tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52918645087490963582024-03-13T03:42:40.706-07:00GrammarlandiaGrammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-33296295491879185542019-12-17T17:31:00.000-08:002019-12-17T17:31:18.076-08:00Family Names and ApostrophesThe annual family card can be a minefield of misspellings. Should it be signed <i>from the Jones’s</i>? <i>From the Jones’ </i>? <i>From the Jones’s family</i>? The answer, of course, is none of the above.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/christmas/0/21-victorian-christmas-cards-suggest-ancestors-deeply-weird/"><img alt="Victorian Christmas Card featuring chicken-headed sledders" border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="600" width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LBIfeNgNzEM/Xfl3P8kCnEI/AAAAAAAABCc/69oQaE7IDME1x2AAj1UMwOP_-JlkLBgTgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/chickenxmas.jpg"/></a></div><br />
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<h3><span style="color: #0c343d;">Keeping Up With the Joneses</span></h3><br />
Let’s say you live next door to Dr. and Dr. Smith, their daughter Aya, and their cat Spot. Collectively, they are <i>the Smiths</i>. Like any noun, a surname is made plural by adding <i>s</i> or <i>es</i>.<br />
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<ul><li>The Chens live in a duplex.</li>
<li>The Miłoszes live in Saskatoon.</li>
<li>The Davises live in doubt.</li>
</ul><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/01/25/145639280/long-live-the-smiths-complete-works" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Album cover for the Smiths' Complete Works" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2gTFoyd2vzc/Xfl3vgol0-I/AAAAAAAABCk/wtEPcsosgV8BV9xTVmOg9mxbGOpOfyXhACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/thesmiths.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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In the construction “the [name] family,” you would write <i>the Smith family</i>, just as you’d write <i>the raccoon family </i>or <i>the Jedi family</i>. Like <i>raccoon</i> and <i>Jedi</i>, <i>Smith</i> is describing <i>family</i>—it’s a noun acting as an adjective.<br />
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<ul><li>The Chen family grows vegetables in their yard.</li>
<li>The Miłosz family grows Christmas trees.</li>
<li>The Addams family grows stranger by the day.</li>
</ul><br />
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<h3><span style="color: #0c343d;">Surnames and the Possessive Case</span></h3><br />
Now let’s move on to things that belong to the Smiths. Normally, to form a possessive we add <i>’s</i> to the noun: <i>Aya’s filmography</i>. To make a <b>plural</b> noun possessive (assuming it ends in <i>s</i>), we add just the apostrophe: <i>the twins’ filmography</i>. (For more on apostrophes and possessives, see <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2016/01/apostrophes-how-to-use-em.html" target="_blank">Apostrophes and How to Use ’Em</a>.)<br />
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<ul><li>The Chens’ barbecue.</li>
<li>The Miłoszes’ time machine.</li>
<li>The Addamses’ penchant for the Gothic.</li>
</ul><br />
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Of course, a single family member would—like <i>Aya</i> above—take <i>’s</i>:<br />
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<ul><li>Dr. Chen’s Honda.</li>
<li>Professor Miłosz’s lecture.</li>
<li>Mrs. Addams’s headless roses.</li>
</ul><br />
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Some style guides use a different possessive rule for names that end in <i>s</i>: they would write <i>Mrs. Addams’ roses</i>—or <i>Charles’ Pomeranian</i>, or <i>Jesus’ sandals</i>. However, the 2017 edition of the <i>Chicago Manual of Style</i> uses <i>’s</i> in such cases. Since this system is the simplest, it’s what I follow too.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_new_book_of_the_dog;_a_comprehensive_natural_history_of_British_dogs_and_their_foreign_relatives,_with_chapters_on_law,_breeding,_kennel_management,_and_veterinary_treatment_(1907)_(20551470549).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Painting of three Pomeranians" border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="600" width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bp75Bv-7FmE/Xfl3-T7Jl0I/AAAAAAAABCo/J7DAAEek5MM2NtFlg4e9EnB_WSgBWNP4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/pomeranians.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<h3><span style="color: #0c343d;">A Person and Their Place</span></h3><br />
It probably doesn’t help that we tend to drop the place noun when referring to people’s residences, as in <i>I’m going to Mayumi’s [house]</i>. We do this with stores, too: <i>I’m going to the butcher’s [shop]</i>. On the other hand, you might write that you’re <i>going to [consult with] the doctor</i>, rather than <i>going to the doctor’s [clinic]</i>, depending on whether you’re thinking of the person or the place.<br />
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<ul><li>Can you pick up some eggs at the grocer’s?</li>
<li>We’re going to the Chens’ to watch the fireworks.</li>
<li>A day at the Addamses’ usually involves at least one brush with death.</li>
</ul><br />
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<h3><span style="color: #0c343d;">Another Reason Family Names Are Confusing</span></h3><br />
Back when English was a younger language, <i>Jones</i> was a way of saying <i>John’s</i>; that is, it identified someone as a child of John, much like <i>Johnson</i>. A surname that identifies you by your father’s given name is called a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronymic" target="_blank">patronymic</a>. Lots of languages have them: <i>MacDonald</i>, <i>ap Rhys</i> (Anglicized as <i>Price</i>), <i>Fitzwilliam</i>, and <i>ibn Ali</i> are all examples of patronymics.<br />
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So when you write <i>Addams’s</i> (as in <i>Wednesday Addams’s guillotine</i>), in a sense you’re writing a double possessive—something of the person who is of Adam. It’s enough to confuse anyone.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/britishmuseum/status/702459236429729792" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Medieval illustration of Habsburg family tree" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="528" width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OqjsmuZC1Ok/Xfl4ISzmcDI/AAAAAAAABCw/emvDM-DO4GArt0INCfVCdfpCYj49somoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/famtree.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-80343173339441602952019-04-18T19:10:00.001-07:002021-02-09T19:06:17.479-08:00Latin PhrasesWriters often confuse <b>e.g.</b> and <b>i.e.</b> The first means “for example” and the second means “that is.”<br />
<ul>
<li>My parents think I should pursue a more practical career, e.g., bookkeeping or beekeeping.</li>
<li>Georg and his daughter always dress up for their favourite annual event, i.e., the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schembart_Carnival" target="_blank">Maskbeard Carnival</a>.</li>
</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/radical-fashion-from-the-schembart-carnival-1590/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of adult and child in costume from Schembart Carnival in Neuremberg, 1590" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="345" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rCF7sb8dKY0/XLkeXmWBofI/AAAAAAAAA8s/SMlqr5OPnzsJP0yCV9iv4EqcPTOI74ydQCLcBGAs/s1600/Carnival%2Bmonsters.png" /></a></div>
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Both <i>e.g.</i> and <i>i.e.</i> are abbreviations of Latin phrases: <i>exempli gratia</i> (for the sake of example) and <i>id est</i> (that is). As you can see in the examples above, they should be surrounded by commas. But before you ask yourself if you’re using them correctly, ask yourself whether you need to use them at all. The <i>Chicago Manual of Style</i> argues that <i>e.g.</i> and <i>i.e.</i> should be avoided in formal writing (except in parentheses or notes, where brevity is a plus).<br />
<ul>
<li>Many animals are adept at communicating with humans; for example, llamas will spit in your face if annoyed.</li>
<li>Professor Gurira handed out “comestible incentives” (i.e., cookies) to participating students.</li>
</ul>
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A Latin phrase can be a handy substitute for the unwieldy English equivalent—<i>sine qua non</i>, for example, means “the thing without which nothing would be possible” (see below). But sometimes they’re just used to boost snob cred, or to prove in-group status by showing off one’s mastery of, say, legal jargon. Is your use of Latin expressive or just confusing? Consider your readers before you decide to send them, grumbling, to Google.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">To Italicize or Not to Italicize</span></h3>
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Why do some Latin phrases appear in italics while others don’t? Italics are traditionally used for words in a foreign language, but English has a habit of adopting foreign words as its own (thus its dog’s breakfast of spelling rules). Once, cappuccinos were exotic and only cowboys called people amigo. Now both words are so widely used in English they’re considered part of our language, like <i>emoji</i>, <i>pizza</i>, and <i>eau de cologne</i>.* You can trace this progression in dictionaries: when first introduced, a foreign word is usually italicized, but as its use spreads, the italics disappear. So if you want to know whether to italicize a Latin phrase, check a dictionary (caveat: they may not all agree). <br />
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*In this blog I use italics for words qua words, to show I’m talking about the word per se and not what it represents. That doesn’t mean these words should be italicized under normal circumstances. My examples and the entries below use italics only per the <i>Canadian Oxford Dictionary</i>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.periodpaper.com/collections/vintage-advertising-art/perfume" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="American print ad for eau de cologne, 1907" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vOgq139OPbU/XLkfXo5-79I/AAAAAAAAA80/Cmj9_mcdt1cQYMqYOn4_gzLXI_7ljvmfQCLcBGAs/s1600/eau%2Bde%2Bc%2Battracts.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Common Latin Abbreviations</span></h3>
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<b>etc.</b> (et cetera): “and others of the same kind.” Usually appears at the end of a list. Don’t use it after only one or two items (you wouldn’t write <i>the fish, and so on</i>), and don’t use it with <i>for example</i> or <i>such as</i> (see <i>Chicago </i>5.250). In the past commas were always placed both before and after <i>etc.</i>, but <i>Chicago</i> has recently relaxed its stance and approved dropping the second comma: <i>The colours red, orange, yellow, green, etc. make up the rainbow.</i><br />
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<b>et al. </b>(et alia): “and the rest.” Mostly used in bibliographies. When you’re citing an article with twelve authors, it’s handy to be able to write <i>Kernecki et al</i>. Note that only<i> al.</i> (short for <i>alia</i>) has a period.<br />
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<b>QED</b> (quod erat demonstrandum): “which was to be demonstrated.” Traditionally placed at the end of a mathematical or logical proof. Commonly used to say<i> I’ve just proven my point</i>.<br />
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<b>q.v. </b>(quod vidae): “which see.” A fancier <i>see also</i> for cross-references.<br />
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<b>viz.</b> (videre licet): “it is permitted to see.” Like <i>that is</i> or <i>namely</i>, <i>viz.</i> introduces a gloss or explanation. <i>Beware the hazards of kingship, viz. monkey assassins</i>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/illustrations-from-the-lights-of-canopus-1847/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of a sleeping king, a monkey holding a sword aloft, and another man restraining the sword, from Lights of Canopus, Iran 1847" border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9U3C0bflx3c/XLkhDuf-cYI/AAAAAAAAA9E/JIdiq9NPzSsyvbaTBXkt6R4zW98RRK6dwCLcBGAs/s1600/assassin%2Bmonkey.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">A Not At All Complete List of Latin Phrases Commonly Used in English</span></h3>
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<b>a priori</b>: “from what is before.” Describes a deduction based on theory rather than experience; presumed: <i>a priori assumptions about gender</i>.<br />
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<b>ad hoc</b>: “to this.” For a particular purpose: <i>an ad hoc committee</i>.<br />
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<b>ad hominem</b>: “to the person.” An ad hominem attack criticizes someone as a person rather than engaging with their arguments.<br />
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<b>ad nauseam</b>: “to nausea.” Until you’re sick of it. <i>They discussed hockey ad nauseam</i>. <br />
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<b>bona fide</b>: “with good faith.” Genuine; real. In Canada and the US, pronounced “<b>bone</b>-uh fied,” “<b>bone</b>-uh <b>fie</b>-dee,” or “<b>bon</b>-uh fied.”<br />
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<b>caveat</b>: “let a person beware.” Used as a warning or proviso.<br />
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<b><i>caveat emptor</i></b>: “let the buyer beware.”<br />
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<b>de facto</b>: “of fact.” In reality, as opposed to the official version. <i>So great was his influence over the tsar, some called Rasputin the de facto ruler of Russia.</i><br />
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<i><b>deus ex machina</b></i>: “god from the machinery.” In Greek plays, the plot was sometimes resolved by having a god appear suspended from a crane and wrap everything up by divine intervention. The expression is used for any twist that seems to come from nowhere to resolve the central problem, maybe too neatly.<i> The episode’s </i>deus ex machina<i>, a future version of the Doctor, came and rescued them all from the time loop.</i> Pronounced “<b>day</b>-us ex <b>ma</b>-kin-uh.”<br />
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<a href="http://smithsonianlibraries.tumblr.com/post/177835220486/some-woodcuts-of-primative-flying-machines-from" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Woodcut of a man in an unlikely-looking flying device, from Through the Air by John Wise, 1873" border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Joa8XEVnYo4/XLkiiNLK21I/AAAAAAAAA9U/WkBTHHIzU-4KiLwiJVghr-wVUy7ER4uPACLcBGAs/s1600/flying%2Bdevice.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<i><b>ergo</b></i>: “therefore.”<br />
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<i><b>et tu?</b></i>: “and you?” This is from Caesar’s supposed last words just after he’d been stabbed by a bunch of senators, including his bro Brutus: “<i>Et tu, Brute?</i>” (“You too, Brutus?”) Today it’s an expression of betrayal—the ultimate guilt trip—usually said jokingly. Pronounced “et too <b>Broo</b>-teh” (this isn’t French; there are no silent letters).<br />
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<i><b>ex post facto</b></i>: from <i>ex postfacto</i>, “in the light of subsequent events.” Retroactively.<br />
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<b>extempore</b>: from <i>ex tempore</i>, “out of the time.” Without preparation; off the cuff. <i>She treated her fellow drivers to an extempore performance of “I Will Always Love You</i>.” Pronounced “ex-<b>temp</b>-o-ree.”<br />
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<b>habeas corpus</b>: “you shall have the body [in court].” Generally speaking, the legal principle that a person who’s been imprisoned has the right to be brought before the court to hear the charges and to defend themselves. Has nothing to do with corpses.<br />
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<b>in camera</b>: “in the chamber.” In private or in secret. <i>The negotiations took place in camera.</i><br />
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<i><b>in flagrante delicto</b></i>: “in blazing crime.” Caught in the act of wrongdoing, usually sexual misconduct. <i>The PE teacher and the janitor were caught </i>in flagrante<i> by the soccer team</i>. Pronounced “in fluh-<b>gran</b>-tee di-<b>lick</b>-toe.”<br />
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<i><b>in medias res:</b></i> “in the midst of things.” Describes a story that begins in the middle of the action. <i>Tarantino’s </i>Reservoir Dogs<i> opens </i>in medias res<i>, just after a robbery gone wrong.</i> Pronounced “in <b>me</b>-dee-us <b>rays</b>.”<br />
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<b>in situ</b>: “in the place.” In the original or appropriate place. <i>The archaeological remains were cleaned and examined in situ.</i><br />
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<b>in vitro</b>: “in glass.” Specifically, in test tube, as in <i>in vitro fertilization</i>.<br />
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<i><b>inter alia</b></i>: “among other things.” <i>The accused was charged with, </i>inter alia,<i> trespassing.</i><br />
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<i><b>mea culpa</b></i>: “by my fault.” Usually an acknowledgement (like <i>my bad</i>) but also a noun: <i>The supervillain’s public </i>mea culpas<i> were not enough.</i> Brought to us, unsurprisingly, by Catholic confessional prayer. Pronounced “<b>may</b>-uh <b>cool</b>-puh” or “<b>me</b>-uh <b>cull</b>-puh.”<br />
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<i><b>non compos mentis</b></i>: “not having control of one’s mind.” Not of sound mind. Usually appears in a legal context, e.g., when questioning the validity of a will.<br />
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<b>non sequitur</b>: “it does not follow.” Something that has nothing to do with what came before. <i>In the middle of our conversation he threw in a total non sequitur about sloths.</i><br />
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<b>per</b> (or <b>as per</b>): “through.” In accordance with. <i>I hid the package per your instructions.</i> <i>Per</i> can also mean “for each,” as in <i>per annum </i>(for each year) and <i>per capita</i> (for each head [i.e., person]).<br />
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<b>per se</b>: “by itself.” The thing itself and no more. Pronounced “per say.”<br />
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<b>persona non grata</b>: “person not pleasing.” An unwelcome or unacceptable person. <i>After the argument over the dog, she became persona non grata with the neighbours.</i><br />
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<b>prima facie</b>: “first face.” At first sight or based on a first impression. Pronounced “<b>pry</b>-muh <b>fay</b>-shee,” or in the US “<b>pry</b>-muh <b>fay</b>-shuh.”<br />
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<b>pro forma</b>: “for form.” As a formality or for the sake of appearances, as in <i>a pro forma review</i> or <i>he attended pro forma.</i><br />
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<b>qua</b>: “in the capacity of.” As. <i>She had a beautiful voice, but Medusa qua opera singer left audiences cold.</i><br />
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<b>quid pro quo</b>: “something for something.” A favour in exchange for a favour.<br />
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<i><b>sine qua non</b></i>: “without which not.” Something essential. <i>A memorable title is the </i>sine qua non<i> of podcasting.</i> Pronounced “<b>sin</b>-ay kwah <b>non</b>.”<br />
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<b>sub rosa</b>: “under the rose.” In secrecy. Roses have been a symbol of secrecy since ancient Greece, and they’ve been carved into dining-room ceilings to reinforce the confidentiality of discussions at the table below. For more details, see the Merriam-Webster entry “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sub%20rosa#note-1" target="_blank">Sub Rosa and Secrecy</a>.”<br />
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<b>vice versa</b>: “the position being reversed.” The other way around. The first word can be pronounced either “vice” or “<b>vice</b>-uh.”<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">The Impostor</span></h3>
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Finally, a word that’s pronounced like Latin, but isn’t: <b>forte</b>. Used in English to mean “a thing at which one excels,” <i>forte</i> is derived from the French <i>fort</i>, meaning “strong.” Going by French pronunciation, <i>forte</i> should rhyme with <i>port</i>, but most Canadians and Americans pronounce it “<b>for</b>-tay.” According to <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forte#h2" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster</a>, this is because of the musical meaning of <i>forte</i> (loud), which came to English from Italian—in which it also means “strong”—and influenced our pronunciation of the French-derived word. In any case, the “for-tay” pronunciation is deeply entrenched, so there’s no point worrying about it now.<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_Sandow#/media/File:The_Sandow_Trocadero_Vaudevilles,_Sandow_lifting_the_human_dumbell,_1894.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poster showing strongman Eugen Sandow lifting two men, 1894" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="422" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9_a_KSXVcEg/XLkmftIkSqI/AAAAAAAAA9g/_5O40YG71W0ZOzdwcHEtnNEg5P2ajy3BQCLcBGAs/s1600/strongman.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-73138764070091908032019-03-20T14:13:00.001-07:002021-02-09T19:54:05.118-08:00Inclusive Language: Class and IncomeHow do we describe people less well off than us without being insulting? <i>The poor</i> smacks of Victorian condescension. <i>Working class</i> is common in the UK, but a recent poll showed that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jun/29/most-brits-regard-themselves-as-working-class-survey-finds" target="_blank">over half</a> of Brits describe themselves as working class, regardless of income, so the term more often reflects political values than level of income or privilege. The US equivalent is <i>blue collar</i>, but that too is something of a misnomer because it suggests manual labour or factory work, when most of today’s working poor toil in the service industry. Currently, the most widely accepted term seems to be <i>lower-income people</i> (or if you want to be more people-first, <i>people of lower incomes</i>). It carries less cultural baggage and implicit judgment—as much as that’s possible, anyway.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eoskins/36710324444" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration by Franklin Booth for the 1917 edition of The Prince and the Pauper" border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iUWDkEf99aQ/XJKb8W0v2CI/AAAAAAAAA7U/XL8qJDCxuY8YAB_7dtq0jwYHL6lcXjd4wCLcBGAs/s1600/prince%2526pauper.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">The Myth of Good English</span></h3><br />
Of course, a person’s income level doesn’t necessarily tell you anything about their class. Like class and race, class and income intersect in complicated ways. A person can struggle to make ends meet and still reap the benefits of class privilege when it comes to, say, dealing with law enforcement or navigating government bureaucracy. On top of that, class is conceived of differently in different cultures (for example, <i>middle class</i> means something different in the UK and Canada). One marker of class is education, often signalled by “good” English. The problem with this metric is there’s no such thing as good English.<br />
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Before you accuse me of writing myself out of a job, let me explain that what you were taught in school as “correct” English is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_English" target="_blank">Standard English</a>. Standard English, written and spoken, is a dialect. It is no better or worse than any other English dialect, like African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Appalachian English, Chicano English, Cockney, Indian English, Newfoundland English, and so on. (For more on this topic from a linguistics perspective, listen to the podcast <a href="https://vocalfriespod.fireside.fm/episodes" target="_blank">The Vocal Fries</a>.)<br />
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Certainly Standard English is useful, even necessary. It can be essential for getting a loan, interviewing for a job, or defending a master’s thesis. But nobody uses it <i>all</i> the time, and in some contexts it would be inappropriate (“That goal was very adroitly achieved!”). People of any education level may deliberately choose not to use Standard English in contexts where it would be out of place, like at a family barbecue. As an editor, I don’t correct “bad” English so much as change words that are used in the wrong context. Sometimes that means applying accepted Standard English, and sometimes it means applying a less formal English—by inserting contractions into dialogue, for example.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimsuit#/media/File:Punch_-_Masculine_beauty_retouched1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration from Punch, 1 Sep 1877, of a man at the beach in a striped swimsuit, surrounded by onlookers" border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zI8f-jdLly0/XJKb0Mv6pfI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/7MkSQSuq_sAEufrtNWtwrD0r_q6GtUBEACLcBGAs/s1600/bathing%2Bsuit.png" /></a></div><br />
Because nonstandard dialects can reveal class, region, and ethnicity, they’re sometimes used in fiction to tell us more about a character. But be very careful when using less privileged dialects not to reinforce stereotypes about any group—especially when that dialect is not your own. (For more about using dialects, read Kai Ashante Wilson’s essay <a href="https://www.tor.com/2016/11/02/the-poc-guide-to-writing-dialect-in-fiction/" target="_blank">The POC Guide to Writing Dialect in Fiction</a>. For more about avoiding stereotypes when writing characters, see <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2019/02/inclusive-language-race-and-ethnicity.html" target="_blank">Inclusive Language: Race and Ethnicity</a>.)<br />
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<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Homelessness and Addiction</span> </h3><br />
Avoid writing <i>the homeless</i> in favour of <i>homeless people</i>, which is more humanizing; homelessness is a condition (one in which any of us could find ourselves), not a type of person. The same is true of mental illness (something that many homeless people are dealing with). Instead of <i>schizophrenics</i>, for example, use <i>people with schizophrenia</i> (see <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/12/inclusive-language-disability-and.html" target="_blank">Inclusive Language: Disability and Neurodivergence</a> for more on this).<br />
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Since I first wrote this post, another term has come into use: <i>unhoused</i>. A <i>Curbed</i> <a href="https://archive.curbed.com/2020/6/11/21273455/homeless-people-definition-copy-editing" target="_blank">article</a> from June 2020 calls this a West Coast phenomenon: in LA, the <i>houseless</i> “still have communities and neighbors—and they still have a home in the
city”; in San Francisco, <i>unhoused</i> “denotes that people are being pushed out of their dwelling units by inequitable housing policies.” In November 2020 the <i>Oaklandside</i> <a href="https://oaklandside.org/2020/11/10/homeless-unhoused-unsheltered-word-choice-matters-when-reporting-on-oaklanders-who-dont-have-permanent-housing/" target="_blank">debated</a> the merits of various alternatives to <i>homeless</i>, using <i>unhoused</i> throughout the article. The most important consideration, they wrote, is what the people you’re writing about want to be called, and when writing in general, to humanize your subjects as much as possible. [Added February 2021.]<br />
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Drug addiction often intersects with homelessness, though it is by no means limited to the down and out. More respectful than <i>addicts</i> is <i>people with addictions</i>. Some people describe themselves as <i>drug users</i> or <i>people who use drugs</i>, as in the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (<a href="https://www.straight.com/news/959286/vancouver-area-network-drug-users-looks-back-20-years-fighting-human-rights" target="_blank">VANDU</a>). VANDU is a union that was formed to advocate for drug users’ rights; their activism was central to the establishment of Vancouver’s groundbreaking safe-injection site, Insite. Their choice of <i>drug user</i> is unapologetic—it demands they be respected as human beings regardless of what they choose to put in their bodies. The status of their drug habits (using or sober) is irrelevant to their human rights, and their terminology insists that others recognize this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://vandureplace.wordpress.com" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Collage of photos from VANDU demonstrations" border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Eg3EmYf-BME/XJKbfsskiHI/AAAAAAAAA7I/CO6zza31J1YFtnqhAaWimJp_zl-1zH29QCLcBGAs/s1600/vandu.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Global Poverty</span></h3><br />
