Archive - Say What? RSS Feed

Am I Being Redundant or What?

April 5, 2013 in Say What? with 27 Comments

saywhat2

Well, we all speak in redundancies and think nothing of it. Really–how many of us say “close proximity” or “major breakthrough”? (Is there any such thing as a minor breakthrough? Maybe.) Part of writing efficiently and concisely involves catching redundant or superfluous words that are really not needed. Here are some groups of words where either one or the other will suffice alone:

  • adequate enough
  • paramount importance
  • past history (unless you’re into sci-fi or some branch of quantum mechanics and want to distinguish from future history)
  • plan in advance
  • serious danger (funny to me)
  • total annihilation
  • trained professional
  • want in advance
  • joint cooperation
  • final outcome
  • eliminate altogether

Can you think of some? Maybe if we become aware of these we can get rid of some of these unnecessary habitual customs.

Places to Call to Your Attention

March 29, 2013 in Say What? with 4 Comments

saywhat2

We’re continuing a look at capitalization rules for US standard rules according to The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the authority used in the publishing world. Popular names of places, or epithets, are usually capitalized. Quotation marks are not needed.  Note that where the article the is used, it is not capitalized.

  • the Fertile Crescent
  • the Gaza Strip
  • the Gulf
  • the Holy City
  • the Jewish Quarter
  • the Lake District
  • the Left Bank
  • the Loop (Chicago)
  • the Old World
  • the Panhandle
  • the Promised Land
  • Silicon Valley
  • Skid Row

Names of mountains, rivers, oceans, islands, and so forth are capitalized. The generic term (mountain, etc.) is also capitalized when used as part of the name.

  • the Bering Strait
  • the Mediterranean Sea; the Mediterranean
  • the Pacific Ocean; the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans
  • the Great Barrier Reef
  • the Hawaiian Islands; Hawaii; but the island of Hawaii
  • Mount Washington; Mount Rainier; Mounts Washington and Rainier
  • the Rocky Mountains; the Rockies
  • Death Valley; the Valley of Kings
  • the Continental Divide

The best and simplest way to generalize capitalization rules is to consider whether what you are writing is a proper name or something more general. Proper names should have initial caps. General terms do not. That’s not always the case, but when in doubt, default to that principle.

Point Me in the Right Direction

March 22, 2013 in Say What? with 3 Comments

saywhat2

Okay, maybe you’re ready for some tricky rules about capitalization regarding geographic regions. If not, swallow hard and take a look. Many writers have trouble knowing when to capitalize a geographical region, and there is no easy rule. Here are a few examples showing the correct way to capitalize:

  • the Great Plains; the northern plains; the plains (but Plains Indians)
  • the Midwest, midwestern, a midwesterner (as of the United States)
  • the North, northern, a northerner (of a country); the North, Northern, Northerner (in American Civil War contexts); Northern California; North Africa, North African countries, in northern Africa; North America, North American, the North American continent; the North Atlantic, a northern Atlantic route; the Northern Hemisphere; the Far North; north, northern, northward, to the north (directions)
  • the Northeast, the Northwest, northwestern, northeastern, a northwesterner, a northeasterner (as of the United States); the Pacific Northwest; the Northwest Passage
  • the poles; the North Pole; the North Polar ice cap; the South Pole; polar regions (see also Antarctica; the Arctic)
  • the South, southern, a southerner (of a country); the South, Southern, a Southerner (in American Civil War contexts); the Deep South; Southern California; the South of France (region); Southeast Asia; South Africa, South African (referring to the Republic of South Africa); southern Africa (referring to the southern part of the continent); south, southern, southward, to the south (directions)
  • the Southeast, the Southwest, southeastern, southwestern, a southeasterner, a southwesterner (as of the United States)

As I’ve mentioned before, the tendency is to lowercase unless the name or phrase is referring to something akin to a proper name or title. But when it comes to specific regions of the world, some are considered “worthy” of capitalization while others aren’t. We in California were happy to see Chicago add Northern California to its list of worthies in the 16th edition. Why it wasn’t seen on the same level as Southern California all these years, I guess we may never know. And I hope you noticed the absence of hyphens in those compound terms, like southwesterner. Even my WordPress spell-check gives me every possible option except the correct one (which should give you a clue as to how correct those spell-checkers are)!

 

Page 3 of 24«12345»1020...Last »