Eliminating the object pronoun "him"

Thursday, August 31, 2006

In the last example of the previous post, notice that I wrote "she or he" instead of "he or she." Using these expressions interchangeably is good, because it avoids the subliminal suggestion in always putting he first. But it has a drawback: we're so used to reading he or she that she or he seems unidiomatic and calls attention to the writing. But only the first time and only for the second it

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Avoiding Sexist Language

Sunday, August 27, 2006

The problem is English's third-person-singular personal pronouns: there's no gender-neutral one, except it.Other languages, like French, have this problem too. But in them nouns (i.e., the names of persons, places, and things) still have gender, too (inherited from Latin). So, gender hasn't such strong sexual connotations in these other languages as it does in English, where only pronouns

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Oh, those darned third-person singular pronouns!

Saturday, August 19, 2006

This turns into an even hotter topic than whether American English is legitimate or not. So, let me start off this series on how to avoid gender-specific language with the justification for avoiding it.The bottom line is that you must use gender-neutral language to get published. Nonetheless, a decent respect for the opinions of all requires more of a reason than expediency.So, let me mention at

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Style Tip: Put Statements in Positive Form

Monday, August 7, 2006

In his Elements of Style, William Strunk wrote, "Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, noncommittal language. Use the word not as a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion."For example:Instead of John was not very often on time, write John usually came late.Instead of Lisa did not think that was a very nice thing to say, write Lisa thought that a mean

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Style

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

When a copyeditor edits a new author's work, she checks for many things, but most of her edits flag multiple instances of the same few stylistic errors. The result can take the wind out of your sails, because you get your work back with something flagged in every other sentence.It isn't that bad though: it's just that you weren't taught to write the way you must write for publication. You have no

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