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October 4, 2007: Issue 207

Our style is to use first names for homeowners and last names for professionals:
Jay and Lana Boyer hired architect Emma Jackson to design their addition. Jackson and Lana took a neighborhood tour to identify projects that Lana particularly liked.

Things get a little sticky, though, when a professional team involves two members of the same family. In that case, use first names to avoid confusion:
Mother-and-daughter design team Janie and Kristin Abbott took on the project. Janie started on a new color scheme for the drab kitchen, while Kristin tackled the awkward arrangement of the entry and great-room.

While we’re discussing last names, let’s talk about names that end in -s or -es, such as Andrews. We form the plural by adding -es: the Andrewses. We form the plural possessive by adding -es and an apostrophe: the Andrewses’ yard. But those constructions quickly gum up copy. Rephrase when you can to keep text smooth: the couple, the family’s yard.

Possibly the most embarrassing correction ever: This mistake will make you wince.

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August 30, 2007: Issue 202

Be careful with questions. They can help create a connection with readers, but watch out for these pitfalls.

Don’t stack up too many:
Is your home office too small? Awkwardly arranged? Is the look outdated? Do you need more storage?
A barrage like that will make your reader feel like a White House press secretary at a daily briefing.

Don’t ask questions with obvious answers. If you’re writing for Darts Monthly magazine, for instance, don’t ask:
Do you love to play darts?
It’s hard to imagine why else someone would pick up Darts Monthly.

Above all, don’t ask a question if you’re not going to answer it.
Can you have chocolate without wrecking your meal plan?
With a teaser like that, you’d better follow up with solid information:
Of course you can! Try these delicious but low-calorie, low-fat recipes.

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September 6, 2007: Issue 203

A refresher on tenses of the verb prove:
This house proves that energy efficiency can be elegant.
A search of county records proved that the house was even older.
She has proved herself as a budget-friendly designer.

Note that in the final example, the past participle is proved, not proven. Use proven only as an adjective:
a proven method

Who needs the Bionic Woman? We’ll be cutting out a little early Friday to catch the first episode of WordGirlon PBS. See a preview.

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September 13, 2007: Issue 204

A few unfortunate slip-ups have made it into our magazines lately. We don’t like to dwell on the negative, but we would like to make some suggestions to keep those particular errors from happening again.

When you insert dummy copy into a live layout (to fill out a short line, for instance, or to adjust to a change in the size of a text box), make that type a bright, unmistakable color. Magenta at 100 percent usually works. The dummy type is far less likely to slip through the final stages of proofing that way.

Any proper name in a hed or dek should set off a warning in your brain: Check me! Make sure the name, whether it’s a person or location, matches the name in the story. We don’t get any points for spelling Mississippi correctly in the hed if the location is really in Missouri.

Don’t zone out while you run spell-check. It’s easy to get lulled into the click-click-click groove as you tell the program to ignore soffit, cabinetry, and other perfectly good words it doesn’t like—not to mention Web addresses. Slow down enough that you’re aware of what you’re bypassing, and don’t try to multitask; this is not the time to listen to your 17 phone messages. In short, spell-check is an aid in careful proofreading, not a substitute for it.

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August 16, 2007: Issue 200

In honor of our 200th issue, we present fun facts that have nothing to do with our jobs but do involve the number 200:

• The echidna, an Australian mammal that lays eggs, is smaller than a grain of cooked rice and
  weighs only 200 milligrams when it hatches.

• Mud flows from the eruption of Cotopaxi, an Ecuadoran volcano, oozed more than 200 miles in 1877.

• Researchers believe that a bowhead whale can live 200 years, making it the longest-lived mammal on Earth.

• In South Dakota in 1823, fur trapper Hugh Glass was badly mauled in a fight with a grizzly bear. Glass’ companions left him for dead, but he crawled 200 miles to the nearest fort (and lived 10 more years).

We can’t leave you without a style tip, so please note that “apropos” is one word, with no accents and
no italics.

