|
|
|
Log in to manage your products and services from The New York Times and the International New York Times.
Don't have an account yet?
Create an account '
Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?
Learn more '
Log in to manage your products and services from The New York Times and the International New York Times.
Don't have an account yet?
Create an account '
Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?
Learn more '
In our recent stylebook revisions, we have accepted as standard a few forms that until now were still treated as colloquial or informal. In some cases, these changes just formalize what we had already been doing in practice.
For example, we've dropped the admonition against ad as a short version of advertisement; it is ubiquitous and no longer seems especially colloquial. We've also noted explicitly that despite the judgment of our newsroom dictionary, Webster's New World College, perk is acceptable in all contexts in the sense of an added benefit; who ever says perquisite?
Several writers and editors expressed relief that we are dropping our longstanding objection to fund as a verb in the general sense of finance. Debut can also now make its debut as a verb, though I wouldn't overdo it.
In some cases, we concluded that two forms had gained virtually equal acceptance, and that we no longer needed to insist on one over the other; writers and editors can let their ears be their guides. So we'll allow fit, not just fitted, as the past tense of that verb. Similarly, in most cases either lit or lighted can serve. The nouns picketer and cheater are acceptable, though picket and cheat can still serve as nouns as well.
We've long steered writers toward like as a preposition introducing examples: big companies like Microsoft and General Motors. For just as long, some readers have complained, insisting that only such as can serve in that construction. In fact, both expressions are ubiquitous and acceptable, except in the rare cases where ambiguity might arise over whether “like†means “including†or “similar to (but not including).â€
In another shift intended to keep up with changing usage, we recommend that media be treated as a collective singular noun in many cases. Here's the new entry:
media. In collective references to communication outlets and platforms, generally treat it as singular: The news media is a favorite target of politicians; Social media is playing a crucial role in the uprising. Avoid referring to news outlets simply as the media; that broad term could include movies, television, entertainment, etc. In referring to artistic techniques or materials, treat media as plural (in this sense, the singular is medium): Many different media were on display in the student exhibition.
Â
Keeping It Simple
In a couple of cases, we simplified a style rule that slot and copy editors had found confusing or hard to apply consistently.
For example, we used to make this exception to our normal rule about spelling out numbers under 10: In any series of directly parallel items including some numbers that would ordinarily be spelled and some that would ordinarily be figures, use only figures. But we were inconsistent in deciding what constituted “directly parallel items,†so we sometimes ended up using figures for numbers under 10 simply because they were in the same sentence or paragraph as figures over 10. Now, we will spell out numbers under 10 even as part of a series:
numbers. In general, spell out the first nine cardinal and ordinal numbers in ordinary copy: He walked nine miles; There were eight applicants; He was the sixth; The game ended in the fifth inning. Use figures for numbers above nine: The table was set for 10; There were 50 in the audience; He owns 63 horses; The game finally ended in the 15th inning. These rules apply even within a single series of numbers: We counted six pigs, eight cows and 12 sheep.
We also simplified the rule for whether to capitalize the first word after a colon, no longer trying to determine whether a full clause after the colon is “formally introduced†by what comes before. Now, we capitalize what follows the colon if it's a complete sentence; otherwise, we don't.
Check back next week for a few more highlights.
Â
In a Word
This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.
---
In the first three months of running the biggest, most sensitive dark matter detector yet - a vat of 368 kilograms of liquid xenon cooled to minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit - the researchers said they had not seen a trace of the clouds of particles that theorists say should be wafting through space, the galaxy, the Earth and, of course, ourselves, knocking out at least one controversial class of dark matter candidates.
A science story like this is a natural place to add a Celsius conversion for our international readers. (It seems like a particularly odd omission since we give the weight in kilograms.) With our growing global audience, writers and editors in New York should be alert to these situations.
---
It seems clear, for instance, that someone close to the Romney campaign, which was still smarting over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's post-Hurricane Sandy appearances with President Obama just before the election, disclosed details of a vetting dossier on Gov. Christie, with unanswered questions about his onetime work as a lobbyist, details about his household help and a Securities and Exchange Commission settlement involving his brother.
