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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

Archive for February 2013

Number of comments in parentheses

8: More about the singular “they” (2)

I participated in an ACES Twitter chat, Your Grammar Question Answered, Tuesday during which we chatted about the singular “they.” One of my co-chatters, @KUBremner, aka Lisa McLendon, noted that the singular “they” can be handy as an epicene — a word that has only one form for both masculine and feminine. So we could use the epicene “they/them/their” in a sentence such as this: Everyone picked up their pencils and began the test. “Their” refers to the indefinite pronoun “everyone.” Because we don’t know everyone’s sex, we use “their,” which sounds less formal than “his or her” and doesn’t[.....]

6: If you don’t know, go to the experts (2)

I have weaknesses as a copy editor. One of them is the use of commas. One good thing about knowing this is that I also know I can turn to expert when I am stumped. Just today I had to look up how to use commas in this sentence: ARSC Chairman Michael Brand said in a statement that after reviewing the 92 comment letters ARSC received on the proposed standards, “two primary concerns came through very clearly.”

1: Go ahead, see if I care (1)

Copy editors are criticized sometimes for caring about things that other people don’t care about. We are ridiculed for reserving “enormity” for “great wickedness” and not using it to mean “immensity” or “vastness.” We are told that readers don’t care that “begs the question” doesn’t mean “raise the question.” Usage is changing, we’re told. Pay attention to the things that matter. Indeed, we should be able to keep our eyes on the forest as well as the trees. First, we need to make sure that the copy we edit makes sense and reads well. If we are responsible for[.....]