Doctor's notes

Grammar is one of those words that scares people, but it really needn’t. Every time you speak and write you use grammar. It’s just a system of language. You can study this system and learn its technical terminology, and this can be helpful in pinpointing and articulating to yourself what might be the issue with the piece of writing you have before you, but acquiring this knowledge all at once isn’t absolutely essential to improving others’ writing.

I’d recommend gradually building your knowledge of grammar, and you can start to do this with books like Rediscover Grammar by David Crystal or the Oxford A–Z of Grammar & Punctuation by John Seely, or by exploring Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips…

There are two meanings attached to ‘however’. One is ‘on the other hand’ or ‘having said that’, and the other is ‘no matter how’. This means that you need to put a comma after ‘however’ or it will read as ‘no matter how’. If you put a comma before it too, it becomes an aside, which isn’t always what is intended. Consider these sentences:

‘I like cats, however, I like dogs more.’

The author means that although they like cats, they prefer dogs. But ‘however, I like dogs more’ could stand as an independent clause and so the first comma isn’t strong enough to bear it (creating a comma splice). All of the sentences below make sense, although they have different meanings. The first two convey what the author intended in the first place.

I like cats; however, I…

Italics are not just a way of emphasising words and terms. They can be used for titles of things, for example books, journals, plays, films, long poems, and legal cases; some foreign words and terms; the internal monologue of fictional characters; directions to the reader, such as see above; species of flora and fauna – and more!

What is italicised and what isn’t should be clearly defined and listed in a style sheet. The New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors is a good place to start in thinking about what should and shouldn’t be italicised.

Remember that large blocks of italics are hard to read, so try and avoid the style of italicised indented quotes if it’s within your power to do so. Italics should also be used sparingly for emphasis…

Whether you include an ‘e’ in the middle of ‘judgment’ depends on two things: style and context. In US style, and in some UK styles (for example the house style of The Guardian), you never include the ‘e’ so it’s always ‘judgment’. In many UK styles, you do include the ‘e’.

However, if you’re talking about a court judgment, you always omit the ‘e’.

Be kind. This doesn’t sound like a language- or editing-based tip, but it’s just as important as knowing how to use a semicolon. As an editor you need to be kind to:

• your author, by framing all queries usefully and courteously, and being on the look-out for where you can save them embarrassment;
• your reader, by making their reading experience as smooth as possible;
• your team, by making your mark-up, instructions and notes crystal clear, and warning them of any issues that could arise later in the project;
• your colleagues, by sharing opportunities with them and celebrating their successes;
• anyone else who uses language, from your friends to random people on social media, by not pointing out their mistakes unless they’ve specifically…

In lists, people often use ‘as well as’ to replace ‘and’: ‘Jay wore a shirt, trousers, shoes, as well as a coat.’ Remember that the ‘as well as’ section of the sentence is for the extras, and your list should essentially be complete before that. So you need an ‘and’ before ‘shoes’.

Another thing that authors can do is forget about the list’s lead-in by the end of the list.

You must:

• live,
• laugh,
• bird watching.

I’ve written about in-text lists for the CIEP, if you’d like a bit more detail: ‘A Finer Point: On the list’.