Historical or Historic?

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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Today I heard a newscaster say, “So we really are going to have a woman on the ten-dollar bill. Which historical figure do you think it will be?”

If you’re normal, you’re thinking Harriet Tubman? Betsy Ross? Rosa Parks? Meryl Streep? But if you’re not normal, like me, you’re wondering if that should be historical figure or historic figure. Let’s review.

Historical and historic are different. Historical signifies merely that something happened in the past or relates to history. Historic means momentous – deserving of a place in history.

Lisa’s report was mainly historical.
This is a historic day for our school. 

With the distinction firmly in mind, choose the correct word.

1. We came across a lot of (historical, historic) information about our building in some newly discovered, 80-year-old documents.

2. The visiting scholar’s insights into today’s media contained a surprising number of (historical, historic) references.

3. The town’s (historical, historic) vote 30 years ago to build a six-lane bridge over the river ushered in a period of unprecedented prosperity.

4. So we really are going to have a woman on the ten-dollar bill. Which (historical, historic) figure do you think it will be?

The answers

In numbers 1 and 2, the correct word is historical. The information in the old documents and the scholar’s insights dealt with the past, with history, but neither is momentous. The town’s vote in number 3, on the other hand, turned out to be pivotal in the town’s growth. It was historic.

As for number 4, I’d say that’s a close call – maybe partly because we more often label an event as historic than we do a person. But any woman being considered as the new face of the ten-dollar bill surely made a historic (important, momentous) impact on our country, so I’d show that recognition with historic figure. If you disagree, weigh in.

“A” or “an”?

If something that will long be remembered happens today, should we call this a historic day or an historic day? Obviously, when an h is silent we say or write an herb garden or an heir to the throne. But although we’d never say or write an hearing aid or an hillside – because the h is heard – some of us use an historic instead of a historic.

Is an historic day wrong? No. Is it necessary? No.

When the h is heard, but the accent is on the second syllable (as in historic or habitual), a and an are both correct. Preferring an historic day does not make anyone more sophisticated, but if you like the sound of an historic, go for it.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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A Solid Start

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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The use of participles (“-ing” verbs) to get sentences off to a lively start was recommended in one of my earliest posts, on October 10, 2014 (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/i-got-choppy-rhythm/). Here’s what I said at the end of that post about avoiding monotonous sentence structure:

Another handy sentence beginning – woefully underused – is the participle, as in the following two examples:

Realizing that our consultant can’t meet with us until the 15th, I’d like to delay submission of our proposal by one week.

Appreciating my help in smoothing out his writing, Joe is treating me to happy hour at Paddy’s Pub tonight. 

Now that eight months have passed since my claim that this artful device is “woefully underused,” it’s about time I offered a brief practice session in leading with a participle. Try your hand at overcoming the dull rhythm in these passages.

Participle practice

Sheila noticed several seminar participants shifting in their seats. She quickly ended her talk and asked for questions.

I encouraged my grandson to try out for the school play. I also suggested we read through the play together and discuss it.

Parker raced toward third base. He then realized he might have missed second, backtracked, and settled for a double.

Here are possible rewrites:

Noticing several seminar participants shifting in their seats, Sheila quickly ended her talk and asked for questions.

Encouraging my grandson to try out for the school play, I suggested we read through the play together and discuss it.

Racing toward third base, Parker realized he might have missed second, backtracked, and settled for a double.

Advanced practice

Now try similar refinements, even though creating participles is not the solution.

The factory is situated on the edge of the river. It was the town’s first major employer.

My mom is an excellent baker. She has shared her pie and cake recipes with countless friends and relatives.

Greg is at the fitness center all the time. He’ll be making some old friends envious at the reunion.

Possible rewrites:

Situated on the edge of the river, the factory was the town’s first major employer.

An excellent baker, my mom has shared her pie and cake recipes with countless friends and relatives.

A regular at the fitness center, Greg will be making some old friends envious at the reunion.

