----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BETTER WRITING SKILLS NEWSLETTER, September 2011 By Tim North of Scribe Consulting www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Better Writing Skills newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE 1. "Advice" and "advise" 2. Does punctuation go outside quotation marks? 3. A way to make punctuation easier 4. Just for fun Your comments and questions are always welcome. Just send email to: info@scribe.com.au Cheers, Tim North (Perth, Western Australia) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. "Advice" and "advise" ----------------------------------------------------------------- My first correspondent this month, Paul, wrote: One topic I would like to advise you of is the need for advice for the proper use of advise and advice. Ah, I see what you did there. It makes my job so much easier when people answer their own questions. :-) Paul added: It seems to be a matter of some confusion for a number of people I receive written communications and reports from. I think it would make a good topic for your newsletter. It would indeed, and as Paul has demonstrated in his own usage, the distinction is an easy one. "Advice" (with a "c") is a noun (a thing). It means guidance. For example: I asked for her advice. Take my advice: wait before acting. I waited before resigning as per your advice. "Advise" (with an "s") is a verb (an action). It means to offer advice. For example: I advise you to consider my advice. His doctor advised him to exercise more. I'm acting in an advisory role only. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2011 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Does punctuation go outside quotation marks? ----------------------------------------------------------------- My next correspondent, Jenn, wrote: I noted in the latest issue of your newsletter that you put the comma or full stop after the quotation mark in both cases. Now I'm not an expert but I'm fairly sure that isn't correct in all cases. Jenn is absolutely right. The placement of punctuation is rather tricky. Here's a quick overview. US English is more likely to place punctuation inside the quotation marks: "Hello," he said. British and Australian English is more likely to place it outside: "Hello", he said. Notice my use of the phrase "more likely" in the above examples. Neither is a hard-and-fast rule. US usage is normally to use double quotes (" "). British and Australian usage sometimes uses double quotes, sometimes single quotes (' '). It's nonstandard usage, though, to mix single and double quotes in the same document. I wrote much more on this topic recently, so I won't repeat myself here. If you'd like to know more on how US and British English handle the punctuation of dialog, you'll find it in the March 2011 issue here: http://www.scribe.com.au/newsletter.html Hope this helps. -- (c) 2011 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. A way to make punctuation easier ----------------------------------------------------------------- My final correspondent this month, Tom, wrote in with a question about how to punctuate a difficult sentence: In this instance there is some disagreement on how the sentence below should be punctuated. Please could you help if you have a chance? Tim is an exceptional presenter knowledgeable personable engaging and very helpful with individual questions First: thanks for the praise, Tom. It's much appreciated. Now to the punctuation. I have an easy-to-follow rule when a sentence is difficult to punctuate: simplify it. In this case, all the confusion goes away if you break that fairly long sentence into two shorter sentences like so: Tim is an exceptional presenter. He is knowledgeable, personable, engaging and very helpful with individual questions. As you can see, I've made these changes: 1. I've split it into two sentences. 2. I've added commas between the three adjectives (describing words). 3. I've added a full stop to the second sentence. While there may be other ways of punctuating this example, I usually look for the simplest solution. Often, this involves shorter sentences. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2011 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Just for fun ---------------------------------------------------------------- Cracked.com is a satirical web site that posts often-humorous articles. They recently posted a tongue-in-cheek, but helpful, article called "8 Words You're Confusing With Other Words". The confusing word pairs they examine in the article are: * arc and arch * bona fide and "bonified"! * cannon and canon * discrete and discreet * horde and hoard * phase and faze * reign and rein * tenants and tenets Here's the link: http://goo.gl/26a5q [cracked.com] Enjoy. 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. Also, please provide a clickable link back to: http://www.scribe.com.au FUTURE MAILINGS You can prevent (or receive) future mailings by visiting this page: http://www.scribe.com.au/newsletter.html This is a GENUINE service, and you will not receive any unsolicited email as a result. 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