The poorer parts of the globe used to be called <i>the third world</i>. This term originated in the Cold War: the first world was the West, the second was the USSR, and the third was everyone else. The hierarchical <i>third world</i> fell out of favour and was replaced by <i>the developing world</i>. But this too smacks of condescension, implying that only “developed” countries have reached full civilization. <br />
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A recently favoured alternative is <i>the <a href="https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/globalsouthpolitics/2018/08/08/global-south-what-does-it-mean-and-why-use-the-term/" target="_blank">Global South</a></i>, used in contrast with<i> the Global North</i>. This term carries no hint of hierarchy or value judgment. It is geographic (see the map below), but it can also be socioeconomic: the Global South can extend into areas and people in the Global North, and the privileges of the Global North can be found in people living in the Global South. The term’s applications are at once much broader and more specific than its predecessors’.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_South#/media/File:North_South_divide.svg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="World map showing North-South divide" border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2b0APIWN_v0/XJKdbaAOUWI/AAAAAAAAA7k/wDBxVcMJfik9EQoc79nIP0Bb7frJmwVBACLcBGAs/s1600/global%2BSouth.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Avoid the phrases <i>tribal warfare</i> and <i>ethnic conflict</i>. They’re often used to dismiss foreign fighting as irrational, unsolvable, and uncivilized (unlike national warfare and white conflict, presumably). They ignore any political, historical, social, and economic contributors and implicitly <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/tribal-warfare-and-ethnic-conflict" target="_blank">deny the role of outside global forces</a>. In the Rwandan genocide of 1994, for example, the division between Hutus and Tutsis was not truly ethnic or tribal: it had been created and reinforced by colonial governors as a means of controlling the indigenous population. To ignore this history, and the other social and political factors that led to the killings, and dismiss it as “ethnic violence” is to seriously misrepresent the situation.<br />
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Be aware of your language choices any time you’re writing about a less privileged group—any group. Now that blatant racism is socially unacceptable, there’s a tendency to make fun of white people with lower incomes and less formal education. Criticize unethical behaviour all you want, but don’t mock someone’s dialect or make fun of their teeth because they can’t afford a dentist. Comedians talk about the rule of “punching up,” by which they mean it’s okay to joke about people <i>more</i> privileged than you, but it’s never okay to joke about someone <i>less</i> privileged than you. In other words, pick on someone your own (metaphorical) size.<br />
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This is the last post in the <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/10/inclusive-language.html" target="_blank">Inclusive Language</a> series. I hope you found it useful, and I encourage you to visit the sites I’ve linked to for a more in-depth discussion of these topics than I could hope to provide.<br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-4048959777817050812019-02-15T19:12:00.000-08:002019-03-20T14:27:50.230-07:00Inclusive Language: Race and EthnicityIn the <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/10/inclusive-language.html" target="_blank">introduction</a> to this series, I talked about race and terminology (e.g., <i>African American</i> vs. <i>Black</i>, <i>Indigenous</i> vs. <i>Native American</i>), so in this post I’m going to focus on issues that come up when you’re writing characters of a different race or ethnicity than your own.<br />
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<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Billet-Doux_-_Japanese_woman_writing_a_letter_on_paper_roll_with_an_ink_brush_(1911_by_Elstner_Hilton).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo from 1911 of a Japanese woman in a kimono writing on a paper roll, by Elstner Hilton" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="417" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4vDjB-hph3o/XGc4T269eoI/AAAAAAAAA4s/Lcd-VNF53SgGodVJpy4a1EhdB_f-TsHvgCLcBGAs/s1600/writer.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">How Not to Write Stereotypical Characters</span></h3>
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Stereotypical characters usually happen because a writer grabbed the nearest conception of a particular group without really noticing or thinking about what they were doing. You need an IT guy in your office scene, and you automatically make him South Asian. You want your main character’s funny best friend to be Black, but you don’t bother to give her any goals or motivations of her own. Your high school student is a Type A overachiever, and it just seems obvious she should be Asian. You need some terrorists to thicken the plot, and Muslim jihadists fit the bill. And so on and so on.<br />
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This is a really easy trap to fall into, because we’re bombarded with these stereotypes in our media every day. And the more a stereotype is seen, the more it’s reproduced, in a vicious circle of self-replication. As a writer, it’s part of your job to ask yourself questions like, Why did I choose to write that character that way? Was that an informed, conscious decision, or was I just following the path of least resistance? You might not even realize you’re repeating the same assumptions other people have made. Try googling your character’s race and “common stereotypes” to get an idea of what to avoid. Or visit the excellent blog <a href="http://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/Navigation2" target="_blank">Writing with Color</a> and check out their lists of stereotypes and tropes.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">How Not to Describe a Character of Colour</span></h3>
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertumnus_(painting)#/media/File:Portr%C3%A4tt,_Rudolf_II_som_Vertumnus._Guiseppe_Arcimboldo_-_Skoklosters_slott_-_87582.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Painting of a man made entirely of vegetables, fruit, and flowers: Vertumnus, by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1590" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="406" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ7Ahuv61YE/XGc6vyPihEI/AAAAAAAAA48/OMHdhRzG6ycHs30CU8RFCuuI9thbQzEiwCEwYBhgL/s1600/food%2Bface.jpg" /></a></div>
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So you’ve decided to make your cast of characters diverse—when and how do you tell the reader that the character you’re introducing is a character of colour? Most of us have been trained to treat whiteness as the default setting. You can introduce twenty white characters without mentioning race, but as soon as a character of colour pops up, they’re immediately described in terms of their race; this “others” them from the rest of the characters and from the (presumed) reader. On the other hand, if you don’t mention race at all, you risk readers assuming all your characters are white.<br />
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If your narrative is tied closely to one character’s point of view (POV), you can describe other characters in the language that character would use. For example, say your close-POV character is a Chinese Canadian man. He might not mention his Chinese neighbour’s race (especially if they live in a largely Chinese neighbourhood), but he might describe his daughter’s teacher as, say, “a white lady in a sparkly scarf.” However, this approach isn’t a solution if your POV character is white, because then you’re just reinforcing the white-as-default position.<br />
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Some writers use physical description instead of baldly stating a character’s race. This can work well, but there’s a lot of “chocolate skin” and “cafe au lait complexions” out there, not to mention “almond-shaped eyes.” Food terms are objectifying and carry creepy connotations of consumption. And Asian people’s eyes come in lots of shapes besides “almond” (have you ever seen <i>almond-shaped</i> used in any other context?). (Besides, the fixation on eye shape as a defining racial characteristic seems to be more of a Western thing; historical Asian art is full of Westerners with big noses.)<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Cock_Blomhoff#/media/File:Jan_Cock_Blomhoff_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Portrait of Jan Cock Blomhoff, the director of the Dutch trading colony in Nagasaki, and his infant son in the arms of a Dutch nursemaid, by anonymous Japanese artist, 1817" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="388" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K73QNasmURs/XGc8B6GEHmI/AAAAAAAAA5E/qShbj3oWnjIBO58U0QJmx32W8MtNsvIEQCLcBGAs/s1600/noses.jpg" /></a></div>
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Even worse, from a craft point of view, these foodlike descriptions are all tediously clichéd. They tell us nothing about the characters as <i>individuals</i>. Are they tall or short? Plump or lanky? Do they wear glasses? (What kind?) Is their posture hunched or regal? Do they have tattoos? Acne? Freckles? Piercings? All of the above?<br />
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<span style="color: #073763;">Other Descriptive Options</span></h3>
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There are better ways to clue in your readers without stating a character’s race outright (though some readers will insist on picturing white characters unless explicitly told otherwise). Afros, braids, dreadlocks, and other hairstyles can tell readers a character is Black. Skin colour can be mentioned as long as you avoid food metaphors (wood, gemstones, and other natural elements are usually acceptable) and you give white characters parallel treatment. Characters’ names can show they’re Asian, Jewish, South Asian, or Hispanic (but don’t forget Hispanic people can be white too). On the other hand, a biracial character or a woman married to a man of a different ethnicity might not be revealed by their surname.<br />
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Characters’ dialogue can also be a cue, but be careful when using a language you don’t speak yourself. The interaction between language and identity is complex, and if you’ve never lived in a bilingual household, you may have misconceptions about how other languages are used, whether instead of, alongside, or mixed with English. (The <a href="https://vocalfriespod.fireside.fm/38" target="_blank">Vocal Fries podcast</a> has discussed this in several great episodes.)<br />
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Use “bad” or “broken” English judiciously; it’s easy to slip into stereotypes. If English is your character’s second language, consider letting them use their first language sometimes—as the author, you can “translate” it into English. When using in-group slang or dialects, like African American Vernacular English (AAVE), for example, be sure you don’t veer into <a href="http://affinitymagazine.us/2016/05/22/aave-is-for-black-people-and-black-people-only/" target="_blank">cultural appropriation</a> territory. Are you choosing words authentic to who the character is, or just trying to sound cool? (See also author Kai Ashante Wilson’s <a href="https://www.tor.com/2016/11/02/the-poc-guide-to-writing-dialect-in-fiction/" target="_blank">excellent post</a> on Tor.com about using dialects in fiction as a writer of colour.)<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Writing About Racism</span></h3>
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Is it okay to show bigotry in your stories? Yes, but recognize there’s a difference between <i>showing</i> bigotry and <i>replicating</i> it. Are you dwelling on degradation for its own sake, or are you showing your characters’ reactions <i>to</i> it? Even when writing about historical atrocities, you still decide what part of the story, and which people, to focus on. There is never oppression without resistance: the history of slavery is full of slave rebellions, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_rebellion" target="_blank">many successful</a>; plenty of Jews fought the Nazis, and some WWII concentration camps had <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/research/the-center-for-advanced-holocaust-studies/miles-lerman-center-for-the-study-of-jewish-resistance/medals-of-resistance-award/treblinka-death-camp-revolt" target="_blank">uprisings and mass escapes</a>. My point isn’t to make light of oppression but to warn against casting oppressed groups as helpless and passive. People, no matter who they are, have always fought to have agency over their own lives. Don’t deprive your characters of agency in their stories.<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution#/media/File:Battle_for_Palm_Tree_Hill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A painting of the Haitian Revolution: Battle of San Domingo by January Suchodolski, 1845" border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SX1NaJZye3E/XGc_3sXRkaI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/fCOs_1MmYoUQEM-Tlr_kCGbmVKeIIT25wCLcBGAs/s1600/Haitian%2BRebellion.jpg" /></a></div>
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Also, beware of making your character’s story <i>only</i> about dealing with racism (or homophobia, sexism, ableism, etc.). Not only is it reductive (nobody’s life is about just one thing), it would be presumptuous of you to think you can encompass a type of oppression you’ve never experienced. Don’t build your story on another group’s struggle. It’s okay to include it, but if it’s the heart of the story, then that story is probably better told by someone else.<br />
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As with all the posts in this series, my advice boils down to 1) do your research, and 2) ask yourself, Am I the right person to tell this story? Once you’ve done what you can, write your story. People may criticize your choices; listen to them. If they have a point, apologize and do better next time. That’s all any of us can do.<br />
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This is the fourth post in the Inclusive Language series. The others are the <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/10/inclusive-language.html" target="_blank">introduction</a>, <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/11/inclusive-language-gender-and-sexual.html" target="_blank">Gender and Sexual Orientation</a>, <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/12/inclusive-language-disability-and.html" target="_blank">Disability and Neurodivergence</a>, and <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2019/03/inclusive-language-class-and-income.html" target="_blank">Class and Income</a>.<br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-79272193511206181432018-12-15T20:42:00.000-08:002019-03-20T14:29:50.075-07:00Inclusive Language: Disability and NeurodivergenceWe’ve all read something like this: <br />
<ul>
<li>Despite being confined to a wheelchair, Michonne is the world’s foremost expert on aquarium snails.</li>
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It may seem inoffensive, but a number of ableist assumptions are packed into that sentence. <br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Boardwalk,_Atlantic_City,_N._J_(NYPL_b12647398-66712).tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of wheelchair users in Atlantic City, 1898" border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QsJ53J63B6I/XBV2mGpvC3I/AAAAAAAAA1w/PcBBsV40zlgXm3k3zfHHp64CKSFFboWVQCLcBGAs/s1600/Boardwalk.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;"> Burdened by Glasses</span></h3>
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First, the phrase <i>confined to a wheelchair</i> suggests something akin to a prison sentence. Like any assistive technology, a wheelchair is a tool. I am very short-sighted and would have considerable difficulty navigating the world without my glasses, but I’d never describe myself as <i>confined behind eyeglasses</i> or <i>glasses-bound</i>. A good rule of thumb is, if you wouldn’t say it about glasses, don’t say it about wheelchairs (or prosthetics, hearing aids, white canes, etc.).<br />
<ul>
<li>Despite using a wheelchair, Michonne is the world’s foremost expert on aquarium snails.</li>
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Second, the sentence opens with Michonne’s disability, as if that’s the most important thing about her. What, if anything, does it have to do with her being a snail expert? Why mention it at all?<br />
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<li>Michonne is the world’s foremost expert on aquarium snails.</li>
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Now if, for example, you were writing a piece about people with disabilities in the sciences, then Michonne’s wheelchair use might be relevant. Or you might choose to include it as a way of broadening the representation of disabled people in the media.<br />
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<li>Michonne, who is the world’s foremost expert on aquarium snails, uses a wheelchair.</li>
<li>America’s thirty-second president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, used a wheelchair.</li>
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This phrasing informs the reader of the subject’s disabled status without elevating it above their accomplishment or personhood. <br />
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<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/07/10/200700811/video-rare-clip-reveals-roosevelts-use-of-wheelchair" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of FDR in wheelchair from 1941 at home with dog and child" border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VnCSHgqcKk8/XBV2_OFmeSI/AAAAAAAAA14/lNE7mvmNqYwCXp2JTPhCDH9pKrSS3vYBgCLcBGAs/s1600/FDR.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Inspiration Porn</span></h3>
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In the first two example sentences, the word <i>despite</i> points to another ableist pitfall: the “overcoming disability” narrative. You may have seen those posters of anonymous Paralympians or cute disabled kids, blazoned with <i>What’s your excuse?</i> In other words, “If I can run a marathon on prosthetic legs, then you can do whatever you set your mind to!” In this genre, dubbed “<a href="https://themighty.com/2017/10/please-stop-spreading-inspiration-porn-about-disability/" target="_blank">inspiration porn</a>” by disability activists, the raison d’être of people with disabilities is to inspire the non-disabled. As such, they are expected to be overachieving, uncomplaining, and preferably photogenic. Slackers need not apply.<br />
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Of course disabled people <i>do</i> have to overcome obstacles that non-disabled people don’t: inaccessible spaces, inadequate transportation, and high medical costs, to name a few. But these societal inequities don’t fit neatly into the you-can-do-it, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps narrative our culture prefers. <br />
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“Inspirational” stereotypes not only objectify disabled people, they penalize anyone who, for whatever reason, can’t superhumanly transcend their disability. No amount of determination and positive thinking will wipe away a chronic illness or magically summon an entrance ramp. <br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;"> Variation Is the Norm</span></h3>
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There are as many experiences of disability as there are disabled people.<br />
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Among deaf people, some use the term <i>hard of hearing</i> while others identify as Deaf—that is, part of the <a href="https://deafculturecentre.ca/about/" target="_blank">Deaf community and culture</a>. Whether someone signs or speaks, uses hearing aids or doesn’t, calls themselves hard of hearing, deaf, or Deaf—all this is highly individual.<br />
<ul>
<li>Beethoven famously went deaf by age forty-four.</li>
<li>The Deaf storyteller signed and her interpreter translated for hearing audience members.</li>
</ul>
<br />
And just as there are multiple spoken languages, there is more than one sign language: American Sign Language (ASL), <i>langue des signes québécoise</i> (LSQ), Australian sign language (Auslan), British Sign Language (BSL), Navajo Sign Language, Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL), and so on—around 300 altogether, according to Wikipedia.<br />
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<a href="https://deafculturecentre.ca/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of ASL fingerspelling class, probably late 19th century" border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B3FzGRxaB1w/XBV4fpBVyXI/AAAAAAAAA2E/MfPSoklmcUoTNb07YwrJYDVoa1N8BeaUQCEwYBhgL/s1600/ASLFingerspellingClass.png" /></a></div>
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Similarly, <i>visually impaired</i> can mean anything from partially sighted to completely blind. Many people with limited vision use assistive technology such as screen readers or Braille displays, so when you’re adding visual content to your writing, be sure to include descriptive text below your images or <a href="https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/blog/five-golden-rules-compliant-alt-text" target="_blank">in the alt tags</a>.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Mental Illness and Neurodivergence</span></h3>
<br />
Avoid using words like <i>crazy</i> or <i>psycho</i>, which are dismissive at best and hurtful at worst. And disregard myths about violent behaviour: people with mental illnesses are much more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. <br />
<br />
Try to keep your language focused on the person rather than the illness.<br />
<ul>
<li>Schizophrenics may show a variety of symptoms. <span style="color: red;">☓</span></li>
<li>People with schizophrenia may experience a variety of symptoms. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>Her sister Trinh is bipolar. <span style="color: red;">☓</span></li>
<li>Her sister Trinh has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
Avoid <i>struggles with</i> as a general description; save it for situations of actual distress.<br />
<ul>
<li>Branislav struggles with depression. <span style="color: red;">☓</span></li>
<li>Branislav lives with depression. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>Branislav manages depression. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>During that year, Branislav struggled with depression off and on. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edvard_Munch_-_Melancholy_(1894-96).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Melancholy by Edvard Munch, 1894-96" border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5f-ucbZweRY/XBV7Emf8E5I/AAAAAAAAA2Q/k6Ve9ZWvO6gOIxGLTDWC1nh_7dWjUzpCwCLcBGAs/s1600/Melancholy.jpg" /></a></div>
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The adjective <b><a href="http://neurocosmopolitanism.com/neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/" target="_blank">neurodivergent</a></b> is used to describe people with autism, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, Down syndrome, and other conditions. It means “neurologically different from the majority,” and its opposite is <b>neurotypical</b>. The advantage of this term is that it casts people as acceptably different rather than “defective.” In the same vein, avoid phrases like <i>suffers from</i> or <i>afflicted with</i> in favour of <i>has</i> or <i>lives with</i>.<br />
<ul>
<li>My teacher, who has cerebral palsy, sometimes comes to class in a wheelchair.</li>
<li>Diana shares a house with six other people with intellectual disabilities.</li>
</ul>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">There Are No Perfect Words</span></h3>
<br />
In this post I’ve mostly followed the “<a href="https://ncdj.org/style-guide/" target="_blank">people first</a>” rule of thumb (e.g., <i>people with chronic illness</i> instead of <i>the chronically ill</i> ), but many people consider their disability part of their identity. For them, <i>disabled people</i> is preferable to <i>people with disabilities</i>, and <i><a href="https://www.lennyletter.com/story/i-dont-have-autism-im-autistic?mbid=lenny-newsletter_061218_&bxid=5a57b1413f92a4054ae9992e&utm_term=Lenny_Letter_Active&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lenny_Letter_061218&utm_content=Final" target="_blank">I’m autistic</a></i> (or Autistic) is more empowering than <i>I have autism</i>. <br />
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If you’re writing about a real person, always ask what terms they prefer. If you’re inventing a character, then you’ll have to do your research to determine how they would describe themselves. Follow blogs by disabled writers and read articles by disability activists. Since the popularity of different terms changes over time (as in all corners of English), your research is never really over.<br />
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<a href="http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/175917365950/a-disabled-black-flower-seller-carts-his-wares" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration from England circa 1790 of a Black disabled flower-seller driving a mule-drawn cart and selling his wares" border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AKu-q9DnvF0/XBV9kbZWu_I/AAAAAAAAA2c/7khJjgxgxXgN2i9Ro5nNhJhtOZ9qD8znQCLcBGAs/s1600/FlowerSeller.jpg" /></a></div>
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This is the third post in the Inclusive Language series. The others are the <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/10/inclusive-language.html" target="_blank">introduction</a>, <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/11/inclusive-language-gender-and-sexual.html" target="_blank">Gender and Sexual Orientation</a>, <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2019/02/inclusive-language-race-and-ethnicity.html" target="_blank">Race and Ethnicity</a>, and <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2019/03/inclusive-language-class-and-income.html" target="_blank">Class and Income</a>.<br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-49542464274985176202018-11-15T14:34:00.000-08:002020-05-15T18:41:18.806-07:00Inclusive Language: Gender and Sexual OrientationThere’s a lot to cover here, from avoiding sexism to gender identity to the LGBTQ rainbow. So let’s get to work!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://jezebel.com/5867539/mystery-of-pearl-harbor-female-firefighter-photo-solved" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of women wielding firehose, Pearl Harbor, WWII" border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tK6nlRVCyj0/W-tLMJXUnkI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/axC9URQOhUMSzuyqSpgY0I30O6RCsAkuACLcBGAs/s1600/firefighters.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Sexism in Language</span></h3><br />
Most writers nowadays understand they should use <i>humanity</i> instead of <i>mankind</i>, <i>synthetic</i> instead of <i>man-made</i>, <i>firefighters</i> instead of <i>firemen</i>, and so on. But even if you avoid sexist language, it’s still easy to let sexist assumptions creep into your writing. Quick: think of an animal. Is it male or female? Why?<br />
<br />
When I write example sentences for this blog, I like to notice which gender immediately springs to mind—and then choose the opposite. Or I don’t specify gender at all.<br />
<ul><li>The little dragon’s father picked her up from school every day.</li>
<li>We infiltrated the soirée by posing as “Dr. and Mr. Opeyemi.” </li>
<li>The chef’s swearing could be heard in every corner of her restaurant.</li>
<li>Never come between a grad student and their coffee.</li>
<li>The Rampaging Rabbit rode her trusty snail, Sparkles, into battle.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/178343702998/not-medieval-but-still-important-rabbit-riding-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of rabbit with spear riding giant snail, Netherlands, 1650" border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zyWlOz3at1s/W-tLlDH9RLI/AAAAAAAAA0g/aKszwakAQZgYg2-JTRbvk89lOFWjlIOEwCLcBGAs/s1600/rabbit%2Brides%2Bsnail.jpg" /></a></div><br />
You can find more examples of nonsexist language at the <a href="http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=chapsect14&info0=14.03#zz14" target="_blank">Canadian Style</a> website.<br />
