Tensions among Canada, Mexico, and the United States eased following the implementation of the NAFTA agreement.

The reason this may feel awkward is because it’s wrong. The correct sentence is:

Tensions between Canada, Mexico, and the United States eased following the implementation of the NAFTA agreement.

Here’s why.

Between is the word to use when talking about distinct, individual items, even if there are more than two of them. The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) calls this a one-to-one relationship and acknowledges statements like trade between members of the European Union to be correct.

Among is the word to use when talking about things that aren’t distinct items or individuals; or as CMS call it, undefined or collective relationships. That means honour among thieves is correct.

But wait, there’s more.

Between is also the word to use when describing a location relative to two distinct people or things. So when I write “I walked between the trees,” I am giving the idea that I stayed between to specific trees or that I walked on a path the was surrounded on either side by trees.

Among is the word to use when describing a location inside a general or collective group. Writing “I walked among the trees” implies I wandered in the forest, not on a specific path.

And then there’s amid, amidst, and amongst. Amid is the word to use with mass nouns; “amid talk of war”, “amid controversy.” And most modern style guides discourage the use ofamongst or amidst.

We need to be succinct for several reasons, after all our readers are busy and we don’t have the right to waste their time. If our writing is too verbose our readers may start skimming and might miss an important point. Even worse, our readers may not understand what we are saying at all. For example the following statement came from an Engineering proposal trying to win a large construction contract.

Calculations of adequate ventilation for process buildings to establish the minimum air introduction rate to achieve adequate ventilation for each process building, in order to define the minimum air introduction rate required to classify the building as Zone 2.

This sentence is 39 words long, and I don’t think it’s even a sentence. But what it’s trying to say is very simple:

Calculate the ventilation required to classify process buildings as Zone 2.

That took 11 words, and I’ll bet you read them all.

Long sentences aren’t necessarily wordy, and short sentences are necessary concise. A sentence is wordy if it uses more words than necessary. There are a few common writing habits that lead to wordiness:

• compound prepositional phrases
• redundant words
• empty phrases

Removing compound prepositional phrases

Compound prepositional phrases are phrases that have more than one preposition.

A preposition is a word like about, by, and of, that shows how a noun or pronoun relates to another part of the sentence. Prepositions are always part of a prepositional phrase (the proposition and the object of the preposition). For example:

The spider crawled along the banister.

In this sentence, along is the preposition and along the banister is the prepositional phrase.

Prepositions are important, but we get into trouble when we use a prepositional phrase that needs another preposition; creating a compound prepositional phrase. Here are some common examples:

• with regard to, is with regard + to
• with respect to, is with respect + to
• in reference to, is in reference + to
• in connection with, is in connection + with
• for the purposes of, is for the purpose + of

There are a number of options to help us remove compound prepositional phrases.

1. We can simplify them
2. We can convert them to participles
3. We can convert them to adverbs
4. We can convert them to adjectives

1. Simplify:

Usually we can change the compound prepositional phrase to a simple preposition. For example:

In order to write more concisely, eliminate compound prepositional phrases.

To write more concisely, eliminate compound prepositional phrases.

Here are some of the simplifications we can make.

Sometimes we can eliminate the preposition entirely. For example:

At this point in time, we are writing well.

Now we are writing well.

In this last example, the compound prepositional phrase at this point in time was replaced with the adverb now.

2. Convert to a participle:

Another technique to remove compound prepositional phrases is to convert them into a participle. A participle is a word formed from a verb, e.g., going, gone, being, been. Sometimes we can convert the compound prepositional phrase into a participle. For example:

In an attempt to write a concise report, he omitted important facts.

Attempting to write a concise report, he omitted important facts.

Here are some other conversions we can make.

3. Convert to adverbs:

Some compound prepositional phrases can be converted to adverbs. For example:

His actions were under close control.

His actions were closely controlled.

Here are some other examples of conversions we can make.

4. Convert to adjectives:

Some compound prepositional phrases can be converted to adjectives. For example:

The response of the committee was silence.

The committee’s response was silence.

Here are some other examples of conversions we can make.

Eliminate redundancy

Another source of wordiness is using redundant words in our sentence; phrases like cooperate together, basic essentials, and true fact are some common examples. Watch for words that say the same thing twice, for example:

It was an unexpected surprise when a pair of baby twins was born at 12 midnight.

All surprises are unexpected, twins are always in pairs, only babies are born, and midnight is 12. A much more concise statement is:

It was a surprise when twins were born at midnight.

Also watch for modifiers that have meaning suggested by other words in the sentence. For example:

She sat down in the chair.

He very hurriedly scrubbed his hands before supper.

Here are some common redundant phrases to watch for.

• actual experience
• advance planning
• advance reservations
• all meet together
• armed gunman
• basic fundamentals
• cease and desist
• close proximity
• end result
• estimated roughly at
• filled to capacity
• foreign imports
• free gift
• frozen ice
• general public
• green in color
• join together
• never at any time
• past experience
• poisonous venom
• small speck
• suddenly exploded
• surrounded on all sides

Delete empty or inflated phrases

Our speech often includes empty words and phrases that we use out of habit and to give us time to think about what we are going to say next. We need delete these from our writing. Here are some common ones you will hear, and may even use, but that should never remain in your writing.

