Author Topic: Dear Expert (Read 165335 times)

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #900 on:** May 26, 2015, 09:18:31 AM »

Language mavens, have you read Mary Norris's new book, Between You & Me? It's a fun language book recounting her experience as a copy editor at The New Yorker .

Jonathon · « **Reply #901 on:** May 26, 2015, 11:06:32 AM »

I haven't, but I've heard pretty good things about it.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #902 on:** May 26, 2015, 11:52:18 AM »

It's worth reading, and it's a skinny book that doesn't take long to get through. She has fun talking about restrictive clauses, serial commas, her favorite pencils, the characters she worked with, and how hard it is to typeset Emily Dickenson's dashes. She compares the joy she feel when she encounters a terrific unfamiliar word with the way a cartoon dog hugs himself and levitates when he gets a biscuit.

Spoiler: Pronoun Warning (click to show/hide)

dkw · « **Reply #903 on:** May 28, 2015, 04:20:14 AM »

Dear Expert,

When citing a letter that's reprinted entirely in a book, but the book is otherwise by a single author rather than an edited collection, how should I list the author of the book? Do I just put "By ___" where I would put "Edited by ____" if it were a chapter from an edited work?

Jonathon · « **Reply #904 on:** May 28, 2015, 08:43:15 AM »

If there's no editor and the author's name is in the title, you don't need to list an author or editor at all. But if your style requires you to list something, then I'd just use "by" or just the author's name. So a a Chicago-style note would look like this:

John Smith to Sue Smith, 1 January 2015, in Letters of John Smith (City: Publisher Name, 2015), 1.

And a bibliography entry would look like this:

Smith, John. Letters of John Smith. City: Publisher Name, 2015.

dkw · « **Reply #905 on:** May 28, 2015, 12:15:47 PM »

The letter isn't by the author of the book. It's an "open letter" that was originally published in a newspaper being used as an example by the author of the book. This is what I have now:

Ted Lyddon Hatten, “An Open Letter to an Arsonist.” Reprinted in Becoming Jesus Prayer: Transforming Your Life Through the Lord’s Prayer, Gregory Palmer, Cindy McCalmont, & Brian Milford (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2005), 77-78.

Hatten, Ted Lyddon. “An Open Letter to an Arsonist.” Reprinted in Becoming Jesus Prayer: Transforming Your Life Through the Lord’s Prayer. By Gregory Palmer, Cindy McCalmont, and Brian Milford, 75-78. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2005.

Jonathon · « **Reply #906 on:** May 28, 2015, 12:36:20 PM »

Ah, I see. Yeah, I'd say that looks good. It's sufficiently clear who wrote it and how to track it down if the reader is interested.

Brinestone · « **Reply #907 on:** May 29, 2015, 01:26:57 PM »

My brother's name is Greg Palmer. I guess he has a doppelganger in academia.

Jonathon · « **Reply #908 on:** May 29, 2015, 01:41:40 PM »

Maybe he's living a double life.

dkw · « **Reply #909 on:** May 29, 2015, 07:27:56 PM »

Somehow I don't think so.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #910 on:** June 02, 2015, 12:32:07 PM »

I'm pretty sure I don't have any doppelgangers in academia. The only doppelgangers I have are a few random Dutch girls married to Spanish dudes. They actually exist, though, which is funny.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #911 on:** June 02, 2015, 12:35:12 PM »

I just had a nerd-coma for a minute there thinking about the Hapsburgs and how they changed the world.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #912 on:** June 16, 2015, 01:59:35 PM »

I have a section heading called "Hairnets and Beard Nets." I can't help but think it looks weird - the dictionary tells me hairnets is one word, but would it be better to break it up here so it matches beard nets? What would you do with your mad skillz of an editor?

Jonathon · « **Reply #913 on:** June 16, 2015, 02:08:41 PM »

Yeah, I think I'd probably break it up for internal consistency, even if "hairnet" is usually one word.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #914 on:** June 22, 2015, 09:19:10 AM »

Quote from: Jonathon on June 16, 2015, 02:08:41 PM

Yeah, I think I'd probably break it up for internal consistency, even if "hairnet" is usually one word.

Thanks!

Another question, just out of curiosity. I just got a piece back from editing and this is one of the changes they made: "Lesson 5: When pH is Out of Specification" changed to "Lesson 5: When pH Is out of Specification"

I can't remember having ever learned a reliable rule for capitalizing small words. The most I remember from high school is "small words are left lowercase," which isn't exactly precise. What's the reason that is should be capitalized while out isn't? Is it something to do with the word's function in the sentence?

rivka · « **Reply #915 on:** June 22, 2015, 09:30:12 AM »

Ugh. I would keep the first one. "Is" is just a linking verb, but "Out" changes the phrase's meaning entirely.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #916 on:** June 22, 2015, 09:46:29 AM »

Quote from: rivka on June 22, 2015, 09:30:12 AM

Ugh. I would keep the first one. "Is" is just a linking verb, but "Out" changes the phrase's meaning entirely.

Yup. Don't capitalize articles, prepositions, or the verb "to be". But just because a word is little doesn't mean it's not important. Ma means the world to me, and I always capitalize her.

Jonathon · « **Reply #917 on:** June 22, 2015, 10:14:15 AM »

Quote from: Annie Subjunctive on June 22, 2015, 09:19:10 AM

Quote from: Jonathon on June 16, 2015, 02:08:41 PM
Yeah, I think I'd probably break it up for internal consistency, even if "hairnet" is usually one word.

Thanks!

Another question, just out of curiosity. I just got a piece back from editing and this is one of the changes they made: "Lesson 5: When pH is Out of Specification" changed to "Lesson 5: When pH Is out of Specification"

I can't remember having ever learned a reliable rule for capitalizing small words. The most I remember from high school is "small words are left lowercase," which isn't exactly precise. What's the reason that is should be capitalized while out isn't? Is it something to do with the word's function in the sentence?

The rule is that you lowercase prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, and articles, and that rule is essentially the same in The Chicago Manual of Style, the MLA style guide, the APA style guide, and the AP style guide, though some make exceptions for words of four or more letters.

I think it looks stupid sometimes, but all the major style guides say the same thing here. The high school rule "small words are left lowercase" is an unfortunate side effect of the decline of grammar teaching. How many students can reliably identify prepositions and coordinating conjunctions?

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #918 on:** June 22, 2015, 12:44:34 PM »

All the kids in my elementary school had to memorize all the prepositions in alphabetical order. To the tune of "Yankee Doodle".

Jonathon · « **Reply #919 on:** June 23, 2015, 12:27:45 PM »

All of them? I'm having a hard time finding an exact number, but at least one site says that there are about 150.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #920 on:** June 23, 2015, 02:36:35 PM »

All the prepositions that fit into the tune of Yankee Doodle, I guess.

dkw · « **Reply #921 on:** June 23, 2015, 06:59:27 PM »

37 of them. Out didn't make the cut.

dkw · « **Reply #922 on:** June 23, 2015, 07:04:50 PM »

About above across after against among around at
Before behind beside between by down during except for
From in near of off on over through to toward under up with
Aboard along below beneath besides beyond concerning!

Some things you never forget.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #923 on:** June 23, 2015, 09:08:01 PM »

Shvester! My list varies a bit from yours.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #924 on:** June 24, 2015, 08:27:39 AM »

I still know all of the Presidents of the United States to the tune of Yankee Doodle. The version I learned ends with "Bush makes 41 presidents."