Arlene Miller's Blog, page 47

Hyphens with Compound Modifiers: A Tall-Columned Building

What is a compound modifier? What is a modifier? Well, to modify is to change. In the English language adjectives and adverbs are generally the modifiers because they describe (and therefore change) things and actions.  A blue dress can be modified to a red dress with the change of the adjective, or modifier, from blue to red.

She quietly read a book can be modified to She quickly read a book with the change of the adverb from quietly to quickly.

Compound modifiers are two (or more) words put together to form an adjective:

That is a very well-traveled path.
The three-year-old boy was throwing his toys.
That two-foot-high wedding cake looked delicious.
She is a self-made woman.

Generally, these compound adjectives are hyphenated to show that the two separate words go together in describing something. Usually the phrase is clear without the hyphen, but the hyphen does make reading easier, and sometimes can clear up confusion:

The tall columned building was hundreds of years old.

Was the building tall? Or were the columns on the building tall?

The tall-columned building was hundreds of years old.

Now we know we mean the columns were tall.

The tall, columned building was hundreds of years old.

Now we know the building is tall and has columns. 

Some Exceptions:

Of course there are always exceptions. In fact, some style guides devote pages and pages to this issue. The bottom line is if you cannot figure out whether to hyphenate something or not — and it doesn’t seem to make any difference in meaning — and you cannot find it in the dictionary — or if dictionaries disagree — then take your best guess, but be consistent every time you use the modifier.

Common, established compounds do not need to be hyphenated. For example: high school prom (not high-school)
Compound proper names used as adjectives are not hyphenated: For example: Supreme Court justice (not Supreme-Court)
If the first part of the modifier ends in -ly there is no hyphen:  gently falling snow, slowly moving car

And Finally, One More Important Thing…

When the compound modifier comes after the noun it describes rather than before it, it generally is not hyphenated:

I like well-done steak. I like my steak well done.

She has a three-year-old son. Her son is a three year old or Her son is three years old.

I saw a three-toed sloth. The sloth is three toed or The sloth has three toes.

There are exceptions: Self- is always hyphenated  in a compound whether it comes before or after the noun, as is all (sometimes). 

She is very self-conscious.

He is self-taught.

The self-made success told us her secrets.

I have an all-terrain vehicle.  This vehicle is all-terrain.

I am using all-purpose flour. The flour is all-purpose.

The all-women’s choir will sing. The choir is all women. (In this case I would not use a hyphen).

 

 

 

So What Happens to the Old Words?

Last week’s blog post talked about some of the new words recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The OED publishes four updates a year: March, June, September, and December. The next update will be in March 2017. Five hundred new words and phrases  entered the Oxford English Dictionary last quarter.

So with all these new words coming into the dictionary, are there “old” words being removed? Or is the OED growing and growing to an unmanageable size?

The historical Oxford English Dictionary is indeed ever-expanding, and does not remove words to make room for new words. However, there is a variation of the dictionary, the Concise OED, which does strive to maintain its size. In order to make room for 400 new words recently, this dictionary had to cut about 200. Maneuvering design and typeface made it possible to add 400 words while cutting only 200 and still maintaining legibility.

Here are some of the words that were axed by the Concise Oxford English Dictionary:

Growlery:  a place to growl in, a private room or den

Cassette player: a machine for playing back or recording an audio cassette

Eurocommunism: a European form of communism that advocates the preservation of many elements of Western liberal democracy

Glocalization: the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations

Script kiddie: a person who uses existing scripts or codes to hack into computers, lacking the expertise to write their own

Threequel: the third film, book, event, etc. in a series; a second sequel

Video jockey: a person who introduces and plays music videos on television

S-VHS: super video home system, an improved version of VHS

Millennium bug: an inability in older computing software to deal correctly with dates of 1 January 2000 or later (we can see why this is no longer needed!)

What are some of the reasons for cutting words?

cross-references or uncommon spelling variants,
obsolete technology
past current affairs
slang or informal words that didn’t quite stick (note that shorter slang words fare better than longer ones.)
words that don’t “look right” and just don’t catch on 

However, all these dropped words are still in the larger and complete Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionaries Online website.

But let’s turn our attention to the Oxford Junior Dictionary  . . .

There has been some alarm about this dictionary eliminating some “nature” words and replacing them with words that deal  with the solitary, technology-oriented lives of some of today’s children.

