The Grammar Diva – Musings from a Word Nerd
Welcome to the Grammar Diva blog….here, you will find grammar information, interesting articles, and hopefully your input! We welcome guest bloggers, questions, comments, stories, and anything else that will make this an entertaining place to be! Of course we can’t always write about grammar (well, I guess we could), so we can also talk about books, publishing, publishing, and my favorite topic — coffee! So, grab your cup of java and read on (this is a reprint of a guest blog I wrote) —
TYPO Is (Sometimes) Just a Euphemism!
In 2008 editor Jeff Deck and former Dartmouth College student Benjamin Herson undertook The Great Typo Hunt, a road trip from coast to coast of the United States in which they located and corrected typos! Their journey has now been made into a book and a blog. I will give you the link later. Mr. Deck, a former spelling bee champion, and his friend Benjamin Herson found over 400 typos on their trip….and they corrected about 55 percent of them — sometimes getting into a little hot water!
They did have some ground rules: 1. The typos needed to be in the public domain – things that everyone could see, like menus and signs. 2. They would not be unkind to those whose native language is not English. 3. They corrected only text, not any speech. 4. They learned not to correct a menu item until after the food was served! Now, you and I both know that these really were not all typos….a typo occurs when your fingers inadvertently hit the wrong key. For the most part, these are simply common mistakes.
As an editor, teacher, and author, I know a mistake when I see one (or hear one)! What do you think are some of the most common mistakes in grammar (“grammar” meaning spelling, punctuation, and usage)?
In no real particular order, here are the Top Four Grammar Mistakes that I see:
4. There is no apostrophe in a plain old plural noun.
Here are my vacation photo’s! What?? Oh, you mean photos!! Don’t put an apostrophe in a plural noun unless it is a number, letter, or symbol (a’s, 5’s, &’s). Apostrophes are for possession.
3. Don’t use your when you mean you’re. I hope your coming with us. Huh??? Oh, you mean you’re! You’re is the contraction meaning you are. Your is a possessive adjective (for example, your shirt).
2. We were all corrected to use I when we said, “My friend and me are going to the movies.” However, sometimes me is the correct word to use (same goes for us, her, him, them, and whom). He gave the tickets to my friend and me. Using I is incorrect here. You wouldn’t say, “He gave the tickets to I,” so you don’t say he and I either. Between you and I is also incorrect. Between you and me is the correct way to write or say it. The rule is to use the pronoun I, we, he, she, they, and who when used as the subject of a sentence (or a predicate nominative, which is a noun or pronoun that comes after a verb of being. For example, “It is I” and “This is she” are both correct. “It is me” is incorrect.). Use me, us, him, her, them, and whom when used as the direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition in a sentence. The boss promoted him and me (direct objects). The boss gave her and him raises (indirect object). The boss gave the account to him and me (object of the preposition to).
1. Do not separate two sentences with a comma….EVER!! You will have a run- on sentence (a definite no-no). I hope you can attend the meeting, it will be very productive. Sorry, no way. There are several ways to fix a run on.
I hope you can attend the meeting. It will be very productive. or
I hope you can attend the meeting; it will be very productive. or
I hope you can attend the meeting because it will be very productive.
–Arlene Miller, Your Grammar Diva
If you would like more information about The Great Typo Hunt: http: The Great Typo Hunt
What REALLY bugs me is “Me and Jane will go to the movies.” Or, They gave Jane and I tickets for the movie. Were these people sleeping during language class?? The thing is, teacher friends of mine make these mistakes all the time. Makes me wonder……
I agree. I especially hate the improper use of I, as if your second example!!! Yes, I hear fellow teachers doing it too!!!
Typos have ALWAYS jumped out to me. BUT who reads all those rules Pete? OMGosh! Not I.
I thought I was the only one who dreamed of going around correcting signs with a big fat black marker! Typo Busters unite!