• as a matter of fact
• at any rate
• for all intents and purposes
• in a manner of speaking
• in a very real sense
• in my (personal) opinion
• needless to say and it goes without saying
• the point I am trying to make
• what I mean to say is that
• uh, like . . . you know?

Keeping your writing succinct not only saves our reader’s time, but it gives our writing energy and momentum. William Strunk said it well when he stated:

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

As writers, we need to compose our lists correctly. Although the principles are fairly straightforward, they are not necessarily well-known.

To begin, there are two types of lists; ordered lists and unordered (or bulleted) lists.
Here is an examples of an ordered list.
What I need to do on my way home:

1. get the car from the shop
2. stop by the video store and rent Vertigo
3. go to 7/11 and buy milk (1%)

Here is an example of an unordered list.

Remember to do these things today:

• write an article about lists
• pick-up milk, car from the shop, and a movie on my way home
• complete the business proposal
• call my wife

Writing ordered lists

Ordered lists have numbers or letters preceding each item. These numbers and letters imply a sequence or ranking of the items and unless otherwise stated in the text immediately preceding the list (the lead-in), readers assume the items are arranged chronologically or by significance. So our first principle:

1.    Only use ordered lists when arranging the list items chronologically, by significance, or by another method we identify in the lead-in statement.

In legal, regulatory, and other enforceable requirement documents that require us to uniquely label each statement, we often number everything. To help distinguish ordered list items from enforceable items, we can use parentheses or square brackets to mark the enforceable items. Here is an example.

Notice in this example, that numerals with closing parentheses are used to mark regulations. These numbers continue throughout document and do not restart in different sections.

Writing unordered lists

Unordered lists usually have a graphic symbol (or bullet) before each item, but sometimes they are just of the items themselves. Unordered lists as easy to spot in our text and as easy to scan as ordered list, but they don’t imply a sequence or ranking of the list items. So here is our next principle.

2.    Use unordered lists when the list items are not arranged chronologically, by significance, or by another method.

This of course doesn’t mean we don’t think about the order we list the items; we always have a reason for the order we list things. It just means we don’t want to imply an order to our readers.

Even in legal, regulatory and requirement documents, unordered lists can be used for important items if we creatively identify each item. For example, adding some letters to the beginning of the item makes an ordered list look like an unordered list. Here is a sample from a legal and enforceable document that uses this technique.

Notice that by adding the letter R to the beginning of each ordered item, they appear more like bullets and don’t imply that R2 is more important than R3.

We can write ordered and unordered lists either vertically or horizontally (in-line with the text). The following pages describe rules and guidelines for vertical lists, in-line lists, and for keeping list items parallel.

The semicolon (;) is a delightful looking punctuation mark that provides a grammatical break that is greater than a comma, and less than a period (or full stop). So let’s look at four other ways we can use the semicolon.

Semicolons can used in the following ways:

1. Semicolons can be used to separate independent clauses.
2. Semicolons can be used to separate a clause from an explanatory clause.
3. Semicolons can be used to separate inline list items where the list items contain commas.
4. Semicolons can be used to separate a subordinate clause using a conjunctive adverb.

1. Semicolons can be used to separate independent clauses.

Independent clauses are statements that could stand on their own as separate sentences, but we want to combine them to emphasize their relationship (and there must be a relationship).

For example:

The Georgia plant supplies the raw material; the Chicago plant provides the finished product.

Each of these statements, or clauses, could be a separate sentences, but they are strongly related and we want to emphasize this relationship. We don’t however want to use a conjunction, a grammatical device that joins two phrases together.
Conjunctions that join independent clauses are called coordinated conjunctions because both clauses are of equal importance. There are 7 coordinated conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so (FANBOYS). If we use any of these we cannot use the semicolon, we only need a comma.

The Georgia plant supplies the raw material, and the Chicago plant provides the finished product.

2. Semicolons can be used to separate a clause from an explanatory clause.

This is similar to the first usage of a semicolon except in this situation the second clause is introduced by words like for example, namely, or that is.

For example:

Some pleasures cost next to nothing; for example, reading.

We always use a comma to separate the introductory words from the explanation.

3. Semicolons can be used to separate inline list items where the list items contain commas.

Inline lists are lists within a sentence. Sometimes the items in the list contains commas themselves so we need something to mark the list items. This is where the semicolon comes in.

For example:

We have planned software releases for January 15, 2010; March 20, 2010; and May 15, 2010.

4. Semicolons can be used to separate a subordinate clause using a conjunctive adverb.

This one sounds a bit technical, but it’s not as hard as it sounds. A subordinate clause is a clause or statement that can’t stand on its own as a sentence. Usually these subordinate clauses are joined to the main clause with a subordinate conjunction and all we need is a comma.

For example, here is a subordinate clause joined to the main clause by a subordinate conjunction:

The noise that kept bothering me, came from my son’s stereo.

The subordinate clause is that kept bothering me, and the subordinate conjunction is the word that.

There are lots of subordinate conjunctions including after, as, because, before, since, so, that, until, when, where, and while (there are lots more).

Sometimes however we use something called a conjunctive adverb to join a subordinate clause to the main clause. When we do, we are suppose to separate the main clause from the subordinate clause with a semicolon and separate the conjunctive adverb using a comma.

For example:

The president will be attending the lecture; accordingly, the vice president will be available for the luncheon.