A group of authors called on the 10,000-entry children’s dictionary to reverse the decision to cut around 50 words connected with nature and replace them with words like analogue and celebrity. These words were replaced in 2007 when religious words like bishop, saint, and sin were also eliminated (with protests).

So blackberry has been replaced with broadband and and crocus with cut and paste. Other words taken out include hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, and panther. The protesting authors pointed to the decline in play and its connection with obesity, friendlessness, and anti-social behavior.

What does Oxford say about this? They say that they need to keep up with the times. Children live in less rural environments. The dictionary reflects the language as it is currently used, taking into account the words most commonly used as well as current school curriculum.

However, many words that do not appear in the Oxford Junior Dictionary do appear in the Oxford Primary Dictionary, which is more comprehensive and intended for children up to age 11. 

Getting back to the regular old Oxford English Dictionary, when does a word get added? If a particular word is used by a wide range of people to mean largely the same thing, the OED considers it part of the English language. However, sometimes the dictionary waits a while to see if a word dies out quickly or becomes part of the language. One such word was Twitter (and tweet). Although Twitter came into being in 2006, the word wasn’t added to the dictionary until 2013. 

The words that are “rejected” by the OED are kept on file. If the word becomes more relevant, the OED will eventually include it.  But . . .potential new words are a closely guarded secret at the OED.”

 

 

Some “Hella” Great New Words!

Hella is an American slang term that originated in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has since spread to become native slang to all of Northern California. And since I believe Cartman uses the term on South Park, I guess it goes even farther geographically. I just read something about hella being added to the dictionary, but actually hella is an old word – coined in 2002, fifteen long years ago! It has been in certain dictionaries, I would assume, for a lot longer than this past year. If you aren’t familiar with the word, it seems to mean about the same as helluva, such as in,”I had a helluva good time!”  It does often describe the word good:  This pizza is hella good!

Every year thousands of new words are added to various dictionaries. Here are some of this year’s words. Don’t worry, slang still exists, and words are marked as slang if they are indeed slang.

Oxford  English Dictionary

Gender-fluid: androgynous; a person who does not identify with a single fixed gender.

Clicktivism: Signaling support for a political or social cause through social media, online petitions, etc., rather than by more substantive involvement.

Moobs: Yup, man boobs.

YOLO (“You only live once”): The view that one should make the most of the present moment without worrying about the future. 

Non-apology: A statement that looks or sounds like an apology, but does not acknowledge responsibility or express regret; an insincere or unconvincing apology.

Yoda: A person who embodies the characteristics of Yoda — an elder, sage, or guru.

Squee: A high-pitched squealing or squeaking sound produced by an animal, musical instrument, etc.

Merriam-Webster Online

Accentophile: A person who enjoys foreign accents.

Belignorant: Belligerent and ignorant.

Breakfunch: A small meal eaten between breakfast and lunch. (Then what is brunch?)

Confungry: Confused and angry.(Shouldn’t this be confangry? This sounds more like confused and hungry!)

Definotly: Definitely not. (I hope this didn’t come about because people cannot spell definitely!)

Equalist: A person who believes that all people are created equal regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or general beliefs. (Deal me in.)

Fabulize: To make fabulous.

Gayborhood: A neighborhood where the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people live and/or work.

Jokative: Causing laughter.

Mantrum: A man tantrum.

Misophonia:  Anger created by the sound of someone eating.

Shooista: A person very passionate about shoes.

Silent Generation: The generation born from the mid-1920s to the early 1940s. (Think about this one!)

Sillerious: Silly and serious.

Word of the Year

The American Dialect Society just named “dumpster fire” Word of the Year. Why? Because the phrase best represents the public conversations of 2016.

This society of linguists, grammarians, and word scholars has awarded this prize each year since 1990, when bushlips  (insincere political rhetoric,) won Word of the Year.  This year more than 300 members of the Linguistic Society of America voted at a standing-room-only reception during the society’s annual conference. (There’s a visual: standing room only at a reception of the Linguistic Society). Dumpster fire triumphed over normalize and  post-truth. There is even a “emojical” representation of the word:

Colons and Semicolons: Second Cousins, Not Siblings

It’s a colon! It’s a semicolon! What’s the difference? It’s a dot. It’s a couple of dots. Oh, one dot is a comma. I don’t know. Use either one of them. 

No.

Colons and semicolons look a lot alike, but they are not siblings in the family of punctuation. They are probably not even first cousins. They are hardly ever interchangeable. They have entirely different purposes. Actually, the semicolon is more a sibling to the comma, and maybe a first cousin to the period. The colon might be an only child and perhaps a first cousin to the period also.