Postscripts: (1) Straightforward subject-verb sentence construction is a cornerstone of clear writing, but when too many sentences start with the subject, our writing can come across as boring and unsophisticated. Changing the beginnings of just a few sentences markedly improves our style.

(2) Note that in all six revised sentences the person or thing that follows the comma (Sheila, I, Parker, the factory, my mom, and Greg) is what is being described in the first part of the sentence. Failing to ensure that pattern yields a “dangling modifier,” discussed in February (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/making-sentence-parts-fit/).

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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Reach for That Red Pen

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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You don’t have to agree with me, but I think some aspects of editing are fun. There, I said it. When editing doesn’t require the unwieldy task of reorganizing, and mainly entails catching a typo here and a missing apostrophe there, editing can be a breezy exercise. So grab your imaginary red pen and live it up. See if you can improve each of the following sentences. (Hint: You might notice a theme.)

1. He’s a renowned author, but he’ll always have a bad stigma hovering over him because of the plagiarism charge.

2. This is her first debut with the orchestra, but I expect her to perform like an old pro.

3. Our reputation for quality, world-class care is unparalleled.

4. The team has been receiving a lot of great accolades since its long winning streak.

5. We were basically knocked out of first place after the Santa Fe series.

6. Once Thompson refused to answer any questions about the budget, that should have set off plenty of alarm bells.

7. The appointment of Wilson to replace Thompson was nowhere on my radar screen.

8. My nephew has a very unique workout routine.

The answers

In case you didn’t pick up on the theme, I tried to help you with #8, which contained one of the most prevalent redundancies in speech and writing: “very unique.” Because “unique” means “one-of-a-kind,” sticking “very” in front of it doesn’t make sense. (You can see more on this in my late-December post, http://bit.ly/1K7ePbz.)

And now for the rest:
1. “Bad stigma” is redundant. Delete “bad.”
2. Delete “first” in “first debut.”
3. “World-class care” sounds pretty good to me. Is “quality, world-class care” better?
4. Delete “great” in “great accolades.”
5. “Basically” is usually just clutter. It adds nothing in “basically knocked out.”
6. “Bells” is superfluous in “alarm bells.” All we need is “alarms.”
7. “Radar screen” is similar. Strike “screen.”

The bottom line

Editing can be gratifying because it gives us an opportunity we don’t have when we talk: cleaning up our communication. And sometimes editing doesn’t merely involve the mechanics of our writing; sometimes it involves appreciating the grandeur of a word like “accolades” or purity of a word like “debut.” When we fail to change “great accolades” or “first debut,” we are writing with less precision and … yes, missing out on some of the fun of editing.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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More cloudy Issues

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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Let’s keep the quiz momentum going another week. Try your hand at identifying one or more errors in the following sentences.

1. If you’re wondering where my Dad is, Uncle Al saw him hop in the hotel bar.

2. Because the reception is from 5–7 pm,  I hope you’ll stay for awhile.

3. I need to follow-up with my sister-in-laws to see if either can give you a lift.

The answers

1.  If you’re wondering where my Dad is, Uncle Al saw him hop in the hotel bar.
A) “Dad” shouldn’t get an initial cap here because of the word “my.” That makes “dad” a regular noun like “parent.” Without the “my,” “Dad” is correct because then it’s treated the same as a name. (I lent Dad my jacket.)

B) I think we’d better drag Dad home if he’s still hopping all over the bar. Or maybe he’s not hopping in the bar. Maybe we should have written that he hopped “into the hotel bar.” So we might walk in a mall for exercise, but when we walk into a mall, we are entering. (Jumping into the shower is dangerous enough; please don’t jump in the shower. That repeated action is asking for trouble.)

2. Because the reception is from 5–7 pm,  I hope you’ll stay for awhile.
A) The “en dash” between 5 and 7 (with no spaces around it) is correct as a substitute for “to,” but here we should go ahead and use “to” as the parallel companion to “from.” So either of these constructions is fine: The reception is from 5 to 7 pm. The reception is 5–7 pm. (Note that “pm” is just a style choice. You might like “p.m.” or “PM.”)

