Kris Spisak's Blog, page 37

Writing Tip 163: Asterisks & Footnote Symbols

Asterisk is one of those words that you just can’t say ten times fast. Try it. I’ll wait…

How’d it go? Turn any heads? Get any “bless you”s?

There are risks to the asterisk*—and not only in saying it correctly with any amount of speed. Asterisks muffle curses, and they are often followed by daggers. And if that doesn’t sound like the start of a really bad grammarian murder mystery, I don’t know what is.

When to use an asterisk

Replacing letters in words (such as curse words) or names you don’t want to spell out (e.g., “wow, what a grammar b**** that Kris is” or “From your secret crush, K***”)
When pointing a reader to further information, as in a footnote.
When showing the passage of time in the case of a section break in a story.
I’m sure there’s a good kissing emoticon out there with an asterisk, right?

Where to put an asterisk

Asterisks always follow punctuation marks, with one exception. Dashes (as show above, if you were paying attention) always go after the asterisk.

Asterisks in footnotes

If you are using an asterisk to give your reader more information (or some fun fine print), the extra information should always appear at the bottom of the same page. In other words, asterisks are for footnotes, not endnotes. Of course, if you have multiple footnotes within a single page, asterisks are just the start. The official order of footnotes is:

*
†
‡
§
||
¶

That second one is called a dagger. Don’t you love it? I always thought it was a cross, but no, it’s much more sinister, isn’t it?

To be fair, the first three footnote marks are fairly standard; however, on occasion, you might find an asterisk enthusiast starting with *, **, and *** before continuing on to the dagger. (The United Nations, interestingly enough, really likes asterisks.)

Is this everything you’ve ever wanted to know about asterisks and more? Did you stop reading by this point, and you’re just determinedly mumbling “asterisk, asterisk, asterisk” under your breath? It’s okay. I don’t mind at all.

Happy writing, everyone!

 

*And by all means, please make sure you are pronouncing it correctly. It rhymes with “risk” or “tsk, tsk…”

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Writing Tip 162: “Night” vs. “Nite” (vs. “Knight”)

Is “nite” ever right? Can you get away with it in Scrabble? Is this another example of text-speak and late-night fast food chains infringing on our ability to spell?

Your answers: In extremely casual cases, you can get away with “nite,” but note, I’m saying “extremely casual.” Personally, I’d recommend avoiding it at all costs (this spelling makes some people—like yours truly—cringe), but if you’re texting a friend, I suppose this spelling is okay.

However, “nite,” like “lite,” is not an acceptable Scrabble word.

Contrary to first instincts to blame our messy texting and social media posting culture, “nite” has been around for well over 100 years, at least as early as the 1870s. But even with this history, it has never been accepted as a standard form.

And please for the love of words, never say anything about a “nite in shining armor.” That’s just crazy talk. You know better than that.

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Writing Tip 161: Writing Time (“A.M.”/”P.M.” vs. “a.m.”/”p.m.” vs. “am”/”pm”)

Is your alarm clock set for 6am, 6AM, 6 A.M., or 6 a.m? (Don’t mind me; I’m just hitting the snooze button while you ponder that one.)

Meanwhile, what’s up with this clock? Is it the white rabbit’s? There’s a story here…

The answer here is brings out the Latin dictionaries. This is an abbreviation, after all, just like “i.e.” or “e.g.” When it comes to time, “a.m.” stands for ante meridiem or “before noon,” and “p.m.” stands for post meridiem or “after noon.” So for those of you paying attention, you’ve figured out the answer.

The above time is correctly written as “6 a.m.” Notice the space between the number and the abbreviation? That’s a part of the correct answer too.

In an era of quick emails, writing the time as “10am” or “4pm” has been gaining popularity, but there are a lot of sticklers out there about this one. Give the numbers some space. Give the abbreviations the periods. Keep it in lower case, folks.

Admittedly, a few stylebooks prefer upper-case with the periods with the abbreviation in a smaller font size than the rest of the text. To me (and the other stylebooks), this seems overly complex.

I’m taking a wild guess to say that many of you are writing times incorrectly. Am I wrong? If so, let me know!

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Writing Tip 160: “Anytime” vs. “Any Time”

“Anytime” is a relatively new word—yes, we’re calling early 20th century “recent” for the sake of this linguistic argument. And you know that any time there is a new word, there’s going to be a grammarian hullaballoo. Here’s just another example.

When does he walk in the middle of the road? Anytime he wants to. He’s a rebel like that. Linguistic and otherwise.

“Anytime” (one word) is considered a casual form, not one for your résumé or emails to advance you up the corporate ladder. In fact, this one-word form is still not recognized by some dictionaries. (I’m looking at you, OED). “Anytime” technically is defined as an adverb meaning “whenever” or “on any occasion,” but as a new word, it is young and defiant, having other meanings too. “Anytime” can also simply mean “No problem,” in response to a “thank you.”

If you aren’t sure if you can get away with “anytime” vs. “any time,” ask yourself if you can replace the word in question with “at any time.”

When are you free for coffee?
Anytime. (Correct. Answering “at any time” would also make sense here.)
Does dinner Tuesday work?
Sure, anytime after six. (Correct. Answering “at any time after six” would also make sense.
Do you have anytime to take a walk with me? (Incorrect. Do you have “at any time” to take a walk with me” doesn’t make sense. The adjective-noun pairing “any time” (two words) is needed here.)

I can go further with this one, but I’ll stop there.

