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Writing Dates and Times

Rule: The following examples apply when using dates:

The meeting is scheduled for June 30.
The meeting is scheduled for the 30th of June.
We have had tricks played on us on April 1.
The 1st of April puts some people on edge.

Rule: When expressing decades, you may spell them out and lowercase them.

Example: During the eighties and nineties, the United States economy grew.

Rule: Whether you express decades using incomplete or complete numerals, do not use an apostrophe between the year and the s. When using an incomplete numeral, use an apostrophe to replace the first two numbers.

Correct:
During the ’80s, the world’s economy grew.
During the 1980s, the world’s economy grew.

Incorrect:
During the ’80′s, the world’s economy grew.
During the 1980′s, the world’s economy grew.

Rule: Spell out the time of day in text even with half and quarter hours. With o’clock, the number is always spelled out.

Example: She gets up at four thirty before the baby wakes up.
Example: The baby wakes up at five o’clock in the morning.

Rule: Use numerals with the time of day when exact times are being emphasized.

Example: Her flight leaves at 6:22 a.m.
Example: Please arrive by 12:30 p.m. sharp.

Rule: Use noon and midnight rather than 12:00 a.m. or 12:00 p.m.

Note: You may use AM and PM rather than a.m. and p.m.

Quiz: Correct or Incorrect?

1. The last outbreak of smallpox occurred in the late 1970’s.
2. Can you get here by 12:00 midnight?
3. Please deliver the package by August 1st, 2009.

Answers:

1. 1970s
2. midnight (leave out 12:00)
3. August 1, 2009

Posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 11:24 pm

Fractions, Decimals, and Money

Rule: Always spell out simple fractions and use hyphens with them.

Example: One-half of the pies have been eaten.

Rule: A mixed fraction can be expressed in figures unless it is the first word of a sentence.

Example: We expect a 5 1/2 percent wage increase.
Example: Five and one-half percent was the maximum allowable interest.

Rule: Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.

Example: Forty-three people were injured in the train wreck.

Rule: Replace a decimal point with and when you write out amounts on a check.

Example: Fifty-two dollars and forty-six cents

Rule: Express large numbers simply. Be careful to be consistent within a sentence.

Correct: You can earn from one million to five million dollars.
Incorrect: You can earn from one million to $5,000,000.
Correct: You can earn from $500 to $5,000,000.
Incorrect: You can earn from $500 to $5 million.
Correct: You can earn from five hundred to five million dollars.
Incorrect: You can earn from $500 to five million dollars.

Rule: Write decimals in figures. Place a zero in front of a decimal unless the decimal itself begins with a zero.

Example: The plant grew 0.79 of a foot in one year.
Example: The plant grew only .07 of a foot this year because of the drought.

Quiz: Correct or incorrect?

1. Eighty one people were injured in the train accident.
2. I wrote a check for $300, not $3000.00.
3. Hair grows one fourth of an inch per month.
4. The tree grew .95 of a foot due to a wet winter.

Answers: All sentences were incorrect.

1. Eighty-one
2. $3000
3. one-fourth
4. 0.95

Posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 11:22 pm

The Power of Punctuation

If you question the necessity of punctuation, here is a story that should illustrate its power.

A professor wrote on the chalkboard: A woman without her man is nothing.
He asked students to correct any punctuation errors. While most of the male students saw nothing wrong with the sentence, most of the females rewrote the sentence as follows: “A woman: without her, man is nothing.” As you can see, meaning is often derived from punctuation.

The use of the comma can be tricky with lists, particularly when appositives are used. (Appositives are words that clarify a word or words that came before.)

Example: Her book dedication read: To my parents, Sophie and Andrew

If Sophie and Andrew are her parents, then no comma is used after parents. If the dedication were meant for her parents, for Sophie, and for Andrew (three sets of people), then another comma after Sophie is needed.

Example: They took in Maddie, a student, and a puppy.

Do we mean two beings: a student named Maddie and a puppy? If so, we should rewrite the sentence for clarity.

Example: They took in a student named Maddie and a puppy. OR They took in Maddie, a student, as well as a puppy.

If we mean three beings, then we should also rewrite the sentence for clarification.

Example: They took in Maddie plus a student and a puppy. OR They took in Maddie as well as a student and a puppy.

Posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

Regardless vs. Irregardless; Sneaked vs. Snuck; Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure

Regardless vs. Irregardless

Some words in the English language are so overused that we don’t notice that they are incorrect or don’t even exist. A perfect example is irregardless. There is no such word as irregardless because regardless already means without regard. The –ir prefix is redundant.

Sneaked vs. Snuck

Sometimes, two forms of a word may be correct. For example, both sneaked and snuck may be used as the past and perfect tenses for sneak.

Example: She snuck up on him. OR She sneaked up on him.

Example: She has snuck up on him twice while he was napping. OR She has sneaked up on him twice while he was napping.

Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure

These three words can be confusing.

Assure = to promise or say with confidence
Example: Let me assure you that I will be at the meeting.

Ensure = to make sure something will/won’t happen
Example: To ensure my family’s safety, I have installed an alarm.

Insure = to issue an insurance policy
Example: I will insure my home with an additional fire policy.

Quiz
1. She sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night.
2. I ensure you that I have been honest about the money I spent.
3. I will ensure my car as required by law.
Answers
1. She sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night. (Correct OR snuck)
2. I assure you that I have been honest about the money I spent.
3. I will insure my car as required by law.

Posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

Are You Among the Many Who Do This?

Can you guess which word I see misspelled most often? Did you guess misspelled? You’re getting warm. Actually, it’s grammar. From my experience, I think it’s safe to estimate that 20 percent of the English-speaking world spells it with an –er ending.

Before anyone points an accusing finger at anyone else, we might want to explore the word’s origin (etymology). Could it have been spelled grammer at one time? If you look up grammar in the dictionary, you will indeed find that before Modern English times (1500 AD – present), the word was gramery. So the instinct to use –er has historical roots.

Like many words that are difficult to spell phonetically, you can use a trick (mnemonic) to remember the correct spelling of grammar: You do not want to mar your grammar. It may be a bit hokey, but we often remember tricks better when they make us roll our eyes.

The point is that we need to realize that the spelling of words is just as evolutionary as grammar itself. If you were to read Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales (c.1385), this is what you would see:

And for ther is so gret diversite
In Englissh and in writing of oure tonge,
So prey I God that non miswrite thee,
Ne thee mysmetre for defaute of tonge;

It’s hard to believe that these spellings (Englissh!) were all correct at one time. Today, we need Chaucer’s work translated.

So are we all “off the hook” with spelling? Maybe so, but at least SpellCheck, although it misses a lot of mistakes, will catch grammer.

Posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 9:08 pm