmasters to munipulate.

Now, let's see how thorough you are!

*******************************************************************************
Webmasters and content providers began optimizing sites for search engines in the mid 1990s. Initially, all webmasters needed to do was submit the address of a page, or URL, to the various engines which would send a "spider" to "crawl" that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed. The process involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine's own server, where a second program, known as an indexer, extracts various information about the page, such as the words it contains and where these are located, as well as any weight for specific words, and all links the page contains, which are then placed into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.

Site owners started to recognize the value of having their sites highly ranked and visible in search engine results, and the phrase "search engine optimization" probably came into use in 1997.

Early versions of search algorithms relied on webmaster-provided information such as the keyword meta tag, or index files in engines. Meta tags provide a guide to each page's content. Using meta data to index pages was found to be less than reliable, however, because the webmaster's choice of keywords in the meta tag could potentially be an inaccurate representation of the site's actual content. Inaccurate, incomplete, and inconsistent data in meta tags could and did cause pages to rank for irrelevant searches. Web content providers also manipulated a number of attributes within the HTML source of a page in an attempt to rank well in search engines.

By relying so much on factors such as keyword density, which were exclusively within a webmaster's control, early search engines suffered from abuse and ranking manipulation. To provide better results to their users, search engines had to adapt to ensure their results pages showed the most relevant search results, rather than unrelated pages stuffed with numerous keywords by unscrupulous webmasters. Since the success and popularity of a search engine is determined by its ability to produce the most relevant results to any given search, allowing those results to be false would turn users to find other search sources. Search engines responded by developing more complex ranking algorithms, taking into account additional factors that were more difficult for webmasters to manipulate.

Wishing all you Cool Cats a totally Cool and HAPPY day!

Writing Numbers as Words

2010-10-20T07:02:00.001-05:00

Many readers have asked me why people write numbers this way:

Example: We will need 220 (two hundred twenty) chairs.

Isn’t it unnecessary to have both numerals and words for the same number?

Rule of Thumb: There are two reasons for using both: 1. You are more likely to make an error when typing a numeral than when typing a word AND much less likely to spot the error when proofreading. 2. If your document is dense, has a lot of numbers, or contains large numbers, the numerical form helps your readers scan information quickly.

So by typing a combination of a numeral and a word, you are almost guaranteed accuracy and ease of reading.

Rule: Some authorities say that the numbers one through nine or ten should be spelled out and figures used for higher numbers. Other authorities spell out one through one hundred, plus even hundreds, thousands, and so on. The best strategy is to be consistent.

Correct Examples: I want five copies, not ten copies. I want 5 copies, not 10 copies.

Rule: Be consistent within a category. For example, if you choose numerals because one of the numbers you must deal with is greater than ten, you should use numerals for everything in that category. If you use numbers in different categories, use figures for one category and words for the other.

Correct Example: Given the budget constraints, if all 30 history students attend the four plays, then the 7 math students will be able to attend only two plays.
(Students are represented with figures; plays are represented with words.)

Incorrect Example: I asked for five pencils, not 50.

Source: Grammarbook