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<h3><span style="color: #073763;">She, He, and They</span></h3><br />
It used to be that <i>he</i> was considered acceptable for all situations; obviously, that is no longer the case. Some writers use <i>he or she</i> or <i>he/she</i>, but these are verbally and visually awkward. Another choice is to alternate between<i> she</i> and <i>he</i>, either paragraph by paragraph or chapter by chapter, which is better but not ideal.<i> One</i> can come across as too formal or just clunky: <i>One should always clear one’s browser history after one has finished one’s transactions on the dark Web.</i><br />
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Then there’s <i>they</i>. Most guides to formal writing insist <i>they</i> should be used with plural subjects only. To avoid gendered pronouns, they advise, you should make your sentence’s subject plural, or address your reader directly, as <i>you</i>.<br />
<ul><li>Each student must bring his own wand. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>All students must bring their own wands. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>You must bring your own wand. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
But while it’s frowned upon by formal style guides, the <b>singular <i>they</i></b> is gradually gaining acceptance (see <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2016/05/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love.html" target="_blank">How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Singular They</a>). Unless your audience is particularly fastidious, this is the most natural-sounding choice, since English speakers use it all the time in conversation.<br />
<ul><li>Each student must bring their own wand. </li>
<li>Someone left their superhero costume in the phone booth.</li>
</ul><br />
Another reason to embrace the singular <i>they</i> is that it doesn’t exclude <b><a href="https://transequality.org/issues/resources/understanding-non-binary-people-how-to-be-respectful-and-supportive" target="_blank">nonbinary people</a></b>. A nonbinary person doesn’t identify themselves as purely male or female. While a variety of alternative pronouns have been coined, <i>they</i> is probably the most widely used. (That said, you should favour whatever pronouns the person themself uses.) The most recent edition of <i>The Chicago Manual of Style</i> has approved the singular <i>they</i>—along with <i>themself</i>—for this purpose.<br />
<ul><li>We’re going out for drinks to congratulate Sloane on their promotion.</li>
</ul>If you find yourself getting confused or flustered by this concept, take a deep breath. It’s really not that hard. You’ve been using the singular <i>they</i> in speech all your life; this is just a slight expansion of its application.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_d%27%C3%89on" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Caricature of the Chevalier d'Éon dressed half in women's clothing and half in men's, London Magazine, 1777" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="323" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6yXzj6MdGdQ/W-tOlUWYWcI/AAAAAAAAA0s/4o-6YgP51F8O2Jruap2vMiIhDRsYlcZXQCLcBGAs/s1600/d%2527eon.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Transgender Terminology</span></h3><br />
<i>Transgender </i>(sometimes shortened to <i>trans</i>) is the appropriate descriptor, not <i>transgendered</i>. Its counterpart for people who are not transgender is <i>cisgender</i> (or <i>cis</i>). Use <i>transgender</i> as you would any other adjective.<br />
<ul><li>Jim is a tall man.</li>
<li>Jim is a trans man.</li>
<li>The woman leading the sensitivity workshop is South Asian.</li>
<li>The woman leading the sensitivity workshop is transgender.</li>
</ul><br />
A transgender person hasn’t <i>changed</i> their gender—they’re expressing the gender they’ve <i>always been</i>. The only change is between living as the gender they were mistakenly handed out as a baby and living as the gender they actually are.<br />
<ul><li>Tony was born a girl. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>Tony was assigned female at birth. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>At four years old, our son told us he was really a girl. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>At four years old, our daughter, who we’d believed was a boy, told us she was really a girl. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
<i><a href="https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender" target="_blank">Transitioning</a></i> is the process of altering one’s birth sex. This may involve hormone therapy, surgery, both, or neither. The details are personal and irrelevant to anyone else; when someone tells you their gender, that’s all you need to know. Using someone’s name or pronouns from before they transitioned is disrespectful, even when you’re writing about the past.<br />
<ul><li>Before Selena became a woman, he was a male tennis player named Alfonso. <span style="color: red;">X</span> </li>
<li>Before Selena transitioned, she won several trophies in men’s tennis. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
Just as we need to unlearn the cultural myth that there are only two, rigidly defined genders, we need to let go of the idea that sex is dictated by biology. As much as 1.7 percent of people are born <b><a href="https://www.unfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UNFE-Intersex.pdf" target="_blank">intersex</a></b>, with chromosomes or genitalia that don’t correlate with either sex as it’s usually defined. The choice of “male” or “female” is often made by parents and doctors before the child can have any say in the matter.<br />
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Given the variation in sex and gender, it’s important to make sure your language includes all possibilities. For example, don’t assume only women menstruate or get pregnant.<br />
<ul><li>On the bus, always give up your seat to pregnant women. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>On the bus, always give up your seat to pregnant people. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
For more on trans-inclusive language, visit <a href="https://radicalcopyeditor.com/2017/08/31/transgender-style-guide/" target="_blank">The Radical Copyeditor’s Style Guide for Writing About Transgender People</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0004/bsb00043859/images/index.html?fip=193.174.98.30&id=00043859&seite=172" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illumination of cross-dressing saints, from Legenda Sanctorum, Germany, 1362" border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="207" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4gtYDzLe2UI/W-tSQUGLd_I/AAAAAAAAA04/YD5FZ_RVffsNy-FTMXDUvUGvBk42XsAbgCLcBGAs/s1600/saints.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Sexual Orientation</span></h3><br />
LGBTQIA2S (or LGBTQ+) stands for <i>lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer</i> (or <i>questioning</i>), <i>intersex, asexual,</i> and <i>two-spirit</i>. It’s a broad term for a community that includes more than just gays and lesbians, and it’s not only about sexual orientation—transgender and intersex people may identify as straight.<br />
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The LGBTQ acronym is the term most commonly used when discussing this group, as it’s much more inclusive than, say, <i>gay</i>. Another broadly inclusive word is <i>queer</i>, which is preferred by lots of people whose identities straddle one or more categories.<br />
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<i>Two-spirit</i>, a translation of an Anishinaabeg word, is an umbrella term <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/two-spirit">coined in 1990</a> to describe Indigenous members of the LGBTQ community. A person can be two-spirited in terms of their gender, sexuality, or spirituality. While each Indigenous language has its own words to describe such people, having <i>2S</i> in the LGBTQIA2S acronym reminds us that binary ideas of gender and sexuality were imposed on Indigenous cultures by colonialism and don’t reflect their traditional views.<br />
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Using inclusive language means not assuming your reader is straight. <i>Spouse</i> is preferable to <i>husband</i> or <i>wife</i> not just because it avoids sexism but also because it makes room for same-sex couples.<br />
<ul><li>The mad scientists usually bring their wives to the supervillains gala. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>The mad scientists usually bring their spouses to the supervillains gala. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
Other options are <i>partner</i> and <i>significant other</i>, both of which include long-term couples who aren’t married.<br />
<ul><li>Husbands should discuss major criminal decisions with their wives. <span style="color: red;">(excludes same-sex and unmarried couples, assumes roles based on gender)</span></li>
<li>Men should discuss major criminal decisions with their spouses. <span style="color: #bf9000;">(excludes unmarried couples and still gives primacy to men)</span></li>
<li>Couples should discuss major criminal decisions together. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">(includes same-sex couples, unmarried couples, and nonbinary people, and doesn’t assume roles based on gender)</span></li>
</ul><br />
When you’re writing for or about young people, who may still be figuring out their sexuality and gender (or working up the courage to express them), it’s important to leave room for multiple possibilities.<br />
<ul><li>Are there any boys you have a crush on? <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>Is there anyone you have a crush on? <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
Such possibilities include <b><a href="https://asexuality.org/" target="_blank">asexuality</a></b>. Asexuals, who make up about one percent of the population, don’t experience sexual attraction to others, or they feel no desire to act on such attraction. Try not to perpetuate sad-sack stereotypes about people who prefer not to pursue sex and/or relationships.<br />
<ul><li>Though successful as a painter, Marie-Victoire Lemoine never married. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>Single all her life, Marie-Victoire Lemoine successfully supported herself with her painting. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
Even when you’re writing about an opposite-sex couple, don’t assume they’re straight. One or both of them might identify as bisexual; dating or marrying a person of the opposite sex doesn’t negate someone’s bisexuality. Or they might be asexual, or <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/irl/what-is-genderqueer/" target="_blank">genderqueer</a>, or nonbinary, or . . .<br />
<ul><li>Women swooned over Cary Grant. (not inclusive)</li>
<li>Women and gay men swooned over Cary Grant. (more inclusive)</li>
<li>Women, gays, and bi men swooned over Cary Grant. (even more inclusive)</li>
<li>Filmgoers swooned over Cary Grant. (most inclusive)</li>
</ul><br />
Assume nothing.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://leonardmaltin.com/cary-grant-making-it-look-easy/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart in The Philadelphia Story" border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j4MImoTalfs/W-tYBubFI6I/AAAAAAAAA1E/_xnTrhIvPDU6909emUnF4Y0VTjQcbROnQCLcBGAs/s1600/carygrant.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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This is the second post in the Inclusive Language series. The introductory post can be found <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/10/inclusive-language.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Still to come are <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/12/inclusive-language-disability-and.html" target="_blank">Disability and Neurodivergence</a>, <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2019/02/inclusive-language-race-and-ethnicity.html" target="_blank">Race and Ethnicity</a>, and <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2019/03/inclusive-language-class-and-income.html" target="_blank">Class and Income</a>.<br />
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</div>Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-57945922573594593822018-10-19T15:46:00.000-07:002019-03-20T14:31:35.289-07:00Inclusive LanguageUsing inclusive language, also called <b>bias-free language</b>, means choosing words that don’t exclude any marginalized people. We like to think standard English is neutral, but that’s very far from the case. If it feels neutral to us, it’s because we’re not one of the people being left out, erased, or unconsciously denigrated. Either that or we’ve become so used to it we don’t notice.<br />
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<a href="https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/a-collection-of-fashionable-english-words-1887/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Japanese woodcut illustrating fashionable English words, 1887" border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1TrvddYCIAg/W8pOht0NyhI/AAAAAAAAAy0/zZbxD_pllAAKKFPhUJDc3T98ye5n2oLTACLcBGAs/s1600/Dictionary.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Why Use Inclusive Language?</span></h3>
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Ethical imperatives aside, bias undermines credibility. If you’re not willing to go to the trouble of considering other people’s points of view, why should readers consider yours? Writing for an audience made up exclusively of people whose experiences mirror yours is just preaching to the choir. It may feel good, but what’s the point?<br />
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Of course, most of us use exclusionary language without being aware of it. We <i>all</i> have blind spots, dictated by things beyond our control, such as our birthplace and ethnicity. But those of us in the majority can sail through life without noticing these blind spots, because our stories are loud enough to drown out everybody else’s.<br />
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In the same way Canadians know a lot about the US, because we’re constantly exposed to US media, but many Americans don’t know much about us, people in minority groups are well informed about the dominant culture (they don’t have a choice) but people in the dominant group may know very little about them. Or what they do know may be based on stereotypes and clichés. That’s why it’s up to us to educate ourselves. This isn’t a one-time info dump but an ongoing learning process, since people’s preferred terminology naturally changes over time, just like the rest of language.<br />
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<a href="https://pixabay.com/p-1858888/?no_redirect" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration showing readers on a train, c. late 19th century" border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nWkJ6u3UifA/W8pO12BT8uI/AAAAAAAAAy8/umKfP5H-7C4_Tb82wJ2XKVv2BiWqtdYqACLcBGAs/s1600/train%2Breaders.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Some General Principles of Inclusivity</span></h3>
<br />
There are no “bad” words; everything depends on context. But just because you’ve heard a Black person reclaim the n-word, or a feminist use the c-word, that doesn’t mean <i>you</i> can use it. Be aware of your own position within the structures of power, and choose your words accordingly.<br />
<br />
If you’re not sure what words are okay for you to use, consult a style guide (e.g., <i>The Chicago Manual of Style</i> or the <i>Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association</i>). <i><a href="http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=chapsect14&info0=14.01#zz14" target="_blank">The Canadian Style</a></i>, for example, will tell you that the words <i>Indigenous peoples</i> and <i>First peoples</i> are currently preferred to <i>Native people</i>. As I said, language changes, so be sure the sources you consult are up to date. Most guides will also provide examples of gender-neutral wording and “people-first” language.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Each dragonet must finish his dinner. <span style="color: #990000;">X</span></li>
<li>All dragonets must finish their dinners. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>My uncle is a schizophrenic. <span style="color: #990000;">X</span></li>
<li>My uncle has schizophrenia. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>A Muslim starred in the film. <span style="color: #990000;">X</span></li>
<li>The star of the film was Muslim. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>Our party’s wizard is transgendered. <span style="color: #990000;">X</span></li>
<li>Our party’s wizard is a trans woman. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>Very few old women actually eat children. <span style="color: #990000;">X</span></li>
<li>Very few women over seventy actually eat children. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>The spy was confined to a wheelchair. <span style="color: #990000;">X</span></li>
<li>The spy used a wheelchair. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
Who decides which words are best? The people they describe. Everyone should be able to say for themselves what they’d like to be called, and to have that choice respected. <br />
<br />
Of course, no group of people is a monolith, and there may be different preferences depending on who you ask; but it’s generally not hard to find out which term is preferred by most of the group’s members. The word <i>Gypsy</i>, for example, is used to self-identify by some people in the UK, but the majority of people belonging to this ethnic group consider it offensive—a racial slur—so most official organizations in Europe have chosen to omit it from their documents. Instead they use <i><a href="http://a.cs.coe.int/team20/cahrom/documents/Glossary%20Roma%20EN%20version%2018%20May%202012.pdf" target="_blank">Roma</a></i>, which is the term preferred by the international Roma community.<br />
<ul>
<li>My grandfather was born into a Gypsy family in what was then Czechoslovakia. <span style="color: #990000;">X</span></li>
<li>My grandfather was born into a Roma family in what was then Czechoslovakia. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>Claudette was a gypsy—an artistic type who never stayed long in one place. <span style="color: #990000;">X</span></li>
<li>Claudette was a free spirit—an artistic type who never stayed long in one place. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://lumieredesroses.com/expositions/roms" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of Roma family at Bondy by Henri Manuel, France c. 1910" border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TuQkOyOk_dA/W8pQ-vk4JaI/AAAAAAAAAzI/xyuuNP3arSsFnQpiONCGTZizLXPUzphvACLcBGAs/s1600/Roma%2Bfamily.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
But it’s not enough just to learn the right word—context still matters. A number of US journalists have called <i>Star Wars</i> actor John Boyega “African American,” probably thinking it’s more respectful than <i>Black</i>. But Boyega is British, so in this case <i>Black</i> is more appropriate.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">How Do I Avoid Ever Being Offensive?</span></h3>
<br />
You can’t. Accept it: you’ll make mistakes. I’ll make mistakes. The only thing we can do is take criticism graciously (i.e., <i>listen</i>), and try to do better next time. <br />
<br />
You can start by doing your research: if you’re writing about a group you don’t belong to, google the most common stereotypes so you don’t unconsciously repeat them. Read writings by members of that group. Consult friends, family, or colleagues who belong to that group—remembering that they don’t owe you their time or opinion. Take an online workshop from an organization like <a href="http://writingtheother.com/" target="_blank">Writing the Other</a>. Hire a sensitivity reader, someone you pay to review your manuscript and point out anywhere you might be courting offence.<br />
<br />
But before you do all that, ask yourself, Is this my story to tell? A good rule of thumb is that telling a story about a character who belongs to another group is fine; telling a story about the experience of belonging to that group is <a href="http://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/162910665063/doctordragonisback-if-youre-straight-write" target="_blank">problematic</a>. For example, it’s fine for a white writer to write a story with Indigenous characters (assuming they do their due diligence), but when white writers write about The Indigenous Experience, they’re continuing a long colonial tradition of putting their words into other people’s mouths.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">More Posts to Come</span></h3>
<br />
Because this topic is such a broad one, I’m spreading it out over several posts, all of which will include links to sites I’ve found helpful. Topics will include <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/11/inclusive-language-gender-and-sexual.html" target="_blank">gender and sexual orientation</a>, <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/12/inclusive-language-disability-and.html" target="_blank">disability and neurodivergence</a>, <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2019/02/inclusive-language-race-and-ethnicity.html" target="_blank">race and ethnicity</a>, and <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2019/03/inclusive-language-class-and-income.html" target="_blank">class and income</a>.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">“That’s Just the Way It Was Back Then”</span></h3>
<br />
Before I go, I’m going to talk about a pet peeve of mine: the “that’s just the way it was back then” excuse. If a story is set in historical Europe—or a close analogue—its characters can’t be diverse, right? As a reader of fantasy and historical fiction, I’ve encountered this misconception a lot (and once laboured under it myself).<br />
<br />
In fact, historical Europe was quite diverse—there were people of colour, there were trans people, there were people with disabilities. Certain people were often oppressed, yes, but that doesn’t mean none of them ever had agency or did anything interesting. There were women who defended castles and ran businesses; there were peasants who started political movements and rioted for their rights. In short, history is much, much more varied and complex than our popular representations would suggest.<br />
<br />
Have a scroll through the excellent blog <a href="http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">People of Color in European Art History</a> to see an abundance of carefully sourced images showing all kinds of people playing a variety of roles in Europe’s past. Or take a look at <a href="https://issuu.com/mxcoman/stacks/1ab80aeb62e7424ba6396efb2403d5bf" target="_blank">Pocket Miscellanies</a>, short guides to the representation of various marginalized groups in the medieval era. You’ll find it eye-opening, I promise.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://issuu.com/mxcoman/docs/pocket_miscellanies__no6_transgende" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Two-page spread from Pocket Miscellany: Transgender" border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VrFjngv5XBs/W8pTXFUrcrI/AAAAAAAAAzU/sQgJGzxTeSEthEnjfDvsME5tueXDzuxBgCLcBGAs/s1600/PM6Trans.jpg" /></a></div>
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But you don’t need to prove historical realism in order to include marginalized people in your stories. A fantasy setting can include anything you want. Why is it so much easier for us to accept a world with dragons—animals that breathe fire without scorching themselves—than a world without sexism, racism, ableism, or homophobia? Why is one considered more realistic than the other?<br />
<br />
If you’re writing something that sticks closely to history, consider whose perspective you’re choosing. There’s no reason they have to be an average representative of their place and time—someone whose views your readers are probably already familiar with anyway. Why not write about early Scotland from the perspective of <a href="https://blackpast.org/gah/africans-hadrians-wall" target="_blank">a Roman soldier from Africa stationed at Hadrian’s Wall</a>? Or why not write about medieval France from the perspective of a queer <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/abbesses-in-womens-religious-history-3529693" target="_blank">abbess</a> wielding considerable power from the head of her wealthy nunnery? History is full of fascinating people, and they’re not all white dudes on horses.<br />
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<a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/178945191068/hammertime-jael-and-sisera-biblia-porta-france" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Medieval illustration of Jael hammering a spike through Sisera's head, France, c.1290" border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mzgmj4iR9R4/W8pT7pXFqpI/AAAAAAAAAzc/w5dmsutx7-YqFvpsOvNCDFwlV54Y1lA4ACLcBGAs/s1600/jael.jpg" /></a></div>
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-41086437627068391902018-09-15T15:31:00.001-07:002018-09-15T15:48:29.574-07:00How to Use Ellipses . . . CorrectlyThe symbol of three periods in a row ( . . . ) is called an <b>ellipsis</b> (plural: <b>ellipses</b>). There are two reasons you might use an ellipsis. In journalism or academic writing, you can use an ellipsis to show where you’ve left words out of a quotation. In narrative or dialogue, you can use it to show a pause or a trailing off.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-83UFk6PJKrM/W517qjl9scI/AAAAAAAAAxY/CxeWBoB65lcuj042IpKUNawNssC4sVJ5gCLcBGAs/s1600/anticipation.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-83UFk6PJKrM/W517qjl9scI/AAAAAAAAAxY/CxeWBoB65lcuj042IpKUNawNssC4sVJ5gCLcBGAs/s1600/anticipation.gif" /></a></div>
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Some <a href="https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/ManuscriptPreparation/faq0072.html" target="_blank">style</a> <a href="https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tcdnstyl-chap?lang=eng&lettr=chapsect7&info0=7.05" target="_blank">guides</a> distinguish between these two uses of ellipses by calling the second <b>suspension points</b>. But most dictionaries consider the two terms synonymous (<i>suspension points</i> as a synonym for <i>ellipsis </i>is used more often in the UK).<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Ellipses in Quotations</span></h3>
<br />
You can replace any word or words in quoted matter with ellipses, provided you don’t twist the meaning of the original. The edited quotation should still follow grammatical logic; that is, it should read like a plausible sentence or paragraph.<br />
<br />
Original quotation:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship <i>Enterprise</i>. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
Quotation with ellipses:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship <i>Enterprise</i>. Its . . . mission: . . . to boldly go where no one has gone before.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/evolution-of-the-starship-enterprise/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of Star Trek's Enterprise" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UM38A-CoMRU/W51_87IyaCI/AAAAAAAAAx8/cg3grh_tuQYiMPupvrQV249eRmvWm4tZgCLcBGAs/s1600/enterprise.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Ellipses in Narrative and Dialogue</span></h3>
<br />
In narrative and dialogue, an ellipsis is a moment of silence. It usually implies there’s something left unspoken.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“Well, if you want . . . ”</li>
<li>“Well, if you want.” </li>
</ul>
<br />
The first example could be the prelude to a suggestion or invitation. The second is more like a dismissal; you can picture the speaker shrugging.<br />
<br />
Ellipses can be used when a narrator or speaker is trailing off, hesitating, or pausing for dramatic effect.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Holmes tapped his chin with a finger, murmuring, “I wonder . . . ”</li>
<li>Ratu made a face. “It feels . . . gooey.”</li>
<li>Astrology has all the answers . . . if you believe in that sort of thing.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">When Not to Use Ellipses</span></h3>
<br />
The last example would also work with a comma or a dash instead of an ellipsis. If you find yourself overusing ellipses (which is easy to do), consider whether alternatives might be just as—or more—effective.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“No . . . I haven’t always been a pirate.”</li>
<li>“No. I haven’t always been a pirate.”</li>
<li>“No.” Shih turned her narrowed gaze out to sea. “I haven’t always been a pirate.”</li>
</ul>
<br />
In the first example, the ellipsis softens the <i>no</i>, drawing it out. In contrast, the second <i>no</i> is quite definite. The third uses action to convey a lengthy pause without any of the uncertainty implied by an ellipsis.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LadHuIY3WyE/W5174Xom9qI/AAAAAAAAAxg/7PgHaydKEIEFIQGD-3QO_esMM6DU2e3TwCLcBGAs/s1600/Cheng%2BShih.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LadHuIY3WyE/W5174Xom9qI/AAAAAAAAAxg/7PgHaydKEIEFIQGD-3QO_esMM6DU2e3TwCLcBGAs/s1600/Cheng%2BShih.jpg" /></a></div>