This style rule has not changed. It's “Gov.†for the first, full reference, but “Governor Christie†for subsequent references.
---
[Blurb] Most of us have been poor, at least for awhile.
As a noun in this construction (after a preposition), it's two words: a while.
---
[Photo caption] Ajit Pai of the F.C.C. has prioritized the revival of AM.
The bureaucratic “prioritize†is often best avoided. In any case, it means to rank in order of importance, not simply “to focus on†or “to view as important.â€
---
Neither Ms. Schwanewilms, the German lyric soprano making her Met debut as the Empress, nor Ms. Goerke, a native New Yorker and a talented and popular alumna of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program who is playing her most substantial house role to date as the Dyer's Wife, consider “Frau†a heavy-handed directive about maternity.
This neither/nor construction requires a singular verb.
---
Within five days, two oarfish were found in California last month, giving marine biologists a rare opportunity to study a lengthy and elusive big fish.
“Lengthy†should refer to a duration of time; make this “long.â€
---
[Headline] BURNING AND LOOTING SHAKES CAPE TOWN
We wanted a plural verb with the compound subject; make it “shake Cape Town.â€
---
Mr. Lhota says Mr. Bloomberg's efforts to bring more taxis to lower-traffic areas makes sense for Upper Manhattan, but not for the other boroughs.
Here, too, we wanted the plural: the efforts “make†sense, not makes.
---
But Senator Booker was met with a fair amount of attention from his fellow Democrats, whose excitement seemed to stem less from the fact that, after Senator Frank R. Lautenberg died in June, their party retained the seat as expected - but rather at his significant national star wattage and the fund-raising potential it may bring.
This long and convoluted sentence goes off track. “Less from†should be followed by “than from,†not “but rather at.â€
---
It is more of an expression of hope than a polemical packed with facts or accusations.
The noun form is “polemic.â€
---
The Renewal Front party, for which Sergio Massa, a municipal mayor, headed the list of candidates, won heavily here with almost 44 percent of the vote, 12 points ahead of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's party, the Front for Victory.
Redundant; delete “municipal.â€
---
Like many luxury businesses in China, the explosion of buyers for art here has been fueled by the pent-up consumerism of the newly rich.
A dangler; what noun does the “like†phrase modify? One possible fix: “As in many luxury businesses …â€
---
Mrs. Broz made her last public appearance at Tito's funeral three years later, then spent the rest of her life under a kind of house arrest that few, including she, understood.
“Including†functions as a preposition and should take the objective case; make it “including her,†or recast.
---
Early on, Ms. Taymor, whom the alternately enthralled and smirking Mr. Berger suggests may have won a few too many prizes for being “uncompromising,†falls hopelessly in love with an idea that has few other fans.
Make it “who,†the subject of “may have won.â€
---
Telling drivers to stop or go, or turn or go straight, may sound simple, but these are aggravated commuters limping off a traffic-clogged bridge.
From the stylebook:
aggravate. It means make worse, not anger or irritate.
---
More colleges have been offering support, such as scholarships, counseling and housing, to foster youth who might otherwise struggle to get an education.
This is hard to read because at first glance, “foster†seems to be a verb; we meant for it to modify “youth†(i.e., young people from foster homes). Recast.
---
That October, after Grady Little overcooked Pedro and then Aaron Boone, and you know the rest, I wore the hat as I stalked home grimly through the gauntlet of bars on Bleecker Street.
The stylebook prefers “gantlet†for this sense.
---
Harry S. Truman spoke for many of his successors when he said that “the pressures and complexities of the presidency have grown to a state where they are almost too much for one man to endure.†And that was decades before metadata technology came along.
An odd phrase. While it is used by most software, metadata is not really a technology. It's data, specifically data about other data - lists of phone numbers, for example. Software and technology use it, but it's so basic that this sounds like calling a schedule of TV programs “television technology.â€
---
TruYou, the fictional company's core product, has the letters of one of the founder's names, just like PageRank, Google's search algorithm, is named after the Google co-founder Larry Page.
