<![CDATA[Klimley Communications - English Lessons]]>

<![CDATA[Klimley Communications - English Lessons]]>Tue, 02 Jun 2026 22:20:55 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[To capitalize black with "B" or not?]]>Wed, 09 Jun 2021 17:54:58 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/to-capitalize-black-with-b-or-not

Surprise, surprise. This question has become a source of controversy. Should you capitalize the word "black" when referring to those from the United States and elsewhere who are black? I would ignore this question. But it has become a politically-tinged issue. Plus, it comes up frequently when I teach college composition, and I am tasked with teaching my students correct capitalization, not just essay structure.
So....what's the answer?

What a columnist from
"The Punching Bag" has to say

Linguists and columnists are piling on. Larry Horist, for instance, writing in the online magazine, "The Punching Bag," on June 8, 2021 observed that..."referring to folks from nations in Africa as capitalized blacks,...not only denigrates we lowercase white folks...but also those politically designated as brown skinned."

Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State

That seems to me like pretty slick and far-fetched reasoning. I would be more convinced if the capitalized "B" in Black simply referred to American African-Americans. That would make more sense to me. But then I decided to take took a look at a recent edition of the journalist's Bible--the much revered AP Stylebook:

"There is a clear desire and reason to capitalize Black. Most notably, people who are Black have strong historical and cultural commonalities, even if they are from different parts of the world." --The Associated Press Style Book

Well, yes, I'll go along with the AP for now. But I can't help remembering my favorite young woman who worked for me as an intern many years ago. She was very petite, pretty and ebony-skinned. One day she mentioned that her grandmother used to say, "She was as American as apple pie." I agree. And because of that, I guess either way is fine with me, although I'll stick with the AP style for now with my students.

]]><![CDATA[June 23rd, 2020]]>Tue, 23 Jun 2020 22:14:32 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/excellence-in-english-compositionFrom......THE ENGLISH TUTOR

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Teaching Specialties
Reading | Writing | Grammar
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For students in
High school, college, and (sometimes) middle school

April W. Klimley
Writer and College Professor
EDUCATION:
BA in English, cum laude, Vassar College | BS at the Columbia University School Journalism
Adjunct English Instructor at Palm Beach State College, FL
Formerly: Tutor in Writing Center of Broward College, FL, and
Adjunct English Instructor at Brookdale Community College, NJ

]]><![CDATA["Let's give it up for..." Strange idioms..]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2017 03:13:57 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/the-mystery-of-the-meaning-of-to-give-it-up-for

This particular phrase irritates me; I don't know why. But here's how it is used these days. Let's say I'm at a conference, and the speaker or panel is wrapping up. Then the moderator comes out and asks you to
"Give it up for--today's speaker, Suzie Q." Of course, that speaker deserves a round of applause. But where did that phrase come from? And why does it mean, "Let's clap for" or "Let's give a round of applause for" the speaker?

The first time I heard the phrase was at an innovation conference in 2006 I think. The speaker had just wrapped up his presentation. Then a colleague of mine, an academic, came bounding out on stage to thank the speaker. He loudly announced, "Give it up for our great speaker." At first I wondered, "Give what up for the speaker?" But then when everyone started clapping, I understood. And joined in. But I was still puzzled. The phrase did not seem connected to what was being asked of the audience. So like any good etymologist, I researched the origin of the phrase. It was hard. In fact, I sort of came up empty until I ran across one explanation that seemed strangely feasible to me. I'll share it with you.

The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) traces the use of the word "give" in related expressions back over 1000 years. It suggests that this expression of gratitude somehow originated in the time of Beowulf. As semi-proof of this, the OED cites a sentence which I'll give here in translation: The poem says of Heremond, a Danish King , "Not at all rings did he give to the Danes for honor." That means that he didn't "give the rings (up) to his men" as a reward for their service"...Well, that could be a connection to the phrase as we use it now.

But then the OED sort of reversed itself and added to the puzzle. The OED points out that the first modern usage of the phrase it was in 1990. So even these experts don't understand why an audience is asked "to give something up" -- rather than "give something to" the speaker after he or she speaks...

]]><![CDATA[Word of the Week--11/27-- "Apophenia" ]]>Mon, 28 Nov 2016 04:43:34 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/word-of-the-week-1127-apophenia"When the crow flies away, a pear falls off"...WHAT???

This Korean expression refers to the tendency of people to see patterns where they may not exist--a false correlation. Or, to use a more technical (and perhaps medical term) it's "apophenia." I just found this out in Ella Frances Sander's delightful new small book on on common expressions in different languages called The Illustrated Book of Sayings. Page 12. If you love words, go buy it, download it, or take it out of
your local library.

]]><![CDATA[Think of punctuation as road signs...]]>Wed, 18 Mar 2015 01:39:17 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/think-of-punctuation-as-road-signs

That's one way to think about them. You wouldn't be safe driving without them. How would you know when to stop? When to give way to the other driver? Just try driving in a country without Road Signs and you know what I mean. It's dangerous. With punctuation, it can be almost the same. The placement of a comma or colon can entirely change the meaning. Don't believe me? Listen to this story.the tit

One writer brought this to everyone's attention about a decade ago---Lynn Tauss who wrote the book with the provocative title: "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation." She challenged the reader with this title. What do you think it means? The first three words sound pretty violent. Yes, it sounds like he or she eats something, shoots something or someone, and then leaves. But did he or she eat, shoot and leave?

