The $10,000 ApostrophePreface
By Nora Firestone
Copyright 2012
Copyright 2012
The Sympathy Clause
A friend once described the writing process as “grueling at times.” I concur.
From my own experience as a children’s television script writer, newspaper reporter, marketing-team member, columnist, website designer and entrepreneur, I understand that writing for professional purposes isn’t necessarily easy. Some of the biggest challenges include the whittling down of too much information, articulating important points effectively within a limited amount of space or time and trying to influence the decisions and/or perspectives of strangers — and always on a deadline.
Yet, with all the time and effort we can spend on trying to get a message right and delivered on time, we can still make mistakes that we don’t realize might be working directly against us. Very often, those are simple errors in grammar, punctuation and presentation that change meanings, distract the audience or, worse, misrepresent a company’s people as careless, lazy, ignorant or lacking integrity. Many of the most “common errors” are just that: common oversights, misunderstandings and copycat blunders. They’re mistakes that “everybody else” makes, and mimicking them will put you in a position to be perceived — even if passively — as just like everybody else or, in other words, as nothing special. I assume that’s not your goal.
Naturally, a one-time flub or typo is a lot less representative of company carelessness than the consistent disregard or abuse of the rules of language is. For years I’ve likened the rules of language to the rules of the road, as both were designed to prevent confusion, clarify intentions, direct flow and communicate information that can be used in making crucial decisions. There’s a difference between the considerate, law-abiding driver who’s simply unaware that his left directional is broken and the guy who wouldn’t know — or care — because he never uses it anyway. I can sympathetically dismiss the first guy’s mistake, and he’d likely be grateful if someone informed him that his blinker wasn’t working, but it’s that second guy who I can’t trust, rely upon or respect much. He’s offending other drivers, sending a clear message that he doesn’t care about us, and he’s putting himself and others at risk for a crash on his way to his intended destination.
Despite the facts that American English is a language pieced together from so many others and that definitions can change with time and new words are added to the dictionaries each year, there are indeed rules that remain consistent. And they should. An apostrophe, for instance, is used to show possession or contraction, not plural form (I’ll note one exception later), just like a red traffic light directs drivers to make a full stop (no exceptions there). Capitalization of a word carries its own meaning: It may be a proper noun, the start of a sentence or an acronym for a multi-word entity, for example. Misuse of capitalization changes the meaning of a message (and can also seem obnoxious to consumers or tick off a good journalist, as I’ll address). We may also follow guidelines for best practice, which are more strong recommendations than law and require the use of good judgment. Whether or not to end a sentence with a preposition is a fair example which can be compared to your choice as a driver stopped at a busy intersection whether or not to make a right turn on red: Just because the impatient guy with the loud horn behind you would do it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. The bottom line is that you’re steering your own vehicle in business, and you’re responsible for the consequences of your decisions. Ignore the horns of the ill-informed and the herd mentality. Astute observers will appreciate you for your independent thinking and leadership. And you’ll be a lot less likely to crash as you go.
I also understand that you’re only one person. I get it: You’re likely pretty exceptional at whatever you do best; you’re not expected to be great at every aspect of your business. This is why business owners hire employees who can help cover all the bases and field and funnel the activity. And developing marketing and other public messages is a very distinct realm in business. It’s the pitcher’s mound for teams looking to score a win/win situation every time: home runs for the batters, line drives for the outfielders, triple plays, RBIs, perpetual innings and hot dogs for everyone. Score, score, score, woohoo!
If you’re taking the lead in the message-writing department, if you’re responsible for the website content, email campaigns, print and on-air advertisements, flyers, business cards, blogging, content marketing and so on, you do have resources. I recommend keeping a copy of the following books accessible for ongoing reference: Roget’s Thesaurus, “The Associated Press Stylebook” (throughout this book I explain more about the AP’s stylebook and why I recommend that this be your chosen style, and I also refute some of what it deems acceptable), whatever dictionary “The Associated Press Stylebook” currently recommends, and a copy of “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Also refer often to “The $10,000 Apostrophe,” which I designed with love to be one of your best references for quick, easy-to-grasp refreshers and professional and consumer insights, and the associated articles on my website.
