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Bette Frick
The Text Doctor LLC | |
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| Please forward to a friend or colleague | | |
| Free grammar and punctuation training in 2012 |
Watch this monthly newsletter for these future lessons: - Parallelism
- Misplaced phrases
- Redundant phrases
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| Quote of the Month |
"I'm a rewriter. That's the part I like best . . . once I have a pile of paper to work with, it's like having the pieces of a puzzle. I just have to put the pieces together to make a picture."
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| Yes, I have my own editor | |
Special thanks to my faithful editor, Liz Willis, who improves my newsletter every month. And you may have noticed Liz's input on open versus closed punctuation in the first punctuation article. I am grateful to her (and almost ready to turn over the writing of this newsletter to her)!
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Poll on OPEN style v CLOSED style |
Do you use OPEN or CLOSED style for punctuating bullet points that complete the sentence started in the introductory phrase? Take the poll. |
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| The Text Doctor's Diagnosis
April 2012
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Greetings!
Spring! Winter! Spring! Unsettling weather changes in the Rockies. I hope your weather is not dangerously erratic.
And I hope this April newsletter finds you well and writing well. |
I don't like to write, but
here is how I do it | |
I always startle my students by announcing that I don't like to write. I think they probably assume: Surely a writing teacher must just love to write!
I do not like to write because writing is hard work, including writing this newsletter. But like so many other writers, I love to have written. I also like the fact that through writing, I can deliver helpful information to you every month.
Here's what happened with this month's issue. As soon as I sat down to write it, I immediately had writer's block. As I preach in my classes, one antidote to writer's block is getting compulsive about my task. So I set my timer for one hour; chained myself to my desk (well, not literally); and wrote until the bell went off. Then I rewarded myself by biking to the gym so I could work out.
When I returned to the newsletter the next day, I repeated the "chaining" event and treated myself again when I was done.
Corny? Yes. Effective? Yes. You're reading this newsletter, aren't you? I'll do anything necessary to bribe myself to do what I must. And when your comments and feedback roll in after I publish this newsletter, I'll be glad I made the effort.
Tip: See Quote of the Month, left, for Judy Blume's thoughts on how writing is like a puzzle.
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This month's punctuation lesson:
More on punctuating vertical lists | | |
When is an editor more than an editor? When she becomes a collaborator in writing this newsletter! Thanks to Liz Willis, my editor, I can now offer you more ideas about punctuating vertical lists. Here is Liz's tip as this month's lesson.
When the bullet points complete the sentence started in the introductory phrase, you can use an open or closed punctuation style:
OPEN STYLE
In this module, you will learn how to:
- Create your LinkedIn profile
- Edit your LinkedIn profile
CLOSED STYLE
In this module, you will learn how to:
- Create your LinkedIn profile.
- Edit your LinkedIn profile.
Either style is correct and acceptable. Choose one for your individual writing style, your department's writing style, or your company's writing style, and be consistent!
Please take this poll on your list punctuation style.
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| Results from March's quiz on punctuating vertical lists | | |
The great majority of you capitalized the bulleted items. Three-quarters of you would have added a period to them; those items are imperative sentences, and most respondents wanted to punctuate the items as sentences.
Read the article above this one to see a nuanced approach to punctuating bulleted items. And thanks for taking these quizzes and polls!
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Readers rant
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Bill, a loyal reader, says: "Placing sentence punctuation within quotation marks is silly. If the quoted material does not contain punctuation, it should not be introduced simply to conform to the sentence in which it appears. The Brits have it right!"
I do understand and respect the linguistic logic upon which Bill's argument rests. However, it was the typesetters who adopted the "always inside the closing quotes" rule, probably because establishing consistency meant that they didn't have to stop and analyze each sentence to place the punctuation. I would argue that any time we can automate a punctuation decision (as we do with the serial comma), we save our time and brain cells for more global analysis and thought.
This changed rule is another example of how punctuation styles change. I know that when I was in school, I was taught to punctuate using the British style that Bill refers to (commas and periods appearing outside the closing quotation marks). However, today's style manuals, especially the Gregg Reference Manual (rule 247), all call for commas and periods inside the quotation marks.
Thanks for that rant, Bill! I'll share more readers' rants every month along with my opinion (of course!), so be sure to post in my survey.
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I have a new client who writes press releases on medical research and needs me to use both AP (Associated Press) and AMA style. I am currently compiling a list of the differences between the two styles, and I'm wondering if someone out there has already created such a list they and would like to share and compare. If you have, please contact me. Your input will help us all enhance our knowledge of style manuals and how they differ. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth (Bette) Frick, PhD, ELS
The Text Doctor LLC
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