Absorbing Writing Knowledge: Blogs
Blogs comprise a growing and influential corner of the communication world. Not surprisingly, many blogs address writing and can be a source of self-study for the aspiring writer and applicant. This week, we’re addressing a set of connected blogs associated with one of America’s oldest and most well-respected periodicals: The New York Times. As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, open source information on writing can vary in quality. When we include recommendations, we aim to filter out information of poor quality and make some confident suggestions of where you can get good information.
After Deadline
https://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/
The editing staff of The New York Times published this online distillation of article errors for more than five years until March of 2016. In addition to containing accurate information about grammar and usage, they pinpoint situations of language that are difficult for extremely good writers - for journalists at the New York Times! The panoply of mistakes demonstrates the effort any writer must put into their craft and the crucial role of editors in correcting mistakes that all writers inevitably make.
The posts are terse. Each entry revolves around a common type of mistake - like conjugating incorrectly - followed by examples of real mistakes made in New York Times articles. Some of these mistakes were caught right before publication and some were caught by readers after publication. For example, the entry Close But Not Quite addresses words used in a slightly incorrect way, like “reticent” used to mean reluctant instead of its real definition: “hesitant to speak.” Another entry named Ugly Disagreements looks at examples of subject and verb disagreement that happen when sentences become syntactically complex. To unpack that term a bit, syntax means the arrangement of parts of a sentence in relationship to each other. A sentence can be very short and syntactically simply, like the sentence:
She goes.
A more complicated sentence would be longer and probably has modifying dependent clauses within it, like the sentence from 43rd chapter of Moby Dick:
Though the gregarious sperm whales have their regular seasons for particular grounds, yet in general you cannot conclude that the herds which haunted such and such a latitude or longitude this year, say, will turn out to be identically the same with those that were found there the preceding season; though there are peculiar and unquestionable instances where the contrary of this has proved true.
(Barnes and Noble Classics: New York, 2003, p 243.)
You can see how a more syntactically complex sentence might separate the subject and verb and lead to accidentally conjugating a verb based on the wrong word, because that word is closer to it. The “After Deadline” examples clearly illustrate how that mistake can be made and can help you to look out for it. Another entry that reflects common mistakes we see with Pepper Editing clients addresses Number Trouble or confusion around singular and plural uses that are not very clear-cut.
Editor Philip B. Corbett
https://www.nytimes.com/by/philip-b-corbett
Another way to cut across great writing material is to go to Philip B. Corbett’s New York Timespage, which includes “After Deadline” content, articles written for The New York Times Insider, and a series of “Copy Edit This!” quizzes that we adore. Philip B. Corbett is a managing associate editor for The New York Times and oversees the “style manual” for the newspaper. The term “style” in writing refers to the craft of putting sentences together. It emphasizes accurate word choice, applying the most up-to-date writing rules, and making the tone and clarity of writing as strong as it can be. A fantastic, broad resource for style in English is E. B. White and William Strunk Jr.’s book The Elements of Style. We recommend that any serious writer own a copy.
On Corbett’s webpage, you’ll find the article“It's Official, the 'Internet" is Over” about why The New York Times decided to begin using a lowercase “i” for the word “internet,” and an introduction to those copy editor quizzes: Copy Edit This! These copy edit quizzes work just as they sound; a numbered set of examples are listed for you to pick out the errors and the answers can be found at the end. The fact that these examples represent real mistakes by strong writers makes them valuable in a different way than quizzes in GRE or TOEFL study manuals. Whether The New York Times produces this content to enliven their word-loving audience or to draw more traffic to their website, you should be grateful that these fun, high-quality quizzes are publicly available.
Lastly, we want to point your attention to an article on The New York Times Insider website, a branch of the organization with an emphasis on the behind-the-scenes aspects of putting the newspaper and websites together. In this article - “Is a Cow a ‘Who’ or a ‘Which?’ Our Standards Editor Weighs In” - Corbett is writing about the variability of using “who” or “which” to refer to animals, a malleable grammar question with philosophical implications. Philosopher and animal-rights-advocate Peter Singer uses “who” to refer to animals, but many others would use “which.” Corbett suggests that most Americans think of animals that they have a personal connection to as a “who” and those to which they do not as an “it.” This article provides an example of how cultural context may affect writing mechanics in that cultures attach very different personal and humanizing sentiments to different animals and these differences can affect writing rules. This article is one of several that Corbett publishes through The Insiderrather than “After Deadline,” so look out for others.
We hope you find this collection of New York Times resources helpful. Look for next week’s entry on study habits, a third article that addresses improving writing knowledge on your own. In the meantime, be curious, thoughtful and integrous!