Trick or treat[ing]

For little kids, Halloween is one of the most exciting days of the year. They get to dress up as their favorite superhero or pop icon and then go door-to-door asking complete strangers for candy. The concept defies logic.

I was wondering, though, about the phrase "trick or treat."

Mirriam-Webster Online dictionary: trick-or-treat (intransitive verb)
trick-or-treater (noun)

Example: We all got dressed up for trick-or-treat.

Wikipedia, however, defines the Halloween activity as trick or treating. What happened to parallelism? Shouldn't it be tricking or treating?

Quick Comment on Styles

I've been using MS Word 2007 for quite a while now, and the automatic style (called "Normal") is beyond irritating since I always make adjustments when typing papers. However, I never knew how to make changes to the styles. Needless to say, this new tool is useful to me beyond the editing world.

Styles in Word 2007 for PC

I am just sharing a quick way to create a style in Word 2007. Below are some screen pics I took of when I did it on mine. Hope this helps the few of us that are using a PC and Word 2007. Images are below each step.

I just entered some text into Word.

I selected by highlighting the text and the format box should appear. I chose the font from this format box as well as the size of the font and any other formatting characteristics that you would like (in this case, Bold-14pt.-Verdana font). Still highlighted, I right mouse clicked the highlighted region and moved my cursor to the "Style" option on this menu and then clicked the "Save Selection as a New Quick Style" option.

Once that is clicked, a box to name your quick style will appear. You only have to name the first box since the second box will rename itself once you hit the "OK" button.

After that, you are done and can access your new "Quick Style" in your "Styles" menu under your "Home" bar (the two different pictures below are of an expanded menu and one that is minimized).

Minimized menu ^^

Expanded menu ^^

Hope this help.

Do You Speak American? On Freelance Gatekeepers

Chad's post and comments reminded me of this page, which I had come across some years ago. Here are passages from the essay:

Differences in patterns of language use are normal, not evidence of social decline. Diversity is everywhere—in the most educated speech communities and in languages that have never been written down. In fact, we learn long before formal instruction that different speech situations call for different styles.…

What’s more, the very notion of a single standard of correctness in language is quite recent. “Correctness” is based solely on a purist’s own notion of what is socially or culturally correct: if it's not in, it must be out. A language purist works from a list of exceptions to the rule, [whereas] ordinary speakers follow a hierarchy of patterns that reveal analogical similarities.…

Gatekeepers want to keep insiders in and (perhaps even more important) outsiders out by opening and closing a real or imaginary gate. Many organizations have people or departments whose function is to let you (or lock you) in or out—ticket takers, prison guards, admissions officers, personnel managers and so on. Society also has freelance gatekeepers, who have decided—based on their own strong feelings—that some people or behaviors or beliefs or words are wrong and should be kept out. Gatekeeping is an exercise of authority, even if the authority is only imagined.

A related page has this comment:

Many Americans fear that continuous Hispanic migration, and large concentrations of Spanish speakers, threaten American English. That fear is one motive behind the so far unsuccessful campaign to make English our official language. Do You Speak American? argues that Mexican and other Hispanic migrants are learning English at the same generational rate as previous immigrants groups. By the second generation many can no longer speak Spanish.

It seems to me that if we make the survival of "pure" English dependent on the loss or disappearance of other languages, we will have gained little and lost much.

Triage for business documents

Reading this section of our textbook (pp. 20–21), I was reminded of Samantha's and Tisha's analyses of the business letter distributed by the bathtub company. They saw all the letter's faults and problems, but they didn't give up on it, panic, or get out the editorial buzz saw. They determined the author's intention and tried to get the meaning of his letter to match it.

Think of yourself as a Red Cross worker who is taken to the scene of a natural disaster—the author's writing—and plunked down in the midst of disorganization and good but failed intentions. You have to rely on your instincts, what your supervisor tells you, and your training. An emotional reaction to such a situation is natural, so after you read the document and react to it, put it aside. Take it out later and reread it. The second time, you'll be able to evaluate it more objectively. Do this one or twice more, and you'll be able to separate your personal reaction from your professional goal: helping the author communicate with the reader.

You are really in the service of the English language and the printed word—not that of a poor writer. If you do your work well, both you and the writer will realize this and benefit from the experience.

Irony: Uniquely American!