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If you want to show broken dialogue, you’re probably better off using a dash. (Read all about the dash in <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/04/how-to-use-dashes.html" target="_blank">How to Use Dashes</a>.) Remember, an ellipsis indicates a period of silence.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“I think . . . Never mind.”</li>
<li>“I think— Never mind.”</li>
</ul>
<br />
The pause in the first example suggests the speaker is unsure of their conclusion: they hesitate, then change their mind. In the second, they catch themselves, thinking better of what they were about to say. The ellipsis is a pause; the dash is more like a <a href="https://pronunciationstudio.com/glottal-stop-pronunciation-guide/" target="_blank">glottal stop</a>. Try reading both examples out loud.<br />
<br />
Interrupted dialogue almost always requires a dash.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“Whatever you do, don’t touch that—” <i>Boom!</i></li>
</ul>
<br />
Ellipses are a good choice for showing hesitant, uncertain speech.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“If . . . if you think you might like to . . . I mean, if you’re interested . . .”</li>
</ul>
<br />
But rapid, broken speech is better conveyed with dashes.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“You—! How dare you! I— I—” he sputtered.</li>
</ul>
<br />
And stuttering is best shown with hyphens.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“M-my t-t-toes are freezing!”</li>
</ul>
<br />
You can also use ellipses to show garbled or inaudible speech.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Pressing an ear to the vent, Letty heard, “. . . Make our move tonight. The old lady . . . never suspect.”</li>
<li>“Mayday, Mayday! This is . . . We are under attack! . . . Appears to be . . . giant squid. Repeat, giant—” <i>kkssht</i>.</li>
</ul>
<br />
If you want to redact a word for the sake of discretion, use a <b>2-em dash</b>.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Lady A—— is at the centre of a most shocking scandal.</li>
<li>On the sound system Prince was crooning, “You sexy motherf——”</li>
</ul>
<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UnC8zKjVt-4/W518CH_1SEI/AAAAAAAAAxo/kLYiiYTp1ikeLEd8FnzNfMuFgNOtwwVBACLcBGAs/s1600/giant_squid.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UnC8zKjVt-4/W518CH_1SEI/AAAAAAAAAxo/kLYiiYTp1ikeLEd8FnzNfMuFgNOtwwVBACLcBGAs/s1600/giant_squid.png" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Spacing and Ellipses</span></h3>
<br />
There are different schools of thought on how to space ellipses. In this post, I’ve been following <i>The Chicago Manual of Style</i>, which recommends spaces before, between, and after the dots. The only problem with this style is that sometimes the ellipsis breaks over a line and you end up with a lone dot or two hanging at the margins of your text. To avoid this, you can insert <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-breaking_space" target="_blank">non-breaking spaces</a></b> between the dots.<br />
<br />
Not everybody follows <i>Chicago</i> on ellipses. Robert Bringhurst, author of <i>The Elements of Typographic Style</i>, calls <i>Chicago</i>’s spacing “a Victorian eccentricity.” He prefers thinner spaces, ones that vary with the size and weight of the font. And the AP style guide likes to save room by using no spaces at all.<br />
<br />
For most people, the easiest choice is to use the <b>ellipsis glyph</b>, or symbol, included in most fonts. In Word, three periods typed in a row are automatically changed to an ellipsis symbol; as a single glyph, it won’t break over lines. You’ll usually want to put a space before and after (but see the next section for exceptions).<br />
<br />
Here’s what different approaches look like in the Times font:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Chicago style: “Yeah . . . I guess.”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">AP style: “Yeah ... I guess.”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Word glyph: “Yeah … I guess.”</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Punctuation With Ellipses</span></h3>
<br />
The “space on either side of an ellipsis” rule sometimes gets bent when other punctuation is involved.<br />
<br />
In quotations (as opposed to dialogue or narrative), a period may be included to show the end of a sentence, creating a row of four dots. Note that there is no space between the final word and the period.<br />
<br />
Original:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>In the words of Beyoncé, “The reality is: sometimes you lose. And you’re never too good to lose. You’re never too big to lose. You’re never too smart to lose. It happens.”</li>
</ul>
<br />
With ellipses:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>In the words of Beyoncé, “The reality is: sometimes you lose. . . . You’re never too good to lose. You’re never too big to lose. . . . It happens.”</li>
</ul>
<br />
(Note that <i>you’re</i> is capitalized in the second version.)<br />
<br />
This four-dots convention <a href="https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation/faq0066.html" target="_blank">does <i>not </i>apply</a> to sentences that are trailing off or deliberately left incomplete. So in dialogue and narrative, don’t use periods with your ellipses.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“I’m not sure . . .” </li>
<li>With friends like these . . .</li>
</ul>
<br />
Note in the first example the lack of a space before the closing quotation mark. With other punctuation, keep the usual spaces around the ellipsis.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“Are you . . . ?”</li>
<li>“No . . . ,” he said slowly.</li>
<li>“Oh! . . . Okay.”</li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/image/161325192733" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Medieval illumination detail featuring a thoughtful monkey" border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YOHQ3Myv02k/W52BQuWtshI/AAAAAAAAAyI/8dweee2MMm8CJmwv3H0Z0qSoAEHP7EduQCLcBGAs/s1600/thoughtful%2Bmonkey.jpg" /></a></div>
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-8671952482899410282018-08-14T14:36:00.000-07:002018-11-13T12:32:13.230-08:00How to Use AcronymsAnyone who’s read a text or perused social media has probably seen an <b>acronym</b>—a word made out of the first letters of each word in a phrase. But before there was LOL and OMG, there was SPQR (<i>Senatus Populusque Romanus</i>, “the senate and people of Rome”), radar (radio detection and ranging), and AWOL (absent without leave). <br />
<br />
Some dictionaries insist that only an abbreviation pronounced as a word (e.g., NASA) can be called an acronym; if it’s pronounced as letters (e.g., UFO), it’s called an <b>initialism</b>. However, many people use <i>acronym</i> as a catch-all term for both types of abbreviation.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.123rf.com/photo_72616401_milan-italy-circa-january-2017-ancient-spqr-mosaic-sign-senatus-populusque-romanus-meaning-roman-sen.html.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photograph of mosaic including SPQR" border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8JjLMgMi-0Q/W3M_SCz1NnI/AAAAAAAAAwI/Jxd6608D47oL9FUgeULPr8Yj8OrhddAPACLcBGAs/s1600/SPQR%2Bmosaic.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Punctuation</span></h3><br />
Before you start throwing acronyms around in your writing, you have to decide whether or not you’re going to use periods. USA or U.S.A.? VIP or V.I.P.? Acronyms with periods used to be more common, but today most style guides, including <i>The Chicago Manual of Style</i>, prefer them without. <br />
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Some editors will use periods in geographical acronyms like P.E.I. and U.S.S.R. but leave them out of words like DNA and TV. <i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/business/media/19asktheeditors.html" target="_blank">The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage</a></i> puts periods in initialisms (H.I.V.) but not acronyms (AIDS). The easiest way to resolve this issue is to pick a dictionary you like and follow its practice.<br />
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<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Capitalization</span></h3><br />
Some acronyms start life as all capital letters and then, after repeated use, become lowercase. For example, <i>laser</i> (light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation), <i>scuba</i> (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), and <i>sonar</i> (sound navigation and ranging) have in the past been written in all capitals, but today they’re treated as regular, lowercase words.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/92649527663/medieval-diving-suit-konrad-kyeser-bellifortis" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of early diving suit by Konrad Kyeser, 1459" border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="447" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WfYZsQtPE-Y/W3NAzawe_fI/AAAAAAAAAwk/xhbHXdpj9jwOL5uOaBCmsynBrTJhnRakACLcBGAs/s1600/scuba.png" /></a></div><br />
Many British newspapers use all capital letters for initialisms (BBC) but only capitalize the first letter of acronyms (Gif). The <i>New York Times Manual</i> uses all caps for acronyms only if they’re under five letters—so they would write <i>NATO</i> but also <i>Nafta</i>. Personally, I find these rules unnecessarily complicated, and most style guides tend to agree, recommending all caps for both initialisms and acronyms. Again, consult your favourite dictionary if you’re not sure.<br />
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No matter how the acronym itself is capitalized, you never need to capitalize the words that create it (unless, of course, they’re words that normally use a capital, like the name of an organization). For example, BA is written out as <i>bachelor’s degree</i>, and HIV stands for <i>human immunodeficiency virus</i>.<br />
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<ul><li>From ages four to six, Nergüi lived almost exclusively on PB&J—Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>From ages four to six, Nergüi lived almost exclusively on PB&J—peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>No stranger to fanfiction, Zodwa had yet to dip her toe in the waters of Real Person Fic, known as RPF. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>No stranger to fanfiction, Zodwa had yet to dip her toe in the waters of “real person fic,” known as RPF. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>Brian’s friends in the PFJ (the People’s Front of Judea) despised the JPF (the Judean People’s Front). <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WboggjN_G-4&frags=pl%2Cwn" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo from Monty Python movie The Life of Brian" border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-htFTWHtCpik/W3M_bzWFmyI/AAAAAAAAAwM/5yoScDQJOXcdh4xDduqWgSZcBl7VtAc2ACLcBGAs/s1600/judean%2Bpeople%2527s%2Bfront.jpg" /></a></div><br />
On the other hand, unconventional capitalization is often used for humour. For example, in A. A. Milne’s stories, Winnie-the-Pooh calls himself “a Bear of Very Little Brain.” If you’re capitalizing words for a specific effect—humorous or otherwise—rather than because they happen to make up an acronym, go right ahead.<br />
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<ul><li>In the swamp they were beset by Rodents of Unusual Size, a.k.a. ROUS. </li>
<li>As punishment, the kids were forced to put away their phones and spend the rest of the road trip listening to LMM, or Lame Mom Music, which was surpassed in awfulness only by LDM, Lame Dad Music.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">AM and PM</span></h3><br />
AM and PM stand for <i>ante meridiem</i> (Latin for “before noon”) and <i>post meridiem</i> (“after noon”). <i>Chicago</i> prefers lowercase letters with periods—6:00 a.m., 7:15 p.m.—but many people use capitals instead, usually without the periods: 6:00 AM, 7:15 PM. Often the abbreviations are written in <a href="https://practicaltypography.com/small-caps.html" target="_blank">small caps</a> (this is easy to approximate in Word but may be tricky in other programs or on the web).<br />
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<ul><li>No fan of the early bird, Lucifer set his alarm for 11:59 a.m.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://yesterdays-print.com/2018/04/10/life-magazine-march-1909/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of devil waking up, from Life Magazine, March 1909" border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-twsEYGxYiAE/W3M_vSf0iwI/AAAAAAAAAwU/7zu9ejtWUDIzYqaDLZ0W8NR-Syw5OXoZgCLcBGAs/s1600/wakeup%2Bdevil.png" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">BC and AD</span></h3><br />
Historical years may be written with the abbreviations BC (before Christ) or AD (<i>anno Domini</i>, Latin for “in the year of the Lord”), or with the less religious BCE (before the common era) or CE (common era). These can also be written with periods, or in small caps. Note that AD goes <i>before</i> the year.<br />
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<ul><li>The Library of Alexandria is said to have burned down in 48 BC.</li>
<li>After seven years as regent, Hatshepsut declared herself pharaoh around 1472 BCE.</li>
<li>In AD 800, Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope.</li>
<li>Wu Zetian (624–705 CE) was the only empress to rule China in her own right.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">OK and Okay</span></h3><br />
The word OK has been with us since at least 1839, when it was apparently an abbreviation for <i><a href="http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/130925?rskey=mbBzbK&result=2#eid" target="_blank">oll korrect</a> </i>(a joke spelling of <i>all correct</i> by nineteenth-century wags). Since its early days, OK has also been written <i>okay</i>. Both spellings are widely accepted; just be sure you stick to one throughout your document. <i>Ok</i>, on the other hand, is never okay in professional writing.<br />
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<ul><li>“Ok,” said Koharu. “Now you’re gonna get it!” <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>“OK,” said Koharu. “Now you’re gonna get it” <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>“Okay,” said Koharu. “Now you’re gonna get it” <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/2017/08/11/splash-photo_n_17733590.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo titled Splash! by Koji Takashima, 1951" border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dl7mo2guZxw/W3NAoq2AU0I/AAAAAAAAAwg/da5R55SkodMjgOiV7sGCJVIezbAgz1c_QCLcBGAs/s1600/Japan%2Bwater%2Bbucket.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div>Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-14170509249280501142018-07-24T14:45:00.000-07:002018-08-01T13:56:48.607-07:00The Convoluted Rules of Canadian SpellingSuspended between the influences of the UK and the US, Canada has a unique approach to spelling English. A Canadian would never write <i>tyre</i> or <i>kerb</i>, as the Brits do, but we firmly believe only Americans spell <i>colour</i> without a <i>u</i>. On the other hand, Canadians are flexible about a lot of words—we might write <i>manoeuvre</i>, but <i>maneuver</i> probably looks fine to us too. We’re used to reading books published in the UK (or other Commonwealth countries) and in the US, so we might write <i>kilometre</i> in one line and <i>kilometer</i> in the next, without noticing we’ve just switched orthographies. And spellcheck programs are no help—whether you pick US English or UK English, it’s going to be wrong part of the time.<br />
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Pity the poor Canadian copy editor!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/162793508948/sabre-toothed-heraldic-beaver-scheibler-armorial" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Medieval heraldic beavers with sabre teeth over red shield" border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pgyeAaMIy_M/W1eYnQQwG_I/AAAAAAAAAvM/EJTt2EEDxn06r28n8IRHmHpBMZyngMyOACLcBGAs/s1600/sabre-toothed%2Bbeaver.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Who Decides Which Spelling Is Canadian?</span></h3><br />
The short answer is “the dictionary.” But which dictionary? The most common choice is probably <i>Canadian Oxford</i>, but different organizations can have their own references, like the <a href="http://www.thecanadianpress.com/writing-guides/the-canadian-press-stylebook/" target="_blank"><i>Canadian Press Stylebook</i></a> or the Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic databank, <a href="http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng" target="_blank">TERMIUMPlus</a>. Also, the last time the <i>Canadian Oxford Dictionary</i> came out with a new edition was in 2004, and Oxford has no plans to publish another one (as far as I can tell), so writers looking for newer words have to find something more recent, like the <i>Collins Canadian Dictionary</i>, whose second edition came out in 2016.<br />
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The long answer is that no one really “decides.” Dictionaries don’t include words because they’re “right” (or “Canadian”), they include words that are used. If a Canadian dictionary lists <i>neighbour</i> first, before <i>neighbor</i>, it’s because more Canadians (as observed in Canadian publications) use the <i>-our</i> spelling. This approach to lexicography is called <b>descriptivism</b> (as opposed to <b>prescriptivism</b>). It’s why spellings can change over the years, and why it’s futile to hang on to a distinction you learned years ago (like, say, the difference between <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2015/12/trooper-vs-trouper.html" target="_blank"><i>trouper </i>and <i>trooper</i></a>) when the rest of the world has decided to move on.<br />
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<h3><span style="color: #073763;">The Extra U</span></h3><br />
If there’s one thing Americans know about Canadian spelling, it’s that we love our <i>u</i>’s. In this, we follow the UK, preferring the spellings <i>armour, behaviour, colour, favour, flavour, harbour, honour, humour, labour, mould, moustache, neighbour, odour, rancour, rigour, saviour, savour, smoulder, splendour, tumour, valour, vapour</i>, and <i>vigour</i> to their <i>u</i>-less American counterparts.<br />
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Be aware, though, that such <i>u</i>’s often disappear when the word gets a new ending, as in <i>honorary, humorous, laborious, rigorous</i>, and <i>vigorous</i>. And <i>rigor mortis</i> never has a <i>u</i>, as it’s actually Latin (meaning “stiffness of death”); <i>rigour</i> is from the same root, but it came to English via French and collected a <i>u</i> on the way.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heart_of_the_Klondike_-_Chilkoot_Pass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poster for a play from c.1897 depicting Klondike prospectors on the Chilkoot Pass" border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0WSP2ZIWMYQ/W1eYfuHSiMI/AAAAAAAAAvI/A55gMshhxFshBwL1XzzH_OMdflG2b0zzgCLcBGAs/s1600/693px-Heart_of_the_Klondike_-_Chilkoot_Pass.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">More Anglophilia</span> </h3><br />
Canadians continue to follow British spelling on double-L words like <i>counsellor, equalled, marvellous, pedalled, signalling, traveller</i>, and <i>woollen</i>. But, also like the UK, we prefer a single L in <i>enrol, enrolment</i>, and <i>instalment</i> (but not <i>enrolled</i> or <i>install</i>—just to be contrary).<br />
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The <i>-re</i> ending is preferred in <i>centre, fibre, manoeuvre</i> (notice the <i>o</i>), <i>meagre, ochre, sceptre, sombre, spectre</i>, and <i>theatre</i>. This also applies to <i>metre</i>—when it’s a measurement (centimetre, kilometre); the device is spelled <i>meter</i> (gas meter, parking meter).<br />
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Then there are the <i>-ce</i> words: <i>defence, licence</i> (the noun; the verb is always <i>license</i>), <i>offence, pretence</i> (the <i>Canadian Oxford Dictionary</i> prefers <i>pretense</i>, but the <i>Canadian Press Stylebook</i> and the <i>Collins Canadian Dictionary</i> disagree). The UK and Canada agree with the US on the noun <i>practice</i>, but when it’s a verb, they change it to <i>practise</i>.<br />
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Further British/Canadian spellings include<i> catalogue, cheque</i> (as in money), <i>disc</i> (except for the computer kind, which is <i>disk</i>), <i>flyer</i> (in the US a pilot is called a flier), <i>grey, pyjamas, storey</i> (as in a floor, not a tale), and <i>sulphur</i>.<br />
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<h3><span style="color: #073763;">New World Spellings</span></h3><br />
So far, so British. But for some words we like to follow US spelling, just to shake things up.<br />
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We differ from the UK when it comes to <i>appall, distill, fulfill</i>, and <i>instill</i>, or words like <i>analyze, glamorize, paralyze</i>, and <i>vaporize</i>. And we don't add extra vowels to <i>aging, anemia, estrogen, hemorrhage, judgment, livable, pediatric</i>, or <i>sizable</i>. <i>Canadian Oxford</i> likes the British <i>acknowledgement, anaesthesia</i>, and <i>orthopaedic</i>, but the Canadian press and <i>Collins </i>both dump the extra vowels, US-style: <i>acknowledgment, anesthesia, orthopedic</i>. But most Canadians do throw <i>e</i>’s into <i>likeable</i> and <i>saleable</i>—because why not?<br />
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Further US-style spellings include <i>airplane, analog</i> (when used as opposed to digital), <i>artifact, balk, cozy, draft, dryly, inquire, peddler, plow, skeptic</i>, and <i>skepticism</i>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Mounties_vs._Atomic_Invaders" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poster from a 1953 movie serial titled Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders" border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="450" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mIfusLmHSZk/W1eYYW-e0bI/AAAAAAAAAvE/DnG-Fwvl9NY5tWnJ5cOP8TGNyg6LJ5RewCLcBGAs/s1600/Mountiesvsinvaders.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">The French Influence</span></h3><br />
British English has already been substantially influenced by French, thanks to the Norman Conquest—witness<i> cheque</i> above. But Canadians have an extra-special relationship with French, even when they’re writing English.<br />
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Consider that famous Canadian contribution to fashion, the tuque (also spelled <i>toque</i>). The word <i>toque</i> comes from sixteenth-century French, and it’s still used in Europe and the US to mean a white chef’s hat, or <i>toque blanche</i>. Or it can mean a small type of women’s hat, though I’ve yet to see that meaning in the wild. Of course, you will find the Canadian<i> tuque</i> listed in US and UK dictionaries (usually with a “Canadian usage” note), but in those countries they’re much more likely to say <i>beanie</i> (US) or <i>woolly hat</i> (UK).<br />
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How do you spell that white stuff that women always seem to be chortling over in TV ads? Canadians often spell it <i>yogourt</i>, which is neither American (yogurt) nor British (yoghurt or yoghourt). Since it’s the same in French, our spelling is presumably a result of Gallic influence—or maybe just bilingual food-labelling laws.<br />
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Canadians seem likelier than Brits to keep the accents in French imports like <i>café</i> and<i> château</i>. The US does the same, but it pluralizes <i>château</i> as in English (châteaus), not French (châteaux). The UK loses the accent but, for some reason, keeps the French ending: <i>chateaux</i>. Canadians are the only English speakers who might write about their<i> many châteaux</i>.<br />
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<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Why Follow the Rules, Anyway?</span></h3><br />
In a word, consistency. Canadian readers may be flexible when it comes to recognizing UK and US spellings, but if you use <i>center</i> and <i>centre</i> in the same document, you’re going to look a little flaky. Of course, you could just let your spellchecker decide, going full American or full British. But if your audience is Canadian, they’ll appreciate that you went to a little extra effort to acknowledge their unique, if illogical, orthography.<br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-19141562961590423962018-06-16T14:04:00.000-07:002018-08-01T14:36:42.378-07:00Ornamental QuotationsThose short quotations you see at the beginning of a chapter (or a book, or a section) are called <b>epigraphs</b>. Below I’ll talk about how to format them, where to source them, and when it’s okay to use them.<br />
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<p style="text-indent: 2em;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">Sweet is revenge—especially to women.<br />
<div style="text-indent: 2em;">Lord Byron, <i>Don Juan</i></div></blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/HorribleSanity/status/813529491993546752" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of woman shooting man at a ball, from Illustrated Police News, 1898" border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y6PVS9FJGJY/WyVyhc9vzwI/AAAAAAAAAt0/mNzFHQ2DOIgU-hV4v1GAjVxRoKRFwuGMgCLcBGAs/s1600/girl%2Bshoots%2Bman.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">What an Epigraph Isn’t</span></h3><br />
Epigraphs are used to set a tone for what follows, unlike a regular quotation, which is usually included to support an argument. If you want to stick a quotation in the middle of your text because it perfectly expresses your point, that’s not an epigraph. Treat it as you would a normal quotation.<br />
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<ul><li>I’ve never felt the need to adhere to any particular artistic dogma. As Oscar Wilde said, “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”</li>
</ul><br />
An epigraph, in contrast, always goes before something, like an appetizer to the main course.<br />
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<h3><span style="color: #073763;">How to Format an Epigraph</span></h3><br />
Epigraph styles vary with the tastes of typographers and book designers, but there are still a couple of rules you should follow.<br />
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First, throw away those quotation marks. Like a <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2016/10/quotation-marks-part-one.html" target="_blank">block quotation</a>, an epigraph is differentiated from the rest of the text typographically—for example, with italics, a different font or font size, or (as in this post) extra indentation. Because of this, you don’t need quotation marks to tell the reader it’s not a regular part of the text. <br />
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Another reason the reader doesn’t need quotation marks is that the epigraph is followed by its source (i.e., who said it), usually on the next line. The <b>credit line</b> generally includes the author’s name (maybe just their last name if they’re famous enough) and the title of the work. (For formatting titles, see <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2016/04/italics-hamlet-and-buffy.html" target="_blank">Italics, Hamlet, and Buffy</a> and <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2016/12/how-to-capitalize-titles.html" target="_blank">How to Capitalize Titles</a>.)<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.<br />
—Thoreau, <i>Walden</i></blockquote><br />
There are a number of other conventions in formatting epigraphs, but they’re largely optional. For example, many people put an <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/04/how-to-use-dashes.html" target="_blank">em dash</a> at the beginning of the credit line, while others simply hit the Tab key.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.<br />
—Zora Neale Hurston, <i>Dust Tracks on a Road</i></blockquote><br />
<p style="text-indent: 2em;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">We read books to find out who we are.<br />
<div style="text-indent: 2em;">Ursula K. Le Guin</div></blockquote><br />
In APA style, often used by publishers in the social sciences, the credit line is right justified, that is, pushed up against the right margin.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">This is what divorce is: taking things you no longer want from people you no longer love.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">—Zadie Smith, <i>White Teeth</i></div></blockquote><br />
Some sources, like religious texts, don’t lend themselves to the standard author-title format. They usually follow different conventions in the credit line.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.<br />
—Song of Solomon 2:16 (King James Version)</blockquote><br />
You may need to decide for yourself, case by case, what source information is most relevant.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">Here’s looking at you, kid.<br />
