editing and style for technical communication PROOFREADING

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editing and style for technical
communicationPROOFREADING

• Proofreading the step between copyediting and
  printing
• Distinction between copyediting and proofreading
  sometimes blurred, especially with online
  documents

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editing and style for technical communication
PROOFREADING
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editing and style for technical communication
PROOFREADING

• Does not change editorial decisions made at time
  of copyediting
• May find errors not seen in copyedit

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editing and style for technical communication
PROOFREADING

• Know these terms
• Typeset
• Galley proof
• Page proof
• Blueline
• Dead copy

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editing and style for technical communication
PROOFREADING

• The cost of fixing errors increases exponentially
  at each stage of production
• Good proofreaders cut costs
• A trained eye is needed, with special attention
  to the final appearance of the document

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editing and style for technical communication
PROOFREADING

• Strategies
• Use your computer tools
• Check the dead copy
• Pay attention to non-body copy (see list, Rude p.
  186)
• If you find one error, look for more
• Review once for visual errors (see list, Rude p.
  186)

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editing and style for technical communication
PROOFREADING

• Strategies (continued)
• Check hyphenated words line end
• Force slow reading
• Proofread with a partner
• Read out of sequence
• Use multiple proofreaders
• Read when you are alert!

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMARA Beautiful Relationship
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editing and style for technical
communicationPUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Punctuation guides the reader through the text.
• When its right, its invisible.
• You cannot rely on intuitionyou have to have a
  thorough knowledge of grammar to punctuate well.

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• WHAT IS?
• A clause
• A phrase
• A relative pronoun
• Restrictive and nonrestrictive modifiers
• Parallel structure

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Learn the basic principles and terms.
• Read closely for meaning.
• Use a handbook when you are unsure.

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• WE NEVER GUESSWE LOOK IT UP!

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editing and style for technical
communicationPUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• A clause has a subject and a verb
• the program crashed
• crashing creates problems
• to crash is never an objective
• which was the problem
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Clauses can be independent
• the program crashed
• Clauses can be dependent
• which was the problem
• Specific punctuation marks show the different
  ways to join clauses.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR
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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Participles
• Verb parts acting like adjectives
• The flying debris almost hit my cat, but the
  shrunken head was in the way and saved her.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Present participles they end in ing.
• Past participles they end in ed.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Gerunds and present participles look the same,
  but they function as different parts of speech
• Eating beef can be dangerous (gerund).
• I dont like crying babies (participle).
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• When a sentence contains more than one clause,
  they are often joined by a conjunction.
• Coordinating conjunctions join two independent
  clauses.
• Subordinating conjunctions join a dependent
  clause to an independent clause.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Coordinating conjunctions BOYFANS (but, or, yet,
  for, and, nor, so)
• And also joins compound subjects, predicates, and
  objects
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• I went home, and I opened a beer.
• I went home and opened a beer.
• I went home and opened a beer and a bag of
  Doritos.
• I went home, and I opened a beer and a bag of
  Doritos.
• NOTE that the comma appears only before a
  conjunction joining two independent clauses.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Some examples of subordinating conjunctions
  after, although, as, because, if, once, since,
  that, though, till, unless, until, when,
  whenever, where, wherever, while
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• NOTE for an international audience, avoid using
  subordinating conjunctions such as as, once,
  since, when except when you want to convey a
  literal sense of time or comparison, but not in
  place of conjunctions such as because that signal
  logical relationships.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Okay I have been with IBM since 1985.
• Not okay I will be signing the contract since
  our CEO is out of town.
• Okay I will be signing because our CEO is out of
  town.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• The basic word order of the English sentence is
• SUBJECT VERB OBJECT
• Not all verbs require an object.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Relative pronouns relate to a noun in the
  sentence that, what, which, who, whoever, whom,
  whomever, whose
• Clauses beginning in a relative pronoun can be
  the subject of the sentence, the object of the
  sentence, or a modifier.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Subject
• Whoever took my shoes stinks.
• Object
• I will punish whoever took my shoes.
• Modifier
• The man who took my shoes stinks.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• More examples
• Whoever comes first will get the best seat.
• I will ambush whoever comes first.
• The library book that Joe checked out is overdue.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses (study
  Rude, p. 141?142)
• Easiest to use that for all restrictive relative
  clauses (ACS policy)
• Do not use a comma with the restrictive clause
• We liked the car that he bought.
• We like the car, which was not what he had
  planned to buy.

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editing and style for technical communication

• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Simple
• He took all of his luggage to the airport without
  a hitch.
• In my opinion, its too late to change your mind.
• I believe most of what you said.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Compound
• The new law will require you to wear shoes, but I
  plan to protest it.
• Asking nothing of his host, he simply wanted to
  be left alone, yet he was always attracting
  attention.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Complex
• The horse is ready to go although I am not ready
  to ride it.
• Although I am not ready to ride it, the horse is
  ready to go.
• The new teacher, who has never had to face this
  level of insolence, is always sneaking out for a
  smoke.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Compound?complex
• He took his books, and he left the room, which
  was not the best idea.
• Because you cannot be trusted, I will unplug your
  modem, and you can complain all you like, but I
  will not give it back.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• See Table 9.1, Rude p. 137 for punctuation
  patterns for the three sentence types.
• Pay careful attention to the presence or absence
  of commas/semicolons in the patterns illustrated.
• Know these patterns and what triggers the
  punctuation!
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Punctuating simple sentences
• Never separate the subject from the verb with one
  comma
• Parenthetical expressions with a comma on either
  side can be inserted.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Punctuating compound sentences
• Use a comma with a coordinating conjunction
• Use a semicolon (sometimes a colon or a dash)
  without a coordinating conjunction
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Punctuating compound sentences (continued)
• Know the difference between a conjunctive adverb
  and a coordinating conjunction
• See Rude p. 139
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Punctuating complex sentences
• Semicolons and colons do not separate independent
  from dependent clauses.
• See Rude, p. 140-141
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Punctuating compound?complex sentences
• First apply rules for punctuating the independent
  clauses, then the dependent clause.
• See Rude, p 142?143.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Other topics you need to know
• Series comma and semicolon
• Coordinate adjectives
• Parallelism
• Introductory and interrupting phrases
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Punctuation within words
• Apostrophe
• Hyphen
• Punctuation marks within sentences
• Quotes
• Dash
• Colon
• Ellipsis

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editing and style for technical communication
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

• Editing for punctuation
• Look for clauses and determine sentence type.
• Look for phrases.
• Look for punctuation in words.
• Questions? E-mail Dr. Pringle
• Return to Rhet 4561 syllabus