Reproduction from New York Post from ?2011
Many topics come up repeatedly in reader comments and e-mail messages to After Deadline. Unfortunately I’m not able to offer a direct response to each comment (truth be told, After Deadline is a sideline for me). But one thoughtful reader suggested that I compile answers for some of the most common questions.
Here’s a start in that effort. I’ll add other topics as they come up, and I’ll link to this item from each week’s column so readers can find it easily.
[UPDATED on Nov. 14, 2011; newest item on top.]
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Why Do Plural Abbreviations Have an Apostrophe?
A number of readers have complained after seeing plural abbreviations like M.D.’s and M.R.I.’s in The Times. They say the apostrophe is wrong — that it indicates a possessive and should not be used in a plural like this.
In fact, style rules at The Times (and some other publications, including the Chicago Manual of Style) do call for using an apostrophe in the plural of abbreviations that include periods. The idea is that a combination of uppercase letters, periods and a lowercase “s” is confusing at first glance, and that the apostrophe helps a reader see that the “s” has been added to make a plural.
Here’s the relevant portion of The Times’s stylebook entry:
Use apostrophes for plurals of abbreviations that have capital letters and periods: M.D.’s, C.P.A.’s. Also use apostrophes for plurals formed from single letters: He received A’s and B’s on his report card. Mind your p’s and q’s.
But do not use apostrophes for plurals of abbreviations without periods, or for plurals formed from figures: TVs, PCs, DVDs; 1990s, 747s, size 7s.
‘None': Singular or Plural?
Should “none” be used with a singular or a plural verb?
Some readers of The Times and After Deadline insist that “none” must always take a singular verb. They argue that “none” means “not one,” and so is inherently singular.
But as I’ve pointed out before, most authorities, including The Times’s stylebook, disagree. Here’s our entry:
none. Despite a widespread assumption that it stands for not one, the word has been construed as a plural (not any) in most contexts for centuries. H. W. Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) endorsed the plural use. Make none plural except when emphasizing the idea of not one or no one — and then consider using those phrases instead.
‘Like’ or ‘Such As’?
After a discussion about the use of “like” as a conjunction, several commenters took issue with a different use of “like,” including instances from The Times’s stylebook.
These readers object to the use of “like” as a preposition to mean “including” or “as for example”: Anyone else with an earned doctorate, like a Ph.D. degree, may request the title …
The objectors contend that “like” in this construction should mean “similar to” — so that this example, strictly speaking, would be referring to doctorates similar to a Ph.D. but not including a Ph.D. They would change this phrase to “such as a Ph.D. degree.”
Editors have long been divided on this point. But “like” is widely used, and recognized in all dictionaries, in the sense of “as for example.” Many writers find it more natural and less stilted than “such as,” at least in some contexts.
Both versions seem acceptable to me; The Times’s stylebook tends to favor “like.”
Are Split Infinitives Acceptable?
The aversion to splitting infinitives is strongly held in some quarters, but weakly supported. Here’s what The Times’s stylebook says:
split infinitives are accepted by grammarians but irritate many readers. When a graceful alternative exists, avoid the construction: to show the difference clearly is better than to clearly show the difference. (Do not use the artificial clearly to show the difference.) When the split is unavoidable, accept it: He was obliged to more than double the price. Note, however, that compound verbs are an unrelated issue: they should usually be separated (as this one was) when used with an adverb.
Should a Sentence Ever Start With ‘And’?
As I’ve noted before, another pet peeve of some After Deadline commenters is the use of “but” or “and” to begin a sentence. I don’t see any basis for their objections.
It shouldn’t be overdone, but using coordinating conjunctions this way can provide a handy and very efficient transition. “But” is certainly preferable in many cases to the stilted “however,” and “and” is simpler than “in addition” or similar phrases.
Along with the split-infinitive complaint, this objection falls into the category of “Miss Thistlebottom’s hobgoblins.” That’s Theodore M. Bernstein’s term for the overly fastidious rules and usage myths a grade-school English teacher might invoke to keep her pupils’ prose on a very narrow path.
Can a Person Be a ‘They’?
No. Miss Thistlebottom was right about this one. In careful writing, we continue to use “they” as a plural pronoun that should have a plural antecedent.
Often writers resort to “they” after a singular noun to avoid using a gender-specific pronoun in a general case. Here’s an example I cited in After Deadline last month:
When a person enters search terms for a product or service, the search engine may display links where they can get a discount coupon from a retailer or coupon aggregator.
In many cases, the problem can easily be avoided by starting with a plural noun: “When customers enter search terms …”
Is Data Singular or Plural?
Yes.
The Times’s stylebook allows “data” with either a plural or a singular verb. Here’s the entry:
data is acceptable as a singular term for information: The data was persuasive. In its traditional sense, meaning a collection of facts and figures, the noun can still be plural: They tabulate the data, which arrive from bookstores nationwide. (In this sense, the singular is datum, a word both stilted and deservedly obscure.)
And here’s an earlier After Deadline discussion of this point, along with some other disputed points of usage.
Where’s the Comma?
Many readers complain about what they view as a missing comma in a sentence like this: He bought apples, pears and bananas.
Style guides for book and academic publishing generally would insist on another comma after “pears,” the so-called serial comma. But news writing has traditionally omitted the serial comma — perhaps seeking a more rapid feeling in the prose, or perhaps to save time and effort in the old days of manual typesetting.
We do use the additional comma in cases where a sentence would be awkward or confusing without it: Choices for breakfast included oatmeal, muffins, and bacon and eggs.
Why Nascar, Not NASCAR?
