I was warned by someone I respect highly who was working at Apple at the time… She warned me about overuse of parentheses. Every time I choose to use them, and now the same will be true of semicolons, I think of her and I’m so aware.
My husband completed a degree completion program 20 years ago. We were both working full-time, he an ironworker and I an educator. We were also taking care of grandkids through every weekend. Bottom line is he did all the research, studies, critical thinking, and then dictating, completing assignments, but I did all the typing, formatting and editing, especially if wordcount was a factor. He achieved a double major: business management and also biblical studies. Our typing sessions ran into what I used to call dorm hours, as I recalled my time at university, wasting time from midnight till 2 AM until finally giving in and working on my paper. Lol.
I mention hubby‘s studies because one professor was vehement about the use of the word “that”. (Should that quotation mark come after the period? I must refine my knowledge on that topic. I think so. I think I did it incorrectly.)
He exhorted that (there’s the word!) one must always reread and edit, if the word could be removed, allowing a more simple sentence structure, with no hindrance to understanding. I’ve been known to forget to close parentheses too… And I believe one is not supposed to use a hyphen when going on to the next page, but one slightly snarky third grade girl told me, when I mentioned this rule, that she’d seen me do it at least once. Ouch.
Anyway… The punctuation police are always out and alert. Fun to read all these comments on the topic.
"I mention hubby‘s studies because one professor was vehement about the use of the word “that”."
Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" and Margaret Shertzers's "The Elements of Grammar": all you ever need to know about the use of grammar and especially of "that" and "which". These were my bibles throughout 37 years of translating.
I don’t know what I would do without these two Substack accounts: Lucian Truscott IV and Tom Cleaver’s TAFM. (Tom’s language can be saltier, I’ll mention, in case you’re not familiar with him.)
The writing, the research, the knowledge, the moral compass, the integrity, the clarity of explanation… I wish both my brothers could be living to engage with reading and commenting on these two accounts. There’s a level of gratification - and of course huge admiration - for the capabilities of these two authors! I can’t fathom thinking or knowing anything at that level and yet I’m pleased and humbled to be able to take it in, understand it, with some frequency share it with others, integrate the content with information encountered elsewhere…
I’ve mentioned before that I first signed on to Lucian‘s account when I read/heard his explanation of the backstory for the exploding pagers in Lebanon. It was mind-boggling, all that he had researched, understood, and clearly explained. I had dabbled in his account somewhat, but that night, BOOM!, time to sign on as a paid subscriber. Incomparable. Tonight’s column is no exception, is so clear and shares information, explanations and details seldom if ever found elsewhere.
I probably sound sappy to express such gratitude, but it’s authentic and sincere. So grateful.
The thing I like most about Lucian’s writing is that he brings to the table knowledge of the military and military culture that I have little experience with. Same with Paul Krugman and economics. I’d say that’s when editorial writing is at its best- when the author uses their expertise to shine a light on current issues.
Tom Cleaver is an historian and his writing is perfectly formed, sometimes as complex as a crocheted doily. It’s exquisite.
His daily posts inform the reader about the latest news, with surprising details not encountered elsewhere, but that’s also where you meet the salty language I’ve referenced. He’s quite inventive when it comes to nicknames for personalities in the news.
He’s written at least seven books, topic: World War II, particularly aircraft and events where aircraft, air support, and so forth played a major role in how the action played out. Entrancing.
Don't foget that Tom is a long time screen writer also. He can regale you with those stories and insghts like Lucian tells us of the Village in the Sixties.
I'll second your sentiment Katherine and add a third author's name if I may, that of Jeff Tiedrich (who can be saltier than TCinLA) with his "everyone is entitled to my own opinion" substack.
I’m familiar with him, but have not been consistent. I’ll pay better attention. He just lost the love of his life… I remember the post. Thank you for this reminder.
Ha ha ha! Oh, Tom and Lucian would be quite a pair. Even the topic of cats. And the topic of family heritage, reaching back to the revolution… Lots in common.
