Two, Too or To

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Two, Too or To

Some time ago, a friend told me they often have problems knowing when to use ‘too’ and when to use ‘to’. They understand they have different meanings and acknowledge they are very different words—the problem is, they still struggle with knowing which one to use.

Let’s take a look at the answer to the question—two, too or to? Three little words that all sound the same. Well, most of the time.

Two

This is the easy one. This is the number 2.

Too

This one are two meanings. The first being ‘as well’, or ‘also’.
Here’s a simple test: If you can replace the word too or to in your sentence with ‘also’, then too is the correct word to use.

Example one:
Which: Mike cooked with coconut oil too/to.
Test: (replace the word) Mike cooked with coconut oil also. The sentence has the same meaning. Therefore, too is the correct word to use.
Correct: Mike cooked with coconut oil too.

Example two:
Which: Mary went too/to visit her family.
Test: Mary went also visit her family. This sentence makes no sense. Therefore, to is the correct word to use.
Correct: Mary went to visit her family.

Secondly, too is used to describe excess. As in, too hot, or too much salt.

To

The word to is used in a variety of places and ways. In short, if it’s not a number you’re writing about, it’s not being used to indicate excess, and if the test for the other too does not fit, you can safely use to.

When stressed, to is pronounced /tu/ (as is too)
When unstressed, to is pronounced /tə/ (as in, ‘he used to own a car’, pronounced: ‘he usta own a car’). In this instance the ‘o’ in to is pronounced as schwa.

Example of stressed:
Come over here—to where I can see you.

Example to unstressed:
Come to dinner.

To be honest, I wonder sometimes if the ‘stressed’ or ‘unstressed’ are perhaps a matter of accent and often an indication of how lazy we can be with our pronunciation!

Examples where two, too and to are all used:

  • Aunt Sophie was too late to catch the bus, but her two sisters said they would come to pick her up.
  • Two hours later, Matthew arrived to join the party too.
  • The two men had too many drinks to drive safely.
  • Jason had bought too many clothes to fit into his suitcase. He wished he’d remembered to bring his two overnight cases too.

 

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Six Reasons Why Businesses Should Want Error-Free Documents

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Error-Free Documents

Error-free documents help you avoid embarrassment

When writing something others will read, poor grammar and spelling mistakes can be embarrassing. Furthermore, errors can undermine all the time and effort you’ve put into a piece of writing.

Avoid damage to your reputation

Poor attention to grammar can damage your reputation. Benjamin Franklin said, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and only one bad one to lose it”. Error-free documents are possible. Whether you’re writing a newsletter or content for your website, attention to detail is worth the effort.

Protect your credibility

People will judge you and your business on what they see. If you’re similar to many other businesses, your website functions as your ‘shop front’. This is the first opportunity you have to sell yourself to a new client/customer. You want them to believe you are capable, competent and worthy of their custom. Don’t let errors in your writing affect your credibility.

Safeguard your authority in your field of expertise

If you want to set yourself up as an expert in your field, you’ll want to present a professional, clean image to your clients. Documents that are error free will contribute to this image.

Save money

When writing documents that specify policies, guidelines, procedures, expectations and contractual issues, a spelling mistake or a simple comma in the wrong place can be costly. It could be advisable to engage a lawyer to ensure your important contracts are watertight—mistakes in these can be expensive.

Ensure your writing communicates your intended message

Clarity in communication is critical. Often, you’ll only get one opportunity to get your message across to your customer—make sure it’s the right message. In advertising, newsletters, and in other business documents, ensure there are no mistakes in your writing that might leave your intended message open to a different interpretation.

Finally: review, review, review—a fresh set of eyes can pick up things you may have missed. As the author, not only will you often read what you intended rather than what you actually wrote, you could be making a mistake you are simply unaware of. No amount of checking by yourself will pick up on errors you don’t even realise you’re making.

Using a proofreader will help you create error-free documents and avoid the above problems.

 

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Simple Rules: Which Words in a Title Should Be Capitalised?

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Which Words in a Title Should Be Capitalised

As you write, you’ll no doubt end up at some stage with titles and headings. Chapter headings, report headings, articles, etc. can all cause you to stop and ask yourself, “Which words in this title should be capitalised?” Here’s a simplified set of rules that I hope will help.

