Word: Stop hyphens breaking over a line

I know. That sounds silly. Surely one of the uses of a hyphen is to break a word at the end of a line.

But sometimes you have a hyphen in a term that you DON’T want to break at the end of a line. For example, in some of the docs I’ve been working on, there are hyphenated license and permit numbers, such as W2345-98-P67. I want this string of numbers to stay together no matter what and I don’t want them to break if they hit the end of a line.

I’d never checked if I could do that, and had put up with the occasional instance of such a number splitting. Then a few days ago, a tip from Jeanne M Perdue’s Technical Writing Tips from the Oil Patch blog came into my Inbox — and there was the solution!

To insert a non breaking hyphen, hold down Ctrl+Shift as you press the hyphen key.

That’s it. With Ctrl+Shift+- a non breaking hyphen is inserted (it looks a little like a cross between a hyphen and an en dash) and all parts of your term will stay together.

Thanks Jeanne!

See also:

• Jeanne’s original post: http://oilpatchwriting.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/nonbreaking-hyphens/
• Non breaking spaces the easy way: https://cybertext.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/word-nonbreaking-spaces-the-easy-way/

[Links last checked October 2010]

Google grammar

Ah, Google! How we love you, and how we love how helpful you are when you think we’ve typed in something we shouldn’t have. But seriously, I think you need a lesson in the difference between “it’s” and “its”…

BTW, here’s a quick tip for remembering whether to insert the apostrophe or not — if you can substitute ‘it is’, ‘it has’, ‘it was’, then use “it’s”. If not, then it’s always “its”.

[Thanks to Dave G for alerting me to this.]

Excellent resource on typography

Saw this on my Twitter feeds: http://www.typographyforlawyers.com/

What an EXCELLENT resource for anyone who writes, not just lawyers. Sections 8, 9 and 10 go into detail about things such as hyphenation, font choices, use of all caps and small caps, kerning, line spacing etc.

[Link last checked April 2010; thanks to @charjtf for Tweeting this link]

Writers and editors working together

Most of the work I’ve done this past year has been technical editing, not technical writing. So I’ve seen documentation from the perspective of a pedantic and critical reader — and it’s been a revealing journey!

I think I’ve become a better writer as a result.

There’s nothing quite like picking up someone else for inconsistencies or punctuation, for example, to make you more aware of your own inconsistencies and punctuation errors. And it has forced me to consult dictionaries and style manuals and guides more closely, and to practice what I preach.

On that note, it’s interesting to see that there have been quite a few articles and blog posts recently on the relationship between writers and editors and what each can bring to the table, as well as how to work with each other to get the best document possible for the reader.

Here are some of those articles and blog posts:

• Working with a technical editor (Jean Hollis Weber): http://www.techwr-l.com/articles/writing/workingwithaneditor (this is an article from 2007, but the advice still applies)
• How to be an editor’s best friend — and take feedback (David A. Kennedy): http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/how-to-be-an-editor%E2%80%99s-best-friend-and-take-feedback/
• Five easy steps to be your own editor (Anna Goldsmith): http://www.copyblogger.com/edit-your-writing-2/
• Demonstrating the value of editing (Geoff Hart): http://www.stc-techedit.org/tiki-index.php?page=Demonstrating+the+value+of+editing
• Technical Writing: Writers vs Editors (John Kenn): http://blogs.msdn.com/johnkenn/archive/2005/06/12/428413.aspx
• And, from Purdue University, a checklist for reviewing your documentation: http://www.digitalparlor.org/fa08/clark1/node/271

[Links last checked December 2009]

Are you a grammar nerd?

If you are, then you might like these two resources.

The first is a set of stickers ready for you to add to signs, menus, etc. (available for purchase from here:
http://dylanmeconis.myshopify.com/products/grammar-nerd-corrective-label-pack):

The second is a useful comic-style ‘poster’ on ‘How to use an apostrophe’, from http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe.

Grammar basics in a poem

(origin unknown)

Every name is called  a NOUN, as ‘field’ and ‘fountain’, ‘street’ and ‘town’

In place of a noun the PRONOUN stands, as ‘he’ and ‘she’ clap ‘their’ hands

The ADJECTIVE describes a thing, as ‘magic’ wand or ‘bridal’ ring

The VERB means action, something done, to ‘read’ and ‘write’, to ‘jump’ and ‘run’

How things are done the ADVERBS tell, as ‘quickly’, ‘slowly’, ‘badly’ or ‘well’

The PREPOSITION shows relation, as ‘in’ the street or ‘at’ the station

CONJUNCTIONS join in many ways, sentences, words ‘or’ phrase ‘and’ phrase

The INTERJECTION cries out ‘Hark! I need an exclamation mark!’.

Think you know your sentence structure?

Then take this multiple choice questionnaire from The Economist (British). It’s only 12 questions and should take less than 5 minutes. I got 8 out of 12… ‘Needs work’.

[Link last checked April 2009]

Etiquette for commenting on blog posts

I have a pretty good readership for this blog — those who comment are invariably polite. But some blogs, forums, YouTube comments etc. are far from polite. A couple of people (at least) have ‘written’ some etiquette ‘rules’ for commenting on blog posts:

• Grammar Girl’s How to write a great blog comment
• Yo comments are whack! video on YouTube

[Links last checked April 2009]

National Grammar Day

There are days for everything — including grammar! National Grammar Day is held on March 4 each year.

Details: http://nationalgrammarday.com/

A prescriptive attitude to grammar

You might find this article by Bruce Byfield—”Tech Writers, Grammar, and the Prescriptive Attitude”— interesting: http://www.techwr-l.com/node/688.

It also contains a potted history of the changes to grammar and language over the past few centuries.