As, not like, to introduce a full clause here.
---
Unless one party backs down, the battle could escalate into a reprisal of the partisan strife that paralyzed the Senate for several weeks over the summer.
“Reprisal†means an act of retaliation; we meant “reprise,†something that is repeated.
This week, a few more highlights from the recent revisions in The Times's stylebook.
With the integration of our global editions as The International New York Times, it's important for writers and editors in New York and elsewhere to be mindful of our growing global audience. This doesn't mean we are trying to homogenize our writing or disguise its origins. But in stories of international interest, writers might think twice about American-centric expressions - for example, sports metaphors like “the length of three football fields†or “a slam-dunk.†More broadly, we should consider whether international examples or voices might broaden the appeal of a particular story. The Times's audience includes plenty of educated readers in Tokyo, Brussels and Rio, not just in New York or Houston.
With that in mind, we added this stylebook entry on currencies, allowing wider use of currency symbols when appropriate:
currencies. Amounts in American dollars should use the dollar symbol: $20 billion; $10. For euros, yen and British pounds, spell out the names on first reference in an article: 100 billion euros. If there are additional references to amounts, the appropriate symbol may be used as long as the reference is clear: "20 billion; Â¥100 million; £10,000. Also provide a dollar equivalent at least once, at the latest exchange rate. When a foreign sum is given in round numbers, round the conversion as well, especially if the details are immaterial. Do not use symbols for any other currencies; spell out the names, including for foreign dollars: 100 Canadian dollars.
We are encouraging more Celsius conversions for stories of interest internationally:
temperatures. Fahrenheit readings are the norm for casual or passing references, and in weather stories aimed largely at American readers. But if a story referring to temperatures is likely to be of interest to international readers, provide a Celsius equivalent at least once. Examples might include news of a European heat wave or reports on climate change and other scientific topics. Use an online conversion tool to avoid arithmetic errors, but do not give a converted figure that is more precise than the original: For 75 degrees Fahrenheit, the equivalent is 24 degrees Celsius, not 23.89 degrees Celsius.
We should also consider including metric equivalents for measurements in stories likely to attract a large international audience. In our reports about the typhoon in the Philippines, for instance, we had many references to wind speeds of 140 or 190 miles an hour; Asian readers would no doubt have welcomed a metric reference, too.
Â
What Things Are Worth
We added this new entry about adjusting for inflation, particularly when reporting on “record†sums:
inflation. Adjusting for inflation is crucial in providing accurate comparisons for dollar figures across time; failing to do so can be seriously misleading. In particular, avoid describing a sum of money as a record or the largest ever unless the superlative is true after inflation is taken into account. So, for example, a baseball player's new contract should not be described as the largest ever unless that is true after adjusting for inflation. Other common examples include government budget figures, box-office totals, legal settlements and merger deals.
When appropriate, use a less sweeping description like one of the largest ever or the largest in two decades.
This is not statistical quibbling. It is simply not accurate to say that $1,000 in 2013 dollars is worth more than, for example, $900 in 1960 dollars; the opposite is true ($1,000 in 2013 is equivalent to about $127 in 1960 dollars). The Bureau of Labor Statistics' online inflation calculator provides easy comparisons.
This entry is part of a larger effort to improve the way we deal with numbers, both in financial stories and in other contexts. More recommendations will follow.
Â
In a Word
This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.
---
Critics of the Benghazi report have accused Ms. Logan and her producers of having a conservative bias; as evidence, some have pointed to an Oct. 2012 speech by Ms. Logan that called in passionate terms for American revenge after the Benghazi attack.
Abbreviate the month only when it is followed by the date; otherwise, spell out: “October 2012.â€
---
Studies have suggested that, on average, twins fair less well when the pregnancy is allowed to continue to full term.
Fare, not fair, of course.
---
But there are reportedly about 300 players in the academy in a given year, and less than 10 percent typically make the first team.
