Frustrating English

[caseydog]

As well as the times one doesn't know if the person just made a typing error or really doesn't know how to spell it. I often make typo's as I'm in a rush and don't go back to proofread.

Something that I learned Art Directing magazines is that you should never proofread your own writing, because your brain will read right through many typos. That why they say let "fresh eyes" proofread your writing.

The biggest thing I have to watch for is Autocorrect changing my words to what it thinks I meant to write.

BTW, I don't write posts on forums the way I would write a magazine article. I bend a lot of rules on a post to make my posts more casual and conversational. I just want to communicate a thought, not win a Pulitzer Prize.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

it crates visual "rivers" of white on a page of text.

Funny you should say that as I believe the opposite. I find paragraphs can often look like one humongous sentence. The double space after a period helps alleviate that. Personally I find it easier to read, knowing I can take a breath between sentences.

 

[caseydog]

The two spaces after a period is a typewriter hold over because of n-spaces and m-spaces in a printing font set. More technical word processing software like FrameMaker allow you to set one or two spaces after a period to accommodate different typists. You can also have it convert a double space into an m-space and such things automatically.

One thing that made my job as an Art Director difficult is when I had to go through an article by a novice writer, and change all the non-standard formatting. I'd get a Microsoft Word doc and the writer formatted it to their liking and had to undo all of that formatting to fit the style sheet of the magazine.

That includes removing all the double spaces after sentences. On a six page article, that was very time consuming.

CD

 

[Andy M.]

I believe when you are pluralizing a word that ends with s, you use the apostrophe after the s to indicate plural.

That's right but I'm referring to using the apostrophe incorrectly for ALL plurals. e.g. "There are several bank's on this street."

 

[caseydog]

Funny you should say that as I believe the opposite. I find paragraphs can often look like one humongous sentence. The double space after a period helps alleviate that. Personally I find it easier to read, knowing I can take a breath between sentences.

Okay, I'll pass that advice on to my design professors at UNT.

CD

 

[caseydog]

What about indented paragraphs?

Even I am now using And, But to start a sentence. Was certainly a big no, no in my English class.

In publishing, that is a styling decision. The magazines I art directed did not indent, instead, we put vertical space between paragraphs. That was purely a creative choice.

I also use "And" to start sentences on forum posts, or in emails. There again, it seems more conversational.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL, good on you casey - I'm sure they'll be impressed with my wisdom.
Please be sure to note I said "personally" not that I was right nor they wrong.

 

[caseydog]

I believe when you are pluralizing a word that ends with s, you use the apostrophe after the s to indicate plural.

Yes.

 

[pacanis]

oops.
I thought this thread was going to be about speaking with Amazon's, and quite a few others', customer service

It's like I say in the "How did we do" queries, just because you can speak English, doesn't mean you understand English

 

[blissful]

I'm an American English speaker/writer and I use the oxford comma, sorry not sorry. I also use 's when it should just be s. The word it's or its I use correctly and incorrectly and still do mess it up from time to time!
The European English and Australian English differ from American English. I can usually hear it when they say 'whilst', they also so 'Firstly', and they get substitution/replacement of ingredients in a sentence backwards. American english speakers usually don't ever use those phrases 'whilst' or 'firstly'. They usually say "When..", or "While..." and they usually say 'In the first place...', or 'First, ...'.

 

[Kathleen]

Many years ago, there was language writer at the Boston Globe. I complained to her about then general misuse of the word healthy instead of the correct healthful. I was told to get over it. That battle had been lost.

I used to do the double space at the end of a sentence. That's how I was taught. I weaned myself off it eventually.

I had to look up the Oxford comma. I don't use it as I was taught not to.

My biggest grammar pet peeve is the incorrect use of apostrophes. I was taught to use the "apostrophe s" to designate ownership or a contraction. Too many folks use it whenever pluralizing a word.

It was likely an English teacher who taught you not to use the Oxford comma. I recently sent these two examples to my English teacher buddy:

Now I am waiting for the reply.

It's true - last book I read had those extra commas before the 'and'.
You see it everywhere. Drives me batty!

Drives? That isn't a drive. It would be more like a putt.

 

[taxlady]

Using literally wrong is one of my pet peeves. I am told that that ship has sailed. So, what word am I supposed to use instead of literally now, when I mean it in the old fashioned sense?

 

[Katie H]

It's like I say in the "How did we do" queries, just because you can speak English, doesn't mean you understand English

Ohmigosh! Soooooo true. It makes my brain bleed just thinking about this.

 

[Kathleen]

Using literally wrong is one of my pet peeves. I am told that that ship has sailed. So, what word am I supposed to use instead of literally now, when I mean it in the old fashioned sense?

How about precisely?

 

[taxlady]

It was likely an English teacher who taught you not to use the Oxford comma. I recently sent these two examples to my English teacher buddy:
View attachment 76954
Now I am waiting for the reply.

Drives? That isn't a drive. It would be more like a putt.

Ha! I was off searching for that JFK and Stalin cartoon and had found and downloaded. I was typing my reply when yours popped up.

Yes, clarity is why I use the Oxford comma, clarity and habit. I use it even when it isn't necessary for clarity to maintain the habit.

 

[caseydog]

Please be sure to note I said "personally" not that I was right nor they wrong.

Please be sure to note that I used the appropriate emojis to indicate I was teasing you.

CD

 

[taxlady]

How about precisely?

That's not bad. It will often work.

 

[caseydog]

Yes, clarity is why I use the Oxford comma, clarity and habit. I use it even when it isn't necessary for clarity to maintain the habit.

I used to use the Oxford comma (but didn't know it had a name). That is what I was taught as a kid. I adapted later as I continued my education.

CD

 

[Gone Hiking]

Whenever I hear or read, "I seen", it makes my skin crawl, but Pennsylvanians also have a broad range of dialects that would probably do the same with others. We have family from out of state who get a kick of out where we place the emphasis on words and phrases, which are totally normal to us. The very interesting thing is that language/speech can be so localized just in my own state is that it is easy to identify people not only from which county, but from which part of of a surrounding county people are from within 30 seconds of conversation. Oh, you're from Shamokin, or Southern York, or "Lepnun", etc. It's fascinating, really.

 

[dragnlaw]

Using literally wrong is one of my pet peeves. I am told that that ship has sailed. So, what word am I supposed to use instead of literally now, when I mean it in the old fashioned sense?

does this help? one is an adjective the other an adverb.

"Literal" is an adjective that means "true to fact" or "actual," while "literally" is an adverb that means "in a literal or strict sense"