B) “Awhile” and “a while” are not the same. After a preposition like “in” or “for,” use “a while” (completing the prepositional phrase), but after a verb like “stay” the adverb “awhile” is correct. So we might visit for a while or visit awhile.

3. I need to follow-up with my sister-in-laws to see if either can give you a lift.
A) The hyphen in “follow-up” is often correct (e.g., as an adjective in “follow-up calls”), but here we want two separate words, the verb “follow” and adverb “up.” So it should be “need to follow up” (no hyphen).

B) The way to pluralize “sister-in-law” is adding “s” to “sister,” not “law.” We want “sisters-in-law.” (And if we know any golfers with multiple aces, they have shot “holes-in-one.”)

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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Triplets

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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On occasion we’ve looked at troublesome twins like “imply” and “infer,” but what about triplets?

In a doctor’s office recently, I spotted a small gadget on the wall with a cautionary message: “Please assure proper disposal.” (The gadget lifted like a mailbox and must have been a safe place for disposing used needles.) Was “assure” correct, or should that have been “ensure” or “insure”?

Test your assuredness with this quick quiz. Select the right word.

1. To (assure/ensure/insure) that we submit the proposal on time, let’s aim to mail it a week early.

2. Can you (assure/ensure/insure) me that everyone will know I’m only joking?

3. This bubble wrap (assures/ensures/insures) that none of the plates will be harmed in shipping.

4. To (assure/ensure/insure) against any misunderstanding of our new procedure, we will discuss every aspect of it at the next team meeting.

5. I wore two sweaters to the game to (assure/ensure/insure) that I’d be warm enough in the upper deck.

The distinctions and answers

The object of “assure” is nearly always a person or people. I assure you. She assured them. The doctor assured her patient. So “assure” is correct in #2.

“Ensure” means “make sure.” So although we might have learned the other two first as we were developing our vocabulary as youngsters, “ensure” is the one we probably use the most in workplace communications. Quite often in our messaging we are making sure (ensuring). “Ensure” is correct in #1, #3, and #5.

We use “insure” when we are literally referring to insurance (insuring our home or car) or when we are simulating taking out an insurance policy and using the phrase “insure against.” So the discussion at the meeting in #4 was an action to insure against being misunderstood.

Note that when we mean actual insurance the usual preposition after “insure” is “for.” (The horse was insured for $1 million.)

Where I’m not sure myself

Full disclosure: I have trouble with the phrase “ensuring/insuring the future.” Take this example: By protecting our environment, we are ensuring/insuring our future. Are we making sure (ensuring) that we have a future, or is protecting our environment like taking out an insurance policy (insuring)?

For this reason I deploy my escape hatch (often a wise move when we’re unsure of what’s correct) and just use other words to try to make the same point. In some cases “safeguard the future” works; in other instances I like “brighten the future.”

If you have the solution, please let me know.

Postscript

So the gadget message should have been “Please ensure proper disposal.”

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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Pop Quiz Theme: Summer Cookouts

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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I don’t get it. Back in school, having a teacher spring a quiz on us elicited groans and anxiety, but several readers have remarked that they particularly like the posts containing quizzes. So here you go.

Each sentence below can be improved in one or more ways. Look for errors and extra words.

1. Already guzzling a third cocktail, Susie’s conversation turned more racy in nature.

2. If your going to consume a record amount of hors d’oeuvres, maybe you should lay off of the desserts.

3. The Wilson’s throw great barbeques on a consistent basis, I love their “honeyburgers.”

The answers

1. Already guzzling a third cocktail, Susie’s conversation turned more racy in nature.

“Conversations” can’t guzzle; people do. Therefore, we have a dangling modifier. “Guzzling” refers to Susie, not her conversation, so “Susie” needs to follow the comma.
“More racy” should be “racier.” Two-syllable adjectives generally just need “-er” or “-ier” for the comparative form and “-est” or “-iest” for superlative.
“In nature” is almost always unnecessary. (“Happy in nature”? No. Just “happy.”)

