Avoid the Caps!

Photo Credit | Recite.com

Wayward capitalization is one of my pet peeves.

(Granted, I have made my own share of capitalization mistakes, but it can still be a pet peeve even if I sometimes make that mistake, right?)

When I’m reading along, a Writer who adds capitals to a general noun has my attention. But that Person has received my Attention for the Wrong Reasons. In reality, I’m looking for the next item that is capitalized and forget about the Plot or the Characters or the Author’s Important Information.

Instead, I enjoy reading authors who use a style manual* that suggests lowercasing job titles, especially those with modifiers:

tennis coach John Bee** versus Coach John Bee and definitely not Tennis Coach John Bee

In my experience, capitalization often occurs when the professionals in the sentence request their titles are capitalized. In doing so, the subjects of those sentences are communicating more about themselves and feelings of importance than they are about their knowledge of style.

The capitalization, to me, screams THIS IS IMPORTANT. But with all the caps, it would seem that nothing is important.

Instead, a fictional character should not appear as Badminton Coach Josie Cee*** because badminton is modifying coach. Josie Cee, badminton coach, may be introduced with no less importance, but simply with the proper lowercase style.

Job descriptions are best situated after the subject’s name so the reader may remember the person’s name and not the large letters lurking in front of the name, blocking the reader’s view.

I don’t know why errant capitalization bothers me so much. I just know that I like the smooth lines of lowercase titles. 

Do you like capitalization? Or are you a lowercase-aphile?

Elizabeth King Humphrey, Editor and Writer, lives in Coastal North Carolina. Just kidding! Elizabeth King Humphrey, an editor and writer, lives in coastal North Carolina.

*In my experience, the Associated Press or Chicago styles

** I do not know a John Bee, tennis coach or otherwise. In no way did I mean to disparage any and all capitalized John Bees of the world.

*** I do not know a Josie Cee, badminton coach or otherwise. In no way did I mean to disparage any and all capitalized Josie Cees of the world.

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2 comments capitalization, Chicago Manual of Style, Elizabeth King Humphrey, style guides

A New Style Guide? 5 Reasons (of Many!) to Read It

Photo Credit | EKHumphrey

You may see Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century in the bookstore and dismiss it as just another style guide. Well, it’s not just another style guide. There are many reasons I would recommend this book to writers and editors. Here are my top five: 

1. The Sense of Style is conversational. I’ve read many dense and dry textbooks. (Haven’t we all?) Pinker makes the study of language accessible and, oddly, fun. He writes about grammatical concepts as if he’s explaining them to a relative. His balance of contemporary versus classic writing also reinforces the user-friendliness of the book. (It’s okay if your relative mentions Oedipus occasionally to make a point about sentence structure, but rather tiresome if those are the only examples.) 
2.  The Sense of Style is a visual book. No, it’s not a picture book; however, Pinker uses webs and diagrams and line drawings and nodes to illustrate his approach to writing well. His approach uses these “trees” to tease out how to build strong sentences. If you’ve ever had trouble with grammar, Pinker sympathizes with you, as a writer or reader. The line drawings help to illustrate not only grammar concepts but how confusing other concepts, like sentence diagramming can be. 
3.  Pinker deflates bad advice. Admittedly, I’ve never been a big fan of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style and some other language books. One of the tenets of The Elements of Style—“14. Use the active voice”—most writers can recite in their sleep. Pinker writes early in his book that “Linguistic research as shown that the passive construction has a number of indispensable functions because of the way it engages a reader’s attention and memory.” He is a scientist and has research to reinforce his points on strong language.
4. Pinker embraces the fact that language has changed—and will—change over time. Throughout this guide, Pinker dissects classic and contemporary writing. In doing so, he manages to bring the reader with him on the journey of the changes of our language. He inspects the sentences, twisting them in the light and bringing the spotlight to a phrase or sentence structure. 
5. The Sense of Style has practical reference sections. How do the “purists” believe a word should be used and how is the word commonly used? Or what is the preferred usage of a word versus its problematic usage? Pinker lists some of the ones that trip up many writers and the lists are infinitely useful (and educational!). Along the way, Pinker inserts his humor. For example, in the Comment column he refers to one problematic usage as “Nails on a chalkboard.”