My sensitivity to this issue began when I was giving some information to someone who was putting a catalogue together, and my name was in it. She said, “So I put your name and then a semicolon, and then the information about you. .” NO. You need a colon. You can’t just throw in any old punctuation mark. The semicolon does not belong in such a place.

So, what is the different between colons (:) and semicolons (;) ?

Colon

A colon introduces something. It has a relationship to what follows it. Often it introduces a list, whether the list is vertical or horizontal. A colon can also introduce a quote in a sentence. And occasionally you can use a colon (as you might also use a semicolon, but in different circumstances) to separate two parts of a compound sentence instead of using a period, or a comma and a conjunction. However, if you use a colon in this way, it implies that the second part of the sentence (after the colon) is either a result of or follows from the first part of the sentence. Here are some examples of these ways to use colons:

1.The following colors are among my favorites: blue, purple, and pink.

2. These are the ingredients for the cake:

Eggs
Flour
Milk
Butter
Cocoa
Baking powder

3. The mayor made this promise in front of the city council: “We will do everything we can this year to extend the hours that the library is open.”

4. The meeting is crucial and you should attend: we will be discussing raises and promotions.

Semicolon

The semicolon connects things rather than introduces them. They are really “stronger” commas. They can separate two closely related sentences if you don’t want to use a conjunction with a comma. They can separate items in a series that already have commas within them. They can separate the two parts of a compound sentence that already has a series or two that could complicate its meaning. Here are examples of these ways to use a semicolon:

1. I am taking a trip to Asia; my husband doesn’t fly, so he is staying home.

2. The guests included Diane Timmons, a noted artist; the museum curator; Joe Wall, an art critic; and Professor Smith, an art history instructor at the local college.

3. Last year I traveled to Mexico, Canada, the southern part of the United States, and Argentina; and France, Italy, and Greece are in my plans for next year.

You could not substitute a colon for a semicolon in those examples – or vice versa.

If you are doing some type of catalogue or list or dictionary, entries should be followed by a colon, not a semicolon:

Apple: A round, red fruit

Coconut: A tropical fruit with white meat inside

Orange: A thick-skinned fruit containing Vitamin C

And obviously you cannot substitute a semicolon for the other places you would use colons:

Digital Time: 3:45
Between title and subtitle of a book when writing the title in context: The Red Dog: The Story of Amos
The salutation of a business letter: Dear Mr. Plante:

There you have it . . . Cousins, maybe. But the semicolon and the colon are different animals.

Grammar Diva News

If one of your New Years Resolutions is better grammar, punctuation, writing, or speaking — or any combination thereof, please check out my books on Amazon (or wherever you buy books!), I am currently working on The Best Little Dictionary of Confused Words and Malapropisms, which will have just about every confused pair/group of words you can think of! It will be the third book in the series The Best Little Grammar Books, which will also include the two already published books, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever, Second Edition; and The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! They will each be able to be purchased separately. Look for the new Dictionary in the next two or three months. 

I will be speaking in March at the monthly meeting of the Napa chapter of California Writers Club.

Happy to announce that schools, including Goucher College in Baltimore, have been purchasing my two workbooks this month. 

Hope 2017 is starting off successfully for all!

 

Where Did New Year’s Resolutions Come From? And Where Did the Holidays Go?

In 2017 I promise to

Lose weight
Go to the gym three times a week
Be more patient with my children (my spouse, my friends, myself, my whatever . . . )
Eat healthier
Find love
Find a new job

Sound familiar?

Where Did New Year’s Resolutions Come From?

Although New Year’s resolutions are most common in the Western Hemisphere, they are found all over the word. We all know what they are: a promise to ourselves to do some type of self-improvement.

The ancient Babylonians were apparently the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, about 4,000 years ago. However, for them the year began not in January, but in mid-March when the crops were planted. During a 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king.  They made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any farm equipment they had borrowed.

The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named. The early Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days, with each new year beginning at the vernal equinox. It was created by Romulus, the founder of Rome, in the eighth century B.C. Over the centuries, the calendar fell out of sync with the sun, and in 46 B.C. the emperor Julius Caesar consulted with the most prominent astronomers and mathematicians of his time. He introduced the Julian calendar, which closely resembles the calendar that most countries around the world use today.

Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year, partly to honor  Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look both back into the past and forward into the future. Romans celebrated the new year by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches, and attending raucous parties.

In the Medieval era, the knights took the “peacock vow” at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry.

