----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BETTER WRITING SKILLS NEWSLETTER, May 2010 By Tim North of Scribe Consulting www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Better Writing Skills newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE 1. Do compass directions need a capital letter? 2. When do we use capital letters? (It's more complex than you think.) 3. Can we mix the active and passive voices? 4. "Strategise" versus "strategize" 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. Do compass directions need a capital letter? ----------------------------------------------------------------- My first correspondent this month, Samuel, wrote in to ask about the preferred way to write compass directions: I am constantly using the four main compass directions, along with Northerly, Southerly etc. But is it correct to use North, or north when in the middle of a sentence? My preferred dictionary and preferred style manual both agree that compass directions are (usually) written with an initial lower-case letter. For example: north, north-west, and northerly. Note the hyphen in north-west and similar directions. The obvious exception, though, is for proper nouns; that is, the names of one-of-a-kind people, places or things. Examples include North Dakota, Western Districts Football Club and Tim North. Also, when shortened (N, NW, SE etc.) upper-case letters are used. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2010 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. When do we use capital letters? (It's more complex than you think.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- My next correspondent, Satyabrata, asked the seemingly simple question "When do we use a capital letter in a sentence?" What answer would you give? "At the start of a sentence!" you say. Certainly correct. When else? "A person's name" you cry. "And the names of places" someone else shouts. Also correct. When else? Well, if we continue this conversation, we end up with a surprisingly lengthy list. Here then is a complete list (I hope) of all the times that we might use a capital letter in a sentence: 1. acronyms: USA, ABC, NNW; 2. ceremonies and gatherings: Fourth Annual Conference on Particle Physics, the Olympic Games, Science Fiction Film Festival; 3. countries and nationalities: Italy, Italian; 4. days and months: Monday, September; 5. ethnic groups and religions: Aboriginal, Christian, Muslim; 6. headings and titles of documents; 7. holidays: Easter, Christmas, Mothers Day; 8. job titles; 9. locations: Perth, Hope River, Tokyo, the Red Sea; 10. models of vehicles: Toyota Corolla, Holden Commodore; 11. named vehicles: RMS Titanic, HMAS Perth, USS Enterprise; 12. names of companies, groups or departments: Good Times Cafe, Microsoft, Channel Ten; 13. names of people, animals and deities: John, Fido, Vishnu; 14. names of publications including books, magazines and legislation; 15. row and column headings in tables (sometimes); 16. scientific names: Staphylococcus aureus, Felis catus, Homo sapiens; 17. significant events and periods: the Great Depression, the First World War, the Battle of Britain; 18. the symbols associated with some metric units: W, J, Pa; 19. the first word of a sentence and (less commonly) the first word of each line of a poem; 20. titles: Sir, Bishop, Lady, Miss, Vice-Chancellor; and 21. trademarks: Coca-Cola, Aspirin, Kleenex. Have I left any out? -- Shameless plug: This article is adapted from Chapter 2 of my e-book "Editing and Proofreading". You can see a complete table of contents for this, and my other e-books, here: http://www.scribe.com.au/ebooks.html These e-books (PDF files) are available for immediate download for only US$12.95. All come with an unconditional, 30-day, money- back guarantee. Here endeth the shameless plug. -- (c) 2010 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Can we mix the active and passive voices? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Last month's newsletter included a quick review of the active and passive voices. You can find it here: http://www.scribe.com.au/newsletter.html Gary wrote in with this follow-up question: Is it OK to mix active and passive in the same article? Certainly. Passive voice isn't wrong -- it's often just longer than necessary. A reasonable goal is to minimise it rather than to try to eliminate it. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2010 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. "Strategise" versus "strategize" ----------------------------------------------------------------- Linda wrote in asking: Is there such a verb as "strategise" or is it made up. Only looked in a couple of dictionaries without any luck, except for strategy, strategics etc. It's not in the Macquarie (an Aussie dictionary) or the Compact Oxford (British). This leads me to conclude that it's not yet considered standard British English. As such, I'd avoid it in formal communications. The US dictionaries I checked, however, included "strategize" (with a "z"). This suggests that the word is considered standard usage in US English. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2010 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! ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Just for fun ----------------------------------------------------------------- It's no secret that the grammar checker built into Microsoft Word is, ahem, flawed. For example, the following sentence escapes its gaze without adverse comment: Microsoft the company should improve big its grammar checker. This month you might enjoy an online spelling and grammar checker that may do a better job. (Admittedly, that's not saying much.) http://www.PaperRater.com It's aimed at students but may prove to be a useful resource for a wider audience. Cheers, Tim. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Would you like more help with your writing? ----------------------------------------------------------------- On my 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're welcome to reproduce the articles from this newsletter that are copyrighted by Tim North, but please don't modify or sell them. 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