|
Less or fewer? Which or
that? Should you spell out numbers and the word percent? And what
about pesky computer terms for electronic messages and online sites?
Unless you are the only
person who makes writing and editing decisions for your nonprofit, you
will face occasional style and usage problems. And it’s startling how much
people will argue about whether to capitalize board of trustees or
split an infinitive. (Or whether you may begin a sentence with And
or Or.)
These three tips will
help you head off grammar and editing trouble:
Choose a style guide.
Most nonprofits choose
between The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago) and The Associated
Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (AP) or develop their own
style guide.
Chicago style, for
example, uses a serial comma. AP style doesn’t. Sometimes it makes a
difference, as in this sentence: “I would like to thank my parents, the
Pope and Mother Theresa.”
When you can’t find or
understand an answer in your favorite style guide, try checking The
Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate
Communications by Amy Einsohn. It explains why skilled editors make
opposite choices on issues such as hyphenating compound modifiers (She is
well-loved or well loved) or designating decades (1970s, 1970’s, or ’70s).
If you wonder which
religious terms to capitalize or how to handle biblical quotes, then turn
to Bob Hudson’s A Christian Writer’s Manual of Style. The 1988
edition is very helpful, but the March 2004 edition is even better. It’s
updated, greatly expanded, and tells how to handle brand names and
computer-related language.
Seek quick online help.
Do you stumble over
certain choices—perhaps farther/further, its/it’s, or principal/principle?
Dr. Paul Brians, an English professor at Washington State University,
addresses hundreds of
common
errors in English usage.
If you register (it’s
free) on the
Chicago
Manual of Style site, you can search two ways. Terms entered on
the Search page list which sections of the 15th edition deal with that
term. You’ll have to consult the print edition to read them, though. But
terms entered on the Q & A or Tools pages lead to online answers.
It’s easy to get
answers about abbreviations, possessives, punctuation, and more in
Garbl’s
Editorial Style Manual, developed by corporate communications expert
Gary B. Larson.
Brush up on your skills.
When you turn to a
print guide for answers on a punctuation or usage question, spend five or
ten minutes reading a few more entries. Wouldn’t you rather discover
something (such as when to use more than instead of over)
than keep making the same mistake?
You can do free
exercises and self-tests based on Jane Straus’s
The Blue Book of Grammar and
Punctuation and Amy Einsohn’s
The
Copyeditor’s Handbook.
Back to Resources |
