The Grammar Cop » Writing

An arresting development: Grammar Day!

Cheryl Norman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:52:50 +0000

You have the right to remain silent, but please don’t.

It’s March 4th, and the Grammar Cop is observing National Grammar Day. This year’s host is one of my favorite grammarians, the grammar girl herself, Mignon Fogarty. There is a lot going on at the National Grammar Day Website, so check out http://www.nationalgrammarday.com/

If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow me (http://twitter.com/cherylnorman) and tweet me with #grammarday for a chance to win a copy of her book:

March forth on March 4th for good grammar. Send me a tweet @cherylnorman with #grammarday in it and you’re eligible for a drawing.

Cheryl Norman, Grammar Cop

Capital Punishment ;-)

Cheryl Norman — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:41:35 +0000

Spelling can be such a pain in the behind, especially for writers. We’re bright enough to realize we can’t trust our spell checking programs because of homophones or similarly spelled words. We have dictionaries for tricky words, and we can program our auto-correct features to catch habitually misspelled words. But what about trademarked names, proper names, and other names requiring capitalizing?

After going through edits for RUNNING SCARED, I learned the rules aren’t cut and dried. For instance, while Internet and Web or Web site are capitalized, google used as a verb is not. Don’t ask why; I don’t know. According to my editor, that’s Google’s decision. Perhaps they like their trademarked word being generic for online search engines.

Other everyday items we don’t think about as proper names but are trademarked include Windbreaker, Dumpster, Formica, Jaws of Life, Hula Hoop, Kleenex, Coke, and Jeep. It’s very important that you respect a company’s brand name; they’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars to register and advertise it.

Back by popular demand, here is the Grammar Cop’s quick reference for capitalization:

CAPITALIZE:

A person’s name.

A person’s title when it precedes the name.

Days of the week, months of the year.

Special days, holidays.

Organizations and abbreviations of organizations.

Historical periods, documents, and events.

Nationality, race, or language.

Personification of objects or abstract concepts.

First word of a statement.

When used as part of a proper name: lake, county, high school, college, river, street, park, country, company, institution, etc. (Ohio River, the river)

A noun identifying a family member when used as a name. (Mom, your mom)

Geographical locations-specific. (The West, out west)

References to the Diety.

The pronoun “I.”

Acronyms (AT&T, URL)

In a title, all words except prepositions, articles, and conjunctions of four letters or less (Days of Thunder) unless it’s the first word. (The Runaway Bride)

Subjects studied that are specific titles (Composition 101, meteorology, American History 202, biology)

DON’T CAPITALIZE:

Points on a compass or direction.

Seasons of the year.

Pronouns other than “I” unless at the start of a sentence or part of a title.

EXAMPLES:

We watched West Wing before heading down south.

Independence Day falls on a Wednesday this year, according to my mother.

Mother is always right about summer holidays.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and best wishes for the new year.

As always, you should consult a dictionary or grammar or style reference when in doubt. Happy writing!

Is this an historical or a historical?

Cheryl Norman — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:01:22 +0000

My newest release is the anthology, Romance on Route 66, featuring four historical romances set during four different decades in four different towns along historic Route 66. It troubles me to hear the work referred to as an historical romance anthology when you should say a historical romance.

Although a typically precedes a consonant and an typically precedes a vowel, there is more to this rule. The a precedes a consonant sound, not simply a consonant. The an precedes a vowel sound, not simply a vowel. For instance, history begins with a consonant and the consonant is pronounced, so it’s a history or a historical document or a historian. But in some English speaking countries, the h is silent, which is why you may read an history. If you pronounce the h, use a not an.

Consider euphemism, eulogy, utility, or utopia. All are pronounced as if they begin with the consonant Y and must be preceded by a not an. Words beginning with a consonant but pronounced as a vowel sound include honor, honorable, and humble. Each should be preceded by the article an: an honor, an honorable man, an humble opinion.

Another way to reach the Grammar Cop

Cheryl Norman — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:14:52 +0000

Because of your complaints that blog comment posting is
difficult, I have opened a new Yahoo! group for the purpose of
receiving your grammar questions. If I deem the question suitable for
the blog, I will post it and my response here at The Grammar Cop as well as
to the list.

