Lately, we’ve been spotting misused apostrophes all over the place. If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you’ve probably already seen these pictures. But, we wanted to share with our blog friends as well.
In these instances, businesses have used apostrophes to make a word plural. Remember, folks, apostrophes should never be used like this. Use them to indicate possession or to combine words like in contractions.
Although the terms “boarder” and “border” probably aren’t terms writers use every day, they are commonly confused. Here’s a quick explanation of these terms:
A boarder is a person–either someone who boards, or receives lodging, or someone who snowboards
Border is the more commonly used term meaning the outer edge or boundary.
So, a boarder might live in your house, but you cross the border when you travel from one state to another.
Compound modifiers are two or more words that jointly describe another word. Generally, compound modifiers are adjectival phrases, though they can be adverbial phrases as well. Compound modifiers, with a few exceptions, require hyphens, which are often overlooked by writers. Use a hyphen to indicate that the words preceding the word (usually a noun) are jointly describing it.
For example:
There are a few exceptions to remember when using compound modifiers:
Last fall, we talked about the common confusion between you’re and your. Today, Rusty found a great example of this confusion at the Louisville Airport.
They spent all that money on the sign, and the title is all wrong.
“Literally” is one of the most misused words in the English language. People often mistakenly use literally for emphasis and exaggeration—“I’m literally as hungry as a horse!”
“Literally” means “really” or “actually,” but people often confuse it with “figuratively,” which means “in an analogous or metaphorical sense.”
Fortunately, “literally” is typically misused in speech rather than writing, but it can often lead to unintentional hilarity. Check out Literally: A Web Blog for the best misuses of the word in print and on the web.
We shared this photo with our Facebook and Twitter fans earlier this week, showing an unnecessary use of quotation marks at one of our favorite Lexington restaurants. I’ve seen it before—and it has irked me before—but I happened to have my camera on me when we stopped by last weekend.
Businesses seem to be the biggest fans unnecessary quotation marks. Often, misplaced quotation marks can be humorous, as chronicled in the Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks.
So, folks, remember why we use quotation marks—to set off and represent exact language. Don’t use quotation marks for emphasis, unless you want to give your readers a good laugh. If you want to emphasize text, bold it, underline it, italicize it, or put it in all caps, but please don’t use quotation marks.
One of our ongoing projects at Carpenter Doc is editing online “How To” articles for a number of sites. Many of these instructional articles have a craft theme, meaning we come across the misused word “stationary” almost daily. Since writers seem to struggle with this term, we thought we’d walk our readers through this confusing homophone.
Stationary means immobile or unchanging in condition.
Stationery means materials for writing or typing.
So, you ride a stationary bike at the gym, but you write thank-you notes on stationery.
Writers often struggle with prepositions. These small, seemingly insignificant words can impact the meaning of the sentence, meaning there is usually a right preposition to use and a wrong one. Let’s look at one common preposition mistake that we see in documents we edit.
Which of the following three sentences uses the proper preposition?
A) A doctor is different than a veterinarian.
B) This dress is different to that one.
C) The pink flowers are different from the red flowers.
If you chose C, you’re correct. “From” is the proper preposition to use after “different.” While there has been debate over this usage in the past, most resources, including The Elements of Style online, prefer using “from” rather than “than” or “to.”
The comma is a polarizing punctuation mark, generating discussion in the newsroom and classroom alike. Everyone from copy editors to students to business professionals argue over the comma’s placement, and there are as many people who overuse commas as those who under use them. It’s safe to say that Carpenter Doc never edits a document without a missing or misplaced comma.
Thankfully, there are many standard rules for comma usage, and here are some particularly popular ones to guide your writing:
As I was running on the elliptical machine at my gym this morning, I noticed a sign listing the “Cardio Area Rules.” The rules were fairly standard, but I was surprised by the number of obvious grammatical errors in what was probably no more than 50 words of text. I spotted missing commas, unnecessary apostrophes, inconsistent capitalization, and a comma splice.
As an editor, it’s my job to catch these things. Would the average member notice these errors on the sign? Probably not. However, the gym paid for these signs to be produced, so wouldn’t they want them to be grammatically correct? Do organizations lose credibility and professionalism when they produce marketing materials that are rife with grammatical errors? In my opinion, they do.
If you keep your eyes open, you will find grammatical errors everywhere. Some can be comical, and some can be downright annoying. Clearly, an editor’s work is never done.