The Doctor is IN!

Me, myself, and I

April 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

One of my wonderful readers asked, “Can you explain why my boss corrects the word ‘myself’ in the following sentence?”

“Please send your questions to Joe or myself.”

I am delighted to explain this common error! There are several similar words that end in “self” or “selves”: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. These words act as reflexives―they reflect on another noun or pronoun in the sentence. By definition, then, a reflexive MUST refer to another noun or pronoun.

  • “A kleptomaniac is a person who helps himself because he can’t help himself.”
    (Henry Morgan)
  • “Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.”
    (Mark Twain)

The reflexive has two purposes:

  • It can intensify or emphasize an antecedent (the noun or pronoun that precedes it): I myself  am confused. (Some editors balk at this construction, believing that it is redundant. They prefer “I, too, am confused.”)
  • It can direct the action of the verb back to the subject: John has satisfied himself that my numbers are correct.

“Myself” and other words that end in “self” or “selves” cannot stand alone.

I hope you now see what was wrong with the sentence “Please send your questions to Joe or myself.” “Myself” does not reflect on or intensify another word in that sentence. Replace it with the word “me”: “Please send your questions to Joe or me.”

Here’s another example: “He said he sent it to yourself.” Correct it to “He said he sent it to you.” A correct use of “yourself” is: “You can delete the original user and create a new access for yourself.”

Test your knowledge of reflexives by taking this one-question quiz:

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e7d8x1b6hfrdy39p/start

Filed Under: Business writing, Grammar, Uncategorized

I’m not a recluse; I’m an introvert, and maybe you are too

April 24, 2013 By 1 Comment

One of my favorite columnists, Leonard Pitts, Jr., recently wrote a commentary titled I (heart) introverts in which he reviewed Susan Cain’s New York Times bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. I immediately bought the book and found myself on almost every page.

For most of my life, I’ve urged myself to be more extroverted, but the opposite has happened: I see more evidence of introversion every year. (Those of you who know me from my classroom training may be scratching your heads because you’ve seen me be super-extroverted in the classroom. That puzzles me, too.)

Classic definitions suggest that extroverts are drawn to the external life of people and activities; they recharge by socializing. By contrast, introverts are drawn to the inner world of thought and feeling and recharge by being alone. But Cain shows that the differences in personality are much more complicated as she traces the history of introversion and some of its political ramifications. For example, she posits that the 2008 meltdown was caused by too much power being concentrated in the hands of extroverts, whom she defines as aggressive risk-takers. That’s a separate, but very fascinating, discussion.

For this column, I want to share my revelation that once I recognized my introversion, I applauded it as one facet of a complex personality and celebrated the opportunity to do what makes me most comfortable: enjoy the solitude and quiet that allows me to generate ideas and content and then embrace that small part of me that enjoys the extroversion of collaboration and communication.

Cain estimates introverts make up one-third of the general population. I was interested to find that, while teaching a recent webinar on freelancing for the Society for Technical Communication, 75% of potential freelancers self-identified as introverts. Perhaps introverts become freelancers because they feel that they can control their work environment more than they might in a normal, noisy work setting at a company or organization.

(It would interest me to know what the percentages are among my readers. If you know where you fit on the introvert/extrovert spectrum, please take my completely unscientific poll. If you’d prefer, take Cain’s equally unscientific quiz first and then report your finding on the poll.)

Cain believes that our culture undervalues introverts and elevates extroverts, but she warns against that bias. She urges introverts to recognize their true nature; to choose jobs that allow them to thrive; and to strengthen their communication skills, both in writing and speaking, so that they may counter some of the irrational exuberance of extroverts in their workplace.

Of course, as a trainer of presentation and writing skills, that makes a lot of sense to me. Since I’ve stopped trying to convert myself into an extrovert, I feel I have a lot more energy. I still go forth into the world, greet fellow hikers and bikers, and interact in all my communities. I just enjoy my solitude more now that I’m not feeling quite so guilty about it.

