The Grammar Doctor's Tip Archive Page 7

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TIPS FOR JANUARY 2002

The correct form is “anyway.” Using “anyways” rather than “anyway” is worse than similar usages, including saying “towards” rather than “toward.”
Don’t punctuate a sentence like this with a question mark: “I wonder whether the Miami Hurricanes will avoid the upset curse when they play Nebraska in the Rose Bowl.” Regardless of the fact that a question is implied, the grammatical form of the sentence is declarative, not interrogative.
Do not use different forms of the same word as the subject and verb in a sentence. For example, don’t say or write, “The basic concept . . . was conceived.” In this context, the mistake could be corrected by changing “concept” to “method.”
Note the preposition in all caps that many people tend to omit: “Several logs OF between 3 inches and 6 inches in diameter were used to build the campfire.”
There is a growing tendency not to use some pairs of words correctly, including “from”/“to” and “between”/“and.” In other words, don’t use the pair “between”/“to” rather than “between”/“and.” You don’t have a choice in this matter. You have to say, “Between 200 and 300 people are expected to attend,” not “Between 200 to 300 people are expected to attend.”

TIPS FOR FEBRUARY 2002

When “however” introduces a main clause, it is always followed by a comma. I used to teach that this is the only word of this type that requires a comma (for example, commas after “then” and “therefore” are optional), but I have discovered that “moreover” never appears without a comma. Example: “My heart is broken; moreover, I am about to go broke.”
Speaking of “however,” it has two uses. The common one is as a conjunctive adverb that shows a contrast. Example: “I had hoped to be at your house by 5 p.m.; however, the storm changed all that.” The second use is as a subordinate conjunction introducing a dependent clause. Example: “However you do it, just make sure you finish by the end of the week.” What’s the difference? The first type is set off by a comma or commas, and it can be omitted. The second is grammatically necessary and is never set off.
Many, though not all, long introductory adverbs that begin sentences are set off by commas. For example: “Unfortunately, the bridge was not completed on time and on budget” but “Usually we go out to dinner after church on Sundays.” (How do you know the difference? Just listen for the pause after the adverb. If it’s there, use a comma.)
Mnemonic devices can sometimes help you remember grammar, punctuation, or spelling rules. Here’s one even children are taught: “Separate” is often misspelled “seperate.” They remember that it’s spelled “separate” by seeing that there’s A RAT in the middle.
Here’s another. You can use a mnemonic device to remember never to put a negative (such as “never,” “no,” and “not”) after the infinitive “to.” In other words, never say, “He knows to not raid the cookie jar.” How to remember? Just use the model from Shakespeare: “To be or not to be” (instead of “to be or to not be”).

TIPS FOR MARCH 2002

Each of the tips this month will focus on dashes. Let’s look first at consistency—using either “en” or “em” dashes between most words. There is no national standard. As you see in the previous sentence, I have used the longer “em” dash. Some magazines and other publications use the shorter “en” dash (? rather than —) in this context. Take your pick—and be consistent.
A second style matter is whether to put spaces before and after dashes. As you can see by the example above, I have chosen not to use spaces. Again, the key issue is consistency.
A more important issue is that if there are two dashes in a sentence, the rest of the sentence has to make sense if what’s between the dashes is deleted. Good example (from Time magazine): “There are few dominant teams in the NFL this year—only the St. Louis Rams have a better record—so the Bears stand a good chance to advance.” Here’s the sentence with the interrupting material deleted: “There are few dominant teams in the NFL this year, so the Bears stand a good chance to advance.”

Bad example (which I took from a good sentence in Time but repunctuated to make it wrong): “Light on star power, the Bears do not at first look—or second look, either—for that matter, scream championship material.” Here’s the original: “Light on star power, the Bears do not at first look—or second look, either, for that matter—scream championship material.”

Why is the original sentence confusing? Because “for that matter” is a logical part of the material between the dashes, and thus the sentence doesn’t work when this phrase is placed in the main part of the sentence.
Another sentence from the same article demonstrates the trap that many writers fall into: “That patient philosophy—and the magic of big playmaking—is paying off.” What’s the problem? The words between the dashes are part of the subject, so the verb should be “are” rather than “is.” Dashes are not like parentheses: the words between parentheses are not part of the subject.
Speaking of parentheses, think of these in relation to a problem with dashes. One rule for dashes is that there can’t be three in a sentence—just as there can’t be three parentheses. Case in point: “Our experience with your industry—and the research we have conducted—not to mention our work with related industries—have given us great insight into the problems your company faces.” See what I mean? I would change the the first dash to a comma.

