Writing & Grammar: One Word or Two? Or Should That Be a Hyphen? Answers to Last Week's Challenge

by Jennie Ruby  

Last week I challenged readers of this newsletter to locate all of the phrasal verbs and their related nouns or adjectives in this passage.

The command-and-control infrastructure was shutdown in July 2012 shortly after its discovery. The shutdown came after nearly a month of research into the whereabouts of the installation. A close up view of the building was acquired. The close-up provided by the satellite gave us the access information we needed to close down the facility. After we shut down the operation, we checked out the computer set-up. We provided a breakdown of the servers and connections, and one of our technicians was able to breakdown the pattern of attacks by the software. We called up our database on a smart phone and logged-in the keycodes. After that, we cleaned up the area. The clean up took less than two hours.

Here are the answers, brought to you by Tara Allen.

The command-and-control infrastructure was shutdown(s/b shut down) in July 2012 shortly after its discovery. The shutdown (correct) came after nearly a month of research into the whereabouts of the installation. A close up (s/b close-up) view of the building was acquired. The close-up (correct) provided by the satellite gave us the access information we needed to close down (correct, or remove "down" if only to avoid one more "up" or "down") the facility. After we shut down (correct) the operation, we checked out (correct, or remove "out" for clarity)the computer set-up (s/b setup). We provided a breakdown (correct) of the servers and connections, and one of our technicians was able to breakdown (s/b break down) the pattern of attacks by the software. We called up (correct, or accessed for clarity) our database on a smart phone and logged-in (s/b logged in or simply logged...or entered for clarity) the keycodes. After that, we cleaned up (correct) the area. The clean up (s/b cleanup) took less than two hours.

Here is your next challenge--pronoun case. Is it Jennie and me or Jennie and I? Make your choices and send them to me. 

1. Jennie and I went to the playground.
2. The guard opened the gate for Jennie and I.
3. The cheerleaders all came over to Jennie and I's house.
4. Jennie and I drove to North Carolina last weekend.
5. The clerk gave Jennie and I a discount on the tickets.
6. Did Jennie or I leave the Chinese food on the counter overnight? 

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

Comments

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