Blogger Purrfection Award

Good Morning Friends!

There have been a lot of awards going around lately; however, my love of cats and the feline in me just had to see a kitty one! Thus I unveil the new CCP "Blogger Purrfection Award."






There are a couple of people I'd especially like to present this to, some because I know they are cat lovers, or in Albert's case, a cat! Then there are others simply because I love spreading HAPPY and you all deserve an award!


Anyone I may have missed who leaves a comment today, please feel free to grab one of these awards for yourself!


Chris - CC Chronicles
Diane - Spunk on a Stick
Mason - Thoughs in Progress
Elizabeth - Mystery Writing is Murder
Albert the Cat - Albert the Cat
Cassandra - Cassandra Jade in the Realm
Alex - Alex J. Cavanaugh
Lorel - I'm Blogging Drowning Here
Elspeth - It's a Mystery
Alyssa - Random Thoughts of a Tangled Mind
Shauna - Read, Write, Review
Karen - karen...following the whispers
Elinor - Mavor Arts
Marvin - The Old Silly's Free Spirit Blog
Michele - Southern City Mysteries
Ingrid - The Conscious Cat


Thanks to all my Purrfect Blogger friends! Please pass this forward to other special people!

Hyphens

THE HYPHEN: A NEVER-WERE-THERE-SO-FEW-SOLID-RULES PUNCTUATION MARK

You can use a hyphen to split a word at the end of a line, but you can also use a hyphen to join compound words.

The rules about when to hyphenate a compound word are extremely vague. The problem is that compound words go through an evolution from open compound (two separate words), to hyphenated compound, to closed compound (one word with the two parts together)—and sometimes back again—and the changes can seem arbitrary. For example, when the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary was released in 2007, it eliminated sixteen thousand hyphenated words. Some words (leap-frog) advanced to closed compound form (leapfrog), and other words (pot-belly) reverted back to open compound form (pot belly). The best advice is to consult a dictionary when you aren't sure whether to hyphenate a compound.


In very general terms, you use a hyphen to avoid confusion. For example, when two adjectives modify a noun, sometimes the sentences could be read two ways or be initially confusing to a reader, so you can use a hyphen to clarify which words to together:

Paula wanted a short haired dog.
(Could be read to mean that Paula wanted a short dog with hair.)

Paula wanted a short-haired dog.
(More clearly means that Paula wants a dog with short hair.)


A hyphen also eliminates confusion when it is used to clarify pronunciation:

I need to re-press my jeans.
I need to repress those memories.


Often a hyphen is used between two adjectives that come directly before the noun they modify, but not when they come after the noun they modify:

They are in a long-term relationship.
They are in it for the long term.


Despite the vast wiggle room in hyphen land, there are a few solid rules. You can confidently use a hyphen when you are joining a prefix to a word that must be capitalized, joining a letter to a word, and writing out numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine.

Anti-American
Un-American
Pre-Mesozoic

X-ray
A-list
T-shirt

Thirty-five
Sixty-four
Ninety-three


It's fine to occasionally make up an adjective using a long string of hyphenated words for effect, but don't overdo it to the point that you become an irritating hyphenate-for-no-reason writer.



Sources: Grammar Girl, CMS

Vocabulary

Increase your vocabulary with not-very-common and/or not-frequently-used words.

Today's Weird Word is: FISSIPAROUS, and its pronounciation is: fi-sih-pa-rus.

Fissiparous is an adjective meaning: tending to break up into parts, divisive.

The reorganization of management can have a fissiparous effect on the rest of the company.







Source: Workman's Publishing

Dashes

Last week's post on colons brought up a question from a commenter about colons and dashes. The difference between the two is subtle: they can both serve to introduce a related element after a sentence, but a dash is a stronger and more informal mark than a colon. Think of a colon as part of the sentence that just ambles along. Susan has two favorite colors (and now I'm going to tell you what they are): orange and blue. A colon informs readers that something more is coming.

A dash, on the other hand—well, it's quite a dramatic thing. A dashing young man is certainly not an ordinary young man, and if you're dashing off to the store, you're not just going to the store, you're going in a hurry. A dash interrupts the flow of the sentence and tells the reader to get ready for an important or dramatic statement. If you added a dash to the "Susan" sentence it would conceptually read something like this: Susan has two favorite colors (wait for it; wait for it!)—orange and blue. Wow!

Given that there isn't anything exciting about Susan's favorite colors, a dash may not be the best choice here, but it wouldn't be wrong. It would be a better choice if that sentence were part of a mystery novel where something orange was missing and Susan was implicated as the thief. Then it could be a dramatic announcement that she loves orange, and a dash would make more sense.

A very important rule about dashes is never, never, never use a hyphen in place of a dash. A hyphen is not a junior dash; it has its own completely separate use.

There is no computer key for a dash; you need to insert a dash as a symbol. If for some reason you can't insert the dash symbol, use two hyphens right next to each other: --.

Dashes can also be used like commas or parentheses to set off part of a sentence. When you use dashes to set off a parenthetical element, you're using the strongest method possible to draw attention to it, so be sure it merits the drama.

