Its or It's--Which Is It?

When writing quickly, sometimes it's easy for us to get confused about the difference between it's and its, as in the following example:


"Explore eyewitnesses throughout American history in the treasures from the National Archives, experience the landmark show Dallas and it's impact on television . . . ."

The sentence should read "its impact on television," since the impact that Dallas had on television is being discussed.

When we're looking over our work or someone else's and there is an it's/its problem, we need to look carefully at the context to see if the to be verb is is in use or if there is possession, as in the above example.

Confusing Sentence Fragments

Some sentence fragments are all right. Some even have drama and as such are used for emphasis. But some are simply incorrect and confusing, as in the following paragraph:

"This museum is geared to the preservation of the history of the Native Peoples of the Plains. Magnificent displays and art exhibits make this a jewel. Ceremonial dance schedule and youth hostel reservations. Open winter Thurs-Sat noon-5 pm, Sun 1p-5-; summer Wed-Sat 11a-6p, Sun 1-5p. Adults $3.00, youth $1.50; 9151 I-40 East."

The sentences that contain schedule and price information are fragments and they're fine--we expect those sorts of sentence fragments in travel brochures. But the sentence "Ceremonial dance schedule and youth hostel reservations" leaves us wondering about those things. And why are those even in the same sentence fragment, much less the same sentence, unless the sentence told where visitors could find out what they needed to know about those things at the visitors' center, i.e. The Visitors' Center has information about other activities and facilities, including the ceremonial dance schedule and youth hostel room reservation instructions.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, we need to get someone to look over our work to see if there is anything that will confuse the reader and, if there is, correct it. Clear communication is important!

Apostrophe Problem

Sometimes people have problems with apostrophe placement. One common problem occurs when people use an apostrophe when they really want to indicate plurality, as in the case of VCR's instead of VCRs: VCR's On Sale This Weekend! instead of the correct VCRs On Sale This Weekend! This problem is very common, especially in advertising. Please pay attention!

Spelling, Business Names, and Beginning Readers

Ok, I know some people like to be cutesy or quirky in spelling their business name wrong, as in businesses that spell the word quick as kwik, for example. But that can confuse beginning readers. Or if it doesn't confuse them, they'll just think you're not being helpful. That's what I thought when I was learning to read and saw business names spelled incorrectly on purpose. People need to be helpful, not cutesy or quirky when it comes to spelling. Spell correctly. Save the cutesyness and quirkyness for graphics. Set a good example.

General Reader Language

I voted today.

Before I voted, I read up on the items on which we have the privilege of voting.

The main reason I read up on the items is to find out what they really say.

Ballot language has gotten marginally better, but it still has to be put in general reader language in other places like voters' guides.

And it's good that the information is available a couple of other places other than the ballot when we get to the polls.

But it should be written in general reader language in the first place, i.e. on the ballot itself.

Why gum up the language on the ballot?

That's not considerate. Or patriotic.

Redundancy, Common Phrases, and Conciseness

Redundancy isn't just a sentence that contains words or phrases or clauses with the same meanings. Redundancy also appears in common phrases. One example is action plan. Now, many times plans don't get accomplished for various reasons and sometimes nothing at all gets done. But the word plan does inherently imply action, and that's why the phrase action plan is redundant. So let's expunge that phrase from usage, verbal and written, for it conveys sloppy thinking and that's not what we need!

Documentation

Documentation is important--you need to let the readers know the source of the secondary information you use. One efficient--and from my experience the most efficient--type of documentation is the Modern Language Association, otherwise known as the MLA.
What makes MLA the most efficient is its simple internal documentation: you only include information relevant to that particular bit of secondary info--you don't have to include the year the work was published, which is something that can be looked up in the bibliography any time.