Did you catch the hour long podcast of Steve Schmidt interviewing Lucian? It was mainly Lucian offering a biographical monologue, not interrupted very often with questions from Steve. It was superb. I forwarded it to many friends. I’m sure it’s searchable. Seems like it happened in late summer.
Lets not get into cats. Tom might be reading this and we'll be up all night!
I missed that one of Steves. This has been a year of overload, anger, pain and who knows after the fire. We lost everything except Linda's studio. I designed and built it to withstand a fire like that. They say we'll have permits in a couple of weeks.
Oh no, don’t say that, I think about commas way more than all of the members of my family combined. I want nothing to do with Dante’s circles of hell. 🙏
Oh, I laughed out loud… Sister Mary Red Pen. Several of my friends are going to hear about that.
I taught with a man who called papers bleeding papers when they were corrected in red. I was always equipped with green felt pens, to correct in green. It felt more calm. Red always set me off. I remember a biracial student who was going through some very very, very tough times in his family… May or may not have had to do with some racial stuff at the time. But I remember in art one day he did this painting that was all sorts of smeared paint with so much red, and when he finished, we hung it up to dry, and then he proceeded to do something very very calm. All that red and black and some purple mixed in and smearing it all around… He really got it out of his system, I think. I wonder if he still has that artwork. That would be a curious thing to know. His mother‘s name is going through my head right now, his father’s, and certainly his… I enjoyed them as a family, but it was complicated.
Red is a color with a message. At least it seems so.
I once read that no book was ever published that did not have at least one typo. I know every one of mine has at least one. I think of it as a way to make sure my reader is awake.
How about spreading his seed (ew) to make a new super race, he thinks? These guys are so afraid of their own mortality. And they will be dust to dust, same as anyone.
His "reality-translator" is David Sacks, who loves Putin. Remember when Musk posted that he knew how to win the war (in Ukraine)? His solution was to give Putin everything he had taken, and have the citizens vote on the rest. This had been posted by Sacks, weeks before. (Elon thought it was his own idea) Not surprisingly, the Ukrainian counselor replied he could have intercourse with himself and the Ukrainians were not giving any part of their land away.
Musk then in a fit of pique, simply shut off the Ukrainian use of StarLink. He claimed it was costing him too much money. The military said they would help pay for it, so everyone shamed him into turning it back on.
I wouldn’t trust Musk for one second. The man has no conscience, morals, or integrity. It’s a goddamn scandal that one man has such power, to turn the tide of a war. One thing the next Democratic government MUST do is take over Starlink.
"Ukraine is breathing a huge sigh of relief. The Russian drones that attack front line troops and population centers will be less accurate from now on thanks to Elon Musk, who appears to have somehow come by – however imperfectly and probably temporarily – an actual conscience."
All of the Multi-Billionaire TechBros R desperate 2 feel good about themselves & project an aura of strength & benevolence & a kind of hyper masculinity (John Wayne, Clint Eastwood), even Thiel. Musk wants people 2 think well of him & maybe start buying his cars again. Providing a boost 4 the Ukraine makes him look strong, decisive & a good guy.
Nah; this leopard is not changing his spots; he's trying to relieve the pressure from revelations of the Epstein files and the investigations into X in Europe...
This son of South Africa's apartheid has no conscience when it comes to money, of which he will never have enough to be happy/normal.
Starlink services are SOLD here and abroad. Chances are most know about his aid to Russia. Business has been hurt because of that. Elon hopes to spin-off his businesses into three different companies via IPO's; his murderous Russian ties would hurt the offering prices. Hence his newly found conscience. Money...racism...chaos...only aholes buy his stuff.
Why the Deep South in the USA peppered with military bases...Southern Senators at work!!! LBJ nailed them with integration...we boomers were there for the fireworks in 1964...integrate schools or lose impact funds!
Stupidest mistake ever: Inserted "suddenly" in the wrong place in the headline. Bad.
I inserted an unnecessary comma.
I’m mortified.
The 3rd Circle of Hell has a place for people who splice commas.
You sound like my senior English teacher. Now I throw semi colons around like crazy. Better safe than sorry or sentence splices. Oh, the horrors!
