Reporting on Movies

At my internship this week I did interviews with some really incredible film makers and producers. When I was writing about the films I realized I did not know how what to do with the title of their movies. With essays you always put the title in quotation, Toni Morrison addresses the black woman's view on women's lib in her essay, "What the Black Woman thinks about Women's Lib." The title of a book is in italics. I am reading Toni Morrison's book, Tar Baby. But what do you do when you are referencing a movie or a documentary?

I will get back with you when I find out, or you can let me know if you find out first. In all the reviews, some capitalized the entire title, some italicised and some put the title in quotations. I am not sure what to do or who to follow?

One for the Apostrophe Protection Society

From the site of the Atherton YMCA.

Grammar Cops

I was looking around online for grammar resources and stumbled on the Grammar Police site. I sort of got stuck there looking at past posts, but just wanted to share one particular snippet that I found enlightening.

Apparently, TBS has a new slogan, "more movies... less commercials," and the folks over at the Grammar Police aren't happy about it:

OK, everybody repeat after us …

I will use “less” for amounts that cannot be counted as discrete items, such as, water, sunshine, and money.

I will use “fewer” for numbers of items that can be counted as discrete items, such as, drops of water, rays of sunshine, dollar bills, and … of course, commercials!

I had never really considered this before, but it makes so much sense!

The Meaning of "Meaning"

Pat,

In my notes from a couple of classes ago, I wrote down four things we need to be aware of when we edit a piece: author's style, author's intention, audience, and meaning. I think you said determining meaning was more difficult than we might think.

I wonder if you or others could say a little bit more about meaning and how one goes about determining it. How is it different from intention?

Chicago Manual of Style update

One of our former staff members sent this to me, and I thought I'd share it with you. Even you aren't using Chicago, do take a look. I think you will find it interesting.

Please study for next exercise

From Gabriel Edits: