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

 

[BJCooperIT]

rosieb,
Purses here come in range of sizes - small enough only a postage stamp will fit and large enough for a Volkswagen (almost)!

Back to the topic:
Another bad habit that comes to mind is referencing a news article without providing a link. Very bad form!


[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

 

[CajunCenturion]

Lie is a very confusing work.

To not tell the truth is "to lie.". But not only is it a verb, it is also a noun, as in "He told a lie.".

Additionally, it has several other meanings as well, as in golf, you refer to the "lie of the golf ball", and in sailing, you "lie to the wind", (but you lay at anchor), and you can "lie down on the job", or "lie low" waiting for the dust to settle.

Lie also have spacial meanings, as in your land lies between the two rivers, or from the song, "My Bonnies Lies Over The Ocean".

Anothing valid use of lie is in the form, "The next post lies with you"

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

 

[BJCooperIT]

Dangling Preposition

WRONG
"She automatically gave a failing grade to any paper she found a dangling preposition in."

RIGHT
"She automatically gave a failing grade to any paper that had a dangling preposition. "

[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

 

[chiph]

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?

It's sort of slang, but "How does it look" usually means that you're asking someone for an opinion. For example, you've just finished painting your house, so you ask your neighbor: "How does it look?" And they reply: "Good, except I liked the previous color better."

"What does it look like?" implies that you've never seen whatever it is before, so you're asking someone to describe it to you. "I went to see the Grand Canyon while I was on vacation". "Oh? What did it look like?" "Big". ;-)

Chip H.


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

 

[sleipnir214]

stella740pl:
CajunCenturion has it right with "to lie" possibly meaning "to tell an untruth".

The trick with "lie" and "lay" is to keep in mind that "lie" means "to be in repose" while "lay" means "to put something in repose".

All the idiomatic examples CajunCenturion noted describe things being in repose in one way or another. [With the presumption that "lie" in "one's lie on a golf course" does not refer to telling untruths -- I've heard golfers tell some whoppers.]

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

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

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[CajunCenturion]

LOL that's right, and to further confuse the issue, in golf, the lie of the ball means two different things. One is how the ball is positioned on the ground, and second, how make strokes have been taken so far on the hole.

"He's lying two (getting ready to hit third shot), with a horrible lie (ball is in a bad position), because the ball is lying between two roots of a tree, with a leaf lying on top of it." Of course he may be lying about how many he lies (He really took three shots to get there).

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

 

[Onyxpurr]

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?

Actually I think he was corrected because we all make these mistakes. "How does it look?" would actually best be answered by, "It looks with it's eyes." The sentence is completely wrong for what the person intends it to be. "What does it look like?" is much better.

Also, "Can you answer the phone?" in most instances would be inappropriate because it's actually asking if you have the ability to answer the phone. Better phrased as, "Would you please answer the phone?"

 

[Stella740pl]

Thanks, everyone!

So, actually, the spelling is the same for "to tell an untruth" and "to be in repose"? Why I have been always trying so hard to recall how we spell each one? Probably, because of the "lying" with it's "y" getting in the picture and messing the things up for me, I was looking for a word starting with "ly".

With "How does it look?" and "What does it look like?", untill now, I thought the problem was that the sentence was built incorrectly. In reality, both structures are gramatically correct, but have different meaning. Thanks!

As for "can", I know this one ("Can you answer the phone?" -"I can but I won't"; or "Can I go now?" - "You can but you may not"; or "May I do this?" - "You may if you can&quot. But in real life I still say "can", as everyone around me does.
Do you remeber, in "My fair lady"/"Pygmalion", Elisa Doolittle was mistaken for a foreigner because of her excessively correct English? Well, I guess it will never happen to me .

Stella

 

[SF0751]

When I was (much) younger, I learned my "grammer rules" from Schoolhouse Rock (

http://www.school-house-rock.com/).

Now that I've gone back to college to complete my degree, I've turned to

http://english-zone.com/index.html

for assistance, especially when I'm drafting my term papers!



Susan
[sub]You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.[/sub]
[sup]Aristophanes, 424 B.C.[/sup]
[sup]Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.

 

[CajunCenturion]

stella740pl - I guess it would be remiss not to introduce two other words.

Lye (pronounced just like 'lie') which is a white powdery substance (potassium chloride?) which can be quite caustic.

Lei (pronounced just like 'lay') which is the necklace that you receive when you arrive in Hawaii.



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

 

[SQLSister]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the run-on sentence. This is probably the worst offender of all in terms of readability and comprehension. Of course, it's my worst problem.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I don't understand what you mean, considering the wealth of information that someone might wish to share, taking into account the context of the question, along with its expected tangential aspects, that someone would even consider using a run-on sentence to answer the question, and to explain what side effects may occur, and how those can be dealt with, and then to proceed into a theoretical explanation of the answer including why that theory applies to this particular answer, so as to solve the initial problem, while at the same time, insuring that users who rely on other parts of the system will not be adversely affected by the effects of the change, thus allowing them to do their jobs, so that they can earn a decent living to support their families, and to pay for a new computer at home, with the latest internet connection technology so that they can, from the house, connect to Tek-Tips to ask their next question, eagerly awaiting another complete answer to further increase their knowledge base, and skill set, that they can subsequently apply at the office tomorrow to impress their boss, further their career, do a better job, and start it all over again with another question.

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

 

[BJCooperIT]

I bow to CanjunCenturion, the master of the run-on sentence!

[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

 

[jsteph]

My contribution

It's definitely definitely, not definately
--jsteph

 

[Onyxpurr]

How about those that assume you already know what their thinking...you know what I mean?

Don't forget the mother of all slang..."ya know"?

No, I don't! Please elaborate!! lol

 

[CajunCenturion]

At the risk of taking the even further off topic, I'd like to share a story about regional idioms, and how confusing they can be.

I remember several years ago when a good friend of ours gave my wife a nice silver platter and said, "Don't save this for good." My wife said, we most certainly will save this good, meaning, we will keep it forever. Her friend said, no that's not what I meant, I mean, use it everday, don't save it for just the special occations.

I agree that English has to be one of the most, if not the most, difficult language to learn.

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

 

[Golom]

Dangling Preposition

... and then there was Winston Churchill's comment when he was censured for using a dangling preposition ...

That is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.

 

[wuneyej]

kind of off-topic, but I honestly have no idea...

What is the plural of mouse? Is it mouses or mice?

You can assume I'm taking about the computer related mouse.

 

[jrbarnett]

A quick tip I just remembered from my English teacher regarding the use of apostrophes:
If you are not sure about whether to put an apostrophe in or not, you are more likely to be correct if you leave it out than put it in.

John

 

[SQLSister]

Nice run-on sentence Cajun. Is it bad that I understood it?It's probably even worse that I've written longer sentences than that. (But I did work for the government then.)

I remember once another editor and I were arguing about punctuating a particularly brutal sentence which had many necessary qualifiers. We finally decided to call the grammar hotline and agreed to abide by their advice. The advice we got was, "Why would you want to say something like that?" Apparently, they had never been exposed to legal language before.