Different Types of Dashes

There are two different kinds of dashes: em dashes (—) and en dashes (–). An em dash is longer than an en dash.

(The names come from the fact that historically the em dash was as long as the width of a capital typeset letter M, and the en dash was as long as the width of a capital typeset N. Now with computer typesetting, the widths of each may vary from font to font, with the width on an en dash always falling midway between a hyphen and an em dash.)

The em dash is the kind of dash I referred to in this post; it is the kind of dash you use in a sentence. When people say, "Use a dash," they almost always mean the em dash. The en dash is used much less frequently and usually only to indicate a range of inclusive numbers. You would use an en dash to write something like this:

Susan will be on vacation June 2–June 9.
(Susan will be on vacation June 2 to June 9.)

The to and the en dash between the dates indicate that Susan will not be in the office beginning the second of June and will return on the tenth of June (because an en dash indicates that the numbers are inclusive of those two dates).

Whether using an em dash in a sentence or the shorter en dash to indicate an inclusive range, you can use your own judgment about whether to put spaces between the dash and the words around it—it's a style issue, so just be consistent.


Source: Grammar Girl

Thoroughness Challenge

Thorough Thursday is a post consisting of paragraphs that contain spelling and/or grammatical errors. The paragraphs with the errors corrected and highlighted in red can be found at the end of the post.

Note: The purpose of the Challenge is thoroughness. You're only looking for errors in spelling and/or grammar. Names and places will NOT be misspelled, nor will there by any changes to punctuation or sentence structure. In addition, if there is a word that may have more than one accepted spelling, those also will not be changed.


Your Challenge today takes a look at how to pronounce "2010," and contains 6 errors. Good Luck!


*******************************************************************************
How do you say the current year? Now that we've reached double digits at the end of "2000," I'm sure you have heard people refer to the year differently. The to main contenders are "twenty-ten" and "two thousand ten." So which is correct?

Before the turn of the century, most people pronounced the years by combining the first too numbers and the last too numbers. So we had "nineteen fifty," nineteen eighty-five," and so on. After the turn of the century, we started commonly pronouncing the years the long way; "two thousand one," "two thousand two," and so on.

Now it seems that some people feel more comfortable continuing the trend--going from "two thousand nine" to "two thousand ten" --while the majority of people are eager to return to the old convention, happily moving on from "two thousand nine" to the snappyer sounding "twenty-ten."

The Associated Press has concluded that "twenty-ten" is the preferred choice. However, with all the decisions made when writing (or speaking), the pronounciation question is a style choice; making either pronounciation correct.


Now, let's see how thorough you are!


*******************************************************************************
How do you say the current year? Now that we've reached double digits at the end of "2000," I'm sure you have heard people refer to the year differently. The two main contenders are "twenty-ten" and "two thousand ten." So which is correct?

Before the turn of the century, most people pronounced the years by combining the first two numbers and the last two numbers. So we had "nineteen fifty," nineteen eighty-five," and so on. After the turn of the century, we started commonly pronouncing the years the long way; "two thousand one," "two thousand two," and so on.

Now it seems that some people feel more comfortable continuing the trend--going from "two thousand nine" to "two thousand ten" --while the majority of people are eager to return to the old convention, happily moving on from "two thousand nine" to the snappier sounding "twenty-ten."

The Associated Press has concluded that "twenty-ten" is the preferred choice. However, with all the decisions made when writing (or speaking), the pronunciation question is a style choice; making either pronunciation correct.

Sources: AP Stylebook, Grammar Girl

Colons

Colons in Sentences

Colons can be used in a variety of situations, such as in titles, ratios, and writing out the time. But when you are using colons in sentences, the most important thing to remember is that colons are only used after statements that are complete sentences. Never use a colon after a sentence fragment. For example, it's correct to say that Susan has two favorite colors: orange and blue. That's correct because Susan has two favorite colors is a complete sentence by itself.

Notice how the items after the colon expand on or clarify what came before the colon. I referred to Susan's favorite colors before the colon and then specifically named them after the colon. A tip for deciding whether a colon is acceptable is to test whether you can replace it with the word namely. For example, you could say Susan has two favorite colors, namely, orange and blue. Most of the time, if you can replace the colon with namely, then the colon is the right choice. Nevertheless, there are also instances where you can use a colon and namely doesn't work. For example, The play was wildly popular: they sold out the theater.

Going back to the complete sentence point, it would be wrong to say Susan's favorite colors are: orange and blue because Susan's favorite colors are is not a complete sentence by itself. You can often fix that problem by adding the words the following after your sentence fragment. For example, it would be fine to say Susan's favorite colors are the following: orange and blue because you've made what comes before the colon a complete sentence by adding the words the following.

Colons in Lists

Some people get confused about how to use colons when they are introducing lists, but the good news is that the rules are the same whether you are writing lists or sentences: you use a colon when you could use the word namely and after something that could be a complete sentence on its own.

