Bonnie Trenga

Hi. We live in an old orange grove. We still have many orange trees (around 20) in our almost one-acre property. Today we were digging up in the back of the yard in the hopes of clearing weeds and planting two new fruit trees. It appears there's a 10-foot by 10-foot concrete slab under the dirt. It's about four inches thick. Near the middle is a round area about the size of a dinner plate, and surrounding this round area are five or six long things sticking out of the concrete, what my husband thinks are threaded screws. (We were digging in the dark after the kids went to bed, hoping there would be a clear marking on the concrete. Nope.) Anyway, my husband thinks this is the foundation of a long-ago-used piece of machinery or something used for irrigation. We currently have flood irrigation but not in this area of the yard. This area is elevated by less than a foot. Below is grass and fruit trees. 1) Can anyone guess what this is? 2) How do we get it out? Thanks, Bonnie Image Insert: 142.05 KB

My brother, who's 35, is changing careers (from writer/stay-at-home dad to med student). His lab partner was younger than his calculator. Anyway, this lab partner asked him if he used to listen to those big black round things. Ouch!

I took up the challenge to rearrange the letters in copyeditor and came up with "rip ye to doc." Don't know if that makes too much sense, but sometimes I do rip up the page with red marks. That might make a client want to see the doc. Or if it were "rip ye to cod," it might induce an urge to fish instead of to write. P.S. What a handsome pair of dudes, Gary!

Randy, my dear, I am here. Oneself is a reflexive pronoun, as are herself, himself, etc. Therefore, "marketing oneself" is a correct phrase. You can always e-mail me a question at curiouscase@hotmail.com or go to Ask the Sentence Sleuth here at TIJ. As a copyeditor who sees many dreadful marketing pieces, I would say that one of the best ways of marketing yourself is ensuring your Web site and brochures--not to mention your reports--display error-free and clear English.

Irregardless is definitely not a word!

Homo=same, as in homogeneous Phone=sound, as in telephone, phonetic, etc Nym=name, as in antonym, synonym Anyway, I try to avoid using fancy grammatical terms in my writing. Who cares if it's a homonym or homophone, I think. As long as you avoid the mistake. That's enough Greek or whatever for one day.

You're welcome! I'm ready when you are!

I will not completely disagree with you on this one. Using passive voice in my example just makes sense to me. If I see something that does need repaired you will not see the passive voice come out. Any help with changing the wording in my post would be appreciated. Sure. You wrote: Drip cap flashing is recommended along the top horizontal ledges of all window trims. Flashing was omitted at the upper level windows. I am not concerned with the lack of flashing at these windows since there is an eave overhang that will protect the upper level windows. I would have written: You should have so and so put drip cap flashing along the top horizontal ledges of all window trims. You don't have to put flashing above (?) the upper-level windows because the eave overhang protects these windows. Dare I ask if you've read my book? It will help you recognize and get rid of seven common writing problems. I'd even like to work with you one on one if you take my writing class. WJ, I agree that homophones can be a big problem. Site, sight and cite are actually homophones: words that sound the same but are spelled differently; homonyms are actually words that are spelled the same but that mean different things: bat (animal) and bat (baseball item). Funny you should mention that. I am writing an article on that very topic right now. It will be available for you to read next year in Writer's Digest Magazine (I know that sounds far away). Next week, you can read my first column online. I'll send a link when it's available. Mike, I don't think pronouns are that much of a problem in your writing. Just make sure they clearly refer back to a noun.

Hey Jim. It's not a misplaced modifier. It's more of an ambiguous sentence. The pronoun it could refer to head or furnace. It would probably be prudent to repeat the noun to avoid this ambiguity. It's not really wrong, though, Homer. A misplaced modifier might be: Hungry, all that work on the furnace revved up my appetite.