—Rick Blaine in <i>Casablanca</i></blockquote><br />
Whichever epigraph style you choose, be sure all the epigraphs in your work are formatted the same. And if you decide to use an epigraph before one chapter or section, you should do the same for all of them. If that seems overwhelming, choose just one or two epigraphs and put them at the very beginning of your book.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://back-to-golden-days.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-classic-quote-blogathon-heres_6.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Still from Casablanca" border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CgGnCRUd9ps/WyVyUd1qWwI/AAAAAAAAAts/C1dVcdw2nfkgfxOywgpRpDFbZZ-4CdPFgCLcBGAs/s1600/here%2527s%2Blooking.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Sourcing Epigraphs: Did They Really Say That?</span></h3><br />
The Internet, as we all know, is a sink of misinformation. Any quotation can be posted online and replicated endlessly, whether it’s real or completely fabricated. There are even blogs that specialize in exposing misattributed quotations, such as <a href="http://thatsnotshakespeare.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">That’s. Not. Shakespeare.</a> and <a href="https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/" target="_blank">Fake Buddha Quotes</a>.<br />
<br />
If you’ve found a pithy quotation you think will make a great epigraph, before you use it, <i>double-check the source</i>. My rule of thumb is that the more detailed the attribution, the more credible the quote. Look for credit lines that include not just the author but the title of the work and, even better, the chapter and page number (or act and scene for a play, stanza and line for a poem, etc.).<br />
<br />
Of course, the only way to be completely certain of an attribution is to find a copy of the original text yourself. E-books are extremely useful for sourcing quotations because you can use the Search function to find a specific phrase. Or you can go to your local library and find a book of quotations by a reputable publisher.<br />
<br />
Sometimes a quote simply lacks any credible attribution. Maybe its origin has been lost in the mists of time, or maybe it’s been repeated so many times there’s no way to determine who said it first. In such cases, write <i>Unknown</i> in the credit line, or include whatever information is available.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.<br />
—Unknown</blockquote><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.<br />
—African-American proverb</blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/158398580578/medievalpoc-pieter-brueghel-the-elder-the" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Pieter Brueghel the Elder, The Triumph of Death (detail), c.1562" border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eOR0q5hd0vM/WyVyK2X21PI/AAAAAAAAAtk/w53AvzMcpwEFgPWVVgCOXOITjrbgBy1tACLcBGAs/s1600/nobody%2Bwants.png" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Epigraphs and Copyright</span></h3><br />
Should you worry about copyright infringement when choosing an epigraph? Here’s what the <i>Chicago Manual of Style</i> has to say:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Quotation in the form of an epigraph does not fit neatly into any of the usual fair-use categories but is probably fair use by virtue of scholarly and artistic tradition.</blockquote><br />
So you probably won’t get sued, if only because the practice of using epigraphs is so well established. However, if you want to be completely safe, choose sources that are old enough to be in the public domain. The number of years varies by country, but generally speaking anything over 150 years old is probably copyright free.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Should you find a wise critic to point out your faults, follow him as you would a guide to hidden treasure.<br />
—The Buddha</blockquote><br />
Finally, beware of getting caught up in thoughtless overdecoration. Ask yourself, Do I really need an epigraph here? Unless you’ve found a quote that’s particularly apt or that sets the perfect tone in a way nothing else does, you might be better off without one.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Exit, pursued by a bear.<br />
—Shakespeare, <i>The Winter’s Tale</i></blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/exit-pursued-bear/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration by John Massey Wright of Antigonus fleeing the bear, from The Winter's Tale, Act III, Scene iii" border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1omf4INWzyQ/WyVx-4-TpfI/AAAAAAAAAtg/m24AfatmjaAoC-7RtQ1m4FXh11ryfE-7ACLcBGAs/s1600/exit.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-65701099158222024182018-05-15T18:20:00.000-07:002018-05-15T18:20:27.286-07:00Commas After the Beginning of a SentenceIf you start a sentence with an introductory clause like this one, do you need to follow it with a comma? In formal writing can you ever use an introductory phrase without a comma?<br />
<br />
Obviously the answer to both questions is yes. The real question is, Which sentence beginnings need commas and which don’t?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/171653326188/amazons-le-secret-de-lhistoire-naturelle-france" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of an army of women riding forth, France, 1480s" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="401" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K7-8BHdkT-s/WvuBkPsjk5I/AAAAAAAAArE/u2AdoYlV7b00aS31xOTW-z7XMSL1w_s2gCLcBGAs/s1600/Amazon%2Btrumpets.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Dependent Clauses and Commas</span></h3><br />
When a sentence starts with a dependent clause, the clause should be followed by a comma. A <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/05/sentence-fragments-shattering-your.html" target="_blank">dependent clause</a> is a clause (i.e., it has a subject and a verb) that can’t stand alone as a sentence. It often starts with a word like <i>if</i>, <i>because</i>, <i>until</i>, or <i>when</i> (a.k.a. a <b>subordinating conjunction</b>).<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Until our enemies are defeated, we will continue to protect the castle.</li>
<li>If Bao starts singing, everyone will join in.</li>
<li>Because it was raining, Elphaba brought her umbrella.</li>
</ul><br />
When the dependent clause comes<i> after</i> the main clause, you don’t need to worry about a comma.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>We will continue to protect the castle until our enemies are defeated.</li>
<li>Everyone will join in if Bao starts singing.</li>
<li>Elphaba brought her umbrella because it was raining.</li>
</ul><br />
However, a comma is usual when the dependent clause doesn’t change the meaning of the main clause. (See <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/04/that-and-which.html" target="_blank">That and Which</a> for more on <b>restrictive</b> and <b>nonrestrictive</b> clauses.)<br />
<br />
<ul><li>We fought valiantly all day, until the sun set behind the hills.</li>
<li>I’ll take a pass on the kale smoothie, if it’s all the same to you.</li>
<li>Of course it was raining, because the universe hates me.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Participial Phrases and Commas</span></h3><br />
When a sentence begins with a participial phrase (a phrase starting with a <a href="http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/participle.htm" target="_blank">participle</a>, which usually ends in -ed or -ing), the phrase is generally followed by a comma.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Exhausted from the gruelling flight, Nico hauled himself out of the airship.</li>
<li>Knowing her cards were unbeatable, the dowager staked her entire fortune on one hand.</li>
</ul><br />
Commas are also used when the phrase occurs in the middle of the sentence.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Nico, exhausted from the gruelling flight, hauled himself out of the airship.</li>
<li>The dowager chuckled, knowing her cards were unbeatable, and staked her entire fortune on one hand.</li>
</ul><br />
However, you shouldn’t use a comma when the phrase changes the meaning of the rest of the sentence (i.e., when it’s a <b>restrictive</b> phrase).<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Nico always arrives exhausted from his gruelling flights.</li>
<li>Knowing her cards were unbeatable was no reason for the dowager to stake her entire fortune on one hand.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://boschproject.org/#/artworks/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Detail of flying creatures from The Temptation of St. Anthony, Hieronymus Bosch, c.1501" border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8w3YJijS-o/WvuBrlvUrLI/AAAAAAAAArI/dY2XQa4Vz9kCzGC7LNq_4nQo8aXZKP1dgCLcBGAs/s1600/air%2Bcraft.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Adverbial Phrases and Commas</span></h3><br />
An adverb tells you how, when, where, or why; an adverbial phrase is a phrase (a group of words that doesn’t qualify as a clause) that does the same thing. At the beginning of a sentence, these phrases can be followed by a comma, but they often go without—especially if they’re short.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>In 1918 Lu Xun published “A Madman’s Diary.” </li>
<li>Before the wedding Penelope plotted her revenge.</li>
</ul><br />
Do use a comma when it makes the sentence easier to read or when it prevents confusion.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>After days and weeks of incessant worry, we finally discovered our cat had been living at the neighbours’.</li>
<li>For Clive, Owen was the ideal man.</li>
<li>After eating, the rabbits we adopted were returned to their hutch.</li>
</ul><br />
It’s often helpful to use commas when the adverbial phrase appears in the middle of a sentence.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>We finally discovered, after days and weeks of incessant worry, that our cat had been living at the neighbours’.</li>
</ul><br />
But don’t use a comma when it’s at the end of a sentence …<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Lu Xun published “A Madman’s Diary” in 1918. </li>
<li>Penelope plotted her revenge before the wedding.</li>
</ul><br />
… unless the phrase doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence (i.e., it’s <b>nonrestrictive</b>).<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Lu Xun published “A Madman’s Diary” the following year, in 1918. </li>
<li>Penelope plotted her revenge that morning, before the wedding.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://uploads6.wikiart.org/images/auguste-toulmouche/the-reluctant-bride-1866.jpg!HalfHD.jpg, https://www.wikiart.org/en/auguste-toulmouche/the-reluctant-bride-1866" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Reluctant Bride, Auguste Toulmouche, 1866" border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UVs6WpWqDKs/WvuB3Ss1ORI/AAAAAAAAArQ/c2h7Ad8Kxn0Z--WcL6yIpADoq0DucO9PgCLcBGAs/s1600/Reluctant%2BBride.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Introductory Interjections and Commas</span></h3><br />
An <a href="http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/interjection.htm" target="_blank">interjection</a> at the beginning of a sentence is traditionally followed by a comma.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Yes, it was a great day for disco. </li>
<li>No, that is not what I meant at all. </li>
<li>Well, it was the best we could do at the time. </li>
<li>Okay, that’s settled. </li>
<li>Oh, it was grand! </li>
<li>Ah, youth! </li>
</ul><br />
But the comma is often omitted in informal contexts, dialogue, and common expressions.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>“No you don’t!”</li>
<li>“Yes I will!”</li>
<li>Oh my God!</li>
<li>Oh yeah?</li>
<li>Boy oh boy.</li>
<li>Oh brother!</li>
</ul><br />
You can also use closing punctuation instead of a comma, turning your interjection into a one-word sentence.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Well! What a shock!</li>
<li>Oh? I stand corrected.</li>
<li>Oh! I didn’t hear you come in.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judex_(1963_film)" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Still from 1963 film Judex, of a sneaky woman in a black mask" border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DhvAx1NuazQ/WvuCAU1-fTI/AAAAAAAAArY/WBSqlijfEj0flHeuI-r2hj5Jyz-9U_NqQCLcBGAs/s1600/Judex%2B1963.jpg" /></a></div><br />
There’s no particular phrase that is always—or never—followed by a comma: it all depends on the phrase’s function in the sentence. In this way commas point out a sentence’s structure. Readers subconsciously expect these flags, so using them consistently will make your prose easier to read. Of course, you can also choose to deploy an unexpected comma here and there, for dramatic effect.<br />
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</div>Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-65692043404958269952018-04-16T16:47:00.000-07:002018-06-16T14:39:48.926-07:00That and WhichThe choice between<i> that</i> and <i>which</i> can be confounding, especially if you include British usage (spoiler: the Brits use<i> which</i> in places where Americans insist on<i> that</i>). But before we can dive into the famous that/which rule, I need to introduce you to <b>restrictive</b> and <b>nonrestrictive</b> clauses.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/171495271153/stop-that-noise-dragons-grande-bible-historiale" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illumination of man in bed with two dragons fighting above him. Paris, ca. 1400" border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KQ63o3QsF2A/WtUq3kKnXiI/AAAAAAAAApg/2VNrv9MfYxkt7F6iLd0iT5NKQf9siC8DACLcBGAs/s1600/dragon%2Binsomnia.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Obligatory and Optional Phrases</span></h3>
<br />
A clause, phrase, or word is called <b>restrictive</b> when it’s necessary in order for the sentence to work. Take it out, and the sentence doesn’t convey the same thing.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Animals<span style="color: magenta;"> such as bears</span> should be treated with caution.</li>
<li>People <span style="color: magenta;">who jump queues</span> should be strung up by their toes.</li>
<li>The dragons <span style="color: magenta;">fighting above my bed</span> are keeping me awake.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Notice the lack of commas in these examples. Restrictive phrases are never set off with commas.<br />
<br />
A clause, phrase, or word is called <b>nonrestrictive</b> when it’s not necessary for the sentence. You could take it out without losing any essential information.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Hibernating animals, <span style="color: magenta;">such as bears</span>, should be treated with caution.</li>
<li>Villanelle, <span style="color: magenta;">who jumps queues</span>, should be strung up by her toes.</li>
<li>The castle’s pair of dragons, <span style="color: magenta;">fighting above my bed</span>, are keeping me awake.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Nonrestrictive phrases, unlike restrictive phrases, are set off with commas.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Earl, however, refused to be seen in a Volkswagen.</li>
<li>The double-action shotgun, not diplomacy, was Anika’s forte.</li>
<li>The giant Madagascar hissing cockroach, I understand, makes an affectionate pet.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Because of this, adding or deleting commas can change the information in a sentence.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Her romance novel, <i>Scottish Lords with Bulging Calf Muscles</i>, is a bodice-ripper. </li>
</ul>
<br />
Commas tell us the title is nonrestrictive: you could take it out and the sentence would say the same thing. Which means this is her only romance novel.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Her romance novel <i>Scottish Lords with Bulging Calf Muscles</i> is a bodice-ripper. </li>
</ul>
<br />
The absence of commas tells us the title is restrictive: without it we wouldn’t know which romance novel was meant. Which suggests she has written other romance novels, some of which may feature other kinds of lords with different muscles.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.historyundressed.com/2012/09/interview-with-acclaimed-scottish.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Cover art for Temptation in a Kilt by Victoria Roberts" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="373" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l8hbdw2bT5Y/WtUrBnYNdFI/AAAAAAAAApk/PmISh4HNK4IZNLPfzngGYWW_PkRCf1W4gCLcBGAs/s1600/kilt.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
That said, the current preference among writers and editors seems to be for fewer commas, and as long as leaving out the commas isn’t likely to confuse the reader, then it’s acceptable to do so even with a nonrestrictive phrase. For example, if you leave out the commas around <i>Myrna</i> in <i>my wife Myrna loves taxidermy</i>, your readers probably won’t assume you have more than one wife. <br />
<br />
On the other hand, if you’re writing about, say, siblings or offspring, you might want to use commas to show you only have one: <i>our son, Xiaoping</i>; <i>my sister, Susan</i>. (For more on this, see <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2015/10/commas-names-and-chopsticks.html" target="_blank">Commas, Names, and Chopsticks</a>.)<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">That vs. Which</span></h3>
<br />
Understanding the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses is essential for choosing correctly between <i>that</i> and <i>which</i>. According to the <b>that/which rule</b>, <i>that</i> belongs in restrictive clauses and <i>which</i> belongs in nonrestrictive clauses.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The UFO that arrived last week is still parked on our lawn. (Not to be confused with the UFO that arrived the week before.) </li>
<li>The UFO, which arrived last week, is still parked on our lawn. (Only one alien craft has ever landed here.)</li>
</ul>
<br />
In UK-style English, <i>which</i> is as likely to be used in a restrictive clause as <i>that</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>UK: The dark cloud which hung over the mansion put a pall on their croquet game.</li>
<li>US: The dark cloud that hung over the mansion put a pall on their croquet game.</li>
</ul>
<br />
But in any country, nonrestrictive clauses always use <i>which</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>UK & US: The corpse, which was oddly familiar, gave Teuta pause.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://store.doverpublications.com/0486998622.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration by Elenore Abbott for The Marsh King's Daughter by Hans Christian Andersen, 1922" border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="501" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8eiaXkIZb9Y/WtUrSuEhBQI/AAAAAAAAApo/jfuruIo0Y0YwWF1o5_M6rsPNOt0nNo2SgCLcBGAs/s1600/Abbott%2Bmarsh.JPG" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Do You Need That <i>That</i>?</span> </h3>
<br />
The <i>that</i> in a restrictive clause can sometimes be left out if the meaning of the sentence is clear without it.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Desta told him that it was time.</li>
<li>Desta told him it was time.</li>
<li>If I had known that the plant was carnivorous, I wouldn’t have bought it.</li>
<li>If I had known the plant was carnivorous, I wouldn’t have bought it.</li>
<li>Hari realized that that was the witch’s plan all along.</li>
<li>Hari realized that was the witch’s plan all along.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Eliminating superfluous <i>that</i>s can make your writing cleaner and easier to read, which is why some editors insist on deleting the word wherever it turns up; however, there are places where a <i>that</i> is necessary for clarity.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I learned when she took her camera I was not to follow. </li>
<li>I learned that when she took her camera I was not to follow. </li>
<li>I learned when she took her camera that I was not to follow.</li>
</ul>
<br />
It’s good to question your <i>that</i>s, because we often overuse them without realizing it, but don’t assume any <i>that</i> is a bad <i>that</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://tmblr.co/ZCsUVu2T5rGo9" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photograph of woman with camera standing on high-rise construction beam, Berlin, 1910" border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="590" height="321" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4Qw6bzyTYf8/WtUrdsfPIiI/AAAAAAAAApw/T1SmUjCAuVcB7qdoqqUNHZfN2SpaNttVgCLcBGAs/s1600/fem%2Bphotog%2B1910.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
In summary, use <i>that</i> when the clause is necessary to the sentence, and use <i>which</i> when it’s not. Unless you’re following UK style, in which case you can use <i>which</i> for necessary clauses too. But either way, when your clause is unnecessary, use <i>which</i>—and don’t forget the commas.<br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-17327225384397386252018-03-25T12:41:00.000-07:002018-03-25T13:01:31.530-07:00Subjunctive MoodinessWhen you write <i>wish you were here</i>, you’re using the <b>subjunctive mood</b>, as opposed to the <b>indicative mood</b> (<i>you are here</i>). The subjunctive is used in speculation and conjecture, for outcomes that are unlikely or even impossible.<br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">If I Were You</span></h3><br />
In the subjunctive mood, verbs appear in the past tense.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Subjunctive: If I <b>had</b> a million dollars, I <b>would</b> buy a spaceship.</li>
<li>Indicative: If I <b>have</b> a filthy mouth, it <b>is</b> my grandma’s fault.</li>
</ul><br />
The first example uses the past tense to show the situation is purely hypothetical: I do not have a million dollars. The second example uses the present tense to show that I likely <i>do</i> have a filthy mouth (and that it’s my grandma’s fault).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_La_Loge_au_Mascaron_Dore_-_Henri_de_Toulouse-Lautrec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Toulouse-Lautrec, La Loge au mascaron doré, 1895" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="468" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OuRs5hxBwVc/WrWtLnIrSnI/AAAAAAAAAoc/g5p0E_aZ9mMNK8vLwM9yREfRz3Jf6MKqQCLcBGAs/s1600/opera%2Bspecs.jpg" /></a></div><br />
An exception to this otherwise straightforward system is the verb<i> to be</i>. The subjunctive form of <i>am</i> and <i>is</i> isn’t <i>was</i>, as you’d expect, but <i>were</i> (<i>if I were a rich man</i>). Increasingly this use of <i>were</i> is being replaced by <i>was</i>, especially in informal contexts, but the two words can still have different implications.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>If I were the murderer, where would I hide the body?</li>
<li>Even if I was the murderer, you have no proof!</li>
</ul><br />
The second example implies the speaker might actually have done it—though not as strongly as the present tense does: <i>even if I am the murderer</i>.<br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">The Subjunctive in Past-Tense Narratives</span></h3><br />
This all may feel pretty instinctive, but when you’re writing a story in the past tense, the subjunctive can get confusing. Let’s start with a present-tense narrative.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Saru is standing at the edge of a ravine. He <b>will</b> make it if he <b>jumps</b>. (present tense means scenario is likely)</li>
<li>Saru is standing at the edge of a ravine. He <b>would</b> make it if he <b>jumped</b>. (past tense means scenario is hypothetical)</li>
</ul><br />
Now let’s shift to a past-tense narrative.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Saru was standing at the edge of a ravine. He could tell he <b>would</b> <b>make</b> it if he <b>jumped</b>. (simple past tense means scenario is likely)</li>
<li>Saru was captured at the edge of the ravine. He <b>would have made</b> it if he <b>had jumped</b>. (past-perfect tense means scenario is hypothetical)</li>
</ul><br />
The third example is looking ahead, predicting Saru’s success. The fourth is describing what <i>didn’t</i> happen; we understand Saru did <i>not</i> jump. In the past, the subjunctive mood is shown with the <b>past-perfect</b> tense (<i>had jumped</i>). For more on the past perfect see <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2018/03/using-right-verb-tense.html" target="_blank">Using the Right Verb Tense</a>.<br />
<br />
Notice the second and third examples both use the same tense (<i>he <b>would make</b> it if he <b>jumped</b></i>). You can use the simple past tense to talk about the hypothetical “now” or the likely “then.” This is what makes the subjunctive so confusing—your verbs can sound right and still be in the wrong tense.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>If Gilda <b>were</b> a better person, she <b>would</b>n’t<b> kill</b> alien creatures.</li>
<li>If Gilda <b>were</b> a better person, she <b>would</b>n’t<b> have killed</b> those alien creatures.</li>
</ul><br />
These are both hypothetical scenarios (subjunctive mood) in the present. We’re arguing about Gilda’s morals, now, based on her past behaviour. Next we’ll shift to a past-tense narrative.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>If Gilda <b>was</b> really a better person now, she <b>would</b>n’t <b>kill</b> the alien creatures.</li>
<li>If Gilda <b>had been</b> a better person, she <b>would</b>n’t <b>have killed</b> those alien creatures.</li>
</ul><br />
The first scenario is a real possibility: she hasn’t killed anyone yet, and she might not (indicative mood). The second is contrary to fact: she <i>has</i> killed and she is <i>not</i> a better person (subjunctive mood).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://flashbak.com/20-outstanding-mid-century-sci-fi-pulp-covers-21109/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Cover of Planet Stories pulp magazine, featuring woman in armour swinging an axe at some alien tentacles" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="414" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1dK8bYZDft0/WrWtTG4X4yI/AAAAAAAAAog/PQ6Vtq5ja-oIWro9MBSidpKhfY2NlPPRACLcBGAs/s1600/mars%2Bamazon.png" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Can and Will, Could and Would</span></h3><br />
The verb <i>will</i> has popped up several times in this post. It’s a <b>modal auxiliary verb</b>, which just means it’s used a lot in the subjunctive mood (modal) and it’s often combined with other verbs (auxiliary), as in <i>will buy</i> and <i>will make</i>.<br />
<br />
The past tense of <i>will</i> is <i>would</i>. This is why <i>would</i> is used in a present-tense narrative when speculating about something hypothetical (<i>I know I <b>would be</b> a great leader</i>). In a past-tense narrative, the subjunctive is shown by using <i>would have</i> + past participle—<i>would have been, would have swung, would have jumped</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Taika <b>will know</b> the sigil if he <b>sees</b> it again. (present likely)</li>
<li>Taika <b>would know</b> the sigil if he <b>saw</b> it again. (present hypothetical)</li>
</ul><br />
<ul><li>Taika was sure he <b>would know</b> the sigil if he <b>saw</b> it again. (past likely)</li>
<li>Nothing looked familiar. Taika <b>would’ve known</b> the sigil if he<b>’d seen</b> it again. (past hypothetical)</li>
</ul><br />
<i>Can</i> (past tense <i>could</i>) is another modal auxiliary verb.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>If Okoye <b>can change</b>, so <b>can</b> you. (present likely)</li>
<li>If Okoye <b>could change</b>, she <b>would</b>. (present hypothetical)</li>
</ul><br />
<ul><li>It showed that if Okoye <b>could change</b>, so <b>could</b> the rest of the Dora Milaje. (past likely)</li>
<li>If Okoye <b>could have changed</b>, she<b>’d have done</b> things differently. (past hypothetical)</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Groepsportret_van_de_zogenaamde_%27Amazones_uit_Dahomey%27_tijdens_hun_verblijf_in_Parijs_TMnr_60038362.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo of Dahomey warriors, the all-female king's bodyguard from Benin, 1891" border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Bff23JWmhnA/WrWtbnGbncI/AAAAAAAAAok/fARADC9BPFwNRJr6UB_YT6BEhVjVlnsGACLcBGAs/s1600/Dahomey%2Bwarriors.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">May and Might</span></h3><br />
<i>May </i>and <i>might</i> (also modal auxiliaries) can both be used in the present. The only difference is that <i>might</i> carries more uncertainty than <i>may</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>We may go ballooning tomorrow.</li>
<li>We might go ballooning tomorrow.</li>
</ul><br />
But only<i> might</i> should be used when you’re talking about a purely hypothetical scenario, especially one contrary to fact.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>If it <b>had</b>n’t <b>rained</b>, we <b>might’ve gone</b> ballooning.</li>
<li>If she <b>were</b> to ask me, I <b>might spill</b> the beans.</li>
</ul><br />