These cringe-worthy displays of language deficiency make me want to laugh in disbelief... and weep for the evidently sorry state of English in our country.

Naturally, the latter reaction matters more to me.

Professional editing

Just one of the blasts from the pasts you might want to read…

Some More on Quotations

I found a couple of pages that I wanted to share that have quotation usage summed up in one quick webpage.

Purdue OWL Page

University of Northern Carolina at Chapel Hill Page

Okina & the Islands

I was just wondering which of the islands (besides O‘ahu) take an okina. I've flipped through some of the locally produced magazines here and I can pretty much guarantee that I'm not the only one with this question. I saw the okina popping up in what seemed to be really awkward places (Mau‘i). But I can't deny that finding an answer is hard - I've tried looking up the correct spelling on the state's website, wikipedia, random google searches, etc., but so far the results have been so inconsistent! This leads me to a secondary question as well: what kind of resources would you consult in order to check the on the definitive spelling of Hawaiian words?

Editing a post

Does anyone know how to go back and edit an old post?

Chapter 8- Quotations

I decided to revisit this post because I knew that I could look at the use of quotation marks within quotations. After reviewing the paragraph, I now believe that there is an error here- more about that in a minute. On page 196 of the text, the extract indicates that copyeditors are expected peruse the document to ensure that quotation marks are properly paired. (Now back to my original point.) At the very end of the paragraph there are two sets of quotation marks, however, one is without a mate.

Am I right about this? When paragraphs are littered with punctuation things can get confusing.

"“My list of pet language peeves,” she once told The Key Reporter, the Phi Beta Kappa newsletter, “would certainly include writers’ use of indirection (i.e., slipping new information into a narrative as if the reader already knew it); confusion between restrictive and non-restrictive phrases and clauses (‘that’ goes with restrictive clauses, and, ordinarily, ‘which’ with nonrestrictive); careless repetition; and singular subjects with plural verbs and vice versa.” She was a fiend for problems of sequence and logic. In her presence, modifiers dared not dangle. She could find a solecism in a Stop sign.""

Nuns need help with editing too!

I reside in an off-campus graduate dorm run by the nuns, which poses a unique set of challenges that I won't go into here.

I've posted a small sample of the horribly written signs that plaster our common area. When I copied and pasted this into Microsoft Word, my computer editing program started to sputter.

Pay special attention to the item proceeded by **.

DECEMBER 12... 12/12/08

MARIANNE HALL

Report:

The water overflowed very badly on the 3rd floor. We collected @) 15 gallons of
water. I hope it does not happen again.

The plumbing report: In cleaning the pipes leading out of the toilet areas, there was much unwanted debris in the pipes.

1. For those who have been emptying other items into the toilets,

2. DO NOT;
A. DO NOT THROW ANY TYPE OF SANITARY PADS INTO
THE TOILET.(TAKE IT TO YOUR ROOM AND EMPTY IN YOUR TRASH)
B. DO NOT EMPTY ORDINARY PAPER IN THE TOILET.
C. DO NOT USE KLEENEX OR OTHER SOFT PAPER. THESE BECOME SWOLLEN AND CLOG THE PIPES.
D. DO NOT USE ANY CLEANING PAPER CLOTH AND DO NOT EMPTY THESE INTO THE TOILET.

EMPTY THESE INTO YOUR OWN BASKET.

2. USE;
A. USE only Toilet TISSUE PROVIDED

Last reminder: Use toilet paper -@ 8 sheets- flush; use 8 more;
continue ... so the bowl does not clog (get stuck.)

** This has to be written because there is Is/ are some who do not know how to use an American toilet. Please help us to help them.
Thank you.

Oh, yeah I should mention here that before 2008, the date of this note, it was recommended that we use only 2 squares of toilet tissue.

Why sign painters need copyeditors

This bin caught my eye when I was walking past the UHM Art Building. "Noncombustibal" looked wrong, but I had to look up how to spell it. I think it would make a great spelling-test word (the correct spelling is "noncombustible"). The Art Department has a lot of bins with the same lettering, so even though the artist gets a "C" for spelling, he/she gets an "A" for consistency!

Formatting text

Shayna asked me a great question after class. She had noticed that in the example showing one set of quotation marks within another, there was a space between the single quotation mark and the double. She wanted to know how an editor would indicate that space.

I told her that the typesetter would take care of formatting the space, but let me say a little more here.

