practical proofreading

PRACTICAL

PROOFREADING

GLENN GILLEN, APR

HOW WE GOT HERE

Texting, casual language

Change in teaching emphasis

Fewer proofreaders

In a rush

Reliance on spell check

Decline of print journalism

WHY IT MATTERS

Makes you look unprofessional

Message won’t be taken seriously Editors looking for reasons to dismiss your communication

Can change meaning of your sentences

Fewer filters

OBJECTIVES

Communicate effectively

Ensure comprehension Eliminate confusion Provide accurate information Be consistent

THE BOTTOM LINE Spelling and grammar mistakes costing

e-commerce sites millions of dollars

Six seconds to capture attention on website

Revenue doubled per visitor once error corrected

Comma costs company $2.6 million

“ … shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.”

FOUR QUESTIONS

When do you need it?

Who is the audience?

Which style guide?

What are the exceptions?

The right way The boss’ way The client’s way

FOUR PASSES

Format

Comprehension

Grammar and punctuation

Spelling

BEST PRACTICES

Proofread all drafts, all stages

Let someone else proof

“Overnight test”

Proofread final design/proof

BEST PRACTICES

Edit from hard copy

“Reading from paper versus screens: a critical review of the empirical literature” by Andrew Dillon, 1992

“ … experiments by Creed et al (1987) and Wilkinson and Robinshaw (1987) report significantly poorer accuracy for such proofreading tasks on screens.”

BEST PRACTICES

Use straight edge as visual guide

One line at a time Solid straight edge

Use different color pen to mark

Make placeholder marks in margins

WHAT TO DOUBLE-CHECK Names (people, companies)

Titles

Places

Dates (time, day, month, year)

Figures

Websites, email addresses

SPELL CHECK WON’T CATCH… Homonyms

Incorrectly divided words

Incorrect pronouns

Missing words

Wrong words

Incorrect verb tenses

Repetition of phrases/sentences

SERIAL COMMA

Strict grammarians add last comma

Red, white, and blue AP Style Guide usually omits

Red, white and blue Add final comma for long lists of complex

items Add final comma if listed items include

“and”

COLON (:)

Most common use is to introduce lists

“ … his favorite colors: red, white and blue.”

Not “ … favorite colors such as: red, white and blue.”

Can also be used for emphasis

“He only had one hobby: eating.”

SEMICOLON (;)

Greater separation than a comma but less than a period

Separate long items in a series or when items contain multiple segments separated by commas

Link independent clauses (e.g., “The package was due last week; it arrived today.”)

HYPHEN (-) VS. DASH (─) Hyphens join words

Avoid ambiguity Form a single idea from two or more words

Dashes

Abrupt change (e.g., “I will stay – if it rains.” Series within a phrase (e.g., “His favorite

colors – red, white and blue – were on display.” Attribution (e.g. “Nietzsche is dead.” – God)

ELLIPSIS (…)

Denotes deletion of one or more words in condensing text

Leave blank space on both sides

If at end of a sentence, add a period

“… then went to bed … .”

CAPITALIZATION

AP Style

Directly before name is title, capitalize After name is position, don’t capitalize

Senator Richard Burr Richard Burr, senator from North

Carolina

POSSESSIVES

AP Style

Singular common noun, add apostrophe and letter “s”

Noun ends in “s,” add apostrophe only (e.g., boss’, waitress’)

Same rules apply for proper nouns (e.g., Tom’s, Jones’)

Plural noun ending in “s,” add apostrophe Plural noun not ending in “s,” add apostrophe

and “s”

POSSESSIVES

Possession applies to two singular nouns, apply apostrophe and “s” to second noun Tom and Jane’s car

Two distinct nouns, apply appropriate possessive for each noun Tom’s red car and Jane’s blue car

POSSESSIVES

Chicago Manual of Style

No exceptions for singular nouns, always add apostrophe and “s” (e.g., boss’s, waitress’s)

All plural nouns treated the same as AP Style

Proper names ending in s, x or z, add “es” and apostrophe (the Thomases’ house)

PLURALS AND APOSTROPHES Lowercase letters (p’s and q’s)

Not always needed for uppercase (four As and two Bs) but doesn’t hurt

Not needed for numerals (4s, 8s)

Not needed for years (the 1990s) but okay in truncating (the ’90s)

REPEAT OFFENDERS

Companies are an “it,” not a “they”

“Whom” vs. “that”

“that” introduces restrictive clause, essential (e.g., “He dreamed of cars that could fly.”)

“which” introduces non-restrictive, parenthetical clauses (e.g., “He dreamed of cars, which is not unheard of.”)

REPEAT OFFENDERS

Postal abbreviations vs. state abbreviations (MI vs. Mich.)

“over” vs. “more than”

No end quotation marks

Change in tenses, “said” and “says” in same document

“Fewer” vs. “less”

COMPOUND MODIFIERS Hyphenate compound modifiers directly

preceding a noun (e.g., 80-proof liquor)

Don’t hyphenate after the noun (e.g., the liquor was 80 proof)

Some guides and publications moving away from hyphens, use only if omission causes confusion

COMPOUND MODIFIERS General guidelines

Don’t always hyphenate if modifier is two nouns (e.g., health care system, income tax cut)

Adjective-noun modifiers (e.g., two-car garage, middle-class lifestyle)

Noun-participle combinations (e.g., role-playing games, love-starved cat)

When three or more words used to modify (40-foot-long pole, baseball-cap-wearing fans)

COMPOUND MODIFIERS

General Guidelines

Hyphenate to avoid confusion (high-school-aged children vs. high school-aged children)

Don’t hyphenate when adverb ends in “ly” (e.g., early rising bird)

Compounds with “most” and “least” usually don’t take a hyphen (e.g., most appreciated teacher)

Compounds with “best” and “worst” tend to take a hyphen (e.g., best-loved stories)

POP QUIZ (DAILY WRITING TIPS)

We offer an industry leading cloud based property management solution.

We offer an industry-leading, cloud-based property management solution.

We offer an industry-leading, cloud-based property-management solution.

POP QUIZ

They criticized the arbitrary measures taken so far on the air-travel security front.

They criticized the arbitrary measures taken so far on the air-travel-security front.

POP QUIZ

That’s enough to power about 90 percent of a 1,500-square foot home.

That’s enough to power about 90 percent of a 1,500-square-foot home.

POP QUIZ

They are turning a blind eye to what their low and middle ranking members do on the streets.

They are turning a blind eye to what their low- and middle-ranking members do on the streets.

Not: They are turning a blind eye to what their low-and-middle-ranking members do on the streets.

WHEN IN DOUBT

Rephrase or rewrite

Show it to other people

Give it the “overnight test”

Look for precedents

Edit for clarity, brevity and consistency

RECOMMENDATION

Read a lot.

Read with a critical eye.

Make note of errors you see repeatedly.

Read because language keeps changing.

RESOURCES

“Associated Press Style Guide”

Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style”

“Eats, Shoots & Leaves” by Lynne Truss

“Common Errors in English Usage” by Paul Brian

RESOURCES

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/

http://www.copyblogger.com/

Thank you.

Any questions?

ggillen@sacherokee.com