There are lots of conjunctive adverbs. Here are the more common ones you might use: accordingly, afterward, again, also, as a result, at one moment… at the next, besides, consequently, further, hence, henceforth, however, instead, later, likewise, meanwhile, moreover, nevertheless, nonetheless, now…then, otherwise, similarly, so*, sometimes…sometimes, soon, still, then, therefore, and thus.

(* so may also be a coordinating conjunction when the meaning is during the time that. When the meaning of so is therefore, it is a conjunctive adverb.)

• If we’re hungry we might get a BLT, or maybe some OJ and a PBJ sandwich, or maybe some KD.
• At home we might switch on ESPN and watch an NHL game or an NBA game or an NFL game or an MLB game or the PGA tournament.
• We worry about our kids having ADHD and we watch our BMI and restrict the amount of MSG we consume so we don’t end up in ICU, or in ER, or even worse, DOA. In business, our CEO will discuss our B2B strategy with FT and PT employees.
• We may have a B2C service that is open 24/7 that our CFO claims is too inefficient so he asks the CTO to get the IT department to make it cost effective.
• And let’s not even get started with our computer life where we surf the WWW using a URL to find a BLOG site or review our RSS feeds or go to a P2P site to listen to a new band.

But did you know that acronyms are a 20th Century thing. The first time the word acronym was defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was 1949. Boy have we come a long way since then.

The word acronym comes from the Greek word akros, meaning topmost or extreme, and onoma meaning name. So acronyms are extreme names. Using them is not as dangerous as some extreme sports, but we do need to be careful not to hurt our readers with them.

There are actually three distinct methods used to shorten common words and phrases: abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms.

Abbreviations are: a shortened form of a word or phrase used chiefly in writing to represent the complete form, such as Ave. for average.

Acronyms are: a word formed from the initial letters of a name, such as WAC for Women’s Army Corps, or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar for radio detecting and ranging.

Initialisms are: the initial letter(s) of a phrase such as HTML from HyperText Markup Language. Initialisms, sometimes called alphabetisms, are spoken by pronouncing each letter.

Usage

Some acronyms and abbreviations are so widely known that we can always assume our audience knows what they refer to, even if they don’t know their origin (e.g., IBM International Business Machines, ISBN International Standard Book Number). We can use these is our publications without providing a definition.

Some abbreviations and acronyms are common to a profession or specialty group (e.g., RAM Random Access Memory, AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOmatically EXECuted BATch file). Here we can assume the audience is familiar with them, and if they are not, we can help them by defining it once and then using it throughout our publication.

Some abbreviations and acronyms are specific to a very small group or a single organization. We should avoid using such abbreviations and acronyms if there is any chance that people outside of these groupings will need to read our publication.

Sometimes we will use abbreviations or acronyms for words that are common to our publication. In this case we are trying to help our readers understand the content. A general rule-of-thumb is that if a term appears 3-times or less in our publications we should probably just use the term and not use the abbreviated form or an acronym.

Some are never spelled out

Some acronyms and abbreviations should never be spelled out. These include:

• Mr.
• Ms. (this has no spelled out form)
• Mrs.
• Dr.
• A.M.
• P.M.
• B.C.
• A.D.

Using Latin abbreviations

There are a number of Latin abbreviations, the more common of these are listed in the table below. Latin abbreviations should only be used in parenthetical text to shorten the amount of text within the parentheses.
Latin abbreviation meaning:

• cf. compare
• e.g., for example,
• , etc. , and so forth
• i.e., that is,
• viz., namely,
• vs. versus or against

Pluralizing Acronyms and Abbreviations

This is probably the biggest area where we make mistakes. So here are some rules to help us along the way.

Rule 1: Acronyms are pluralized by adding an s, not ‘s.

Examples:

• the three Rs
• SOSs
• all the YMCAs
• CODs and IOUs

Rule 2: Abbreviations with one period are pluralized by adding an s before the period.

Example:

• vol. pluralizes to vols.
• ed. pluralizes to eds.
• yr. pluralizes to yrs.

Rule 3: Abbreviations with more than one period are pluralized by adding ‘s.

Examples:

• M.A.’s
• Ph.D.’s

And the exceptions

Not surprising, there are some exceptions to these rules. Here are some of these.

Exception 1: To pluralize the abbreviation for page, note, and line is formed by doubling the letter.

Examples:

• p. pluralizes to pp.
• n. pluralizes to nn.
• l. pluralizes to ll.

Exception 2: When adding an s to an abbreviation creates a different abbreviation, the abbreviation has an irregular plural.

Examples:

• Mr. pluralizes to Messrs.
• Mrs. pluralizes to Mmes or Mmes.

Exception 3: Do not add an s to units of measure to pluralize them. Either use the singular form, or spell out the unit.

Examples:

• use 3 cm, not 3 cms
• degrees, minutes, seconds

Style for Abbreviations and Acronyms

Here are some style guidelines to follow when using acronyms and abbreviations.

Guideline 1: Do not include periods in all-capital abbreviations unless the abbreviation is geographical or refers to a person.

Examples:

• UFO
• P.E.I.

Guideline 2: Single-letter abbreviations are followed by a period.

Example:

• E. (for East)

Guideline 3: Acronyms that are formed from the first letter of each word are all capitals.

Examples:

• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
• CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography)
• CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory)

Guideline 4: Acronyms formed from initial and other letters are in mixed case.

