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August, 2012:

A OR AN: SOUND RULES

Aug 27th, 2012
by Bill Roberts.
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Whether you’re writing a sales proposal, staff memo or report to colleagues, you don’t want to make a mistake like this: The team’s effort deserved a F. You would be the one flunking!

The rule we learned as children was to use a before words that start with a consonant – a ball, a mitt, a tee – and an before words that start with a vowel – an apple, an enchilada, an orange. But that’s not quite the whole story.

It’s the sound that counts (which is why we’re more likely to make the mistake writing than speaking). Use a before words that start with a consonant sound – even if the letter happens to be a vowel:

• A European joke The E sounds like the y in your.

• A one-week trip The o sounds like the w in won.

• A unique situation The u sounds like the y in you.

Use an before words (or letters or numbers) that start with a vowel sound – even if the letter happens to be a consonant:

• An NFL game The N begins with an e sound (as does the F in the first example).

• An 80-year-old house The 80 begins with an a sound.

• An hour for lunch The h is silent; the word sounds like our.

H-words in which the h is unstressed or weak – words like historic and hypothesis – are a gray area. Both a and an are commonly used. One study noted that a is used more often with those words, but an is used often enough to be considered standard usage. Here at SKAR, following the AP Stylebook, we prefer a historic and a hypothesis.

 

SHORTER IS BETTER

Aug 20th, 2012
by Bill Roberts.
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Next time you think you have a piece of writing the way you want it, try this exercise: Shorten it. Yes, you’ve already worked on it and are pleased with it, but don’t become defensive. Adopt the attitude that it’s “much too fat and a little too long,” and search for words to prune. It usually turns out better.

Here are examples of sentences that could be shortened, should be shortened and actually benefit from being shortened:

• I am unsure whether or not mama’s little baby loves shortening bread. Usually you can drop or not from this phrase, but not always: I love shortening bread, whether or not the baby does.

• I was always a romantic railroader; in fourth grade I really liked a rather pretty girl who had a Lionel model train set.  Avoid qualifiers like really, rather, very, little and actually. Although intended to strengthen a statement, they actually may weaken it.

• It’s my regular routine to stop by and visit the Department of Redundancy, where I look over and view new inventions. Look at the sense of your words and search for redundancies to eliminate.

• The badness in her art reveals bad talent and bad skill informed by unquestionably bad taste. When you repeat the same word in one sentence, that usually means you need to rewrite and simplify: Her art is bad.

 

MIXED METAPHORS

Aug 13th, 2012
by Bill Roberts.
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A metaphor is a figure of speech comparing one thing to another, so it always involves some mixing. Here are examples from old movies:

• “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” In All About Eve (1950) Bette Davis compares the night ahead to a rough automobile ride.

• “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death.” In Auntie Mame (1958) Rosalind Russell urges her nephew to avoid the fate of too many people and get out there and enjoy life.

• “Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates.” In Forrest Gump (1994) Tom Hanks uses an explicit comparison (that makes it a simile, which is a kind of metaphor) to say life holds surprises.

A mixed metaphor occurs when the writer starts with one metaphor but then adds another and another and … well, the results can be ridiculous:

• Don’t bring me down with your hair-raising economic forecasts while I’m wading into this thicket of compensation issues. Metaphorically, the writer starts with being lowered in mood, then transitions into being frightened, partially submerged and finally enclosed in dense vegetation. Help!

• Stop, in the name of all social networks, blowing hot air about knowing Facebook like the back of your hand and how you’re all over those apps like ugly on an ape.  The writer metaphorically invokes a cherished principle to protest empty boasting, follows up with a tired cliché and finishes with a thoroughly worn-out cliché.

• When my sales rival stole my client list it was like her cheating heart dropped tears on my pillow and drove a stake down the avenue of my broken dreams. Metaphorically, betrayal issues have clouded the writer’s mind so badly that sense is no longer being made.

Mixed metaphors usually happen when a writer is so used to an expression – like wading into an issue – that he or she forgets it’s a metaphor. It’s often a warning sign of an overused expression. So be aware of your figures of speech, and if you find there’s more than one, you’ll have to make up your mind.

 

Lose and Loose

Aug 6th, 2012
by Bill Roberts.
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Maybe it’s because lose rhymes with choose. Maybe it’s because too many writers snooze or drink booze or get tattoos or play kazoos.

Whatever the reason, sometimes when we mean to write lose – to misplace, not win, elude – we accidentally write loose – unfastened, not precise, freed.

We know better. It happens when we’re rushed or not paying attention. We hope it will be caught – by us or a friend or an editor – before it is published and a large number of readers see it. After all, we don’t want too many people thinking we’re dumb.