Andrea Wenger

Popular culture is filled with myths about grammar. Taught by generations of English teachers, these stories admonish little children to cling to the straight and narrow path, rather than venturing into the woods of creative communication. Some of these stories are usage guidelines rather than rules. Others are pure fantasy, the flight of some pedagogue’s imagination.

1. The Restrictive Which

Professional writers are warned to avoid the dreaded restrictive which. We’re told to use the word that as the relative pronoun when introducing a restrictive clause (one that’s essential to the meaning of the expression), and the word which when introducing a nonrestrictive clause (one that supplements the meaning). But is a restrictive which always wicked?

In one of the most famous speeches of the twentieth century, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used a restrictive which: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

Is this statement rendered less potent by the use of the word which rather than that? Hardly. The fashion of using that to signify a restrictive connotation has never been imitated in speech.

Where written and spoken communication agree is in the presence of a pause (signified in writing by a comma) before the relative pronoun in a non-restrictive connotation, and the absence of a pause (or comma) in a restrictive one. As long as you follow the rules for comma use, readers will understand your meaning—regardless of your choice of which or that.

Generally, I avoid the restrictive which, but judgment always trumps rote. I won’t write “that that I know to be true” when “that which I know to be true” sounds a hundred times better. Follow your style guide, but trust your inner voice (assuming your inner voice doesn’t sound like Charles Manson’s).

2. There’s No “Of” There

For brevity’s sake, the word “of” can be safely omitted after “all” and “both” in such expressions as “all of the time” (all the time) and “both of the writers” (both writers). However, using “of” in these expressions is perfectly grammatical.

3. Split Infinitives

It’s widely believed that verb phrases, and particularly infinitives, should not be split. This idea is nonsense. Usually, the best place for an adverb is immediately before the verb it modifies: “I wanted to completely replace my business wardrobe, but I had carelessly left my credit card at the shoe store.”

That being said, splitting an infinitive may not be the best choice, particularly if the split is long (such as with a string of adverbs or an adverbial phrase).

For the sake of parallelism, avoid splitting an infinitive when using a correlative conjunction (such as either…or): “I want to buy either pink shoes or purple shoes.” not: “I want to either buy pink shoes or purple shoes.”

4. Beginning Sentences with Conjunctions

It’s fine to begin a sentence, and even a paragraph, with a conjunction. But do so sparingly, or risk the invective of the Wizard of Oz to the Cowardly Lion: “You, my friend, are a victim of disorganized thinking!”

The real problem occurs when the conjunction introduces a fragment rather than a complete sentence. I assume that if you work as a technical communicator, you know a fragment when you see one. Occasional fragments are fine where the tone is casual or informal, but they should be avoided in instructional material.

5. Ending Sentences with Prepositions

There’s never been a time in the history of the English language when folks didn’t end sentences with prepositions. In speech, we do it all the time. Written language, to be effective, should maintain the same flow as speech. Rearranging a sentence to avoid ending it with a preposition often results in an unnatural construction that jars the reader. Follow the advice in Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss’s rollicking book on punctuation, and don’t write like a stupid person. (She said this specifically in reference to comma use, but it applies equally well to all elements of expression.)

6. Contractions

As you’ve probably noticed, I believe in using contractions to give prose a natural feel. That being said, I never use them in technical documentation. Maybe I’m afraid that the text will lose its ring of authority. If the document is promotional rather than instructional, a more relaxed tone may be appropriate. Follow your style guide.

7. Use of Second Person

In high school, I was taught to use one instead of you as the indefinite pronoun in written communication. But does anyone ever use this convention in speech? The Queen of England, maybe, and those who wish they were the Queen of England. For the rest of us, the second person pronoun is natural and comfortable. In technical writing, it’s mandatory.

Involve your readers by addressing them directly: “You must enter a password.” is clearer and more powerful than “A password must be entered.” or “Entry of a password is required.”.

Let’s face it: If you don’t tell a third-grader not to start a sentence with a conjunction, he’ll start every sentence with a conjunction. If you don’t tell him not to end a sentence with a preposition, he’ll end every sentence with a preposition. When your grammar-school teacher’s voice resonates in your head, admonishing you with these non-rules, remind yourself that her job was to teach illiterate children how to compose sentences—not to teach professional communicators how to write elegant prose.

Grammar is a matter of structure, while usage is a matter of style. And style depends on audience and intent. Obviously, you’ll adopt a different tone when writing an article for the Journal of the American Medical Association than when writing the next great chick lit novel. The tone of instructional material should be authoritative, but accessible. Stiff writing is dead on the page and doesn’t serve our customers.

Andrea Wenger

In response to popular demand (by Carolina Communiqué’s new editor-in-chief, Sheila Loring), and with input from members of the Technical Editing SIG, I’ve compiled a list of ten grammar and usage errors sometimes seen in technical communication. Avoid these errors to improve clarity and simplify the job of the reader—and the translator.

