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Confused? Let’s Choose to Show We Chose the Right Word.

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I keep seeing the same mistakes over and over with misusing words that are similarly spelled or are forms of other words and cause confusion.  I’ll try to make it more clear to make it easier to choose the right word.

Accept and Except – accept is to take or receive; except is to exclude.

  • She was able to accept the package for Jim. (She was able to RECEIVE the package)
  • Everyone was invited except Joe. (Joe was EXCLUDED from the invitation.)

Affect and Effect – affect is to influence or to change; effect is the result or impression or to bring about.

  • The habit of coming in late had an affect on Sally’s raise this year. (Sally’s habit of coming in late INFLUENCED her raise.)
  • The effect of the rain was a beautiful rainbow and also several accidents on the rush hour drive home. (The beautiful rainbow and the accidents were the RESULT OF the rain.)

Choose and Chose – choose means to select; chose means you have already selected.

  • She will choose her car based on its color. (She will MAKE her selection of car based on color.)
  • She chose the red car. (She already MADE the selection of the red car.)

Ensure and Insure – ensure means to make certain; insure means to protect against loss.

  • He wanted to ensure the job was done correctly. (He wanted to MAKE CERTAIN the job was done correctly.)
  • She was able to insure her sports car. (She PROTECTED her sports car.)

Gibe and Jibe – gibe means a sarcastic remark or to scoff at; jibe means to agree.

  • The gibe about her hair color was hurtful. (The SARCASTIC REMARK about her hair color was hurtful.)
  • The figures didn’t jibe between the checking account and the accounting system. (The figures didn’t AGREE between the checking account and the accounting system.)

Its and It’s – its is the possessive form of it; it’s is the contraction for it is or it has. This is particularly confusing because most possessive forms use the apostrophe, but just remember if you cannot replace your word with “it is,” then you use “its.”

  • The dog chewed up its collar. (The collar BELONGED to the dog.)
  • It’s the third collar they had to buy the puppy. (IT IS the third collar.)

Know and No – know means to understand; no means not any.

  • I now know the correct usage of it’s. (I UNDERSTAND the correct usage of it’s.)
  • He has no money to go on vacation. (He does NOT HAVE ANY money to go on vacation.)

Loose and Lose – loose means not bound or to release; lose means to suffer the loss of.

  • The dog got loose from its leash and ran out of the yard. (The dog is NOT BOUND by its leash.)
  • She was afraid she would lose her dog once it got loose. (Now that the dog is loose, she may SUFFER THE LOSS OF the dog if he does not come home.)

Their and There – their means belonging to them; there means in that place.

  • Their house is the nicest on the block. (The house BELONGING TO THEM is the nicest on the block.)
  • The car is there in the driveway. (The car is IN THAT PLACE in the driveway.)

Your and You’re – your means that it belongs to you; you’re is the contraction for you are. This one is misused by most of the people I see on Facebook who are teens or preteens and even some young adults and makes me question how they are teaching this in school.

  • I thought you said my phone was in your purse? (The purse BELONGS to you.)
  • You’re going to the movies tonight, aren’t you? (YOU ARE going to the movies.)

I will have to print this list out for my grandchildren so I don’t get the urge to comment on their Facebook status to change it for them.

I hope the some of the confusion is cleared up. Are there words that are confusing to you? Comment below or email me at [email protected].

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Possessives with Personal Titles

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A friend recently forwarded me a question about the first sentence in a brief for a state Court of Appeals that they wanted to make sure was correct.  The sentence was (which I have changed to protect her client):

  • In 2006 Mr. Smith did not dispute the facts set forth in Jim Jones’, Esq. opinion letter which established the sale of the business was XXX.

There is nothing specifically on point in the Gregg Reference Manual, but I did find a couple of places on the Internet where the question was answered with the example of “M.D.” In that case, for singular possession, you add “s” after the apostrophe, i.e., Jim Jones, M.D.’s diagnosis. The most prevalent use of what would be “Jim Jones, Esq.’s” is on LinkedIn–certainly not an expert in the grammar area–but makes the most sense and follows the example for M.D. I think the proper sentence would be:

  • In 2006 Mr. Smith did not dispute the facts set forth in Jim Jones, Esq.’s opinion letter which established the seller of the business was XXX.

The easiest answer is to reword the sentence:

  • In 2006 Mr. Smith did not dispute the facts set forth in attorney Jim Jones’ opinion letter which established the seller of the business was XXX.

OR

  • In 2006 Mr. Smith did not dispute the facts set forth in the opinion letter of Jim Jones, Esq. which established the seller of the business was XXX.

It was a great question and something that at first blush seems simple, but when you really think about it, it wasn’t quite so easy.

