Category Archives: grammar

Missouri Lawmakers Need To Be More Fiscally And Physically Responsible For Their Grammar

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Missouri Lawmakers Need To Be More Fiscally And Physically Responsible For Their Grammar

You know that a grammar error irritates the heck out of you when you bring a resolution before the State House to change instances commonly used on the floor of the House of an incorrect word–physical–to the correct word–fiscal. Missouri Representative Tracy McCreery did just that. Missouri Law

These two words have VERY different meanings. According to dictionary.com:

  • Physical (among other definitions): of or relating to the body; tending to touch, hug, pat, etc.; requiring, characterized by, or liking rough physical contact or strenuous physical activity 
  • Fiscal: of or relating to the public treasury or revenues; of or relating to financial matters in general.

Obviously on the floor of the House when they are discussing the state’s finances, fiscal is the appropriate word. If they were talking about school physical education issues, it could be either–if it is a money issue, it would still be fiscal issues with the physical education program, and if it were just about the schools’ physical education program itself it would be physical.  Although it seems that perhaps an email could have accomplished the same thing, I’ve got to hand it to Rep. McCreery for making a statement for proper grammar usage.

Email, RSS Follow

Proofreading Matters–At Least It Did To The Victims Of A Potential Cyber Heist!

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Proofreading Matters–At Least It Did To The Victims Of A Potential Cyber Heist!

one-billion-dollar1Do you really think typographical errors don’t matter much? I read an article recently from The Washington Post about a typo that thwarted a $1 billion cyber heist on a Bangladesh bank. It seems that the hackers broke into the Bangladesh central bank’s system in February and stole the credentials necessary to authorize payment transfers. They used the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“FRBNY”) to make nearly three dozen hefty money transfers from the Bangladesh bank’s account with the FRBNY to other overseas financial institutions.

The hackers were able to make four transfers to accounts in the Philippines totaling about $80 million. The fifth request for a transfer of $20 million to an apparently fictitious Sri Lankan nonprofit group was flagged by the routing bank as suspicious because the transfer request said “fandation” rather than “foundation.” When the routing bank asked for confirmation, the Bangladesh bank was able to stop the transaction. The other requests waiting to be processed—totaling $850 million to $870 million—were also stopped.

While it appears there is some finger-pointing going on about who is at fault and threats of international lawsuits, it was a knowledgeable person with obviously good proofreading skills who was paying attention who actually halted a potential $1 billion crime. Proofreading matters!

Email, RSS Follow

Happy National Grammar Day!

By | | , , ,
Comments Off on Happy National Grammar Day!

March 4 is one of my very favorite holidays. It is National Grammar Day! What could be better than that? Although this picture is absolutely correct. In my world, every day IS National Grammar Day.

image1 (8)

According to Wikipedia, the holiday was started in 2008  by Martha Brockenbrough, the author of “Things That Make Us [Sic]” (2008) and founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. In honor of this holiday just made for Proof That proofreading blog, I’ve added a little something I found on the Internet. So go crazy with your Facebook posts and emails and I’ll try not to judge–today. Tomorrow I will be back on the search for good Grammar Giggles!

image2

Email, RSS Follow

Isn’t It Ironic

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Isn’t It Ironic

 

When someone says “I could care less” we should understand that that means that they do care. If they could care less than they do right now, that means they actually care—at least a little bit. This led a blog reader to ask about other ironic phrases that are out there. Here are just a few:

  • “I felt nauseous all afternoon.” That means that you felt like you were causing someone else to throw up on you. If you feel sick, you feel nauseated not nauseous.
  • “The shop was really unique.” Unique means unusual or original and you can’t have degrees of that, so you can just say “The shop was unique.” You wouldn’t say “The shop was a little unique.” or “The shop was a lot unique.” It was unique and that says it all—there is no other shop like it.
  • “She literally couldn’t get out of bed this morning.” The term “literally” means actually and without exaggeration. So “She literally couldn’t get out of bed this morning” means that she was tied or weighted down and could not physically get out of bed because something was impeding her rising. There is some argument out there that because “literally” has been used incorrectly for so long, some dictionaries are now adding a definition as “very nearly or virtually.” I still think we should literally go with the original meaning and quit using “literally” in the wrong context.
  • “Irregardless of the answer, I’m not doing that.” This is one of my pet peeves. “Irregardless” is not a word. The correct word is “regardless.” “Regardless” already means something isn’t worth a regard (“less” any regard) so adding “ir” doesn’t add anything and would perhaps make it mean that it is not worth not being worth a regard, so it is worth a regard. Regardless, quit using “irregardless.”
  • “He perused the driver’s manual before taking the test.” Some will think this means that he skimmed the manual, when in fact “perused” means “to read with thoroughness or care.” So this sentence means that he studied the manual thoroughly.
  • “He left the condo in pristine condition.” Pristine does not mean “as good as new,” it means “having its original purity; uncorrupted or unsullied.” So he didn’t leave the condo in its original purity because he actually lived there. I’m sure he left it in a pretty good condition—just not pristine.
  • “She was nonplussed by the doctor’s report.” “Nonplussed” does not mean you are not worried. It means that you are in a state of utter perplexity, so the sentence “She was nonplussed by the doctor’s report” means that she was confused or didn’t understand the report, not that she was not worried about it.
  • “She was bemused by the jokes being told by her kids.” Actually, this could be correct depending on the definition the reader believes. The correct definition is not “mildly amused,” but is, in fact, “bewildered or confused.” So if she was confused by her kids’ jokes, she was “bemused,” but if she thought they were funny, she was not “bemused,” but was “amused.”
  • “There was a plethora of options in her new car.” Plethora means an overabundance or excess. It does not mean a lot of something as most people believe. So there were not an excess of options in her new car, but there were a lot of options.
  • “There were a myriad of choices for dinner.” No, there were a lot of choices, but “myriad” means “a very great or indefinitely great number of persons or things” or “of an indefinitely great number; innumerable” so “There were myriad people in Kansas City to celebrate the Royals’ World Series victory” not “a myriad of people,” just “myriad [‘a very great number or indefinitely great number of’] people.”
  • “It was ironic that the office was closed on Thanksgiving Day.” No, it’s not. It is expected that the office would be closed on Thanksgiving Day. The term “ironic” means an outcome that is the opposite of what you would expect. However, “It was ironic that she was seated between her ex-husband and her ex-mother-in-law at the rehearsal dinner” is ironic. It is not something you would expect. And certainly not something you would expect from a good hostess.

The biggest lesson here is to learn constantly, read constantly, and be willing to revise what you believe if you learn that it is incorrect.

Email, RSS Follow

Grammar Giggles – Happy Anniversary Proof That Blog!

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Grammar Giggles – Happy Anniversary Proof That Blog!

Proof That Blog is 3 years old! Thank you so much to my regular readers for continuing to read, for referring the blog to others, and for sending me Grammar Giggles you find along the way. Thank you also to those who stumble upon the blog, include links, and check back every now and then. When I started this adventure, I had no idea that three years later there would be over 300 posts with over 26,000 views (OK–maybe 25,000 because we shouldn’t count when I look things up there) from almost every country in the world. Overwhelming? Definitely! Heartwarming? Very definitely! Hopefully Proof That Blog is helping someone and making a few of you giggle. Please don’t hesitate to drop me a note at [email protected] anytime you have a topic idea or find a Grammar Giggle. I love hearing from you! Here’s to many more years of proofreading tips!

Cake

Email, RSS Follow

Acronyms, All Caps, Plurals, and Possessives

By | | , , , , , , ,
Comments Off on Acronyms, All Caps, Plurals, and Possessives

This topic came up recently in my own task of proofreading. If you have an acronym or another all capital letter word, how do you make it plural or possessive? And then once you do, is the added pluralization or possession in all caps or not?

The short answer is that any pluralization or possession is added to the base word, but in this case, it is NOT in all caps:

  • There are never any ATMs around when you need them.
  • ADOT’s signs don’t always help the traffic flow.

