----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BETTER WRITING SKILLS NEWSLETTER, November 2008 By Tim North of Scribe Consulting www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the November 2008 Better Writing Skills newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE 1. One word or two? How do we know? 2. Is your dictionary past its use-by date? 3. More on writing numbers as words 4. "Attain" versus "obtain" 5. Just for fun Your comments and questions are always welcome. Just send e-mail to: info@scribe.com.au Cheers, Tim North (Perth, Western Australia) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. One word or two? How do we know? ----------------------------------------------------------------- My first correspondent this month, Lisa, wants to know if she should write a term as one word or two: I'm stumped on the proper writing of "Waste Water." It's all the talk (and funding) in the Public Works sector these days. I see it written as "Wastewater" and as "Waste Water". I've looked at the Department of Ecology for some guidance and found it written both ways within the same document. Let me start my reply with a little bit of theory to set up a general answer: A "noun" is a word that stands for a person or thing. Examples include dog, Jeff and house. A "compound noun" is a noun that is made up of two or more words that together have a new meaning. Examples include swimming pool, check-in, runoff and bookstore. As Lisa has noticed, only some compound nouns are spelled as two separate words; for example, diving board and fax machine. Others are hyphenated; for example, dry-cleaning and check-in. Others still are written as a single word; for example, toothpaste or haircut. Sadly for us, there are few guidelines for deciding whether to write a compound noun as two words, with a hyphen or as one word. The simplest advice I can offer is to look it up in your preferred dictionary, and follow its recommendations. To make matters worse, the way that a compound noun is written often changes over time. For example, teen-ager became teenager; book store became bookstore and to-day became today. There is a general tendency for popular compound nouns to start off as two words. They may then be written with a hyphen for a time then written as a single word, though this is by no means universal. Okay. With that said, we need to look up "wastewater" (or perhaps "waste-water" or "waste water") in a good dictionary to see which entries are present. If it's in there with a hyphen or as one word, we have our preferred spelling. If it's not in there at all, we should consider writing it as two words. The fourth edition of the Macquarie Dictionary has the following entry: wastewater (noun) water that has been used in residences, businesses, factories, etc., containing waste such as faeces, chemicals, etc. Also, waste water. As they have an entry for "wastewater" as one word, my recommendation then would be to use the one-word spelling. It should be noted, though, that they also acknowledge that the two- word spelling is in common use. On the subject of capitals, I'd also suggest using lowercase unless you're using it as a proper noun. For example: 1. We need a strategy to manage wastewater. 2. Welcome to the Joe Smith Wastewater Facility. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Is your dictionary past its use-by date? ----------------------------------------------------------------- When I was doing my research for the article above, I referred to my dog-eared, old copy of the Macquarie Dictionary (a popular dictionary of Australian English). My copy is the now out-of-date second edition from 1990. When I looked up "wastewater" there was no entry for it. I thus concluded that it must be two separate words and wrote back to Lisa advising her to write "waste water". A few hours later, I started to wonder if the more recent editions of the Macquarie may have different advice. Rather than purchase the latest print edition from 2005, I went to their web site (www.MacquarieDictionary.com.au) and signed up for a one- year online subscription. (At AU$18.95, this struck me as pretty good value.) It turned out to be a good move. The up-to-date online edition had a new entry for "wastewater", which I quoted in the article above. I wrote back to Lisa advising her of the situation and changed my recommendation to "wastewater" as one word. If you're in a position where you offer advice to colleagues on writing matters, I'd suggest learning from my experience. A good, up-to-date dictionary provides valuable insight into the ever- changing patterns of common usage. In closing, I wanted to make a recommendation for a preferred dictionary for users of US English. My intuition was that Webster's Dictionary would be a good place to start. After all, it was Noah Webster who wrote the first dictionary of US English, so his legacy had to carry some weight, right? I discovered something interesting, though. The name "Webster" entered the public domain in the late nineteenth century when the copyright on Noah Webster's original dictionary expired. Since then anyone has been able to use the name "Webster" when publishing a new dictionary. Indeed, many publishers have jumped onto that particular bandwagon including Random House and Wiley. Dictionaries that descend from the original work of Noah Webster are now published my Merriam Webster. Of course, the definitive dictionary of British English is the Oxford English Dictionary; however at twenty volumes this is significantly beyond most people's needs and budgets. Notably, though, Oxford now publish a US English dictionary as well. So, if you're in the market for a US English dictionary, you may want to look carefully at these two publications: * "Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary"; and * "The New Oxford American Dictionary". Hope this helps. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you know someone who'd like this newsletter? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a friend or colleague who'd find the Better Writing Skills newsletter interesting? If so, please feel free to send a copy of this issue to them. Alternatively, please tell them they can browse back issues here: http://www.scribe.com.au/newsletter.html Thanks for helping to make this newsletter so successful! ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. More on writing numbers as words ----------------------------------------------------------------- In last month's newsletter, we talked about some conventions for when to write numbers as words. I ended by asking if anyone knew more about the origins of these conventions. Elizabeth wrote in with this very helpful feedback: The only common rule or reason that I can find for writing numbers is to aim for clarity and consistency, and to try and make it easy for the reader to understand your message. This makes perfect sense, really, but it means that there is no simple rule for the writer! If the number is the start of a sentence, the rule changes; if there are two numbers in a row, the rule changes; if there are several related numbers, the rule changes again! www.grammarbook.com/numbers/numbers.asp www.writersblock.ca/tips/monthtip/tipaug96.htm And if you're writing for the internet, there's a whole 'nother set of rules: www.useit.com/alertbox/writing-numbers.html The only Rule is to make life easy for the reader, not the writer. So as writers, we'll just have to keep thinking! Thanks for those very helpful comments and links, Elizabeth. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. "Attain" versus "obtain" ----------------------------------------------------------------- My final correspondent this month, Anthony, asks: How do we know when to use "attain" or "obtain"? While growing up, I was sort of taught that they mean the same thing. But then again, I've lived in America all my life, so that probably has something to do with it. Any thoughts? The simple answer is that we usually attain something immaterial (like an ambition); we obtain something material like a new car. A slightly more detailed answer is that "attain" implies a continuing effort; "obtain" merely implies that you have come to possess something. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2008 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Just for fun ----------------------------------------------------------------- This month have a look at Zoomii.com. It's a wonderfully visual way of browsing Amazon.com as if it were a bricks-and-mortar bookstore with real shelves: http://zoomii.com Enjoy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like more help with your writing? ----------------------------------------------------------------- On my Better Writing Skills web site, you'll find my range of jargon-free, downloadable e-books that will help you to become a better writer. These e-books will help you with business proposals, report writing, term papers, technical writing, grant writing, creative writing and more: http://www.scribe.com.au/ebooks.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- REPRODUCING THIS MATERIAL You are welcome to reproduce the articles that are copyrighted by Tim North, but please don't modify or sell them. 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