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Anniversary

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Today is the one year anniversary of the Proof That Proofreading Blog! Thanks for all the support! Here’s a Grammar Giggle about the importance of punctuation.

I’m not the easiest guy in the world to get along with. So when our anniversary rolled around, I wanted my wife to know how much I appreciated her tolerating me for the past 20 years. I ordered flowers and told the florist to enclose a card that read, “Thanks for putting up with me so long.”

When my wife got the delivery, she called me at work.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” I said.

She read the card aloud as the florist had written it: “Thanks for putting up with me. So long.”

—George Arnold, Melbourne, Florida

Read more: http://www.rd.com/jokes/funny/funny-stories/typo-through-the-tupils/#ixzz2dlt1srkO

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“The Paralegal Voice” Podcast!

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I was recently invited to be a guest on The Paralegal Voice podcast on the Legal Talk Network.  Here is the promotional information about that interview and a link to the actual podcast:

Paralegal Proofreading Tips Podcast 

Kathy Albrecht Sieckman, PP, PLS, ACP was invited to be a guest on The Paralegal Voice. Hosted by Paralegal Mentor Vicki Voisin, the Legal Talk Network program discusses industry-relevant topics with leading professionals to cultivate paralegal-career development and success. Kathy was invited to discuss accurate proofreading catered specifically to paralegals and legal support staff.

Listen here: Paralegal Proofreading Tips

“I know proofreading is important to you,” Voisin said, “and I’d like to know what event lead to your becoming an expert on proofreading for legal professionals.” Studying for Sieckman’s certification exam, she became attuned to the plethora of grammatical errors that can vitiate legal documents. “Now I notice things in newspapers, billboards, and the local news,” Sieckman said, “I’m actually surprised how much local news has errors.” She has a Grammar Giggles section in her blog where she posts blatant errors, such as a “Parent Dorp Off” sign outside of an elementary school.

“Proofreading is difficult. Sometimes people expect things to be right,” Voisin said, which can cause them to graze over errors. So tell us why proofreading is so important in your daily life and as a paralegal, she asked. “Attorneys have read their work so many times, they know what it’s supposed to say,” Sieckman explained, “which isn’t necessarily what shows up on paper.” Again, this is another reason authors tend to graze over errors and the reality is, “judges really don’t have time to read error-filled documents,” Sieckman said. Additionally, no paralegal wants to be responsible for a document permeated with typos. “No, you don’t want your document, or motion, to be thrown out by the judge,” Voisin agreed.

So what issues do you frequently see? she asked, and how do you eradicate them? “Everything has to be accurate,” Sieckman began, “or it can completely change your case . . .”

Tune in to Paralegal Proofreading Tips to hear Voisin and Sieckman cover common errors and solutions to proofreading for paralegals.

 

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Nonessential Phrases, and Subsequently, Commas Setting Them Off Are Often Misused.

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4212122_sFor some reason, I’ve been seeing this issue a lot lately–the comma with the word “and.” A basic rule with commas is their use to set off nonessential phrases. Unfortunately, for some reason, people think that a comma always belongs before the word “and.” Note this example:

  • The information is collected and analyzed and will be used to develop resources to strengthen other departments, and ultimately, our ability to work as a cohesive team.

 

Do you see the problem? When you take out the nonessential phrase set off by commas “and ultimately,” the sentence doesn’t make sense:

  • The information is collected and analyzed and will be used to develop resources to strengthen other departments our ability to work as a cohesive team.

 

So in reality “and ultimately” is NOT a nonessential phrase, only “ultimately” is:

  • The information is collected and analyzed and will be used to develop resources to strengthen other departments and our ability to work as a cohesive team.

 

Thus, the commas should be around the word “ultimately” ONLY.

Here is another example:

  • . . . defend and indemnify XYZ Corporation in the Litigation and/or settle the Litigation on XYZ Corporation’s behalf, and if so, whether ABC Corporation breached that contract.

 

Again, if you take out what appears to be the nonessential phrase because it is set off by commas, it doesn’t make sense:

  • . . . defend and indemnify XYZ Corporation in the Litigation and/or settle the Litigation on XYZ Corporation’s behalf whether ABC Corporation breached that contract.

 

So the true intent was to set off “if so” as the nonessential phrase:

  • . . . defend and indemnify XYZ Corporation in the Litigation and/or settle the Litigation on XYZ Corporation’s behalf and whether ABC Corporation breached that contract.

 

The correct use of commas should be:

  • . . . defend and indemnify XYZ Corporation in the Litigation and/or settle the Litigation on XYZ Corporation’s behalf and, if so, whether ABC corporation breached that contract.

 

The best check while proofreading is to read the sentence without the “nonessential” phrase to see if it is truly nonessential. That should be your clue as to whether commas are needed and, if so, where they should be correctly placed.

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