Category: Writing & Grammar

by Jennie Ruby 

by Jennie Ruby 

by Jennie Ruby

by Jennie Ruby

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Well, maybe, but will I get the grammar right? Comparisons between people can be tricky–and not just because of the risk for insult. Pronoun usage can change the meaning of a comparison and leave your grammar lacking.

Sentences such as this one cause problems:

Tom and June went out for pizza, but I happen to know that Tom likes pizza more than her.

Although many of us would say that this sentence sounds okay, it actually means something more tricky than it sounds like it means. Am I saying that Tom likes pizza more than June does? That might be what I think I'm saying, but I need to think again. By using the pronoun her at the end of the sentence, I am actually saying this:

Tom likes pizza more than he likes her.

The proper grammar for what I meant to say goes like this:

Tom likes pizza more than she.

But pretty much no American speaker of English would say it that way. The quick way to fix all such comparisons is to add all the words of the comparison into the sentence so that the correct pronoun sounds right-and is right:

Tom likes pizza more than she likes pizza.

Or the shorter version:

Tom likes pizza more than she does.

Challenge: Complete and clarify these comparisons:

1. My friend and I saw the Orioles lose recently, but I forgive them more than him.
2. Maddie said Bob likes the Red Sox more than them.
3. Jim and John both sing bass in the choir but Jim sings lower than him.
4. Mittens and Cottontail often eat from the same dish, but Cottontail eats more than her.
5. The two instructors both teach in loud voices, but Samuel is louder than her.
6. The adult runners are worried that the kids will be faster than them.
7. We tried the scallops, but we liked the shrimp better than them.

Your answers can come straight to me.

***

Answers to the Number challenge are brought to you by Vera Sytch, who successfully made her way through the tricky number 3, where the verb in parentheses actually goes with people who rather than with the number. Only one other person made it through the challenge unscathed: Susan Czubiak. Congratulations to these two especially careful readers!

1. The number of blooming plants in her yard (are/is) amazing.
2. A number of documents (were/was) saved on the flash drive, not the hard drive.
3. The number of people who (have/has) more than one cat is surprising to a dog lover. [in this case, the verb that follows number is "is." ]
4. The number of bent clothes hangers in my closet (are/is) ridiculous.
5. A number of papers (were/was) strewn about the desk.

***

by Jennie Ruby

Just as software experts have to keep up to date with the latest versions of software, professional writers and editors have to keep up with the latest versions of English. Our language gains new nouns and verbs constantly, and our existing words change meanings. Old rules of usage fall out of fashion or are debunked by the latest scholars, and common errors our school teachers pounded into our heads may have become accepted as correct over time.

Here is a pair of words that have been undergoing some of these changes:

• nauseated
• nauseous

In Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, originally copyrighted in 1935, with the fourth edition copyrighted in 2000, the writers flat out state that nauseous means "sickening to contemplate" and nauseated means "sick at the stomach." I personally have followed that distinction for as long as I can remember. In this view, if you say "I'm nauseous," you are saying you make people sick. I followed that view until today, when I did the research for this article!

That hard line was changing, even in the year 2000. In Bryan Garner's Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, published in 2000, he says that the I feel nauseous usage is so common that "to call it an 'error' is to exaggerate." Nevertheless, he says that "careful writers" still follow the traditional distinction.

In 2003, The Chicago Manual of Style (15^th edition) said that even though the use of nauseous to mean you feel sick may no longer be an error, it is still bad usage. But their actual recommendation? Sidestep the entire nauseous issue and use "I feel nauseated" for feeling sick and "that smell is nauseating" for something that seems illness-inducing. Just never use nauseous, they said, just to be safe. And if you are surrounded by grammar sticklers, that advice still holds: you will always be safe with nauseated and nauseating.

But what is the best thinking on this today? The Merriam Webster dictionary online flat out states that "I feel nauseous" is the most frequent and acceptable usage, and they actually go on to say that those who insist that it is an error are "mistaken"!

The Free Dictionary online took a poll of its panelists and determined that most use nauseous as meaning you feel sick and nauseating as meaning sickening to look at.http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nauseous.

So, the [trending] bottom line is this: Don't use nauseated. Use nauseous to mean to feel sick and nauseating to mean sickening to look at.

