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TIPS FOR JANUARY 1999

• Capitalization has gone crazy–actually, miscapitalizing has gone crazy. Remember that the seasons are not capitalized unless they're part of a proper noun–e.g., write "I love Paris in the springtime."

• To make the comparative forms of one-syllable words, add "-er" and "-est" rather than using the words "more" and "most." Examples: "purer" and "purest," not "more pure" and "most pure."

• Remember that "e.g." means "for example," whereas "i.e." means "in other words." The common error is to write "i.e." when "e.g." is called for.

• Words like "variety," "selection," and "group," if used as subjects, take singular verbs. Called collective nouns, they are obviously singular and have obvious plural forms. Other common collective nouns include "team," "class," and "jury." There's an interesting subrule that will be covered another time.

• A contrasting element is usually separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma. Example: Ice cream is meant to be eaten slowly, not gulped. Listen for the pause in your voice to tell you where the pause occurs.

TIPS FOR FEBRUARY 1999

• Titles of books, plays, and magazines are italicized in sentences.
  The rule of thumb: the longer the written work, the more likely it is to
  be italicized rather than put in quotation marks.

• Speaking of quotation marks, use them infrequently to place special
  emphasis on a word or phrase or to single out a word or phrase used in
  an unusual sense. Most idioms, for example, are easily recognized and
  call for no special treatment. It's fine to write, "Don't use the 'just
  scream no' approach." "Just scream no" is used in an unusual grammatical
  sense. By contrast, there's no need for quotation marks in a sentence
  like the following: "All he did was give us lip service." The idiom (lip
  service) is common and needs no special treatment.

• You may have noticed the single and double quotation marks in the
  above tip (in the sentence "Don't use the 'just scream no' approach").
  Pairs of single quotation marks are used as needed within double
  quotation marks.

TIPS FOR MARCH 1999

• The word "infer" is often misused as synonymous with "imply". The short way to remember when to use "imply" is that the speaker or writer implies (suggests); the hearer or reader infers (concludes). For example: The lawyer implied that the witness was lying; the jury inferred that the witness's testimony was suspect.

• A recurring ad in Time magazine features this headline: "Out damn plaque." A cute parody of Lady Macbeth's famous line, perhaps, but missing a key comma that Shakespeare got right. It should read, of course, "Out, damn plaque." When speaking to something–whether present or absent, abstract or concrete–the thing or person named (the noun of direct address) is separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

• A radio ad describing a rug sale includes this confusing sentence: "A world of treasures lay at your feet." It took awhile for me to figure out the drift, but I've concluded that the ad writer used "lay" where "lies" was called for. In other words, present tense, not past, was the writer's intent. As the latter sentence was originally written, the verb is past tense ("lay" is the past tense of "lie"–very confusing!).

• This is not quite the usual problem people have with "lie" and "lay," Usually, people say "Lay down" to their dogs instead of "lie" in a present-tense situation. Remember that "lie" doesn't take a direct object; "lay" does. ("Please lay the packages on the counter" has a direct object, "packages"; "A world of treasures lies at your feet" has no object of the verb.)

• Also on the subject of verbs, note that "insure" is to be used only when referring to insurance. All other contexts call for "ensure," meaning "to make sure."

• Avoid using pairs of words joined by "and" that have essentially the same meaning or that can be rewritten to eliminate the "and." For example: "each and every," "tried and true," "far and away," "by and large," "various and sundry," and "lo and behold." (To tell the truth, I'd avoid writing "lo and behold," anyway, especially in business writing. It means something akin to "hark" and is an outmoded way of providing emphasis.)

TIPS FOR APRIL 1999

• A phrase beginning with "including," which usually appears at the end of a sentence, is almost always set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma. Example: "Provide a detailed explanation, including projected costs and schedule."

• Generally speaking, do not use the ampersand (&) in text. Use it only when it's part of an official name or when space is at a premium in a chart, graph, etc.

• Contrary to what many people have been taught, it is perfectly acceptable to split an infinitive. (An infinitive is "to" plus a verb form.) Example: "It is possible to completely separate the wheat from the chaff." The word "completely" splits "to" and "separate." However, do not split an infinitive with a negative, as in the sentence "Remember not to split infinitives with a negative" (not "Remember to not split. . . .").

• As in all languages, there are many idiomatic constructions in English that have to be memorized. For example, the correct phrasing is "compatible with" rather than "compatible to." One that natives always get right — but those whose first language is not English struggle with — is that we get "on a bus" but "in a car."

TIPS FOR MAY 1999

• Sometimes, but not always, a comma is needed before a prepositional phrase beginning with "from" at the end of a sentence. In the sentence "The manager's role has changed significantly, from that of an overseer to a more collaborative relationship with team members," a comma is needed, but not in the sentence "The band will practice from 10:00 a.m. till noon." The difference is that in the latter sentence, the phrase beginning with "from" modifies the verb "will practice." In the first sentence, the phrase beginning with "from" could be described as a sentence modifier.

• Most of the time, the words "or not" are useless after the word "whether," as in the sentence "I can't tell whether or not the coast is clear." The sentence is perfectly clear without "or not." However, in the following sentence, "or not" is grammatically necessary: "The goal is to ensure that all participants benefit from the workshop— whether or not they attend all sessions."

• Never use more than one set of dashes in a sentence—it's very confusing. Following is an example of what NOT to do: "Through ongoing dialogue, the supervisor provides information—on both emotions and facts—to his subordinates and receives feedback—both emotional and factual—from them.

• It is generally a good idea to distinguish between "further" and "farther." "Farther" refers to physical distance ("Chicago is farther from New York than it is from Detroit"). "Further" is appropriate in other contexts, as in the sentence "Let's discuss this matter further tomorrow."

• "A lot" is always written as two words. Many people write it as one word, perhaps because of words like "among," "about," and "along." As a subject, "a lot" is plural when it refers to a plural word ("A lot of people are waiting in line"), but it is singular when it refers to a singular word ("A lot of information was lost when the computer crashed").

TIPS FOR JUNE 1999

• If you create a unique phrase (usually long) that modifies a noun, you should put it in quotation marks or hyphenate it—but not both. Example: Don't use the "just scream no" approach—or Don't use the just-scream-no approach. Not this: Don't use the "just-scream-no" approach.

• Do not use a long string of nouns as adjectives to modify another noun. Example: To meet the risk management plan communications requirements, the company has assembled a top-notch communications team. "Risk management plan communications requirements," the unit in question, has four noun modifiers in front of "requirements." Rewrite: To meet the communications requirements of the risk management plan. . . ." This approach breaks up the long phrase and is thus much easier to follow.

• One of the worst errors in writing (in my view) is confusing "it's" and "its." "It's" is always and only a contraction of "it is." "Its" is a possessive like "his," "theirs," etc. (e.g., "The company revised its policies"). To determine which one to use, simply substitute "it is." If it works, "it's" is correct; if not, then use "its." P.S. There is no such word as "its'."

• The word "only" should be placed immediately before the word it modifies. In speech, we rarely pay attention to this rule. In writing, we should. Example: "The chairman was given only one week to come up with a plan" (not "The chairman was only given one week to come up with a plan"). "Only" clearly emphasizes "one week."

• Lowercase "east," "west," "north," "south," and similar words when they refer to directions on the compass, such as "We live 90 miles east of downtown San Francisco" or "They traveled westward until they ran out of gas." Capitalize these words only when they are part of a specific geographical designation (e.g., "The tornado hit several small towns in West Texas and one in North Central Texas").