Improved version: By Susie’s third cocktail, her conversation was already turning racier.

2. If your going to consume a record amount of hors d’oeuvres, maybe you should lay off of the desserts.

“Your” is wrong, of course. We want the contraction “you’re.”
The hors d’oeuvres are individual items we can count, so the correct word is “number,” not “amount.”
The preposition “of” is clutter after “off” – just as it almost always is after “inside” and “outside” (http://bit.ly/1K8Uh3D).
“Hors d’oeuvres” is spelled correctly. Award yourself bonus points if you knew that.

Improved version: If you’re going to consume a record number of hors d’oeuvres, maybe you should lay off the desserts.

3. The Wilson’s throw great barbeques on a consistent basis, I love their “honeyburgers.”

Resist the urge to stick an apostrophe in a last name when making it plural. If we have more than one Wilson, we have Wilsons.
The correct spelling is “barbecues.”
Watch out for “basis,” as in “on a daily basis.” Usually, all we need is “daily,” and here all we need is “consistently.”
We’re not supposed to separate two independent thoughts with a comma. We can fix the “comma splice” in several ways, such as plunking down a period and starting a new sentence, using a semicolon, or using a connector like “and.”
The period inside the quotation mark is correct. Sorry, no bonus. You should know that (http://bit.ly/1PmxRPY).

Improved version: The Wilsons consistently throw great barbecues; I love their “honeyburgers.”

You are done. Now fire up that grill.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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The “Eggs” Trick

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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Last week’s post needed to be a bit longer than most to take you through some editing steps. Because you stuck by me and read every word, I’ll even the scales with a much shorter post this time.

Do you use the Latin abbreviations “e.g.” and “i.e.”? If so, do you need to slow down to reassure yourself you are using them correctly? Fret no more. Below is an easy way to keep them straight, but first, some background:

The abbreviation “e.g.” stands for the Latin “exempli gratia,” meaning “for the sake of example” or, more simply, “for example.” The abbreviation “i.e.” stands for the Latin “id est,” meaning “that is,” or we might think of it as “that is to say.” It sets up a clarification, not an example.

The tricks

Just think of “e.g.” as having the same sound as “egg,” close to the initial sound in “example.” And another way of saying “for example” is “e.g.”

They have traveled to a number of exotic places (e.g., Iceland, Argentina, and New Zealand).

As for “i.e.,” just think of it as being an abbreviation for “in essence.” It isn’t, of course, but mentally substituting “in essence” for “i.e.” seems to work perfectly whether we’re writing or reading.

The HR folks are studying our firm’s compensation disparities (i.e., male vs. female salaries).

Latin vs. English

So does correctly using “e.g.” and “i.e.” make us seem more polished or professional? Perhaps a tad – to some readers – but writers who prefer to stick with plain English and use more comfortable phrases like “for example” and “in essence” should confidently do just that. They’re not in danger of missing out on any job interviews because their résumés contain no Latin abbreviations.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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An Embarrassment of Glitches III

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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Here’s another example of how much good we can do ourselves by putting aside a rough draft and returning to it later with renewed energy and refreshed lenses. The brief paragraph, from an online newsletter, describes employees who merit supervisory training. How many glitches do you spot?

This is a leader that is congenial, well-liked, and has above average soft-skills. They are extremely supportive of their employees and approach management interactions more like coworker relationships.

Editing 101

What is the most obvious glitch? That might be profiling a “leader” (singular) and immediately using “They” (plural) to begin the next sentence. When we catch that inconsistency, it’s usually easier to make everything plural (These are leaders …).

Editing 201

Another fundamental glitch is fairly easy to sense, but not as easy to identify. It appears in this sequence: is congenial, well-liked, and has above average soft-skills. Does that sound clumsy? It does because the first and third attributes follow verbs (“is” and “has”), but “well-liked” stands by itself. So we have a classic lack of parallel structure.

How do we fix that? Often we add a verb to get everything on an even plane, but here that would be difficult, so let’s give the verb “are,” which had replaced “is,” double-duty. Then our sentence (still not fully refined) reads like this: These are leaders that are congenial and well-liked, with above average soft-skills. 