Links of interest

Susan Cain on TED

Filed Under: Business speaking, Business survival, Communication, Personal observations, Uncategorized

I don’t write anymore

March 25, 2013 By 2 Comments

I didn’t write this article. Instead, I spoke it using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 Speech Recognition for PC* and edited it by voice with a little help from my mouse.

I had used Dragon before, maybe 15 years ago, and found it clunky and unrewarding. But when my wrists started to ache after prolonged keyboarding, I thought about Dragon again and called to ask some questions of the sales agent. She was knowledgeable and didn’t pressure me at all, and I was hooked. The new software was fairly easy to install and comes with a comfortable headset and a microphone that’s very sensitive.

It’s almost scary, even a bit creepy, how the software learns what I’m saying. For example, in paragraph 2, I had spoken the word “incipient,” and Dragon typed “in Serbian.” I chuckled and corrected the text manually. When I spoke that word again in this paragraph, Dragon had learned how to type it correctly.

Dragon keeps asking me for permission to scan all my other files and e-mails in order to build a larger vocabulary, but to date I have not allowed him to do that. (Notice I said “him”? I am anthropomorphizing this software in a way I never would with software that I merely type into. Weird.)

Maybe I’m trying to justify my purchase, but I really believe that Dragon allows me to produce text faster than when I type it by hand. I’ve timed myself in both modes and found the process of dictating to Dragon to be about 15% to 30% faster than just typing, including editing in both modes. Dragon certainly works better than typing when I’m dictating “stream of consciousness,” as in a journal entry or when I’m angry. Such flow is particularly helpful when still in brainstorming mode because I can really talk myself through what I’m really trying to say.

And that’s actually the second reason I purchased the software. I’ve been reading Peter Elbow’s immense tome Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing. Elbow is a prolific and respected academic who has addressed the differences between the spoken and written word. That’s too long a discussion for this article, but I think we all realize that there is a difference, which he reinforces and verifies in his latest book.

After many years of being a “manual” writer, I wanted to experiment with being a “spoken” writer. I’ve tried dictating to a digital recorder and then transcribing it; Dragon has allowed me to skip that extra step. For example, I am staring out the window now at a beautiful March snowfall in the Rockies that we so desperately need, and somehow all the falling snow is planting ideas in my mind. If I were typing this manually, I would somehow be focused on the material, the keyboard, and the screen, the mechanics of my writing. But because I can ignore those things, new ideas are flowing almost as fast as the snow is falling. I can see how valuable this would be when writing scripts, either for plays or for narrators in recorded e-learning classes.

Of course there’s a learning curve—Dragon’s and mine. But for anyone else who is more technically savvy than I am, the learning curve would probably not be as steep.

I’m sure there are other voice recognition software programs―if you’ve used them, would you share your experiences in a comment? And if you’ve used Dragon and would like to share your thoughts, please leave a comment as well.

*Please note: I have not received any money from Nuance (the maker of Dragon) for this review, and I paid full sales price for my software. I never accept any money, discounts, or gifts for reviewing any writing products that I share with you.

 

Filed Under: Business writing, Prewriting, Writing process

Should I capitalize that?

February 21, 2013 By 2 Comments

Every decent style guide in America has a fully developed chapter on capitalization and the rules are pretty straightforward. Instead of covering hundreds of rules in depth here, I’d like to share three questions about capitalization that came up during a recent webinar on grammar. I’ll answer the questions and then summarize my answers with one principle.

  • Should I capitalize every word in my complimentary closing: “Sincerely Yours” or “Sincerely yours”?

I believe in the statement: “When in doubt, don’t.” Fortunately, The Gregg Reference Manual backs me up in section 1346: Capitalize only the first word of the closing.

  • We use ALL CAPS for the name of our company in our complimentary closing. Should we?

You can do whatever you want with your company name! I could type The Text Doctor or THE TEXT DOCTOR. We get to make up the rules here for once.

  • What about capitalization in bulleted items in slides?

Best practices call for capitalizing only the first letter of the first word in the bullet point (of course, you should always capitalize proper nouns).

OK, now that one principle that I promised: Always prefer downstyle: Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a heading or a bullet point unless there are proper nouns within each. This contrasts with upstyle, which Capitalizes Every Word of Four or More Letters. Upstyle is hard for the reader, whose eyes are going up and down across the line, and it’s hard for the writer, who has to keep using the shift key (and count letters in words).