This tradition has other religious parallels. In Judaism. on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement),  the culmination of the Jewish New Year, Jews reflect upon their wrongdoings over the past year and seek forgiveness. And the practice of New Year’s resolutions came, in part, from the Lenten sacrifices of Christians. The concept, regardless of creed, is the annual reflection upon self-improvement.

Despite the tradition’s religious roots, New Year’s resolutions today are a secular practice. Instead of making promises to the gods, most people make resolutions  to themselves and focus purely on self-improvement. 

So Who Makes Resolutions? Who Keeps Them?

At the end of the Great Depression, about 25% of American adults made New Year’s resolutions. At the beginning of the 21st century, about 40% did. And those who make common resolutions such as weight loss, increased exercising, or quitting smoking are at least ten times more likely to succeed compared with those who do not make resolutions.

Here are the most common reasons for people failing at their New Years’ Resolutions:

Unrealistic goals (35%)
Not keeping track of progress (33% )
Forgetting all about it (23%)
 Making too many resolutions (10%)

A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail despite the fact that over half of the study’s participants were confident of success at the beginning.

Men achieved their goals more often when they engaged in specific goal setting.
Women succeeded  more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.

Things to Do on New Year’s Eve

 In Spain and several other Spanish-speaking countries, people bolt down a dozen grapes right before midnight, symbolizing their hopes for the months ahead. In many parts of the world, traditional New Year’s dishes feature legumes, which are thought to resemble coins and herald future financial success. Because pigs represent progress and prosperity in some cultures, pork appears on the New Year’s Eve table in Cuba, Austria, Hungary, and Portugal. Ring-shaped cakes and pastries, a sign that the year has come full circle, are part of the feast in the Netherlands, Mexico, and Greece.  In Sweden and Norway, rice pudding with an almond hidden inside is served on New Year’s Eve: whoever finds the nut can expect 12 months of good fortune.

Other customs that are common worldwide include watching fireworks and singing songs, including  “Auld Lang Syne” in many English-speaking countries. 

In the United States, the most iconic New Year’s tradition is the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square at midnight, an event that began in 1907. The ball has gone from a 700-pound iron-and-wood orb to a brightly patterned sphere 12 feet in diameter, weighing nearly 12,000 pounds. Some towns and cities across America have developed their own versions of the Times Square ritual including public drops of  pickles (Dillsburg, Pennsylvania) and possums (Tallapoosa, Georgia)

How Have Resolutions Changed?

Americans’ Resolutions for 1947 – Gallup Poll

1. Improve my disposition, be more understanding, control my temper

2. Improve my character, live a better life

3. Stop smoking, smoke less

4. Save more money

5. Stop drinking, drink less

6. Be more religious, go to church oftener

7. Be more efficient, do a better job

8. Take better care of my health

9. Take greater part in home life

10. Lose (or gain) weight

Americans’ Resolutions for 2014 – University of Scranton

1. Lose weight

2. Getting organized

3. Spend less, save more

4. Enjoy life to the fullest

5. Stay fit and healthy

6. Learn something exciting

7. Quit smoking

8. Help others in their dreams

9. Fall in love

10. Spend more time with family

P.S. Weight loss has obviously become important to us. As a nation, we’re the heaviest we’ve ever been. And along with the extra pounds come physical conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as well as social stigmas like bullying and weight discrimination. But Abigail Saguy, a sociology and gender studies professor at University of California, Los Angeles, points out that bodies — especially women’s bodies — have always been imbued with some kind of social meaning, and she suspects that people are more interested in enjoying the elevated status of a socially acceptable body than improved health outcomes.

Where Did the Holidays Go?

It all started when we began to see Thanksgiving decorations several months ago. Well, actually perhaps it began around Labor Day when pumpkins started showing up in stores. And now, several months later, it is just about over. Most people are breathing a sigh of relief. A few love the season and hate to see it go.

I would think most of the people who love it and hate to see it go are those with kids — small kids — and intact marriages, and families who get along — for the most part, anyway. The holiday season is a whole lot easier for those people. And add to it a love of decorating, a love of baking, a love of entertaining, and just a love of being busy and spending time with people you love — and you can see why there are those who really love the holidays.

People who are glad the holiday season is over, I would think, fall into two groups:

Those who consider it too much.
Those who have too little.

Those who consider it too much: Even if you love to shop and wrap and bake and entertain and decorate and look at pretty lights, it gets tiring, and many people love it, and love when it is over as well. Maybe there are family issues, or too many people to visit, people who are now alienated from parts of families, people who are far away — or too far away to see at all. Then, there is the money spent, the stress of it all.  Ah! January 1!