Golden Rule

  • Capitalise the first and last words—always. This “golden rule” trumps all others.

Capitalise

  • All nouns and pronouns (this includes smaller words such as it and he).
  • All verbs (including is and be).
  • Adjectives and adverbs—all of them.
  • That. (That can work as different parts of speech).
  • Conjunctions that are four letters or more (such as with, since and because).
  • Prepositions that are five letters or more (such as beside, toward and beneath).
  • The first letter following a hyphen or a dash—although this is optional . . . it’s a question of style preference.
    For example: Re-enter or Re-Enter: You could use either. However, I prefer to use another rule: Apply the standard rule to the word following the hyphen. In this example, as enter is a verb, it should be capitalised. If you applied the same rule to how-to, you would write it How-to, as to is a preposition of less than five letters.

Do Not Capitalise

  • Conjunctions with fewer than four letters (such as and, but and or).
  • Prepositions with fewer than five letters (such as on, of and over).
  • Articles (such as the, a, and an).
  • As and to.
  • The first letter following a colon (unless it’s a proper noun). In some American Styles, capitalisation is acceptable where the colon introduces a complete sentence.

Remember

Sometimes the same word can act as different parts of speech. This may affect your decision on whether or not to capitalise it.

For example, in these two sentences below, the word up is first a preposition (which should not be capitalised as it’s a preposition with fewer than five letters) and then an adverb (which you should capitalise as all adverbs are capitalised).

  • Running up the Mountain (preposition)
  • Running Up to the Summit (adverb)

If you’re unsure of a word’s part in speech, try Google or a dictionary. If you’re still not sure, and if it looks strange to you in lowercase, then capitalise it.

Reference: The McGraw-Hill Desk Reference for Editors, Writers and Proofreaders.

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How to Change Your Computer Language From American to UK British English

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Update your computer language

Whenever I buy a new computer, the computer language is set to American English default. Spelling and grammar in the United States is quite different to UK or British English, which is commonly used in New Zealand. Although the two seem to overlap more and more frequently, they are different and where one is “right” for the people you are writing for, the other is “wrong”.

American vs British / UK / NZ

For example, with spelling, Americans use “color”, whereas here in New Zealand (and the UK) it’s spelt “colour”. Americans spell organization with a z; we spell it with an s. Ever wondered whether grey or gray is the correct spelling? They’re both correct—the first is UK/NZ English, and the second is American spelling. There are many examples.

Spell Check and Autocorrect

When you’re typing in a Word document, the programme kindly offers to help you spell and use better grammar. As you write, you can end up with squiggly red lines under words that you thought were correct, and then, even worse, autocorrect sometimes flicks your misspelling to a word (American) that you may not notice until much later.

Many people use spellcheck which, as you probably know, picks up some things, but not all. And then it wants to make changes that you just flat out know are wrong, wrong, wrong!

How to fix this? Change your computer to the style of English that suits you!

These changes will affect your emails as well (if you use Outlook), so one change and you’re sorted.

How to change the Default Language in Word 2010

If you’re using another version and these instructions just don’t make any sense to you, I suggest you Google: “How to change my computer language to UK English in Word 2007” or something similar.

Step one: Open up a new (blank) Word document.

Step two: In the File tab, choose options . . .

change your computer language

. . . then language

change your computer language

Step 3: Near the top, you can see that “English (US)” is set as the default.

Select “English (New Zealand)”, then over to the right, “Set as Default”.

[If you cannot see “English (New Zealand)” as an option:

Click on the drop down box “Add additional editing language” and choose the language you want from there. If you’re in New Zealand, then obviously it will be “English (New Zealand)”.]

After you see this choice in the editing language box, select it, then over to the right, select: “Set as Default”.

A box will pop up:

American or New Zealand English

Click “yes”.

You can now restart your Office Word and the next time you see a squiggly red line under a word, it should be a legitimate spelling error. Maybe. A computer spell check is never a good substitute for a live proof reader.

Other American vs UK English Differences

There are a significant number of differences between American English and UK English that a spell check will not pick up on. For example, American’s say pavement or sidewalk—we more commonly say footpath. No spell check will tell you that. American’s say trunk and wonder what on earth a (car) boot is. More words are becoming more and more acceptable in both environments. But if you’re writing for a New Zealand market, you should use New Zealand English. And if you’re writing for an American market (such as a novel set in the United States), you should use American English.

