www.witinall.com
Your German language service
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Terms
  • AGB
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Languages
  • Site Privacy Policy
  • Ask the Experts

Have your say...

No nasty comments, please!

email

According to the AP, It's Now OK to Boldly Go...

4/27/2019

2 Comments

 
by Summer Worsley

Freedom of the press is all very well. However, as anyone serious about writing content fit for public consumption knows, there is some conforming to the norm. One of the key sources guiding publications and writers around the world is, of course, the Associated Press Stylebook.
 
The electronic version is kept current with any changes and updated regularly. The hardcopy edition is revised annually, with a new edition due for release at the end of May 2019.
 
Some of the most significant changes to this year’s AP Stylebook include:
 
Split Infinitives Are Now Acceptable
 
The force is now with us, and split infinitives are okay after all. An oft-quoted example of a split infinitive is Star Wars’ opening statement. Captain Kirk's attestation “To boldly go where no man has gone before” was previously an AP no-go. The split is the insertion of the word “boldly” between the infinitive “to go”. This type of construction is now acceptable to the AP to convey meaning and add clarity.

Their use is, of course, nothing new. As historical events often are, the utilization of split infinitives has been cyclical. They were okay in Old English or Anglo Saxon times, but not so much in Shakespeare's time. The arrival of prescriptivist grammar manuals in the late 16th century deemed split infinitives incorrect. This was, in large part, because these grammars were based on Latin rules.

Many writers have been gleefully splitting infinitives again for years. The AP Stylebook has just caught up with others on the infinitive frontier.
 
% Not Percent
 
How many times out of one hundred do editors correct the use of % to percent (US) or per cent (UK)? Quite often, in fact. But the AP Stylebook change for 2019 has made it simple: If you’re using numerals, you can just use the % symbol. Odds are that 99.9% of people will find that quicker, easier, and more intuitive than the writing out 99.9 per cent in full.
 
Suspensive Hyphenation              
 
Do you inhale deeply at the thought of how and when to hyphenate? Let alone figuring out the use of suspensive hyphenation? Good news, you can exhale that deep breath. The 2019 AP Stylebook has expanded advice on how to hyphenate.
 
Suspensive hyphens cut down the number of words needed in a sentence with similar elements or multiple compound modifiers. For example, the difference in the interest you may spend between 15-, 20- or 30-year mortgages. Compared to the differences you may spend between 15-year, 20-year, or 30-year mortgages.
 
With hyphenation in general, the 2019 AP Stylebook has moved with the notion that less is best. Feel free to take them out of any prefixes with double-e combinations. Rework re-establish as reestablish. If you want to bring back a dedicated worker you can reemploy them rather than re-employ them.
 
If the meaning of previously hyphenated words is clear without the hyphen, whip it out. A third-grade teacher is still clearly a third grade teacher without the hyphen. Likewise, a chocolate chip cookie remains unambiguous without a hyphen.

The Stylebook also removes hyphens used to fill the gap between anyone who identifies with one or more cultural or ethnic origins.  There is no need to hyphenate Americans of dual heritage whether African American, Hispanic American, Chinese American or Japanese American. Likewise American Indians and Native Americans. These two, however, are only to be used in general terms. When referring to individual people or groups, reference specific tribal affiliations.
 
The Terms Racism and Racist
 
The guide introduces new guidance on how to stay neutral and unbiased when it comes to reporting or writing about anything related to race. Thoughtful writing showing consideration and understanding of diversity is recommended. There is guidance on avoiding euphemisms such as “racially charged” or “racially motivated.”  Only use racial identifiers when relevant.
 
It also takes a stand on calling out and naming racism for what it is. A new entry on racism states: “The terms racism and racist can be used in broad references or in quotations to describe the hatred of a race or assertion of the superiority of one race over others.”
 
The AP Style Guide and Its Impact
 
The Associated Press Stylebook has been in use by journalists and writers of all kinds for decades. First released to media journalists in the 1950s, it’s been available for the public to purchase since the 1970s.
 
The AP Stylebook isn’t just a guide to grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The publication aims to help writers and editors produce accurate, neutral, and ethically written content. The overall guidance also informs writers on how to produce writing in a consistent style so that different audiences can readily digest and understand the content.
 
It doesn’t matter which topic you’re writing about, chances are the compilers of the AP Stylebook have considered it. The Stylebook gives in-depth guidance on how to write across social, economic, and political aspects within many topics. Want to know what legalised marijuana dispensary employees should be called? (It's budtenders).
 
The AP Stylebook is available in hardcopy and electronic versions for phones, computers, and tablets. If you want to go a step further, there's the StyleGuard app to check if you've applied the principles and parameters.
 
To help keep your text in order, check out the options for the updated 2019 AP Stylebook in hardcopy or the electronic version. Or, if you’d like to keep your eyes on the bigger picture and let others worry about hyphens, infinitives, and other niggly grammatical concerns, get in touch with us today.  
Picture
2 Comments
Alexandra link
5/7/2019 02:47:07 am

It's great to see the "bible" of scribes going with the times. Thank you, Summer, for this pithy update. But we should always remember that it's the reader we are writing for and clarity our aim.

Reviewing a translation recently, I noticed that the translator had understood "working horse ranch" to mean "functioning horse ranch" (where "working" modifies "ranch") when it actually refers to a ranch with "working horses" (or "workinghorses").You can see that in cases like these, as in a lot of cases involving "special purpose language" or technical terms, a hyphen or graphological pointer does actually come in handy.

Yours,
Alexandra

Reply
Alexandra link
5/28/2019 07:38:38 am

For those of you wondering how to best translate the terms "working horse ranch" or "working cattle ranch" or similar (where the focus is on the "working" as opposed to "dude ranch", for example) into German, here's a few suggestions:
landwirtschaftlicher Betrieb (this is almost like a generic term covering all kinds of farms or ranches run as businesses),
produktive Pferderanch/Rinderranch (if you want to stress the "still in use" aspect),
Ranchbetrieb mit Pferden/Rindern (a general description).
You may have more elegant suggestions, but in case you are a beginner, make sure you don't fall into the "working girl" trap your dictionary may suggest. (You'll want to stay clear of the "street worker" meaning, obviously.)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Authors

    Alexandra
    Matthieu
    ​Sarah
    ​Samuel
    ​Summer
    ​Mike

    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    August 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Link to Delicious
    English Dictionary;
Proudly powered by Weebly