Category Archives: proofreading

Acronyms, All Caps, Plurals, and Possessives

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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.

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Grammar Giggle – I Don’t Understand!

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My son caught this at a convenience store near his house. I don’t even know what this sign means. He said he thinks it means that shoppers need to leave backpacks or bags at the front while they are shopping. I think if that’s what they meant, that’s what they should have said.

IMG_2246

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

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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.

 

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Grammar Giggle – Cod Fillet’s and Bags

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I found this in a grocery store in Albuquerque. If I were to read this sign literally, I would see that it is $9.99 for the Cod Fillet’s 16 oz. bag, which sounds significantly overpriced unless it is a designer bag. And to warrant a sign, that Cod Fillet must have more bags than some of my friends do. I’m pretty sure they meant to say that the $9.99 was for a 16 oz. bag of cod fillets, but that’s not what it actually says.

 

Cod

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Grammar Giggle – Treat Our Customers . . . But Not To Good Grammar!

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I saw this business card today and knew it was a Grammar Giggle. While it is a nice thought, it is an incomplete sentence. Do they want YOU to treat their customers that way or do THEY treat their customers that way. I’m all for saving space, but not to the detriment of your message.

Evernote Camera Roll 20150611 233609

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Money, Money, Money. Money . . . Money

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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.

 

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Grammar Giggle – Happy Administrative Professionals Week

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I hope everyone had a great Administrative Professionals Week this week. I found this ecard on Google. Not only is the comma unnecessary, but where you can add the word “single” between every and day, it should be two words and not just one. Here’s a previous article on this very topic – We Appreciate Proofreading Tips Each and Everyday.

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