Before any marketing piece goes public, ask two or three knowledgeable, perhaps obsessive, trusted people for a critical, truthful, fresh-eye review of it. Consider securing a professional freelance writer/editor to audit and correct your website content and also review other existing and drafted content each week or month for whatever degree of proofreading or editing you can afford. Learn from these allies; ask why they made certain changes, so you’re less likely to repeat the mistakes in the future and your work will take less time to edit. Time is money, right? With a little guidance you can do this job well. Here’s to your success …
From my own experience as a children’s television script writer, newspaper reporter, marketing-team member, columnist, website designer and entrepreneur, I understand that writing for professional purposes isn’t necessarily easy. Some of the biggest challenges include the whittling down of too much information, articulating important points effectively within a limited amount of space or time and trying to influence the decisions and/or perspectives of strangers — and always on a deadline.
Yet, with all the time and effort we can spend on trying to get a message right and delivered on time, we can still make mistakes that we don’t realize might be working directly against us. Very often, those are simple errors in grammar, punctuation and presentation that change meanings, distract the audience or, worse, misrepresent a company’s people as careless, lazy, ignorant or lacking integrity. Many of the most “common errors” are just that: common oversights, misunderstandings and copycat blunders. They’re mistakes that “everybody else” makes, and mimicking them will put you in a position to be perceived — even if passively — as just like everybody else or, in other words, as nothing special. I assume that’s not your goal.
Naturally, a one-time flub or typo is a lot less representative of company carelessness than the consistent disregard or abuse of the rules of language is. For years I’ve likened the rules of language to the rules of the road, as both were designed to prevent confusion, clarify intentions, direct flow and communicate information that can be used in making crucial decisions. There’s a difference between the considerate, law-abiding driver who’s simply unaware that his left directional is broken and the guy who wouldn’t know — or care — because he never uses it anyway. I can sympathetically dismiss the first guy’s mistake, and he’d likely be grateful if someone informed him that his blinker wasn’t working, but it’s that second guy who I can’t trust, rely upon or respect much. He’s offending other drivers, sending a clear message that he doesn’t care about us, and he’s putting himself and others at risk for a crash on his way to his intended destination.
Despite the facts that American English is a language pieced together from so many others and that definitions can change with time and new words are added to the dictionaries each year, there are indeed rules that remain consistent. And they should. An apostrophe, for instance, is used to show possession or contraction, not plural form (I’ll note one exception later), just like a red traffic light directs drivers to make a full stop (no exceptions there). Capitalization of a word carries its own meaning: It may be a proper noun, the start of a sentence or an acronym for a multi-word entity, for example. Misuse of capitalization changes the meaning of a message (and can also seem obnoxious to consumers or tick off a good journalist, as I’ll address). We may also follow guidelines for best practice, which are more strong recommendations than law and require the use of good judgment. Whether or not to end a sentence with a preposition is a fair example which can be compared to your choice as a driver stopped at a busy intersection whether or not to make a right turn on red: Just because the impatient guy with the loud horn behind you would do it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. The bottom line is that you’re steering your own vehicle in business, and you’re responsible for the consequences of your decisions. Ignore the horns of the ill-informed and the herd mentality. Astute observers will appreciate you for your independent thinking and leadership. And you’ll be a lot less likely to crash as you go.
I also understand that you’re only one person. I get it: You’re likely pretty exceptional at whatever you do best; you’re not expected to be great at every aspect of your business. This is why business owners hire employees who can help cover all the bases and field and funnel the activity. And developing marketing and other public messages is a very distinct realm in business. It’s the pitcher’s mound for teams looking to score a win/win situation every time: home runs for the batters, line drives for the outfielders, triple plays, RBIs, perpetual innings and hot dogs for everyone. Score, score, score, woohoo!
If you’re taking the lead in the message-writing department, if you’re responsible for the website content, email campaigns, print and on-air advertisements, flyers, business cards, blogging, content marketing and so on, you do have resources. I recommend keeping a copy of the following books accessible for ongoing reference: Roget’s Thesaurus, “The Associated Press Stylebook” (throughout this book I explain more about the AP’s stylebook and why I recommend that this be your chosen style, and I also refute some of what it deems acceptable), whatever dictionary “The Associated Press Stylebook” currently recommends, and a copy of “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Also refer often to “The $10,000 Apostrophe,” which I designed with love to be one of your best references for quick, easy-to-grasp refreshers and professional and consumer insights, and the associated articles on my website.
Before any marketing piece goes public, ask two or three knowledgeable, perhaps obsessive, trusted people for a critical, truthful, fresh-eye review of it. Consider securing a professional freelance writer/editor to audit and correct your website content and also review other existing and drafted content each week or month for whatever degree of proofreading or editing you can afford. Learn from these allies; ask why they made certain changes, so you’re less likely to repeat the mistakes in the future and your work will take less time to edit. Time is money, right? With a little guidance you can do this job well. Here’s to your success …
