As a professional editor, I would red pencil the all-caps name of this group. Use of the Oxford comma is appreciated.
3
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Whilst I will always support the use of correct English as it is the lingua franca of this site I ask the simple question "what part of the group name do you not understand?"
In its current format it is instantly recognisable in my alerts listing even without my glasses.
I eat "tomatoes" you probably eat "tamaytoes" but spell them tomatoes.
FrayedBear
Level 9
Jan 5, 2019
0
I pulled a random book down from the shelf. It is titled Astrophysical Concepts and it comes from the group, THE ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICAL LIBRARY. I suppose they hadn't heard of this standard.
evidentialist
Level 8
Jan 3, 2019
1
IMHO
Grammar and syntax are nice to have, but should support rather than supersede communication and effect. That being said, some genres do require much stricter adherence to convention than others, e.g. legal or technical writing versus experimental art forms.
The same goes for spelling and the use of vernacular phrases.
pixiedust
Level 8
Jan 2, 2019
2
@DeStijl -- As an editor who has worked at newspapers in the good old days, I'LL TREAT MY HEADLINES ANY WAY I DAMN WELL PLEASE, thank you.
Now that we have gotten off to a good start, how are you?
evidentialist
Level 8
Jan 2, 2019
2
Hear! Hear!
I've worked as an editor for trade publications and educational publishers. I have ghostwritten several published books. I don't think this group is for me.
@DeStijl -- Perhaps not, but it isn't your experience that would make it so.
Obvious use of the Shatner Comma. (Know your Trek).
RavenCT
Level 9
Jan 2, 2019
3
The Shatner Comma appears in the host's greeting.
@DeStijl -- "Hello, and welcome to the group," is correct use of the comma. It is not a Shatner comma.
@FrayedBear -- Oh yeah, comma use is a familiar subject. I have always use the Oxford comma because, to me, it reads better and precludes certain instances of confusion. The trend has been over several decades to avoid commas unless absolutely necessary. Let's look at the importance of the lowly comma:
She loves cooking her children and her pets.
As opposed to:
She loves cooking, her children, and her pets.
@evidentialist Precisely. I was edited by an incredible wordsmith who had been an editor at the Hobart Mercury. He, I suspect had had mental illnees or alcoholism. However in editing a short story that I wrote as part of my therapy one point that he imparted onto me was the substitution of the comma for brackets. I do not totally agree with the elimination of the delightfully shaped () brackets and will still sometimes use them. I have been criticised however by others for using , instead of bracket and to signify speaking paused because I very much write what my voice says.
As a profesdional ex-editor, I would not. It is a headline, and therefore permissible in tabloids.
Petter
Level 9
Jan 2, 2019
4
I would argue this is not a tabloid and there's no reason to format a group title like a sensationalistic headline.
@DeStijl -- No, it is not a tabloid, but it is a group and as such the capitals are acceptable as a headline for this thread. When writing it in the body of text or listing it, I would render it as, Authors, Editors, Publishers, and Readers. The heading for this page is considered to be the same as the cover of a book and I could have written it either way. I chose the all-caps.
Lol. You missed editing this one - all 3 of you!
oxford comma is needed to avoid confusion.
TheDoubter
Level 9
Jan 2, 2019
1
Articles and capitalization are needed to avoid grammatical errors.
a major requirement in legal and scientific documents.
@DeStijl -- If it were a legal document, that would be true. It ain't.
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