----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BETTER WRITING SKILLS NEWSLETTER, February 2012 By Tim North of Scribe Consulting www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Better Writing Skills newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE 1. Why should we avoid slashes when listing alternatives? 2. Why should online writing differ from writing for print? 3. Should I use "over" or "more than"? 4. Do we ever need two full stops at the end of a sentence? 5. Just for fun Your comments and questions are always welcome. Just send email to: info@scribe.com.au Cheers, Tim North (Perth, Western Australia) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Administrivia ----------------------------------------------------------------- Greetings, all. Welcome to the first issue of the Better Writing Skills newsletter for 2012. I hope you managed to take a long and relaxing break over the holiday period. I maintain a file of readers' questions that I've answered by email but which I haven't yet published in the newsletter. It's starting to get scarily large, so this month, I'm going to delve into the depths of my archive. Let's begin. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Why should we avoid slashes when listing alternatives? ----------------------------------------------------------------- The first question from the archive came from Alan: When separating lists of words with an oblique, should a space be left either side of it? An example would be whether you will ignore/answer/publish this question, or should I say ignore / answer / publish it? I will frequently correct documents where spaces have been left to remove them, but I often question whether there is a rule for this, other than what appears to look more aesthetically appealing on a typed document. The oblique or slash character (/) is usually written without spaces either side of it, so I agree with Alan's choice. Having said that, I try not to use the slash character. If you use it to separate alternatives, you run the risk that readers may be unsure if you mean "or" or "and". For example: A discount is available if you're studying/unemployed. Does this mean "studying OR unemployed", or do you have to be both "studying AND unemployed"? In this case, it's probably the former, but the confusion could be problematic in some contexts. It's best to be explicit: A discount is available if you're studying or unemployed. In summary: try to avoid the use of the slash character when listing alternatives. Hope this helps. -- (c) 2012 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Why should online writing differ from writing for print? ----------------------------------------------------------------- The next question in my archive came from Janis: My question is, Why is "online" writing different from other forms of writing? I would think writing is writing regardless of the forum. I'd have to disagree here. Studies show that readers usually want online materials to be shorter and more "to the point" than printed sources. In part, this is due to people's reduced willingness to read large amounts of text from screens. Readers also tend to quickly scan online sources to a greater degree than they do printed sources. Writers of online content must thus make their work more "scannable" if they want to encourage readers to stay on the page rather than to move on to another. Also, because of the low quality of a lot of online material, writers must work even harder online to establish and maintain their credibility. In summary: successfully online writing requires writers to acquire a new set of skills. Here are two links that provide more information about online writing. The latter is shamefully self-promotional. :-) 1. http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/ 2. http://scribe.com.au/e-writing-1.html Hope this helps. -- (c) 2012 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. Should I use "over" or "more than"? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Mike asked: Which is correct? There are *over* 100 books on the shelf. or There are *more than* 100 books on the shelf. I'm comfortable with both usages. It's true that some people prefer "more than" before a number. I'm yet to see any argument stronger than personal opinion to support that preference, though. The following sources express similar opinions: http://goo.gl/eNwos [Grammar Girl] http://www.cjr.org/resources/lc/morethan.php Hope this helps. -- (c) 2012 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Do we ever need two full stops at the end of a sentence? ----------------------------------------------------------------- The final correspondent from my archive, Peter, wrote in with a question about full stops: If I end a sentence with an abbreviation, should I use 2 periods? e.g. I'm glad you enjoyed the spag. bol.. No. One is always enough. For example, we write: It's six a.m. not: It's six a.m.. Peter went on to ask: If you don't use a double period how does the reader know that the sentence is finished? Intuition, fair winds and good luck. :-) Hope this helps. -- (c) 2012 Tim North: http://www.scribe.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Just for fun ----------------------------------------------------------------- This month you might like to look at the "Top 100 Blogs for Writers to Follow": http://goo.gl/jyzlS [DegreeJungle.com] It assigns blogs to the following categories: * Beginners' Corner * Tips and Tricks * Marketing * Genre Writing * Grammar Center * Editing * Tools and Services * Publishing and Author Advice * General Writing With one hundred blogs divided among nine categories, you're sure to find something you like. I'm flattered to see this newsletter listed among them. 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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