Introduction

What I Do 

1. Mechanical editing, which covers grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and so forth 

2. Substantive editing, which addresses content, organization, effectiveness, style, unity, appropriateness to audience, and the like 

3. Developmental editing, which guides the author through the planning and writing of a manuscript 

4. Seminars on grammar, composition, technical writing, business writing, and fiction 

I accept fiction, nonfiction, articles, and technical, academic, and commercial documents. 

What I Don't Do 

1. Documents on a level of technicality that requires an editor from the field 

2. Manuscripts I consider hateful, libelous, or pornographic   

Introduction 

Words are powerful. They can lift your spirit or twist and smear. They inspire and mislead—as the writer’s or speaker’s conscience and aptitude dictate. 

In an election year, candidates and their speech and ad writers have a unique opportunity to make their messages at least grammatically correct, and perhaps even, well, erudite. Smart. Positive. Substantive. Honest. OK, maybe just nonvenomous. 

As I schlepp another boatload of campaign literature to the recycle bin, I try to glean a meager harvest from amid the political voter bait and vacuous drivel, a hint of unity and integrity, respect, and hard work, and fairness. 

I hope there was some of that in your mailbox.

 Questions (Please direct to mjces@gci.net)

From my cache of questions, it appears that grammar-related confusion plagues our use of compound plurals. Often, though not always, it is the hyphenated compounds that lead us astray. 

The plurals of compounds, hyphenated or not (mother-in-law, lily of the valley, lady-in-waiting, tax collector, police officer, word processor, The Chicago Manual of Style) are formed by pluralizing the key element (mother, lily, lady, collector, officer, processor, Manual). The correct form is mothers-in-law, lilies of the valley, ladies-in-waiting, tax collectors, police officers, word processors, and Manuals of Style (copies of Chicago if capitalized, any style manuals if lowercased). It is not always the first element we pluralize, nor is it always the last, as we often assume. Ask yourself who or what there is more of, and use the plural of that word, not of the entire compound. When you speak of more than one, that means two or more mothers, not laws; lilies, not valleys, manuals, not styles; and so forth. So please, NO mother-in-laws. 

The possessive, by the way, is: my mother-in-law’s house, the word processor’s limitations. In the plural, if you should be inclined to awkward usage, it would be: our mothers-in-law’s houses. Better stick with the houses of our mothers-in-law.

 Grammar Gripes and Style Stumblers

And speaking of compounds—to hyphenate or not hyphenate, that is for many of us another toss of the coin. The Chicago Manual of Style devotes many pages to this issue, probably because in addition to some general conventions for hyphenation, there are quite a few special usage examples of compounds starting (or ending) with specific words. Take the matter of half-. 

Compounds starting with half are hyphenated when used as adjectives: a half-finished sentence, she is half-asleep. When attached to nouns, leave them open: a half sister, a half hour. Except, naturally (there always has to be an except or two), if half+noun constitutes an adjective: a half-hour session. Half attached to a verb remains open: he half thought he was going crazy. 

And just when you think you have that one down, they mention that sometimes the half compounds have progressed to the closed stage (no space, no hyphen), as in halfway. 

When in doubt, look it up. If this is your first venture into the vagaries of hyphenation, better be in doubt. 

You are welcome to share with all of us (mjces@gci.net) the compounds that drive you crazy, such as those starting with self, step, grand, and many others, so we can talk about those in the future. 

Hyphenation discussions could fill a book, and I am not writing it today. Just one more caution: Do not confuse hyphens with dashes. You would be surprised how often people do that, both in actual usage (putting in the wrong symbol, usually a hyphen instead of a dash), and in reference to it (I told you she goes by Mrs. Eynsford-dash-Hill). The latter should be Eynsford-hyphen-Hill (Eynsford-Hill).

 Terrible Twos

The words verbal and oral overlap at times—actually, they overlap a lot—but they retain distinct meanings. Simplified, oral has to do with the mouth, verbal with the word. The difference lies in viewpoint—physical or linguistic. To illustrate the overlap, linguistic is derived from the Latin lingua, or tongue, which in itself can mean the physical tongue as well as a language. 

Oral = Uttered by the mouth, usually in words; it refers to speech or the spoken word. We can also speak of oral hygiene, or hygiene of the mouth. 

Verbal = Relating to words. It can refer to either the spoken or the written word: verbal instructions (unlike a traffic signal or a pictorial). A verbal presentation is given in words—not, for instance, in music or pictures). Verbal abuse, as opposed, perhaps, to a well-placed left hook, is mean talk. 

To add another wrinkle: verbal is also the adjective derived from verb, which, of course, is also a word, but a specialized one. This variety does not come up a lot in conversation, except among grammarians. 

Needless to say, verbal and oral are often used interchangeably, and the distinctions are likely to fade with time.

 Everybody Does It

A talk show guest stated that she was “isolated by myself.” Isn’t that the whole point of isolated? If someone had been with her, she wouldn’t have been isolated. 

Beware of overkill. We hear and read many such gems, including the ubiquitous free gift, the unexpected surprise, and 4 a.m. in the morning. 

Somewhat similarly, we often hear of expensive prices and warm temperatures. It is not the price that is expensive, but the product purchased. Prices and temperatures are high or low or in between, products are cheap or expensive, and the weather is hot or cold.

Media Turkeys

From a TV reporter’s street interview, in response to a statement that—I forget the exact words, but something like, “some people are eager to participate”: 

Reporter: “They very are!” 

Ouch. 

Potholes

“He left his wife for her sister,” proclaims one article, “not knowing she had just won the lottery moments before.” 

Who? Who had won the lottery, the wife or the sister? (On second thought, the sister does not sound like a winner.) In any event, beware of using a personal pronoun when its antecedent is not clear. Remember to write not just to be understood, but not to be misunderstood.