Word Wise

Which Word When

Nothing can screw up a good piece of writing more than mixing up a few choice words, writing “farther” when you mean “further,” or “adopt” when you mean “adapt.” It’s little mistakes like these that distract readers and, I think, subliminally sabotage your message – which is the last thing any of us working in public relations (or any other field) want to do. We owe it to our clients, to our employers, and to ourselves to make sure we’re using the right words at the right time. After all, good writing is about precision as much as it is about anything else. Here are seven pairs of words I see confused regularly. 1.    “historic” / “historical” If something is memorable or famous, it’s historic, but if it merely has something to do with the subject of history, it’s historical. Historical evidence exists that President Bush’s use of the phrase “axis of evil” five years ago was an historic event. 2.    “farther” / “further” “Farther” refers to physical distance, while “further” is any distance that can’t be measured, such as degree, time, or quantity. As we got farther from Versailles, Édouard refused to talk about the French Revolution any further.    3.    “further” /“furthermore” As noted above, “further” is a distance that can’t be measured. But “furthermore” means “moreover,” or as Webster’s II New College Dictionary says, “beyond what has already been stated.” Let’s talk about it further when I have more time. Furthermore, as usual, I’m running late. 4.    “perspective” / “prospective” “Perspective” can mean concerned with a view, outlook, or the subjective evaluation of something; “prospective” has to do with something that’s expected to happen. I thought Arjun’s perspective on his fiancé’s, uhm, faults was hilarious; unfortunately, his prospective bride’s parents did not agree! 5.    “percent” / “percentage” Use "percent" only when a numeral is in front of it. Use “percentage” when no number is given. “I've learned it's always better to have a small percentage of a big success,” said TV host Art Linkletter, “than 100 percent of nothing.” 6.    “adapt” / “adopt” When you adapt something you make it fit, modify it, or adjust it. But if you adopt it, you accept or approve of it or take it as your own. The board adopted our new diversity policy after we adapted it to reflect our values. 7.    “anyone” / “any one” When “anyone” is involved, you mean “any person at all.” But when “any one” is involved, you’re referring to a specific person or element in a group. As that deep thinker Mariah Carey said, “I don't think anyone knows as much about what's right for me as I do.” (That’s something with which any one of us can agree!)

Note: These “which word when”  tips have proved to be some of the most popular. Everyone has their own bugaboos – mine is “affect” and “effect”; I keep a Post-It note on my bulletin board that says “affect = verb, effect = noun.” (Now if I’d only remember to look at it.) Check out Common Errors in English, a Web site and book by Paul Brians, a professor of English at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., when you’re in doubt about a pair of words.

What are your bugaboo words?

Mark My Word

Did you get your job by submitting a resume or résumé? While in Spain, did you climb the 11,414-foot Mulhacén or Mulhacen? It depends, I suppose, on who you are, where you're at, and who you're writing for. It doesn't, however, depend on grammar, since while lots of people have an opinion, no one can claim a must-follow rule. Bill Walsh, a renowned copy desk chief at the Washington Post, says you might as well skip accent marks because to use them consistently would be near impossible (especially for anyone writing on deadline). "English is a language without accent marks," he writes, "even when it's borrowing from languages that do have them." The New York Times style guide begs to differ - it suggests we use accent marks for French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German words and names only (a Jan. 13, 2007, Times story about Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts referred to his "career résumé"). Some words, it says, retain their accents even after they enter the English language (résumé, protégé) while others do not (facade, cafe), but it doesn't how we're supposed to know which words are in which group. So here's my advice: For proper nouns, especially any place or anything you could find on a map (São Paulo), the names of plays, books, pieces of music, operas (Götterdämmerung), etc., and people's names (Antônio), use the accent if you're sure it's proper to do so (São Paulo is always São Paulo, but Antônio is sometimes just Antonio). If in doubt, don't include the accent mark. As for other words of foreign origin (foreign to English speakers at least), I'd follow Bill Walsh's advice and axe the accent marks.