Example:

• Dofasco (Dominion Foundries and Steel Corp)
• Nabisco (National Biscuit Company)

Guideline 5: Acronyms that have become common words are not capitalized.

Example:

• radar (radio detection and ranging)
• scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)
• laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)

Choosing the correct indefinite article

Sometime we may be uncertain about which indefinite article to use before an acronym or abbreviation. The most widely accept solution is to use the indefinite article that would be appropriate if we were speaking the statement out load. This means we need to know when these acronyms and abbreviations are spoken as individual letter, and as neologism (an invented word).

Examples:

• an NAACP position
• a TV power station
• an NFL team
• a NATO meeting
• a FORTRAN compiler

Articles by the way are little grammatical things that signal that a noun is about to appear. There are two types:

• definite article: the
• indefinite articles: a and an

Following these rules and guidelines when using acronyms and abbreviations will not only help our readers, but will also help us as writers to use them correctly and consistently.

There are some very hard an fast rules about how to capitalize English words in sentences, to learn about these see the article When to capitalize. However, when it comes to capitalizing headings, there are only hard and fast suggestions and expectations, but no rules. In the absence of rules, we at least want to be consistent, so publishing organizations have developed styleguides that include recommendations on how to capitalize headings. The five styleguides that influence most of the publications we read include the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual, the Canadian Press (CP) Stylebook, the Chicago Manual of Style, the Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook, and the Plain Language Commission (PLC) recommendations. The reason we find capitalizing headings confusing is that each one has different recommendations.

To help us figure out what to do, let’s quickly review the recommendations of each of these styleguides, and then finish with some advice from common business writing experience.

APA Publication Manual

The APA Publication Manual was originally developed for APA authors but its use has spread to many professional organizations and more recent editions have embraced the needs of a wider range of business and professional writing. The fifth edition, the current edition, makes the following recommendations for capitalizing headings.

1. Capitalize all major words: all words 4 letters or more, all verbs, linking verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns.
2. Use lowercase for conjunctions, articles, and short prepositions (3 letters or less).
3. Capitalize all words four letters or longer.
4. Capitalize both elements of a hyphenated compound word (i.e., Death-Defying).
5. Capitalize first word after a colon.

CP Stylebook

The Canadian Press was founded in 1917 and has been providing guidance to Canadian news publishers and broadcasters ever since. It is also widely accepted by Canadian Universities and Colleges. The 15th edition, the current edition, makes the following recommendations for capitalizing headings.

1. Only the first letter of the first word of the headline is uppercase. All other words in the headline follow normal CP capitalization.

CP capitalization is to capitalize all proper names, trade names, government departments and agencies, name of associations, companies, clubs, religions, languages, nations, races, places, and addresses.

Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style was first published in 1906 by the University of Chicago Press as a styleguide for university publications. It is now in its 15th edition and is widely used by business and academic organizations. The 15th edition makes the following recommendation for capitalizing headings.

1. Capitalize first and last word.
2. Capitalize all major words (including some conjunctions).
3. Use lowercase for articles (the, a, an).
4. Use lowercase for preposition regardless of length except when they are stressed (i.e., A River Runs Through It).
5. Use lowercase for conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor).
6. Use lowercase for to and as.
7. Capitalize only the first element of a hyphenated word unless any subsequent element is a proper noun (i.e., Death-defying, All-American.)

MLA Handbook

The Modern Language Association was founded in 1883 at the John Hopkins University. They publish the MLA hadnbook for scholastic and academic research publications. The 7th edition of their handbook makes the following recommendations for capitalizing headings.

1. Capitalize all words in titles except prepositions, conjunctions, and articles.
2. Do not capitalize the second word of a hyphenated compound word (i.e., Pig-headed).

Plain Language Commission

The Plain Language Commission was established in the late-1970s from the Plain-English movement that began a few years earlier. The advocate the use of plain language and have been influencing medical, legal, and business communications. The PLC has the following recommendations for capitalizing headings.

1. Only capitalize the first letter of the first word in a heading unless the word is a proper noun or proper name.

Prepositions, conjunctions and articles.

Most styleguides recommend different capitalization for prepositions, conjunctions, and articles. So briefly here is what each of these is.
Prepositions are a group of words that show position or location. For example, on, to, over, under, through, and between are prepositions.
Conjunctions are a group of words that link words, phrases, and sentences together. For example and, but, or, for, yet, nor, and so are conjunctions.
Articles precede nouns. There are only two articles in English; the and a/an.

On a practical note

The easiest strategy for capitalizing headings are the recommendations proposed by the Plain Language Commision and the Canadian Press; namely to only capitalize the first letter of the first word, and any poper names and proper nouns. These headings are easy to read, and easy for the writer to figure out how to capitalize. However, after over 25 years of business and technical writing, I have found that most organizations believe that headings should have lots of capital letters and resist this more straight forward approach. Capitalizing the major headings of a publication using the APA guidelines, and then using the PLC/CP guidelines for all subheadings is often an acceptable compromise in most situations. So if you can’t fully implement the PLC/CP guidelines, consider such a blend.

Rule 1: Write out a number if it begins a sentence.

Examples:

Thirty-two people won an award for outstanding technical contributions.

Rule 2: Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.

Examples:

Forty-four people were injured in the blowout.
Twenty-three of them were hospitalized.

Rule 3: Write decimals in figures. Put a zero in front of a decimal unless the decimal itself begins with a zero.