Generally speaking, you’ll want to use <i>might</i> rather than<i> may</i> in a past-tense narrative, unless the uncertainty is continuing into the narrative’s present.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Yihang’s ghost <b>was seen</b> walking the ramparts—and <b>may</b> haunt them to this day.</li>
<li>We never saw Talulla again. She <b>may have joined</b> the circus, but no one <b>is</b> sure.</li>
<li>They never saw Talulla again. She <b>might have joined</b> the circus, but no one <b>was</b> sure.</li>
<li>Vic passed out on the crafts table, so I <b>think</b> Felix <b>may have spiked</b> his tea.</li>
<li>Vic passed out on the crafts table, so I <b>thought</b> Felix <b>might have spiked</b> his tea.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Must and Had To</span></h3><br />
Finally, <i>must</i> is a modal auxiliary verb that’s used to show necessity (<i>you must comply</i>) or a conclusion (<i>that must be the reason</i>). In the sense of a conclusion, <i>must</i> can appear in either a present- or past-tense narrative.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>That <b>must be</b> why Chidi<b>’s </b>so twitchy.</li>
<li>That <b>must have been</b> why Chidi <b>was</b> so twitchy.</li>
<li>Eleanor <b>must have said</b> something to upset him.</li>
</ul><br />
In the sense of necessity, <i>must</i> only works in the present; in a past narrative, use <i>had to</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Wanda and Christiane <b>must deliver</b> the microfilm to the Resistance tonight.</li>
<li>Wanda and Christiane <b>had to deliver</b> the microfilm to the Resistance that night.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wanda_et_Christiane_de_Komornicka_réseau_Combat_Avignon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ID documents of WWII Resistance fighters Wanda and Christiane de Komornicka" border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWfyVep7O_E/WrWtnKArPvI/AAAAAAAAAoo/FTz4oMSKy5QlNJAsZ3uBh7_mcgM3EnFggCLcBGAs/s1600/Resistance.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">More Examples</span></h3><br />
<ul><li>We were trapped, but if I <b>could pick</b> the lock, we<b>’d be</b> out of there in no time.</li>
<li>If I <b>could have picked</b> that lock, we’<b>d have been</b> out of there in no time, but I didn’t have a bobby pin.</li>
<li>Let me tell you, if I <b>had</b> a nickel for every time that dame <b>lied</b> to me, I<b>’d be</b> richer than Rockefeller.</li>
<li>Back then, if I<b>’d had</b> a nickel for every time that dame <b>had lied</b> to me, I<b>’d’ve been</b> richer than Rockefeller.</li>
<li>A wise man <b>would have chosen</b> his words carefully, but I blurted out the first thing that came into my head.</li>
<li>And I <b>would’ve gotten</b> away with it if it <b>had</b>n’t <b>been</b> for you kids!</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<br />
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</div>Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-39869888500295174942018-03-02T20:03:00.000-08:002018-03-23T17:54:04.103-07:00Using the Right Verb TenseI’ve written before about choosing the right verb tense when <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/01/how-to-write-characters-thoughts.html">writing characters’ thoughts</a>. Today I’m going to talk about how to convey different times in your story’s past. Or in other words, when to use <i>had</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/HorribleSanity/status/944617370143809536" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of two butterflies with human heads drinking out of a champagne glass" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="380" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cEhzLuqWIKY/WpoQv36nb3I/AAAAAAAAAmE/1L8YR0HQDKcqJJAmlkmNnjh8xG3oRP5egCLcBGAs/s1600/drinking%2Bbutterflies.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Past and More Past</span></h3><br />
<ul><li>The butterflies <b>drank</b> all the champagne last night.</li>
<li>The butterflies <b>had drunk</b> all the champagne by the time we <b>got</b> there.</li>
</ul><br />
The verbs <i>drank</i> and <i>got</i> are both in the past (or <b>simple past</b>) tense, since they happened last night. <i>Had drunk</i> is in the <b>past perfect</b> tense to show it happened <i>before</i> the moment we got there last night.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I <b>ran</b> into Perseus in Starbucks. I <b>had had</b> my hair done that morning, so it <b>was looking</b> extra snaky.</li>
</ul><br />
ran = <b>past simple</b><br />
had had = <b>past perfect</b> (had + <a href="http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/participle.htm" target="_blank">past participle</a>)<br />
was looking = <b>past progressive</b> (was + <a href="http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/participle.htm" target="_blank">present participle</a>)<br />
<br />
In this example, the first action (running into Perseus) took place at the time of the scene in Starbucks. The second action (having my hair done) took place earlier—that morning. The third action (looking snaky) happened at the same time as the first, but it’s a continuing action, something the snakes are in the midst of.<br />
<br />
This is how the example would look if it took place in the present:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I <b>run</b> into Perseus in Starbucks. I <b>had</b> my hair done this morning, so it <b>is looking</b> extra snaky.</li>
</ul><br />
You can see the first action is happening now, the second happened earlier (before now), and the third is still happening (continuing now). For past narratives, we’ll call these times “then,” “before then,” and “continuing then.”<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_PherVHsR-o/WpoXtRUzcnI/AAAAAAAAAm0/FGwmFbp0vgELcc19P78Mq6RCzNvBh2MMgCLcBGAs/s1600/Present%2BTN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Verb tense table: present" border="0" data-original-height="134" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_PherVHsR-o/WpoXtRUzcnI/AAAAAAAAAm0/FGwmFbp0vgELcc19P78Mq6RCzNvBh2MMgCLcBGAs/s1600/Present%2BTN.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ElQ6WfDDXDE/WpoX2Bo8r7I/AAAAAAAAAm4/5bjydEkjA5guGqVA-2NlHJ7tgqVvQZwmwCLcBGAs/s1600/Past%2BTN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Verb tense chart: past" border="0" data-original-height="135" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ElQ6WfDDXDE/WpoX2Bo8r7I/AAAAAAAAAm4/5bjydEkjA5guGqVA-2NlHJ7tgqVvQZwmwCLcBGAs/s1600/Past%2BTN.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<ul><li>I <b>felt </b>confident of victory because I <b>bribed</b> the judges. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>I <b>felt</b> confident of victory because I<b>’d bribed</b> the judges. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </li>
</ul><br />
<ul><li>I <b>feel</b> confident of victory because I<b>’d bribed</b> the judges. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>I <b>feel</b> confident of victory because I <b>bribed</b> the judges. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>I <b>feel</b> confident of victory because I<b>’ve bribed</b> the judges. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
In the last example, <i>have bribed</i> is called the <b>present perfect</b> tense. It’s formed with <i>have</i> or <i>has</i> plus a past participle and is used in present-tense narratives for two kinds of actions: those that started in the past and have continued till now (<i>You’re late—I<b>’ve waited</b> all morning</i>) or those that happened at an indefinite time in the past (<i>You<b>’ve cut</b> your hair</i> vs. <i>You <b>cut</b> your hair yesterday</i>).<br />
<br />
Although there are exceptions (which I’ll discuss in a minute), the general rules in the charts above should help you keep your tenses straight.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Zorg <b>had</b> <b>beamed</b> up by the time we <b>arrived</b>.</li>
<li>By the time we <b>arrive</b>, Zorg <b>has beamed</b> up.</li>
</ul><br />
<ul><li>I <b>was cycling</b> through the Alps when I <b>met</b> Franz. </li>
<li>I<b>’m cycling</b> my way through the Alps when I <b>meet</b> Franz.</li>
</ul><br />
<ul><li>I<b>’ve been working</b> at the gas station for six months and I <b>have</b>n’t <b>seen</b> a single UFO.</li>
<li>I<b>’d been working</b> at the gas station for six months and I <b>had</b>n’t <b>seen</b> a single UFO. </li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:En_man_och_en_kvinna_i_eleganta_friluftskläder._Velocipeddräkt_med_påknäppt_kjol_samt_Turistdräkt_-_Nordiska_Museet_-_NMA.0034164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration of 19th c. travellers from the Nordic Museum" border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3TyCKSqCcSU/WpoXDkNQ2bI/AAAAAAAAAmk/sfTY0pynK-8GRCcjakYRCQHKtin0wx_WACEwYBhgL/s1600/travellers.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">When Not to Use the Past Perfect</span></h3><br />
Though the past perfect is useful to show you’ve taken a step back in your narrative’s timeline, it’s not always necessary, provided the sequence of events is clear to the reader.<br />
<br />
Say your story starts <i>Ruth <b>was</b> a sailor who <b>owned</b> a big boat</i>—obviously, a past-tense narrative. Next you write <i>She <b>was</b> <b>born</b> in Fogo</i>. You could write <i>She <b>had been</b> <b>born</b> in Fogo</i> instead, but it sounds a bit awkward unless it’s followed by a more recent event (e.g., <i>She <b>had been</b> <b>born</b> in Fogo before they <b>paved </b>the roads</i>). And even then it’s not necessary; it’s obvious to readers Ruth’s birth happened before the narrative starts.<br />
<br />
Next you write <i>Her parents <b>were</b> bootleggers</i>. Should it be <i>Her parents <b>had been</b> bootleggers</i>? Depends on the story. <i>Had been</i> implies her parents are either dead or retired—no longer legging boots, in any case. <i>Were</i> could be interpreted to mean the same thing, or that they’re still bootlegging when the story starts. If the context doesn’t make your meaning clear, you need to use the past perfect.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Ruth <b>was</b> a sailor who <b>owned</b> a big boat. She <b>was born</b> in Fogo. Her parents <b>were</b> bootleggers. (unclear)</li>
<li>Ruth <b>was</b> a sailor who <b>owned</b> a big boat. She <b>was born</b> in Fogo. Her parents <b>were</b> bootleggers until they retired. (clear)</li>
<li>Ruth <b>was</b> a sailor who <b>owned</b> a big boat. She <b>was born</b> in Fogo. Her parents <b>had been</b> bootleggers. (clear)</li>
</ul><br />
Sticklers may insist the second example should read <i>Her parents <b>had been</b> bootleggers until they retired</i>, but for most editors, where the sequence of events is clear, the choice of simple past or past perfect is a question of authorial style.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meduse_sousse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Roman mosaic of Medusa from the Archeological Museum of Sousse" border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A8KK-1Ctnm4/WpoXYk9drfI/AAAAAAAAAmo/Tghgz08Xhf4MCaycGptLcYyNMxR7jilsgCLcBGAs/s1600/medusa.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Let’s leave Ruth and revisit Medusa’s scene, expanding it a little. First we’ll use a present-tense narrative.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I <b>run</b> into Perseus in Starbucks. I <b>had</b> my hair done this morning, so it<b>’s looking</b> extra snaky. The stylist <b>fed</b> each snake a live cricket. She <b>said</b> they <b>seemed</b> happy today. Perseus <b>does</b>n’t look happy to see them.</li>
</ul><br />
Our two times are “now,” in the coffee shop (<i>run</i>, <i>is looking</i>, <i>does</i>), and “before now,” in the salon (<i>had</i>, <i>fed</i>, <i>said</i>,<i> seemed</i>). If we wanted to change this to a past-tense narrative, we could change every “before now” verb to past perfect, but that would give us a lot of <i>had</i>s.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I <b>ran</b> into Perseus in Starbucks. I<b>’d had</b> my hair done that morning, so it <b>was looking</b> extra snaky. The stylist <b>had fed</b> each snake a live cricket. She<b>’d said</b> they<b>’d seemed</b> happy today. Perseus <b>did</b>n’t look happy to see them.</li>
</ul><br />
This is not technically incorrect, but it reads awkwardly. There are several places where we could use the simple past instead without obscuring the sequence of events.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I <b>ran</b> into Perseus in Starbucks. I<b>’d had</b> my hair done that morning, so it <b>was looking </b>extra snaky. The stylist <b>fed</b> each snake a live cricket. She <b>said</b> they <b>seemed</b> happy today. Perseus <b>did</b>n’t look happy to see them.</li>
</ul><br />
Obviously the stylist is part of the “before then” we established with <i>I<b>’d had </b>my hair done that morning</i>, so using <i>fed </i>instead of <i>had fed</i> isn’t confusing (though you could use <i>had fed</i> if you wanted). The next sentence, <i>She <b>said</b> they <b>seemed</b> happy today</i>, sounds downright clumsy in the past perfect (<i>She<b>’d said</b> they<b>’d seemed</b> happy today</i>), so you’re much better off using the simple past. Some writers would even change <i>I’<b>d had</b> my hair done</i> to <i>I <b>had</b> my hair done</i>, on the grounds that <i>that morning</i> makes the action’s timing clear, but I feel the past perfect is useful there to signal a shift to the reader.<br />
<br />
Authors often start a long flashback using the past perfect for the first couple of actions then change to simple past once the time has been established. This is necessary if they intend to jump back again within the flashback, taking the reader to “before before then” with the past perfect. Grammar Girl has an excellent <a href="https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/flashbacks-in-books" target="_blank">post</a> dissecting this method.<br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Narrative Effects</span></h3><br />
You have a lot of authorial wiggle room when it comes to choosing whether to use the past perfect, but be aware that your choice can subtly change your narrative.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>The whole night <b>was</b> a disaster.</li>
<li>The whole night <b>had been</b> a disaster. </li>
</ul><br />
These two examples each locate the reader in a different narrative space. The first is slightly more distant. It’s simply relating an event.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>The whole night was a disaster. The champagne never arrived, the caterer quit, the yacht capsized, and Aziz had to swim to shore. </li>
</ul><br />
The second example implies the protagonist is looking back from his current situation. It fixes the reader within the present scene.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>The whole night had been a disaster. The champagne never arrived, the caterer quit, the yacht capsized, and Aziz had had to swim to shore. Now he was sitting on the beach, sopping wet and missing a sock.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raft_of_the_Medusa_-_Theodore_Gericault.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault, 1818-19" border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lbc3VoFGQxw/WpoXiwcM6SI/AAAAAAAAAmw/GeyWncn28LYWxPjslK1sVq9FzJ6FnSRkACLcBGAs/s1600/Raft%2Bof%2Bthe%2BMedusa.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Choosing which verb tense to use is a matter of balancing grammatical correctness with narrative flow—always, of course, prioritizing clarity for your readers.<br />
<br />
Even after you’ve mastered the past perfect, the subjunctive mood (if I <b>had</b> a million dollars) can throw off your past-tense narrative. I’ll be covering the subjunctive in my next post. If I <b>were</b> you, I <b>would stay</b> tuned.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">You can support this blog and access bonus content by subscribing to <a href="http://www.patreon.com/grammarlandia" target="_blank">patreon.com/grammarlandia</a>. </div>Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-11762778574838748012018-01-28T13:42:00.000-08:002018-01-28T13:42:00.850-08:00Me, Myself, and IThese three words often get confused and misused, usually when a writer is trying to sound formal.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/7-times-aliens-explained-science/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1964 photo by Chris Ware of two London police officers watching actors in alien costumes cross the street" border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yTY4C8nrSPg/Wm47DdNpeaI/AAAAAAAAAkU/eV-7VLQwKrI0ulRH5COSveEqxLm1HcHuACLcBGAs/s1600/cops%2526aliens.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Just Between You and Me</span></h3><br />
If you want to seem fancy, you might write, for example, <i>Keep this between you and I</i>. But the correct wording is <i>Keep this between you and me</i>, so you’ve come across as clueless rather than classy. In grammar circles, this kind of overcompensation is called a <b>hypercorrection</b>.<br />
<br />
<i>I</i> (the <b>nominative </b>case) is used for the subject of a sentence or clause. <i>Me</i> (the <b>objective </b>case) is used for the object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or the subject of an infinitive.<br />
<br />
<ul><li><b>I</b> am from out of town. (subject of sentence)</li>
<li>Those cops don’t worry <b>me</b>. (object of verb <i>worry</i>)</li>
<li>Nobody comes between <b>me</b> and Zorg. (object of preposition <i>between</i>)</li>
<li>Zorg asked <b>me</b> to lead the way. (subject of infinitive verb <i>to lead</i>)</li>
</ul><br />
These examples probably seem obvious. It’s when an <i>and</i> (or an <i>or</i>) is involved that people often trip themselves up. The easiest way to avoid mistakes is to try your sentence without the other person.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>It would be a different matter for you or I.</li>
<li>It would be a different matter for I. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>It would be a different matter for you or me. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
<ul><li>Give the Princess of Zanzibar and I your fealty.</li>
<li>Give I your fealty. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>Give the Princess of Zanzibar and me your fealty. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
<a href="http://www.sothebys.com/content/sothebys/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/old-masters-day-l17037/lot.200.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Portrait of the Princess of Zanzibar with her African Attendant by Walter Frier, 1731" border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AwYRxGOajrY/Wm47P8JNUXI/AAAAAAAAAkY/72DoE_IfCYEcq6OlO88n_rRF9IPDTrsNwCLcBGAs/s1600/Zanzibar.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">I Made It Myself</span></h3><br />
<i>Myself</i> (the <b>reflexive </b>case) is used either as an intensifier or to show that the action is reflecting back onto the actor.<br />
<br />
As an intensifier,<i> myself </i>appears in sentences like <i>I myself don’t dance</i> and <i>I crocheted it myself</i>. You could take out<i> myself </i>and the sentence would still make sense; it’s just there to add emphasis.<br />
<br />
The second, reflecting use occurs in sentences like <i>I embarrassed myself</i>. Here, the verb’s subject and its object—the one who embarrasses and the one who gets embarrassed—are the same person.<br />
<br />
Again, it’s the <i>and</i>s and <i>or</i>s that throw people off. You can use the same method as above to see whether your sentence needs a reflexive pronoun.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I signed my roommate and myself up for Underwater Basket-Weaving 101.</li>
<li>I signed myself up for Underwater Basket-Weaving 101. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>I signed my roommate and myself up for Underwater Basket-Weaving 101. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
<ul><li>Send the kryptonite to my neighbour or myself.</li>
<li>Send the kryptonite to myself. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>Send the kryptonite to my neighbour or me. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
Don’t be tempted to use <i>myself</i> as a subject. That’s not its job.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>The saucer’s crew and myself thank you.</li>
<li>Myself thank you. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>The saucer’s crew and I thank you. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
Even when the subject of the sentence is <i>I</i>, the next pronoun isn’t necessarily <i>myself</i>. Remember, the instigator of the action and the recipient of the action have to be the same person.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I called a flying fish to carry my wife and myself home.</li>
<li>I called a flying fish to carry myself home. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
</ul><br />
<i>Myself</i> is the object of the verb <i>to carry</i>. Even though <i>I</i> is the subject of the sentence, the subject of <i>to carry</i> is <i>fish</i>—it’s the fish who’s going to carry me. Because the fish and I are not the same person, this sentence does not take a reflexive pronoun.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I called a flying fish to carry me home. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>I called a flying fish to carry my wife and me home. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Temptation_of_Saint_Anthony_by_Hieronymus_Bosch_(Lisbon)#/media/File:Temptation_of_Saint_Anthony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Detail from The Temptation of Saint Anthony by Hieronymus Bosch" border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2-syE4owvT0/Wm47ZRohq8I/AAAAAAAAAkc/Jj5FXJkFTestFhfMZCZBW6DchqsECsflwCLcBGAs/s1600/flyingfish.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #0c343d;">On Behalf of Me and Myself</span></h3><br />
Sentences with <i>on behalf of</i> are hard to get right because rephrasing them doesn’t help: you wouldn’t say <i>on behalf of me</i> or <i>on behalf of myself</i>, you’d say <i>on my behalf</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Thank you on behalf of the coven and myself.</li>
</ul><br />
<i>Myself</i> is the indirect object of the verb<i> thank</i>. The implied subject of <i>thank</i> (i.e., the thanker) is <i>I</i>—as in, <i>I thank you</i>. So the final pronoun is reflexive.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>The Big Man speaks on behalf of the other Feegles and me.</li>
</ul><br />
Here, the subject of <i>speaks</i>, the Big Man, is not the same as its indirect object, <i>me</i>. So we don’t need a reflexive pronoun.<br />
<br />
If it helps, you can replace the prepositional phrase <i>on behalf of </i>with the preposition<i> for</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I thank you for [the coven and] me. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>I thank you for [the coven and] myself. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
<li>The Big Man speaks for [the other Feegles and] myself. <span style="color: red;">X</span></li>
<li>The Big Man speaks for [the other Feegles and] me. <span style="color: #6aa84f;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">It Is I</span></h3><br />
One of the more obscure sources of <i>I</i>-versus-<i>me</i> confusion is <b>predicate nominatives</b>: pronouns that follow <a href="http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/linkingverb.htm" target="_blank">linking verbs</a> like <i>be, seem, look</i>, or <i>feel</i>. The best-known example is probably when a caller says, “May I speak to the lady of the house?” and you answer, “This is she.”<br />
<br />
Of course, you probably <i>don’t</i> answer “This is she,” because few people follow this rule anymore. Saying “It’s me” is far more common than saying “It is I,” which sounds ridiculously pompous and old-fashioned. (A best-selling grammar book pokes fun at this with the tongue-in-cheek title <i><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/293593/woe-is-i-by-patricia-t-oconner/9781573223317/" target="_blank">Woe Is I</a></i>.) Using the nominative case (I, he, she, we, they) after <i>is</i> or <i>was</i> is technically correct but socially awkward. Even the most formal readers are unlikely to fault you for ignoring this rule.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://store.doverpublications.com/0486998622.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illustration by Edmund Dulac for Sleeping Beauty, 1910" border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dsDNSVKpYPI/Wm47iYKga_I/AAAAAAAAAkk/Y3Iiej1Zi_UlSS_3yltRQxfIcPfhKmozQCLcBGAs/s1600/Dulac.JPG" /></a><br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">So Why Should I Care?</span></h3><br />
In spoken English these mistakes are common, even accepted. You could argue that in casual writing there’s no need to be so persnickety. But consider this scenario: your narrator is a down-to-earth gal who doesn’t give a damn about grammar—who gets hired by the Duke of Lahdidah to find his missing son. If, in trying to make your Duke sound hoity-toity, you pepper his speech with <i>between you and I</i> and <i>the Duchess and myself welcome you</i>, you’re going to ruin the illusion for any readers who pay attention to grammar (and believe me, we’re out there). On the other hand, if you want to convey that a character is trying hard to sound posh but hasn’t had a rigorous education or an elitist upbringing, hypercorrection is the perfect tool.<br />
<br />
<br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-78719056229975682932018-01-03T19:59:00.000-08:002018-01-04T15:50:07.853-08:00Dangling Modifiers<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }TD P { margin-bottom: 0cm; }A:link { }</style> <br />
A <b>dangling </b>(or <b>misplaced</b>)<b> </b><b>modifier </b>can cause confusion and, often, unintentional hilarity. It’s a word or phrase that’s supposed to describe one thing but, because of how its sentence is written, actually describes something else—often in a way that’s ridiculous, impossible, or absurd.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Lloyd#/media/File:Safetylast-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Harold Lloyd hanging from clock" border="0" height="593" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbuyCaToCM8/Vl5mZyl2c7I/AAAAAAAAAHs/p8udtZMAv2w/s640/dangling.png" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">How to Spot a Dangler</span></h3>
<br />
By the rules of English grammar, a descriptive word or group of words (a <b>modifying phrase</b>) always refers to the closest noun or pronoun.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Glowing and beeping, we stared up at the alien craft in awe.</li>
</ul>
<br />
The pronoun closest to the modifying phrase <i>glowing and beeping</i> is <i>we</i>. No matter what its writer’s intention may have been, this sentence says <i>we</i> were the ones glowing and beeping, not the alien craft.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">How to Un-dangle a Dangler</span></h3>
<br />
To fix the last example, we need to rearrange the sentence so the word being described is close to the phrase describing it.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col> <col width="235*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Glowing and beeping, the alien craft hovered while we stared up at it in awe.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col> <col width="235*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #ff3333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">X</span></span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Upon entering the crypt, my hair stood on end. </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Technically, <i>upon entering the crypt</i> describes <i>hair</i>, which admittedly did enter the crypt but presumably not under its own steam. What did enter the crypt was the speaker, who needs to be added to the sentence.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col> <col width="235*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Upon entering the crypt, I felt my hair stand on end.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col><col width="235*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"><td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #ff3333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">X</span></span></div>
</td><td width="92%">Working in her underwater lair, Dr. Megatroid’s sinister plans soon bore fruit.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Don’t let possessives confuse you. In this sentence it’s not Dr. Megatroid but her plans that are working.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col><col width="235*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"><td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td><td width="92%">Working in her underwater lair, Dr. Megatroid soon saw her sinister plans bear fruit.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col><col width="235*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"><td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #ff3333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">X</span></span></div>
