I Came, I Saw, I Learned...

Order in the Sentence: Introductions

by Jennie Ruby

The basic sentence in English is noun-verb-object: The player hit the ball. But we seldom leave it at that. We add things on the front. We add things on the back. We interrupt the sentence to say something else, and then come back to the sentence. We vary the basic sentence structure. And, in the most extreme cases, we substitute other things for the noun, the verb, and the object. All of this gives us great flexibility in creating sentences, but this very flexibility leads us to the problem of which variation to choose, and why.

Let's look at introductory elements. Placing an introduction on the front of the basic sentence can do some important things. It can tell the reader when the sentence occurred or applies:

• At the bottom of the ninth, the player hit the ball.
  
  
• After tone adjustment, the screen displays more accurate colors.
  
  
• When you receive this error message, click OK.

 
An introduction can tell the reader how much credence to give the information:

• Supposedly, the player hit the ball.
  
  
• As we all agreed, the large type was more readable.
  
  
• In every case, the deadlines were met.

 
Introductory elements can provide a transition from the previous idea or concept to the next one:

• We all expected the game to end with the next pitch. However, the player hit the ball.
  
  
• The default setting is 12-point Roman, nevertheless, Arial is the preferred typeface.

 

An introduction should not present information that the reader cannot use or interpret before reading the rest of the sentence:

• In the File, Insert, View, and Tools menus displayed at the top of the screen by default when the default settings are in effect, side menus are present.

 
Here the reader has to absorb an entire list and a condition before knowing why these are being listed. Instead, put the explanatory information first, and then the list:

• Side menus appear in the File, Insert, View, and Tools menus.

 
Some of the information that was supposedly introductory was actually worthy of a sentence of its own:

• These menus are displayed at the top of the screen when the default settings are in effect.

 
Remember that introductory elements have specific purposes, and avoid using them to do the work of presenting the bulk of the information in your writing. Use sentences for that!

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Join Jennie online where she'll be teaching Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts.

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

Writing & Grammar Workshop: Is Where and Is When

by Jennie Ruby

Is where and is when are expressions we sometimes use in spoken English to explain something or give the definition of something. You might hear someone say, "An adjustable mortgage is where you start out paying a certain percentage of interest on a loan, but the percentage can change over time." Or you might hear, "Love is when the score is tied in tennis."

The problem with these expressions is that they more accurately refer to place or time, not to definitions. Here are some examples that use them correctly:

• The recycling bin is where you place used cans and bottles.
  
  
  
• Next Tuesday is when the new swimming pool will open.

If you are writing about a thing or a process, stay away from these expressions. Here are some alternatives:

• Not: Feathering is where you add small amounts of space between lines to fill out a column.
  
  Use: Feathering is the process of adding small amounts of space between lines to fill out a column.
  
  
• Not: Sending and receiving is when you make the program retrieve new messages from the server.
  
  Use: The Send/Receive tool causes the program to retrieve new message from the server.

Speaking and writing have different rules--this one is for added accuracy in writing.

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Join Jennie online where she'll be teaching Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts.

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

Grammar Workshop: Can I Delete "That?"

by Jennie Ruby

This week a reader asks a question that often comes up in my grammar classes: "Can I delete the word that in this sentence?" In fact, I often hear rumors of editors who always delete the word that in the name of conciseness. But is it always OK to delete it?

Jennifer Zapp writes: "We are technical writers and have a question about the use of that. I can't find any rules on when to include the word that in statements like those that follow:

1. A dialog box appears indicating that the course is not yet complete.
   
   
2. A dialog box appears indicating the course is not yet complete."

The clauses in question here are noun clauses, and indeed the rules for omitting or including the word that are hardly ever discussed. I had to go through three grammar guides to find a discussion of this topic. When I did find a discussion, it agreed with what I had already learned from years of discussing this question with editors in my grammar classes: The word that is optional, but there are times when you cannot omit it without a loss of clarity. I also found some mild support for my personal practice--I never delete that from noun clauses.

Here's how it works. The word that is called a "complementizer." It tells the reader that the clause is a dependent clause acting as a noun. If you omit the complementizer, the reader has to figure out that the clause is a noun by analyzing the context.  Usually this is OK, but consider these problem sentences:

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1. They believed the man, who was still panting and gasping for air, had almost drowned.
   
   [At first it seems they did not think he was lying. Only later does it become clear that they believed something about him.]
   
   
2. They believed that the man, who was still panting and gasping for air, had almost drowned.

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1. They saw the ship was sinking.
   
   
2. They saw that the ship was sinking.

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1. They believed the ape, which had a vocabulary of 90 symbols, was able to use abstract reasoning.
   
   
2. They believed that the ape, which had a vocabulary of 90 symbols, was able to use abstract reasoning.

 
In each case, I'm sure you'll agree, version 2 is just a little clearer. For this reason, I always keep the word that. The Writer's Digest Grammar Desk Reference says omission of that usually occurs more in speech than in writing. Analyzing English Grammar by Klammer, Schulz and Volpe points out that retaining the word that is clearer.

