Category: Syntax

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Editing Grammar Punctuation Syntax

What Can a Good Editor Do for You? Matters of Style and Choice

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. —BusinessDictionary

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.

 

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Syntax Usage

A Rose by Any Other Name

Publicity still from Harold Ramis’ sci-fi comedy Multiplicity (1996) with Michael Keaton and Andie MacDowell, in which the Keaton character clones himself.

Many years ago, as a young college graduate, I decided to take a speed reading course at New York University. During the first class, the instructor boasted he was going to quickly double our speed without hurting our comprehension. The trick, so to speak, was to keep on going and not hesitate or backtrack on what we were reading. And lo and behold, everybody quickly fulfilled the instructor’s promise.

The reason this gimmick worked was rather simple. Unless you’re dealing with a very dense, scholarly tome, most writers almost unconsciously repeat themselves. They don’t necessarily do this by using the same words over and over again, but by reiterating the same ideas using different terms or phrases that have the identical or similar meanings (synonyms and related phrases, if you will). So, if you don’t immediately comprehend what’s on the page, you will quickly be cued in by the way the sentences and paragraphs are constructed.

While repetition may be inherent in your narrative, in writing nonfiction you need to be careful to not using the exact same word more than once in the same sentence unless absolutely necessary, or to make a point. Otherwise, your text might prove to be less interesting than it need be. (I’m not talking here of the use word repetition as a literary or poetic device.)

Thus, as an editor, one the most common ways I can improve a client’s writing is by looking for unnecessary word repetition and making appropriate substitutions. There are several ways to do this, the most common of which is to find a synonym or using alternative phrasing. The traditional way to find words with the same or similar meaning is by using a thesaurus. Today’s word processing programs provide useful lists of synonyms by placing your cursor on the word in question and either right clicking on it (in Windows) or by pressing the control key and tapping the mouse button at the same time (on a Mac); alternatively, you can use an online thesaurus like Miriam-Webster’s. Such sites not only provide useful lists of synonyms, but also antonyms (words with the opposite meaning), related words and phrases.

For instance, notice that in the opening paragraph of this blog post, I deliberately cut down the number of times I used the word “reading,” even though that was what I was writing about. Also, in the third sentence, I use the word “trick” in referring to what my instructor did, while in the opening of the second paragraph I used the “gimmick” instead. The process of doing so is not always easy, as you may have difficulty in finding an exact equivalent to such common words as (pardon the repetition) “reading,” but it’s worth the effort.

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Syntax

Syntax: Short and Long Sentences

Fat short man vs tall thin manSyntax, usage, grammar and diction are all closely related, and sometimes it is impossible to separate them. In this post I’m going to talk about decisions the writer has to make about sentence length.

Just to be clear, syntax is defined as the choices the writer makes about putting words together to make phrases and sentences. This is kind of vague, and to tell the truth, whenever I use the word “syntax” I have to look up what it means exactly. While there are lots of correct ways to express ideas, there are an equal number of wrong ones. That really is why writing is so challenging!

So anyway, as writers, we are putting words together in order to express our ideas. The length of the sentences we choose needs to be deliberate.

What will be the effect of using a short sentence? Usually it conveys clear, simple ideas that we want the reader to follow quickly. A short sentence in the middle of longer ones halts the rhythm and calls attention to itself. Occasionally I will see writing that consists of strings of short sentences, which gets tedious and boring for the reader. The fix is to combine short sentences using conjunctions (but, because, and, or, nor) or relative pronouns (who, whom, which, whoever, whomever, whichever, and that).

By far the most common error with sentence length is the run-on sentence. Run-on sentences make the reader tired, and also require him or her to reread. If the writer’s intention is to get the reader to slow down and consider a complex idea, a longer sentence makes sense. But long sentence after long sentence makes the reader want to give up. The fix here is to break up the sentences, take out the conjunctions and relative pronouns, as well as adverbs like “however.”

The quick way to identify sentence length problems is to read it out loud to yourself. If it feels like a short, choppy rhythm, you need to combine some of the sentences. If you run out of breath reading a long sentence that goes on for several lines, and you can’t remember what the beginning was, it needs to be broken up.

— Vickie Deneroff