 | Major Communications |  |
| Major Communications | |
CAN YOU SAY, "PREPOSITION?"
by jl scott, ph.d.
As the publisher of an online ezine, I seem to be losing my
patience lately with the article submissions I receive. Maybe
I'm more picky than some but I believe my subscribers deserve to
have high quality articles. And, Friends, that covers a whole
lot more than just content!
First of all, I often receive advertisements which are
incorrectly - and blatantly - presented as "articles." Nothing
will send a submission to the trash bin quicker on my computer.
I don't even read the submission until I scan through it to see
if it contains URLs anyplace other than in the resource box where
they belong. If I find one in the body of the "article," I look
to see if it has relevance to the article - or if it's simply a
self-serving link to a product/service of the author. Then I do
one of two things. I read it - or I dump it.
Articles are meant to inform - not to sell. If you want to sell
something in my ezine, pay for an ad like everyone else. Don't
try to slide it past me by calling it an "article" - I don't care
what kind of information it contains. You are more than welcome
to put your links in the resource box. Don't attempt to waste my
space trying to place a free solo-ad by calling it an "article."
An ad by any other name is still an ad.
We now have e-books out there encouraging people to build their
ezine subscriber lists by submitting articles to other ezines.
Okay - that'll work. But, ONLY IF YOU CAN WRITE! If you don't
know how to write, get someone who does to write your article -
or don't submit it to me.
I've seen articles with great content that I have to completely
edit before I'll put them in front of my readers - or I won't run
them. And, frankly, I'm getting tired of doing the writer's
work! If you don't want your article edited when you send it to
me, you had better be sure it is correct.
Since I believe my readers are entitled to high quality content,
I also see no point in offending them with poor grammar,
incorrect spelling and punctuation or sloppy sentence structure.
Good publishers say this all the time but maybe some online
"writers" don't know what we mean.
Allow me to give you a few tips on the more grievous of the
errors I receive.
1) Quotation marks go outside the punctuation mark. I don't
care how you think it looks - they go OUTSIDE the punctuation
mark. Always! It is NOT (".) - it is (.") - it is NOT (",) - it
is (,") - ALWAYS!
2) A quote within a sentence is NEVER followed by a period. It
is ALWAYS followed by a comma, even though it may be a complete
sentence by itself. That's the rule!
3) Cutsie characters before, after or within your sentences
make you look like an amateur, or a 5th grader writing a
valentine. Don't use them! I can accept the occasional :-) or
but don't give me silly designs (^*~*^^*~*^) to muck up your
text and make it unreadable. Spend your time creating a good
article and save the art work for something appropriate.
4) When you use periods to leave a thought hanging or to
connect to another thought, they are NOT connected to other
words. They REPLACE words and therefore, stand alone with a
space between them and the word before or after them. It is not,
"Think about it....." It is, "Think about it ..."
This is a typographic symbol. It is a sequence of ONLY 3 periods
and substitutes for an unlimited number of words.
5) Unless it is used as a header - a lead-in - or, is part of a
quoted conversation - one sentence does not constitute a
paragraph. Take that sentence with 40 words in it and break it
into more than one sentence. The only other exception is when
you need to use a very SHORT stand-alone sentence for emphasis!
6) Can you say, "preposition?" Don't end a sentence with one!
Do you know what a preposition is? As far as I'm concerned, you
don't even need to know the definition, although it's easy to
figure out. With a preposition, you are pre-positioning
something. Until you tell me what it is - you haven't finished
your sentence.
I'll be happy though, if you will just learn know how to spot
one. Here's how you can test for it ...
Put the last word of your sentence in front of the words, "...
the box." If it makes sense - it's a preposition. Try these
words: to - over - with - up - from - before. Get it? Add "the
box" behind those words and you can clearly see that they are
prepositions. If you find any one of hundreds of prepositions at
the end of your sentence - you haven't finished your sentence.
To what? Over what? From where? Finish it!
7) Don't give me passive sentences! They are boring and they
don't DO anything! "There are millions of people on this
planet," tells me nothing. "Millions of people live on this
planet," gives me the action.
The clue? If you begin your sentence with "There are ..." you
are about to write a passive sentence. Put the subject of your
sentence at the beginning - then tell me what it is doing. If
you begin your sentence with a qualifier, be sure it is also
active!
8) Learn the difference in how to use the words "that" and
"which." The word, "that" is an indicator, or locator. It
points out something specific. The word, "which" is a
describer. It is followed by a description.
"This is an article that helps aspiring writers," is INCORRECT!
"This is an article WHICH helps aspiring writers," describes what
the article does.
9) Learn the difference in how to use the words "that" and
"who." The word "who" indicates a person. The word "that"
indicates an object.
"He is the man that wrote the article," is INCORRECT. A man is a
"who" - not a "that." The trick? Use common sense.
10) Why do I even have to say this? You have Spell-Check. Use
it! Or, don't send the article!
Now, I don't mind the occasional mistake. I make them myself.
And, I don't mind the deliberate "mistake" which is used to add
emphasis or color. What I mind is having my email box jammed
with the unusable articles of writers who either don't know how -
or don't care enough - to write me a printable article.
And yes, I know - it's a lot of work. But, being a writer is
more than creative output. You must also be a technician. Why
do you believe that my readers would want to subscribe to your
ezine if you won't take the time to give them quality material?
Now, here's the easiest trick of all. When in doubt - go look at
a non-self-published printed book and see how it's done!
jl scott, ph.d., Author
(C) 1999, All Rights Reserved
A copy of this article is available at:
mailto:preposition@MondayMemo.org
This article may be reprinted with permission by including the
following resource box:
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dr. jl scott is the Director of the International Association for
Professionalism Online (IAPO) http://www.IAPOnline.org - and also
the publisher of MONDAY MEMO! - the ezine dedicated to
Professionalism on the Web. For your FREE subscription:
mailto:subscribe@MondayMemo.org
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