So there you have it. There is no rule stating that you must retain the word that, but without it you are risking clarity.

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

 

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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

Grammar Workshop: On Loathing the Misuse of Loath

by Jennie Ruby

I was reading an economics book on my Kindle the other day (yes, I know, how many ways at once can one person be a nerd), and noticed the word loath incorrectly spelled loathe. The strange thing was that I remembered the same writer using that word correctly earlier in the book.

Now one advantage of the Kindle over a printed book is the word search feature, so I was able to locate the examples. Here are four excerpts from the book. Can you tell which ones are correct?

1. "Even those who laud the effects of highly competitive markets are loathe to experience them personally..."
   
   
2. "...was a risk that growers were loath to assume..."
   
   
3. "...and many were loathe to do so..."
   
   
4. "Chinese producers are loath to waste cotton..."

Here's the deal: loath is an adjective meaning "unwilling to do something contrary to one's ways of thinking" (Merriam-Webster OnLine). Loathe is a verb meaning "to dislike greatly and often with disgust or intolerance."

Answers: Samples 2 and 4 are correct. Samples 1 and 3 are incorrect.

A memory aid I find helpful is to compare these words with similar words that are easier to distinguish: breath (noun) vs. breathe (verb) and cloth (noun) vs. clothe (verb). The ones with the e on the end are the verbs, and the same is true of loathe.

Note: The quotations are from The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli. I blame the editors and proofreaders for this oversight; the writer did an excellent job.

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

Grammar Workshop: The Classic Science/Technical Writing Sentence

by Jennie Ruby

If there is one sentence style that characterizes scientific and technical writing, it is the compound sentence with a transition word. Once when reviewing a young friend's 10th grade essay, I noted her impressive correct usage and punctuation of this sentence structure. She said, "Yes, I know. Those sentences are my secret weapon. I use at least one in every essay. Teachers love them!"

The beauty of compound sentences is that they allow complex and closely related ideas to be combined into one large sentence. Let's look at some examples. What you are going to see is two sentences separated by a semi-colon. The second sentence will begin with a transition word followed by a comma:

• QuarkXPress was for many years the standard software for design work; however, In-Design usurped that position several years ago.
  
  
• Relative cell addresses are the default in most Excel formulas; however, absolute addresses provide the ability to create formulas that do not change relative to their location in the spreadsheet.
  
  
• The equation would not fit on one line; therefore, the designer displayed it in a box at the bottom of the page.

When combining ideas, be sure to consider using this "secret weapon."

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

Grammar Workshop: Do I Have to Use Have?

by Jennie Ruby

During my grammar classes, I have often been asked, "Can I delete the word have in this sentence? Isn't it just wordy?"

The funny thing is, use of the word have is not a form of wordiness. When have is used in front of another verb, it is actually an auxiliary verb. That means it counts as part of the verb. And it creates a specific verb tense called the present perfect tense. Here is what that means.
The present perfect tense has two meanings. One meaning is that an activity that began in the past is still going on, as in: I have taught grammar classes for more than 10 years.

The second meaning is that an activity that began in the past has just now stopped: I have finished writing the report. Now I am preparing to send it to the printer.

The first meaning is often used to describe a person's experiences, as in:

• I have visited Canada five times.
  
  
  
• I have tasted tomatoes straight from the garden.
  
  
  
• I have completed one triathlon. (It was a sprint-distance one. But that is another story.)

 

The main thing to remember is that the word have is an important part of the verb, and not something to routinely delete. Deleting it changes the meaning. Look at the difference between these two sentences:

• I have worked there 6 years. (Clearly, I still work there.)
  
  
  
• I worked there 6 years. (I no longer work there.)

I hope I have given you enough information to prevent the gratuitous deletion of have!

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

Grammar Workshop: One Space or Two After a Period?

by Jennie Ruby

I have probably written about the spacing problem before, but the one-space versus two-space debate keeps coming back, and here is why.

In print publishing, variable-width fonts have always been used. Variable-width fonts do not require an additional space to enhance readability at the end of the sentence. The standard in print publishing has always been no extra space after a sentence.

Meanwhile, in the business world, when typewriters were first invented, they had only single-width fonts, like Courier, in which every letter had the same width assigned to it as every other. That means the narrow letter i receives the same width as the wide letter o. When the lettering is spaced like that, and the period at the end of a sentence is also spaced like that, it becomes difficult to notice the end of a sentence without an extra space. So double-spacing after a period was invented along with the typewriter.

From about 1870 to 1980, from the invention of the typewriter to the invention of the IBM PC, typing teachers rigorously taught every student to put two spaces after the period at the end of a sentence. They taught it with such certitude and vigor that students of those teachers can barely imagine not double-spacing after a period. Double-spacing was the standard in business typing for more than 100 years. Many of today's managers and directors come from this typewriter-based background and experience.  These managers usually insist on the double spacing.

Two worlds collide

Soon after the IBM PC was invented in 1980, every business person had on their desk a word processor with variable-spaced fonts just like print publishing. The habit of double spacing should have instantly disappeared. But the aforementioned typing teachers and their students simply transferred their typewriter skills to the computer, and the conundrum of one space versus two was born.