Examples:

The soil eroded back by 0.89 metres in a year.
The soil only eroded .05 metres this year because of the drought.

Rule 4: Be consistent within a category.

If you choose numerals because one of the numbers is greater than nine, use numerals for all numbers in that category. If you choose to spell out numbers because one of the numbers is a single digit, spell out all numbers in that category.

If you have numbers in different categories, use numerals for one category and spell out the other.

Correct Examples:

My 10 cats fought with their 2 cats.
My ten cats fought with their two cats.

Given the budget constraints, if all 30 history students attend the four plays, then the 7 math students will be able to attend only two
plays. (Students are represented with figures; plays are represented with words.)

Incorrect Example:

I asked for five pencils, not 50.

Rule 5: Always spell out simple fractions and hyphenate the parts (the numerator and the denominator).

Examples:

One-half of the pies have been eaten.
A two-thirds majority is required for that bill to pass in Congress.

Exception: When a hyphen already appears in either part of the fraction (the numerator or the denominator), omit the hyphen between the numerator and denominator.

Examples:

twenty-five thirty-seconds
three ten-thousandths
thirty-two thousandths

Rule 6: A mixed fraction can be expressed in figures unless it is the first word of a sentence.

Examples:

Allow for a 1 1/2 percent expansion rate.
One and one-half percent was the maximum expansion rate allowed.

Rule 7: The simplest way to express large numbers is best.

Round numbers are usually spelled out. Be careful to be consistent within a sentence.

Correct: You can earn from one million to five million dollars.
Incorrect: You can earn from one million to $5,000,000.
Correct: You can earn from five hundred to five million dollars.
Correct: You can earn from $5 hundred to $5 million.
Incorrect: You can earn from $500 to $5 million.
Incorrect: You can earn from $500 to five million dollars.

Rule 8: With numbers that have decimal points…

Use a comma only when the number has five or more digits before the decimal point. When writing out numbers, use the comma where it would appear in the figure format. Use the word and where the decimal point appears in the figure format.

Examples:

$15,768.13: Fifteen thousand, seven hundred sixty-eight dollars and
thirteen cents

$1054.21: One thousand fifty-four dollars and twenty-one cents

Note: If the number does not have a decimal point, still use the comma where it appears in the numerical form.

1,054 schools : one thousand, fifty-four schools
12,154 schools: twelve thousand, one hundred fifty-four schools

Rule 9: To express decades using incomplete numerals, put an apostrophe before the incomplete numeral but not between the year and the s.

Correct: During the ’80s and ’90s, the Canadian economy grew only slightly.
Incorrect: During the ’80′s and ’90′s, the Canadian economy grew only slightly.

Rule 10: To express decades in complete numerals, don’t use an apostrophe between the year and the s.

Example: During the 1980s and 1990s, the Canadian economy grew only slightly.

Rule 11: When a written-out number or a numeral is joined to a unit of measurement and the resulting compound is used as an adjective, use a hyphen to join the number and its unit of measurement.

Examples:

the 100-yard dash
a ten-day tour
a two-minute speech
a 40-hour work week
a 90-degree angle

Rule 12: Avoid word-numeral doublets.

We’ve all seen this in legal documents, statements like this:

The licensee agrees to pay the licensor two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000).

Why do we do this? According to Bryan Garner in his book Legal Writing in Plain English: “comparatively few lawyers even know why they engage in the ancient habit.” Word-numeral doublets arose centuries ago as a safeguard against fraudulently altered documents; numerals are easier to alter than words. As Bryan states, “There’s no good reason why modern briefs, judicial opinions, statues, or contracts should contain doublets“. If the lawyers don’t need word-numeral doublets, neither do we.

A Parting Recommendation

Use a combination of figures and words for numbers when a combination will keep your writing clear.

Unclear: The club celebrated the birthdays of 6 90-year-olds who were born in the city.

The reader might read ’690′ as one number.

Clearer: The club celebrated the birthdays of six 90-year-olds who were born in the city.

Here are a number of rules to help decide when we should capitalize words in a sentence.

Rule 1. Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence.

Examples:

He said, “Treat her as you would your own daughter.”

“Look out!” she screamed. “You almost ran into my child.”

Rule 2. Capitalize a proper noun.

Example:

Golden Gate Bridge

Rule 3. Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name. Do not capitalize when the title is acting as a description following the name.

Examples:

Chairperson Petrov
Ms. Petrov, the chairperson of the company, will address us at noon.

Rule 4. Capitalize the person’s title when it follows the name on the address or signature line.

Example:
Sincerely,
Ms. Haines, Chairperson

Rule 5. Capitalize the titles of high-ranking government officials when used with or before their names. Do not capitalize the civil title if it is used instead of the name.

Examples:

The president will address Congress.
All senators are expected to attend.
The governors, lieutenant governors, and attorneys general called for a special task force.
Governor Fortinbrass, Lieutenant Governor Poppins, Attorney General Dalloway, and Senators James and Twain will attend.

Rule 6. Capitalize any title when used as a direct address.

Example:

Will you take my temperature, Doctor?

Rule 7. Capitalize points of the compass only when they refer to specific regions.

Examples:

We have had three relatives visit from the South.
Go south three blocks and then turn left.
We live in the southeast section of town.
Southeast is just an adjective here describing section, so it should not be capitalized.

