Overcoming Bad Writing Habits 9

[BJCooperIT]

We once discussed the importance of spelling and grammar here at TT. I cannot locate that thread, but in general we all agreed that our professional images suffer from bad habits in our writing. We also agreed that spell checking and proofreading are important.

The purpose of this thread is to provide tips to help make us aware of and overcome common mistakes. A few months ago I discovered that there was a word which I was mispronouncing. This was not a new word, indeed it is commonly used. I was embarrassed when I realized that I have been making this mistake all my life. That set me to thinking, what other "mistakes" do I make of which I am unaware? I always struggle with punctuation and know that I could use a few pointers there.

Since this site is dedicated to helping other professionals, I would like this thread to provide tips that may be helpful. If you read a something you already know, then good for you. If you benefit from it, even better! Hopefully, each one of us can find some little bad habit we can overcome.

I used

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

as a reference. Here are 3 common mistakes that are on the top of my hit parade:

THAN vs. THEN
THAN: "...taken as the point of departure in a comparison expressive of inequality... easier said than done"
THEN: "next in order of time... first came the clowns, then came the elephants"
I remember this by thinking "than" compares 2 items

TO vs. TOO
TO: "used as a function word to indicate movement or an action or condition suggestive of movement... drove to the city"
TOO: ": BESIDES, ALSO... sell the house and furniture too"
I remember this by thinking if it is excessive, there are too many O's

DANGLING PREPOSITONS
Remember prepositions? at, to, for, with, in, on...
I had an English teacher who would automatically give a failing grade to any paper in which she found a sentence that ended with a preposition. This would include something like "What did you go to the store for?". I am forever rewriting sentences to avoid this mistake.

How about it? Give us your recommendations.

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000

 

[flapeyre]

Many posters to on-line forums confuse loose with lose.

Loose is an adjective, neaning "not tight", and lose is a verb, meaning "to misplace".

I think the reason that these two are often confused is because the short "oo" sound exists in both words.

English is an amalgam of many different ancient and modern languages (Latin, Greek, Germanic, and so forth), and, as such, pronounciation of similarly spelled words does not always follow a regular pattern. Contrast this with the romance languaages, (Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, etc.), where pronounciation is regular, for the most part. Native Spanish speakers are rarely bad spellers. You can look at a new word in Spanish for the first time and know how to pronounce it correctly. Conversely, you hear the word for the first time, and you know how it is supposed to be spelled.


"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for here you have been, and there you will always long to return."

--Leonardo da Vinci

 

[lionelhill]

I can't help but notice that Goethe chose to write Faust, and Shakespear wrote Romeo and Juliet, but neither is famous for writing a good book on grammar (or a strict letter to the Times about the standard of English today).

It's easy to get very excited about minor language issues and miss the point of what's being communicated.

For what it's worth, my personal gripe is over-reliance on spell-checkers. Mistkaes like thiss are not a porblm to read, but mistakes wear a reel ward, bit the wrung won as taped are heard to reed. Really. But a spell checker never notices them. Obviously.

 

[flapeyre]

On dangling prepositions:

When Winston Churchill was told that one must never end a sentence with a preposition, he replied:

"This is something up with which I will not put!"


"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for here you have been, and there you will always long to return."

--Leonardo da Vinci

 

[sleipnir214]

sem:
All the more reason to disambiguate your writing as much as possible. It gives the reader more clues as to how to parse idiomatic usage, transliterated phrases and the like.

Nor am I saying that we should all become grammar police. What I am saying is that we are all beholden to write using the best grammar, syntax, usage and punctuation possible. The fact that our primary goal is to answer technical questions does not give us an excuse for writing badly. If the message cannot be understood, there's no point trying to transmit it.

As a first-language speaker of English I have additional responsibility to write well. I'm an example of how it's supposed to be done.


lionelhill:
Yeah, Shakespeare tended to make it up as he went along -- if nothing else, he was the master of the mixed metaphor. For example, you don't "take arms against a sea of troubles", you "take arms against a host of troubles".

Shakespeare, however, was writing poetry in prose form. I don't think I can make the same claim for my writing.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[BJCooperIT]

Another I just saw elsewhere:

THROUGH
"used as a function word to indicate movement into at one side or point and out at another and especially the opposite side of... drove a nail through the board"

THROW
"to propel through the air by a forward motion of the hand and arm... throw a baseball"

You know who you are!

