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Monthly
The Virgule Good writing must invite a person to start reading. Fortunately, clear writing and attractive writing generally go together. Unfortunately, most writers struggle with a love affair for literary devices that not only obscure meaning, but spoil the appearance of text. We cram our documents with acronyms and capitalize common nouns. Then we sprinkle in a liberal portion of the virgule—commonly known as the slash. The slash is legitimate for such uses as Internet addresses, fractions, or to indicate per as in miles / hour. Often, however, we use it arbitrarily to suggest some vague relationship: motor/controller, employee/contractor, and/or, equipment/system. Suppose we were to write, for example, that the design/safety engineer will perform a particular safety task. Does that mean the task will be done by either, both, or one person functioning in both capacities? Only the writer knows for sure. Garner’s Modern American Usage says that the slash “is a mark that doesn’t appear much in first-rate writing.” Linguist Wilson Follett calls it “the mark of lazy thought.” Perhaps it’s not so much laziness as tight schedules that entice us to choose vague alternatives over precise statements. We take the quick way out, and our writing suffers in both clarity and attractiveness. How do we avoid the slash? In the case of and/or, the word or alone will usually do. For other cases, replace the slash with the appropriate word or words. To avoid a clumsy repetition in subsequent use, tell the reader we will use only one term (hereafter called safety engineer), or we can substitute a third word for the entire expression. For example: An engineer or technician will analyze the problem. The analyst will then issue a report on the findings. There is almost always a better choice than the virgule. See what creative ways you can find to slash it from your writing. Use it only as a last resort. ... click to continue April © 2008 Maryland 20878® |
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Monthly
Random Thoughts A week or so ago I attended a new concept in Senior Learning: The One Day University. A clever fellow hired four well known and respected professors from four prestigious universities. Their job was to give a 90 minute lecture about their field of specialization to an audience composed mostly of seniors. This was held in the facilities of Johns Hopkins University campus in Rockville. The cost for the full day (One Day University) which included lunch, was $219. While not inexpensive, it was not unreasonable, either. There was a lunch provided. The four professors were Andrew Delbanco from Columbia, Shawn Achor from Harvard, Paul Bracken from Yale, and Michael Olmert from Maryland. They spoke about Herman Melville, Positive Psychology and the Science of Happiness, The Second Nuclear Age, and Colonial Williamsburg. All gave excellent presentations. As a ancillary note, Professor Achor commented that there were certain things they had learned about in the past 10 years. As a general and sweeping statement, they had now measured items that in the past they had only considered through the use of anecdotal evidence. For example, it was always assumed that your brain capability was fixed upon birth. You had certain mental “smarts” and that was it. But recent measures indicate that you can change your brain power. You have to want to change, and you have to work at it, but if you are willing, you can make yourself smarter. They have data to prove it. In addition, equally amazing is the information that there is real power to positive thinking. Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book called The Power of Positive Thinking. We thought it was a nice idea, and yes, you appeared to feel better. Just illusion, right? No. That is wrong. They now have data that says that Peale was and remains absolutely correct. If you think good, happy thoughts, positive thoughts, then you will not only feel better: you will live longer, be healthier, and look younger. I am not kidding. These are actual measured results. The presentation by Paul Bracken was of particular interest to me. He talked about ... click to continue April © 2008 Maryland 20878® |