Referring to a number of players (rather than an amount), make it “fewer than.â€
---
The runoff was the first of what is likely to be many battles to come over the direction of the party, and it proved, to the relief of many in the Republican leadership, that a strong showing by the establishment can win tough races.
“What†refers to “many battles,†so it needs a plural verb. Also, delete “to come,†since the many battles include the one just past as well as those in the future.
---
James W. Giddens, the trustee unwinding MF Global's brokerage unit, recovered large swathes of the money and gradually disbursed it to clients.
The preferred spelling is “swath.†In any case, the word, which means a strip, seems odd in this context.
---
As a Jew living in occupied Paris during World War II, her life was circumscribed: There was a yellow Star of David sewn onto her clothes, cinemas and parks were off limits, and she had to submit to an 8 p.m. curfew.
A dangler; the phrase “as a Jew†describes her, not “her life.†Rephrase.
---
Not too long after his first recordings, made at 16 with a doo-wop band in Freeport, N.Y., Mr. Reed started singing outside of the song's melody, as if he were giving a speech with a fluctuating drone in a New York accent.
Avoid such double prepositions; there's no need for “of†here.
---
New York City has violated the rights of about 900,000 of its residents with disabilities by failing to accommodate for their needs during emergencies, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
“Accommodate†is a transitive verb that takes a direct object; there's no need for “for†here.
---
Her genesis began more mundanely, in a conversation between Sana Amanat and Steve Wacker, two editors at Marvel. “I was telling him some crazy anecdote about my childhood, growing up as a Muslim-American,†Ms. Amanat said.
No hyphen with a religious description like this. From the stylebook:
(-)American. Hyphenate Italian-American, Japanese-American, Irish-American, Polish-American, Asian-American and similar phrases denoting foreign heritage. Though some idioms (like Korean grocery and Irish Catholic) seem entrenched in the language, many members of such groups demand the addition of -American to acknowledge their full membership in this society. Usage does not call for the hyphen in religious references like Jewish American or in French Canadian, English Canadian or Latin American.
---
Did the she have pancreatitis? It didn't really fit. And the CT scan was even more concerning.
“Concerning†means “relating to.†It shouldn't be used to mean “worrisome†or “a cause for concern.â€
---
[Subheading] The Ownership of Chagalls, Matisses and Other Works Lost During World War II Are in Question
The ownership “is†in question, not are.
---
[Headline] Knicks' Chandler Out With Nondisplaced Fracture
This sort of medical jargon seems out of place in a headline.
Tiny as they are, misplaced commas form an outsize blot on a sentence. In the spectrum of grammatical lapses, they seem particularly amateurish.
Here are several that popped up where they didn't belong over just two days recently.
---
One question asked by Mr. Gibney, who narrates the film, is why an athlete whose reputation seemed secure after his retirement, returned to competition.
This sentence illustrates the difference between a nonrestrictive relative clause (which should be set off with commas) and a restrictive one (which shouldn't). The clause “who narrates the film†is properly set off with commas. It is a nonrestrictive clause - the information it adds isn't crucial to the sentence. But the clause “whose reputation seemed …†is restrictive; if it were removed the sentence wouldn't make sense. So it should not be set off with commas. As it is, we seemed unsure and tried to split the difference, but there should be no comma after “retirement,†just as there is no comma before “whose.â€
---
In his first morning as New York City's mayor-elect, Bill de Blasio spent a cordial, if somewhat awkward hour with the man he will soon replace, Michael R. Bloomberg, making small talk about the intricacies of garbage pickup.
You could treat “if somewhat awkward†as a parenthetical aside and set it off with two commas. Or, perhaps better, you could go with no commas. But it doesn't work to have just one.
---
In a clear act of sentiment, the researchers titled their paper, “Forever Love: The Hitherto Earliest Record of Copulating Insects from the Middle Jurassic of China.â€
No comma before the title. This is a common error, perhaps because writers are used to using a comma before a quotation. But the construction here is comparable to “He named the dog Spot†(no comma before Spot). (Also, “hitherto†in the title itself seems misused and in any case unnecessary, but that was not our problem.)