Editing text so that a typesetter will know how to format it to produce lists, extracts, and so forth is a skill in itself. It is much like using HTML code to format a page. The editor has to visualize what she wants the text to look like, then deploy her marks so that the typesetter will know how to place the text on the page. This placement is, of course, relational: the text is placed relative to the top, bottom, and side margins, the gutter, the text around it (including headings), et cetera. Einsohn has some nice examples of this in the chapter on quotations.

For the space between a single quotation mark and a double one, the editor can use the hair- or thin-space marks if the typesetter will not format such things. Generally speaking, the editor has to be aware of the design principles governing the publication (book, magazine, etc.) she is working on so that her choices don't violate those principles.

When we have our session on using computers in editing, I will give you demonstrations of what I mean.

A Good 200-Word Sentence

Pat and Chad's comments about run-on sentences led me to this example. See what you think!

"the number" vs. "a number"

This morning, I had these reversed. The number takes a singular verb; a number takes a plural verb. Here are a few examples:

The number of consumer complaints about our products is decreasing" (p. 198 of our textbook).

The number of commitments we have prevents us from accepting your kind invitation.

The number of persons being treated at the clinic sometimes prevents us from completing our billing on time.

A number of people were at the craft fair.

A number of résumés were received at the office today.

Listserv for copyeditors

"Copyediting-L is a list for copy editors and other defenders of the English language who want to discuss anything related to editing."

Truth or falsetto: you decide

A teacher friend of mine recently shared this bit of wisdom. After describing the religious practice of granting indulgences, one of her students wrote the following:

People have made up things in the past like this so how do we know for sure that all of this isn't a tall tail made up by some guy who at that time wants to attain power. It all could be just a falsetto.

I admit that it's sometimes hard to tell the difference ;-)

Honolulu Weekly: A generally pretty good job in trying » Honolulu Weekly

Honolulu Weekly: A generally pretty good job in trying » Honolulu Weekly

I read editorial piece and thought about some of our discussions in class about spelling of the Hawaiian language and the use of the ʻokina and the kahakō.

Editing vs. Proofreading

After class today I was thinking about the differences between our copyediting marks and our proofreading marks. My question: If we are using proofreading marks do we always use them in addition to the copyediting marks? For example, you couldn't use the proofreading mark alone to transpose text. You need the copyediting mark to indicate which text is to be transposed and then you can include the proofreading mark in the margin to indicate that something needs to be transposed on that line.

Comments?


I also did some googling, and the title link is to an article that differentiates copyediting and proofreading.

An ego boost for copyeditors

from THE INTERN’s blog Hail to the Copyeditor

“Copy editing is not for sissies. A good copy editor does not humor you. A good copy editor does not chuckle warmly at your tendency to misspell the names of foreign dignitaries or diseases and let it stand ’cause it’s cute. A good copy editor will kindly but firmly tell you that your phrasing is unclear, your language offensive, and your punctuation laughable. These people are frighteningly smart and thorough and have your manuscript’s best interests at heart and deserve all the love and respect in the universe.”

Things to add to Frank Stewart's list of style elements

As you recall, Frank pointed out that the following elements characterize an author's style:

1. Level of diction (big words, Latinate words, slang words, foreign words)

2. Sentence structure (long sentences, short sentences, complex, simple, fragments, parallel and formal)

3. Punctuation (dashes instead of semicolons, full stops rather than commas or semicolons, exclamations)

4. Paragraphing (short or long, for emphasis or whole thoughts)

5. Tone (serious, silly, sarcastic, witty, lofty)

6. Person (first, second, third; one rather than you or we)

I added one element soon after I posted his list: references and allusions. Today I thought of another: metaphors and similes. I'll bring to class an example of the latter.

Peace, Love, and Homonyms

Frield Noddles

A friend of mine found this sign at a restaurant and I thought I'd share.

Is it just me or are you less likely to buy food from a place with a sign like this?

Grammar Impact - "Politicians, Watch Your Grammar"

I thought this article about how small changes in grammar evoke (slightly) different reactions was interesting. Maybe even important. I mean, it kind of gives more weight to the editor's duty, doesn't it? Editor's have the power to change the way that people read things and interpret information -- that's a sizable burden resting on the decision as to whether to use the imperfect or perfect aspect!

