Month: February 2012

1. Our office does not use these old-style floppy disks any more. I think we should throw them out.
2. What will the meeting be about?
3. Whom am I speaking to?
4. I informed the client where the meeting is at.
5. Which tunnel are we going through?
6. This is a reminder that the east building is the one we are going to.

***

After I read John M. Widen's entry for last week's challenge, I realized that no more need be said: 

1. black coffee cup
   • Please wash my black-coffee cup. Someone put cream in it.
2. cheap jug wine
   • If I decanted my wine into an inexpensive ceramic container, I might refer to it as my cheap-jug wine.
3. long range plan
   • My long range-plan for the rifle club was written on a roll of butcher paper.
4. orange sofa pillow
   • I chose lime green for the orange-sofa pillow. Of course I have no taste in colors or syntax.
5. free range chicken
   • Any poultry that escapes the rifle club might be called free range-chicken, or not.
6. broken CD tower
   • I should throw those old disks away instead of storing them in my broken-CD tower.
7. grape seed oil
   • It's easier to plant new vineyards if you lubricate the planter with grape seed-oil.
8. orange juice maker
   • While celebrating Holi in Mumbai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi) we bought drinks from the orange juice-maker.    
9. lower back pain
   • I have lower-back pain so I engaged a chiropractor who promised to lower back-pain.
10. red leaf lettuce
    • There is a head-forming red-leaf lettuce but I prefer the taste of red leaf-lettuce.

And here are the correct answers sent to me by Ginny Supranowitz:

1. black coffee cup
2. cheap jug wine
3. long-range plan
4. orange sofa pillow
5. free-range chicken
6. broken CD tower
7. grape-seed oil
8. orange-juice maker
9. lower back pain (I think lower-back could be hyphenated, but we all know what it means without the hyphen.)
10. red-leaf lettuce

1. The tall and hollow trunk (or The tall, hollow trunk)
2. The upper right corner
3. A quick, easy lesson (or "and")
4. My blue suede shoes
5. The small down arrow
6. A loud and overcrowded stadium (or comma)
7. A small yellow icon
8. A large, cracked hubcap (or "and")
9. The large gray button
10. A wordy and uninteresting paragraph (or comma)

Are you surprised by some of these answers? For example, did you hyphenate upper right corner? Did you place a comma there? Did you want a comma between small and down for the small down arrow? Let's take a closer look at the items that were difficult.

The first thing to remember is that placing a comma between the adjectives means that you could have used the word andthere. When we try that on the expression upper right corner, we get "upper and right corner." When you read that out loud, it sounds a little odd. But more significantly, it implies almost a feeling that there are two different corners being discussed–an upper one and a right one. This is similar to the expression my blue suede shoes. If you say "my blue and suede shoes," it sounds as if you are talking about two different shoes. The word and truly does not work here, so a comma does not work, either.

Try that again on the expression "small down arrow." In describing such an arrow verbally, would you ever say "the small and down arrow"?  The word and does not work here, and for that reason, there should not be a comma betweensmall and down.

When I was a copyeditor on scientific journals, we used to talk about the "makes no difference" concept. The idea was that if it makes no difference in meaning whether you put a hyphen in versus leave it out, then leave it out. I think this concept works well on "upper right corner." Does it matter whether the reader perceives this as meaning the "upper rightcorner" (the upper one of the right corners) or the "upperright corner" (the upper right one of the corners)? No. Either way, the reader arrives at the upper corner on the right-hand side. Upper andright apply to the word corner equally. So there is no need to hyphenate upper and right to force the reader to join them together.

Contrast that with the expressions "blue laundry marker" and "high priced sedan." In both of these, the way you group the words does make a difference. Let's take out the spaces to show which two words are being read more closely together. If you read these aloud, you can hear that there is a big difference between a "bluelaundry marker" (you can use it only on blue clothes!) and a "blue laundrymarker" (it marks blue on any color clothes). Likewise, there is a difference between a "highpriced sedan" and a "high pricedsedan." The first makes sense, and the second is nonsensical.  What is a "pricedsedan"? In this last example, you do need to hyphenatehigh and priced to help the reader understand: a high-priced sedan.

Try this method on the following examples: If the first two words need to be read together, hyphenate. If the last two words need to be read together, leave it alone. And if it does not matter which two words are read together, also leave it alone.

1. black coffee cup
2. cheap jug wine
3. long range plan
4. orange sofa pillow
5. free range chicken
6. broken CD tower
7. grape seed oil
8. orange juice maker
9. lower back pain
10. red leaf lettuce

***

If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Join her online and learn about Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Step-by-Step Scripts and Training Documents.

1. In the morning she will leave the house by 7:30.  
   (optional comma as refers to time-In the morning, she…)
2. Over the rainbow is where the pot of gold should be.
3. After the long and boring meeting, we finally broke for coffee. (required-prepositional phrase more than 4 words)
4. After all, the boss is my best friend. (required-prepositional phrase acts as transition)
5. In 2009 the software was completely revised. (optional comma as refers to time-In 2009, the software…)
6. On the other hand, Bill might be better suited for the job than Bob is. (required- prepositional phrase acts as transition)

Respondent Carrie Noxon brought up one thing I did not mention in my column last week: some organizations may have an in-house style that makes the optional comma after a short introductory phrase mandatory.   She writes, "Our standard calls for a comma with introductory prepositional phrases. For us, it is always required. We also like the Oxford comma."

These two rules mean Noxon's organization uses "close punctuation," meaning that all optional commas are mandatory. As soon as I read her comment, I guessed that she must work at a law firm, and indeed, that turned out to be true. Legal writing has a great need for consistency and precision, and using more commas tends to help in that goal.

Correct Answers were sent in by:

• Larena Jackson
• Vera I. Sytch
• Carrie Noxon
• Lorna McLellan
• Michael Stein

Adjectives versus Adverbs

Adjectives describe nouns. Blue, tall, funny, long–these are all clearly descriptions of things: The blue screen, the tall coffee, the funny face, a long drive. Sometimes one adjective in front of a noun is not enough to fully describe or identify the item. Then we use two or more: The big old truck, the upper left corner of the screen, a small gray mouse. As soon as you have multiple adjectives in front of the noun, you need to ask whether you need commas between the adjectives. Here's how you tell: if you cannot reverse the order of the adjectives you do not need a comma between them.

Read this out loud:

The small brown bird

It sounds natural and normal. Now try reversing the adjectives:

The brown small bird

It sounds wrong or at least "funny." You do not need a comma between these adjectives because they are in the proper order.

If you can reverse the order of the adjectives, you need to ask a second question: can you place the word and between the adjectives. Here is an example where you can reverse the adjectives:

the small furious rodent

the furious small rodent

You can place the word and between the adjectives, and it sounds natural:

The small and furious rodent

Now, you decide whether to keep the word and or replace it with a comma:

The small, furious rodent

Here is this week's challenge: Decide whether you should place a comma between these adjectives. 

1. The tall hollow trunk
2. The upper right corner
3. A quick easy lesson
4. My blue suede shoes
5. The small down arrow
6. A loud overcrowded stadium
7. A small yellow icon
8. A large cracked hubcap
9. The large gray button
10. A wordy uninteresting paragraph  

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If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Join her online and learn about Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Step-by-Step Scripts and Training Documents.