Dear Homer, Just take a little time to proofread. Love, Marge

You're right that these are synonyms. Fix seems a bit less formal. I guess I meant it's better to be as specific as possible about what to repair/fix. Just ignore me on that, but don't ignore me on these writing errors: the meaning... is (not are); the meaning is ... not the same as my clients (that's not an apples to apples comparison; you're comparing meaning to clients); and than, not then. There was also a question about whether to repair inherently means repair properly. I think a repair can be done improperly, but it seems obvious that when an HI writes "repair xyz" he means do it right. When I edit something, I try to edit it properly, so I promise my clients copyediting services, not proper copyediting services.

I love it! What a maroon! You mean moron!! (You're not a maroon moron!) Maroon is purple. Thanks for the laugh. The other day I was proofreading something where the word proofreading was mispelled proofreeding. Another good one!

Thanks, Mike, for the nod. (I do periodically check the Report Writing area since that's my main interest. But I have avoided commenting on spelling/writing mistakes because I don't want to be annoying.) Thanks WJ (SonOfSwamp) for noticing that passive voice is a poor way of writing! As for the original question, repair or proper repair, it seems to me as a layperson that you could solve the problem by being more specific. For example, if the roof is caving in, say something like "The roof is caving in. I recommend that a roofer examine and fix x, y and z." The word "repair" seems a bit vague to me.

I would agree with these guys. Present sounds better. Was found to be/is present: these types of phrases are wordy and pompous sounding. I advocate straightforward sentences: X is broken/Z leaks. The fewer words the better, as long as you communicate what's wrong with the house. Try giving yourself a word maximum so you don't go on and on needlessly.

Constructive criticism only, Les. No nagging. Will save that for my spouse. You guys don't like nagging spouses?[]

I watch a small amount of TV but instead of parking myself in front of endless Law & Order episodes, I read. I do like Discovery Channel and some of its forensics shows, though. Do you guys get annoyed when I point out errors in your posts? Please be honest. I do it because it makes me feel better, and because I know you guys want to improve yourselves. If you don't mind, Brad, which word did you spell wrong in this quoted post?

Sure, you could say, I unhappily read the crappily written textbook.[^]

I try to read a couple hours a night. I end up reading about two books a week. My six-year-old son is getting excited about reading books from the library, but I wonder if that will last. I fear that the crappily written textbooks he'll be forced to read in school will kill some of his enthusiasm. Happened to me. Only when I wasn't forced to read something did I choose to read a lot.

I agree with Brian that reading does make you smarter. You learn cool things and see how others write. Someone somewhere else in this forum astutely said that if you want to write better you should read. That's mostly true, but I do see lots of errors in books and magazines. So follow the pros but don't believe everything you read.

I have to admit I liked reading about virile males fighting it out in ancient times. [:-bigeyes

I suppose I could recommend some writing or grammar books but I don't want to be annoying. I very much enjoyed Bernard Cornwell's Viking series, about Danish raiders at the time of King Alfred the Great (late ninth century). There's a lot of magnificent fighting and decapitations. A nice relaxing read after you've spent the day crawling in small spaces. The Last Kingdom is the first one.

Quick bucks might be nice, but good writing is better.[^]

Les always has something silly to say. You, Brian, Tiger Man, always put a smile on my face. I'm looking forward to seeing how you do in the writing class. I predict you'll write some excellent pieces.

Hey Brandon. I just Googled myself and the TIJ forum was one of the hits. I think this is a fascinating place, and I'm happy that you inspector dudes want to improve your writing! I, too, enjoy the goofy guys. They seem to have an excellent sense of humor. Brandon, in case you didn't know, there's a new area of the forum, called Ask the Sentence Sleuth (me), where you can ask a writing-related question. Hope to see you there for some face time. Been back to Ithaca lately? I last went a couple years ago. Son of Swamp (what the heck does that name mean, anyway?), I don't think how you type matters; just how you proofread. Be suspicious of everything. That's how I find errors. You guys must take the same tack when you're checking a house. You don't assume everything is fine with the house, right? Same with writing. Assume it's wrong, and many times you'll be right.