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April 28, 2005: Issue 89

When a single prepositional phrase starts a sentence, setting it off with a comma is optional (although, because of the natural pause, we recommend the comma).

acceptable: At a yard sale she found the perfect table.
preferred: At a yard sale, she found the perfect table.

But when multiple prepositional phrases start a sentence, always use a comma after the last one.

incorrect: At a yard sale in her neighborhood on the north side of Chicago she found the perfect table.
correct: At a yard sale in her neighborhood on the north side of Chicago, she found the perfect table.

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April 21, 2005: Issue 88

Always start with the most recent template to create your masthead; don’t just copy from a previous issue.

These files (many with more than 100 names and titles) are updated at least once a month, so the masthead from even your most recent issue will be out of date. Copy editors will send back any masthead made from an outdated template.

These people provide masthead templates:

BRK: Ardis Summers
D&D: Sarah Bloesch
Garden: Heather Cottington

FFC title editors pull their own mastheads from the server (see me if you don’t know where to find them).

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April 7, 2005: Issue 86

In general, when you list a toll-call phone number, list the city so people know where they’re calling. (You don’t need the city if the number is toll-free, and you never need to put a 1 before the number.)

For more information, see the Telephone Numbers section of BHGStylebook.com.

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March 31, 2005: Issue 85

Use one space between sentences, never two. Debate over this issue rages on message boards, so we’re not going to make any value judgments. We’re just going to reiterate that the single space is SIM style. We never use multiple spaces except to position display type.

(A little context: Many of us learned to use a double space in the days of typewriters, which used monospace fonts—every character took up the same amount of space. Most computer fonts, however, are proportionally spaced and automatically adjust for space between sentences.)

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December 4, 2003: Issue 72

SIM STYLE: The way you do the things you do
I know many of us went into this profession to avoid numbers, but if you’ll indulge me for a moment, I’d like to highlight a few.
• SIM copy editors read 49,000+ magazine pages in one year.
• SIM editors, designers, and CEs route stories 25,000+ times in one year.
• More than 100 times every day, someone in SIM initials a routing slip (or forgets to!).

With this constant current of copy circulating through SIM’s arteries, our established routing procedures keep our collective pulse steady and our blood pressure down. But when someone skips a beat—even if it seems insignificant at the time—the resulting chain of events can slow, or even bring to a halt, the whole system.

So for the next few issues, the SIM Style section of Style on the Go will focus on routing procedures. Ever wondered why or how we do what we do when it comes to routing slips, story folders, tracking documents, and the CE in box? Send your questions my way, and I’ll make sure they get addressed in an upcoming issue.

THIS WEEK: Routing slips
• A routing slip is not complete without the “Due to Art” and “Due to Service Bureau” dates filled in.
Why it matters: When looking through a stack of stories in the in box, CEs prioritize their work in part by these dates. Every week, on average, two magazines hit their art dates and two more close. The simple act of filling in these dates helps ensure your magazine’s deadlines are met.

• A routing slip is also not complete without all lines under “File Info” filled in. This info should be updated as file names change.
Why it matters: Anyone should be able to locate a file on the server at any time with this information. Incomplete or outdated file info forces users to spend time searching through story folders.

For more information, see Issue 73, 74.

GRAMMAR: Although sounds better, though
Except when context specifically calls for the word “though,” (“as though,” “even though,” or as a synonym for “however”), “although” and “though” are interchangeable. “Although” often sounds better, even in conversational writing, but you can’t go wrong with either.

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June 12, 2003: Issue 61

SIM STYLE: Them’s the breaks
For all its bells and whistles, sometimes Quark just can’t break a word correctly at the end of a line. It may insert a hyphen in the wrong place, or it may wrap the entire word to the next line and create awkward spacing. But no worries: You just insert a hyphen and go about your editing. Problem solved, right?

Think again. Hyphenating a word manually can often create more trouble than it’s worth because the word retains that hyphen regardless of what happens elsewhere in the paragraph. That means if a subsequent change earlier in the paragraph causes lines to rewrap, you’re likely to end up with a hyphenated word in the middle of a line—a far more glaring error than you started out with.

Instead, use a discretionary hyphen, which will either keep a word from breaking or force it to break in the spot you specify. To keep a word from breaking at all, place the cursor before the word and type command-hyphen.

To force a word to break, place the cursor at the desired point and type command-hyphen. If subsequent changes earlier in the paragraph allow the word to fit on one line, the hyphen will automatically go away.

Note: Remember that it’s also SIM style to never hyphenate ragged-right copy. You can set up a style sheet in Quark to turn off hyphenation; if you’re not sure how, drop me a note.

For more information, see Computer Commands and Hyphens in the SIM Stylebook or Issue 28.

GRAMMAR: I recently saw “Draw In” capitalized in a headline.
Isn’t “in” a preposition, and therefore not capitalized? It’s true that according to SIM style, prepositions of four letters or fewer are not capitalized in headlines. But in this case, “in” is not a preposition; it’s part of the verb “draw in.” How do you know? It’s listed this way in Web 11. The word “in” can be a preposition, but it can also be a noun (“ins and outs”), adjective (“the in crowd”), or adverb (“draw in”). The same is true for many other prepositions, evidenced by verbs such as “hold on” and “hone in.” Many of these verbs will be listed in Web 11, so when in doubt, look it up.

