Of course, “ain’t” is a word. I found it in the dictionary!   — random 7-year old.

In Friday’s post, I said that a dictionary is the  most important writing resource. True, but beware. As mentioned in a much earlier post, the English language is descriptive, as opposed to prescriptive (like French). This why I suggested picking a dictionary and sticking with it. Dictionary editors and publishers, for the English language, are forever updating their dictionaries based on current common language usage.

By using the same dictionary, even through successive editions, you maintain the same consistency throughout your writing. Especially if you work for the same client for a number of writing projects, all of the related documentation will use the same definitions and spelling.

This is also where a consistent personal style guide plays a role. Once you’ve made some decisions about how you’re going to write, you can choose to override the dictionary. If the dictionary ever changes, you can choose to update your style guide and all your documentation, or you can choose to ignore the change.

Are there any words (definition or usage) in your dictionary that you ignore?

This is a general list of useful resources for technical writers, which may also be helpful to other writers and communicators. I’m not necessarily advocating any particular products, but the examples will be the products I use myself.

1. Dictionary

I don’t think I can stress enough the importance of a good dictionary. A writer must produce correct spelling, grammar and usage and all of these are provided in a good dictionary.

I will also stress the importance of always using the same dictionary. By using the same dictionary for all your writing, your writing will be much more consistent. And if you’re writing for a client, you can always defend your writing decisions by referring to your chosen dictionary.

Being in Canada, I use the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, but the Oxford Dictionary of English is also available as an excellent authority of the English language.

2. Style guide

A style guide is another resource of which I cannot stress the importance enough. Whether you’re using Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style, The Associated Press Stylebook 2009 or the Canadian Press Stylebook, you can ensure consistentcy in your writing. This works in your favour again by making it easier to defend your writing decisions.

Specifically for technical applications, I use the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications (sorry, this links to the second edition, and I would definitely recommend the third edition). This is an excellent guide for writing documentation and communication for software applications.

I also recommend to create a personal style guide.  While writing, make notes about preferred words, terms and other usage. Are you going to use am and pm, a.m. and p.m. or a 24-hour system (08:00, 20:00)? How are you going to write time zones? How do you handle abbreviations? While making your writing more consistent, it also removes the need to make these kinds of decisions on the fly.

3. Usage guide

While a usage guide can often be replaced by a dictionary and style guide, it helps to make decisions about usage in new situations, or confirm usage in awkward situations.

While I’ve heard some comments against it, I prefer Fowler’s Modern English Usage. I’ve managed to resolve a number of usage conflicts using Fowler’s; for example, whether I can use nor without having previously used neither (yes, I can).

4. Thesaurus

I do not to use a thesaurus. To quote Stephen King:

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.
— Stephen King, “Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully – in Ten Minutes”, 1988

Conclusion

To conclude, you see that there aren’t many resources, and there shouldn’t be. The more you have to make reference to a book, guide or even your own notes, you slow down your writing. And, if you’re like me, you lose your train of thought and your writing suffers. You don’t have to use (or even like) the suggestions I’ve made, but sticking to specific resources will ensure your writing is consistent and any decisions can be defended.

What are your preferred resources?

As a writer, and more specifically a technical writer, I’m judged—at least I feel I’m judged—on my writing all the time. I take a lot of pride in writing consistent, grammatically-correct and correctly spelled text all the time. In fact, I will confirm usage and spelling even for emails and short notes. (I should probably put together a personal style guide to save me time.)

I happened to catch Ron Creel’s post on Your Writing Dept Blog referring to Twitter posts and the (high) potential for cutting corners. I really liked his “hallowed ground” in terms of shortcuts he’s not willing to take, for example:

• Using 2 instead of two, to or too (remember, you spell out numbers until you get to ten or 10)
• Thru instead of through (thru just ain’t a word…never was and never will be)

To the first point I’ll add using 4 instead of for, R instead of are, and U instead of you. And to the second, till instead of until (I’ll accept ’til).

Thanks, Ron, I think Twitter, email and instant messaging are changing language for the worse!

Missed yesterday, sorry about that. I was trying to resolve a web development issue and was woefully unsuccessful.

Today’s topic relates to the way we (a global we as people) like to create new words to serve a new purpose. However, we also tend to create or commandeer words just to be different. For example:

• incentivize — (v.) to add incentive to an activity; or motivate
• ask — (n.) a request or a question; or request

I suppose, if it was incentivized, I would have searched for more words to complete the ask. But I didn’t. You get the point.

Unfortunately, because the English language is descriptive, as opposed to prescriptive (like French), we end up getting all kinds of new words and new usage based on conventional usage. So just by using the language differently (regardless of whether it’s necessary), we create new rules.

While I think that there should be a definitive resource for English language, I’m not going to expound that notion here; mostly because I think I’m in an incredibly small minority. What I will expound is the need for professional writers to adhere to some strict guidelines for language.

I believe a large part of the problem comes from text and online instant messaging, as well as email. Many people feel that these are shorthand communication media and don’t require the same adherence to proper language. The result is that this language usage migrates (quickly) to other forms of communication. (I actually heard someone use LOL while speaking with a friend!)

If we, as professional writers, make a habit of writing proper emails, and responding properly to poorly written emails, I think we’ll make some strides into correcting behaviour.

As well, when others start making up words, or using others’ made-up words, don’t use them. Find a reasonable alternative and stick with it. Double-check your spelling and grammar against specific resources (i.e., select a dictionary, usage guide and style manual and use only those). And use them all the time, whenever you write anything; not just when writing communication or documentation.

When using word-processing software, always use the spell-checker, but proofread as well. All too often mangers are responsible for supervision, and information is released to pubic audiences.

If anything, all this shows your dedication to your profession and should generally make it easier for you to edit your own work. Hopefully, it will push people to use their made-up words less often, and eventually not at all.

If you have any good made-up words, let me know!