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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

‘Old Triangle Grammar Guide’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

Dec. 7, 2011: Copy editors can help

Sometimes, a simple fix can make the difference between a reader finishing a story and giving up in befuddlement. I encountered this sentence in a story about two young men pleading guilty to a drugstore robbery Rhaim Santiago assaulted the cashier by striking them in the head with the butt of the firearm. A paragraph later in the story said the police report had not identified the clerk who was hurt in the robbery, so I suppose the reporter could not use the singular pronoun that would have been appropriate (him or her). I did wonder whether the police[.....]

Dec. 6, 2011: Grammar Guide quiz — Hodgepodge

Here is a new Grammar Guide quiz. This one is a hodgepodge of issues of grammar and usage.

Dec. 6, 2011: A new place to blog

Welcome to the continuation of the Grammar Guide blog in a new place! I have been writing about language since 2005 on newsobserver.com, but when my job as a copy editor was eliminated in Raleigh and moved to Charlotte, I decided to end the blog there. I was lucky to get a chance to blog here at copydesk.org. Thanks to Andy Bechtel for suggesting that I blog here and to Daniel Hunt for getting the blog set up. I hope to continue to offer Grammar Guide quizzes and to help journalists and others with the tricky problems of grammar,[.....]

Aug. 20, 2011: Grammar Guide quiz: Just a note before I go

This is my final post on the Triangle Grammar Guide. I was among the copy editors and designers at The News & Observer whose jobs were eliminated in Raleigh. I, like the rest, was given the choice of leaving the company or accepting a job in a new central publishing center at the Charlotte Observer. I chose to continue to practice my profession, and I will begin work at the publishing center on Aug. 22. The publishing center will take over the design and copy editing for the Charlotte Observer, The News & Observer, the Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald[.....]

Aug. 3, 2011: Watch your “lay” and “lie”

The crawl editor/writer on MSNBC this morning needed to double-check the use of “lay” and “lie.”

July 9, 2011: The versatile “about”

I was on an urban light rail train recently in Charlotte, N.C., and noticed this message on the scrolling LED display. I wondered whether non-native English speakers would have trouble understanding the message. The message is “Train is about to move.” The word about in this sentence is an adverb used with the infinitive “to move” and is meant to tell riders that the train will be moving soon. It announces an intention. (Reminder: An adverb can modify a verb and tells where, when, how or to what degree.) As R.W. Burchfield’s version of “Fowler’s Modern English Usage” notes,[.....]

June 12, 2011: The true meaning of a dilemma

I have had the word dilemma on my mind for the past week. The word comes up fairly often in the copy I edit and usually it is used to mean a problem or a difficult choice. In the strictest sense, a dilemma is a choice between two equally bad alternatives. It is being between a rock and a hard place. I almost always change the word — to problem or difficult choice. Here is an example of a dilemma. The Great Recession has wrecked state government budgets, and the states don’t have enough money. Legislatures must choose between[.....]

June 3, 2011: Calling all word nerds: Grammar Guide quiz is up

A new Grammar Guide quiz is up. Here is the disclaimer for all you sticklers: No, it's not really about grammar; it's about usage and word choice. The sentences all come from real life this time — from copy I have read or have edited. Of course, we copy editors don't catch everything — as readers remind us often. We try, though, even in these trying times. Click here or on the question mark icon to begin the 10-sentence quiz. Be sure to click through to read the explanations (which, by the way, are the same whether you answered[.....]

May 14, 2011: Word usage: How "impact" got a bad reputation

I made this edit one night last week: The company adopted new accounting standards after the acquisition that significantly impacted affected its results, so comparisons with year-ago results are skewed. I admit that it was an almost automatic action on my part. I had about 18-20 pieces of copy to edit that night, and we copy editors have had it drilled into our heads that the verb impact should be used sparingly, if ever. Most of the time, we've been told, it can be changed to affect or influence. Impact, some editors say, is an example of a noun[.....]