There are times where you will need to use an apostrophe to avoid confusion:

  • Her report card had all A’s and B’s.

Here, the “A’s and B’s” are not possessive, but it could be confusing to leave the apostrophe out in “As” as it is a different (and real) word. In this case, the apostrophe in “B’s” is for consistency.

There is some confusion when using abbreviations because making the abbreviations possessive may be different than making the entire original words possessive:

  • The United States’ geography is so varied and interesting.
  • The U.S.’s geography is so varied and interesting.

You will use the rules depending on how it sounds. The “United States” spelled out does not need an apostrophe and “s” because you don’t say the extra “s.” But using the abbreviation “U.S.,” you would say the extra “s,” so would add the apostrophe and “s.” See Apostrophail!.

Just remember that only the original acronym or abbreviation should be in caps and any pluralization or possession would be added to that, but not in caps.

Email, RSS Follow

Using Foreign Words in Legal Writing Is Not Necessarily Your Pièce De Résistance

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Using Foreign Words in Legal Writing Is Not Necessarily Your Pièce De Résistance

A good friend asked if I would write on the use of foreign words/languages in English writing, particularly whether we should include the foreign characters, accent marks, etc. in our legal writings.

The basic answer is sometimes.

If a foreign word has become a part of the English language, like résumé, it does not need to be italicized. NOTE: I am using italics here just to emphasize the words I am talking about. Some words and phrases will retain the diacritical marks, such as the accent marks in résumé, vis-á-vis, and the circumflex in paper-mâche, but the words are not italicized.

According to The Bluebook A Uniform System of Citation, foreign words and phrases that are used often in legal writing and are familiar to the legal community are not italicized, but foreign words and phrases that are very long, obsolete, or uncommon Latin, should be italicized. For instance, do italicize:

  • Ignorantia legis neminem excusat (“ignorance of the law does not excuse”)

But not:

  • quid pro quo

Note, however, that id. is always italicized (including the period), but e.g. is only italicized when it is used as a signal as in See, e.g., Smith v. Brown. In re and ex rel. and other such procedural phrases are always italicized.

Avoid using Latin or other foreign words and phrases where it is not necessary and where an English word or phrase will work just as well and that will avoid the issue altogether, but when you do use them, if it is well known to the legal community or well integrated into the English language, retain its diacritical marks, but do not italicize.

 

Email, RSS Follow

People ARE Paying Attention–Even Amphibious Pitchers!

By | | , , ,
Comments Off on People ARE Paying Attention–Even Amphibious Pitchers!

So many people sent this one to me that I feel compelled to write about it. This headline appeared in the East Oregonian this past weekend. It appears that although it was an Associated Press article, newspapers and other media outlets who reprint AP articles can change the headline to save space, etc. under their contract. So this tells us that the person in charge of laying out the sports pages of Saturday’s East Oregonian doesn’t know the difference between “ambidextrous”–the ability to use either hand as well as the other–and “amphibious”–the ability to work on land or in water. I’m sure lots of people don’t know that difference. The worst part is that the word “ambidextrous” appears in the actual article two words in on the second paragraph–close enough to the top that even I (a non-sports fan) might read that far.

If you have even the slightest question about whether a word is correct, check it out. With online dictionaries a click away, it is inexcusable. This story has spread like wildfire (a search of “amphibious pitcher” brings 158,000 results three days after the initial publication), so the East Oregonian unnamed confused employee has created quite a sensation. And I’m thinking not a very good sensation. Think about your first impression of the East Oregonian newspaper when you started reading this.

I know I would not enjoy being the one responsible for such a “silly mistake.” At least that’s what the East Oregonian editor has to say about it. Silly? Yes. Inexcusable? Maybe. I know we all make mistakes–heaven knows I’ve made more than my fair share (and have stories to prove it!)–but for me, personally, I hold schools and media to a higher standard. LANGUAGE IS YOUR JOB! Of course, it is our job too. Slow down and take the time to get it right.

