Grammar – Deneroff Education and Writing Coaching

Editing: Arranging, revising, and preparing a written, audio, or video material for final production, usually by a party (called an editor) other than the creator of the material. The objectives of editing include (1) detection and removal of factual, grammatical, and typographical errors, (2) clarification of obscure passages, (3) elimination of parts not suitable for the targeted audience, and (4) proper sequencing to achieve a smooth, unbroken flow of narrative. —Bus inessDictionary

There are probably a lot of times when running something through Grammarly or even Microsoft Word’s grammar checker will take care of your problems. We ourselves make use of them. They provide a quick way to find things like extra spaces between words. Sometimes Word tells you that a comma is needed, which is not always correct. What you have to understand is that punctuation is also a matter of style and choice. An extreme example is the poetry of e e cummings, who sometimes intentionally dispensed with punctuation altogether.

Contemporary writers tend to avoid using commas as much as possible. On the other hand, lawyers may introduce commas liberally in order to be more precise. Recently the New York Times reported on a lawsuit which hinged on a missing, so-called “Oxford comma.”

In spite of the fact that we are all taught rules for using commas in school, in the actual practice of writing, the rules may be more flexible than you think. An editor can help you make decisions on using them, which really depends on your purpose and perhaps your personal preferences.

I remember when our daughter came home from fourth grade with an F on a “comma test.” As we went over the exam, she expressed dismay at my suggestions as to where the commas should be. “No,” she said firmly, “you put a comma where you take a pause.” She then proceeded to read the sentences aloud, breaking where she thought was appropriate. She made complete sense, but it was different than what the test designer had decided was the correct answer. The point is, the hard-and-fast rules with regards to commas and other matters are often not helpful.

Another reason to use an editor is to insure proper syntax. Syntax means arranging words and phrases into larger phrases, sentences and paragraphs. Grammar checkers cannot do this very well, although they sometimes try to. There are nuances of word meaning that are just not quite right and don’t convey the intended meaning.

A good editor thus makes sure that your grammar and syntax carry through your whole work, including your use of commas.

Josephine Cloffulia, The Bearded Lady Of Geneva When I was a kid, back in the dark ages, our teachers told us to use masculine pronouns when referring to a generic, unspecified individual.

For example, “When a police officer stops you, follow his instructions and don’t talk back.” (Police community relations are on my mind lately, sorry.) Police officers can be male or female, but in English, as in many languages, the masculine pronoun was traditionally used when the individual’s gender is not specified.

Now we are much more conscious of gender bias, and it is no longer acceptable to assert the dominance of the masculine form. Some people have been trying to invent gender-neutral pronouns, and there’s been a lot written about it. The Gender Neutral Pronoun Blog seems to have a good summary.

But that doesn’t help you now, trying to turn in a term paper that isn’t going to come back with red marks all over it.

The culture has tried to solve it by substituting “their.” “When a police officer stops you, follow their instructions and don’t talk back.” This works on Facebook and a lot of other places, but it is not grammatically correct, and, depending on who is reading it, say a journal editor or a professor, you might get dinged for it.

The reason it is grammatically incorrect is that “police officer” is singular and “their” is plural.

You could say, “When a police officer stops you, follow his or her instructions and don’t talk back.” This is awkward sounding, but is both grammatically correct and gender neutral.

Another solution is to write, “When police officers stop you, follow their instructions and don’t talk back.” This is both less awkward and grammatically correct, although not entirely satisfactory. This is the solution I personally use when possible. Sometimes it doesn’t fit the rest of the paragraph, however.

Another solution, especially if you’re writing for a liberal-leaning audience, which might include your college professor, is to consciously use the feminine pronoun. “When a police officer stops you, follow her instructions and don’t talk back.” This does make a political statement, and might not be well received, so you have to know your audience.

— Vickie Deneroff