“Any time” (two words) is admittedly the standard form. If you’re ever concerned about which form you should choose, experts argue you’ll never go wrong by using the two-word combination. I’m not sure I completely agree with that, but then again, I’m American and therefore a linguistic rebel at heart. Or so the argument goes. (The casual “anytime” is apparently much more common on this side of the Atlantic.)

Personally, do I dare to use the non-standard form? Anytime I can. Take that, Oxford English Dictionary.

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Writing Tip 159: “Every once and a while” vs. “Every once in a while”

This idiom is up there with “for all intents and purposes” (not “intensive purposes”), “hunger pangs” (not “pains”), and “exacting” (not “extracting”) revenge for how often it is confused by writers and speakers alike.

Reminder: “Every once in a while” is the proper form of this expression—not “every once and a while,” not “every once in awhile.”

Every once in a while, I seem to notice a certain mistake all over the place.

Every once in a while, I can be polite and not point an accusatory red pen at the offenders.

Every once in a while, I need new red pens because I tend to run them dry.

We’ve already discussed the differences between “awhile” and “a while,” but this expression needed a note of its own. Are you writing it correctly?

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Writing Tip 158: I Wonder About Punctuation?

This seal wonders why there’s a camera pointing at him. Maybe he would wonder at this shape we call a question mark.

Punctuation around the word “wonder” seems to commonly baffle writers. I wonder what the source of this is? (See what I just did there? It’s wrong. Did you catch it?)

Reminder: just because something raises a question does not mean that it is a question. Think long and hard about that question mark.

Statements that begin “I/she/he wonders…” are most commonly just that. Statements. There is no question about whether or not the subject wonders.

For example:

I wonder why the sky is blue.
She wonders whether the premise of Mr. Popper’s Penguins is attainable with her refrigerator.
He wonders if it would work with a pet seal if the fridge was big enough.

Do you see how all of these are sentences bring up questions, but none of these sentences are questions themselves. Ergo, no question mark is needed. A plain old period is the perfect punctuation.

As an editor, I see this mistake again and again. Please be careful. When someone wonders, let them ponder the mysteries of the universe, let them speculate and deliberate, but don’t let the question return to your comprehension of proper punctuation.

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Writing Tip 157: “Waiver” vs. “Waver”

Just because spell-check doesn’t flag “waiver” doesn’t mean that it’s the correct word for your sentence.

If you’re feeling weak in the knees, you’re “wavering” not “waivering”—unless, of course, at that moment you are also signing away some prior held privilege. In this case, maybe you’re wavering while you’re waivering? No, that’s still not right. Let’s explore “waiver” vs. “waver” further.

“Waiver” is a noun, meaning an intentional surrendering of a right, interest, or privilege or the written statement detailing this relinquishment.
“Waver” is most commonly a verb, meaning to sway or become unsteady. It can also mean to show indecision.

If you were hit by a wave, maybe you’d waver.

If you’re being indecisive, there’s no need to bring legal documents into it.

Just my two cents. Know what you’re saying. Don’t just trust spellcheck, people.

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Does your book club want to dive down the rabbit hole?

It’s been 150 years since her first readers discovered her,  but Alice and her adventures in Wonderland are as fascinating as ever. I’m scheduling book talks, workshops, and discussions throughout the year. Do you and your book club want to join in on the fun?

Lewis Carroll and the Alice books (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass) hold a special place in my heart, in my research, and in my fiction. Have you ever been curious about this seemingly nonsensical but deeply philosophical tale? Come on. Let’s chase down the white rabbit together. Contact me for more information or to schedule a time today!

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Writing Tip 156: Starting Sentences with a Conjunction

Psst… I have a secret your old high school English teacher didn’t want you to know. It’s okay to begin with “And” or “But.”

There’s a good reason your English teachers didn’t want you starting sentences with a conjunction. Developing strong writing skills is all about learning clarity and precision, and academic writing especially requires a certain language formality—the same formality that requires the proper usage of who vs. whom and semicolons. When students grow up and write professional correspondences, being in the habit of starting sentences in ways other than a conjunction will be a benefit to them.

But, of course, avoiding conjunctions at the start of sentences isn’t a hard rule. If you’re writing for a professional audience, an academic audience, or perhaps your grandmother, don’t do it. However, in other cases, a well-placed conjunction at the start of a sentence can be an effective attention grabber.

And it’s a bit more savvy than jazz hands or spirit fingers (oh, you know you get the Bring It On reference; don’t deny it).

Starting sentences with a conjunction is an art of moderation. If you do it too often, your writing comes off as sloppy and/or unorganized. If you do it infrequently, though, that “and,” “or,” or “but” can pack a mean literary punch.

There are a lot of hard rules we were once taught that don’t always apply. (For example, a well-placed sentence fragment is a personal favorite of mine. Really.) The difference is knowing the rules before you can break them. My argument is that, with moderation, you can absolutely use conjunctions at the start of a sentence.

Go for it, you grammar-rebel. And have fun.

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Writing Tip 155: “Deep-seated” vs. “Deep seeded”

Maybe the only way this flower is alive in the snow and ice is because it’s deep-seeded. No? Yeah, I don’t think so either.

No matter how much the weather makes you feel like gardening (or perhaps not…), there is nothing tracing back to seeds, roots, or things buried far within the dirt with this idiom.

If you have a belief that is held deep in your core, it is “deep-seated”—as in seated deeply within your heart. (Note, there’s a hyphen present since these two words are combining to become an adjective.)

You don’t want to bury your seeds too deeply or they won’t grow. The same goes for this idiom. No more deep seeding, everyone. “Deep-seated” is the way to go.

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