---
While Bill de Blasio, was campaigning toward his landslide victory as the next mayor of New York City, his son, Dante, was captivating the news media with his Afro.
Just a typo, I guess. But for a little mark, it certainly is ugly. In a nondeadline story, proofreading should have caught it.
Â
More Tiny Troubles
We've seen a lot of stray hyphens lately, too. Don't throw one in just on the off chance that it's necessary. Hyphens are sometimes needed for clarity in compound modifiers before a noun. They are much less often used for modifiers that follow a verb.
As a refresher, here's the stylebook entry:
hyphen. Compounds formed with and without hyphens are listed separately or in entries for individual prefixes and suffixes.
Use the hyphen in constructions like three-mile hike and 30-car train and to avoid confusion in words like re-form (meaning form again). See re(-).
Do not use hyphens in compound modifiers when the meaning is clear without them: sales tax bill; foreign aid plan; C minor concerto. But: pay-as-you-go plan and earned-income tax credit. Comparative modifiers using more or less do not need hyphens except on the rare occasions when the meaning is ambiguous without one. Hyphens inserted hastily or automatically can be misleading, since the first word may relate at least as much to the third word as to the second. For example: airport departure lounge; fast breeder reactor; national health insurance. Also use no hyphen in these forms: navy blue skirt; dark green paint.
In some compounds, the hyphen should be used to avoid ambiguity or absurdity: unfair-practices charge, not unfair practices charge. Note the separation of an otherwise solid compound in small-business man (not small businessman) and parochial-school teacher (not parochial schoolteacher). See compound words.
Never use a hyphen after an adverb ending in ly: a newly married couple; an elegantly furnished house; a perfectly explicit instruction. But an adjective ending in ly may take the hyphen if it is useful: gravelly-voiced; grizzly-maned.
The special case of compound modifiers that precede nouns is demonstrated in the entries on ill(-) and well(-). An example: He wore a well-tailored gray suit. But omit the hyphen when the words follow the noun they modify: The suit was well tailored.
Some other compound modifiers, typically those beginning with nouns, keep their hyphens regardless of position in a sentence: They are health-conscious; The purchase was tax-free; The party describes itself as family-oriented; Stylebook editors are awe-inspiring.
Use no hyphens in a title consisting of a principal noun with modifiers: commander in chief; lieutenant general; attorney general; director general; editor in chief; delegate at large; secretary general. (See separate listings.) But use the hyphen in a title that joins two equal nouns: secretary-treasurer.
When a modifier consisting of two or more words is bound together by quotation marks, the hyphen is redundant; thus poison-pill defense and “poison pill†defense are both acceptable, but “poison-pill†defense is not. A long phrase serving as a contrived modifier is best set off by quotation marks rather than hyphens: her “fed up with business as usual†theme.
Use the suspensive hyphen, rather than repeat the second part of a modifier, in cases like this: On successive days there were three-, five- and nine-inch snowfalls.
Some house numbers in Queens take the hyphen: 107-71 111th Street.
Use the hyphen in a compound denoting national origin: Italian-American; Japanese-American. But French Canadian and Jewish American, for example, take no hyphen because both phrases denote current group membership rather than origin.
A couple of recent lapses:
---
Some state insurance commissioners caught off-guard by the announcement said they did not intend to allow insurers to reinstate the policies.
No hyphen in this adverbial expression.
---
The governors of Oregon and Washington, both Democrats, are working on ways to price carbon, though they could face tough-going in their state legislatures.
Can't imagine why we thought this one was needed. “Going†is a gerund acting as the direct object of “could faceâ€; “tough†is just an adjective modifying the gerund. It's the same construction as “could face big problems.†No hyphen.
---
Â
In a Word
This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.
---
To add a course crunchy texture and strong flavor to your food, use sea salt.
We meant “coarse,†of course. (Also, we needed a comma between the two adjectives.)
---
For Jay Z (née Shawn Carter), the timing could not have been worse.