TIPS FOR APRIL 2002

I can¹t resist using some terrible examples of misspellings—or mixing up of similar words—that I found when editing a novel recently. Some were pretty common, such as writing your instead of you're. You're means you are, so if you are works in a given sentence, the contraction you're is fine. Otherwise use your. You don¹t have to be a grammar whiz to get this right.
Aboard and abroad were confused by the budding novelist. At first I thought it was a typo, like typing form instead of from, but the gentleman did it every time. (He meant to write aboard, but always spelled it abroad.) I have no advice for this writer except to listen and be aware of the possibility of reversing letters and still having a real word.
Ever and every were confused as well. Actually, the novelist wrote every when he meant ever. For example, "She's been in a bad mood every (should be ever) since her candidate lost the election." This is a common mistake. The surprising thing is that the error doesn¹t happen the other way around, since sloppiness leads to incorrect pronunciations such as ever time.
Alone is often written when along is proper, and this novelist fell into the trap. Incorrect example: "We don¹t get alone very well."
Past and passed are often confused, and the novelist was no exception. Passed is a verb ("I passed the SAT with flying colors") or a verbal adjective ("The catcher was guilty of a passed ball. The pitcher wasn¹t charged with a wild pitch.")

Past can be a noun or an adjective. Noun: "She lives in the past." Adjective: "In a past life he was a Roman gladiator."

TIPS FOR AUGUST 2002

Using an acronym in second and further references to an item doesn¹t mean that it should be capitalized. If, for example, you want to use WTP as an acronym for "water treatment plant," this phrase is still lowercased because it is merely a description, not the name of a specific place.
When should you use single rather than double quotation marks? The answer, except for headlines in newspapers and magazines, is that single quotes are used to set off a group of words surrounded by double quotation marks.

Example: "Women," she said, "still believe that the 'glass ceiling syndrome' is keeping them from ascending the corporate ladder as often and as quickly as they should."
A similar kind of issue involves the placement of brackets and parentheses. The standard approach, taken from mathematics, is to use brackets to set off a group of words which contain an internal set of parentheses. Always start with parentheses, then add brackets to enclose larger parts of texts.

Example: "We have concluded our current research [in which we focused on the behavior of laboratory-bred mice (especially those which have exhibited signs of schizophrenia)] and plan to publish the results in professional journals." Note: Commas and other marks of punctuation could¹ve been used in this example. Consider this sentence as just an example of the protocol that must be followed.
There is a growing tendency to overuse quotation marks to set off common idioms. Don¹t try this at home or at the office! Incorrect example: Remember that "the devil is in the details." No special treatment is required.
Another mistake is the tendency to use both quotation marks and hyphens to show that a phrase is functioning as a single entity. In the following sentence, both quotation marks and hyphens are used: He often demonstrates a "holier-than-thou" attitude. Either approach is fine; using both is overkill.

TIPS FOR SEPTEMBER 2002

You'd think that a novelist would know the difference between a statement and a question and punctuate accordingly. Not so for the author of a mystery novel I recently read. Here's one example: "What if the police find out." When a question mark was needed, the novelist used a period.
Here's the opposite problem in the same novel: "I don¹t guess he's confessed yet?" The writer could've written, "I don't guess he's confessed yet, has he?" Be careful in sentences similar to these that begin with "I wonder." That will begin a statement, even though wondering suggests a question.
Introductory "-ing" (participial) phrases are always set off by commas. For example, you should write, "Filling a teakettle, she put it on the burner."
Avoid overuse of commas. For example, in the sentence "Rolling her eyes, she hissed, dramatically, at his retort." Don't be tempted to separate adverbs like "dramatically" from the rest of the sentence.
Watch out for misplaced modifiers, as in this example: "Charles left the house the night Mr. Martin was murdered with this briefcase." As written, this sentence implies that the briefcase was the murder weapon, but it wasn't. It should have been written this way: "Charles left the house with this briefcase the night Mr. Martin was murdered." It's all a matter of placement, isn't it?
Remember the difference between comparatives and superlatives. The following sentence has a very unusual error: "The worse had come following the funeral service." "Worse" should of course be "worst." In this context the superlative "worst" is the only possible choice. (By the way, this was not a typo in the novel I've taken these examples from. The novelist made the mistake more than once.)

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