Still not happy? Neither am I. Using “that” to refer to people isn’t dead wrong, but it’s much classier to use “who” (These are leaders who are …). And wait. Shouldn’t we just shorten that to These leaders are? Yes. So now we have this sentence: These leaders are congenial and well-liked, with above average soft-skills. 

Editing 301

Deciding when to use hyphens, combine two words into a compound word, or write two words separately can be an annoying aspect of the editing process for a number of reasons: 1) These situations come up constantly. 2) The rules on correctness are hard to remember and in some cases subject to style (“fund raising,” “fund-raising,” “fundraising”). 3) Our language is always changing, so what was once “good-bye” is now “goodbye.”

In these two sentences we have four calls to make. Ugh. Our writer went with “well-liked,” “above average,” “soft-skills,” and “coworker.” The easier ones are “coworker” (yes, it’s in the dictionary) and “soft-skills” (no, that would seem to be two words).

That leaves the tough ones: “above average” and “well-liked.” Both are wrong only because of placement. The words “above average” precede the thing they are describing, “soft skills,” and when that happens we need a hyphen (above-average soft skills). But “well-liked” comes after “leaders,” so we want two separate words. (Think of a well-liked teacher vs. a teacher who is well liked.)

So now we have this: These leaders are congenial and well liked, with above-average soft skills. They are extremely supportive of their employees and approach management interactions more like coworker relationships.

Editing 401

During editing, we want to focus on more than correctness and conciseness. We also want to examine our content to make sure we are saying presisely what we mean, and we want to see if we can word anything more stylishly. So I’d make two final changes:

“Employees” isn’t quite right. The people who work with the leader are not his or her employees. They are the employees of the owner. So “fellow employees” is much better.

The various forms of the verb “to be” (“is,” “are,” “were,” “will be,” “have been,” etc.) have no dynamism. Our most important verb is not our most dazzling. Therefore, whenever we can substitute for the verb “to be” or eliminate it, our writing gains in aesthetics. Seeing as both sentences rely on “are,” let’s get rid of “They are.” This would then be my final version of the paragraph:

These leaders are congenial and well liked, with above-average soft skills. Extremely supportive of their fellow employees, they approach management interactions more like coworker relationships.

Postscript
The lengthy look we gave this brief paragraph might lead you to conclude that editing requires more time and effort than it is worth. But doesn’t that depend on the importance of the message? The faulty paragraph we edited was going online for broad consumption.

And remember, we needed to spend inordinate time because the paragraph was hand-picked. It had issues!

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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Common Comma Misunderstandings, Part 2

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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As promised, here is the follow-up to last week’s discussion and quiz (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=542&action=edit) related to comma errors. This time, decide which sentences need corrections and which are fine as is.

Quiz time

1. I can’t figure out why the pie didn’t taste just like Mom’s, I followed her recipe.

2. Bernie, our former bookkeeper has found his calling in Topeka, Kansas as a chef.

3. Hi, Gladys. I hope you enjoyed seeing your cousin Cecil.

4. No, I wouldn’t call Millie “eccentric,” but her brother sure is.

The answers

1. The comma separates two sections that each qualify as a complete sentence, and that’s a classic error with many names including comma splice and comma fault. (Some writers do use a comma between two independent clauses when the two sections are extremely short [Paul drove, Pauline flew.], but what constitutes “extremely short”?)

So how do we fix this classic error? Here are some solutions, and you may have found others:
I can’t figure out why the pie didn’t taste just like Mom’s. I followed her recipe.
I can’t figure out why the pie didn’t taste just like Mom’s; I followed her recipe.
I can’t figure out why the pie didn’t taste just like Mom’s, seeing as I followed her recipe.
I can’t figure out why the pie didn’t taste just like Mom’s even though I followed her recipe.