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000

 

[wuneyej]

sleipnir...I agree with you that all right is the most proper, most "textbook" spelling, but if the Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine see it fit to use the alright spelling, it's my opinion that it's fine to use the spelling at Tek Tips. Maybe it's frowned upon in countries where British English is spoken/written.

I don't mean to go on about it, I just enjoy talking about this kind of stuff.

Greatness is best measured by one's willingness to be kind.

 

[jrbarnett]

I have no idea who wrote this, but it illustrates the point about spelling checkers wonderfully. For those of you whom don't have English as your first language and don't quite get this, every word is pronounced in the correct manner but spelt - and means something quite different to what is intended.

The Spellchecker Song

I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye ran this poem threw it.
Your sure real glad two no.
Its very polished in its weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a blessing.
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.

Each frays comes posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checkers
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we're laks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
There are know faults with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.

Now spelling does not phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped words fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too please.


John

 

[sha76]

Just mailed this to a colleague, my spellchecker objects to "laks".

 

[Onyxpurr]

jrbarnett - great example!!

Which is the perfect example of why, when writing professionally, you should ALWAYS have someone else proofread for you.

 

[sem]

Sleipnir214, only

as a first-language speaker of English

! I suppose that this thread topic should be prefixed by "For the first-language speakers of English". And with this correction I may accept it and do not participate in it

Regards, Dima

http://seminihin.narod.ru

 

[CajunCenturion]

So sem, do you want to speak/write English or not?

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[sleipnir214]

sem:
Just so long as you keep in mind that the more readable your posts are, the more likely you will get the responses you require.


Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[chiph]

Sem -
I think what a lot of people have been avoiding saying is that as native speakers of English, it's our responsibility to write it correctly in order to provide a good example to the non-native speakers.

Which is why I think a lot of us get upset when we see "SMS-speak" in posts. cant u see it makes 4 hard reading? LOL.

You can make the same argument in whatever your native language is. If you speak Deutsch, and use a lot of slang, abbreviations (god, I hate German abbreviations!), people who don't natively speak German will have a harder time understanding it.

Chip H.


If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

 

[rosieb]

sleipnir214
"But" can be a noun and a verb? I've heard "butt" as both, but never "but".
A bit esoteric perhaps, but the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives the following:
Noun (1) - an objection (“ifs and buts”)
(2) - the outer room of a two roomed house (Scottish – OK, it’s questionable as to whether that really counts as English).

Verb, transitive - As used in the phrase “but me no buts”.

Not likely to come up in everyday conversation, I admit.

OED (1990) also lists alright as an “adverb, disputed”. So I’d say it was alright to use it, (it would also be all right for you to disagree).

lionelhill
Someone stole borrowed my copy of Fowler a few years ago, I keep meaning to replace it.

Rosie

 

[Onyxpurr]

Off topic: Is it really borrowed if it's never returned? I have a friend that charges people a small fee to borrow her books now. If you're open-minded enough, I'd say it's a good compromise.

Back on topic: I admit the english language is a pretty difficult one to learn (I would imagine). Gallager is a perfect example: "You drive on a parkway, and park on a driveway. I threw the whole thing through a hole." Yikes!

 

[misterhux]

even having a single proof reader is not enough.... This once got through my readering (2x) and a co-workers reading:
"The Untied States of America..."

 

[rosieb]

Onyxpurr
Just to confuse matters, in the UK, you drive on a motorway, or possibly a dual carriageway (I'm not sure of the exact equivalent) and park on a drive.

misterhux
Looks correct to me.

Rosie

 

[BJCooperIT]

"Pocketbook" leaves me wondering. In the U.S. this is another word for purse. Unless I put a manual in my purse and carry it in my pocket?

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000

 

[rosieb]

BJCooperIT
In the UK, you'd have to be very rich to need a purse big enough for a book. A purse is a (very) small thing I keep my money in. I keep my purse in my handbag.

Rosie

 

[Stella740pl]

English used to be my third language, now it is second, but still, it's not first. Nevertheless, all those than/then, too/to, there/their/they're, its/it's, affect/effect, accept/except, loose/lose, and many others are no news to me. (Not to say that my English is perfect, but it is strange to see when native English speakers confuse them sometimes.) As for dangling prepositions, I often don't know how to avoid using them. One of my English teachers, when I asked "How does it look?", corrected me: "What does it look like?". Can someone elaborate on the topic?

sleipnir214,
As for lie/lay, thanks, these two are confusing to me. I would be grateful if you also explain which word we use for being untruthful.

misterhux,
I read it twice before I noticed that Untied. It's funny.

Stella