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August 2, 2007: Issue 199

Use opposite typeface to set off a photo directional, but not to identify people or objects within that photo:

The copy editing team, above, is planning a celebration to mark the 200th issue of its weekly e-newsletter. Copy chief Doug Kouma, upper left, promises the gathering will be “a [bleep]ing [bleep] [bleep] [bleeeeep] experience.”

Open this PDF for a special illustrated version of this issue.

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July 26, 2007: Issue 198

Every issue of every magazine must include a postal ID statement. The postal ID runs on the last page of the magazine unless that page is an ad, in which case the postal ID runs on the first page of the table of contents.

Find boilerplate language for postal ID statements.

The magazine name that appears in the postal ID statement must exactly match the magazine’s registration with the U.S. Postal Service. For most titles, the official name does not include the Better Homes and Gardens label. There are four exceptions:
• Better Homes and Gardens® American Patchwork & Quilting®
• Better Homes and Gardens® Creative Home
• Better Homes and Gardens® Decorating™
• Better Homes and Gardens® Do It Yourself Ideas for Your Home and Garden®

The postal ID includes an international standard serial number issued by the Library of Congress. ISSNs do not change from issue to issue; they change only when a magazine title changes. Find a list of ISSNs. If your magazine is new or has changed its title, copy editors will request an ISSN from the Library of Congress.

TIME FOR A GOOD SHAMPOO: Last week we asked for the most ridiculous dangling modifiers you’ve ever encountered. Our favorite came from freelance copy editor Gretchen Kauffman, who declined to name the source but swears this gem crossed her desk just last week: “Crowned with Caramel-Coconut Topper, you’ll feel like you’re eating pumpkin pie for breakfast!” Stop by the CE department to claim your prize, Gretchen.

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June 28, 2007: Issue 194

When you want to indicate the position of a ceiling, remember to say how high it is—not how tall.

High refers to a fixed position distant from the floor or ground. That means the object you’re describing does not touch the ground:
a 25-foot-high ceiling
a ceiling that slopes from 12 to 18 feet high

Tall refers to a measurement from the floor or ground up. The object or distance you’re measuring starts at the floor or ground:
a 25-foot-tall tree
a stone wall that slopes from 12 to 18 feet tall

In general, a single room has a single ceiling:
the living room ceiling
the kitchen ceiling

Use the plural form only when you refer to multiple spaces:
cove ceilings throughout the main level
popcorn ceilings popular in the 1970s

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July 12, 2007: Issue 196

A redirect is a short URL that lets users access a Web page buried deep in a site without typing a long string of characters.

For instance, if you want to steer magazine readers to a window trellis project at www.diyideas.com/outdoorideas/Accents/windowtrellis_1.html, you might want to create a
redirect to that site—perhaps www.diyideas.com/trellis.

To create a redirect, work with the site’s principal editor to submit a request to the Web producer. Make sure the Web team can activate the redirect before any reference to it hits the newsstand. Redirects can’t be duplicated, so it’s a good idea to keep a list of the ones you’ve used.

Just as with a home page URL, you can choose whether to treat a reference to your Web site in a redirect as a name (DIYideas.com/trellis) or as an address (www.diyideas.com/trellis). Either way, you must include the .com extension.

Remember that URLs are case-sensitive after a slash. Incorrect capitalization will result in an error message when a user tries to access the site.

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July 19, 2007: Issue 197

If you’ve ever heard a copy editor or English teacher on a grammatical rant, you know dangling modifiers are bad. But do you know exactly what a dangling modifier is?

A dangling modifier is usually a phrase at the beginning of a sentence that’s set up to modify the subject but doesn’t. The most obvious examples are laughable.
incorrect: Walking into the room, the chartreuse chair instantly grabbed Betsy’s attention.

The way this sentence is constructed, the chair is walking into the room. And while a walking chair certainly would grab someone’s attention, that’s not what we mean.

There are two easy fixes for a dangling modifier. One is to turn the introductory phrase into a clause with a subject of its own:
correct: As Betsy walked into the room, the chartreuse chair instantly grabbed her attention.

The other is to change the subject of the sentence:
correct: Walking into the room, Betsy immediately noticed the chartreuse chair.

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