Is there a language book that you've enjoyed and has made you think of language a new way? If so, what book is it?

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer and editor enjoying reading outdoors in the fall weather. She has lately been spending a lot of time with pumpkins and warm drinks.

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3 comments common grammar mistakes, Elizabeth King Humphrey, grammar, language, Steven Pinker, style guides

Give Your Writing a Revision Sweep

For the past week, I've been proofing and correcting articles written by my high school Intro to Journalism students. In most instances, like many professional writers, my students still struggle with the revision process.

"Nothing is perfect the first time," I chime. Are you listening?

Students shake their heads knowingly, but the next draft doesn't improve. What's a teacher - and a writer - to do?

I hand out a "sweep list", highlighters, and an article to each student and have them follow this six-step program. You may find it tightens your storytelling, too.

1. Follow the stylebook. The class uses its own stylebook for formatting, headlinges, grammar and usage, etc. When a writer submits a piece, the publication or publisher expects you to follow certain rules. For example, when I write for the newspaper, I'm expected to follow the AP Stylebook. When I submit poetry or fiction, many expect the piece to follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Best advice: familiarize yourself with the publication to which you are submitting and get up close and personal with the style guide.


2. Use your grammar text. My preferred text is The Little, Brown Handbook. It's thorough and addresses questions dealing with every aspect of writing.


3. Highlight to be verbs. Too many times, to be verbs indicate passive voice. And even if they don't push a sentence into passive mode, drop the helper verb and push it into a tighter, straightforward, stronger sentence.


4. Avoid pronouns. Pronouns tend to cloud a sentence by making an unclear reference. Make sure each incidence of pronoun use makes sense!


5. Keep dialogue tags simple. Beginning writers like to pepper a quote with flowery dialogue tags. In journalism, the KISS method works best. A simple "said" carries a sentence/quote.


6. Evict adverbs. Writers rely on the -ly words, but in a number of instances, the adverb does not add new information to the piece. Adverb overload slows the timing and rhythm. Use sparingly and for impact.

Revising and strengthening a story doesn't need to be a difficult process. A sweep list may make your nonfiction article or flash fiction piece squeaky clean! Or, at least impress an editor.

by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at http://luannschindler.com.

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1 comment adverb usage, dialogue, dialogue tags, grammar, grammar tips, LuAnn Schindler, pronoun use, revision tool, style guides, to be verbs, writing styles

Condiments for the Writer

Lately, hubby and I have been sharing a car. This means I'm without a car during the day while he goes to work. He just started a new retail business and his days off are few and far between. He leaves at 8 AM and comes back around 10 PM, so regular grocery shopping has been out of the question. For the past couple of weeks, I've been out of condiments--you know, the usual stuff like mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup. Talk about dry sandwiches!

Even worse, my new intern had to forgo hand soap when going to the restroom. After she'd come out, I'd be holding a bottle of Palmolive dish washing liquid and say, "Would you like some of this to wash your hands? Sorry, we're out of...well, everything."

So when I finally got the car, I did some major shopping, and condiments were first on my list. You don't miss the simple things like mayo on bread until you don't have them! The same goes with writing. Without some handy "condiments" it's hard to produce quality writing. It's those little things we take for granted like:

• A Dictionary
• Thesaurus
• Microsoft Word
• Spell check
• Our favorite style guides: Chicago Manual of Style, AP Stylebook
• Our favorite must-have writing books: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, On Writing Well, The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters that Rock
• A comfy office chair

Those are some of my must-haves. Without some of them, my writing would be rather dry (like those sandwiches). So, what are your favorite writing condiments?

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4 comments condiments, must haves for writers, style guides