Hard to break your capitalization habit? Yes, but console yourself with the knowledge that downstyle is more readable and is much easier for you to type.

Filed Under: Business writing, Formatting, Grammar, Proofreading, Uncategorized

How fast do you write? Or edit? Do you know?

February 21, 2013 By 3 Comments

My inaugural blog for the Society for Technical Communication, published February 11, reviewed the excellent second edition of What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants. But why should you, especially if you are an employee, care about charging for your work? As I wrote in the blog, author Laurie Lewis suggests that we should “log every activity on every project and then mine those logs to understand more clearly how long the tasks of a prospective project might take.” I would argue that employees and freelancers alike need to know how long your work activities take so that you can provide valid estimates of future work when asked. Knowing how long tasks can take could help you prove to a boss or client why it is impossible for you or anyone to write 30 pages a day or edit 150 pages a day.

Well, Lewis has convinced me: I now use my kitchen timer while performing many of my work activities and then capture my time on scraps of paper or Excel spreadsheets. Several of my freelance friends have suggested a better way―digitally capturing time using time-tracking software.

So I did my due diligence and researched some of the programs on the market, spending 2 hours and 22 minutes (according to my kitchen timer). I’ve narrowed my options to Category 1 below, and I include the others categories that I found so that you, too, might know what your options are if you should want to track your time digitally.

Four main types of time-tracking software

  1. Standalone―used only to record timesheets and generate reports
    1. http://slimtimer.com (free cloud)
    2. http://www.epiforge.com/Grindstone/ (free desktop, away detection, team option [$])
    3. www.pcfworks.com VeriTime Time Tracker (free desktop [shareware], Pro version $)
    4. www.spudcity.com/traxtime/ TraxTime (desktop $, free trial, Windows-based only)
  2. Integrated into accounting system―timesheet data feeds into company accounts
    1. http://quickbooks.intuit.com/ Quickbooks (desktop Mac and Windows, $, payroll)
    2. www.springahead.com/ SpringAhead (cloud, $, free demo, payroll)
  3. Integrated into billing system―used to generate invoices, especially used by contractors and professionals such as lawyers
    1. www.easyprojects.net (cloud, 15-day free trial, $ to purchase based on # of users, invoicing, reports)
    2. www.getklok.com Klok (Klok Cloud Sync for Mobile, Klok Mobile, Klok Desktop) (cloud and desktop, $, free trial)
    3. www.myintervals.com, Intervals (cloud, $ to purchase based on # of users, free trial, invoicing)
    4. www.bill4time.com (cloud, free trial, $, mobile app)
    5. www.getharvest.com (cloud, $ subscription, free trial, add contractors, Mac app)
    6. www.officetime.net OfficeTime (Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, desktop, $, free trial)
  4. Integrated into project management systems
    1. http://www.dovico.com/ Dovico Timesheet (cloud; free for one subscription, $ for more, free trial, mobile app)
    2. www.paymo.biz, Paymo (desktop, mobile, cloud; online invoices, free for one user, $ for more)

You’ll find an interesting matrix of time-tracking software on Wikipedia (it reviews many other programs not listed above).

And now I’d like to ask you to help with this research. If you have used any of the time-tracking software above, please share your experience by answering my one-question survey. (Or you could just comment below, if you wish.) I’ll share your helpful comments in a follow-up blog and article.

Filed Under: Business writing, Uncategorized, Writing process

The numbers game

January 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I have frequent requests in my writing classes to explain how to express numbers in technical and business writing. Let me be honest with you: I can’t possibly cover all the variables involved in writing numbers in this brief post. In fact, I could actually shorten this article dramatically if I just said: “Consult your chosen style guide.”

For most business and technical writing, I preach that the style guide of choice is
The Gregg Reference Manual, which

Gregg Reference Manual

has a 30-page section on how to use figures or words to express numbers (Part 1, Section 4). The first four pages prescribe the basic rules, which I will summarize here:

Use words to represent numbers from 1 through 10 (for example: one, two three . . . ten) and use figures for numbers above 10. (Rule 401)

We sent six people to the conference.