Thanks for the comment on using apostrophes with plurals of numbers, letters, or symbols. Two questions on this:
— “Do’s and don’t’s” or “Dos and don’ts” It surely isn’t “Does and don’ts,” which I would read as “duz” or “doughs,” not “dues.”
— “Back in the 1990s” or “1990’s.” Are we talking about 10 years or one decade? And then would it be ” ’90s” or ” ’90’s?”
Oh, I think there are many of us!
Nice Blog. I enjoyed cruising around in it. BTW, did you know that it’s proper and necessary to insert a space between the quotation marks and an apostrophe when the apostrophe is used to denote a missing letter in the first word of dialogue?
Example = ” ‘Tis a fine day.”
Thanks for the comment, Charles….and for teaching me something I didn’t know about the quotation marks!
Well, not exactly. The Chicago Manual of Style (16th Ed.) states in item 6.11 (quote):
SIngle quotation marks next to double quotation marks. When a single quotation mark is nested within double quotation marks appear next to each other, no space need be added between the two except as a typographical nicety subject to the publisher’s requirements. … (end quote)
While the commenter discusses quote marks and a leading apostrophe, the typographical situation is the same. This actually falls into the category of typography instead of grammar (so I wouldn’t expect a grammar teacher to be especially knowledgable on the point).
As CMS goes on to say, “most typographers will use a thin space between the two marks to enhance readability.” This is certainly true, but it also depends on the side space established within the typeface being used in a particular instance. Some typefaces (often improperly referred to as fonts) include sufficient side space that additional space may not be necessary, while other typefaces may not provide sufficient space to ensure readability. The actual amount of space necessary is quite small — only enough to ensure that there is sufficient space for the eye-brain to recognize two separate symbols.
In the case of a leading apostrophe, there often is sufficient space between leading quote marks (“66”) and the apostrophe (“9”) due to the reverse of the curvature (with opening quote marks looking like a tiny “66” and the leading apostrophe looking like a tiny “9”).
“Typewriter” style quotes/apostrophe would more likely require a little extra space, since they are not curved. However, the use of typewriter quotes in formal typesetting are an typographical error in themselves (unless you are indicating feet or inches).
The most commonly used typesetting program among professional typographers (book designers) is InDesign. The program includes many different types of white space. These are:
Em space – a proportional space that is equal to the point size of the type. That is, 12 point type would have a 12 point em space. (The name is derived from this being the approximate width of the letter “M.”)
En space – one-half the width of the em space
Nonbreaking space – this is the same variable width as occurs when pressing the space bar, but prevents the line from being broken at that space.
Nonbreaking space (fixed width). Again, this space prevents the line from being broken at that point. It is identical to the nonbreaking space as it was used in InDesign CS2.
Third space – One-third the width of an em space (remember, these are proportional to the point size of the type).
Quarter space – One-fourth the width of an em space.
Sixth space – One-sixth the width of an em space.
Flush space – adds a variable amount of space to the last line of a fully justified paragraph, useful for justifying text in the last line. (Look up “change justification settings.”)
Thin space – One-eighth the width of an em space. This may actually be too wide for the suggested use indicated by CMS, depending on the side bearings of the quote mark glyphs. Sometimes (in some typefaces) typographers will use thin spaces before and after em-dashes, especially when the design of the typeface causes em dashes to touch the letters.
Hair space – Usually one-twenty-fourth the width of an em space. Frequently, this is the “best” space to add between double/single quote mark combinations (or double quite/apostrophe combinations).
Figure space – Same with as a lining number in the typeface. This is used to help align numbers in financial tables. May be unreliable if used with non-lining numbers.
Punctuation space – Same width as a period, colon, or exclamation point in the typeface.
In addition to these various space “characters” (e.g. defined spaces within the typeface), white space can be changed using the “tracking/kerning” features of the program. The space between any two characters (glyphs) can be adjusted by selecting those two letters, then increasing or reducing the spacing using letter spacing over ride on InDesign’s character palette.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Pete! We sure miss your expertise around here. I always put my three quotes in a row without spaces, and that is what I teach.