IT'S GRAMMAR TIME - PREMIER VS. PREMIERE

It's been awhile since I've posted a grammar lesson. I ran across this premier vs. premiere word pair recently in my own writing so I thought I'd share.

According to Dictionary.com, a premier as a noun is the grand pubah or head honcho of an organization. Some countries refer to the heads of their cabinets as premiers or it can simply mean the chief officer in any organization. As an adjective, it means the "first in rank" or "first in time."

This last meaning is what confused me. I was thinking of the word in terms of the first edition or first show of a series, like on TV. At first, I thought, based on the adjective definition, premier was correct. But it didn't look right and I was justified in my suspicion.

The correct word I needed was premiere, which, according to Dictionary.com, means the first time something is performed or presented to the public. This something can be a person or the performance or presentation itself. It can take the form of a noun, verb, or adjective but all have the same meaning.

An easy way to remember the difference is to simply consider the subject of your writing. If it is a play, movie, book, television show, magazine, or any other item written, performed, or presented to the public for viewing, reading, listening, etc., the correct word is premiere. If you're talking about an officer or government person, it's premier.

Click here to view the premiere of grammar blogs by me, the premier of Wordsy Woman Word Sales and Service.

IT'S GRAMMAR TIME - LEAD VS. LED

The pair of words, lead and led, has tripped me up in the past because the word lead, usually pronounced leed can be pronounced led when talking about the metal of lead, defined by Dictionary.com as "a heavy, comparatively soft, malleable, bluish-gray metal, sometimes found in its natural state but usually combined as a sulfide, especially in galena." The proper word is also lead when using the metal in a cliche as in "He has a lead foot," describing a perpetual speeder. Because lead sounds like led and my fingers sometimes fly faster than my brain, they insist on writing lead when I mean led.

The word lead (pronounced leed, not describing the metal), can be used as a present tense verb, noun, or an adjective. According to Dictionary.com, the present tense verb means to go first, show the way, guide, or influence.For example, on my desk is a Isabel Bloom heart I received at a Women's Connection conference that says, "Lead with your heart."

According to Dictionary.com, as a noun, lead (leed) means the position in first place or ahead of others, something that leads (or goes first, shows the way, guides, or influence), or a particular type of leash. As an adjective, Dictionary.com says lead describes the most important thing, that which goes first, or that which leads. As a noun, an example would be, "I got the lead in the school musical." And, as an adjective, "I got the lead role in the school musical."

Led, on the other hand, is simply the past tense and past participle version of the verb, lead, not to be confused with the capitalized version, LED, that Dictionary.com includes which describes a type of light bulb.

Fortunately, just like this lead vs. led mistake can be easy for your fingers to make as you're flying along writing on your keyboard, it's just as easy for your brain to correct it during the editing and proofreading process. Just remember the only time you use the led-pronounced version of lead is when talking about the metal. If you are using the word as the past tense of the leed-pronounced verb of lead, then use led.

May you always be in the lead position after you have led your followers to lead.

-The Wordsy Woman

WHAT'S PASSED IS PAST

Lately I've been having a duel over the past versus passed duo. These two words sound the same and when my writing brain is chugging along, it sometimes forgets which of these different-meaning words is appropriate.

According to Dictionary.com, passed refers to what something has done, such as having passed a slow-moving car in the left lane driving down the interstate or having passed an academic test. In contrast, past, according to Dictionary.com, is an intangible thing or adjective. As in forget the past. However, it can get complicated. When used as a preposition when talking about physically going by or beyond something, past is appropriate, as in I was looking for the library but I drove right past.

To determine whether passed or past is appropriate, evaluate your sentence critically and determine what exactly you wanted to say. If it is something the subject of your sentence did already regarding the verb pass, use passed. If it is not referring to something your subject did, use past. In the final example in the preceding paragraph, drove is the verb and past describes the driving or could be thought of as a thing; it was past, this is here.

Do you have any other tips or tricks for easily deciding if passed or past is correct? If so, please share in the comments below.

Happy passing!
The Wordsy Woman

COMMA SUTRA - POSITION FOUR

Time to attempt to master another comma position: between adjectives. When using adjectives to describe a noun in sentences, at times you will need commas between them, at times you will not, and at times there will be commas between some of them but not others. Unlike with the intuitive comma use, often you can't tell when a comma should or shouldn't be used just by reading the sentence out loud. Fortunately, however, there is a rule you can use.

When using two or more adjectives, commas should be placed between those that describe the noun independently and separately. No comma is appropriate when the multiple adjectives are dependent upon each other. Diana Hacker (2009) in her A Pocket Style Manual refers to the distinction as coordinating adjectives and cumulative adjectives (p. 59-60). To test whether the adjectives are coordinate or independent, read them with the word "and" between them.

For example, from Missing Emily: Croatian Life Letters on page 13:

"I did not think again about the letter until I arrived home from school the first of March to find a thin envelope with a border around the outside like a red, white, and blue candy cane and several cancelled stamps addressed to me on our kitchen counter."

If you use "and" instead of the commas:

"I did not think again about the letter until I arrived home from school the first of March to find a thin envelope with a border around the outside like a red and white and blue candy cane and several cancelled stamps addressed to me on our kitchen counter."

This makes sense so the commas are appropriate. In fact, commas are needed so your words don't read like they were written by a preschooler. In this case, you could also determine the commas are needed by reading it aloud. If you try to read it without, "outside like a red white blue candy cane," you might pass out from loss of breath (especially because it is quite a long sentence anyway).

According to Hacker (2009), cumulative adjectives don't describe the noun separately and reading them with "and" would be cumbersome and nonsensical. For example, from Missing Emily on page 12:

"A passing elbow collided with mine, sending my books flying to the floor in slow motion."

Reading "A passing and elbow collided with mine" doesn't made sense so a comma would not be appropriate. As has been the case with all of the Comma Sutra positions thus far, whether to use a comma or not is still a subjective decision to a certain degree. The "and"s might make sense to some but not to others. The important thing is to consider the use of commas in your sentences and make purposeful choices about whether or not to use them.

Happy Comma-ing,
-The Wordsy Woman

Source:

Hacker, D. (2009). A Pocket Style Manual (5th ed.). Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

KEEP IT BETWEEN THE LINES - PARALLEL PRONOUNS, the basics

The major grammar mistake theme I've seen in the documents I've edited the past few weeks has been matching plural and singular sentence subjects with their respective plural and singular pronouns. These are easy mistakes to make but they are also easy mistakes to correct.

If a subject within a sentence is singular, meaning the sentence is talking only about what one person, place, or thing did, the pronoun must be singular as well. If the subject is gender neutral, use it. If the subject is male, use he or his; if female, use she or her; if it has a gender but you don't know or it doesn't matter if the the subject is male or female, use she or he or his or her. Granted, writing he or she all of the time can make the piece feel cluttered and reading tedious so it is tempting to use they or their. Don't do it. If you are writing he or she too many times, make the subject plural so you can use they, their, or them, etc. properly.

As mentioned, perhaps the easiest way to get around the whole he or she dilemma is to make your sentence's subject plural and use the more easily-read they or its derivative. Sometimes, however, it won't be so clear cut. Perhaps the subject to which your pronoun refers isn't contained in the same sentence. The rule is still the same: if the subject to which you are referring is plural, use the they pronoun. For example, from Missing Emily: Croatian Life Letters on page 20 with highlighting to hopefully make it clearer which pronouns go with which subjects:

"Within a few hours, I knew the whole story. Aunt Shari had taken Emily for a walk in her stroller to the park in her neighborhood. When they left to walk back home, Aunt Shari Buckled Emily into her stroller. When they reached the intersection a block away from the park, Aunt Shari pushed the street light button and waited for the walk signal. The moment she stepped into the intersection, an unlicensed sixteen-year-old girl riding with her friends swerved around the cars stopped at the red light and struck Emily's stroller." ("They" refers to Aunt Shari and Emily.)

It can also get tricky when your sentence has multiple subjects or contains some descriptive words between the subject and verb. The rule is still the same: match the verb to the subject about which you are writing. They, them, and their also applies to inanimate objects or places as well as gender-neutral subjects, which also can make them easier to deal with. But in the interest of interest, change your work up at times. Find a synonym for your subject or use the he or she (properly) occasionally.

