Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

Word choice quiz: More tricky sentences

By Pam Nelson  |  9:23 a.m. today  |  No comments

I’ve run across some interesting examples of confused words lately. Sometimes, even in context, these sentences can be quite challenging. I chose what I think is the better word, but some writers and editors might disagree. Give the quiz a try.

 

Tricky word usage quiz: Distinctions you might know

By Pam Nelson  |  10:16 p.m. May 8  |  No comments

My new job requires me to use The Economist Style Guide for some of the copy I edit. Today as I was thumbing through the book, I hit upon an entry that reminded me of the Guide’s rather persnickety usage advice. I decided to gather some examples and create a Grammar Guide quiz (No. 65) based on advice from the Style Guide. I learned many of these word choice distinctions as a newspaper copy editor and still adhere to some of them. They are good to know, if only as self-defense. As you would any usage guide, you can use your own judgment about whether to follow the Style Guide’s advice.

Try the quiz, but don’t put too much stock in your “score.”

Today’s reading: Hopefully and only

By Pam Nelson  |  9:33 a.m. April 24  |  Comments Off

I haven’t written about the Associated Press style guide editors’ decision to amend the guidance on “hopefully.”

Here is the new entry, just in case you missed it:

hopefully The traditional meaning is in a hopeful manner. Also acceptable is the modern usage: it’s hoped, we hope.

Correct: ”You’re leaving soon?” she asked hopefully.
Correct: Hopefully, we’ll be home before dark.

I figured everyone else was handling the reaction stories and posts. Indeed, John McIntyre and Bill Walsh, among others, have responded. My favorite post comes from Geoffrey Pullum on Lingua Franca. It explains how “hopefully” came to be sent into sentence adverb exile.

Ben Yagoda’s Lingua Franca post on “only” and its placement provides great reading and guidance, too.

I am grateful that smart language commentators have given me ammunition to use when someone objects to reading “hopefully” to mean “it is to be hoped” and to finding a so-called misplaced “only.” But if I were still copy editing for a newspaper, I might continue to change “hopefully” and move “only” just to keep the picky folks off our backs and focused on more important matters such as accuracy and thoroughness.

Talking like my generation: apoplectic

By Pam Nelson  |  12:03 p.m. April 23  |  Comments Off

Presidential adviser David Axelrod described President Obama as “apoplectic” about General Services Administration spending. I think Axelrod was showing his age, 57, which is close to my own. I can’t imagine that many people under 40 would use that word.

I love apoplectic. It sounds Shakespearean and Southern at the same time. It means “furious,” according to the American Heritage Dictionary, Fifth Edition, and it comes from the old word apoplexy, which meant a stroke but later was used to refer to a “fit of rage,” the dictionary says. The word connotes anger so white-hot that the enraged person can’t speak or move. I think of someone trembling with rage.

In 2010, the Nieman Journalism Lab posted about the top word searches on the New York Times. Apoplectic was No. 21. The word also appears in the Urban Dictionary, which perhaps belies my point about age.

ACES 2012: Editing at a hub

By Pam Nelson  |  1:58 p.m. April 13  |  Comments Off

I’ll be part of a panel discussion on editing at hubs at the national ACES conference this afternoon (4-13-2012). Here is the description from the ACES program:

Editing at a Hub
Todd Kistler, Thom Wright, Los Angeles News Group; Pam Nelson, McClatchy Newspapers
As the concept of editing hubs spreads, more copy editors find themselves in this work situation. Three hub editors talk about setup and workflow, adaptations they’ve needed to make, and how they’ve solved problems that have arisen, plus answer questions from the audience.

Here are the main points that I hope to get across at the session:

Before the hub:

Publications should be sure that they understand what will be lost or gained. Most rank-and-file copy editors will have no power over this decision, but they can play a role in the discussion and perhaps affect the outcome.

Keys to success at a publishing center:

*Communicate early and often. Editors of the client publications should be available to the hub either by phone or instant messaging. Email should be used for non-deadline issues, for longer messages that need to go to many people and for general policy information. The hub should know precisely who is in charge of the content, and the client editors should know who is doing which jobs at the hub. Hub editors should promptly reply to email or messages. A hotline phone should always be answered.

*Standardize practices and styles as much as possible. Give hub editors basic workflow and expectations that can apply no matter which client publication they are working on.

*Provide plenty of copies of the client publications before the hub gets up and running and afterward. Everyone should get to know the client publications and should get to see the finished product.

*Provide reliable maps of the client publications’ home areas. Editors at the client publications can make lists of troublesome place names (also, people names).

*Share design and copy style guides (align them as much as possible).

*Give hub editors a chance to visit the client papers’ newsrooms and coverage area. Editors from client publications can give hub editors short guides to what’s important. Client publication editors should visit the hub as soon as possible and visit more than once.

If you are a hub editor:

*Get your work habits in order. Make checklists or do whatever tricks you can to be sure you perform the duties you’ve been given.

*Set your standards. Spend more time on the things that are most important.

*Find shortcuts.

*Help one another. Be aware of the workflow in your team and pitch in when you know someone else needs help.

*Train, train, train. Have a deep bench so people can step in for others without confusion. Share knowledge gained.

*Get to know the client publications and the coverage areas.

*Use social media to connect. Follow the editors whose work you’re editing.

*Build teams within the hub so that people have ownership.

*Have a central site for sharing information, including schedules, style guides and policies.

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