The author defines these aspects as such:

" '[W]as having' and 'was taking' are known as the imperfect aspect, meaning an event may be continuing. But 'had' and 'took' are known as the perfect aspect, meaning the event is bounded in time.

Whoa...A Whole Lot Of Grammar Guide!

I was looking through the web the other day and came across this website and this website was full of grammar tests for punctuations, etc. It is filled with grammar rules and test to let you practice if needed. Just thought I would share.

Salaries

I was surfing around on the internet and found this website: payscale.com. It details copyeditors' salaries, popular industries, and popular degrees. It also provides statistics for the particular career. Seventy percent of copyeditors are women!

A sample of web pages on copyediting marks

University of Colorado at Boulder
San Diego State University

Of literary editors…

Paul Nelson is the editor of Kaimana, the literary magazine of the Hawai‘i Literary Arts Council. He sent me an e-mail message with this text. I felt it was such a wonderful example of a literary editor's thinking that I wanted to share it with you.

I'd worry that trying to manufacture a poem for this issue would not satisfy the quiet and music and intelligent sentiment of your work. I'd rather you not rely on my willingness to run "Guardian" [a poem I sent him some months ago], whole, again. I want your full ambition toward a new poem or two. Maybe one that answers one [i.e., a poem] you have already written but no longer feels true enough, because you have changed some. I work constantly against manufacture. I also don't think poems come to us. We find them because we are looking.

Hyphenated compound

Because I wondered what other compounds would be treated like "most recent edition" (in Exercise F), I checked the Chicago Manual of Style Online (16th edition) and found that this compound comes under the rule for adverb not ending in ly + participle or adjective.

The guideline is:

Hyphenate before but not after a noun; compounds with more, most, less, least, and very usually open unless ambiguity threatens.

Examples:

a much-needed addition

it was much needed

little-understood rules

a too-easy answer

the best-known author

a lesser-paid colleague

the most efficient method

a less prolific artist

a more thorough exam

the most skilled workers (most in number)

but

the most-skilled workers (most in skill)

Locations

While editing for my internship, a question arose: do I capitalize terms such as Eastside, Westside, etc.? The rule for cardinal directions seems to be that the lowercase is used if the directions merely indicate direction (ex: Honolulu is south of Waimea) and capitalized when they refer to places (ex: the South). My guess would be that the terms "Eastside", etc. refer to proper places so they should be capitalized?

Another Grammar Infraction

I was surfing the net the other day for something and caught this ad. I barely even noticed it. Interesting how much an apostrophe can throw everything off.

Below is a comic strip that I thought was pretty funny because I always have to ask myself that same question.

Restaurant Inspired Meals and Flash-Dry Technology

Here are some interesting (or maybe mundane) examples of proper and improper hyphen usage. There is a missing hyphen in "restaurant-inspired", as it is a compound adjective. Saying "restaurant, inspired meals" would not make any sense. Bad, bad Healthy Choice.




Here is a proper use of hyphens, as "leak-proof", "flash-dry", "quick-dry", and "drip-proof" are all compound adjectives. Good job, Hartz Training Academy.

Before I took this class, I never noticed these things. Thank you, Eng 408 for giving me “grammar vision”. :P

Trying to be cute, the sign that is.

I know they are trying to be cute with the sign, but it really kinda bugs me. They had a lot of those, (bugs) in their corn too.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs (and, naturally, direct and indirect objects)

You may have heard of transitive and intransitive verbs before. These names denote two major classes of verbs.

A transitive verb is one that requires what's called a direct object, which is the thing or person who receives the action of the verb. So, for example, what's the direct object in the following sentence?

The dog ate the bone.

You probably guessed that the answer is the bone, and you were right. At the very least, you probably identified the subject (The dog) and the verb (ate), leaving just one last thing in the sentence. But what I hope to help you understand is how to determine when something in a sentence is functioning as the recipient of a verb's action. In the above example, the bone receives the action of the verb ate.

Tthe direct object is always a noun, a noun phrase, or any structure functioning as a noun, and it immediately follows a verb, as in these examples:

Tommy swallowed mouthwash.
She wrestled the alligator.
They play video games.

Mouthwash, the alligator, and video games are all nouns or noun phrases that receive the actions of swallowed, wrestled, and play.