Note: To complicate matters, in Word certain words appear with accents as you type, such as  "façade," which automatically receives the cedilla whether you want it to or not. Ditto the words café and naïve, which get topped by the acute accent and umlaut (or dieresis), respectively. I'm sure there's a way to stop the madness, but I have no idea what it is.

Also, and this is annoying, while the Times style guide says one thing, the Times itself is inconsistent, using Sao Paolo and São Paulo, resume and résumé, etc. Still, I'd follow its rule even if it doesn't!

Penn State has a great reference for creating accent marks for both Windows and Mac.

Post-prefix Post

Prefixes, apparently, are endlessly fascinating (click here) – okay, maybe not, but they continue to be an interesting enough linguistic element to be pondered and written about: today’s New York Times features a short piece by Verlyn Klinkenborg (who has a Ph.D. in English literature from Princeton) on its editorial page, no less, celebrating the prefix “post-,” as in “postmodern.” “It may seem odd to celebrate a prefix,” Klinkenborg writes. “After all, it isn’t even a whole part of speech. It does for a word, visually, what a big cigar does for a small man. But even as prefixes go, 'post-' is unusually adaptable. It signifies transcendence, surpassing, moving past, leaving behind, and yet it does all these things while remaining attached to the very thing the prefix is leaving in the dust.” Read his entire piece here (available free from the Times for seven days from today).

Out and Loud

Almost no exercise will improve your writing more than reading what you write out loud – not just things meant to be spoken such as speeches and scripts, but press releases, letters to the editor, new business proposals, Web site copy, pitch letters, etc. If it can’t pass the read-out-loud test, it fails. Business writing doesn’t mean stiff, uptight, or formal. It doesn’t have to include jargon, lingo, and clichés. Being “conversational” and “serious” aren’t mutually exclusive. You’ll find that if you read what you write out loud you’ll stumble over awkward phrases, ridiculous words (e.g., utilize, proactive, plethora) and, often, grammatical mistakes. (Joan Didion said, “Grammar is a piano I play by ear. All I know about grammar is its power.) And where you stumble, so will your readers. Think about contractions, too. Intuitively we use them when we talk, but when we put words to paper all of a sudden we start writing “they will” or “we are” when “they’ll” and “we’re” would sound more natural and make our copy flow better. In addition, by reading out loud you’ll hear when sentences are meaningless and empty. How many times, after all, have you read a sentence like “We will utilize proprietary methodologies and best practices in order to leverage messaging that breaks through the clutter” and literally not even noticed it? Eyes gloss over (not to mention glaze over) sentences like that. Read it out loud and you’ll notice it, all right, and cringe that you were its author.

Note: Sometimes a great writing tip is right in front of my nose, so speak, and I don’t even realize it. I read a lot of what I write out loud, but never thought to comment on it until a former colleague of mine at Chicago magazine told me she counsels her writing students at Northwestern University to do it. Bingo – this week’s tip.

For those cubicle dwellers who would say, “sure, easy for you to suggest, Mr. I-Have-An-Office-With-A-Door, but I’d sound like a lunatic reading out loud to myself” (think Olivia de Havilland in “The Snake Pit”), I say find an empty office, an unscheduled conference room, or pick up the phone and pretend you’re chatting with your mother. And after you're finished pretending to talk to your mother, call her for real. She misses you.

AP Style Rules! (I guess)

I updated the post below, “Yours, Mine, and Ours,” after several of my colleagues pointed out that AP Style says to add only the apostrophe after names ending in s, like Degas, Camus, and Watts (as in Naomi), instead of apostrophe-s, which I had originally suggested. Along with Patricia T. O’Conner, whose excellent book I usually defer to, as well as with the masters Strunk and White, I think the rule should be to add apostrophe-s (Camus’s ennui). Still, as I note below, my company’s default is AP Style, and so I should have at the very least pointed out the discrepancy between my opinion and that of AP Style. The post now reflects AP Style’s rule. On a related note, check out this posting from a colleague and fellow blogger on the trials and tribulations of blogging.