Susan has two favorite colors:
• Orange
• Blue

Colons and Capitalization

Capitalization is optional when using single words or phrases in bulleted form. If each bullet or numbered point is a complete sentence, capitalize the first word and end each sentence with proper ending punctuation. The rule of thumb is to be consistent.

If only one sentence follows the colon, do not capitalize the first word of the new sentence. If two or more sentences follow the colon, capitalize the first word of each sentence following.

Garlic is used in Italian cooking: It greatly enhances the flavor of pasta dishes. It also enhances the flavor of sauces.

Colons and Salutations

Colons are used to follow the salutation of a business letter even when addressing someone by his/her first name. A comma is used after the salutation for personal correspondence.


Colon Choices

Since there are times when both a colon or a semicolon could be used, the difference between them, and which to use, can be confusing. Here's a little summary you may find helpful.

The purpose of a colon is to introduce or define something, and the purpose of a semicolon is to show that two clauses are related. A semicolon is used when you are joining things. When you're joining a main clause with a lone noun, you use a colon. Use a colon instead of a semicolon between two strong clauses when the second clause explains or illustrates the first clause and no coordinating conjunction is being used to connect the clauses. Here's an example of a sentence that needs a colon.

Susan was fixated on something: chocolate.

Here's a clear example of a sentence that needs a semicolon.

Susan was fixated; she couldn't get her mind off chocolate.

The first sentence needs a colon because the second part (chocolate) is the definition of the first part (what Susan is fixated on), and chocolate is a lone noun. The second sentence needs a semicolon because the two parts are strongly related to each other. The second clause gives more of a description of what is going on in the first clause.



Sources: AP Stylebook, Grammar Girl, Blue Book of Grammar

Spelling Challenge

It's been a while since we've warmed up your brain cells with a CCP Challenge! Grab a sticky note and a pen and write down the correct spelling for the ten words below!

NO PEEKING!

(The little peeking furry is still around!)

1. defendent
2. cooly
3. floatation
4. saavy
5. preferrable
6. camoflauge
7. athiest
8. inadvertant
9. hemmorage
10. deterance

Now for the stars! If you spell all ten words correctly, you get the beautiful sparkling gold glitter star! Good Luck!



Whether or not you get your star, everyone gets this spray of PURPLE glitter stars for your efforts! It just wouldn't be right not to have purple stars as part of the Spelling Challenge, now would it?


ANSWERS:

1. defendant
2. coolly
3. flotation
4. savvy
5. preferable
6. camouflage
7. atheist
8. inadvertent
9. hemorrhage
10. deterrence


So how did you do? Did I stump any of you with number 3? Both flotation and floatation are acceptable forms of the word, with flotation being preferable, and floatation being a variant of.

Semicolons

As "Sentence Splicers"

Semicolons separate things. Most commonly, they separate two main clauses that are closely related to each other but could stand on their own as sentences if you wanted them to. Semicolons are sometimes thought of as sentence splicers: they splice sentences together.

It was below zero; Jenny wondered if she would freeze to death.
It was below zero. Jenny wondered if she would freeze to death.

One reason you may choose to use a semicolon instead of a period is if you wanted to add variety to your sentence structure; for example, if you thought you had too many short, choppy sentences in a row, you could add variety by using a semicolon to string together two main clauses into one longer sentence. But, when you use a semicolon, the main clauses should be closely related to each other. You wouldn't write, "It was below zero; Jenny had pizza for dinner," because those two main clauses have nothing to do with each other. In fact, the other reason to use a semicolon instead of a period is to draw attention to the relationship between two clauses.


With Coordinating Conjunctions

An important thing to remember is that (with one exception) you never use semicolons with coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, and but when you're joining when you're joining two main clauses. If you're joining two main clauses with a coordinating conjunction, use a comma: It was below zero, and Jenny wondered if she would freeze to death.

The one exception is when you are writing a list of items and need to separate items within the list.

This week's winners are Stanley in Des Moines, Iowa; Joe in Irvine, California; and Ruth in Seattle, Washington.

Because each item in the list requires a comma to separate the city from the state, you have to use a semicolon to separate the items themselves.


With Conjunctive Adverbs

Finally, you use a semicolon when you use a conjunctive adverb to join two main clauses. Some of the more common conjunctive adverbs include: accordingly, again, also, anyway, besides, certainly, consequently, finally, furthermore, hence, incidentally, indeed, instead, likewise, meanwhile, moreover, namely, nevertheless, next, nonetheless, otherwise, similarly, specifically, still, subsequently, then, therefore, thus.

Conjunctive adverbs typically show some kind of relationship between the two main clauses.

Jenny is on vacation; therefore, Stan has to do extra work on the project.
Stan didn't mind doing the extra work; however, he would like to be thanked.

Sometimes people find it hard to remember to use commas with coordinating conjunctions and semicolons with conjunctive adverbs, so a tip to help you know when to use which, is to remember that commas are smaller than semicolons and go with coordinating conjunctions, which are almost always short two- or three-letter words–small punctuation mark, small words. Semicolons are bigger and they go with conjunctive adverbs, which are almost always longer than three letters–bigger punctuation, bigger words.


Source: Grammar Girl