Quick Ways to Clean Up Your Writing
by Summer McStravick
You’re good with words — that’s obviously why you choose to write. However,
even the most polished writer gets stuck sometimes. I like to think of it this way: We all
have our "tics" — our particular bad writing habits that are often
invisible to us, even when we’ve read and reread our text a hundred times. Here are a
few of the most common mistakes made by professional writers. By recognizing them here,
you can avoid making these mistakes in the future and weed out these errors in your
previously written articles.
1. Use Special
Formatting Correctly:
Italics, ALL CAPS,
and Boldface
1. Italics have taken the place of both
underlining and capitalizing in almost every instance. Here are a few of the most common
uses for italics.
• Use italics when you are placing
emphasis on a word. ("She was more than noteworthy, she was brilliant.")
• Use italics when the word is an
unfamiliar foreign word.
• Use italics when the word is a key
term or a technical term that will be explained or defined. (In this case, only italicize
it the first time the term occurs.)
2. Be careful when putting quotation
marks around words. Check first to see if the word should be italicized instead. If none
of the italics "rules" apply, then check these quotation mark "rules."
• Use quotes to indicate that
the word is being used ironically or you are intentionally bending the meaning of the word
(as in "rules" above).
• Use quotes when you are
using slang and wish to indicate this to the reader. (i.e. I told the man he could
"get lost.")
Remember that a number of slang
terms have been adopted by a majority of people and no longer need quotation marks. Both
guy and kid were once considered slang.
3. When using boldface, ask yourself if italics or quotation
marks would be more appropriate. Most professional editors reserve boldface for headers or
for special effect and very rarely use it in text.
2. Choose
Your Level of Formality and Keep it Consistent:
Formal v.
Informal Writing
Decide how formal your text needs
to be. If your style is informal, you may choose to use some of these newer grammar
guidelines.
1. You may begin a sentence with
and, but, or or. You may or may not choose to set the word off with a comma.
2. You may end your sentence with
a preposition. Consider, "Who are you going to the party with?" versus
"With whom are you going to the party?" When was the last time you read
something like the latter in print? I bet it has been awhile.
3. You may use the third person
plural they to refer to an individual. This is a very new usage, and many editors still
frown on the practice. However, I am still seeing it more and more in print.
The reason for this is that the
English language has yet to come up with a gender neutral third person singular pronoun
(other than "it") that may be used to refer to humans, so people are continually
coming up with alternatives. Consider this sentence: "If a customer walks in, he or
she may want to meet you, or he or she may want you to make an appointment with him or
her."
Terrible, isn’t it? In the
past, writers used the gender inclusive "he," but today, many people choose to
use the less sexist "he or she." Recently, people have begun to use
"they" instead, probably because we use this form so often when speaking.
Consider this sentence: "If a customer walks in, they may want to meet you or they
may want you to make an appointment with them."
Whether you use
"they/them" in this way depends on how casual you want your writing to appear.
4.
Don’t Hesitate to Use the Dictionary (Not Spell Check!)
Here are some of the most misused
words. If any of these confuse you, be sure to look them up in a dictionary or usage
guide. With more people using spell check programs these days, more misused words are
slipping through.
ensure v. insure
compliment v. complement
it’s v. its
envelope v. envelop
then v. than
lie, lay, lain v. lay, laid, laid
affect v. effect
5.
Double-Check Your Punctuation
1. Colons and semi-colons are
always placed outside quotation marks. Always put periods and commas inside quotation
marks. Question marks or explanation points that are not part of the quote may be placed
outside the quotation marks. Consider the following sentences:
What kind of
statement is the phrase, "I am happy"?
v.
The man asked,
"Are you happy?"
2. Never place a comma just before a parenthesis. Always place it
after the parenthetical material. For example, "If you see an owl in a tree (any kind
of owl), stay quiet and observe it carefully."
If your sentence ends with
parenthetical material, place the period outside of the parenthesis. "The
woman’s gown was covered with jewels (and those jewels must have cost a fortune).
If you have a parenthetical
statement independent of a sentence, capitalize the first word and place the period within
the parentheses. (This sentence is independent.)
3. Be very comfortable with colons
and semi-colons if you use them. Here are the three most common uses for colons.
a) If you are connecting two
complete sentences wherein the second sentence is dependent on the first for meaning or
context, or which completes the meaning of the first sentence, connect them with a colon.
"The doctors were all tired and weary: ten of them, for instance, fell asleep while
operating this morning."
b) If you are writing a list, use
a colon. Example: "Three towns dominate the North County coastal area: Del Mar,
Solona Beach, and Encinitas."
c) If you want to introduce a
statement or quotation, use a colon. Example: ß The "example" is the example.
4. Always use an em dash (—)
when you want to create a break in a sentence. Never use a hyphen (-). Macintosh users can
find the em dash by pressing "option" + "-" (hyphen).
By applying these rules (adapted
from The Chicago Manual of Style), you can clean up your text and eliminate some of the
most common formatting, usage, and punctuation errors. If in doubt, a scan of your text by
a professional copyeditor can reveal all these imperfections to you. Precise editing such
as this can give your writing the professional "glow" that builds credibility
and can help sell your products or services.
For more information about professional
editing or proofreading or for a free estimate, please visit http://www.artichokepublishing.com or
e-mail Summer McStravick at editing@artichokepublishing.com.
"Online editing" is our specialty.
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