Grammar Grabbers - Uncategoriza ... Bill?

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Be Gender Neutral

. . . No, make that . . . . . . Oh, the heck with it!
It's not acceptable to many people for one gender to be singled out if you are speaking in general terms, e.g., "everyone has his own opinions". Using "s/he" and especially "his / her" can be awkward. Here are some ways to work around this problem:

Replace pronouns with articles ("a" in the following example). Instead of Each user must enter her password, write Each user must enter a password.

Use plurals in place of singular forms. Instead of Each clerk must file his report , write Clerks must file their reports.

Rewrite the sentence to avoid a gender-specific pronoun. Instead of Every customer deserves the most courteous service we can give him, write Every customer deserves our most courteous service.

Delete pronoun(s) entirely. Instead of The user expects customer support to solve his / her problems, write The user expects customer support to solve problems.

Use "who" with or without a noun. Instead of If a user calls for support, she must pay for the call, write A user who calls for support must pay for the call.

As a last resort, repeat the noun. Instead of Always do your best for the customer, no matter who s/he is, write Always do your best for the customer no matter who the customer is. ("Bill, you have to stop ending your sentences with prepositions." "Yes, you're right; that's something I must look into." [hee, hee, hee] )

Get Your Message Across

It's so easy to fall into the trap of clearly knowing what you want to communicate, but then unintentionally writing something that confuses your reader. Here are are some examples of unintended confusion:

"Mary told Joan that she had just been promoted." Ahhh, but which one got the promotion? Rewrite as: "As soon as Mary was promoted, she told Joan."

"I'm going to take up baseball. They make good money." Baseballs don't make money; players do. Change "they" to "the players" or rewrite the sentence.

"The aim of business plans are to define a path to success." The verb "are" is trying to agree with the wrong word. It should be "The aim . . . is to . . .".

"When 10 years old, my grandmother told me stories about our family history." Actually, I'm more interested in the story of a 10-year-old grandmother. The obvious correction: "When I was 10 years old, my grandmother told me . . .".

"It tells about the Roman Empire in this book" and "they all play hockey in Canada". Same old problem: the pronouns "it" and "they" have no antecedents. Rewrite as: "this book describes the Roman Empire" and "all Canadians play hockey" (I'm only saying this so I won't disillusion my American readers.)

You Have To "Proof" It To Me

Typos and other errors in a report or published document can destroy the credibility of otherwise perfect text. Sometimes these oversights change entire meanings, with disastrous consequences. Typos are pesky little devils. But don't worry. If you don't spot them before you "go to press", there's always someone nice enough to point out your errors.

Here are some techniques to increase your proofreading efficiency:

Focus on each word and each letter in a word (this won't slow you down as much as you think).

You might instead read your text backwards. That also helps you focus on each word because it is no longer in the context of a sentence.

Remember to proofread captions and headings that "hide" off to the side or at the top of your document.

Use an opaque ruler to block lines other than the one you're reading.

Have someone read a photocopy while you proofread the original of a page. (This one will get you into trouble during electrical States of Emergency or with corporate cost-cutting inquisitions.) Ensure the reader clarifies or repeats important or potentially confusing text, e.g., names, numbers, homonyms like "two" and "too".

Proofread a hard-copy printout, not off your monitor screen (it gives your eyes a break, too). Remember, software with Spell Check catches spelling errors, not legitimate words used incorrectly. What about computerized Grammar Check? Well, look closely at what it says is supposedly wrong or inappropriate. Also, read your "final" text very carefully to see what it's missed. Some Grammar Check tools are not very thorough . . . not surprising when you consider knowledgeable grammarians do not always them.

"Proofread" your document's structure and appearance, e.g., spacing, margins, illustrations. Turning the page upside down eliminates the distraction of text.

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