If you have trouble with vocabulary, start reading! Most newspapers and books go through an editing process designed to make things as error free as possible. The more you read, the more your vocabulary improves. An even better practice is to look up words you don’t understand as you read them. Or sign up for a word of the day on most online dictionary sites and lot of other sites. Just do a Google search for “word of the day” and you will have lots of choices. That is a small thing that could make a big difference. Doing these things on a consistent basis can help you avoid the kind of “silly mistake” that can go viral and put your firm’s name out in the world in a way they hadn’t intended in a manner that is not at all flattering. Take the time your project deserves, concentrate on one project at a time (as much as that is possible), and produce work that is as error free as possible. “Silly mistakes” are for others who don’t work hard to make themselves and their firms look good.

Email, RSS Follow

Money, Money, Money. Money . . . Money

By | | , , , ,
Comments Off on Money, Money, Money. Money . . . Money

In this blog post title, I’m singing the song lyric of “For the Love of Money” by the O’Jays (and yes, I know my age is showing). I came across something in proofreading at work today that I thought I should cover. The phrase was “$1 million dollars.” My thought was that since the dollar sign is there and means “dollars,” the word “dollars” is superfluous. So I decided to research the Gregg Reference Manual rules on money.

The first choice with money is to use the dollar sign and numbers.

  • $7.50

You can spell the money reference out when it is isolated and you don’t want to emphasize it.

  • half a million dollars

Indefinite amounts of money should be spelled out.

  • a few thousand dollars

When your sentence contains a whole dollar amount, you do not need to add a period and two zeros UNLESS it is in the same context as an amount with dollars and cents or you need to give special emphasis to an exact amount.

  • INCORRECT: The bread sold for $3, but the butter was $4.25.
  • CORRECT: The bread sold for $3.00, but the butter was $4.25.
  • I will give you $40.00 for dinner and not a penny more.

If you have numbers in a column, all of the numbers should have the decimal and two zeros so the numbers line up and look consistent.

When you have very large amounts of money, it is appropriate to use numbers and words, but use EITHER the dollar sign OR the word “dollars,” not both.

  • $3 million
  • 3 million dollars

Fractional amounts of money should either be spelled out or all numbers, but not an actual fraction.

  • INCORRECT: 1/2 of a million dollars
  • CORRECT: half of a million dollars
  • CORRECT: $500,000

For amounts of money under a dollar, normally use figures and the word “cents.”

  • She paid 49 cents for that shake.

However, do not use the dollar sign and decimal point with cents except when related amounts of money require the dollar sign

  • Today I spent $3.50 for pens, $14.00 for paper, and $.35 for sticky notes.
  • I found a deal on sticky notes and paid only 35 cents per pack.

Where you use the dollar sign or cents sign for a range of numbers, use the symbol with each amount.

  • INCORRECT: My budget for a car was $15,000 to 20,000.
  • CORRECT: My budget for a car was $15,000 to $20,000.

Also, to be clear, if you are using words for the dollar amount, use it after each number.

  • INCORRECT: The income was expected to be between $3 and $5 million. This could be read to be between three dollars and five million dollars and that’s quite a spread.
  • CORRECT: The income was expected to be between $3 million and $5 million.

However, where you are spelling out the numbers, you can add the dollar amount after the last number.

  • The income was expected to be between three and five million dollars.

In legal documents such as contracts and agreements where it needs to be crystal clear, you should spell out the dollar amount and then put the numbers in parentheses right after.

  • The sales price is Three Hundred Forty-five Thousand Dollars ($345,000.00).
  • NOTE: The word “and” does not appear between “Hundred” and “Forty-five.” Even though you may verbally say it that way, it is correct to leave it out, although you can add it if you choose.

When you are describing foreign money, it usually is shown with an abbreviation or a currency symbol at the front.

  • US$45,000
  • Can$45,000
  • €45,000
  • ¥45,000

Well that didn’t increase my coffers any, but now we all know more about writing about money. Please add a comment below or email [email protected] with your burning questions and we can all learn a little something perhaps we didn’t know.

 

Email, RSS Follow