More mistakes you should avoid

More mistakes you should avoid

Here are more very common mistakes in writing and editing:


1) Always write noon and midnight,  never the outrageously confusing 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.


2) Includes is often used incorrectly. If you are talking about ALL of the items in a set, includes is wrong. When you say a list includes something, you are saying SOME of the list is about to be mentioned.


For example:

There are six people on the list, including Bill and Jill. Correct ...

There are three ingredients in the recipe, including sugar, milk and flour. Wrong ...

The quartet includes Bill, Bob, Jim and Sam. Wrong ...

The quartet includes famous actor Jim Carrey. Correct ...

When listing all, the correct way to write it would be that it features or consists of .... The set features blah blah, blah bluh and blah bleh ... The quartet consists of Bill, Bob, Jim and Sam.

3) There is no such thing as first annual. An event must have at least a one-year anniversary and take place a second time before it can be considered an annual event. The first time, call it "the inaugural (name of event) ..."

Likewise, if you understand the Latin root, annual refers to years and nothing else, so there is no such thing as a six-month anniversary, a three-week anniversary, etc. Instead, you might write a six-month observance or commemoration.

4) For those following AP style    and spelling out all numbers above nine: Numbers in the millions, billions and higher always take numerals at the beginning, as in 3 million, 6 billion, 1 trillion, etc. Don't think "three" (the one-nine rule) when you see "3 million" but instead the total number of 3 million, which is obviously much larger than one-nine.


5) Under the wasteful words category go these: three different varieties, a plan in place by Jan. 17 in order to receive, haven't reached an agreement yet ... in order is just two wasted words here. Same with different and yet. Delete 'em.



Lots of unnecessary words in stories don't contribute anything and take up precious space:

Terry Camper's body was found on Oct. 3.
He was serving prison time.
It's due in November of 2011.
They’re due back in court on Dec. 18.
Once again, the team rallied.

You don't need on in the first and fourth sentences: It was found Oct. 3, they'll be in court Dec. 18. In the second sentence, shorten it to a much simpler was in prison. In the third, of is needless. Just write November 2011. In the final sentence, once again is a nonsensical phrase. As opposed to twice again? Just say again. Once adds nothing. 


6) Entitled vs. titled. I saw this in a blog: The lyrics to the program, entitled "We Are All America" .. It should be titled here. Think of something due you when using entitled. She graduated, so she was entitled to a diploma. Think government entitlements. Think something is the title, not entitle, of a book, play, etc. The program was titled, not entitled.


7) Yet another example of something seen all time or in a similar construction: grades K-3.

It's a perfect example of what I have dubbed Parrot's 

Disease,   that habit of blindly copying what we see without ensuring it is correct.

This should be incredibly obvious but, incredibly, obviously isn't: Kindergarten is not a grade. Isn't that why first grade is called .... first grade? As in it's the first. So kindergarten can't possibly be a grade. And the construction should be kindergarten-grade three. And nowhere in any style file that I've ever read is k an acceptable abbreviation for kindergarten, so why is it used so frequently? Parrot's Disease!

8) The same idea applies to the oft-used 5K. At the very least, it should be 5-K with a hyphen, and on first reference absolutely you should spell out kilometer. Just like kindergarten, kilometer is not acceptable as an abbreviation, no matter how many times you've seen it that 

way. Parrot's Disease! 



9) Confusion over tenses:

  In the quarter ending Sept. 30 ...

For a story written Sept. 28 or Sept. 29, this would be correct, as ending indicates a present perfect condition in which the situation is ongoing, or has not been completed (sorry if this sounds too geekish). Such as "the company is conducting a blood drive all this week." It's ongoing, not finished, which is the function of the present perfect usage "--ing" here.



But for a story written Nov. 21, as this was, the tense is illogical. Read it aloud: On Nov. 21, the quarter isn't ending Sept. 30. Right? We all see that? It ENDED, past tense, Sept. 30. So it should be written as "In the quarter that ended Sept. 30."

Another common and WRONG way to write quarterly reports is to leave out key words and put caveman-like "In the quarter ended Sept. 30." The key is often to read what you write OUT LOUD. Nobody talks like that, and for good reason. It's stilted, ungrammatical and bad writing. It must be the quarter that ended ... not "the quarter ended" or "the quarter ending" when talking about a quarter that already has been completed.

Wikipedia happens to have a very good entry on present perfect that I highly recommend at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Present_perfect, but at least glance at this first paragraph from that entry here for a better understanding:

(from Wikipedia) The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and the perfect aspect, used to express a past event that has present consequences. An example is "I have eaten". Depending on the specific language, the events described by present perfects are not necessarily completed, as in "I have been eating" or "I have lived here for five years."

10) Over is overused and often used incorrectly. In general, it should be used to designate a spatial relationship, as in the carpet was placed over the floor, he turned over the cards, the soup boiled over, the next town over. It has many other uses as well, but for the most part it should NOT be used as a synonym for "during" or "more than," such as "over the weekend" and "he's over 40 and has over a million memories." 

The dictionary does list one of its meanings far down as "more than," but it should be avoided in general.




11) This may sound nitpicky, but many writers say someone "called 911." No, he didn't.   When you make a call, you call A PERSON or an organization, such as the police. You don't call "a number." You don't say, "Hang on; I have to call 914-234-6554  to see what my friend thinks." You say, "I have to call my friend." You DIAL 911, but you are CALLING the police. You don't call and say, "Let me speak to 911, please." That's just the quick number you use to talk to the police. So it should be in all cases dialed 911, not called 911.





12) Said is the best way to end virtually all quotes. Other words can slant things or intentionally or not create bias or doubt. 


"He has no signs of mental illness," he insisted, for example, instead of said here, changes the quote enormously and adds doubt, as if to say despite all obvious signs to the contrary, he is saying this. Same with roared, explained, noted, fumed, complained, etc. All give a quote a certain slant. "I am the best man for the job," he complained puts a particularly negative spin on a quote and makes him sound like a whining loser. 

Let the quotes speak for themselves and use said. 

Too bad if it sounds repetitive or dull. Studies have shown the readers blow right by the word and barely register it in their mind, so it's not some kind of turnoff seeing it after each quote. Their minds DO slam on the brakes, however, for loaded words like fumed, griped, complained, insisted, etc.




It's time to wrap it up. My next post will be a quiz to help you see where you stand as a writer/editor. Stay tuned ...