The way I determine a direct object in a sentence, assuming one is there, is first to locate the sentence's verb and then to ask myself, "what?" or "whom?" To use the examples above, I would ask, "swallowed what or whom?" or "wrestled what or whom?" or "play what or whom?" The answer to the question of "what?" or "whom?" is the direct object. And, simply put, if there is a direct object, that means the verb is indeed transitive.

But then there's another kind of object that needs to be introduced here too. If we call something a direct object, a reasonable inference would assert that there must also be such a thing as an indirect object. Sure enough, there is!

Essentially, an indirect object is the recipient of the direct object. While a direct object receives the verb's action, an indirect object receives the direct object. This might be a little clearer if you see an example (or three):

Dominick gave Jimmy a ride.
She sent her mother a package.
I bought you a new phone.

Yes, when two kinds of objects are present in a sentence, things get a bit more confusing. But never fear! In determining direct and indirect objects, I'd recommend first figuring out the direct object. In the first example, what did Dominick give? Two options exist: Jimmy and a ride. Naturally, you'd think, Dominick wouldn't give a person, so the direct object can't be Jimmy. Instead, Dominick gave a ride, which is the direct object. Now that you've located the direct object, you can set about finding the indirect object. The important question to ask yourself here is "to whom?" or "to what?" So, again in the first example, to whom or to what did Dominick give a ride? The answer is Jimmy, who is the indirect object because he received the direct object (a ride). Now try to apply the same analysis to the other two examples, and don't allow yourself to become confused by the placement of the objects.

See? You can do it.

This just leaves intransitive verbs, which are a bit simpler to explain. An intransitive verb is a verb that doesn't have or doesn't require a direct object. That's it! So. . .

Superman flew.
Grandpa slept.
Fluffy sneezed.

Flew, slept, and sneezed are examples of intransitive verbs—they don't require any direct objects. After all, you can't fly something, sleep something, or sneeze something.

I hope this post has further contributed to your growing mastery of the English language! Any questions or concerns? Let me know!

six-step editing process

Copyediting with the style sheet this past week reminded me of the six-step editing process we were taught in English 308. I realized I was subconsciously integrating the process into my copyediting. Though it has been created with technical writers specifically in mind, I feel it's still helpful so I've posted the link below.

http://www.english.hawaii.edu/henry/308/Technical%20Reading.html

el-hi

el·hi adj \(ˌ)el-ˈhī\
Definition of ELHI

: of, relating to, or designed for use in grades 1 to 12
Origin of ELHI

elementary (school) + high (school)
First Known Use: circa 1948

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:

Unique Baby Names??

I can't even begin to explain how I ended up on this web page, but I found a site that suggested ways to come up with unique names for your newborn (or to be born) children.

Unique punctuation - Create a totally unique name by making unusual use of punction such as the placing of an apostrophe, a hyphen or a middle Capital Letter.

Alternative Spellings - An easy way to create unique baby names. A good example is Ryann or Delyia.

First of all, does that really say 'punction'?

And second, there should be editing rules against this sort of baby naming.

More about parallelism (and a little about diction)

On page two of the handout on semicolons ("Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location") is an interesting example of parallelism. In this case, paragraphs are made parallel, with a bit of variation.

After reporting Neil Neches's insertion of the semicolon in NY subway placards and explaining how it came to be, author Sam Roberts presents comments by various authorities on grammar and punctuation. The section reads:

Louis Menand, an English professor at Harvard and a staff writer at The New Yorker, pronounced the subway poster’s use of the semicolon to be “impeccable.”

Lynne Truss, author of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation,” called it a “lovely example” of proper punctuation.

Geoffrey Nunberg, a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, praised the “burgeoning of punctuational literacy in unlikely places.”

Allan M. Siegal, a longtime arbiter of New York Times style before retiring, opined, “The semicolon is correct, though I’d have used a colon, which I think would be a bit more sophisticated in that sentence.”

The linguist Noam Chomsky sniffed, “I suppose Bush would claim it’s the effect of No Child Left Behind.”

Let's look at the structure of these paragraphs:

name of authority / identification of profession / verb / comment

As you'll notice, there is a bit of variation here within the parallel structure: in the last paragraph, Roberts uses a restrictive appositive--"the linguist"--instead of following Chomsky's name with a modifier. He could have easily written "Noam Chomsky, noted linguist and philosopher…" Why didn't he? I think one answer might be that Chomsky is such a towering figure, Roberts felt there was no reason to identify him beyond "the linguist." You'll notice too that out of all the verbs paired with the authorities, the most condescending follows Chomsky's name.