Rule 8. Always capitalize the first and last words of titles of publications regardless of their parts of speech. Capitalize other words within titles, including the short verb forms Is, Are, and Be.

Exception: Do not capitalize little words within titles such as a, an, the, but, as, if, and, or, nor, or prepositions, regardless of their length.

Examples:

The Day of the Jackal
What Color Is Your Parachute?
A Tale of Two Cities

Rule 9. Capitalize federal or state when used as part of an official agency name or in government documents where these terms represent an official name. If they are being used as general terms, you may use lowercase letters.

Examples:

The state has evidence to the contrary.
That is a federal offense.
The State Board of Equalization collects sales taxes.
We will visit three states during our summer vacation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been subject to much scrutiny and criticism lately.
Her business must comply with all county, state, and federal laws.

Rule 10. You may capitalize words such as department, bureau, and office if you have prepared your text in the following way:

Example:

The Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) has some jurisdiction over Indian lands. The Bureau is finding its administrative role to be challenging.

Rule 11. Do not capitalize names of seasons.

Example:

I love autumn colors and spring flowers.

Rule 12. Capitalize the first word of a salutation and the first word of a complimentary close.

Examples:

Dear Ms. Mohamed:
My dear Mr. Sanchez:
Very truly yours,

Rule 13. Capitalize words derived from proper nouns.

Example:

I must take English and math.
English is capitalized because it comes from the proper noun England, but math does not come from Mathland.

Rule 14. Capitalize the names of specific course titles.

Example:

I must take history and Algebra 2.

Rule 15. After a sentence ending with a colon, do not capitalize the first word if it begins a list.

Example:

These are my favorite foods: chocolate cake, spaghetti, and artichokes.

Rule 16. Do not capitalize when only one sentence follows a sentence ending with a colon.

Example:

I love Jane Smiley’s writing: her book, A Thousand Acres, was beautiful.

Rule 17. Capitalize when two or more sentences follow a sentence ending with a colon.

Example:

I love Jane Smiley’s writing: Her book, A Thousand Acres, was beautiful. Also, Moo was clever.

When we read, we read with a voice in our head. The tone and personality of that voice are dictated by the typeface we use. Typeface is the non-verbal part of our communication and it plays a very important role in the whole communication.

Experienced typographers know the influence that fonts can have on readers. In a BBC Science radio documentary Neville Brody, a famous English graphic designer, typographer and art director, stated “the choice of a font will tell you how you will react emotionally to the information before you’ve even read anything.”

So powerful is the influence fonts, that the author James Herbert had an entire printing run of his book Fluke, pulled because the publisher used the font Times Roman rather than Plantin, the one he requested. Figure 1 show an excerpt from his book in Times Roman and Figure 2 shows the same excerpt in Plantin.

Figure 1: An excerpt from J. Herbert’s book Fluke using the rejected typeface Times Roman.

Figure 2: An excerpt from J. Herbert’s book Fluke using the requested typeface Plantin.

Our perception of fonts was the subject of research conducted at Wichita State University by A. Dawn Shaikh, Barbara S. Chaparro, and Doug Fox. The results of this study, which sought to determine if certain personalities and uses are associated with various fonts, was reported in Usability News in the February 2006 article Perception of Fonts: Perceived Personality Traits and Uses.

Among the conclusion was that the typeface Calibri, which is now distributed with Microsoft Office 2007, was one of the most popular all purpose fonts.

Readers Associate Specific Personalities to Fonts

This study examined the font preferences and perceived personalities that over 500 participants had for 20 popular fonts. The results present some interesting personality perceptions for fonts as well as some strong preferences for their use. Figure 20 show the top 3 fonts that suggested specific personalities. Using these results, we can begin to describe the message that a typeface delivers to our readers.
For example; the typeface Cambria, a new addition to the Microsoft Office 2007 offering, sends the message of stability, politeness, maturity, and practicality. Arial on the other hand suggests stability, conformity, and unimaginative.

Another typeface to notice is Impact, which suggests assertiveness and a number of more negative messages including rigid, rude, sad, unattractive, and course.

Figure 3: Top 3 fonts for each personality studied. (Shaikh, Chaparro, and Fox, 2006)

Analysis Suggest 5 Personality Groups

Further analysis of the results reveals 5 font factors that are based on both the font characteristics and personality traits. These 5 factors are All Purpose, Traditional, Happy Creative, Assertive, are shown in Figure 4 along with the typefaces that are most associated with these. Notice that Calibri is top of the list for All Purpose typefaces, and yet from Figure 3 it does not have any predominant personality trait associated with it.

Figure 4: Five dominant font personality groups. Fonts are listed in order of significance. (Shaikh, Chaparro, and Fox, 2006)

When participants were asked if they would use a specific typeface for a specific use, some strong preferences emerged and are summarized in Figure 5. Interesting to note from these results is that, once again, a clear preference for serif or sans serif fonts did not emerge. This supports a mounting body of research that suggests that suitability of a typeface for a specific task or audience is not simply an issue of serif versus sans serif.

Figure 5: Font uses with the highest consistency among participants. Percent saying “Yes, I would use this font.” (Shaikh, Chaparro, and Fox, 2006)

Our readers not only perceive messages from the typeface we select, but they are even able to identify some of these messages. As communicators, we need to be aware of these non-verbal messages and select our typefaces appropriately.

