ATTN: Copyeditors and Grammar Fiends

guys i am actually an official copyeditor again
one of many not-so-harsh realities dawning on me today

-- rrrobyn, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 12:16 PM (Tuesday, November 6, 2007 12:16 PM) Bookmark Link

Welcome back to the club.

You wouldn't believe how much dead Latin I'm forced to remove.

I just changed "daylight savings time" to "Daylight Saving Time" in a piece of copy.

(I found precedent for it in the archives, which isn't too surprising, since we use British spellings for words like "colour" and "centre," too.)

SMALLBRAIN WRITER ALERT!

"The series, which ended last month, took on a similar format to last year's Popstar Idol."

took on a format?

was IN a similar format?

was OF a similar format?

It all seems so wrong.

"...was made/produced/planned/etc in a similar format..." I think you need a verb in there.

What about "took on a format similar to"?

jaymc, where are you from again? that it's surprising that you use british precedent?

Or just strike the "on" and say "...took a form similar to that of last year's Popster Idol."

why not just "took on a similar format similar to last year's Popstar Idol"

oops xpost, i am stupid.

I'm from Chicago. What is British precedent? The reason I changed it like that is that "to" was bothering me -- I was wondering whether it should be "as" -- and then I realized that it would sound OK if it was closer to "similar."

And actually, Laurel is right: it should be "similar to that of."

I was just wondering where you were that it was worth mentioning "we use British spellings for words like "colour" and "centre," too." I sort of assumed you were in the UK, so I didn't see why you'd mention that (i assume everyone's British, weirdly).

(I found precedent for it in the archives, which isn't too surprising, since we use British spellings for words like "colour" and "centre," too.)

-- jaymc, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 11:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

dude he was talking about this
xpost

Thanks all! I went for "took on a format similar to that of "

but the addition of a verb would have been good too, I think.

Oh. Duh. I work for a certain encyclopedia founded in Scotland in 1768. I think we use British spellings for traditional reasons -- although there are some products, like the children's edition, in which they're not used.

you mean WEE BAIRNS' EDITION

It's actually changed names so many times, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the next one.

i'm not sure if it's ironic that i didn't know what encyclopedia you were referring to, so i looked it up on wikipedia.

Haha.

Simple:

The series, which ended last month, had a similar format to last year's Popstar Idol.

Unless you mean it "took on" a similar format midway through the series.

Urgh I disagree! "a similar format to" strikes me as a grammar wreck. "a format similar to that of" does not.

That's a British form, we don't say "a similar format to" any more than we say "a different format to". Here the rule is "better than"/"different from".

what about "as"? almost seems right

Similar AS? You've been an ex-pat for too long.

U same as crazy.

Anyway the "similar" is ye olde red herring, you could just say "like that of" and be clearer.

The "of" is kind of essential to the meaning, even though nobody will care. It doesn't mean the format is similar to Popstar Idol, the whole show; it means the format is similar to the format of Popstar Idol. Hence "similar to that of."

Also while on a tangent, Americans do NOT say "bored of". We say "bored WITH". Fun with prepositions!!

Or maybe "bored BY", now that I think of it. But never "of".

American English differs from English English, which differs to Scottish English, which differs by Australian English, which differs through New Zealand English, which differs under Northern Irish English, which differs between Welsh English

I'm sure some Americans say bored of!

Will, are you an American? Sorry, haven't noticed...

I suppose it's possible that there's some weird pocket of "bored of" in the same way that New Yorkers wait "on line", but it is deeply weird to average USian sensibilities. We do not, as a rule, say "bored of".

i always just try to limit the number of prepositions in any sentence

they will screw you every time

will is cdn! mtl even!

J'ai ennui DE ca.

ca m'emmerde!! (no prepositions!)

sorry, i read that as "that's my shit!"

This suggests that it's not particularly British either:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000636.html

prepositions are kinda the bane of my french

the other bane of my french is being a lazy anglo pigdog of course

Urgh I disagree! "a similar format to" strikes me as a grammar wreck. "a format similar to that of" does not.

Yeah, that's right -- I sloppily didn't even look at the rest of the sentence. My suggestion was just to use "had" in place of the other more awkward expressions.

I would have said "followed a format similar to".

Maybe I wouldn't have. I don't know now.

I'm having a hard time with these sentences:

1. "You are a bigger man than me."
vs.
2. "You are a bigger man than I."

I saw the second written, and thought it was incorrect, but now that I think about it, I suppose that "am" is implied in the second sentence. Can anyone explain not only which sentence is better, but WHY? I am really confused as to why both a subject and an object work (albeit in different ways) within the EXACT same structure.

Oh sorry I didn't respond Laurel, btw, I guess I accidentally stopped following the thread. I am Canadian, but I know several Americans. I'm sure that one of them might say bored of... but I might be thinking of myself, who is not American. Then again, I still say "on accident" instead of "by accident" which apparently REALLY bothers people (probably because it's so wrong and ugly-sounding)

Will, I think only #2 is actually correct (for exactly the reason you say: "...than I am"), but everyone uses #1 colloquially so it's what you expect to hear.