Of course, if you are talking about only yourself, use I. If you are including friends in your sentence talking about yourself, use the collective we. The good news is if you are talking directly to someone else (second person), you is proper whether you are addressing one person or a whole crowd.

Even if you know this rule about singular or plural subjects and pronouns, it is easy to slip up when you are cranking out a draft, making it that more important when it comes time for revising to read your work carefully and think through your sentences to ensure your grammar is correct.

Thanks for reading!
-The Wordsy Woman

GO FORTH AND EDIT

I'm an obsessive editor. I didn't say I'm a perfect editor; I'm just obsessed about editing. Or more exactly, proofreading. You see, I make a lot of typos. A LOT. Seriously, the best things ever invented were the backspace and delete keys. My typing fingers just have minds of their own - or maybe they are just faster than my brain. They just get going and they get so far ahead that they start to make mistakes, stumbling over each other. I have been able to train them a bit over the years, though. Sometimes they just tap the backspace key before I've even realized I made a mistake.

I suppose the obsession started in college. I learned to proofread everything because a well crafted sentence may just be the one thing that sets you apart and earns you that higher grade. I started proofreading my emails when I started to work as a legal secretary in DeKalb, Illinois. The boss gently suggested one day I might want to proofread my emails before I sent them out. The thought, somehow, had never occurred to me before. This is when email was just getting started. I'd sent handwritten or even typed letters and wouldn't have thought of stamping them and throwing them in the mailbox without reading them first - but email? Go figure. But I did it and I realized, "Wow, I'm a typomaniac." So I started proofreading all of my emails. When I became a paralegal, I continued. In a law firm, the appearance of meticulous accuracy is of utmost importance, so, naturally, you want that to trickle through down to every last email.

So it became a habit. I proofread work emails, home emails, and emails to myself. I'm not saying they never get through without a single mistake but they do get through with a lot less than if I hadn't done that final check. When texting came along, I continued. I proofread every text I send, even to my kids, and even to make sure I have the correct texting shorthand.

The ability to proofread and edit is one of the many things I love about written words. If I only could do it before my mouth opens and I speak, the world would be far better place. So my advice about proofreading is you don't have to be obsessive like me, but when you are communicating in business or with anyone who has any control over your fate, don't skimp on proofreading.

-The Wordsy Woman

COMMA SUTRA - POSITION TWO

The comma so perplexes me that I haven't felt up to tackling position two of the comma sutra since the post about using commas in lists several weeks ago. So today I tackle the intuitive comma. The one you really can only know is missing by reading your words out loud. I know, I know - reading out loud is a pain in the backside and embarrassing, especially if your kids have their friends over, but it is mandatory to find proper comma placement.

I'll use a couple of examples from my new book, Missing Emily: Croatian Life Letters, of how something might have made no sense if I had left the comma out.

Page One:

If I hadn't used a comma:

"Always full of unwelcome surprises Dad changed these plans."

Now, when you read it silently, you might not notice anything, but read it aloud and your speaking voice triggers your brain into questioning if Dad was the unwelcome surprise or if Dad delivered the unwelcome surprise? Change it to "Always full of unwelcome surprises, Dad changed these plans," and it makes sense. It says what you (or I in this case) want it to say.

One more example from Missing Emily:

Page 87:

Without the comma:

"I peeked around the corner and saw them crouched down their mouths tucked into the tops of their pajamas giggling."

How did they crouch down into their own mouths? Were their pajamas giggling? The correct way to (and the way I did) write it is "I peeked around the corner and saw them crouched down, their mouths tucked into the tops of their pajamas, giggling."

Position two of the comma sutra is difficult because there are no hard and fast rules. The only way to decide on the appropriate location is to read the words out loud, or at the least deliberately, carefully, and slowly.

Look forward to Comma Sutra - Position Three at some point when I can muster up the energy to tackle it.

Until then, happy writing!
From the Wordsy Woman

MY STATIONERY IS STATIONARY

One little letter that does so much! Here, switch E for A or vice-versa, and you've got two totally different things. The one with an E, stationery, is the paper or other materials used to write letters including not only the paper but envelopes, pencil, and pens. (See Dictionary.com's definition by clicking here.)