Continue reading “Top Ten List: Grammar and Usage Errors”

Andrea Wenger

Verbs are the most important tool in a writer’s toolbox. They can make a sentence powerful and direct, or weak and meandering. In technical communication, verbs help us clarify who must act and when. But verb usage guidelines for descriptions differ from those for procedures. The context affects audience needs.

Properties of Verbs

Verbs have five properties:

• voice (active and passive)
• mood (indicative, imperative, and subjunctive)
• tense (past, present, future, and their perfect counterparts)
• person (first, second, and third)
• number (singular and plural)

Chapter 5 of The Chicago Manual of Style offers a good refresher on these terms.

A verb’s number is a purely grammatical consideration—the verb must agree with the subject. The other properties, though, are a choice the writer or editor must make. In technical communication, there are good reasons to choose one over the other.

Verb Use in Procedures

Most task-based writing uses active voice, imperative mood, present tense, and second person to convey what the reader must do. People who aren’t technical communicators sometimes feel uncomfortable writing in this way. So they send us source material that reads “The door must be opened,” when they mean “Open the door.” They feel rude telling people what to do. But “Open the door” doesn’t sound rude to readers. It sounds clear. Readers like clear.

Here’s a procedure that doesn’t follow the recommended verb usage. Note that it is inherently unclear:

To remove the power plant, the operator must open the enclosure door. Then he can lift the protective cover. The captive screws securing the power plant are loosened. This will allow the power plant to be removed.

This wording raises some questions:

• Must the operator lift the protective cover, or is this optional? (Use of the indicative rather than the imperative mood)
• Is the protective cover too heavy for a female to lift? (Lack of gender neutrality resulting from the use of third person)
• Are the screws already loosened, or must the operator perform this task? (Use of the passive voice)
• Should the operator remove the power plant at this time, or should that step be performed later? (Use of the future tense)

The following wording, which uses the recommended verb properties, eliminates these questions:

”To replace the power plant, follow these steps:

1. Open the door.
2. Lift the protective cover.
3. Loosen the captive screws that secure the power plant.
4. Remove the power plant.”

 

Verb Use in Descriptions

Some technical writing is not task-based, however. When you’re writing or editing descriptions, different guidelines apply. Description may be in active or passive voice; in past, present, or future tense; and in second or third person.

Description is generally written in the indicative mood. Its purpose is to inform, not to instruct. Descriptions can appear on their own or within a procedure. Consider the following:

”Select File > Print.
The Print dialog box opens.”

The sentence “The Print dialog box opens” is not written in the imperative mood because it isn’t an instruction. Rather, it describes what the software does.

You could also use the passive voice in this case: “The Print dialog box is displayed.” In The Global English Style Guide, John R. Kohl writes, “Passive voice is appropriate when the agent of the action is unknown or unimportant.” So don’t put yourself through convolutions trying to recast a sentence just because it uses passive voice.

Present tense is not required in description. However, as Kohl writes, “Use the simplest tense that is appropriate for each context.” In technical communication, verb phrases like could have been installed and will not have been reset confuse readers and tax translators. But it’s not wrong to say You must accept the terms of use before you can continue. Despite the use of auxiliary verbs (also called modal verbs), the sentence is clear and direct.

The above example (You must accept the terms…) uses second person. In description, however, third person is more common: The X45 limit switch is a rugged device designed for use in dusty environments.
The proper use of verbs is key to good technical communication. Once the verb is right, chances are, the rest of the sentence will fall into place. If your time is limited, focus on the verbs first. Well-chosen verbs are a gift to the reader.

Andrea is a senior technical writer at Schneider Electric. She blogs about grammar, style, and other writing topics at andreajwenger.com. She can be reached at andreajwenger at gmail dot com.

Andrea Wenger

We see it everywhere: our schools, our places of business, even in notes stuck on our refrigerator. Yes, my friends, I’m talking about apostrophe abuse. The Obama administration, faced with two wars and an economy teetering on the edge of disaster, is unlikely to make this a priority. So it’s our duty as professional communicators to stamp it out.

My elementary school teacher made it sound easy. “To make a word a possessive, add an ’s, unless the word is a plural ending in s, and then, just add an apostrophe.” Ah, life was simpler in elementary school. True, many atrocities (such as Grammar Girl’s report of a menu advertising Ladie’s Night) could be avoided if people applied that straightforward rule. Yet there are myriad exceptions, and even the U.S. Supreme Court can’t agree on them (more on that later).

