Posts in category: Style on the Go archive

April 27, 2006: Issue 136

When a full sentence follows a colon, capitalize it.
The homeowner’s request was simple: Everything had to change.

When a phrase or dependent clause follows a colon, don’t capitalize it.
The architect offered a compromise: a bump-out.

This clutter-buster has a rule about what to toss: anything you haven’t worn or used in a year.

It’s not just you

Some of you have wondered out loud whether Style on the Go is singling you out. We don’t do that. If we address a problem you’ve had, you can be sure you’re not alone. We bring up topics that commonly and repeatedly cause confusion. If you’re the only one having trouble, we’ll talk to you personally. If you see it here, it’s not just you. We promise.

ON BHGStylebook.com: Can’t find the information you need? Try using the site’s Google search. Type your search term in the window at the upper left corner of the home page, make sure SIMStylebook.com is selected, and click Search.

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August 23, 2007: Issue 201

Universal health care, gay marriage, global warming—all piddly little issues, really. We’re voting for the candidate who can get an apostrophe right.

Just as it signals that letters have been left out of a contraction, an apostrophe shows that numerals have been left out of a year: can’t instead of cannot, ’08 instead of 2008. But most software automatically turns an apostrophe after a space into an opening single quote. When you type ’08, it assumes you mean ‘08. You can see the sad result all over campaign buttons and bumper stickers.

To force the apostrophe in Word or InDesign, type option-shift-].

WINNERS: Congratulations to M.J. Caswell, Luke Miller, Deb Wagman, and Gabrielle Wathne, who found our clues and won prop sale gift certificates. And thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate our 200th issue.

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March 12, 2009: Issue 281

The suffix wise doesn’t take a hyphen when it means relating to:
Colorwise, she has always stuck with blues.
Moneywise, we were in better shape three years ago.

It does take a hyphen when it means smart:
A color-wise friend suggested orange accents.
Money-wise homeowners are focusing on energy efficiency.

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August 27, 2009: Issue 303

When super means very, let it stand alone:
super inexpensive fabrics
super understandable instructions

In other uses, attach super to the word it modifies (no hyphen):
superstructure
superhuman
superquilters

There are exceptions, of course, so check Web 11. Some examples:
superfine
superbad
superfast

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Issue 305 • September 10, 2009 – Issue 305

Last week’s issue (gerunds as subjects) prompted several people to ask about using possessives before gerunds.
Yes, you should make a noun possessive before a gerund:

The builders’ hammering woke us at 7 a.m.

But remember that a gerund is an -ing word used as a noun. Not all -ing words are gerunds, so they’re not all nouns.
An -ing word can also modify a noun. In that case it’s called a participle, and you don’t need to alter the noun it modifies:

The builders working across the street helped me with my flat tire.

Which word modifies the other is often a subjective call. Consider these two nearly identical sentences:

Justin’s dancing caught everyone’s attention.
(Dancing, being done by Justin, caught everyone’s attention.)
Justin dancing caught everyone’s attention.

(Justin, who was dancing, caught everyone’s attention.)
If you’re not sure, try subbing in a possessive pronoun. “Their hammering woke us” makes sense. “Their working across the street helped me with my flat tire” does not.

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July 10, 2003: Issue 63

SIM STYLE: Does a photo credit attached to an individual photo get a period at the end?
It depends on whether we’re crediting one photographer or several. For a single photographer, DO NOT end with a period. For multiple photographers, DO end with a period. Please note the proper punctuation in the examples below. Directionals, as always, are italicized.
correct: Photographer: Ross Chapple
correct: Photographers: left, Ross Chapple; above,Susan Gilmore; opposite,Kim Cornelison.

Note:This rule applies in all SIPs to photo credits that run alongside photos or in the gutter. It does not apply to main story credits, which should follow the magazine’s style.

For more information, see Credits section in the SIM stylebook or Issue 7.

For more photographer credits see Issues 12, 20, 26.