Those who have too little: I am not talking about having too little money, although that could certainly put a damper on the holidays. I am talking about those with no family, or estranged family. There are more people in those circumstances than I had thought, I somewhat being among them. Perhaps they have no siblings, no living parents, no children, children who are estranged or occupied with spouses’ families, newly divorced or widowed, and the list goes on. It is a very difficult time of year for lots of people. That is where good friends come in. They become our family. But for many, it is a relief when January 1 comes, and we don’t have to worry about the holidays for another 9 or 10 months. 

Regardless of the kind of holidays you had this year, I hope 2017 is a happy and successful year for you all!

Happy New Year from The Grammar Diva!

Thank you all for reading and commenting on my blog posts

and for your support during the past year!

 

 

Holiday Post 2016: The Audacity of Hope

Hope. The usual cheer that is part of the holiday season may be diminished for many of us this year. Our hope for the future may have dimmed. Our families may be divided, much as the country is. For many, the holiday season is never very cheerful, as loneliness moves in. I usually write a holiday post, often with quotes about some aspect of the season. This year I have chosen quotes about hope, and I have “stolen” the title of the post from President Obama’s book and famous speech.  I “hope” you find some of the quotes reassuring; some may actually make you sad as you think of what might have been and what might be instead. And some of you may be hopeful the way things are. Whichever the case, I hope you draw meaning from the post and joy or solace from the season. 

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We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. They will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check; we’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Barack Obama 

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don’t give up.  Anne Lamott

While there’s life, there’s hope.  Cicero

There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown hopeless about them.  Clare Booth Luce

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul.

And sings the tune

Without the words,

and never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson 

History is moving, and it will tend toward hope, or tend toward tragedy.  George W. Bush 

Hope, like the gleaming taper’s light,

Adorns and cheers our way;

And still, as darker grows the night,

Emits a brighter ray.

Oliver Goldsmith

Take hope from the heart of man, and you make him a beast of prey.  Quida

Hope is necessary in every condition. Samuel Johnson

The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.

Stephen Ambrose 

Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair.

Thomas Hobbes 

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Helen Keller

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. Desmond Tutu

A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning. Brad Henry

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us. Samuel Smiles

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Albert Einstein

Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one. John Lennon

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth. Abraham Lincoln

You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own. Michelle Obama

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. Robert Kennedy

We talk a lot about hope, helping, and teamwork. Our whole message is that we are more powerful together. Victoria Osteen

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe. Dalai Lama

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. Nelson Mandela

The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world. James Madison

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon. Franklin D. Roosevelt

There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope. George Eliot

 

Stalinism is linked with a cult of personality and massive violations of the law, with repression and camps. There is nothing like that in Russia and, I hope, will never again be. Vladimir Putin (I couldn’t resist!)

Never lose hope.

Unknown, Polish Slogan

Thank you to these websites for the quotes:

https://www.brainyquote.com

www.quotationspage.com/subjects/hope/

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
FROM THE GRAMMAR DIVA TO YOU AND YOURS!

(I hesitate to put a sales plug in this post . . .  but . . . if you are still looking for a gift, or if you know anyone whose New Year’s Resolution might be “better grammar,” some of my books are on special sale through Saturday night (the 24th) on Kindle.)

Do I Capitalize After a Colon?

Should I use a capital letter after a colon? This is a common question, and today’s blog post answers that question.

Here is the answer: Sometimes the information after a colon is a complete sentence; sometimes it isn’t. You do not need to use a capital letter after a colon even if what follows is a complete sentence —  with these few exceptions:

The word following the colon is generally capitalized (a name, for example)
The sentence following the colon is a direct quotation.
The sentences are items in a list. Thus, they would look better capitalized.

Here are some examples:

These people are coming to the party: Hermione, Lester, and Carter
The mayor made the following comment: “We plan to support the new development downtown.”
Follow these steps to make the pie filling:


Mix all the ingredients together.
Let the mixture thicken by putting it in the refrigerator for an hour.
Stir well again.

You do not need to capitalize the word after the colon in these examples:

These are the ingredients: cocoa, milk, butter, and vanilla.
He talked about the main item on the meeting agenda: the company will give Christmas bonuses this year.

You could capitalize the T in the in the second example, but it is not necessary.

Stay tuned for next week’s annual holiday post. And we will start the new year off with a post about colons and semicolons (like, what’s the difference??)