</td><td width="92%">A consummate high-wire artist, he assumed her wobbles were feigned—until she plummeted to the floor amid gasps from the audience.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Who is the high-wire artist, the man or the woman? As the sentence is written, it’s the man.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col> <col width="235*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Knowing she was a consummate high-wire artist, he assumed her wobbles were feigned—until she plummeted to the floor amid gasps from the audience.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Now the modifying phrase does describe the closest pronoun, <i>he</i>. <br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col> <col width="235*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Because she was a consummate high-wire artist, he assumed her wobbles were feigned—until she plummeted to the floor amid gasps from the audience.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Here the modifying phrase has been changed to a <b><a href="http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/subordinateclause.htm" target="_blank">subordinate clause</a></b>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col> <col width="235*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #ff3333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">X</span></span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Having mastered the tango and the two-step, learning the electric slide was his next goal.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
What does <i>having mastered the tango and the two-step</i> describe here? It describes <i>learning the electric slide</i>, which of course makes no sense. (<i>Learning the electric slide </i>is a <b><a href="http://learning the electric slide" target="_blank">gerund phrase</a></b>, which means it acts as a noun.) The unstated <i>he </i>needs to be added, or the modifying phrase needs to be changed to a subordinate clause.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col> <col width="235*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Having mastered the tango and the two-step, he set learning the electric slide as his next goal.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Since he had mastered the tango and the two-step, learning the electric slide was his next goal.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/12458839835/in/album-72157649934355273/" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Early 19th-century illustration of dancers" border="0" height="288" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xXX_2qSbBpM/Vl5nCPDc5OI/AAAAAAAAAH0/Eg8fLoAHVps/s640/dancers.png" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="20*"></col> <col width="236*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #ff3333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">X</span></span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Shaking off her trance, the spirits were scattered in every direction.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="20*"></col><col width="236*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"><td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td><td width="92%">Shaking off her trance, she scattered the spirits in every direction.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="20*"></col> <col width="236*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #ff3333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">X</span></span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Donning his superhero mask, a sense of his own silliness came over him.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="20*"></col><col width="236*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"><td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td><td width="92%">Donning his superhero mask, he was overcome by a sense of his own silliness.</td></tr>
<tr valign="TOP"><td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td><td width="92%">While he was donning his superhero mask, a sense of his own silliness came over him.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Hard-to-Spot Danglers</span></h3>
<br />
As in the previous examples, danglers are usually found at the beginning of sentences; however, like Bolshevik spies, they may be lurking anywhere.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="20*"></col> <col width="236*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #ff3333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">X</span></span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Providing enough exercise can be a challenge for owners of dogs with small apartments.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Dogs do not, as of this writing, rent apartments, small or otherwise.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="20*"></col> <col width="236*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Providing enough exercise can be a challenge for dog owners with small apartments.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Participial Prepositions</span></h3>
<br />
Sometimes a word or phrase can modify an entire sentence rather than a single noun or pronoun. These <b>participial prepositions</b>—phrases that start with words like <i>assuming</i>, <i>based on</i>, <i>depending</i>, <i>given</i>, <i>including</i>, <i>owing to</i>, and <i>provided</i>—have built-in gravity boots: they never dangle.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="13" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col width="21*"></col> <col width="235*"></col> </colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Regarding the proposed orgy, it was generally felt that dim lighting would be best for all concerned.</td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Concerning his wayward daughter who had run off with a fallen seraph, he would only put a hand over his eyes and mutter about feathers. </td> </tr>
<tr valign="TOP"> <td width="8%"><div align="CENTER">
<span style="color: #99ff66;">✓</span></div>
</td> <td width="92%">Barring unusual weather, the balloon should reach Abyssinia by Thursday. </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mr._Blanchard_accompagn%C3%A9_de_Mr._Gefferies_est_parti_..._entre_Calais_et_Boulogne.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Illustration of early balloonists" border="0" height="831" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mMvTc8BPh1E/Vl5n4RFLn8I/AAAAAAAAAIA/iqVmj3sOhtM/s640/balloon.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Your intentions as a writer may seem obvious to you, but that doesn’t mean they’re obvious to your readers, who may become confused by dangling modifiers or, worse, laugh at them.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-66508037098560321012017-12-22T19:10:00.000-08:002017-12-22T19:10:29.668-08:00Directional InsanityShould you write <i>backward and forward</i> or <i>backwards and forwards</i>? Which directional word you choose depends on where you live and on whether you’re looking for an adverb or an adjective.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliodyssey/5986903654" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Compass roses from 18th century book by Katip Celebi" border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R7Om1oZeXUQ/Wj3DizM3r1I/AAAAAAAAAjY/gFaIcaUfuPoBQ3Yy-N0Qrw2cimJ4owKeACLcBGAs/s1600/compass.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Toward/s</span></h3>
<br />
In the US most people use <i>toward</i>, while in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand most use <i>towards</i>. In Canada <i>toward</i> has the edge (see <i>Canadian Oxford Dictionary</i>), but <i>towards</i> isn’t unheard of (see <i>Collins Canadian Dictionary</i>). Really, you’re free to use whichever you like, as neither is incorrect. But be consistent—don’t flip-flop between them in the same document or you’ll look confused.<br />
<br />
The other directional words are more complicated, because sometimes the<i> s</i> means the difference between an adverb and an adjective. (Quick reminder: adjectives modify nouns; adverbs modify everything else.)<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Backward/s</span></h3>
<br />
<i>Backwards</i> is an adverb. <i>Backward</i> is an adjective. (Usually. See below.)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Looking backwards is the easiest way to turn into a pillar of salt. (adverb: modifies <i>looking</i>)</li>
<li>Guillermo ruined his dramatic exit with a backward look. (adjective: modifies <i>look</i>)</li>
</ul>
<br />
In addition to its directional meaning, <i>backward</i> as an adjective can also mean “shy or reluctant” or “underdeveloped or inferior.”<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Shazia was not backward in showing off her scars.</li>
<li>It was a tiny, backward village, without running water or universal healthcare.</li>
</ul>
<br />
However, if you’re American, <i>backward</i> may sound fine to you as an adverb (<i>falling backward</i>). <i>Merriam-Webster</i> and <i>The American Heritage Dictionary</i> prefer <i>backward</i> for both adverb and adjective. According to <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.ca/2013/07/towards-and-other-wards.html" target="_blank">Separated by a Common Language</a>, more Americans use <i>backwards</i> than <i>backward</i> as an adverb, but obviously there’s room for debate.<br />
<br />
To recap: For Brits and Canadians (and Australians and Kiwis), use <i>backwards</i> as an adverb and <i>backward</i> as an adjective. For Americans, feel free to use <i>backward</i> for both if you prefer.<br />
<br />
Understand that this advice is based on which usage is most widely accepted; it’s not a lexicographic prescription from on high. If you feel strongly about that <i>s</i> one way or the other, follow your heart. But don’t add the <i>s</i> to your adjectives: most people would consider<i> a backwards glance</i> incorrect.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Cleopatra expected the staff to lean over backwards for her. (UK, Canada, etc.)</li>
<li>I won’t bend over backward for stingy tips. (US only)</li>
<li>Eudora left Earth’s orbit without a backward glance. (everyone)</li>
</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11204096863/in/album-72157638850077096/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Book cover: A Plunge into Space, 1890" border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="451" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ptqndrXzgoI/Wj3DxBQFQ2I/AAAAAAAAAjc/PC4orS2FJRIZBEwmBhjrOWBEBrbazbq5ACLcBGAs/s1600/space%2Bplunge.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Forward/s</span></h3>
<br />
Unsurprisingly, <a href="https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.ca/2013/07/towards-and-other-wards.html" target="_blank">most Americans</a> use <i>forward</i> as both adverb and adjective, a choice that’s supported by <i>Merriam-Webster</i> and <i>American Heritage</i>. Contrary to their <i>s</i>-loving trend, so do most people in the UK, though<i> forwards</i> seems to be the more common choice in the expression <i>backwards and forwards</i>.<br />
<br />
As an adjective<i> forward</i> can also mean “bold or presumptuous,” “eager,” or “pertaining to the future.” <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>It was most forward of Hanz to seize your hand during tea.</li>
<li>The professor is forward-thinking in her approach.</li>
</ul>
<br />
It should be noted that some people make a distinction between <i>forward </i>and <i>forwards</i> as adverbs. The <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> says <i>forwards</i> “expresses a definite direction”: a wheel moves forwards and text reads forwards, but we go forward, bring a matter forward, and look forward in time. The<i> Canadian Oxford Dictionary</i> also prefers <i>forwards</i> for the literal direction (<i>backwards and forwards</i>) and <i>forward</i> for expressions like <i>come forward, send forward, move forward with</i>, and <i>from this time forward</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I look forward to it.</li>
<li>Even looking forwards I still feel carsick.</li>
<li>Step forward to volunteer.</li>
<li>Step forwards twice then spin around.</li>
</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_dance#/media/File:Five_positions_of_dancing_Wilson_1811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Five Positions of Dancing, Wilson, 1811" border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gm-beIaonAg/Wj3D5pmzarI/AAAAAAAAAjg/0KqU2a9cRjMsa01aRTJyaRDLFHaoiX_EgCLcBGAs/s1600/five%2Bpos.jpg" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Other -Wards</span></h3>
<br />
The other directional words follow the same pattern, with US dictionaries preferring <i>upward, downward, inward, outward</i>, and <i>onward</i> and UK dictionaries leaning towards <i>upwards, downwards, inwards, outwards</i>, and <i>onwards</i>. (For adverbs, that is; the adjective forms are always without an <i>s</i>.)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The pigeon-toed geneticist always pointed her feet inward. (US)</li>
<li>Tenniel’s lobster points his toes outwards. (UK)</li>
<li>Mrs. Gupta’s ferocity belied her outward appearance. (both)</li>
</ul>
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As with <i>toward/s</i>, Canadians generally follow the US in this, and Australians and Kiwis generally follow the UK. But there’s so much variation, you won’t confuse readers if you decide to add or drop the <i>s</i> from your adverbs. Just remember, if you want to look competent and professional, (say it with me) <i>be consistent!</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Alice%27s_Abenteuer_im_Wunderland_Carroll_pic_36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tenniel illustration of lobster from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="450" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KFZ2DbUtBhM/Wj3ECUhnxDI/AAAAAAAAAjo/4S3wfH7QQEwhnS_dai0U3IQD02JGA0gSACLcBGAs/s1600/lobster.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-14277138920064539232017-11-24T14:27:00.002-08:002017-11-24T14:31:44.064-08:00When to Use “Said”There’s a myth that you should never use the verb <i>say</i> in your dialogue. Certainly there are more exciting, muscular verbs out there, but too often writers resort to a thesaurus when a simple <i>said</i> would be more effective.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://78.media.tumblr.com/0f485a031a473c116455311f3b4c254e/tumblr_mylpswui8L1rqxd5ko1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Medieval" border="0" creature="" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="500" feet="" human="" illumination="" of="" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h46B468dWno/WhiLCVI7i6I/AAAAAAAAAiY/av72JxfVwfEhQEbiTp_pEIftAcCm3kkCACLcBGAs/s1600/footwolf.jpg" with="" wolf-like="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cefusa, a legendary beast which leaves human footprints. France c.1290</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Compare the following:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> “Are you sure this is where you saw it?” wondered Shazad.<br />
“Yes, I told you. It’ll pass by any minute, trust me,” replied Mae.<br />
“It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just that this branch has been poking me in the butt for like twenty minutes now,” complained Shazad.<br />
“Wait! I hear something!” observed Mae.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> “Are you sure this is where you saw it?” said Shazad.<br />
“Yes, I told you. It’ll pass by any minute, trust me,” said Mae.<br />
“It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just that this branch has been poking me in the butt for like twenty minutes now,” said Shazad.<br />
“Wait! I hear something!” said Mae.</blockquote><br />
While neither example is ideal, the <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2016/08/how-to-punctuate-dialogue.html" target="_blank">speech tags</a> in the second example are less distracting than those in the first. <i>Said</i> has a way of fading into the background, while verbs like <i>replied</i> and <i>observed</i> can sound odd or stilted. You want your reader’s attention to move smoothly through the scene, not get snagged on awkward or unnecessary word choices.<br />
<br />
Of course, that doesn’t mean you should always and only use <i>said</i>. Other verbs can be more effective <i>when they tell us something important about the dialogue</i>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> “Are you sure this is where you saw it?” whispered Shazad.<br />
“Wait! I hear something!” hissed Mae.</blockquote><br />
Here both speech tags expand on the dialogue by telling us how it was spoken. And both are in keeping with the scene, not shoehorned in just to provide word variety.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://78.media.tumblr.com/260ad705db42eed9c5361d33e008ddb1/tumblr_om20f67Q621rqxd5ko1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Medieval illumination of many-headed lion-type thing" border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rW8Sd8nc6h0/WhiYc0OUf8I/AAAAAAAAAio/lDGX0Ryer3QoUUAVSEciS6CnMdHUlGMOQCLcBGAs/s1600/manyheaded.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apocalypse beast. France 1220–1270</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Of course, you could always dispense with speech tags altogether.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> “Are you sure this is where you saw it?”<br />
“Yes, I told you. It’ll pass by any minute, trust me.”<br />
“It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just that this branch has been poking me in the butt for like twenty minutes now.”<br />
“Wait! I hear something!”</blockquote><br />
This can work well where you want a quick pace. But unless you’ve already introduced the characters, the reader won’t be able to picture them. And if you add a third speaker, things get really confusing.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> “Is that it?”<br />
“Shh!”<br />
“Oh my God, you were right! It’s really real!”<br />
“Excuse me. Do you mind giving me a little privacy?”<br />
“Oh, uh, sorry.”<br />
“Yeah, sorry, dude.”</blockquote><br />
You can still let your readers know who’s speaking without using speech tags. The characters’ actions, appearing on the same lines as their dialogue, cue readers as to who’s saying what. (For more on this, see <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/06/dialogue-and-paragraph-breaks-whose.html" target="_blank">Dialogue and Paragraph Breaks</a>.)<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> Shazad leaned forward. “Is that it?”<br />
“Shh!” Mae poked his shoulder warningly.<br />
His jaw dropped. “Oh my God, you were right! It’s really real!”<br />
The sasquatch glared at them through the tree branches. “Excuse me. Do you mind giving me a little privacy?”<br />
Shazad cleared his throat. “Oh, uh, sorry.”<br />
Mae winced. “Yeah, sorry, dude.”</blockquote><br />
This method keeps some of the punchiness of the dialogue-only approach while giving the reader more information. The scene is a lot more vivid when we know how the characters are moving and reacting in between speaking.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://sarahgoodreau.com/2011/07/15/sasquatch-and-her-son/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Cute illustration of two sasquatches" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--dYEHzCb724/WhiZBsORwNI/AAAAAAAAAiw/p8bzn34NM4YKbQ8zW-b2m3OnlxLziPVIwCLcBGAs/s1600/sasquatch.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sasquatch and her son by Sarah Goodreau</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
But any sentence structure repeated too often will bore your reader, so you want to use some or all of these methods in combination. Remember, too, that you can put speech tags or actions in the middle of dialogue to switch things up.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"> “Are you sure this is where you saw it?” whispered Shazad.<br />
“Yes, I told you,” said Mae. “It’ll pass by any minute, trust me.”<br />
“It’s not that I don’t believe you.” He shifted awkwardly. “It’s just that this branch has been poking me in the butt for like twenty minutes now.”<br />
Mae froze. “Wait! I hear something!”<br />
“Is that it?”<br />
“Shh!” she hissed.<br />
His jaw dropped. “Oh my God, you were right! It’s really real!”<br />
The sasquatch glared at them through the tree branches. “Excuse me,” she rumbled. “Do you mind giving me a little privacy?”<br />
“Oh, uh, sorry,” said Shazad.<br />
Mae winced. “Yeah, sorry, dude.”</blockquote><br />
What we can learn from the “never use <i>said</i>” myth is that <i>no</i> writing rule should be applied universally. A screwdriver may be an invaluable tool, but you wouldn’t use it to hang a picture. Writing tips are tools, and choosing the right one for each job is what the craft of writing is all about. Next time you’re enjoying a good book, notice how the author has put together their dialogue. I’m guessing somewhere in there they probably used <i>said.</i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">You can support this blog by becoming a <a href="http://www.patreon.com/grammarlandia" target="_blank">patron</a>. Those who pledge $5 or more a month get access to special bonus posts. Next month’s bonus post will be on <i>faze</i> vs. <i>phase</i>.</div>Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-71603520335236347252017-11-12T12:55:00.000-08:002017-11-12T12:57:51.474-08:00Lie vs. LayHere’s the difference between <i>lie</i> and <i>lay:</i> Lying is a thing you do. Laying is a thing you do<i> to</i> something.<br />
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<ul>
<li>The carpet has to lie flat before it’ll fly you anywhere.</li>
<li>You have to lay the carpet flat before it’ll fly you anywhere.</li>
</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Le_tapis_volant_(Bilibin)#/media/File:Le_tapis_volant_(Bilibin)_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Le tapis volant by Bilibin" border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4tsRrAK_Nw/WgeX3-FJSRI/AAAAAAAAAhY/F9rMNjmekVc5bsXBYdeK2fcyWK_phbGvwCLcBGAs/s1600/carpet.jpg" /></a></div>
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To put it another way, <i>lay</i> is <b>transitive</b> and <i>lie </i>is <b>intransitive</b>. Transitive verbs need a direct object. (See <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/05/transitive-and-intransitive-birds.html" target="_blank">Transitive and Intransitive Birds</a> for more on this.) In the example above, the object of <i>lay</i> is <i>carpet</i>.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Present Tense</span></h3>
<br />
One way to remember the difference between<i> lie</i> and <i>lay</i> is to think of the idioms “lie like a rug” and “lay an egg.” You can’t say “lay like a rug” because then the pun (lying on the floor/combusting one’s pants) doesn’t work. “Lay an egg,” on the other hand, demonstrates how the verb <i>lay</i> needs a direct object, in this case <i>egg</i>. <br />
<br />
In the antiquated structure of “now I lay me down to sleep,” the object of<i> lay</i> is <i>me</i>. The modern version would read “now I lie down to sleep.” If you’re not laying down a thing (or a person), then what you’re doing is lying.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>My only goal is to lie around in a fluffy robe eating chocolates.</li>
<li>Lay Whiskers on his cat bed and step away slowly.</li>
<li>Anatoli has to have a lie-down after every séance.</li>
<li>There is a special hell for people who lay open books face down.</li>
</ul>
<br />
So far so simple, right? Just wait. <br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Past Tense</span></h3>
<br />
Because the English language laughs at logic, the past tense of <i>lie</i> is<i> lay</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The carpet lay still and refused to fly anywhere.</li>
<li>After waking, Gregor lay in bed trying to figure out what he’d turned into overnight.</li>
<li>All that month we lay low at the ranch while the posse searched for us.</li>
</ul>
<br />
The past tense of <i>lay</i> is <i>laid</i>.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>When the act was over, the ventriloquist tenderly laid her dummy in its box.</li>
<li>The night before the big match, the luchador laid out his favourite mask, cape, and tights.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uJm_xkoR8uU/WgeY7-bNHTI/AAAAAAAAAhg/sFWPQQnqcagwJyNDksJizMAaZ-YMGvgrgCLcBGAs/s1600/luchador.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vintage lucha libre poster" border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="501" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uJm_xkoR8uU/WgeY7-bNHTI/AAAAAAAAAhg/sFWPQQnqcagwJyNDksJizMAaZ-YMGvgrgCLcBGAs/s1600/luchador.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Past Participle</span></h3>
<br />
A <a href="https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-forms/" target="_blank">past participle</a> is a verb form you use with <i>have</i> or <i>had</i> (e.g., <i>drunk, given, seen</i>). The past participle of <i>lie</i> is<i> lain</i>. <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>For ten years Teodora had lain in her coffin, waiting for a victim.</li>
<li>You’ve lain around feeling sorry for yourself long enough.</li>
</ul>
<br />
The past participle of <i>lay</i> is <i>laid</i> (yes, it’s the same as the simple past).<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Whiskers has generously laid a dead mouse on your pillow.</li>
<li>It seemed the prince had not yet laid those salacious rumours to rest.</li>
</ul>
<br />
To recap:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vZC_-WA7wyc/WgeZ12rxFrI/AAAAAAAAAho/xHeena9zJcgubNH5GWg1facpdBlhxqpzwCLcBGAs/s1600/lie%2Blay%2Bchart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="lie/lay/lain, lay/laid/laid" border="0" data-original-height="159" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vZC_-WA7wyc/WgeZ12rxFrI/AAAAAAAAAho/xHeena9zJcgubNH5GWg1facpdBlhxqpzwCLcBGAs/s1600/lie%2Blay%2Bchart.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>The Oompa-Loompas are lying in wait.</li>
<li>Yesterday the Oompa-Loompas lay in wait.</li>
<li>The Oompa-Loompas have lain in wait since breakfast.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Lay your cards on the table.</li>
<li>Yesterday you laid your cards on the table.</li>
<li>You had already laid your cards on the table when I drew my derringer.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Lie Low or Lay Low?</span></h3>
<br />
The correct expression for keeping a low profile is “lie low”—although “lay low” is so commonly used instead, it’s probably only a matter of time before it becomes accepted. However, to lay low actually means to knock out or overcome. For example, you’ll often read of someone being “laid low” by illness. In such cases, the object of <i>lay</i> is the person being laid low.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Lupe was laid low after Sunday’s roller derby match.</li>
<li>Roller derby injuries can lay Lupe low.</li>
<li>Hien and Renée had to lie low after the diamond heist.</li>
</ul>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.thecinetourist.net/maps-in-films/365-les-vampires-louis-feuillade-1916" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Movie still from Les Vampires, 1916" border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DrYDlORez7Y/WgebLrg3_VI/AAAAAAAAAh0/L5axr99TRHg1DcDMC56IC3C8kqteClzhQCLcBGAs/s1600/diamondheist.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
In casual spoken English, <i>lay</i> and <i>lie</i> are frequently interchangeable, but formal writing guides still maintain the distinction, so it’s worth memorizing the different verb forms. That said, it’s rare to see <i>lain</i> in the wild, let alone hear it, and I doubt most readers will notice if you use <i>laid</i> by mistake.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Support this blog at <a href="http://www.patreon.com/grammarlandia" target="_blank">patreon.com/grammarlandia</a>. Patrons who pledge $5 or more a month will get access to exclusive bonus content. This month<span style="text-align: start;">’</span>s bonus post is about <i>jibe, gibe</i>, and <i>jive</i>, and includes references to both <i>Hamlet</i> and the Bee Gees.</div>
Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-83643223669135663602017-10-10T13:32:00.000-07:002017-10-10T13:32:37.457-07:00Comma Splices and How to Avoid ThemLike a botched Apparition spell, a comma splice happens when a comma is unequal to the task of carrying you from one clause to another.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.branchcollective.org/?attachment_id=1566"><img alt="Walter Crane, illustration from Beauty and the Beast" border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UJ2-DTliyj4/Wd0qPWQoQjI/AAAAAAAAAgk/56h0LUaAUqMKbVc-KQp40UwyJe8mcmqSgCLcBGAs/s1600/Crane%2Bb%2526b.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed. He could hardly help it given his physiognomy.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<ul><li>Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed, he could hardly help it given his physiognomy. <span style="color: #ff4013;">X</span></li>
</ul><br />
A comma is not strong enough to join what would otherwise be two complete sentences.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed. He could hardly help it given his physiognomy. <span style="color: #96d35f; font-family: "lucida grande"; line-height: normal;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