Pronounced and called are neutral in tone, praised is positive, and opined is, in this context, overly formal, suggesting, as sniffed does, something about the authority's character. Opined and sniffed comment on Siegel and Chomsky, respectively, just as their statements comment on Neches. Roberts selected these verbs with care--this is what we mean by diction--and we can see that his sense of humor emerged when he got to the last two authorities.

How should the copyeditor handle something like the last paragraph? I would say that he or she could assume that given the parallelism of the first four paragraphs, Roberts was making a deliberate stylistic choice. Was it a good choice, though, one that should be respected and allowed to stand? I would say yes, but I wonder if Eleanor Gould might disagree…

Neil Neches in one of the cars he helped civilize with the semicolon.

Exercise F

Some of the answers in the answer key to exercise F seem vague to me.

For example, (lines 13, 14, and 15)

"A company that produces fewer than eight or ten titles a year is most likely a two- or-three-person operation,..."

The answer key for 14-15 indicates that a

" A Suspended compound: " two- or three-person operation." Make sure the hyphens and word spaces are indicated correctly."

Other examples included are:

The fourteen- and fifteen-year-old students attended.
Steel-plated or -cased vaults were used.

I feel like the correct answer should be a two-or-three person operation. The explanation doesn't clarify the answer to me. When I look up hyphenated compounds the only explanation that I can find says, "if it is not listed in the dictionary then there is no hyphen." There has to be a better explanation. I find this confusing.

Also, I feel unclear about lines 27- 28,

"books, computer books, gardening books, cook- books, and every stripe of how-to-books."

The answer key for line 28 states that

"Dictionaries show a hyphen in the adjective how-to, but there's no hyphen between the adjective how-to and the noun book.

and then changes "how-to-books" to "how-to book".

I am confused about the placement of the hyphens, and why the the plural form of book becomes singular in the answer key.

Just for kicks.

parallelism

A conversation with Chad on Thursday forced me to turn to my book for answers on this topic. When checking for parallelism I tend to just look at the verbs in the item in question. For example, I would check to make sure all of the tenses matched. However, when I referred to the book I found parallelism can lie not just in verb tense, but also in any part of speech in the series. A series is in parallel form only when each term belongs to the same part of speech, which does not necessarily have to be a verb.

There is a Style Sheet for Everything

I was looking around for examples of style-sheets the other day and I just realized that these are everywhere. Style sheets are present in everything that we use. Web content is mostly constructed of style sheets like the one above. The only difference between our style sheets and the ones used online is that ours deals with grammatical style as opposed to the styling of the appearance that is included in every aspect of this blog and other websites we browse. Just made the connection after my Google search and thought I would share.

especially |iˈspe sh əlē|

In writing a message to a friend, I used the word specially. Curious to see in what respects the word differed from especially, I looked up the latter in my computer's dictionary application. Here is what I found:

adverb

1 used to single out one person, thing, or situation over all others : he despised them all, especially Sylvester | a new song, written especially for Jonathan.

2 to a great extent; very much : he didn't especially like dancing | [as submodifier ] sleep is especially important for growing children.

USAGE There is some overlap in the uses of especially and specially. In the broadest terms, both words mean ‘particularly’ and the preference for one word over the other is linked with particular conventions of use rather than with any deep difference in meaning. For example, there is little to choose between: written especially for Jonathan and | written specially for Jonathan, and neither is more correct than the other. On the other hand, in sentences such as | he despised them all, especially Sylvester, substitution of specially is found in informal uses but should not be used in written English, while in | the car was specially made for the occasion, substitution of especially is somewhat unusual. Overall, especially is by far the more common of the two.

And here is what the thesaurus said:

adverb

1 complaints poured in, especially from Toronto MAINLY, mostly, chiefly, principally, largely; substantially, particularly, primarily, generally, usually, typically.

2 a committee especially for the purpose EXPRESSLY, specially, specifically, exclusively, just, particularly, explicitly.

3 he is especially talented EXCEPTIONALLY, particularly, specially, very, extremely, singularly, strikingly, distinctly, unusually, extraordinarily, uncommonly, uniquely, remarkably, outstandingly, really; informal seriously, majorly.