Auto racing fans chafe at our rules on acronyms. Here they are, from our stylebook:
acronyms. An acronym is a word formed from the first letter (or letters) of each word in a series: NATO from North Atlantic Treaty Organization; radar from radio detection and ranging. (Unless pronounced as a word, an abbreviation is not an acronym.) When an acronym serves as a proper name and exceeds four letters, capitalize only the first letter: Unesco; Unicef.
We limit the uppercasing to four letters because longer strings of capitals are distracting and tend to jump off the page.
One of Those Things
To my surprise, many readers insist that I’m wrong to call for a plural verb in sentences like this: He is one of those teachers who refuse to allow laptops in class.
I don’t necessarily expect to win over the doubters, but I’m not budging. Here’s a more detailed explanation from a previous post.
Who’s a Dr.?
Our continued use of courtesy titles — increasingly rare in the news media — prompts many questions. Rules on the use of “Dr.” in particular can lead to confusion, for readers and unfortunately sometimes for our writers. Here’s our stylebook entry:
Dr. should be used in all references for physicians and dentists whose practice is their primary current occupation, or who work in a closely related field, like medical writing, research or pharmaceutical manufacturing: Dr. Alex E. Baranek; Dr. Baranek; the doctor. (Those who practice only incidentally, or not at all, should be called Mr., Ms., Miss or Mrs.)
Anyone else with an earned doctorate, like a Ph.D. degree, may request the title, but only if it is germane to the holder’s primary current occupation (academic, for example, or laboratory research). For a Ph.D., the title should appear only in second and later references. The holder of a Ph.D. or equivalent degree may also choose not to use the title.
Do not use the title for someone whose doctorate is honorary.
Stodgy Traditionalist or Permissive Panderer?
I take no sides in the philosophical debate between descriptivists and prescriptivists on usage questions. As I explained in this post last year, I’m just a newspaper editor. My goal is lucid prose that is polished and literate without being stuffy.
‘After Deadline’ Correspondence
I read the comments that are posted each week, which frequently give me ideas or fodder for future installments. You can also send e-mail messages to nytnews@nytimes.com; please put “After Deadline” in the subject line so the message will be forwarded to me.
Can I Get The Times’s Stylebook?
The print edition of “The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage,” written by two esteemed former colleagues, Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly, can still be bought online and in some bookstores.
I oversee an online version that includes many changes and updates since the book’s publication in 1999. Unfortunately that version is not accessible to the public, though we have discussed the possibility of making it available in some form.
Is It Daylight Saving Time Again?
Some readers complain that the After Deadline logo looks too much like the clock we publish to remind people of the time change.
I didn’t devise the logo, of course. We actually use a different one for the in-house version — a thick red pencil line circling the title, like an editor’s mark. It was deemed a bit too old-fashioned for the online edition, I believe. In any case, if it’s not March or November, assume that the clock means After Deadline.
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In a Word
This week’s grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.
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DETROIT — The Transportation Department said Monday it would seek a $16.4 million fine against Toyota, the largest allowed, because the company had failed to promptly notify the government about potential problems with accelerator pedals.
Don’t omit “that” after a time element in a construction like this.
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Rescuers [in China] knocked on and shouted into the pipe, and they sent down glucose, a phone, pen, paper and letters of encouragement inside a plastic bottle.
“Dear fellow workers, the Party Central Committee, the State Council and the whole nation have been concerned for your safety,” one began. It ended: “Hold onto the last.”
This is presumably a translation; it should be grammatically correct. Make it “Hold on to the last” — “on” is an adverb that goes with “hold.”
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[Online caption] A harp seal pup lays on the ice in 2008 near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
“Lies,” of course. Or if we want past tense, make it “lay.”
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The characters, including the inevitably valiant warriors who aide Perseus during his computer-assisted adventures, are as predictable as the action scenes, which is what some companies want when they manufacture global products of this type.
Make it “aid,” not “aide.”
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But it does not appear that the foundation has addressed how Ms. Harris, going forward, would keep her roles from overlapping.
A colleague notes that this phrase is usually redundant. We should avoid it, going forward, in the future. (Also, I see no reason for “would”; make it “will keep.”)
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Sheila Stainback, a city housing authority spokeswoman, said Morrisania Air Rights was thusly named because it was built above Metro-North train tracks, but she was not immediately sure about the “why.”
“Thus” is an adverb; thus, there is no call to add “ly.” In any case, “so named” would probably be better here.
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Weak Rules on Toxins and Safety
Nobody can be sure, though. The science is not far enough along, partly because our regulation of toxins is so limp.
As we noted here not long ago, “toxin,” properly used, refers to a plant or animal poison. In this column, we meant “toxic chemicals” or something like that.
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M. Sunil Kumar was a 25-year-old reporter at a local newspaper in the provincial town of Warangal. His older brother Anil had dropped out of high school to run the family’s mutton shop when their father died so that Sunil could go to college.
Watch where you put that clause. The father, of course, did not die so that Sunil could go to college.
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Yesterday, Decoder came across a rare site in the wilds of Manhattan: A happy publishing executive.
Even for a blog post, this was a little too Web-oriented; make it “sight.”
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While speaking to television writers in January, Mr. Sutherland said of the torture sequences: “It’s a television show. We’re not telling you to try this at home.”
He also refuted claims of a political slant to “24.” “One of the things that I was always so unbelievably proud of our show is that you could have it being discussed by former President Bill Clinton and Rush Limbaugh at the same time, both using it and citing it to justify their points of view,” he said. “That, to me, was incredibly balanced.”
In careful usage, “refute” means to prove something false, not merely to offer a counterargument. Here, we needed something like “rebut,” “reject” or “deny.”
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After Deadline examines questions of grammar, usage and style encountered by writers and editors of The Times. It is adapted from a weekly newsroom critique overseen by Philip B. Corbett, the associate managing editor for standards, who is also in charge of The Times’s style manual.
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