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Lose or Loose

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Lose or Loose

Loose or lose? Do you know the difference between these two words and when it’s appropriate to use them?

Loose

Loose: (adjective) means not tight, not held together, or able to be taken apart.
Loose: (verb) means to set free.
Loose: (noun) means free, not confined.

Pronunciation: rhymes with ‘goose’, ‘juice’ or ‘moose’. (sss sound)

Other forms:

Loosen: (verb) untighten.
Loosing: (verb) setting free.
Loosed: (verb) set free.

Examples
Her tooth was so loose it was about to drop out.
The screw came loose, and the part fell off!
News came over the radio that the prisoners were on the loose.
She handed him the jar, asking him to loosen the lid so she could open it.

Lose

Lose: (verb) means to be deprived of something or cease to have something. Past tense = lost.

Pronunciation: rhymes with ‘whose’, ‘moos’ or ‘ooze’. (zzz sound)

Other forms:

Losing: (verb or adjective) also mean deprived of something—as in not winning.
Lost: (verb or adjective) cannot be found.

Examples
They played so badly he said they were sure to lose the game.
She couldn’t afford to lose any more money gambling.
He was trying to lose weight.
It was easy to lose count as the sheep ran past so quickly.
She was fast losing her patience with her brother.
He was fed up with always being on the losing side.
He lost his wallet the other day.
The lost property basket was full of clothing left behind after the event.

More examples
Her bikini top was so loose she was sure she’d lose it in the waves.
Why would she lose her wheels? Because the nuts were loose!

Memory Aids

Too loose and it will fall off. (Two o’s)
Double o (oo) looks a bit like handcuffs; a prisoner needing to be set loose.

Lose and lost – different tenses; present and past. (One o) Think about your sentence. If it happens, will you have lost something? If yes, use lose = one o.

 

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Appositives

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Appositives

Commas

Commas can easily cause confusion. There are specific rules for them, and their placement can make a significant difference in the meaning of a sentence. Whether prolific or sadly lacking, commas can create challenges for writers.

Today I want to cover just one comma rule: how they’re used with appositives.

An appositive is a noun or noun phrase used to further explain, identify or rename the noun directly beside it. It can be at the beginning, the end, or the middle of a sentence. In each case, a comma or commas should be used to separate the appositive from the rest of the sentence.

Examples:

  • In the middle of a sentence
    My car, a red Holden, was stolen last week.
    The phrase, “a red Holden”, is an appositive.
  • At the end of a sentence
    He lived in Raglan, a township on the west coast of New Zealand.
  • At the beginning of a sentence
    An excellent cook, Martha baked every Tuesday.

More examples:

  • The team appreciates any sports equipment, bats, balls and wickets, that can be donated via the school.
  • The bird, a fat wood pigeon, was often seen down at Butler Park.

Notice how the appositives are rearranged and change in these sentences, depending on order and commas:

  • Monica, a lovely waitress, served us at our table.
  • A lovely waitress, Monica, served us at our table.
  • A lovely waitress, Monica served us at our table.
  • We were served at our table by Monica, a lovely waitress.
  • We were served at our table by a lovely waitress, Monica.

Sometimes a dash will be used instead of a comma. Dashes can be useful when the appositive itself contains a comma.

  • Example:
    He lived in Raglan – a township on the west coast of New Zealand.

Restrictive or Non-Restrictive Appositives

In the previous examples, where they’re renaming, explaining or identifying, the appositives are non-restrictive and require a comma. Restrictive appositives are essential to the meaning of a sentence and are not set off by commas.

Example:

  • My sister, Louise, came with me.

“Louise” is written here as a non-restrictive appositive, where the writer has only one sister: Louise.

If the writer had more than one sister, the sentence should be written: “My sister Louise came with me”. In the second sentence, “Louise” is important to the meaning of the sentence and therefore a restrictive appositive not requiring any commas.

In short, non-restrictive appositives, clauses or phrases need extra commas – restrictive ones do not.

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There – Their – They’re

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There-Their-or-Theyre

Although they all sound the same, the three words there, their and they’re all have very different meanings.

Do you ever get confused over which one to use? Below are some tips that will help you choose.

There

There indicates a place.