I lost only 11 files when my computer crashed.

Use all figures for 1 through 10 when the numbers need to stand out for quick comprehension or have technical significance (Rule 401).

Cut the wire strip into 1-cm lengths.

Use words to represent numbers at the beginning of a sentence (Rule 401).

Sixteen employees called in sick with the flu.

When two or more related numbers appear in the same sentence, use figures for all numbers if one of the numbers is larger than 10.

We have always sent between 10 and 20 employees to the conference.

Use word style for numbers from 1 through 100 when writing high-level executive correspondence or nontechnical documents such as formal announcements, invitations, or literary texts (rule 404).

Other style guides differ from this advice (for example, The American Medical Association Manual of Style prescribes using figures for numbers 1 and above [with a few exceptions]). Be sure to consult any style guides that you are required to use in your job or industry.

Ready for your quiz? http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e6x0pxjshbzh3li9/start

Filed Under: Business writing, Formatting, Grammar, Style manuals, Technical Writing

Zombies and passive voice?

January 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Who knew? Zombies may be helpful to English teachers!

I have to admit that after years of scorn for all things zombie, I finally succumbed to watching The Walking Dead with my daughter-in-law. I was thrilled, then, to receive this suggestion about zombies and passive voice:

“If you can insert ‘by zombies’ after the verb and it still sounds right, you have passive voice. If it doesn’t sound right at all, you have active voice.”

  • The shelf bracket is painted [by zombies]. Passive voice
  • She painted [by zombies] the shelf bracket. Active voice

Whatever works! It’s all good.

 

 

Filed Under: Business writing, Grammar

A linguists’ joke

January 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

 “What do you call someone who speaks three languages?” (Multilingual)

 “What do you call someone who speaks two languages?” (Bilingual)

 “What do you call someone who speaks one language?” (American)

Filed Under: Business speaking, Communication, Personal observations

Word of the year: Hashtag (next year’s banned word???)

January 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The American Dialect Society Word of the Year is “Hashtag.”

I’ll bet that next year, “hashtag” will make it onto the “Banned Words List” !

Filed Under: Uncategorized

E.D. Hirsch is half right about vocabulary building

December 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

E.D. Hirsch Jr. recently wrote in the New York Times that the decline in American students’ vocabulary scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress signals a decline in equality for students―without wide general knowledge and vocabulary, he claims, students cannot go on to learn the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects that they will need to compete in the modern workforce. Hirsch insists that vocabulary is not learned from vocabulary lists but rather, is best learned after students have acquired enough background to absorb the vocabulary in context.

I do agree with Hirsch that all learning is better (and more fun) in context, but I  do not agree with his assertion that students don’t learn new words by studying vocabulary lists. Instead, I believe that American students should learn the 70% of English words that have Greek and Latin roots and prefixes by studying, at the very least, the roots and prefixes that unlock hundreds and thousands of words.

Take, for example, the Latin root “VERT, VERS,” which means “to turn.” Learning this word will provide an inquisitive student with clues about what an “aversion” is [“AB” means to turn away, so an aversion means “a turning away (a great distaste).” This bright student might extend the root to understand “convert” [CON means “together,” so to convert is to turn together to the same belief.] I love this stuff! I bless my sainted high school Latin teacher, Miss Gilmore, who drilled us in roots and prefixes. She instilled a love of language so deep and broad that to this day, I can hardly tear myself away to learn the STEM disciplines that I need.

But I digress. Back to our student, now armed with keys to expand his or her vocabulary, which now will be the foundation of a life-long vocabulary building in the broader context that Hirsch so correctly touts.

Want to learn more Latin and Greek roots and prefixes? Work your way through The Least You Should Know About Vocabulary Building. It’s expensive (about $33 from Amazon), but NOT having a large and flexible vocabulary would be much more expensive.

My thanks to Liz Willis, my faithful editor, for sending me Hirsch’s article.
 

 

Filed Under: Business speaking, Business survival, Business writing, Communication, Public speaking, Study skills
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