I was warned by someone I respect highly who was working at Apple at the time… She warned me about overuse of parentheses. Every time I choose to use them, and now the same will be true of semicolons, I think of her and I’m so aware.
My husband completed a degree completion program 20 years ago. We were both working full-time, he an ironworker and I an educator. We were also taking care of grandkids through every weekend. Bottom line is he did all the research, studies, critical thinking, and then dictating, completing assignments, but I did all the typing, formatting and editing, especially if wordcount was a factor. He achieved a double major: business management and also biblical studies. Our typing sessions ran into what I used to call dorm hours, as I recalled my time at university, wasting time from midnight till 2 AM until finally giving in and working on my paper. Lol.
I mention hubby‘s studies because one professor was vehement about the use of the word “that”. (Should that quotation mark come after the period? I must refine my knowledge on that topic. I think so. I think I did it incorrectly.)
He exhorted that (there’s the word!) one must always reread and edit, if the word could be removed, allowing a more simple sentence structure, with no hindrance to understanding. I’ve been known to forget to close parentheses too… And I believe one is not supposed to use a hyphen when going on to the next page, but one slightly snarky third grade girl told me, when I mentioned this rule, that she’d seen me do it at least once. Ouch.
Anyway… The punctuation police are always out and alert. Fun to read all these comments on the topic.
"I mention hubby‘s studies because one professor was vehement about the use of the word “that”."
Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" and Margaret Shertzers's "The Elements of Grammar": all you ever need to know about the use of grammar and especially of "that" and "which". These were my bibles throughout 37 years of translating.
Thank you for the reminder! If I can’t find my copy from years ago, time to purchase another one… From an independent bookstore, by the way! Thanks!
Waddya know. Among E. B. White’s oeuvre is a Meacham collection, “On Democracy”. How quaint!
And, oh, the use of preposteries
How about prepositions… Terrible thing to end a sentence with, right? <<< ha ha
A few cartoons on the topic:
https://www.google.com/search?q=cartoon+hieroglyphics+prepositions&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
I'm guilty of a few comma splices my own self. See you in hell!
I remember reading e. e. Cummings in 11th or twelfth grade.
I had no idea what he was actually saying but I was overwhelmed by his mastery of words and grammar.
He had given himself permission to use those tools creatively and playfully and
I just discovered why.
I Googled him to refresh my memory and discovered that he was also a painter.
Perfect!
That’s what a poet does.
I don’t know what I would do without these two Substack accounts: Lucian Truscott IV and Tom Cleaver’s TAFM. (Tom’s language can be saltier, I’ll mention, in case you’re not familiar with him.)
The writing, the research, the knowledge, the moral compass, the integrity, the clarity of explanation… I wish both my brothers could be living to engage with reading and commenting on these two accounts. There’s a level of gratification - and of course huge admiration - for the capabilities of these two authors! I can’t fathom thinking or knowing anything at that level and yet I’m pleased and humbled to be able to take it in, understand it, with some frequency share it with others, integrate the content with information encountered elsewhere…
I’ve mentioned before that I first signed on to Lucian‘s account when I read/heard his explanation of the backstory for the exploding pagers in Lebanon. It was mind-boggling, all that he had researched, understood, and clearly explained. I had dabbled in his account somewhat, but that night, BOOM!, time to sign on as a paid subscriber. Incomparable. Tonight’s column is no exception, is so clear and shares information, explanations and details seldom if ever found elsewhere.
I probably sound sappy to express such gratitude, but it’s authentic and sincere. So grateful.
The thing I like most about Lucian’s writing is that he brings to the table knowledge of the military and military culture that I have little experience with. Same with Paul Krugman and economics. I’d say that’s when editorial writing is at its best- when the author uses their expertise to shine a light on current issues.
Perfectly said, and I agree with you!
Tom Cleaver is an historian and his writing is perfectly formed, sometimes as complex as a crocheted doily. It’s exquisite.
His daily posts inform the reader about the latest news, with surprising details not encountered elsewhere, but that’s also where you meet the salty language I’ve referenced. He’s quite inventive when it comes to nicknames for personalities in the news.