A period is often the cleanest fix for a comma splice. There is nothing wrong with short sentences. However, if you want to convey a tighter relationship between your clauses—cause and effect, for example—you can use a <b>coordinating conjunction</b>, <b>dash</b>, <b>colon</b>, or <b>semicolon</b> instead.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed, but he could hardly help it given his physiognomy.</li>
<li>Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed—he could hardly help it given his physiognomy.</li>
<li>Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed; he could hardly help it given his physiognomy.</li>
<li>Pierre snorted like a pig every time he laughed: he could hardly help it given his physiognomy.</li>
</ul><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Medieval illumination of hugging demons" border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CKwsztPZWb8/Wd0mxpRQh6I/AAAAAAAAAgQ/MJtvsyjqU_Y2VT-BCaT3ENqhBMZ3eTV3ACLcBGAs/s1600/demons%2Bhug.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Demons have bad days like the rest of us, and sometimes they need a hug.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Coordinating Conjunctions</span></h3><br />
Coordinating conjunctions are the joining words <i>and</i>, <i>or</i>, <i>but</i>, <i>so</i>, <i>yet</i>, <i>for</i>, and <i>nor</i>. Using them makes the relationship between your clauses explicit, which is no bad thing.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Demons have bad days like the rest of us, sometimes they need a hug. <span style="color: #ff4013;">X</span></li>
<li>Demons have bad days like the rest of us, and sometimes they need a hug. <span style="color: #96d35f; font-family: "lucida grande"; line-height: normal;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
See <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2016/01/commas-and-conjunctions.html" target="_blank">Commas and Conjunctions</a> for more.<br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Dashes</span></h3><br />
Dashes have a lot of uses, but in this case their interruption suggests an aside or a punchline, like an elbow to the ribs.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Euphemia was a canny card sharp, even Death couldn’t beat her. <span style="color: #ff4013;">X</span></li>
<li>Euphemia was a canny card sharp—even Death couldn’t beat her. <span style="color: #96d35f; font-family: "lucida grande"; line-height: normal;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
See <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/04/how-to-use-dashes.html" target="_blank">How to Use Dashes</a> for more.<br />
<br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Colons and Semicolons</span></h3><br />
Colons introduce, while semicolons join. Use a colon when the second clause explains or expands on the first. Otherwise, use a semicolon.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Giacomo’s true nature was obvious in hindsight, he’d always avoided garlic, churches, and sunlight. <span style="color: #ff4013;">X</span></li>
<li>Giacomo’s true nature was obvious in hindsight: he’d always avoided garlic, churches, and sunlight. <span style="color: #96d35f; font-family: "lucida grande"; line-height: normal;">✓</span> </li>
<li>It couldn’t have been easy, no wonder there were so few vampires in Italy. <span style="color: #ff4013;">X</span></li>
<li>It couldn’t have been easy; no wonder there were so few vampires in Italy. <span style="color: #96d35f; font-family: "lucida grande"; line-height: normal;">✓</span></li>
</ul><br />
See <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2016/06/colon-vs-semicolon-punctuation-smackdown.html" target="_blank">Colon vs. Semicolon</a> for more.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vintagegeekculture.tumblr.com/post/162841536627/death-and-the-lady-1906" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Death and the Lady photo 1906" border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="497" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n8NGhKCQ1m8/Wd0nASgUjyI/AAAAAAAAAgU/9g_cZP1z6gcuoVp33jBlLu-e6fjxATnTACLcBGAs/s1600/death%2526lady.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Euphemia was a canny card sharp—even Death couldn’t beat her.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
All that said, if your clauses are very short, and if their structures match, you can get away with only a comma between them.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I came, I saw, I conquered.</li>
<li>Mum was in the orchestra, Dad in the ballet corps.</li>
<li>She played, he danced.</li>
</ul><br />
What you don’t want to do is make your sentences flimsy paperclip chains of clauses hooked together by commas. Clarify your thoughts, then use the appropriate punctuation.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">You can donate to this blog at <a href="http://www.patreon.com/grammarlandia" target="_blank">patreon.com/grammarlandia</a>.</div>Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-8061944050801652042017-09-14T14:50:00.000-07:002017-09-14T14:50:07.335-07:00Subject-Verb Agreement, Part 2<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Check out <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/09/subject-verb-agreement-part-1.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a> for phrasal connectives, mass nouns, and bickering fairies.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/12459438784/in/album-72157649934355273/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Dancing dervishes" border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="657" height="392" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cr-5N82ILvQ/Wbr0BROUXKI/AAAAAAAAAfc/bwXqNldjNc4qh1fPmM6_t2udyA3VLJajACLcBGAs/s400/dervishes.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each of the dancers has his own style.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: inherit;">Indefinite Pronouns</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Would you write “Each of the dancers have their own style” or “Each of the dancers has his own style”? Keep your eye on the subject—in this case, <i>each</i>.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #be38f3; font-family: inherit;">Each</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> of the dancers <b>has</b> his own style.</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;">Of course </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #be38f3; font-family: inherit;">both</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> of the pirates <b>have</b> eye patches.</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #d357fe; font-family: inherit;">Which</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> of us <b>hasn’t</b> yearned for a shrubbery? </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meilin is one of those people who aren’t afraid of spiders.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this case, Meilin is one of X (X being those people who aren’t afraid of spiders). <i>Meilin</i> is the subject and <i>is</i> is the verb. Compare that sentence with the following:</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #d357fe; font-family: inherit;">One</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> of those people <b>isn’t</b> afraid of spiders.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/none" target="_blank">None</a></i></b> can be singular <i>or</i> plural, despite those who claim a singular verb<i> </i>is the only correct choice (“None of us is drunk”). While a singular verb isn’t wrong, even <i>The Chicago Manual of Style</i> thinks it sounds “possibly stilted” (5.220). <i>Chicago</i>’s recommendation is to make the verb agree with the noun following <i>none</i>. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;">None of the German fairy </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #d357fe; font-family: inherit;">tales</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> <b>were</b> conducive to a good night’s sleep.</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;">None of the creamed </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #d357fe; font-family: inherit;">corn</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> <b>is</b> edible.</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;">Are you telling me none of </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #d357fe; font-family: inherit;">them</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> <b>know</b> how to crack a safe?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alternatively, you could dodge potential arguments by using <i>not one</i> or <i>not any</i> instead.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Are you telling me not one of them knows how to crack a safe?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Not any of the creamed corn is edible.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Der_Struwwelpeter.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Horrifyingly violent illustration from Der Struwwelpeter" border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="500" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KgkJgED2EgM/Wbr0smTra8I/AAAAAAAAAfk/KKkyIVlggJ4e9cgkSfsIn-xR_T-YUl3-QCLcBGAs/s1600/Struwwelpeter.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">None of the German fairy tales were conducive to a good night’s sleep.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: inherit;">Predicate Nouns</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The bait was chocolate-chip cookies” or “The bait were chocolate-chip cookies”? Here <i>cookies</i> is what’s called a <b>predicate nominative</b> or <b>predicate noun</b>: it renames or identifies the subject. <i>Bait </i>is the subject, so the verb should be singular to agree with it—<i>was</i>. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The general’s passion was Fred Astaire movies.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jivika’s weakness is kittens.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If the correct version still sounds weird, you can reword it.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fred Astaire movies were the general’s passion.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kittens are Jivika’s weakness.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: inherit;">Nouns That Look Plural but Act Singular</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nouns like <i>mumps</i> and <i>news</i> are plural in form but are treated as singular: “Mumps was prevalent,” “Good news is always welcome.” Others are less clear-cut. <i>Mathematics</i>, for example, is usually treated as singular but may be plural when used in the operational sense.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mathematics is the underlying language of the universe.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her theory’s mathematics were indisputable.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Similarly, <i>politics</i> is usually singular when it refers to political science or the process of governing, but it can be singular or plural in the sense of an activity or a set of principles.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Politics is for people who have too much idealism or none.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">That man’s politics are distasteful.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: inherit;">Compound Subjects Revisited</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although subjects joined by <i>and</i> take a plural verb (as covered in <a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/09/subject-verb-agreement-part-1.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>), they can sometimes be treated as a singular unit. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #d357fe; font-family: inherit;">Skipping</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> and </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #d357fe; font-family: inherit;">jumping</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> <b>were</b> his favourite hobbies. (Two subjects)</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #d357fe; font-family: inherit;">Skipping and jumping</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> <b>was</b> her recess activity of choice. (One subject)</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #be38f3; font-family: inherit;">Battered and fried</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> <b>is</b> how I like my Mars bars.</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #be38f3; font-family: inherit;">Wine, women, and song</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: inherit;"> <b>was</b> all the poet cared about. </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, smoothing your reader’s path is more important than impressing them with your grasp of grammar, so always consider alternate wordings.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her recess activity of choice was skipping and jumping.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">I like my Mars bars battered and fried.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">All the poet cared about was wine, women, and song. </span></li>
</ul>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Top_Hat_lobby_card_3.jpg/512px-Top_Hat_lobby_card_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Lobby card from Top Hat" border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="512" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-akmMQ6kBs6E/Wbr1SS5xYwI/AAAAAAAAAfs/gzO8ET8NfG0XHJAtr_AtJd3Kwoo_7Fr7ACLcBGAs/s1600/TopHat.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The general’s passion was Fred Astaire movies.</span></span></td></tr>
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-48212054844819273632017-09-03T16:00:00.000-07:002017-09-03T16:00:43.715-07:00Subject-Verb Agreement, Part 1<div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Neither Lin-Manuel nor Irina has been to Mars before. Or should that be “have been”?</span></div><br />
<div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the fundamental rules of grammar is that a verb should agree with its subject: “We <b>are</b> going,” not “We <b>am</b> going.” If you’re a native English speaker, this probably comes naturally to you, but sometimes the correct verb isn’t obvious.</span></span></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://flashbak.com/20-outstanding-mid-century-sci-fi-pulp-covers-21109/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pulp sci-fi magazine cover" border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="469" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gBB5tBdR7x8/WayB5ewcwFI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/Ok1CNt6XpbQCAlIwCzYOXPaxWnsfLB8nQCLcBGAs/s1600/mars.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Neither Lin-Manuel nor Irina has been to Mars before.</span></span></td></tr>
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<h3><b><span style="color: #073763;">Compound Subjects</span></b></h3><br />
Two or more singular subjects connected by <i>and</i> take a plural verb. (There are occasional exceptions, but we’ll discuss those in Part 2.) This feels pretty obvious in practice.<br />
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<ul><li>The lion and the unicorn need to have a talk.</li>
<li>A lama, a priest, and a rabbi walk into a bar.</li>
</ul><br />
Singular subjects connected by <i>or</i> and <i>nor</i>, however, take a singular verb.<br />
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<ul><li>Yun or the dog has demolished the cake.</li>
<li>Neither Lin-Manuel nor Irina has been to Mars before.</li>
</ul><br />
When you have a singular subject and a plural subject joined by <i>or</i> or <i>nor</i>, the verb agrees with whichever is closest.<br />
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<ul><li>Neither the sensei nor his students were prepared for the monster.</li>
<li>The bicycle acrobats or their manager has broken the contract.</li>
</ul><br />
<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Phrasal Connectives</span></h3><br />
Phrases like <i>as well as</i>, <i>along with</i>, <i>together with</i>, and<i> in addition to</i> don’t make a singular subject plural. Whether set apart with commas, dashes, or parentheses—or not set apart at all—phrasal connectives don’t affect the rest of the sentence (see also<a href="http://www.grammarlandia.com/2017/07/q-parentheticals-and-subject-verb.html" target="_blank"> this Q & A</a>).<br />
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<ul><li>The samurai Noguchi, together with his cat, goes for a walk every day.</li>
<li>The snake as well as Pia likes a good story.</li>
</ul><br />
If the correct sentence sounds awkward, you can always reword it.<br />
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<ul><li>The snake and Pia like a good story.</li>
</ul><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/rubiytofbach00rowl" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Illustration: Lady chats with snake" border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sUXA4cO2Odk/WayCr1DJMlI/AAAAAAAAAeY/KEy76tB0n3MpiBdWhTJlN1ip4CGvu0UvQCLcBGAs/s1600/ladyandsnake.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The snake as well as Pia likes a good story.</span></span></td></tr>
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<h3><span style="color: #073763;">Collective Nouns</span></h3><br />
Group subjects like <i>family</i>, <i>team</i>, and <i>mob</i> are called <b>collective nouns</b> or <b>mass nouns</b>. In the UK they’re <a href="http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/09/agreement-over-collective-nouns/" target="_blank">more likely</a> to be accompanied by plural verbs, and in Canada and the US by singular verbs: “My family are coming to visit” versus “My family is coming to visit.” According to <i>The Chicago Manual of Style</i>, collective nouns take a singular verb when they’re acting as a unit and a plural verb when they’re acting as a collection of individuals.<br />
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<ul><li>The murder of crows passing overhead looks ominous.</li>
<li>The fairy host are continually bickering among themselves.</li>
</ul><br />
<i>Media</i>, in the sense of “mass communication,” used to always be treated as plural, and this usage is still preferred by the <i>Chicago Manual</i>.<br />
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<ul><li>The media are having a collective hissy fit.</li>
</ul><br />
But outside of formal writing, “the media” is so often treated as singular that lexicographers <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/media" target="_blank">admit</a> the word is becoming a collective noun, like <i>data</i>. Even the <i>Associated Press Stylebook</i> <a href="https://www.poynter.org/news/ap-stylebook-2016-updates-include-normcore-kombucha-and-emoji-plural-emojis" target="_blank">allowed in 2016</a> that when being considered as a group, <i>media</i> can take a singular verb.<br />
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<ul><li>Social media is both a blessing and a curse.</li>
</ul><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27The_Meeting_of_Oberon_and_Titania.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Arthur Rackham: The Meeting of Oberon and Titania" border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="500" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xHwA2ftAFAU/WayDWxtHHPI/AAAAAAAAAeg/bS3h4HcUo_8YOg5Qdc2TTpdjamszbZ2CQCLcBGAs/s1600/Oberon%2526TitaniaRackham.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The fairy host are continually bickering among themselves.</span></span></td></tr>
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Coming up in Part 2: <i>none</i>, predicate nominatives, and chocolate-chip cookies<br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-3144465705426469922017-08-16T16:08:00.000-07:002017-08-16T16:08:47.368-07:00Clichés to Avoid: Orbs and Tears“Tears rolled down her face” is a sentence I’ve come across more than a few times in the work of beginning writers. While it’s more descriptive than “She cried,” there’s a lot more to crying than tears, rolling or otherwise.<br />
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<a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/man-ray/larmes-tears" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo by Man Ray: Tears" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Aw10TeO-8PY/WZTCOiNf2dI/AAAAAAAAAcA/XU8do1DPi70kImujWiEFarFqdgk4NEDCwCLcBGAs/s400/Man%2BRay%2Btears.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #073763;">Of Orbs and Eyeballs</span></h3>
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But before we get to tears, let’s talk about orbs. <i>Orbs</i>, which means “spheres,” is sometimes used instead of <i>eyes</i>, often accompanied by a colourful descriptor, as in “emerald orbs.” It’s true, eyeballs are spherical, but you’re not likely to notice unless they’ve been taken out of their sockets. <i>Orbs</i> makes me think of crystal balls and marbles; I’ve never looked into someone’s eyes and thought, “Ah, so spherical!” Unless you’re describing the eyeball manufacturer in <i>Blade Runner</i>, steer clear of <i>orbs</i>. It’s almost invariably a sign of bad writing.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBi1IkeUr-k" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Close-up of eyeball from Blade Runner" border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="1139" height="249" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8wYIsHOasJk/WZTCoRyIsWI/AAAAAAAAAcE/1M61GKJlw8EwUeOk_CWeNm8HA4uVEM3oACLcBGAs/s640/eyeball%2BBlade%2BRunner.png" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;" width="500"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From <i>Blade Runner</i>: the only circumstances under which it’s acceptable to refer to eyes as “orbs”</span></span></td></tr>
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In the same way that<i> eyes</i> is better than <i>orbs</i>, <i>green</i> is always an improvement over <i>emerald</i> or <i>jade</i>. (And for the love of all that is holy, stay away from <i>cerulean—</i>it’s a cliché of clichés.) Have you ever actually<i> seen</i> eyes that look like emeralds? Were they cold and hard? Multi-faceted? Most of the time, we don’t notice people’s eye colour beyond a vague impression of dark or light. Unless you’re gazing into someone’s eyes, you’re far more likely to notice things like expression and movement: smiling, squinting, bulging, darting, glinting, shifty, wide, and so on.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #073763;">Weeping 101</span></h3>
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Before the tears start rolling, people usually go through a few opening stages. If you’re writing from the crying character’s point of view, they might first feel a pressure or prickling behind their eyes. Their throat might tighten or their nose start to run. Water will probably fill their eyes, obscuring their vision, before it spills over their lower eyelids and eyelashes, often following a blink. Another character watching them might notice their red eyes and nose (if their skin is pale enough for it to show) before the wetness on their cheeks.<br />
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There are as many ways to cry as there are people to do it. Is your character a stoic type? They may blink rapidly, clench their jaw, look away, or swipe a hand brusquely across their face and pretend they just had something in their eye. In <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>, Lizzy is careful to put her handkerchief over her face before giving way to unrestrained crying. On the other hand, a character might be beyond caring what others think, letting the tears and snot slide down their face and drip off their chin without trying to wipe them away. Or maybe creating a scene is what they’re all about, like a toddler howling during a tantrum, or a bereaved mother wailing at a funeral.<br />
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Indeed, the noise of crying is often more noticeable than the tears. Sobs can be loud or muffled by a pillow, hands, or someone’s shoulder. And crying doesn’t just happen in the face: shoulders slump in despair, limbs go limp. A person might collapse—onto the ground or a couch or a bed—or they might vent their feelings by punching or kicking something (or someone). People sniffle and blow their noses, unobtrusively or messily. And it might all wind down with hiccups or deep, shuddering breaths.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11226910696/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Illustration of weeping woman from 1844" border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="1028" height="260" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K-agmxBdFJw/WZTDVvGWsrI/AAAAAAAAAcM/uNrDenAodNsWTcZ17a_MLOwXYtCJh3MHACLcBGAs/s400/weeping.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;" width="500"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A crying person might collapse onto a grave if one is handy.</span></span></td></tr>
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To say that tears roll down a character’s cheeks isn’t really saying much. This is a chance to tell your readers more about the character and their circumstances. <i>How</i> they cry can show us their personality, culture, location, depth of feeling, and personal history. That’s a lot to pack into a few tears.<br />
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Grammarlandiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772774424850781273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5291864508749096358.post-90658138012439831392017-07-09T16:50:00.000-07:002017-07-09T16:50:55.503-07:00Q&A: Parentheticals and Subject-Verb Agreement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ak8tEV4wrxE/WWK5U_HBOxI/AAAAAAAAAak/wvf3JD7onY0RLvGAmpTQfMVCjDUYRC06wCLcBGAs/s1600/LetterQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="93" data-original-width="86" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ak8tEV4wrxE/WWK5U_HBOxI/AAAAAAAAAak/wvf3JD7onY0RLvGAmpTQfMVCjDUYRC06wCLcBGAs/s1600/LetterQ.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #335d6e;">What is the grammatical correctness for a sentence such as:</span><br />
<span style="color: #335d6e;"><br />
</span> <i><span style="color: #335d6e;">George Smith (and Tom Johanssen, of course) are making a strong contribution to the operations.</span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #335d6e;">OR</span></div>
<span style="color: #335d6e;"><br />
</span> <i><span style="color: #335d6e;">George Smith (and Tom Johanssen, of course) is making a strong contribution to the operations.</span></i><br />
<span style="color: #335d6e;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #335d6e;">The question really is: Is the information in brackets included in the grammar of the rest of the sentence or is it ignored?</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/156852736533/book-lovers-saint-augustine-la-cit%C3%A9-de-dieu" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Illuminated demons carrying books" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1225" height="522" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RfP4KyhfwNE/WWK5nKLLFfI/AAAAAAAAAao/pm-W6q30stUrBvaY9wHRqnWciefV8RBbACLcBGAs/s400/book%2Bdemons.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;" width="400"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">George Smith (and Tom Johanssen, of course) is making a strong contribution to the operations.</span></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3c5OsHLgaKo/WWK5ybmFN1I/AAAAAAAAAas/8Sb5mOKcYR8fh16Ch3Bj1KN7WpPi_OAqQCLcBGAs/s1600/LetterA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="80" data-original-width="81" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3c5OsHLgaKo/WWK5ybmFN1I/AAAAAAAAAas/8Sb5mOKcYR8fh16Ch3Bj1KN7WpPi_OAqQCLcBGAs/s1600/LetterA.jpg" /></a></div>
The second version is the correct one: <i>George Smith (and Tom Johanssen, of course) is making a strong contribution to the operations</i>. As <i><a href="http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Usage/faq0297.html" target="_blank">The Chicago Manual of Style</a></i> points out, any matter set off with commas, dashes, or parentheses does not affect the rest of the sentence.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Sarah, and of course her clones, has issues with authority.</li>
<li>Cyril—and Gussie too—is excited about starting school in the fall.</li>
</ul>
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If the correct version sounds awkward, try rearranging the sentence.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Sarah and her clones have issues with authority.</li>
<li>Cyril and Gussie are excited about starting school in the fall.</li>
</ul>
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After all, correctness isn’t much good without clarity.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/HorribleSanity/status/873871815172538368/photo/1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Old photo of two boys wearing fish heads" border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="495" height="526" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G_5LLXvL-WM/WWK6VG2Zg3I/AAAAAAAAAaw/PuYvC7wZZeso4p9qkVEZPhoQwPazTR58wCLcBGAs/s400/fish%2Bheads%2B2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;" width="400"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cyril and Gussie are excited about starting school in the fall.</span></span></td></tr>
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