Click to join Grammar Cop

To hyphenate or not … that is the question

Cheryl Norman — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:06:37 +0000

I received a question today about compound words. When do you hyphenate? Or do you?

Language evolves, and hyphenated words are no exception. We used to use make-up, now it’s makeup. Oversensitive, outmaneuver, and underachiever began their lives as separate or hyphenated words. Hyphens are used to clarify, particularly modifiers. For instance in the sentence: His beet red face betrayed his embarrassment is acceptable, but His beet-red face betrayed his embarrassment is clearer because beet modifies red not face. Beet-red is a compound adjective. Beetred isn’t a word.

Fortunately, we have Spellcheck® to alert us to words that are not yet accepted without a hyphen. Unfortunately, its database isn’t perfect.

Take the case of e-mail. The e in e-mail is short for electronic. Same with e-book or e-commerce or e-anything. If you eliminate the hyphen, you have incorrectly formatted the technological compound word. Alas, it’s a losing battle. AOL, Yahoo!, and the computer world insists on ignoring the rule and creating new words: email, ebook, etc. I encourage you to take up the good fight, however, and continue to hyphenate e-mail in your writing.

When do you avoid the hyphen? Never use a hyphen in a combined modifier that includes an adverb: overly dressed, excessively jealous, very dark.

Hyphenated words are disappearing from usage, though. Look for more and more pairs of words to evolve into new single words, like multitasking. It wasn’t long ago, I multi-tasked. Oh, well, such is progress.

A great new reference!

Cheryl Norman — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:56:55 +0000

I just finished reading Martha Brockenbrough’s book Things That Make Us [sic] and have to recommend it for all writers. It’s more than a quick reference for grammar; it’s a fun read. Since I agree that good literature should both delight and instruct, I classify Things That Make Us [sic] good literature. Bravo, Martha Bee!

I don’t know Martha, but I’ve been a reader of her SPOGG¹ Blog for two years now. She exposes bad grammar from Hollywood celebrities to elected officials. She offers grammar help at her website (http://spogg.org) and works to promote the use of good grammar. The book is a concise culmination of years of collected infractions. For more on the book, visit the website at http://thingsthatmakeussic.com.

¹Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar

Those Pesky Homophones

Cheryl Norman — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:04:39 +0000

Spellcheck won’t catch ‘em, your ear won’t catch ‘em, but your editor sure will. I’m referring to homophones, words that sound alike or similar but have different meanings. The subject arose yesterday when a friend of mine referred to our chapter’s profits from the bizarre. Fatigue clouded her brain. Of course, she knew better and meant bazaar, but it’s an easy mistake to make.Thank God we don’t edit each other’s e-mails because I’m guilty of homophones myself, such as reign when I mean rein or peek when I mean pique. I may call myself Grammar Guru but without proofreading, I’m Grammar Goofy.

Here are the most common ones. Can you differentiate these words that sound alike?

too, to, two
seam, seem
hem, him
hear, here
your, you’re
forth, fourth
for, four, fore
led, lead
need, knead
their, they’re, there
its, it’s
bridle, bridal
peek, peak, pique
tents, tense
cents, sense, since
sheik, chic
stationery, stationary
capital, capitol
rain, rein, reign
affect, effect
accept, except
sheer, shear
die, dye
lie, lye
peal, peel
aloud, allowed
banned, band
passed, past
doe, dough
deer, dear
rapt, wrappedAre there others not on this list that have confused you in your writing? Come on, share with Cher!

From the Mailbag

Cheryl Norman — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:44:58 +0000

We’re winding down at the end of the year, so I’ve compiled a mixed bag of grammar questions from recent e-mails. I’ve changed the names for privacy reasons. Remember, you may post your questions here or e-mail them to grammar@cherylnorman.com.

1. Tom writes: I don’t want to embarrass myself with my boss. Is “Counties” capitalized in the following sentence? The letter was mailed to the residents of Santa Clara , Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties .

Answer: Yes. To be sure, I looked it up in The Chicago Manual of Style 14th Edition), and if even one of the counties’ proper name is used, you capitalize County.