Examples:

  • I need to go there sometime soon
  • When will you go over there?
  • There is a parking space outside that store

Their

Their indicates ownership – belonging to someone.

Examples:

  • This is their car
  • Their turn is next
  • Speak to their parents

Choosing between ‘there’ and ‘their’

Here’s the first tip:

Take away the ‘T’ and what do you have left? Either ‘here’, indicating a place, or ‘heir’.

An ‘heir’ inherits, and then owns things! Therefore, when you add the ‘T’ back in, ‘their’ owns things, and ‘there’ is a place.

 

They’re

The apostrophe in the middle of ‘they’re’ indicates that the word is a contraction. That is, it’s two words blended into one. The apostrophe indicates where the missing letter is—and the missing sound. In this case, “they’re” is a contraction of “they are”. So if you could replace the word with “they are”, then “they’re” is the word to use.

Here are some other examples of other contractions:

  • It’s = it is
  • You’re = you are
  • Here’s = here is
  • Let’s = let us
  • Don’t = do not

Some contractions are missing more than one letter:

  • I’d = I would
  • She’ll = she will
  • I’ve = I have

Here’s the second tip:

If you can replace the word “their” with “our” and your sentence still makes sense, then you’ve chosen the correct word.

 

Lastly, let’s add an ‘s’ to our three words. They all have a different result.

There: If you add an ‘s’, the only option is to add an apostrophe, as in there’s. “There’s” is another contraction, meaning ‘there is’. There’s something I need to tell you.

Their: Adding an ‘s’ creates theirs = ownership still, but no apostrophe. The book is theirs.

They’re: You cannot add an ‘s’ to they’re—it does not create a valid word.

 

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What’s a Schwa?

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schwa2

A fascinating word: Schwa—a word for what is said to be the most common sound in the English language.

Schwa:

  • Is represented by the phonetic symbol /ə/ (an upside-down e)
  • Typically occurs in unstressed syllables in English
  • Sounds like ‘uh’

Any vowel can be pronounced as schwa, and the pronunciation can change depending on whether the syllable it is in is stressed or not. E.g. man and woman. Notice that the second syllable of woman is the unstressed syllable, and the letter ‘a’ is pronounced as schwa, whereas in the word ‘man’, it is not.

 

Some examples of schwa:

A – again | vitamin | about | adept | America | a

E – petition | celebrate | synthesis | excellent | the

I – president | experiment | decimal

O – occur | condition | love | eloquent | harmony | mother

U – campus | support | cut | sun | truck | stuff | supply | medium

Y – syringe

Ai – mountain

Oe – does

Ou – you

Ough – thorough

Er – weather | father | mother

 

How accents affect Schwa

There is some variation with different accents, and sometimes it seems to depend on the sentence you’re using the word in (e.g. ‘You’ could be pronounced /yu/ or ‘yoo’ as in “You and I”, or /yə/ or ‘yuh’, as in, “when you get here”. Even with this last example, it could be pronounced /yu/ if you spoke slowly, placing stress on the word ‘you’, but not if you are speaking at normal speed and the ‘you’ is unstressed.

In words with more than one syllable, not every syllable is given equal emphasis when spoken. Three levels of syllable stress are possible:

  1. stressed
  2. secondarily stressed
  3. unstressed

Every multi-syllable word has a single stressed syllable. The single stressed syllable of the word has the most emphasis. The remainder of the syllables may have a secondary stress or may be unstressed.

The word emphasize has all the levels of stress. The first syllable is stressed, the second syllable is an unstressed syllable pronounced as schwa, and the third syllable has a secondary stress.

As I researched different words that were identified as containing the schwa sound, I came to the conclusion that some people would not agree. English speakers from different countries have different accents, and the way we pronounce certain words is not always the same. The examples I’ve given here, I believe, are reasonably relevant for New Zealand accents.

 

For further reading and more detailed information, this is an interesting link I found:

A Maverick Vowel: The Notorious /ə/ (Schwa) by Richard L. Brown

http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12715753131277171865624/p0000027.htm

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Sight, Site or Cite

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Sight, Site or Cite

Sight, Site or Cite

These three words sound exactly the same yet have very different meanings. Most people understand the first one well, but I’ve seen times of confusion with the other two.

