NC or N.C.?

Dear Grammar Maven,

When abbreviating state names for our website, I think it looks better to use the periods after the letters (N.C.) but I have been told this is old fashioned and wrong. Help!

Signed,
Aggravated Abbreviator

Dear Aggravated:

The Grammar Maven feels your pain. She personally cringes at the elimination of the Oxford comma. Alas, you are dashed between the Scylla and Charybdis of current American usage.

1. The trend toward brevity and simplification

The Grammar Maven will spare you the lecture on how prepositional phrases have been replaced by adjectives or how the ends of adjectives now drop like little flies (from "Korean" War to “Iraq” War, for example). It makes the Grammar Maven shudder.

For whatever reason—USA Today or the Internet (LOL, brb)—English is getting shortened and simplified. In the ‘60s when the USPO’s new sorting machines required an accurate uniform destination code, ZIP Codes and two-letter state abbreviations were born. Which is why we now write FL instead of Fla. or NY instead of N.Y.

Do you really object to NYC, UCLA, NFL or even UNCG? Soon we will all wonder why anyone used periods in the first place.

Though “N.C.” is still technically correct, it is bucking the trend.

2. House style

Alas, those whose profession is not language were often, as innocent wide-eyed babes, convinced by a frowning, lemon-sucking, pointer-wielding English teacher that there is only one right way to do things.

T’ain’t so, my dears.

Numerous matters of grammar, spelling, and punctuation are arbitrary. Web site or website? Role play, role-play, or roleplay? Even, alas, your Grammar Maven's beloved Oxford comma.

Every publisher (including Web) creates a style for their house that answers these questions, because a hallmark of professional publishing is CONSISTENCY. It divides the pros from those who crank out newsletters in the basement on their ditto machines.

Your organization uses “NC.” It is your house style. That is the one you should use.

If it is any consolation the Grammar Maven herself had to bow on the issue of capitalizing “Internet.”

Sometimes you just have to take one for the team.

How to be Possessive

No, I don't mean latching onto your boyfriend so tight he can't go out of the house by himself.

Same for you, guys. Give the girl some breathing room, for goodness's sake. (Keep your eye on that last apostrophe, by the way.)

Now, we're talking possession in grammar--when something belongs to or is associated with something else:

• the lion's den
• the players' uniforms
• the children's playground

Generally we think of possessives as the "apostrophe s" rule: add an apostrophe and the letter s. But not all possessives use the apostrophe. Those that do, the big question is, where do you put the @&#$(*! thing?

Here are the rules (there really IS a logic to them):

1. SINGULAR nouns require "apostrophe s." Even if the noun ends in s.

• the girl's mother
• the kitten's claws
• Smith's car
• Mr. Jones's jammies (this makes sense because you actually say "Jones-ez jammies")
• goodness's sake (even though you only say "goodness sake")
  

2. PLURAL nouns that end in s take an apostrophe after the s.

• the players' uniforms (the uniforms of all the players)
• the shopkeepers' association (the association of all the shopkeepers)
• the streetlights' bulbs (the bulbs belonging to the streetlights)
• the Joneses' cars (the cars belonging to all the Joneses)
  

Now, what difference does it make, you say, whether I put the apostrophe before or after the s? Who cares?

Let's say you're an assistant for the Carolina Panthers . The coach scrawls you a note: "The player's uniforms need to be washed." (Provided the coach remembers to use an apostrophe.)

"Great," you think. "Which player?" Because "player's" clearly indicates only one guy's grimy duds have to go into the Kenmore.

But if the assistant coach--who went to UNCG, minored in English, and is a stickler for the rules--wrote, "The players' uniforms need to be washed," you would immediately pick up the shirts and pants of everyone from Jake Delhomme to Stephen Smith.

3. TRICKY RULE #1: PLURAL nouns that do NOT end in s require apostrophe s.

Most plural nouns in English end in s, but some very, very common ones do not.

• men--men's clothes
• women--women's shoes
• children--children's toys
• sheep--sheep's wool
• mice--mice's whiskers
• geese--geese's feathers

Many such words refer to living beings and are holdovers from Middle English. Just remember: apostrophe s.

4. TRICKY RULE #2: Possessive PRONOUNS never take an apostrophe. Never never never. EVER. Which, really, when you think about it, makes things simple.