So what do we do?

One space is the right answer. But the practical answer is, if you can't convince your manager or director to go with one space, go ahead and use two.

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

Grammar Workshop: Every day or Everyday?

by Jennie Ruby 

"When should I use every day and when should I use everyday? My boss wants to know."

I received this query by e-mail and quickly shot off a reply: "You use everyday as an adjective and as an adverb."

After I hit send, I wondered whether I should verify that this distinction is always true, so I looked it up in The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style. To my relief, I had it right. Here are examples of how to use everyday versus every day.

• You may well use this advanced program feature every day.
  
  
• This is an everyday fix for common system problems.

You can tell you need the solid version (no space) if everyday is followed by a noun. An everyday exercise, an everyday occurrence. You can tell you need every day open (spaced) when it answers the question "when does the action of this sentence occur?"

• Things like this happen every day.
  
  
• Every day he saves the files to the external hard drive.

In both sentences, every day answers when: when do things like this happen? Every day. When does he save the files? Every day.

When will I answer grammar questions for you? Every day! 

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

Editing With MS Word 2007: Plan the Track Changes Workflow

by Jennie Ruby 

Whether you work on publications or on business documents, you need a plan before proceeding. Your plan should list the steps you take to shepherd a document from draft to final version. Your plan might include all the steps in a formal publication procedure from peer review to proofreading, or it might be as basic as "save a copy of the original before editing." To make your plan, you must answer some questions about your needs and methods.

Do you need to track changes?

Microsoft Word's Track Changes tool allows you to show the changes you make to a document. If you do not need to show the exact changes you made to the document, you may be able to skip this step. Here are some situations in which tracked changes are necessary:

• When you are copyediting scientific or technical material and the author or reviewer must verify that your changes do not alter the technical meaning
  
  
• When you need the author's approval of all the changes for any reason
  
  
• When you need to see changes made by multiple reviewers and determine which ones to accept if there is a conflict
  
  
• When you are training the writer to improve, so the writer needs to see the changes you made to the document
  
  
• When your editing work is under review
  
  
• When you simply want to see what you've done
  

Some authors may find it easier to review the document without tracked changes. In those cases, by all means skip tracking the changes and send the revised document for review

Do you need to track changes from multiple people?

If you want to see the changes multiple people make to the file, the best method is to protect the document for tracked changes before you send it out for reviews or share it on a network or webpage. This guarantees that the changes others make to the file will be tracked.

Do you need to track every single change?

Routine mechanical changes to a document, such as changing from two spaces to one after a sentence or moving periods inside closing quotation marks, may not be worthy of tracking. The reason you track changes is so that a reviewer who disagrees with a change can tell you to reverse it. Many of these small mechanical changes are not up for discussion because they are part of an editorial style.

A change that cannot be disagreed with does not need to be tracked. When you use the track changes tool, you can readily turn the tracking on and off to control which changes are tracked and which are not.

On the other hand, if even the smallest change must be reviewed, you may need to track every single change you make to the document. Using the Compare tool instead of the Track Changes tool will guarantee that every single change is marked.

Managing the Document Creation Process

Although most of my new Editing with Microsoft Word 2007 book is intended for the editing process after a document has been drafted, many editors are responsible for managing the creation of large, multi-author documents such as proposals and reports. If you are responsible for editing and formatting such a document, Word has some unique tools to help.

Styles and Quick Styles

Styles are predefined formats that can include both character and paragraph formatting. By using styles you can quickly and consistently format a long document. You can also give multiple documents a consistent appearance. Word comes with an extensive set of predefined styles, but you can also design your own. You can add your styles to the Quick Styles gallery, and you can limit the selection of styles for a particular document. The Styles task pane offers tools for inspecting and managing styles and for creating new styles.

Templates

A template is a formatted sample document that writers can use to type new text in the proper format. A template can contain styles and other design elements. You can limit the selection of styles so that writers turn in properly formatted documents.

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

Grammar Workshop: Do I Need an Apostrophe?

by Jennie Ruby 

 

Of course the possessive form normally requires an apostrophe, as in Tom's car or Ella's toy. Even when there is an s on the end of a singular name, you use an apostrophe to show ownership, as in Charles' car or the business' location. Some style guides have you add another s to follow pronunciation, as in Charles's car or the business's location. But is there ever a time when you don't use the apostrophe?

 

Yes. In expressions such as writers group, users group, or workers union, you do not need an apostrophe. These plural words ending in s act more as a label describing the kind of group rather than as a possessive showing ownership.

 

Some proper names of organizations, however, do contain an apostrophe, as in Reserve Officers' Training Corps. The best practice is to look up exactly how the organization spells the name. You may find Childrens Hospital or National Governors' Association or Elmer's glue. You may find Mrs. Fields cookies, but Taster's Choice coffee.

 

Although I would love to give a definitive answer here, there is no logic to the way organizations are named. The only possible advice is just Google the website.

 

Happy hunting!

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.