2. We need two more commas. One goes after “bookkeeper” to finish what we started by putting a comma after “Bernie” to signify that “our former bookkeeper” is not essential. The other goes after “Kansas” (covered last week).
Bernie, our former bookkeeper, has found his calling in Topeka, Kansas, as a chef.

3. Correct as is. We are addressing Gladys directly, so we need punctuation on both sides of her name. And Gladys surely knows that Cecil is her cousin, so “cousin” is functioning as an adjective. No comma needed.
Hi, Gladys. I hope you enjoyed seeing your cousin Cecil.

4. This one is correct too. Commas are required after introductory words like “Yes” or “No,” and, as discussed in the November 25 post (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=117&action=edit), commas always go inside quotation marks.
No, I wouldn’t call Millie “eccentric,” but her brother sure is.

Postscript

One of the solutions to #1 was using a semicolon where the comma was inadequate, but many of us are unsure of when we have the license to use a semicolon in that stylish way. Here is an excerpt from my book that may help.

If using a semicolon as above is not in your repertoire, you might be concerned that this lack of artistry will impede your path to the Pulitzer Prize. No need to worry. As you saw, you have several ways to avoid a comma splice. But if you would like to add this bit of flair, here are the rules:

• The two sections you want to separate with a semicolon need to be independent clauses (complete thoughts).
• The sections should be highly related – so much so that they seem to belong in the same sentence.
• The sections should not be joined with “and” or “but”; you don’t need a conjunction because the semicolon simultaneously shows a grammatical separation and a contextual connection.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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Common Comma Misunderstandings

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Norm Friedman

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Sometimes comma use is arbitrary, but usually we have rules to guide us. So to brush up on the rules, let’s look at a few of the most common misunderstandings about when to hit the comma key or resist the impulse.

Quiz time

1. How many commas do you need in this sentence?
The first conference was held on June 17 2007 in Atlanta.

One between “June 17” and “2007,” right? Yes, but don’t stop there. The frequent error is not placing a comma after the year as well. So we need two commas:
The first conference was held on June 17, 2007, in Atlanta. (And if we were saying “Sunday, June 17, 2007,” we would, of course, need three commas.)

2. How about this sentence?
The first conference was held in June 2007 in Atlanta.

We don’t need any. Keep it clean when stating only the month and year.

3. Now tackle this one:
We have chosen Madison Wisconsin as the site of our next conference.

Did I trap you again? We need two commas:
We have chosen Madison, Wisconsin, as the site of our next conference. Remember the comma after the state.

An explanation I’ve seen for the comma after “Wisconsin” and the one after “2007” is that these constructions are treated as though we’re writing something non-essential. (By the way, I mean June 17 in 2007. By the way, I mean the Madison in Wisconsin, not the one in Ohio.)

4. Now we’ll switch gears. How many commas do you need in this sentence?
The panel examined all the responses from community members living in the suburbs and concluded that their comments were strikingly similar to those of city residents.

You don’t need any. Yes, the sentence is somewhat lengthy, but let’s break it down. The subject of the sentence is “panel.” Everything after that is the predicate, explaining what the panel did, and in this instance no part of the predicate needs punctuation. A comma after suburbs would interrupt the flow and be incorrect.

Remember, however, that whenever we’re uncomfortable we can reword, and maybe you don’t like composing a 26-word sentence without any internal punctuation. In that case, you might prefer this:
After examining all the responses from community members living in the suburbs, the panel concluded that their comments were strikingly similar to those of city residents.

5. And how many commas belong in this sentence?
I asked Joe to join us and Emma invited Janie.

Yes, the sentence is short, but we have a subject and predicate and then another subject and predicate, so we need a comma to separate them:
I asked Joe to join us, and Emma invited Janie.

Note that without the comma the reader momentarily thinks I asked Joe to join us and Emma. Commas do help!

We’ll wrap up this short review of correct comma use next week. See you then.

In addition to presenting workshops on writing in the workplace, Norm Friedman is a writer, editor, and writing coach. His 100+ Instant Writing Tips is a brief “non-textbook” to help individuals overcome common writing errors and write with more finesse and impact. Learn more at http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml.

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