Yours, Mine, and Ours

Understanding possessives can possess a lot of our time and yet, as Patricia T. O’Conner notes in Woe Is I, “For an acquisitive society, we’re awfully careless about possessives.” If you care to take care, read on. The easy stuff: If a word is singular, add an apostrophe. After seeing one of Manet's paintings, Perdita's career goal changed from lawyer to saucy wench. If the word is a proper noun and ends in an s, just add the apostrophe. After seeing one of Degas’ paintings, Paris’ ambition was to be a ballerina. If a word is plural and doesn’t already end in an s, add apostrophe-s. The women’s lounge in “The Women” was where all the action took place. The look in the deer’s eyes said, “let me live!” If it already ends in an s, just add the apostrophe. The winners’ celebration party went on and on. Here’s where things get ugly: According to AP Style (my company’s default on matters of usage), if a word ends in double-s, like “witness” or “princess,” add an apostrophe-s unless the following word begins with an s, as well (got that?). The princess’ story undermined the witness’s testimony. The appalling falling apostrophe: Not all possessives have apostrophes. The possessive of “it” is "its" (if you can substitute “it is,” it’s "it’s"). The possessive of "who" is "whose" (if you can substitute “who is,” it’s "who’s"). The possessive of “their” is “theirs.” The possessive of "ours," "his," and "hers" are as written. When there’s more than one owner: When Biff and Bink possess something in common, consider them a single unit with apostrophe-s after the last possessor’s name. Biff and Bink’s summer place was divine! If both Biff and Bink have their own divine summer places, each gets his own apostrophe-s. Biff’s and Bink’s summer places are divine!

Also, thank you to all who visited and commented upon Word Wise this past week since it went live, as well as to those of you who sent me e-mails about it. I look forward to our continued dialogue.

Note: I have to admit I hate the triple-s thing AP Style suggests. Opinion, however, is divided on whether that’s the best way to go on this aspect of possessives. For a more expansive discussion about possessives, check your own dog-eared copy of AP Style, visit The Chicago Manual of Style Online, or take a look at this.   

The Tone Ranger

Though I try really hard to keep quotes from the prickly German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche to a minimum, sometimes I can’t help myself: “One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed,” he wrote. It’s true in writing also – even writers whose ideas are excellent may irritate and offend if the tone isn't effective or appropriate. By tone I mean your attitude toward your reader. For instance, a phrase that seems innocuous to you (“as you know”) may be perceived as presumptuous, offensive, or patronizing to others. When this happens in everyday conversation we usually realize it immediately because the person with whom we’re speaking gives us visual cues – and we can modulate our tone immediately. In written communication, we don't get this instantaneous feedback, so we have to pay particular attention to tone to ensure that our message breaks through. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes (especially if they’re Prada) and: Write at the appropriate level of difficulty – when using necessary lingo, ten-dollar-words, of-the-moment slang, or potentially obscure references, indicate meaning (for instance, I didn’t want to assume you’d know who Nietzsche was, so I slipped in a brief identification) Write with the appropriate level of formality – if your intended readers are Fortune 500 CEOs, you may want to be more formal in tone than if your intended audience solely comprises rock critics Avoid sarcasm, self-righteousness, and flattery – it’s hard to pull off Stay out of your readers’ personal space – in other words, barring an invitation to a party or an annual Christmas letter, your readers aren’t your friends, they’re your readers Don’t write when you’re in a bad mood – it shows Respect diversity – fortunately, not everyone’s a middle-aged white guy like me One of the reasons emoticons and acronyms in e-mail are so popular is that they connote immediate tone. But because we don’t use them in the type of material we usually produce – LOL – we have to rely on our writerly skill and savvy to convey the right tone.

Note: Tone is actually pretty hard to talk about, since one man's sneer is another man's smile. When I was a boy my mother used to always say, "Don't take that tone with me," and my response was always the same: "What tone?" (I knew the tone she was referring to, of course, but I also knew my response would annoy her more and, at the time, unfortunately, that seemed important.) Still, for more on tone in writing, read this, this, and this.