Grammar Diva News

The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! (Second Edition) is at a special sale price today, Saturday, and Sunday on Kindle. It will cost you only $2.99 instead of the usual $5.99 for the ebook. Makes a great gift for a student (hint, hint)
I was pleased and proud to be among the four top winners in the BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publishers Association) 2016 Book Awards! The award-winning book is Fifty Shades of Grammar: Scintillating and Saucy Sentences, Syntax, and Semantics from The Grammar Diva.
Here is my news release about the book awards.
Beginning December 21 and running through January 21, I am doing a Goodreads Giveaway: five print copies of The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! will be given away. You can sign up beginning on December 21.

 

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Goodreads Book Giveaway


The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever!
by Arlene Miller

Giveaway ends January 21, 2017.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

 

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Writing a Letter? E-Mail? Salutations and Closings

Yes, I think people still write letters, but most of them are business letters. Most “friendly” letters have gone the way of e-mails. However, there are also business e-mails. This blog post is about openings and closings of both letters and e-mails, business and personal.

Salutations

Most of us do the majority of our correspondence these days by e-mail. Yes, sometimes we do send a letter—usually a business letter—and many of the business letters we receive probably go into the  junk pile. 

Regardless of whether we are writing an e-mail or a snail-mail letter, the opening and closings are basically the same as far as capitalization and punctuation, which is what this blog post is about.

Much of the correspondence that is business related and e-mailed does take on a more friendly tone. However, there are still business e-mails that are more formal. Just because you are using e-mail doesn’t mean that you can address someone you have never met as “Hey, Joe.”

When you are addressing someone in a business setting for the first time, I would not recommend using just a first name unless you know it is fine with the person. (For example, perhaps they write to you first using just your first name; then it is up to you to decide. More formal is always safer at first.) If you know how someone likes to be addressed, then address them that way. If after you go formal the first time, they tell you it’s fine to use just a first name, or if they respond using your first name (unless they are “important”), go ahead and be more informal.

Please try never to use these salutations: 

Dear Sir or Dear Sirs
To whom it may concern

Notice that I did not initial cap whom it may concern. Unless it is (of course) a name, only the first letter in a salutation is capitalized. However, usually the words are names or other words that are generally capitalized, so initial cap them.

If you receive a letter or e-mail and the sender hasn’t even bothered to find out your name, you probably would assume it was junk mail. Try to find a name to address a letter or e-mail to.

As a general rule, business letter greetings are followed by a colon. Informal and friendly communication use a comma:

Dear Mr. Johnson:
Hi, Joe,
Mr. Johnson:
Joe,

Technically, when you use Hi, Joe, there is a comma after Hi. The phrase Hi, Joe, is direct address, sort of like Come here, Joe. On the other hand, Dear is an adjective describing the name, so no comma.

If you need the plurals of some of the address abbreviations, here they are:

The plural of Mr.  is Messrs.
The plural of Mrs. is Mmes.
The plural of Ms. is either Mses, Mss., or Mmes.

These abbreviations are followed by a period in American English, but not in British.

Omit the comma before Jr. in a title if it is OK with the person you are writing to: Mr. Hank Jeffers Jr.

 

Closings

In the closing of an e-mail or a letter, only the first word is initial capped in cases where there is more than one word:

Yours truly,
With regards,
Sincerely yours,
Sincerely, 

 

Let’s talk about “Thank you.” First, it is two separate words. Second, I don’t personally like it as a closing:

Thank you,

           Rick Mendoza

I don’t like that. If I am going to say thank you, which I generally do in a business letter, I make it its own sentence or put it in a sentence, and then I do the usual closing.

Thank you very much.
Thank you for helping me out.
Thank you for the fast response.
Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.

I would do this:

Thank you very much.

Sincerely yours,

Arlene Miller

 

Grammar Diva News:

It’s holiday season, and here are eleven reasons why books make great gifts:

Easy to find, easy to send. (There is even book rate!) 
Easy to wrap! No funny shapes!
Come in a variety of prices.
Aimed at whatever audience and age you need.
Great for any gender.
Come in lots of different topics.
Can be shared or donated after they are read; they keep on giving.
Entertaining.
Portable, especially e-books.
Educational
With enough books you can build a great holiday tree!

Now that I have enticed you, please consider a grammar book for someone you love this season!

