Transcript Document

Punctuation and Grammar
Avoiding the minefields and
quagmires of editing
Proofreading words v. proofing ideas
 Word-level proofing
 Reading backwards
 Referring to stylebook, writer’s handbook,
textbook, sources and websites, including
course page
 Toolkit
 Copyediting symbols (in your stylebooks)
Sometimes it’s just a little typo
Scared Heart
Untied Methodist Church
Musharraf addresses pubic outcry
Brain Carol of Barry College
Condoleeza Rice
Usage
 that/which
 who/whom
 its/it’s
 hyphens/dashes
 farther/further
 over/more than
 more to come on these confusing words
What is punctuation for?
Serves readers
Helps readers comprehend meaning
Prevents stumbling when reading aloud
Underlines meaning
Prevents misunderstanding
Facilitates the activity of reading
Commas
Eats Shoots & Leaves
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
What’s the difference? A world of
difference, right?
Commas
Children drive slowly
Children, drive slowly
Drive slowly! Children at play
Drive carefully! Slow children at play
Commas
Verily, I say unto thee, This day thou
shalt be with me in Paradise!
Verily I say unto thee this day, Thou
shalt be with me in Paradise!
Commas: When to use them
 Commas in a series
 Commas with modifiers
 Commas with nonessential phrases, like
parentheses
 Commas with introductory phrases and
clauses
 “A rabid, diseased beast, the man didn’t want to
put his dog to sleep
 Commas with ages, addresses, dates
 Commas in attribution and quotations
Semi-colons
Know when to use them; know when not
to use them.
Closely related phrases, but a full stop is
too much.
They are not commas, nor are they used
as commas.
Colons: They’re a lot like invoices
 They “deliver the goods that have been
invoiced in the preceding words.”
(H.W. Fowler)
 “This much is clear, Watson: It was the baying
of an enormous hound.”
 Tom has only one rule in life: Never eat
anything bigger than your head.
 I pulled out all the stops for this assignment: I
used a semi-colon!
Note the differences
Tom locked himself in the closet. Dook
lost to the Heels.
Tom locked himself in the closet; Dook
lost to the Heels.
Tom locked himself in the closet: Dook
lost to the Heels.
Possessives
 For sale: CD’s, DVD’s
 Its v. It’s
 Their | They’re
 Whose | Who’s
 Your | You’re
These are all correct:
 The bus’s tires
 The Jones’ house; Mr. Jones’s house
 children’s playground
 women’s movement
 babies’ bibs
 Keats’s poem
 New York Times’s main printing facility
 Achilles’s heel
What’s wrong with these?
 Student’s Entrance
 Adult Learner’s Week
 Berry professor’s wives
 Lands’ End (actual company name)
 Mens Toilets
 Pansy’s for sale
 Cyclist’s Only
Hyphens (they hold together)
 Pains-taking
 30-car pileup
 “I reached for the w-w-w-watering can.”
 The 2-year-old and the 3-year-old played
together.
 Re-enter
 Foot-pedal
 Fine-tooth comb
Parallel structure & agreement
Verb tenses
Singular and plural nouns
Subjects and verbs
Parallel structure problems
One cannot think well, love well, sleep
well, if one has not dined well.
One cannot think well, have love, fall
asleep, if dinner was bad.
Billy likes fielding and hitting.
Billy likes to field and hitting.
Avoiding cliches like the plague :-)
 last but not least
 give 110% (I heard 2,000% yesterday!)
 untimely death (think about this one)
 few and far between
 stick to the game plan
 off the wagon, on the wagon or circling the
wagons
Brevity is the soul of lingerie
(Dorothy Parker, via Hamlet)
 Write a short story in just six words
 “Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket.”
William Shatner
 “Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?”
Eileen Gunn
 “Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.” Joss
Whedon
 “Longed for him. Got him. Shit.” Margaret Atwood
 Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please.”
Steven Meretzky
How about four?
Small flowers crack concrete.
Punctuation and Grammar
Avoiding the minefields and
quagmires of editing
Brian Carroll