On the other hand, stationary, means something quite different and unrelated to letter-writing. Stationary refers more to a speed or spatial position. According to Dictionary.com, to be stationary means to not be moving, to be standing still, unmovable, or remaining in the same condition. (Click here for Dictionary.com definition.)

There is really no easy way - that I can think of anyway - to keep the two straight other than to remember the writing tools are spelled with an E and the others with an A. If you can't remember, just flip-flop them and you'll get half of them right.

Just kidding ... don't do that. Get a dictionary or go to Dictionary.com and look it up to be sure.

Happy "grammaring" from the Wordsy Woman

COMMA SUTRA – POSITION ONE

The comma so perplexes me in writing that I think a whole book could be written on the topic. It is used in so many different ways and its usage is different depending on what you are writing and what you intend to say. I’ve gone from being a comma-abuser to a comma-avoider to everywhere in between.

Because of the complexity, I will concentrate on comma usage in a particular minute instance, and maybe one day, I’ll have it mastered. This week – the list.

I grew up hearing you always use a comma between the second to last item in a list with three or more items and the conjunction (“and” or “or”) appearing before the last item in the list (unless, of course, a semi-colon is appropriate which is a whole other topic). Then when I became a paralegal, I was told this was wrong – you should leave out that comma. And then I read somewhere you should use the comma when writing lists in fiction but you should leave them out when writing non-fiction. Even last week when reading a Harvard Business School case for a class, I noticed there were no commas between the last two items in lists in the text - "proving" the fiction vs. non-fiction distinction.

To solve this confusion, I turn to the “experts.” According to A Pocket Style Manual, Fifth Edition, on page 58, by Diana Hacker, you should follow the advice I received in grade school of “use a comma between all items in a series of at least three, including the last two.” Hacker acknowledges the paralegal no-last-comma camp but indicates “most experts advise using [the comma] because its omission can result in ambiguity or misreading.”

According to The Associated Press AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, 2009 Edition, you “do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series” which appears to consist of three similar items (p. 355). The Essentials of English, 6^th Edition, by Vincent F. Hopper, Cedric Gale, Ronald C. Foote, and Benjamin W. Griffith appear to agree with Diana Hacker though it does admit it is “not absolutely essential” (p. 114). The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, also agrees with the comma-always mantra (p. 88).

So what will the Wordsy Woman do? Well, unless someone asks me specifically to leave it out, I will insert a comma between the second-to-last item and the “and” or “or” in my list of three items or more.

MANUAL MAP APP

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the historical museum in Humboldt, Iowa, and found this unfamiliar configuration of lines and words on the blackboard in the old school. Now, I don't know if this was not taught to me in school or if perhaps I was sick that day because although I didn't remember it, my kids and my husband did.

According to this website sponsored by the  Capital Community College Foundation, sentence diagrams are depicted here. Since the device hasn't been used for thirty years, it is possible it was not taught in my English classes. Diagramming sentences was developed over 100 years ago by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg; it is a way of visually breaking down sentences. Fascinating!

I won't try to explain it here for fear of totally slaughtering it, but, basically, you write the main words in the sentence like the subjects and verbs on horizontal lines and then you use connecting slashes to write your modifiers like adjectives and adverbs. For an explanation of the basics, visit this website; for instructions on how to diagram compound sentences, visit this one.

I'm thinking this might be a good technique to use when editing as the Wordsy Woman. It may help in boiling down sentences for tightness and logic. Happy mapping!

P.S. If you are a history buff, the museum has a ton of artifacts and architecture, especially for such a small town. Plus, since it is not crowded, you get a personal tour! Plan to spend at least two to three hours.

ORDER MATTERS

I drove by a sign on the wall on the side of a bar a couple of weeks ago and, unfortunately, I didn't have time to snap a picture. Here is what the sign said:

"Have a beer and stop in."

Hmmm... Does that mean I should have a beer before I come to the bar? Isn't that why they'd want me to stop in the first place - to buy a beer?

I think they meant "Stop in and have a beer." The moral of the story? Sometimes order matters. Make sure you are not telling people to do the opposite of what you actually want them to do. Click here to see another similar blog post on this topic.

By: The Wordsy Woman