The Best Little Grammar Book Ever: Speak and Write with Confidence – Best Reference Book, 2011 (first edition) from Bay Area Independent Publishers Association

The Best Grammar Workbook Ever – Honorable Mention for Best Reference Book, 2016, New York Book Festival

Fifty Shades of Grammar – Runner-Up for Best Nonfiction Book, 2016, Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (Educational and entertaining: Makes a great gift!)

Check out these and my other books! And thank you!
 

 

 

Tricky: Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation

Although I have discussed using other punctuation with quotation marks in my blog and in my books, it is still one of the most common questions I am asked, so let’s review.  Punctuation can be messy!

Periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks. Always. Really. Believe me. Oh, unless you are using British English. But you probably aren’t. In American usage, even if the quotation marks belong to the entire sentence rather than to what is at the end of the sentence, the period or comma goes inside the quotes.

He said, “I would like a turkey sandwich.”
“I would like a turkey sandwich,” he said.
I just downloaded the song “Building the Bridge.”
I just downloaded the song “Building the Bridge,” which is my favorite new song.
“I just downloaded the song ‘Building the Bridge,'” he said. (Notice that here, we have a single quotation mark after the song title, as well as the double quotes that signify the end of the direct quote.)

In British English, the period or comma goes outside the quotation marks.

“I would like a turkey sandwich”, he said.
I love the song “Building a Bridge”.

Remember that single quotation marks are used when you need quotation marks inside of quotation marks. They really aren’t used for anything else. Since quotation marks are used for song titles, short story titles, article titles, and other short works (italics are generally used for longer works, such as books, magazines, newspapers, etc.), if a song title or poem title is used within a direct quote, you would have a need for single quotes.

“I love the article ‘Find Your Fashion Sense’ that I just read in the recent issue of that magazine.”

Don’t confuse ending quotation marks with an apostrophe that appears at the end of the sentence. An apostrophe at the end of the sentence probably indicates a possessive; punctuation would go outside, since the apostrophe goes with the word it makes possessive:

These books are mine, but the books in the other bookcase are my sisters’. (belong to my sisters: plural possessive)

Let’s switch to colons and semicolons. Unlike periods and commas, colons and semicolons always go outside quotation marks. Colons and semicolons with quotation marks are less common than period and commas. 

She said, “I am coming to your party”; I knew she wouldn’t show up.
He said, “The meeting was called to discuss the merger”: no discussion ever took place.

Question marks and exclamation points can go either before or after the quotation marks, depending on the sentence. They are placed inside the quote if they are part of the quote. However, if they are part of the entire sentence, they are placed outside the quotes.

Did he say, “You are my best friend”? (Question mark belongs to the entire sentence.There is no period after friend because we don’t use both punctuation marks.
He asked, “Are you my best friend?” (Question mark belongs only to the quote, so the mark is placed inside the quotes. )
“You are my best friend!” he exclaimed. (Only the quote is the exclamation, so it is placed inside the quotes.)
It shocked me when the stranger said, “You are my best friend”! (The entire sentence is exclamatory, not just the quote, so the mark is placed outside the quotation marks.)

Check out this sentence: Did he ask, “Are you my best friend?” Here, notice that both the entire sentence AND the quoted portion are questions. However, we do not use two question marks. In this case the one question mark goes inside the quotes. The same would apply if both the entire sentence and the quoted portion were exclamatory. Then there would be an exclamation point inside the quotation marks. 

If, for example, the quoted part of the sentence is a question and the entire sentence is an exclamation, don’t use both a question mark and an exclamation point. Choose one, probably the question mark.

It shocked me when he asked, “Can I be your best friend?”

Dashes and ellipses, like question marks, can be placed either before or after the quotation marks, depending on the sentence:

“I was looking for my cat, but then . . . ” she said as she trailed off.
She said, “I found my cat in my cousin’s garage”– and she quickly changed the subject.

Some sentences can get pretty complicated with quotes inside of quotes and commas and question marks. If your sentence gets confusing, the best thing is to rewrite, maybe into multiple sentences with fewer punctuation marks.

**********

A Favor to Ask: If you own any of my books and have not yet posted an Amazon review, I would appreciate it if you would. It doesn’t have to be long; one sentence reviews are fine too. Reviews really help to sell books. Amazon is being a little cranky about posting reviews, so I don’t know what the deal is, but – thank you!

 

The Many Sides of Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Part 1: Black Friday

Unless you live under a large rock, you know that Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving, which marks the  beginning of the Christmas shopping season: big crowds, small prices (maybe).  Where did the term “Black Friday ” come from? What does it mean?

