Q. Hello, arbiters of messy prose. In a scholarly work on global labor conditions, plural-singular nonagreement involving the
word “ability” occurs about fifty times, as in “Rules regarding
paid leave affected families’ ability to earn a living.” My instinct is to change
“ability” to “abilities” in this and
similar cases, but is it really necessary? Thanks!
A. In your sentence, the singular seems right, but sometimes the plural can work if the noun is less abstract and more countable
than “abilities”: Rules regarding paid leave affected families’
savings accounts. The plural would also work if “abilities” were used in a slightly
more countable, and thus more properly plural, way: Special education can improve students’ abilities
in several areas. The singular works best with abstractions that the possessors share in the singular: The new cafeteria menu
affected the students’ morale.
Q. In the latest Q&A on your website, I noted that an answer contained the word “lowercased.”
Is this really a verb or another example of a noun erroneously transformed into a verb? I cannot imagine that you would make
such an error, but I have never heard that verb before!
A. “Lowercase” is a fine verb; you can look it up in a dictionary. And in any case,
I don’t know any rule against making a noun into a verb. Writers and speakers of good English have been
verbifying for a long time, and sometimes it works out well. I understand your resistance, though. I winced recently when
I heard someone say, “Let’s see if we can solution that.”
Q. I am working on a book that is more of an information-type book. The author consistently used “it’s,”
“I’m,” “I’ve,”
“don’t,” “doesn’t,”
etc., throughout the entire thing. I went through with the spelling check (I’m using Microsoft Word),
and it suggested changing them to “it is,” “I am,”
“I have,” etc. I do not think that one should use the abbreviated version. For
one, it doesn’t save any space and appears rather unprofessionally written. This will be a published
book. Is there a definitive rule on this or is it simply up to the writer/editor on how these words should be used?
A. There’s no rule against contractions in the real world, but your version of Word evidently didn’t
get the memo. You can change this in the Tools menu (Options → Spelling and Grammar →
Settings → Style) or in Word 2007 via the MS Office Button (Word Options → Proofing → When correcting
spelling and grammar → Settings → Style) once you decide on your document’s
level of formality. Published content varies in its tone, and therefore in its tolerance of contractions. If your writer naturally
uses contractions, wiping them out will change his tone of voice, so you should talk to your editorial supervisor and the
author about the preferred tone for this book before letting Word have its way.
Q. Does one “maximize the total cost of ownership” or “minimize
the total cost of ownership”? This phrase is going to be our service’s tagline
so we need to get it right.
A. If you make the cost of ownership as high as possible, you maximize it; if you make it as low as possible, you minimize it.
Before you decide, you need to be sure which one your service aims to do. And after you decide, if you think it’s
possible that others might be confused about what it means, you should probably keep working on that slogan.
Q. Don’t you think it is improper to use both Porsche and Jimmy Choo as proper nouns (instead of proper
adjectives) in a Q&A about proper writing technique?
A. If you believe that to be proper, writing must be stilted, literal, and driven by specious legal or technical precautions,
then yes, I suppose the answer was improper. (But that’s what we love about the Q&A.)
Q. In the sentence “I thought more people would be interested in knowing what happened to XXX, but I see
that his fate, his life, doesn’t seem to bring folks together the way the water did,”
would you use “don’t” instead of “doesn’t”?
Or does that comma after “his life” keep the verb singular? The author will not
tolerate the insertion of “and” between “his life”
and “his fate.”
A. “Doesn’t” is correct, and “and”
would change the meaning of the sentence. “Life” here is a gloss on “fate,”
a parenthetical explanation or extension of it, not an additional item. Your author is right—but you
have left us hanging about the curiously unifying properties of this water.
Q. Hello, CMOS Gurus—I cannot seem to locate the rule that proves (or disproves, I guess) the following to be correct:
More than 28 million pounds of scrap is reclaimed every year. I thought that units of measurement or money took a singular
verb, not plural (such as, three million dollars is a lot, or five miles is a long way). Are there other quantities that this
applies to (such as years)? Or am I wrong entirely and should all three of my examples above take a plural verb? —A
stumped copyeditor
A. For measures or money or any other quantities, when the items form a whole that isn’t meant to be divided,
use a singular verb, as you have. When items are meant to be individual and countable, use a plural verb: Five hundred million
Twinkies are produced each year. Since your scrap isn’t being reclaimed one pound at a time, “is”
is the right choice.
Q. Dear CMOS Editor: In my technical publications work group, we have a difference in approach about using the verbs “to
type” and “to enter” when instructing a reader to provide
data to a computer screen interface. “Typed” data is “entered”
to the computer by clicking a named control button such as “OK.” Should a reader
be instructed “Type your password and click OK” or “Enter
your password and click OK”? The Microsoft Manual of Style indicates that “enter” should not be used as a synonym for “type.”
I would appreciate the editing perspective of CMOS.
A. In computer software manuals it might make sense to restrict how a word like “enter”
is used, but I’m afraid CMOS must remain flexible.
Q. Oath of Office. Who was grammatically correct, President Obama or Chief Justice Roberts? Should faithfully as an adverb come at the end of the sentence or after execute? Or is the oath correctly written with faithfully as an adjective before execute?
A. English is relatively fluid with the placement of adverbs, so there are plenty of correct ways to fit faithfully into that sentence, including both of these. In fact, the number of choices makes it harder to remember the traditional word
order—and easier to flub.
Q. My daughter is filling out a college application that tells her to “write a brief answer (150 words
or less) to both of the following questions.” The two questions are unrelated. We’re wondering
whether to read that as “write 150 or less on each of the questions” or “write 150 words or less on both questions together.”
A. If the wording were each instead of both, the meaning would be clear, but strictly interpreted, the application asks for a single answer that covers both questions.
Given that the questions are unrelated, however, I think the intended meaning is that you should answer both questions, using
up to 150 words for each. (That is, your daughter should. I’m sure that’s what
you meant.)