 

Sight (n) – to do with the eyes and seeing
She had very good sight

Sight (v) – catch a glimpse of, or take aim
His boss used to sight the invoices before approving payment

 

Site (n) – a place (building site, campsite, website)
Warnings advised people to stay out of the construction site

Site (v) – to place something
She was told to site the resource table in a high-traffic area

 

Cite (v) – refer to (a passage, book or author) as an example or to help justify your argument; or praise
It is helpfully to cite your sources of information
He was cited for bravery during the war

 

Sight, Site and Cite in the same sentence (showing different meanings)

I don’t expect you would generally find all three of these words in the same sentence. It could be confusing to have the same sound repeated three times in a short space! However, to show the difference in meaning: “As he caught sight of his reflection in the shop window, he recalled this was the site where he’d been cited for bravery the previous year”.

Sight, site or cite? I hope this has helped you decide which to use when you next need to use one of them.

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Apostrophes and their Correct Usage

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Apostrophes

Apostrophes

Apostrophes are little punctuation marks that are so often misused. Let’s look at seven purposes.

1. To indicate a missing letter or letters

A contraction is a word where two words are combined into one. One or more letters (and sounds) are dropped and these are indicated by the use of an apostrophe. Examples of these include:

You’re = you are
I’m = I am
We’ll – we will

 

2. To indicate possession

When something belongs to someone it can be written as: Mary’s bike, or Peter’s boots, or the cat’s whiskers. However, when the pronoun it is used, the apostrophe is omitted. Just as with hers, ours and yours. An example of this: Mary gave the cat its saucer of milk.

It is used in different places for singular and plural possessive cases. The apostrophe is placed before the ‘s’ in singular possessive cases (the cat’s milk) and after the ‘s’ in plural possessive cases (the cats’ milk). Another example of these would be the boy’s bike (one boy) and the boys’ bikes (more than one boy). And another: the bosses’ orders.

Some possessive uses are a little different:
When the possessor is plural, but does not end with an ‘s’, e.g. women, men, children, the apostrophe comes before the ‘s’: women’s, men’s, children’s.

 

3. To indicate time or quantity

One year’s time, four weeks’ notice, or five dollars’ worth. However, note: two days late.

 

4. To indicate the omission of figures in dates.

In the year of ’69.

5. To indicate the omission of letters

This can be used as well in old-fashioned English where letters are dropped indicating a different pronunciation.

I s’pose if he came ‘ere, we would expect ‘im to have a membership.

 

6. To indicate the plural of letters

The n’s and h’s on this old typewriter look the same.

If apostrophes were not used when referring to a’s, i’s and u’s, some confusion could be caused.

 

7. To indicate the plural of words

If’s, but’s and maybe’s…

One exception is: dos and don’ts, where style guides and usage books don’t agree. Some prefer do’s and don’t’s.

Grammar Girl recommends, “Unless your editor wishes otherwise, if you write books, spell it dos and don’ts; and if you write for newspapers, magazines, or the Web, spell it do’s and don’ts. If you’re writing for yourself, spell it any way you want.”

 

Evolution of the Apostrophe

Over time, apostrophe use has changed. Where once it was normal to use an apostrophe when writing abbreviations and plural dates, such as CD’s and 1930’s, it is now customary to omit the apostrophe (except in America, where different conventions apply).

 

Apostrophes in Plural Names

Another confusing area is with possessive plural names that end with ‘s’. Is it more correct to write Jones’ or Jones’s; St James’ Church, St James’s Church, or even St James Church?

Although this is very much a style issue and there are no hard and fast rules, generally you can follow these guidelines:

Names ending in ‘s’ require an apostrophe and second ‘s’ after the name:

  • Ross’s car
  • Jim Collins’s book

With names from the ancient world, there is no extra ‘s’:

  • Achilles’ heel

If the name ends with an “iz” sound, an exception is made:

  • Moses’ staff

And an exception is always made for Jesus:

  • Jesus’ parables

With names such as St James’ Hospital, it becomes a brand issue, and if they choose to be known as St James Hospital, so be it. Other well-known examples of brands that omit the apostrophe include Deloittes and Harrods.

 

Sources used for reference:

Eats, Shoots and Leaves – Lynne Truss
Fit to Print – Janet Hughes & Derek Wallace
Grammar Girl: www.quickanddirtytips.com

 

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