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Better English 101
Tips For Communicating Better
Vol I, No. 6
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In this issue
-- TO SPLIT OR NOT TO SPLIT?
-- CAN YOU BEGIN A SENTENCE WITH "AND"? WHAT ABOUT "BUT"?
-- BOOKS BOUGHT BUT NOT READ

More Tips, More Examples

Welcome to the first issue of spring. Feel free to write back with questions and comments.

For back issues, please see the archive by clicking on the newsletter quick link below.

TO SPLIT OR NOT TO SPLIT?
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 Maybe William Morris, author of the "Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage," has the best approach about split infinitives: "Proceed with caution but not in fear."

For decades, we were taught to avoid the split infinitive, resulting when you place a word between the infinitive. Instead of "to explain quickly," where the infinitive "to explain" is not interrupted, you might use "to quickly explain" erroneously.

Now, however, we see the rule being dismissed as far too cumbersome. Yet, diehards insist that if splitting the infinitive sounds awkward, you should avoid it.

What to do? First, know what a split infinitive is, then decide if it's used awkwardly. But what is an infinitive? It consists of two words--the word "to" followed by a verb in the present tense. Examples: to run, to kick, to complain, to address.

Here are some examples of recent splittings that could use thoughtful editing--

From the Associated Press: "Federal health officials issued stern new warnings Friday for doctors to more carefully prescribe widely used anemia drugs..."

At the www.networkgeneral.com web site, we have a host of ambitious splits:

"To quickly solve performance problems..."
"To proactively ensure efficient network operations..."
"To effectively plan and manage a complex global network..."

Or maybe you think I'm being too much of a diehard and that these split infinitives should not be challenged.

CAN YOU BEGIN A SENTENCE WITH "AND"? WHAT ABOUT "BUT"?
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 Why not? My intern, a graduate student at a Baltimore university, almost fell off her chair with relief when I assured her that it was perfectly all right.

It's the outdated folklore of usage that insists that you should not begin a sentence with "and" or even "but."

Here's what William Zinsser, of "On Writing Well," says: "Many of us were taught that no sentence should begin with "but." If that's what you learned, unlearn it--there is no stronger word at the start. It announces total contrast with what has gone before, and the reader is primed for the change."

The framers of the Constitution certainly had no bias against the practice:

"But in chusing [sic] the President..."

"And if the House of Representatives shall not choose..."

"But Congress may by a vote..."

"And the Congress may by general laws.."

And almost everybody agrees that you should not add a comma after the word "but" when it begins a sentence.


BOOKS BOUGHT BUT NOT READ
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 Of course I was concerned that the Beckham referred to was yours truly. Believe it or not, David Beckham's autobiography, "My Side," the fastest-selling autobiography of all time in the United Kingdom, was listed number three of nonfiction books not read.

A television news service, Teletext, conducted interviews with 4,000 Brits to discover what books they found hardest to read--and finish. At the top of the fiction list was "Vernon God Little" by DBC Pierre, followed by "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire." Then came "Ulysses" by James Joyce, holding down the third spot, and Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses," placed six.

Back to nonfiction, in the number two spot was President Clinton's 1024-page autobiography, "My Life."

So what's my point? Too long and too complicated make for reader disinterest. Reader disinterest makes for poor communication. The theory isn't limited only to emails, letters, and speeches. So many writers, so many egos getting in the way.

In the next issue, I'll show how arguably the greatest speech in American history is also the shortest.

Best wishes,
Barry Beckham


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