I saw this sign at a local car wash and it reminded me of Guest Blogger Kerie Trindle Byrne’s article “Is Good Grammar Old-Fashion or Old-Fashioned?” The sign is advertising what seems to be a valid service except I’m pretty sure they are advertising a gentleman with a stool and a polishing cloth, which is an “old-fashioned” shoe shine.
Driving down a main Phoenix street the other day and this caught my eye. Probably because a family member lives in Albuquerque so I actually use it more than usual and have to say it in my head by syllable to get it right, but obviously the sign painter for this local bus company didn’t pronounce the syllables correctly.
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Since it’s the season of graduations, I thought it appropriate to talk about how to use academic degrees and professional designations.
Typically, abbreviations of academic degrees are written with periods after each element of the degree:
The term “MBA” is commonly written without periods when talking about an executive with certain training rather than the degree itself. The degree is still “M.B.A.” with the periods.
When using the degree as part of the name, do not use personal titles before the name and only use the degree when using a person’s full name:
However, other titles may precede the name when they do not convey the same meaning as the degree that follows the name:
When two or more academic degrees follow a name, they should be listed in the order they were awarded and honorary degrees should follow earned degrees.
Professional designations are generally written without periods when used alone, but with periods when used with academic degrees:
List professional designations only where one’s professional qualifications are relevant to the topic under discussion. I take this to mean that when you have worked hard to earn professional certifications, they should be used whenever you are representing your profession.
This is particularly appropriate as we have a heat advisory here in Phoenix for tomorrow and they expect it to be near record heat at 111. THAT is stinky weather!
Make sure you check ALL parts of an email before you send it. And make sure your autosignature is correct! This was in an email I received from local counsel’s office–more than once. I finally told this person so we’ll see if it is changed in the next email or if I just offended them.
Copyright: alexmillos / 123RF Stock Photo
There is some confusion over when to capitalize personal titles. Here are the “rules”:
To determine whether it is an official title as opposed to an occupational title, decide if you can use the title with just the last name. You would not say “Lawyer Jones,” “Director of Marketing Smith,” etc. Do not use a title before a person’s name unless it is short and you would actually say the title when you address that person. For instance, you might say Professor Allen, but you would not say Professor of Literary Arts Allen. Instead, that sentence would start “Sue Allen, professor of literary arts, . . .”
However, when that title is for a high-ranking national, state, or international official and follows or replaces the personal name, it is capitalized:
Modern usage is even changing parts of this rule. Some sources now recommend that these titles not be capitalized when they follow or replace a proper name of a high-ranking official as in “The queen will visit the prime minister of Australia during her visit there.” If you will use this style, remember to give both officials the same treatment so that “queen” and “prime minister” are both not capitalized. The same rule applies when using two high-ranking officials with their position and name, i.e. “Queen Elizabeth will meet with President Obama in Washington, D.C.” NOT “Queen Elizabeth will meet with the president.” Just use equal treatment.
HOWEVER, because of the special position of the President of the United States, that title is always capitalized even when used as a general term of classification
In a letter’s inside address, writer’s signature block, envelope, and on business cards, the titles are ALWAYS capitalized whether they are before or after the proper name.
I hope this helps clear up some confusion in using personal titles correctly.
I rarely watch commercials–either I’m watching TV from a DVR or I am doing something else while commercials are on, but I caught this local bedding store ad yesterday during the news and had to use it here. I’ve heard of “Clearance Priced” but not “Clearanced Priced.” I’m sure they paid a lot of money for this advertisement to air multiple times, including on the local news program, so these kinds of errors are just plain embarrassing!
There’s a time for placeholders in a draft document–but there’s also a time to remove placeholders and add the final language. This newspaper apparently missed that lesson.
Copyright: alexmillos / 123RF Stock Photo
As we’ve learned before, a verb must always agree in number and person with the subject. See Singular Verb, Plural Subject, Both . . . and, It’s All About the Agreement. But what if the “person” is an entity? Do you then use a singular or plural verb?
Typically, if you are talking about the entity as a unit, you use singular verb:
If the entity is a company, it is usually treated as a unit. Just be sure that you carry the treatment as singular or plural every time you are talking about that entity. For instance:
If you are want to emphasize that the members of the entity are acting independently, then a plural verb is correct:
To help figure it out, replace the entity with “it” and replace members of the entity with “they” to make sure you are using the right verb. Using the examples above, replace the entity with the word in parenthesis to see how it works:
Hopefully that was useful to you. If it was, please share this post so others can be as smart as you are!
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