In precise usage, the masculine form would be “ne†or “né.†Better yet, why not skip the French altogether?
---
WASHINGTON - President Obama made a vigorous appeal to Congress on Thursday to give breathing space to his efforts to forge a nuclear deal with Iran, and the prospects for an interim agreement may have improved with the release of a report by international inspectors who said that for the first time in years, they saw evidence that the Iranians have put the brakes on their nuclear expansion.
The inspectors, from the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that very few new advanced centrifuges had been installed since President Hassan Rouhani of Iran took office in June, promising a new start with the West, and that little significant progress has been made on the construction of a new nuclear reactor, which became a point of contention in negotiations in Geneva last week.
“Had,†not “have,†for proper sequence of tenses after the past-tense “they saw evidence.†More broadly, these two opening sentences are awfully long, complex and daunting.
---
[Subheading] On Sundays on the Upper West Side, she elbows out the men and runs one of the only all-female pickup basketball games in the city.
[Text] Just before 11, Amber Batchelor laces up one of her 30 pairs of brightly colored Nike Dunks or Air Jordans and walks the five blocks to stake her claim for one of the only all-women's pickup games in the city.
Avoid the illogical phrase “one of the only.†Make it “one of the few.â€
---
It goes without saying that the only near-term deal with Iran worth partially lifting sanctions for would be a deal that freezes all the key components of Iran's nuclear weapons development program, and the only deal worth lifting all sanctions for is one that verifiably restricts Iran's ability to breakout and build a nuclear bomb.
Two words: break out.
---
After being fired for criticizing his newspaper's coverage of the protests, Mr. Baydar wrote in The Guardian, “the country's journalists are enslaved in newsrooms run by greedy and ruthless media proprietors, whose economic interests make them submissive to Erdogan.â€
A deceptive dangler. Because “Mr. Baydar wrote …†is parenthetical and set off by commas, the initial modifying phrase grammatically should be referring to “the country's journalists†- which is not what we meant. We could delete the comma after The Guardian and insert “thatâ€; or start the sentence, “After Mr. Baydar was fired …, he wrote …â€
---
For drivers, the specter of medallion ownership has been complicated by several factors.
A “specter†is not just a prospect, but a ghostly or feared one.
---
[Subheading] A ‘significant force' in landmarking and preservation.
The stylebook advises against using “landmark†as a verb.
---
Eight years later, Ms. Jones Austin came down with a mysterious fever that turned out to be caused by acute myeloid leukemia, one of the illnesses that has since been linked to exposure to the fires on Sept. 11.
Recorded announcement. We would not say, “illnesses has been linked.†Make it “one of the illnesses that have since been linked.â€
---
The pooch was being sold by Peter M. Brant, the newsprint magnate who auctioned the canine to raise money to endow his Greenwich, Conn., foundation.
Both of these conspicuous substitutes for “dog†(referring to a Jeff Koons sculpture) are trite.
---
The Richmond electoral board reviewed its results on Monday in a handful of precincts after a request by Republicans, who were suspicious that reported turnout in the Democratic-leaning city was higher than historic trends.
We meant “historical,†not “historic.†Or perhaps just say “higher than usual.â€
---
Facebook pressed forward on Friday with official changes to its privacy policies, first proposed in August, that make the terms of using Facebook more clear than ever: By having an account on the service, its 1.2 billion global users are allowing the company to use their postings and other personal data for advertising.
Clearer, not more clear.
---
Women are the engine of growth for the American wine market and are being arrested for drunken driving more often than before, as the numbers for men have remained stable or diminished.
This is one of those clichés that never made much sense, and it makes even less sense divorced from the metaphor of economic machinery. Rephrase.
---
ALGIERS - They have a reputation for smashing everything in their wake.
You can leave things in your wake; you can smash things in your path. But you can't smash things in your wake because you've left them behind you.
---
ORLANDO, Fla. - Marlon Byrd was a reclamation project last year, a clunker the Mets hoped they could fix up, polish off and play in the outfield.