May 8, 2011: Practice your word usage skills: Grammar Guide quiz

Here is a new Grammar Guide quiz. Almost all of the 10 sentences involve word usage challenges. I have one timely sentence at the end that is more of a copy editing or proofreading  challenge. Click here or on the question mark icon to begin. Click here to find other Grammar Guide quizzes. This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer Publishing Company, which reserves the right to remove this post.

Feb. 23, 2011: Let's learn about pronouns: Grammar Guide quiz No. 55

The latest Grammar Guide quiz involves pronouns. Some explanations in this quiz include grammatical terms such as "nominative case" and "bare infinitive." Those are for the true geeks among us. I hope even those with only casual interest in grammar and usage will find something of interest in the quiz and the explanations.  Click here to begin the quiz. As always, I welcome comments and e-mail messages. My plea for hits on the quiz I posted Sunday with posts on my own Facebook page and the Grammar Guide Twitter feed @grammarguide worked wonderfully well. I am grateful to all[.....]

Feb. 21, 2011: Don't expect the lexicographers to referee

Columnist Barry Saunders finds fault with the word ginormous and wishes editors would not allow such coinages into the pages of dictionaries. John McIntyre, who writes You Don't Say at baltimoresun.com, explains that lexicographers are not legislators. They describe what is going on with language; they do not put a stamp of approval on coinages merely by adding them to the dictionary. Of course, I don't recommend using "ginormous" in a news story or in an academic paper. The New Oxford American Dictionary's entry for "ginormous" notes that it is "informal, humorous." That's guidance that writers can heed. And[.....]

Feb. 20, 2011: Tricky word choices: A Grammar Guide Quiz (No. 54)

The latest Grammar Guide quiz involves commonly confused words — as you might have guessed, one of my favorite copy editing challenges. Some of the sentences on the quiz lend themselves to varied interpretation, so if you happen to choose the "incorrect" answer, you could argue that you read the writer's meaning differently. This quiz has 10 sentences, rather than the standard five. I've been saving up examples. As an enticement, I promise a little humor in some explanations. Click here to begin the quiz. As always, I welcome comments and e-mail messages. Tell your friends and spread the[.....]

Feb. 9, 2011: Word nerd reading: Untranslatable expressions

I saw this feature in the March issue of Reader's Digest: Eight expressions that ought to exist in our native tongue but don't. The excerpt comes from a travel site called Matador Network. My favorite is "jayus" from Indonesian: "a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh." Check out the list of "20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World" by Jason Wire. This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News[.....]

Feb. 6, 2011: The disappearing regional dialect: Raleigh

A story in The News & Observer's Sunday edition might be interesting to language buffs and fans of regional accents. Robin Dodsworth, an associate linguistics professor at N.C. State University, says that the Raleigh accent is gradually disappearing. She's also looking for natives of Raleigh to participate in her study. If you grew up in Raleigh — as far south as Garner or as far north as Wake Forest — and want to contribute your voice to Dodsworth's data, e-mail her at robi…@ncsu.edu.   This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The[.....]

Feb. 1, 2011: Kayaker vs. canoeist: agent nouns and suffixes

A reader asks this interesting question: Two items in the news yesterday made me wonder, and I hope you have an answer to my question. The first Item referred to a man in a kayak as a "kayaker," the second item referred to a man in a canoe as a "canoeist." Both are paddling a watercraft, so why is one an "er" and the other an "ist"? Both kayaker and canoeist are agent nouns, words formed from other words to identify a person taking an action. I thought the answer could lie in the etymology of the suffixes -er[.....]

Jan. 30, 2011: Confused words: The RAVEN flies again

I've run across two sentences recently that confused affect and effect in a similar way: While the university doesn’t yet know what schools, programs and departments might be effected [by budget cuts], leaders there are moving quickly. BSH plans to phase out sales of its 27-inch, front-load washers and dryers by the end of the year, and effected employees will stop working this spring. Both of the underlined words should have been affected, as in "to have an effect on." The writers could have puzzled this out by turning the sentences around, perhaps. The budget cuts will affect schools,[.....]