GRAMMAR: Is bluegrass one word or two? What about other grasses, such as bentgrass and buffalograss?
The rule on grasses is simple: Close up all “grass” words unless the first word is a proper name.
correct: Bermuda grass
correct: bluegrass
correct: lemongrass
correct: peppergrass

For more information, see Grass on the Plant Word List in the Garden Style section of the SIM Stylebook.

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September 3, 2009: Issue 304

A gerund is an -ing verb that functions as a noun:
Quilting brings people together.
Gardening helps me relax.

A gerund as a subject is grammatical, but sometimes it’s a weak construction. Ask yourself whether your sentence retains its meaning if you take away all the words that modify the gerund.

examples:
Doing a few crunches every morning will tighten your tummy.
Planting these ornamental grasses adds year-round interest to your garden.
Choosing lighter colors gives the room a spacious feel.

Take away the modifiers and you have:
Doing will tighten your tummy.
Planting adds year-round interest to your garden.
Choosing gives the room a spacious feel.

You’ll create stronger subjects in these cases by deleting the gerunds:
A few crunches every morning will tighten your tummy.
These ornamental grasses add year-round interest to your garden.
Lighter colors give the room a spacious feel.

What those crunches do for your tummy, judicious use of gerunds will do for your writing.

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October 5, 2006: Issue 159

Despite those stern warnings you got in grammar school, you may end a sentence with a preposition. Just don’t let it dangle.

A dangling preposition is one that has no object.

incorrect: Where is she at?
incorrect: He wanted a cabinet deep enough to store large pots in.

In those cases, you can delete the preposition without changing meaning.

correct: Where is she?
correct: He wanted a cabinet deep enough to store large pots.

A preposition at the end of a sentence is fine as long as it has an object. Sometimes that placement is best for conversational style or for emphasis.

correct: Enjoy color all year, no matter what climate you live in.
correct: That kind of help they could do without.

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April 19, 2007: Issue 185

Arched window and Palladian window are not interchangeable terms.

A Palladian window is defined by its triple structure, with the two side units usually smaller than the center one. The center is often taller, and arched, but it doesn’t have to be.

So all arched windows are not Palladian, and all Palladian windows are not arched.

Cap it: The term Palladian comes from Andrea Palladio, a 16th-century Italian architect, so it gets a capital p. (No cap on window.)

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October 23, 2003: Issue 70

SIM STYLE: I recently saw “a hundred” written out, rather than “100.” Wouldn’t the figure be correct?
Not always. True, it is SIM style to write out the numbers zero through nine and use figures for the numbers 10 and above. But a few number words—hundred, thousand, million, billion, etc.—don’t always represent exact figures. Look up these words in Web 11, and you’ll see one of the definitions offered is “a very large number.” In that usage, it’s better to write them out. Let’s look at an example.
example one: A picture is worth 1,000 words.
example two: A picture is worth a thousand words.

Which is correct? Example 2 is the better choice. In this case, we don’t literally mean 1,000 words. We simply mean to convey that a picture sometimes tells the story better than any number of words could.

Remember this rule of thumb: When number words are part of figurative speech, don’t use figures; when they refer to specific quantities, do.
incorrect: They could think of 100 reasons to move, but one big reason to stay.
correct: They could think of a hundred reasons to move, but one big reason to stay.

incorrect: Prizes were given to the first thousand customers.
 correct: Prizes were given to the first 1,000 customers.

incorrect: “I must have tried 1 million different color combinations,” the designer says.
correct: “I must have tried a million different color combinations,” the designer says.

GRAMMAR: More Idiom Soup
Isn’t it fun to realize you’ve been saying the wrong thing all this time? No one notices until it’s time to write an expression out. So make sure you get these sayings right.
correct: by and large (not “by in large,” or “by enlarge”)
correct: case in point (not “case and point”)
correct: rite of passage (not “right”)
correct: vale of tears (not “veil”)
correct: whet your appetite (not “wet”)

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