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April 24, 2003: Issue 57

SIM STYLE: If a caption is overprinted on a photo, does it still need a directional?
The answer depends on whether that caption is grouped with others.
• If a single caption is overprinted on a photo, it does not need a directional.
• If two or more captions are grouped and overprinted on a photo, each caption needs a directional.

The appropriate directional for the overprinted photo is “this photo.”

GRAMMAR: Should there be one space or two between sentences?
One. Only the most formal writing nowadays separates sentences with two spaces. The old two-space rule stems from a time when monospace fonts (where every character takes up the same amount of space) were in wide use, but it’s not applicable in modern publishing.

Tip: Most of us already know this, of course, but some newer writers do not. Pass it along, and save yourself and the CEs the hassle of stripping out extra spaces.

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April 17, 2003: issue 56

SIM STYLE: Word List Spotlight: D
Do you know SIM style on these 10 common terms?
• daybed (one word)
• deadheading (one word)
• design-build firm For more information, see Issue 45.
• designer-builder
• DIYer (OK on second reference)
• double duty (noun); double-duty (adj.)
• double take (two words)
• douppioni silk (note spelling)
• draperies (not “drapes”)
• dryer (appliance)

GRAMMAR: What’s wrong with saying something is “most unique”?
“Unique” means “one-of-a-kind.” Something is either unique or it isn’t. When we see the phrase “most unique,” the writer usually means something akin to “most unusual.”
incorrect: The designer says the table is the most unique she has ever seen.
correct: The designer says the table is the most unusual she has ever seen.
correct: The designer says the table is unique. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she says.

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April 3, 2003: Issue 55

SIM STYLE: Stand-alone cities
We recently updated the CITIES section of the SIM Stylebook, based on current usage. Some cities were removed from the list, meaning they should usually be followed with the appropriate state designation. Others were added, meaning that in most cases the city name itself is sufficiently clear. Here’s a breakdown of what changed.

CITIES ADDED TO STAND-ALONE LIST: 
• Austin
• Baton Rouge
• Beverly Hills
• Boulder
• Fort Worth
• Key West
• Little Rock
• St. Petersburg
• Sacramento
• Santa Barbara

CITIES REMOVED FROM STAND-ALONE LIST:
• Akron
• Atlantic City
• Dayton
• Duluth
• Jersey City
• Providence
• Richmond
• Spokane
• Tacoma
• Toledo
• Wichita
• Kuwait City
• Panama City

See the complete list of stand-alone cities.

GRAMMAR: Doesn’t “couple” always get an “of” after it?
No, not always. When the word “couple” quantifies another modifier, drop the “of.”
incorrect: The rug was a bargain at a couple of hundred bucks.
correct: The rug was a bargain at a couple hundred bucks.

Grammatically, were the “of” being used, it would belong after the second modifier, anyway—in this case, “couple hundred of bucks.” But the idiom has evolved without it, and “couple” is perfectly fine on its own in this usage.

Note: In some uses, “couple” serves to define a single amount, not individual units, and most often shows up in conversation without the “of.” In other words, “a couple minutes” refers to one period of time, not individual minutes; “a couple bucks” refers to one amount of money, not individual dollars. While most of us would drop the “of” in speech without giving it a second thought, doing so in writing can be jarring. Most readers have learned to expect to see it. In this usage, including “of” is not grammatically incorrect, so if it improves sentence flow, leave it in.

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March 13, 2003: Issue 52

SIM STYLE: It’s OK to get a little possessive.
In our business discussions around the office, we have a tendency to use homeowner names as adjectives.
• the Hornback house
• the Mullins family room

There’s nothing wrong with this, but when it seeps into copy, it can sound impersonal. Most people don’t talk that way in casual conversation; they assign ownership by making a name possessive. In general, we should do the same in print.
• the Hornbacks’ house
• the Mullinses’ family room.

Along the same lines, we sometimes make nouns possessive when we don’t need to. Inanimate common nouns usually need not be possessive.
• the bathroom floor (not the bathroom’s floor)
• the island countertop (not the island’s countertop)

For more information, see Possessives section in the SIM Stylebook.

GRAMMAR: Clauses, and their effect
We recently addressed the basics of phrases, which you’ll remember are groups of related words that lack both a subject and a predicate. On the agenda this time: clauses, the other main building blocks of all sentences. A clause is a group of words that does contain a subject and a predicate. Let’s look at the two main types.

An independent clause can (but doesn’t always) stand alone as a complete sentence.
• THE COUPLE REMODELED THE LIVING ROOM.
• After the flood, THE COUPLE REMODELED THE LIVING ROOM.

A dependent (or subordinate) clause contains a subject and a predicate but does not express a complete thought and cannot stand on its own. Dependent clauses serve three functions in sentences: as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. It’s not as confusing as it sounds.

Check out these examples.
• The couple, WHO HAD GROWN TIRED OF THE SPACE ANYWAY, remodeled the living room. (The dependent adjective clause modifies the noun “couple.”)
• AFTER THE FLOOD SWEPT THROUGH THE HOUSE, the couple
remodeled the living room. (The dependent adverb clause modifies the verb by telling “when.”)
• THAT THE LIVING ROOM WOULD BE REMODELED was a given. (The dependent clause serves as a noun; the pronoun “it” could be substituted for the entire clause.)

For more information see Issue 49.

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