Here is a list of English words that are often confused and a description of their correct usage.

accept/except (to receive vs. to take or leave out)

He accepts defeat well.
Please take all the books off the shelf except for the red one.

adapt/adept (make fit for, or change to suit a new purpose vs. having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude)

Adapt our native cuisine to the available food resources of the new country.
She is adept in handicrafts.

adverse/averse (acting to oppose or harmful vs. averse that is having a feeling of opposition or aversion to)

We are not averse to the idea.
The chemical had adverse effects on her system.

affect/effect (v., to influence vs. n., result, or v., to accomplish)

Lack of sleep affects the quality of your work.
The subtle effect of the lighting made the room look ominous.

allot/a lot (to give or apportion something to vs. a large amount)

We will allot seats to the press.
I feel a lot better

altar/alter (a table at the front of a church vs. cause to change)

He sacrificed his family life on the altar of career advancement.
The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city

among/between (many vs. two)

I found it among the trees.
The broken pipeline sites are between two major cities.

allusion/illusion (an indirect reference vs. a false perception of reality)

The professor made an allusion to Virginia Woolf’s work.
They saw a mirage: that is a type of illusion one sees in the desert.

all ready/already (prepared vs. by this time)

Dinner was all ready when the guests arrived.
The turkey was already burned when the guests arrived.

altogether/all together (entirely vs. gathered, with everything in one place)

Altogether, I thought that the student’s presentation was well planned.
We were all together at the family reunion last spring.

apart/a part (to be separated vs. to be joined with)

The chain-link fence kept the angry dogs apart. OR My old car fell apart before we reached California.
The new course was a part of the new field of study at the university. OR A part of this plan involves getting started at dawn.

ascent/assent (climb vs. agreement)

The plane’s ascent made my ears pop.
The martian assented to undergo experiments.

assure/insure/ensure

Each of these words share the meaning of to make secure or certain. Common usage however dictates that each of these are used only in the following ways:
Assure is used with reference to causing someone to feel secure or confident. For example:
I assured the customer of our refund policy.
Insure is used with reference to guaranteeing a persons property against risk.
Ensure is used with reference to making certain. For example:
Our precautions ensured our safety.

auger/augur (a tool for boring vs. an act or sign that things will go well)

Auger analysis can be used to identify all elements.
A double fault on the opening point did not augur well.

baited/bated (Lure, entice, or entrap with bait vs. Moderate or restrain)

He baited the hook.
He bated his breath when talking about this affair

biannual/biennial (occurring two times each year vs. occurring once every two years)

We make a biannual visit to the in-laws: once at Christmas and again in the summer.
Parsnips and carrots are biennial plants

breath/breathe (n., air inhaled or exhaled vs. v., to inhale or exhale)

You could see his breath in the cold air.
If you don’t breathe, then you are dead.

breach/breech/breeches (breaking of laws, rules, contracts, or promises vs. part of a gun vs. short trousers)

He is in breach of our contract.
The bullet is stuck in the breech.

Originally, riding breeches were quite snug to the leg, but in 1900, a fuller leg was authorized.

capital/capitol (seat of government. Also financial resources. vs. the actual building in which the legislative body meets)

The capital of Virginia is Richmond.
The firm had enough capital to build the new plant.
The governor announced his resignation in a speech given at the capitol today.

carat/caret (unit of measurement for the proportion of gold in an alloy vs. A mark used by an author or editor to indicate where something is to be inserted into a text)

Pure gold (‘fine gold’) is 24 carats (karats) and so 24 carats is theoretically 100% gold.
The caret symbol (^) is written below the line of text for a line-level punctuation mark such as a comma.

cite/sight/site (to quote or document vs. vision vs. position or place)

I cited ten quotes from the same author in my paper.
The sight of the American flag arouses different emotions in different parts of the world.
The new office building was built on the site of a cemetery.

complement/compliment (n., something that completes; verb, to complete vs. n., praise; v., to praise)

A nice dry white wine complements a seafood entree.
The professor complimented Betty on her proper use of a comma.

comprised/composed (embrace, include vs. made up of [transitive verb])

This pair is often confused by both readers and writers. It is often best to avoid these in favour of either words like includes, to indicate that not all components are listed; or consists of, to indicate that all components are listed.

conscience/conscious (sense of right and wrong vs. awake)

The student’s conscience kept him from cheating on the exam.
I was conscious when the burglar entered the house.

continual/continuous (“repeatedly” vs. “non-stop”)

For two weeks the sperm whales continually dived to great depths in search of food.
The spectrum of light is continuous.

council/counsel (a group that consults or advises vs. to advise)

The men and women on the council voted in favor of an outdoor concert in their town.
The parole officer counseled the convict before he was released.

dissociate/disassociate

These words mean the same thing, but dissociate is the older word, whereas disassociate is a newcomer that has a less distinguished pedigree. Basically, disassociate came into common usage because people misunderstood dissociate, thinking it needed the extra syllable, which it does not. Disassociate is not actually wrong, but dissociate is preferred, simply because it is older and because that added syllable adds nothing of value.

discreet/discrete (prudent, circumspect, or modest vs. separate or individually distinct)

Their discreet comments about the business led the brokers to expect an early sale of the company.
Each company in the conglomerate operates as a discrete entity.

elicit/illicit (to draw or bring out vs. illegal)

The teacher elicited the correct response from the student.
The Columbian drug lord was arrested for his illicit activities.

e.g. / i.e. (for example vs. that is)

The distinction between these two is often missed by readers. E.g. is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase exempli gratia meaning for the sake of example. I.e. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase id est meaning that is (to say) or sometimes in this case.

eminent/immanent/imminent (famous, respected vs. inherent or intrinsic vs. ready to take place)

The eminent podiatrist won the Physician of the Year award.
The meaning of the poem was immanent, and not easily recognized.
A fight between my sister and me is imminent from the moment I enter my house.

enquire/inquire

These are two spellings of the same word, which means to seek information about something or to conduct a formal investigation. Either spelling can be used, but many people prefer enquire and enquiry for the general sense of “ask”, and inquire and inquiry for a formal investigation.