Jan. 25, 2011: Confused words: Two words of disinclination

This sentence from a blog post illustrates a pair of commonly confused words. Read the sentence and see whether you can figure out what I am referring to. Then hit the Read More button. Although Rep. Renee Ellmers campaigned last fall as an ardent opponent of the new health care law passed by Congress, she was not reticent about taking advantage the health plan offered to members of Congress. Did you spot reticent as the word that is incorrectly used? Writers sometimes confuse reticent, which means "disinclined to speak," with reluctant, which means "disinclined to take an action." The[.....]

Jan. 19, 2011: Quick grammar lesson: Prepositions and pronouns

This sentence from a TV Squad question-and-answer with the author of a book about "American Idol" made me cringe and stopped me hard: We all watched and saw that there just was not a great chemistry at all between he and Ryan Seacrest, but do you think it's also fair to say that no one was going to get in the way of the mogul-in-the-making that Seacrest has proven himself to be? Now the writer could argue that this is just speech and we can forgive grammatical errors in speech, but I say that if it's published it needs[.....]

Jan. 18, 2011: A dog who knows grammar

A wonderful headline ("Sit. Stay. Parse. Good girl!") attracted me to this New York Times story about a border collie who knows more than 1,000 nouns and appears to understand verbs. It mentions a Nova episode about dogs' intelligence. This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer Publishing Company, which reserves the right to remove this post.

Jan. 2, 2011: Please, call me ma'am

A friend's Facebook status update reminded me that I wanted to write about the honorific ma'am. Some women don't like to be called "ma'am." I do. The term got some attention last fall when Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chastised Gen. Michael Walsh for addressing her as "ma'am," instead of "senator," in a Senate committee hearing. Some women don't like to be called "ma'am" because they think it's sexist or ageist. A woman in this camp may not want to be reminded that she is older than the person who is addressing her. She thinks, in other words, that "ma'am"[.....]

Dec. 23, 2010: Grammar Guide quiz — Verbs are the subject

I found a quiz that I wrote a while ago but apparently hadn't posted. All five sentences deal with making the correct verb choice. Click here or on the question mark icon to begin. You can also take this holiday-theme quiz from 2008. And click on this link to find links to more past quizzes. (I think they all work, but if you encounter any weirdness, send me a note. Thanks.) This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011[.....]

Dec. 20, 2010: This is an "awesome" post

I have used the word awesome a few times lately to describe something that I found terrific or impressive. This surprised me because my husband and I have a running eyeroll over the word that we consider today's most overused and least understood. Many of our young friends and colleagues of the Millennial generation use the word the way we baby boomers are prone to using cool. It is the default word for something that is impressive or pleasing. The word's first meaning is "inspiring awe," referring to that overwhelming feeling of wonder, fear, reverence or admiration. When believers[.....]

Dec. 13, 2010: Grammar myths: Yes, you can start sentences with "but"

Two colleagues came to me with a question: Is it incorrect to begin a sentence with and or but? I told them that beginning sentences with and or but is neither a grammatical violation nor a usage breach. One colleague couldn't believe it; he had been taught all through school that a good writer never begins a sentence with and or but. I pointed out that a writer may choose for a stylistic reason to avoid such sentences, but that the "rule" is a myth. Even Fowler's "Modern English Usage," published in 1926, considered this erroneous edict to be[.....]

Dec. 6, 2010: Try Grammar Guide quiz no. 52 on word usage

The latest Grammar Guide quiz has more parts than usual. I have 11 sentences that offer you a choice of the preferred word. Some are tricky homonyms; a couple of sentences involve words that differ in connotation. Click here or on the question mark icon to begin. Note that the results of the quiz will come to me via e-mail, but I won't see any identifying information. This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer[.....]

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