• his
  
• hers
• mine
• yours
• ours
• theirs
• its
• whose
  

This is his house. The car is hers. The cats are yours; the dogs are mine. Where did you put ours? The mess is theirs. The cat lost its mouse. The man whose house this is lives in NY.

"But, Grammar Maven," I hear you protest, "what about it's? I see I-T-apostrophe-S all the time!! And how about who's?"

True dat. But it's has nothing to do with the possessive, students. It's a contraction that stands for "it is." Contractions use the apostrophe to indicate letters that have been left out: can't for cannot, won't for will not, isn't for is not, and so on. Any time you see "it's," just remember it is/it's a contraction and stands for "it is." "Who's" stands for "who is."

What's (what is) easier than that?

Happy possessing!

Your friendly neighborhood Grammar Maven

Fractured Grammar Tales: The Three Punctuation Marks

Once upon a time, there were three punctuation marks that people sometimes got confused:

Papa Period, Big Brother Semicolon, and Baby Comma. Each of them had different jobs.

SENTENCES

Papa Period was strongest of all. His job was to keep sentences separate, so you knew where one ended and the other began:

Jeannie decided to go to Carolina. Her sister Genie preferred to attend UNCG.

Brother Semicolon wasn't strong enough to keep sentences separate, but he could join them together all on his own without any help from those silly old coordinating conjunctions like AND, BUT, or OR.

Jeannie decided to go to Carolina; her sister Genie preferred to attend UNCG.

Baby Comma was the weakest of all. He couldn't join sentences together unless he got help from AND, BUT, or OR:

Jeanie decided to go to Carolina, but her sister Genie preferred to attend UNCG.

(Generally, Brother Semicolon only joined sentences that were long and complicated and closely related. Otherwise, they were better off as two separate sentences. Nobody really liked Brother Semicolon; really, it was just as easy to get along without him.)

One of Brother Semicolon's jobs was to keep things straight if Baby Comma got involved.

If Baby Comma appeared ANYWHERE in two sentences being joined, Brother Semicolon had to step in, even if you also used AND, BUT, or OR.

Jeannie decided to go to Carolina; but her sister Genie, who was far smarter, preferred to attend UNCG.

ITEMS IN A SERIES

Baby Comma also separated items in a series. For example, let's say your laundry room had:

a washer
a drier
a toolbox
a potted palm

In a sentence, you would use Baby Comma to keep items separate:

My laundry room contains a washer, a drier, a toolbox, and a potted palm.

But what if one of your items already had commas in it? Say...

a toolbox with a hammer, wrench, and screwdriver?

Now you would need Brother Semicolon to keep the other items straight:

My laundry room contains a washer; a drier; a toolbox with a hammer, wrench, and screwdriver; and a potted palm.

This is so you can tell which items in the series really belong together.


Although people seldom have trouble remembering what Papa Period does, Brother Semicolon and Baby Comma can get confusing. The thing to remember is that Brother Semicolon is "weaker" than Papa Period and "stronger" than Baby Comma. He is the perfect "middleman."

And if you like THIS grammar tale, just wait till I tell you about dashes...

Your friendly neighborhood Grammar Maven

Capitalizing those Pesky Compound Brand Names

For heaven knows WHAT reason (the Grammar Maven is baffled), capitalizing a letter in the middle of a compound noun brand name is becoming more common. Maybe it has to do with trademarks. Maybe it has to do with phases of the moon.

In any event, here are the correct spacing and capitalization for a few that cross our desks frequently at DCL:

YouTube (cap T, no space)
PowerPoint (cap second P, no space)
Blackboard (no cap on second B)
Photoshop (no cap on S)

Have an error free weekend--grammatically speaking! Your Grammar Maven

Nouns in Direct Address

Based on common grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes that cross the Grammar Maven's desk, she will occasionally be sending out tips that you might find helpful. Here's today's.

People, creatures, etc., addressed directly in a sentence are set off with commas. This is to distinguish them from the sense of the sentence. Here are some examples:

Please hand me the pliers, Fred.
What were you thinking, Claudia, when you put the bell on that cat?
I'm glad to say, students, you all did well on the test.

If the name is at the beginning or end of the sentence, use one comma. If the name is in the middle, use two.

Let me know if you have any grammar or punctuation questions you'd like answered.

Cov
Grammar Maven