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/