Because we don’t often read about the meaning of the phrase, people have invented their own explanations for how the phrase became attached to the day after Thanksgiving. One incorrect explanation is that  it all started with a tradition of slave owners or slave traders using that day  to sell slaves.  Black Friday has nothing to do with the selling of slaves: in fact, the  term didn’t originate until nearly a century after slavery was abolished.

Another explanation of “Black Friday” originates from 1951, referring to the practice of workers calling in sick on the day after Thanksgiving, giving them a four-day weekend. (that day was not yet commonly offered as a paid day off by employers).

One logical explanation of the term “Black Friday” is the linguistic link of  “in the black,” meaning “making a profit.” After all, the day after Thanksgiving is now one of the biggest —  if not the biggest — shopping days of the year.

However, the truth is that Black Friday got its name from the Philadelphia Police Department. Lots of shopping equals lots of cars, lots of traffic, lots of chaos. And, in the middle years of the twentieth century, the scene was often particularly bad in Philadelphia, where the annual Army-Navy football game was regularly played on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

So at some point in the 1950s or 1960s (some say it was 1966), the Philadelphia Police Department started to refer to the day after Thanksgiving as “Black Friday.” They hoped that people would find the whole thing distasteful and decide to stay at home.

“It was not a happy time,” retail scholar Michael Lisicky told CBS Philly in 2011. “The stores were just too crowded, the streets were crowded, the buses and the police were just on overcall and extra duty.”

Several years ago, retailers began starting the shopping day early, opening as early as 6 a.m. on Friday. Soon, opening time had crept to 5:00 or 4:00. In 2011,  several retailers (including Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, and Best Buy) opened at midnight! Then,  in 2012 Walmart and several other retailers announced that they would open most of their stores at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, prompting some employees to walk out. In 2014, stores including JC Penney and  Best Buy opened at 5:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day;  Target, Walmart, and Sears opened at 6:00 p.m. Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts prohibit large supermarkets, big box stores, and department stores from opening on Thanksgiving, due to blue laws.

If you have ever been at, let’s say, Toys R Us when it opens for Black Friday, you will believe that violence does occur between shoppers on Black Friday. Sometimes there just aren’t enough deals to go around. Since 2006, there have been 7 reported Black Friday deaths and 98 injuries throughout the United States. And if you haven’t done it yourself, you have probably seen  shoppers camping out waiting for a store to open to get at the front of the line and get that big screen TV before it is sold out! I just waited in line at the Coach outlet store, not for the first time! Hey, it’s tradition.

Part 2: Sides of Thanksgiving

I saw an interesting blog post about the word “side” and its many meanings on Thanksgiving.

This year my house looked better because I just finished having my house re-sided. (Truth). And fortunately everyone I invited was on the same political side, so there were no arguments.However, I doubt that was true with many Thanksgiving gatherings. If you found yourself arguing about politics, some household item, like maybe the television or a chair, may have end up upside down.  If you are a polite guest, you probably bought a side dish: perhaps green bean casserole or some nice yams. Then, perhaps the men — okay, the women too — chose sides for the after-dinner football game on TV. Since the tryptophan probably had started to take effect, I assume most of you were lying sideways in front of the TV. 

If you would like to see the original article click here: Side

Part 3: Some Thanksgiving Quotes

Here are some thanksgiving quotes I found particularly appropriate this year: 

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. – Erma Bombeck

You may have heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There’s another day you might want to know about: Giving Tuesday. The idea is pretty straightforward. On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, shoppers take a break from their gift-buying and donate what they can to charity. – Bill Gates

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. –  Jim Davis

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. –  Irv Kupcinet

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land. –  Jon Stewart

I don’t think any other holiday embraces the food of the Midwest quite like Thanksgiving. There’s roasted meat and mashed potatoes. But being here is also about heritage. Cleveland is really a giant melting pot – not only is my family a melting pot, but so is the city. –  Michael Symon

Shopmas now begins on Thanksgiving Day. Apparently, escaping the families you cannot stand to spend another minute with on Thanksgiving Day to go buy them gifts is how some Americans show their affection for one another. Weird. –  Barry Ritholtz

From the beginning, the Continental Congress had official chaplains, prayers, and days of fasting and Thanksgiving. When sessions opened in 1774, fear was voiced that the religious diversity of the country would make it hard to choose a form of worship. – M. Stanton Evans

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations. – Oscar Wilde

Thankfulness is an attitude of possibilities, not an attitude of liabilities. – Craig D. Lounsbrough