Usage
Q. Grammarians Strunk and White say in their book, The Elements of Style, that you shouldn’t start a sentence with “however” when you mean “nevertheless.” I think this classic advice is unreasonable in modern times. What’s your take? Answer »
Q. My projects include a lot of descriptions of real property. The author, the reviewer, and I are butting heads about using “a rectangularly shaped parcel” instead of “a rectangular shaped parcel.” I say if they wouldn’t use “squarely shaped parcel”—which they don’t—they should stick with “rectangular shaped.” And now that I’m typing this, I’m thinking “rectangle shaped parcel” may be even better. Answer »
Q. If an author uses a rare word like “prevaricators” when “liars” would be more clear, should an editor change it? The author’s audience is college graduates, not necessarily English or journalism majors. Answer »
Q. I edit documents in a corporate environment, and I have ongoing arguments with authors over the extensive use of and/or . I’m not convinced it should be used anywhere. What does CMOS think about it? Answer »
Q. Editor’s update:Last month two questions arrived a few hours apart, from two different people, each asking whether the day of the month is capped when spelled out, and both used the second of January as the example. We hoped to learn whether the writers were acquainted and had written independently to settle a dispute, or whether the nearly identical queries were simply a romantic coincidence on the part of writers unknown to each other. Answer »
Q. I am editing a short story about Rosa Parks. Should “blacks” be used instead of “African Americans”? My Australian colleague seems to think that “blacks” is more socially accepted, but I totally disagree. Answer »
Q. In a school application would it be correct to say “At UPenn, I will participate in XYZ club” or “At UPenn, I would participate in XYZ club”? For an applicant who doesn’t yet know whether he will be admitted, the latter seems correct. Please advise. Thanks. Answer »
Q. I cannot find a reference to this in my Manual: because versus since. I have been tutored that because is used for instances of cause/effect and that since is for time. However, one of my authors is a scholar who contends that “since denotes a state of being based on a relationship. . . Because implies causality between one aspect of that relationship and the other.” Can you explain this to me more clearly or refute it altogether? Answer »
Q. I am continually encountering extremely long lists ending with “as well as X” in this construction: “I talked about A, B, C, D, E, and F as well as X.” In 95 percent of these cases, X is not comparative, contrastive, or emphatic but merely a last-minute tack-on to the list. (Otherwise, I would probably use a dash or comma.) Given these circumstances, should a comma always precede “as well as”? I work at a highly political nonprofit where I am not always allowed to rephrase even minor things (big egos). Sometimes correct revisions are vetoed, and incorrect punctuation, improper word usage or citation formatting, grammatical mistakes, and misspellings are published rather than risk offending the original author. Answer »
Q. Hello! When indexing a book that names the same person literally hundreds of times (it’s about this person’s philosophy), is passim correct in the index? Same Q about his works; some of the famous works are named or referenced dozens, if not hundreds of times. Answer »
Q. I am editing a work of historical fiction set in the 1950s in Texas. The author is writing about segregation and racism. She wants to use the language of the times, but I just don’t feel comfortable having so many uses of “ni——s” in the text. (The word is currently spelled out in the text; I’ve redacted it here.) I have advised her that these terms are considered highly offensive by today’s standards and should be used rarely. Instead, she added the term in more places. Any suggestions on how to handle using these terms? Should I use something like the above? Put them in quotations? Italics? Answer »
Q. Do I need “the” before “hoi polloi”? I know that hoi means “the” in Greek, so a second “the” would seem redundant. Answer »
Q. In reading a marketing piece written by a co-worker, I thought that the following sentence contained a possessive pronoun that disagrees in number with its antecedent: “We tailor each client’s portfolio to meet their investment objectives.” Personally, I think “their” should be “his,” “his/her,” or “its” because “each client” is singular. Another approach, in my opinion, would be to make the entire sentence plural, i.e., “We tailor our clients’ portfolios to meet their investment objectives.” However, that construction loses some of the connotation that each portfolio is individually constructed for each client. Please help! Answer »
Q. The ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a British set of books describing best practices for the IT service provider. The books are poorly written, a mess of needlessly long and stultifyingly passive sentences. That fact aside, the ITIL authors also randomly capitalize nouns that they think worthy. What is your position on this quaint custom of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English literature? Whilst you dwell on your response, is there ever a situation where “utilize” adds anything more to its synonym “use” than two extra syllables and a healthy dose of pretentiousness? Looking forward to your glib, yet wise, response. Answer »
Q.Dear Editor: Do you believe that number matters? In the following sentence about a company that makes washboards, is it “Today, a half dozen women continue building a household anachronism that’s seldom seen anymore” or “Today, a half dozen women continue building household anachronisms that are seldom seen anymore”? Thank you. Answer »
Q.Hi. I used the following sentence in an e-mail: “Without apologies, I’m sending this Voice article on in case you got depressed (like I did) by the Reading at Risk report or various articles about it.” Someone responded and told me that using “like I did” is grammatically incorrect. Is it really? And if it is NOT incorrect, can you tell me what I can reference to support my wording? (I.e., can I find info on this in the Chicago Manual of Style, and if so, under what topic?) Thanks so much for any help you can offer! Answer »
Q.Trying to sound scientific, students love to use the phrase “as evidenced.” This strikes me as grammatically correct but stylistically atrocious. Am I alone with this feeling? Answer »
Q. We can’t seem to resolve this question and are hoping you can help. Which sentence is correct: “I just wish she was still alive” or “I just wish she were still alive”? As I understand it, “were” is used with a singular subject as a subjunctive to express an unreal condition. “If she were alive today . . .” My vote is with the second sentence, but we have some dissent because it doesn’t sound right to others in this office. Can you help put this to rest? Thanks in advance. Answer »
Q. Is the following sentence grammatically incorrect, and if so, why? “My point will hopefully become clear in what follows.” I’ve been told that this sentence misuses the word “hopefully”—is that true? Answer »
Q. This might not be a point of grammar so much as a question of style, but how would you define the usage of the phrase “as such”? Could you argue for a strict explanation of when its use may or may not be appropriate? Many thanks for tackling this one. Answer »
Q. I see inconsistent usage in “she is a friend of Bill” versus “she is a friend of Bill's.” We say “a friend of his,” not “a friend of him,” so should the possessive control here? Answer »
Q. re your Q: “. . . should be modified by the masculine form of the adjective—‘emeritus’—regardless of the professor’s gender.” Let’s stomp this out! “Sex” is not a dirty word! People come in SEXes, not genders. Answer »
Q. What’s the preferred way to use the word “however” when it compares two sentences? I was edited consistently by one editor to move it to the front of the sentence. In the following example, is it better for “however” to start the second sentence, or is it fine as is? Example: Some have used the commandment translated in the King James Version of the Bible “Thou shalt not kill” as a prohibition of capital punishment. The commandment, however, refers to murder and is accurately translated “You shall not murder” in modern translations. Answer »
Q. Is it improper to say in a title, “Women Police: Portraits of Success”? My publisher says that it’s grammatically incorrect and that it should read “Female Police Officers: Portraits of Success” instead. I see “women police” in print everywhere, and there’s even a journal titled “Women Police.” I thought usage dictated rules of grammar, not the other way around. Your help, please. Answer »
Q. We have a disagreement in my office as to the usage of “this” as a pronoun. “The cooling holes were originally defined using two points. This was later revised to a start point and compound angles.” My coworker thinks that I need to add “definition” after “this.” While I agree it is a good idea in many cases to eliminate ambiguity, I don’t think it is required in this case. Is he right? Answer »
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