“Polish off†means to finish or to get rid of. We probably meant “polish up†or just “polish.â€
---
The Times article cited a middle-school student who said he was punched repeatedly by other students on a ride home from a school-sponsored ski trip, after he had been asked whether he were Jewish and he said yes.
No need for the subjunctive; we just wanted the simple past tense “was.†(Also, no hyphen is needed in “middle school student.â€)
---
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday insisted that Bloomberg News, which he owns, did not censor itself by killing two articles related to China.
The time element here should go after the verb: “insisted on Tuesday.â€
---
After the governor went on one particularly long regression, Ms. Gust Brown chimed in with a chiding that only a spouse could offer smiling: “Didn't I tell you he was exhausting?â€
We meant digression, not regression (fixed for later print editions).
---
Despite the marketing - touring top works through Doha, Hong Kong, London, Zurich and other art capitals; holding lunches and dinners for major collectors and their advisers; mounting aggressive advertising campaigns; and even letting superrich clients road test a painting on their living room walls - no one, not even the experts, know just how high (or low) a work will go until auction night.
“No one†is singular, so make it “no one … knows.†Also, “road-test†as a verb takes a hyphen, according to our preferred dictionary, Webster's New World College.
---
WASHINGTON - I was confused when I started receiving Twitter posts directed at Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin.
Better here to say “tweets,†as the writer originally did; this was fixed for later editions. Our new stylebook entry offers guidance. Just as “tweet†can seem jarring in serious news contexts, synonyms substituted by rote are equally jarring in informal contexts. The stylebook says the word may be used “for special effect or for articles dealing extensively with social media.†A first-person Sports article solely about a Twitter phenomenon fits the bill.
Slang and colloquialisms have their place, for special effect or to deliberately convey an informal, conversational tone. But otherwise, they can seem trite or hackneyed, and can undercut the serious and literate tone we seek.
Strangely, kicking seems to figure prominently in our recent slang lexicon. All of these instances struck a discordant note in my ear:
---
First the State Legislature roundly rejected the law, refusing to create a state insurance exchange and punting it to the federal government to run the new insurance market.
Slang or colloquial use of sports terms can be particularly off-putting to nonfans - to say nothing of some international readers, who may be completely baffled by punting, hitting a home run, etc.
---
The fact that these reforms are kicking in at the same time that Democrats enjoy ironclad control of the government makes it difficult to draw long-term conclusions about their effectiveness.
The colloquial “kicking in†adds nothing here; make it “taking effect†or something similar.
---
Or did he merely kick the can down the road three months so he and Congress will be in the same place again, repeating a pattern that will define his remaining three years in office?
This colloquial “kick the can†cliché has been rampant in Washington lately, but that doesn't mean we have to adopt it. In fact, it's a very good reason to avoid it.
---
A security officer checked areas usually off limits to students, including the roof, Mr. Beckman said. Students are warned that going on the roof can result in their being kicked out of the dorm. Nothing was found on the roof, Mr. Beckman said.
The colloquialism wasn't conveying a special effect or tone; this was simply a straight news story. Expelled, barred or some other verb would have worked.
---
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Trailing in polls and outspent on the airwaves, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, who has sought to capture the swing state of Virginia by building on his Tea Party base, faced his last, best chance to reboot the race for governor in a debate here Thursday.
All right, “reboot†isn't really related to kicking. And used for computers, it's straightforward and unobjectionable. But let's resist this clichéd and colloquial metaphorical use.
Â
And Still More Slang
Beyond the punting, kicking and rebooting, these other recent colloquialisms also seemed jarring:
---
Playdom has been a disappointing acquisition for Disney, in part because the once-promising social games market started to flatline shortly after the purchase.
In a medical context, it's jargon; in other contexts, it's colloquial.
---
But they looked plenty assertive Tuesday, never trailing and never taking their foot off the gas.
As a noun, “plenty†is standard. As an adverb, it's not.
---
A friend of Mr. Souza's said he got a standing-room ticket from a photographer he knew, who then invited him into the press box when another photographer did not show.
“Show†in the sense of “put in an appearance†is colloquial. “Show up†is standard.