The Nauseating [or is it Nauseous?] Challenge

Use the latest usage, not the traditionalist usage, to complete these sentences with some version of the word nausea. Trick question: one of these might not use the word nausea at all!

1. She found the car ride through the mountains to be ___________________.
2. When she got out of the car at the scenic overlook, she felt completely __________________.
3. When we opened the dumpster, the odor was ­_________________.
4. When the professionals were cleaning the fish on the beach, the vacationers found the sight ­­­­­­­­_________________.
5. The view from the top of the cliff was ___________________.
6. I felt ___________________ after seeing that Man Versus Food episode.
7. The kids said they felt ____________ after walking through the room with the gas leak.

When you are ready, add your answers as comments below.

***

Results of the Training and Computer Terms Challenge

Here is a table presenting the results of the challenge. We have great consensus about eLearning and website, but many of our technical terms have still not settled into a common usage. Many of you indicated that you have no real reasons for your choices, and that is par for the course in technical terminology. It is largely personal preference until a consensus starts growing around one particular way of naming a concept. Cheryl Dennis pointed out what many of us are doing is following our own office policy, at least until the major dictionaries agree upon a term. And Karla Marsh pointed out another reality: we follow our own style until we are overridden by our customers' styles!

Many of you did note that computer-based training or CBT is an older term, but one that we cannot seem to leave behind. And at least one respondent admitted that lowercasing the word Internet is born of laziness-but I might add, that laziness may eventually add up to a consensus! My thanks to Mary Welby von Thelen for her kind comments as well.

eLearning	87%
website	87%
mLearning	73%
email	67%
the Internet	67%
HTML	67%
web page	60%
computer-based training	40%
internet	27%
e-mail	20%
Email	20%
e-learning	20%
m-learning	20%
Web site	20%
html	20%
Web page	13%
E-learning	7%

***

by Jennie Ruby 

In training documents, help menu text and documentation we often find ourselves trying to describe common computer user actions. However, some of the terminology has changed over time, as new software and hardware features have been developed. Our challenge this week is about describing mouse behaviors. In a later article, I will discuss mobile device behaviors. So here is your challenge. Be careful! Times have changed on some of these!

How do you describe these mouse actions?

1. Press and release the left mouse button
2. Press and release the right mouse button
3. Roll the wheel on top of the mouse
4. Quickly press and release the mouse button twice
5. Quickly press and release the mouse button three times
6. Hold the mouse button down and move it from one point to another
7. Put the mouse pointer over an item but do not click
8. Drag the mouse across text so that the text background changes color and you can then format or delete that text
9. Use the highlighter tool to color the background of text
10. Hold down the shift button and click the left mouse button 

Please send your answers directly to me.

Results to Hierarchical List Format

We received many correctly categorized versions of this list, formatted at least 5 different ways. Here is one of my favorites, from Geri A. Moran, who must work with a lot of government regulations or proposals, because this numbering system is heavily redolent of legal document numbering. Perhaps it is the plan for a courtroom building's garden?

1. Shrubs

1.1. Azaleas

1.1.1. White azaleas

1.1.2. Pink azaleas

1.1.3. Red azaleas

1.2. Boxwoods

1.3. Hydrangeas

2. Flowers

2.1. Tulips

2.1.1. Double Early

2.1.2. Single Early

2.1.3. Single Late

2.1.4. Double Late

2.1.5. Darwin

2.1.6. Triumph

2.2. Roses

2.2.1. Tea

2.2.2. Floribunda

2.2.3. Climbing

2.2.4. Damask

Other favorites included this style, from Ann M. Whitfield, for its classic clarity: 

I.  Shrubs

A. Azaleas

1. White azaleas

2. Pink azaleas

3. Red azaleas

B. Boxwoods

C. Hydrangeas

 

An interesting version to me was one submitted by Matt Smith, which illustrates a business-style list. Many government agencies and print publishers have discontinued using the solo closing parentheses like this, for reasons unknown to me, but it still works and looks very clear:

a) Azaleas

i)  White azaleas

ii) Pink azaleas

iii) Red azaleas

***

by Jennie Ruby 

Readers like lists, and as writers, we know that. But there are many ways to go wrong with lists. Here is a step-by-step approach to making sure your list is a help, not a hindrance, to your readers.

by Jennie Ruby