He’s written at least seven books, topic: World War II, particularly aircraft and events where aircraft, air support, and so forth played a major role in how the action played out. Entrancing.
Don't foget that Tom is a long time screen writer also. He can regale you with those stories and insghts like Lucian tells us of the Village in the Sixties.
I'll second your sentiment Katherine and add a third author's name if I may, that of Jeff Tiedrich (who can be saltier than TCinLA) with his "everyone is entitled to my own opinion" substack.
I’m familiar with him, but have not been consistent. I’ll pay better attention. He just lost the love of his life… I remember the post. Thank you for this reminder.
Tom uses low sodium salt. He can be saltier and still not hurt his heart.
I'd really like to listen to Lucian and Tom talk WW II history. Experts each.
They are a couple of my favorites too.
Ha ha ha! Oh, Tom and Lucian would be quite a pair. Even the topic of cats. And the topic of family heritage, reaching back to the revolution… Lots in common.
Did you catch the hour long podcast of Steve Schmidt interviewing Lucian? It was mainly Lucian offering a biographical monologue, not interrupted very often with questions from Steve. It was superb. I forwarded it to many friends. I’m sure it’s searchable. Seems like it happened in late summer.
Lets not get into cats. Tom might be reading this and we'll be up all night!
I missed that one of Steves. This has been a year of overload, anger, pain and who knows after the fire. We lost everything except Linda's studio. I designed and built it to withstand a fire like that. They say we'll have permits in a couple of weeks.
Incomparable. Yes!
Oh no, don’t say that, I think about commas way more than all of the members of my family combined. I want nothing to do with Dante’s circles of hell. 🙏
Ha ha !
Indeed!
I’ve solved the mystery of why musk shut off the Russian terminals! They weren’t paying for their subs and the Ukrainians are.
😂😂😂
😁😁🤣
Eats, shoots and leaves.
😊
I have that book!
Love that book ... retired editor here!
I was appointed editor at the last job I had, and my moniker was Sister Mary Red Pen.
Oh, I laughed out loud… Sister Mary Red Pen. Several of my friends are going to hear about that.
I taught with a man who called papers bleeding papers when they were corrected in red. I was always equipped with green felt pens, to correct in green. It felt more calm. Red always set me off. I remember a biracial student who was going through some very very, very tough times in his family… May or may not have had to do with some racial stuff at the time. But I remember in art one day he did this painting that was all sorts of smeared paint with so much red, and when he finished, we hung it up to dry, and then he proceeded to do something very very calm. All that red and black and some purple mixed in and smearing it all around… He really got it out of his system, I think. I wonder if he still has that artwork. That would be a curious thing to know. His mother‘s name is going through my head right now, his father’s, and certainly his… I enjoyed them as a family, but it was complicated.
Red is a color with a message. At least it seems so.
A teal bear.
👏🏻
My sister gave me a sticker that read “I am silently correcting your grammar.” I guess it spoke volumes!😂
Oh dear. There are more Marian the Grammarians around than I thought!
Nature of the readership...
Just blame it on autocorrect!
Now youv'e distracted everyone from the insights of your message tonight.
Damn, I'm gonna start diagraming sentences!!
I once read that no book was ever published that did not have at least one typo. I know every one of mine has at least one. I think of it as a way to make sure my reader is awake.
Nothing wrong with that sentence that I can feel.
Never trust Elon.... for every action he has a self interested purpose...
Can he make money from this?
Musk does not have an altruistic bone in his body. He was the one who said that "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy."
Heʻs got money, he wants power and heʻs ruthless
- Karen Cooper
No wonder he and Trump found each other! The murder of USAID recipients pleased Musk and Trump...BIGLY!
I believe Musk has other motives. I remember he shut off Starlink to Ukraine at one point during the war.
He is far too powerful and heʻs messing in world politics and affairs. I think he wants more power, Iʻm just not sure what shape that takes
- Karen Cooper
World domination.
How about spreading his seed (ew) to make a new super race, he thinks? These guys are so afraid of their own mortality. And they will be dust to dust, same as anyone.