---
Several residents said Mr. Mitchell, who also went by the monikers P.W. or P-Dubbz, went out of his way to be kind to children and the aged.
Slang used in ostentatious avoidance of a normal word - like “names†- draws even more attention to itself. Don't.
Â
In a Word
This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.
---
New York is one of 41 states that bans texting while driving and one of 12 that bans hand-held cellphones at the wheel.
Arrghh. Twice in one sentence. Recorded announcement, courtesy of the stylebook:
[N]ote the plural verb in a construction like She is one of the people who love the Yankees. The test is to reverse the sentence: Of the people who love the Yankees, she is one. The subject is people, not one.
---
Still, it's better to be dying on screen then sitting at home watching other actors get to do it.
A vexingly common typo. Than, not then.
---
Shortly after 7 a.m. Friday, as the sun was starting to rise in Norridge, Ill., Anna Gonzalez and Alex Molina were loading their Kmart shopping bags into the trunk of the car. After five-and-a-half hours of shopping, they were exhausted and heading home to sleep.
We're suffering an epidemic of unwanted hyphens. None are needed in an expression like this; it's just a number describing “hours.â€
---
Ms. Warren, who has emerged as a fund-raising powerhouse, collected $42.1 million for her race last year in Massachusetts, the most money a woman has ever raised in a Senate campaign. Second place goes to Mrs. Clinton, who raised $38.7 million for her 2006 Senate re-election campaign.
The most ever? Well, no, actually. As noted in the recent stylebook update, we should be careful about comparing dollar figures across time. Without adjusting for inflation, a superlative like this may be inaccurate. As a sharp-eyed reader noted, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Inflation Calculator, $38.7 million in 2006 dollars is equivalent to about $44 million in 2012 dollars.
---
Exactly who or what the N.S.A. was monitoring, however, was unclear from the CBC's description of the report. The document does indicate, however, that the N.S.A. believed that its mandate during the summit meetings included “providing support to policy makers.â€
“Whom,†not “who,†since it's the object of “was monitoring. Also, “however†in consecutive sentences has a head-snapping effect. It seems unneeded in the second.
---
A combination of the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration and a 2011 cap on military spending - of which the environmental cleanup is technically part - do not leave them with enough money to meet their commitments, they say.
“A combination†is the subject, requiring a singular verb. Or recast the sentence.
---
In an effort to overcome those obstacles, an increasing number of school districts, including Boston, Cincinnati and Washington, have recently begun initiatives to expand Advanced Placement course offerings and enroll more black and Hispanic students, children from low-income families and those who aspire to be the first in their generation to go to college.
Presumably we meant “the first in their families�
---
[Caption] Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his daughter, Georgina.
He has two daughters. So without the name, “daughter†is not fully specific. That means there should be no comma.
---
The problem is that so-called back end systems, which are supposed to deliver consumer information to insurers, still have not been fixed.
“Back end†should be hyphenated as a modifier. Beyond that, this is a common bit of jargon, so phrasing it so gingerly made us look clueless. We could have eliminated the “so-called†and simply used the phrase. Even better, eliminate it altogether, since “systems that are supposed to deliver consumer information…†is perfectly clear.
---
He hated birthdays and holidays, and forbid his mother from putting up a Christmas tree.
The past tense is forbade, and it should be followed by “to†- “forbade his mother to put up …â€
---
The rules would also effect political activity by conservative and liberal grass-roots organizations, including Tea Party groups whose complaints of aggressive treatment and harassment by I.R.S. employees led to the resignation of several high-ranking agency officials last spring.
This is one we should not get wrong. Make it “affect.â€
---
Mr. Ferrell and Mr. McKay were at first dead set against making sequels to any of their movies, particularly when there were other original stories to tell. But as more and more people clamored for an “Anchorman†sequel, their reticence disappeared.
We meant “reluctance.â€
---
Better returns would influence pension firms and other big investors to give more money to the V.C.'s, which would in term increase the number of deals.
“In turn,†not “in term.â€