2. Mrs. Summers writes: I often scratch my head over the use of possessive apostrophes with last names ending in s. My last name is Summers. Which usage is more correct: Mrs. Summers’ classroom, or Mrs. Summers’s classroom? I continue to see Mrs. Summer’s classroom in print,and I need to know how to correctly state my case. Would the same rule apply to Ms. Gress, with a double ss? Thank you, and please correct any other errors you see.

Answer:
Here’s the rule: If it’s plural possessive, add an apostrophe; if it’s singular possessive–even ending in an ’s’–add an apostrophe and an s.

For example, your name ends in s. It’s Mrs. Summers’s class. You may invite guests to dine at the Winterses’ home (that’s awkward and I doubt you’d use it, but you get my point. It’s the plural possessive). My friend Dolores is an author, so I read all of Dolores’s books. If she reads mine, she reads all of Cheryl’s books. No difference. Her name just happens to end with s. If Howard Hughes wrote an autobiography, it would be Howard Hughes’s ’s story.

I won’t promise you’ll always see it this way, but this is the correct usage according to my research.

3. Don writes:

Is it correct to use “life’s” meaning “life is” ?

As in: “Life’s best outdoors!”

Thanks.

Answer:

It’s not incorrect. But remember grammar is intended to clarify meaning, and your sentence is a bit unclear. At first reading, it appears to be missing a word. (Life’s best is outdoors? Life’s best lived outdoors?) If your meaning is “Life is best outdoors,” say so. The meaning is clear, and the contraction saves you only one letter.

4. Pearl writes: Which is right: ”Just desserts” or “just deserts”?

If you use “Just desserts” you better be writing a cookbook. Deserts, pronounced the same as desserts in this instance, means that which has been earned or deserved.

I wish you safe and happy holidays. Happy new year!

Cheryl

Commas, too?

Cheryl Norman — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:48:19 +0000

CITIZEN’S ARREST: Grammar cop deputy Dena writes:

“… My specific question concerns the use of the word “too.” I was taught, hundreds of years ago, that one inserts a comma before “too.” I rarely see others do that now and realized that this rule, too, must have changed.Would you please lay out a simple way for me to know when to use a comma and when it isn’t necessary, according to today’s rules?”

Dena, you’re correct in expecting to see a comma before the adverb “too.” Setting off single word dependent clauses has fallen out of favor, but it’s still correct usage. For example:

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. This sentence needs a comma after “it” because you’re adding a word that modifies “eat.” Without the comma, the reader is looking for another word for “too” to modify. (You can’t have your cake and eat it too quickly? You can’t have your cake and eat it too often? See what I mean?)

The correct structure is: You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. Likewise, you should have a comma following an introductory clause (even a one-word clause): Additionally, I eat the cake that I’ve obtained. Finally, I’m able to eat all the cake I have.

Hope that helps. Remember, just because you see something in usage doesn’t make it acceptable or correct (Look at the proliferation of “alright” and “reoccur,” neither of which is a word).

Cheryl

Where have all the editors gone?

Cheryl Norman — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:14:26 +0000

Doesn’t anyone understand the objective vs nominative case pronouns anymore?

I read two–three books a week and find grammar boo boos in almost every one. That’s understandable, since sometimes it’s one of my own books I’m reading *LOL* Still, I get perturbed at the hoops that we writers jump through to submit letter-perfect material only to have it show up in print wrong. I know, it’s still a reflection on the author, but still. Where are all the editors who are supposed to be…well, editing?

Last night I was reading a book by one of my favorite authors, a witty and intelligent woman (No names in this blog, please!), and came across the following phrase:
By the time the EMTs scooted Susie and I out of the way… Screech! Nails on blackboard time.

“I” is the object of the verb “scooted,” is it not? And “I” in the objective case is “me.” So where was the editor when this went to print?

Another story in the newspaper stated that such-and-such gave to she and her husband–hello? Isn’t “gave” the verb? The objective form of she is her, not she. Sheesh!

I’m old enough to remember sentence **gulp!** diagramming. Maybe if we still diagrammed our sentences, we’d have a clearer picture in our mind of sentence structure. We’d know that the verb and a preposition are followed by an object, not a subject.

Please, when in doubt, look it up. Or write to the Grammar Cop!

Cheryl