Most likely.
He's diabolical and worships himself.
Seems a possibility..he is today's Ian Fleming villain in spades!
His "reality-translator" is David Sacks, who loves Putin. Remember when Musk posted that he knew how to win the war (in Ukraine)? His solution was to give Putin everything he had taken, and have the citizens vote on the rest. This had been posted by Sacks, weeks before. (Elon thought it was his own idea) Not surprisingly, the Ukrainian counselor replied he could have intercourse with himself and the Ukrainians were not giving any part of their land away.
Musk then in a fit of pique, simply shut off the Ukrainian use of StarLink. He claimed it was costing him too much money. The military said they would help pay for it, so everyone shamed him into turning it back on.
Yes, he did to that during the Biden administration. He had to be begged to turn it back on. He’s not one to be trusted.
Eloi Musk? Grown a conscience? Hah!
For whatever reasons he came to the conclusion that blocking Russian access to Starlink was in his own best interests.
Who would have thought that Ukraine could fight off Russia for four years?
Anyone who knew Ukrainian military history. They are tough S.O.B.s, as the Russians are being reminded.
Why not? The Taliban did it for decades. The Chechens never gave up.
The only real victory Russians have ever achieved were over the Nazis and Napoleon. That was done by the Russian winter not by its army.
The war-altering Soviet victory at Kursk took place 05.Jul.-23.Aug.1943. The winter snow had long-since melted.
That story is always a good read...many authors have told the Kursk story.
Everyone who wasn't an "expert" whose career depended on hyping Russian capability euoek ignoring, e.g., they can't maintain even their truck tires.
No, conscience growing. It’s business.
Next big customer? Europe.
I wouldn’t trust Musk for one second. The man has no conscience, morals, or integrity. It’s a goddamn scandal that one man has such power, to turn the tide of a war. One thing the next Democratic government MUST do is take over Starlink.
👆🎯He is an erratic man-baby, who seems to have lost too many neurons through his drug use.
Why he and Trump clicked...join the Drug Addled Club!!!
You make a compelling point.
I still do not trust Elon Musk!
"Ukraine is breathing a huge sigh of relief. The Russian drones that attack front line troops and population centers will be less accurate from now on thanks to Elon Musk, who appears to have somehow come by – however imperfectly and probably temporarily – an actual conscience."
Fuck him. EAT THE RICH
All of the Multi-Billionaire TechBros R desperate 2 feel good about themselves & project an aura of strength & benevolence & a kind of hyper masculinity (John Wayne, Clint Eastwood), even Thiel. Musk wants people 2 think well of him & maybe start buying his cars again. Providing a boost 4 the Ukraine makes him look strong, decisive & a good guy.
Given the generational spread; all these fellas want 2 star in their own Marvel Comic Book … or Marvel Movie.
Sorry but I will withhold judgment for now, while hoping for the best.
Nah; this leopard is not changing his spots; he's trying to relieve the pressure from revelations of the Epstein files and the investigations into X in Europe...
This son of South Africa's apartheid has no conscience when it comes to money, of which he will never have enough to be happy/normal.
Starlink services are SOLD here and abroad. Chances are most know about his aid to Russia. Business has been hurt because of that. Elon hopes to spin-off his businesses into three different companies via IPO's; his murderous Russian ties would hurt the offering prices. Hence his newly found conscience. Money...racism...chaos...only aholes buy his stuff.
you would think we could stop spending hundreds of billions on F35s now since a fleet of $800 drones can do more damage.
Buying weapons the military neither wants, nor needs is a pork tradition due to the kick-backs the red state republicans get.
Why the Deep South in the USA peppered with military bases...Southern Senators at work!!! LBJ nailed them with integration...we boomers were there for the fireworks in 1964...integrate schools or lose impact funds!
Sadly
That is probably why the military can never pass an audit.
Follow the money. If propaganda means profits, you can trace decisions that garner the highest approval ratings.
Surely Musk smells that intel and factors it into business decisions.
Don’t give Musk credit for anything.