Category: Uncategorized

Redundancies such as a double negative (don't have no) or the reason why is because are noticeably wrong.

In business or technical writing, stay away from is is and does is, as in "What it is, is larceny." Instead, eliminate the introductory clause and go with "It is larceny." Instead of "What this does is it gives you another option for…" go with "This gives you another option for…."

When explaining reasons for something, go with "The reason is that…" or "You do this because…" to avoid incorrect redundancy.

Hidden redundancies occur with abbreviations: CRT tubes, LCD displays, and PIN number all have a repeated meaning: the T stands for tube, the D for display, and the N for number.

Eliminate redundancies from your writing for enhanced clarity and conciseness. And remember to watch out for redundancy when you are using your PIN number at the ATM machine and you reflect back on your past experience with new innovations.

Long answer: Some people used to say you could not, but grammar books now say you can. The controversy used to be about whether hopefully is an "independent comment" like finally, actually, regrettably, fortunately, and many other words. These words act as asides to the reader to indicate the writer's opinion or attitude about the entire sentence. If you need a more technical term, they are "sentential modifiers," adverbs that modify the entire sentence.

If you are curious about some of the players in the controversy, they are The Careful Writer by Theodore Bernstein, The Chicago Manual of Style, and The Gregg Reference Manual. My opinion, stated above, agrees solidly with The Gregg Reference Manual. Chicago says that the usage I cite above is "here to stay," but snips, "But many careful writers deplore the new meaning" [emphasis added–could this be a nod to readers of Bernstein?] Bernstein has not been updated, fyi, since 1965.

Yet another voice in the squabble is The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, by Bryan Garner. The advice here? All the controversy has ruined this word. Never use it at all, because no matter what you do, someone will think it is wrong.

Meanwhile, Merriam-Webster.com utterly dismisses Bernstein and all critics and solidly supports the use of hopefully as an independent comment.

So there you have it. My vote is to use it until people get over its history. After all, most people have long forgotten the "impact" wars of the late 1980s. But on the other hand, I recently encountered "impact is a noun only" still alive and well in the style guide of a large organization. Ultimately, I guess, each writer must make up their* own mind.
 
*Watch for a future article on the use of their.

This past Tuesday, Adobe released a giant patch to Acrobat & Reader. The patch addresses <gulp> 29 security vulnerabilities (don't be smug about this if you're a Mac user or even a Linux user–the patch is for all three operating systems). What types of vulnerabilities are exposed? Malicious PDF files opened in Adobe Reader and Acrobat could cause the applications to crash and enable remote attackers to infiltrate your computer and launch information-stealing malware (programs developed specifically for causing harm to your computer). Yikes. Now that you understand why you should install the patch, here's how to do it.

Choose Help > Check for Updates to start the Adobe Updater (which automatically connects with Adobe's server and checks to see if you have the most recent versions of all your installed Adobe applications). If there is a more recent update available, you can mark it for download and installation. Your preferences can be customized to have the Adobe Updater check for new patches and updates automatically either weekly or monthly.

I suggest that you not wait to install the patch–your data is too valuable for someone else to be browsing through and looking for your passwords and personal data.

Once successfully patched, you can then choose Help > About Acrobat 9 Professional (or whatever release you have installed). You should see a message that says "Version 9.2" once the patch is installed.

Looking for Acrobat training? We run an online Acrobat class once each month. Click here for more information and class dates.

Because of increased security restrictions found in newer versions of Internet Explorer, you'll need to enable Add Mark of the Web. Show the Properties of the layout and select Add Mark of the Web. Regenerate and view the layout–your problem should be solved.

When I went off to college, my family bought me a dictionary. It was new, crisp and up to date. Oh yes, it weighed a ton! I still have it, but it is certainly not new, crisp, or even up to date now. It is, however still heavy. That's one reason it has remained untouched for years on my bookshelf. The other reason it hasn't been used in a while is because many dictionaries have been made available online for anyone to use for free.

Adobe has wisely anticipated this workflow scenario: While reading a PDF file, you come across a word you don't know. You'll want to either memorize or copy the word, open your web browser, navigate to an online dictionary site, type or paste in the word and then finally read its meaning. Whew… that's just too much work. To jump from the first step to the last step immediately, try this cool trick:

1. Highlight a word.
2. Right-click the word and choose Look up.

   

   Acrobat opens your default web browser and takes you directly to dictionary.com–AND queries the highlighted word (you are presented with the definition immediately).

   

   Not only is this feature available in Acrobat Pro, but it even exists in Reader. To illustrate this visually (along with just how universal PDF files are), here is a screenshot of the same document open in Reader… in Linux! Sweet.

   

Join me online and learn, hands-on, how to unlock the power of Acrobat. Click here for more details.