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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

‘ACES conference’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

June 10, 2012: Pronouns: “They” is too much with us (2)

I am almost ready to come around on the view that “they,” “them” and “their” are acceptable after a singular pronoun antecedent (When the bell rings, everyone picks up their books to go home.) Almost. I don’t freak out when I read such constructions. (In truth, I probably never freaked out. I am a fairly even-keeled person — except when I see scary whales or  hear Chris Matthews yammering.) I still change such constructions in editing. Where I work, the publication style guide explicitly calls for doing so.  We use “he or she” when such a construction is called[.....]

April 13, 2012: ACES 2012: Editing at a hub

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[.....]

March 17, 2012: I am still a copy editor (1)

Please excuse me for writing about myself again. I will start a new job April 2. I am leaving the McClatchy Publishing Center in Charlotte, where I have worked as a copy editor since last August when McClatchy Newspapers closed The News & Observer’s copy-design desks in Raleigh and moved those jobs to Charlotte. I will become a copy editor for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, working on the publications the professional organization publishes from its offices in Durham, N.C. This means that I can live at home with my husband full time and won’t have to[.....]