Or....did the writer of the title mean something else? Yes, they did, according to Tauss. Take out the comma after "Eats" and the title could read "Eats shoots and leaves." That way, the title suggests that a panda (bear) benevolently "eats (bamboo? shoots and leaves." One comma makes all the difference. So the next time you are struggling over whether or not to put in a common and want to ask, "What difference does it make?" just remember, it may make a very big difference. It did in the Tauss title. So use the comma "road sign" wisely and carefully to guide your reader to the meaning you intend.

]]><![CDATA[ As always, lawyers are the exception! ]]>Sun, 15 Feb 2015 18:14:09 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/-as-always-lawyers-are-the-exception One space between sentences! That’s right! I wrote a long blog post about that several months ago announcing this and explaining why. There had been a lot of confusion about this and I kept getting asked about it. Basically
when computers came on the scene, only one space was necessary in text for clear reading. So that's what publishers decided; before that, with typewriters, it was two spaces.

But since then, I have discovered that there are exceptions. Lawyers use two spaces in legal briefs that are read by judges and others. Why? I guess it's for clarity’s sake. I admit it took me a lot of sleuthing to find this out. I even got hold of that Bible of the legal field—the Blue Book—which explains how to document all references.

And what did I find? The narrative in the book, typeset through computers, had sentences separated by one space. But when the Blue Book gave examples of actual legal briefs, the text clearly contained two spaces between sentences. My impression is that this is for clarity's sake--for the judges and other readers. So…I find myself corrected, or, let’s say I am informing you (if you are a lawyer) that of course you need to stick to the conventions of your field. For legal briefs, it's still two spaces between sentences.

]]><![CDATA[Purdue OWL: One answer to grammar emergencies]]>Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:02:13 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/purdue-owl-one-answer-to-grammar-emergencies

Check out PURDUE OWL on the internet for an Overview of Punctuation
Let's face it. When you are writing an important report or even email, the Grammar Guru may not be available to answer your questions. For instance, you may be puzzling over whether or not quotation marks go before or after the period at the end of a sentence. If there is no teacher (or grammar book around), go to "Purdue OWL on your computer. There you will find answers to almost every grammar or writing style quandary. Of course, it's not as good ask asking the Grammar Guru your specific questions because you will have to "search" for the specific question and answer. But Purdue OWL offers you perfect back-up in emergency grammar situations!
THE ANSWER TO THE ABOVE QUESTION: In American written English, the period, question mark or exclamation mark goes inside the quote marks. It's the opposite with British English.
When speaking, we can pause or change the tone of our voices to indicate emphasis. When writing, we use punctuation to indicate these places of emphases. This handout should help to clarify when and how to use
via Purdue OWL: Punctuation."

]]><![CDATA[Who wrote the first English dictionary?]]>Wed, 07 Jan 2015 23:47:17 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/who-wrote-the-first-english-dictionaryYes, it was that crusty 18th century curmudgeon, Samuel Johnson. It took him nine years, although he claimed it was only three. He wrote the first English dictionary that influenced the English language for hundreds of years. He wrote it without a typewriter. Without a computer. Yes, he did it all by hand--with a quill pen and ink. Would you have had the grit to do that?

]]><![CDATA[How many spaces between sentences? The true answer]]>Mon, 13 Oct 2014 16:07:18 GMThttps://www.klimley.com/english-lessons/one-space-or-two-you-choose

"How many spaces after a period?" I hear this question all the time. It's a big debate that can go on for hours for one simple reason: There's an answer, but it's not set in stone. Let me explain.

ALL THE WAY BACK TO GUTENBERG

The story goes all the way back to Gutenberg and the invention of movable type. At that time, there were no rules about this and printers used variable spacing after a period. That is, they put in the amount of space they thought was necessary for the reader to know a sentence ended. Gradually English printers came to use an ‘em’ space between sentences, which is approximately what we would call two spaces after a period. (The French, always proud of any language differences, continued to use only one space.)

TYPEWRITERS DISRUPT EVERYTHING

Printing moved along for several centuries not changing much as least regarding this question. Then we came to the 19th century and the invention of typewriters. Suddenly, offices could produce documents that looked as if they were printed, but were actually done in-house. In that way, typewriters revolutionized the printing business. But there was a catch. Typewriters used “monospaced type.” Every letter or character took up the same amount of space on the key. Inconveniently, some letters such as "m" and "w" were wider when typed in a sentence. They took up more space. So typists began to insert two spaces after the period for clarity. That's where the old "two spaces" after a sentence rule originated.

THE CONVENTION TODAY IS ONE SPACE

Now jump to the 20th century. Mechanical typesetting and computers began to take over. Suddenly, letters took up only as much space as they had to. Mechanical typesetting was very different from typewriter typing. So a single space was wide enough to show the reader that the sentence had ended. From the mid 20th-century onward, typographers and style experts fell in line with this “one space” convention. Double spacing faded away. Single spacing is the standard today.

But wait. Diehards in certain fields still insist on double spacing. That's why the question still causes controversy. Certain academics and even some publishing houses (so I've heard, although no one gives precise names) still insist on two spaces. But in the business world in general, one space prevails. So for now, you can stick to that, and, if anyone asks why, you can put on your "grammar guru" hat and explain it to them.

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