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| Bette Frick
The Text Doctor®
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"I do not like to write -- I like to have written."
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The Text Doctor's Diagnosis
April 2009 |
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Greetings!
Tips in this newsletter will help you be the best writer you can be.
Don't miss the coupon for 20% off your first webinar! |
Sentence fragments are not sentences.
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In my career, I've seen a lot of confusion about sentences in corporate writing. A sentence must have a subject, verb, and a complete thought. Sentence fragments lack one or more of these elements. Writers may create a fragment as an afterthought; the fragment below (in italics) appears to have been generated after the author finished the main sentence:
- It may be better to replace the device. Rather than send a repair person out.
Here's the revised sentence:
- It may be better to replace the device rather than send a repair person out.
Another way that writers create fragments is by using a dependent clause as a separate sentence. A dependent clause has a subject, verb, and complete thought, BUT it starts with a word that makes it dependent on another part of the sentence (after, because, before, even if, while, when, and so on).
- Rory behaved calmly. As though nothing had happened.
Correct this error by linking the dependent clause to the rest of the sentence with a comma:
- Rory behaved calmly, as though nothing had happened.
Fragments are permitted (and often preferred) in the following situations:
- Lists
- Tables
- Forms
- Headings/headlines
- PowerPoint® slides
- E-mail, instant messaging, tweets, texting
- Conversations and other oral communication
- Marketing (flyers, ads, profiles on social networking
Journalists may use fragments to save column space or to affecte a breezy style:
"Those unemployment figures are real. So are the declining house prices. The collapsing consumption. Teetering businesses. China's rumbling that maybe the dollar should be replaced by a global currency as the currency of choice..." Boulder Daily Camera, March 29 2009, p. 7B.
Don't follow their lead when you are writing business or technical text.
If you think you might be creating fragments, send me your suspected sentences/fragments, and I'll give you The Text Doctor's diagnosis!
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Random acts of capitalization
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Capitalization is a style, and styles change. Hundreds of Years Ago, I Would Have Capitalized Almost Every Word in a Text. We call that "upstyle."
Today, we recommend "downstyle," also referred to as "sentence style": Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title, heading/headline, or bullet point. Don't randomly capitalize words because you think they look important. It is distracting and looks unprofessional to have some words with initial caps and other words completely capped:
"We now have a Preliminary BUDGET for the first 12 months, by Month, and Annual forecasting BUDGETS for a total of 5 years. We have started our first month's INCOME Statement. We have estimated our Present NET Worth."
Remember, with capitalization, Less is Best! [I couldn't resist.]
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These are a few of my favorite things: Mimeo |
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No, no, I don't mean those wretched mimeograph machines that used to leave purple ink all over our fingers. I'm referring to the company, Mimeo.com:
I'm using Mimeo to produce and ship all my textbooks now. Printing with them is a bit more expensive than my prior printing solutions, but the quality is much, much better, and ordering online and having my products shipped saves me a huge amount of time. I'd also like to recommend my customer service representative, Armando Quintana. Aside from having that great name, he's the most helpful person I deal with in my business. He'll help you set up your account and walk you through each order until you get comfortable with the system. Reach him at 1-650-393-2605 or aquintana@Mimeo.com. He'll give you $100 off your first order if you mention my name. (Disclaimer: I'm not going to benefit from this offer in any way, but I just want to thank Armando for his great service and share a good printing resource with you.) |
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For fun: IBM jargon dictionary
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The IBM Jargon and General Computing Dictionary is almost 20 years old, but it is still useful. Formatted to look just like a regular dictionary, it is mostly serious and partly hilarious! For example:
I can't resist sharing another one:
And these two examples come from just the first few pages of the IBM dictionary. Enjoy!
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"See" you soon in one of my upcoming webinars. Use the attached coupon to save 20% off any webinar (punctuation, meeting minutes, presentations, and "Data-mining with LinkedIn" for market research and job-hunting, for example).
Sincerely,
Elizabeth (Bette) Frick
The Text Doctor®
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