Pronouns

Possessive pronouns don’t use apostrophes: hers, his, its, ours, theirs, whose, yours. Most of us wouldn’t have a problem with this rule if it weren’t for the contractions it’s (it is, it has) and who’s (who is, who has). The sentence, Who’s book is this? doesn’t look wrong to me, but of course, it is. It should read, Whose book is this?

Personal possessive pronouns are often called absolute possessives, because they can occur with no noun following them. For example, a sentence could read It’s her book, or The book is hers. Absolute possessives are sometimes used mistakenly in conjunction with other possessives. For example, She worried about hers and his safety, should read, She worried about her and his safety. A better choice, though, would be to recast the sentence: She worried about her safety and his, or She worried about his safety, and her own.

Singular Words Ending in S

If a singular word ends in s, is it correct to add an s after the apostrophe in the possessive form? That depends on who you ask. It’s a matter of style, not grammar. As a technical writer, however, I consider it a usability issue. When people read, they hear the words in their head. So where the style guides disagree, I use pronunciation as the ultimate arbiter.

According to The Chicago Manual of Style, if an s at the end of a singular word is pronounced, the possessive is formed by adding ’s. The same is true for words ending in x or z: boss’s office, Alex’s wallet. However, if the ’s would be awkward, avoid the possessive and use of instead: the governor of Texas, the history of jazz. If the s, x, or z is not pronounced, the s after the apostrophe may be omitted: Illinois’ capital, Margaux’ necklace. Follow this practice only if you’re certain of the pronunciation.

Fowler’s Modern English Usage recommends omitting the s after the apostrophe with names ending in an iz sound, as in Beau Bridges’ brother.

The Associated Press Stylebook omits the s after the apostrophe altogether in singular words ending in s. Since newspapers are pressed for space, I suppose they can be forgiven (although I’m not sure I’ll be forgiven for that pun). But unless you’re required to follow AP, I recommend including the s for consistency with pronunciation.

Ancient Names

Ancient names can be troublesome, in part because style guides also disagree here. According to Fowler’s, ancient names ending in s form the possessive with an apostrophe alone: Achilles’ heel, Moses’ journey. However, according to Chicago, while names ending in an eez sound receive only an apostrophe, others use ’s: Aristophanes’ plays, Zeus’s wife. When in doubt, or when both ways look wrong, Chicago recommends using of, as in son of Isis or teachings of Jesus.

Multiple Possessors

Is it Joe and Renalda’s fishing poles, or Joe’s and Renalda’s fishing poles? That depends. Are the fishing poles joint property, or do Joe and Renalda each have their own pole? Placing an ’s only at the end of the group of names denotes joint ownership. Placing an ’s at the end of each individual name denotes individual ownership.

Attributive Forms

The distinction between an attributive form and a possessive is often unclear. A users’ manual isn’t a manual belonging to users; it’s a manual for users. Nevertheless, Chicago recommends retaining the apostrophe except in the case of proper names: citizens’ advocate, Panthers game, Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Genitives

Analogous to possessives, genitives that denote value or time use an apostrophe, as in five dollars’ worth or two weeks’ notice. The apostrophe in this case stands in for the word of.

Double Possessives

In this idiom, also called a double genitive, a possessive noun or pronoun is used after of, to denote one example of several:
An associate of Sheila’s (or an associate of hers)
A collection of Bob’s (or a collection of his)

According to Garner’s Modern American Usage, some people dislike this idiom, but it has a long history and is widely approved. It can also be intrinsic to meaning: it wouldn’t make much sense to say a collection of Bob. Nevertheless, it might be better to recast the phrase as one of Bob’s collections.

Using an Apostrophe to Form a Plural

The practice of using an apostrophe to form the plural of abbreviations or numerals has fallen out of favor. The most common usage is to simply add an s: UFOs, the 1940s.

With lowercase letters, an apostrophe is needed for clarity. This is usually unnecessary with uppercase letters, but the apostrophe may be used where confusion might otherwise ensue, as in A’s, I’s, and U’s.

”Mind your p’s and q’s.
He got A’s and B’s on his report card.”
but…
He got Bs and Cs on his report card.

Chicago offers several examples of when to use the apostrophe to form a plural and when to leave it out:

maybe’s
ifs, ands, or buts
yesses and noes (or yes’s and no’s, especially if used with maybe’s)
dos and don’ts

For special cases like these, it’s best to consult a good style guide. But if you’re forced to rely on your own judgment, don’t obsess over it. When it comes to apostrophe use, intelligent people can disagree. Jonathan Starble wrote in Legal Times about a rift in the 2006 Supreme Court case Kansas v. Marsh: in the majority opinion, Justice Thomas consistently used Kansas’ statute, while in the minority opinion, Justice Souter used Kansas’s statute. Although I consider myself a political moderate, I have to side with Justice Souter on this one.

Reprinted with permission from the Carolina Communique, the newsletter for the Carolina Chapter.