I enquired his name

The first enquiry in my inbox today was about lost property.

We are going to inquire into the incident.

The lawyers asked when the inquiry will be completed.

In practice, enquire and enquiry are more common in British English, and inquire and inquiry are more common in US English, for both informal questions and formal investigations. Note also that the Canadian Press recommends the use of inquire and inquiry.

farther/further (distance vs. quantity)

We need to move farther down the corridor.
The application of the law was extended further.

its/it’s (of or belonging to it vs. contraction for it is)

The baby will scream as soon as its mother walks out of the room.
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

lead/led (n., a type of metal vs. v., past tense of the verb “to lead”)

Is that pipe made of lead?
She led the campers on an over-night hike.

lets/let’s (3rd person singular of “to let” (allow) vs. contraction “let us”)

My mother lets me eat candy.
Let’s eat candy

lie/lay (to lie down [a person or animal. hint: people can tell lies] vs. to lay an object down)

I have a headache, so I’m going to lie down for a while.
(also lying, lay, has/have lain–The dog has lain in the shade all day; yesterday, the dog lay there for twelve hours).
“Lay down that gun, Bubba!” The sheriff demanded.
The town lay at the foot of the mountain.
(also laying, laid, has/have laid–At that point, Bubba laid the gun on the ground).

lose/loose (v., to misplace or not win vs. noun, to not be tight; v., [rarely used]–to release)

Mom glared at Mikey. “If you lose that new lunchbox, don’t even think of coming home!”
The burglar’s pants were so loose that he was sure to lose the race with the cop chasing him.
While awaiting trial, he was never set loose from jail because no one would post his bail.

passed/past (v., past tense of “to pass,” to have moved vs. belonging to a former time or place)

The tornado passed through the city quickly, but it caused great damage.
Who was the past president of Microsquish Computers?
Go past the fire station and turn right.

precede/proceed (to come before vs. to go forward)

Pre-writing precedes the rough draft of good papers.
He proceeded to pass back the failing grades on the exam.

preventive/preventative (preventive is the adjective, preventative the noun)

The two are actually interchangeable as both can be nouns and adjective. Many prefer preventive as being shorter and simpler and this is the recommendation of the Canadian Press.

principal/principle (adj., most important; n., a person who has authority vs. a general or fundamental truth)

The principal ingredient in chocolate chip cookies is chocolate chips.
The principal of the school does the announcements each morning.
The study was based on the principle of gravity.

quote/quotation (v., to cite vs. n., the act of citing)

I would like to quote Dickens in my next paper.
The book of famous quotations inspired us all.

stationary/stationery (standing still vs. writing paper)

The accident was my fault because I ran into a stationary object.
My mother bought me stationery that was on recycled paper.

supposed to/suppose (correct form for “to be obligated to” or “presumed to” NOT “suppose to” vs. to guess or make a conjecture)

Do you suppose we will get to the airport on time? When is our plane supposed to arrive? We are supposed to check our bags before we board, but I suppose we could do that at the curb and save time.

than/then (use with comparisons vs. at that time, or next)

I would rather go out to eat than eat at the dining hall.
I studied for my exam for seven hours, and then I went to bed.

their/there/they’re (possessive form of they vs. indicates location [hint: think of "here and there"] vs. contraction for “they are”)

Their house is at the end of the block.
There goes my chance of winning the lottery!
They’re in Europe for the summer–again!

through/threw/thorough/though/thru (by means of; finished; into or out of vs. past tense of throw vs. careful or complete vs. however; nevertheless vs. abbreviated slang for through; not appropriate in standard writing)

He plowed right through the other team’s defensive line.
She threw away his love love letters.
John thoroughly cleaned his room; there was not even a speck of dust when he finished.
He’s really a sweetheart though he looks tough on the outside.
We’re thru for the day!

to/too/two (toward vs. also, or excessively vs. a number)

I went to the University of Richmond.
He drank too many screwdrivers and was unable to drive home.
Only two students did not turn in the assignment.

who/which/that (pronoun, referring to a person or persons vs. pronoun, replacing a singular or plural thing(s);not used to refer to persons vs. used to refer to things or a group or class of people)

Jane wondered how Jack, who is so smart, could be having difficulties in Calculus.
Which section of history did you get into?
I lost the book that I bought last week.

who/whom (used as a subject or as a subject complement [see above] vs. used as an object)

John is the man who can get the job done.
Whom did Sarah choose as her replacement?

I’m sure there are more, many more. But rather than think of these as just confusing, perhaps we should take Henry Miller’s words to heart when he said: “Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood” and accept that we just don’t yet understand.