Editor’s Sidebar moved

I’ve moved Editor’s Sidebar to Viviti.com which allows me to include more of the original resources than I can put here, and in a more logical fashion.

To visit the new Editor’s Sidebar, click here.

New report card guidelines open the door to clarity

While our educators have been working hard for years on such tasks as “strategizing thematic applications,” “deploying school-to-work critical thinking,” and “embracing visionary assessments,” it seems that some parents, and at least one trustee, have been silently fuming at the incomprehensible jargon.

Especially when it appears on report cards.

Teachers, however, are saying that they’re not to blame.

“The comments they write,” says Joe Fiorito of the Toronto Star, “are taken from a mandatory menu of jargon handed down by the ministry of education; teachers may not like it – most don’t – but teachers have no say in the matter” (Teachers share report card frustration, Sept. 9, 2009)

But — isn’t it his home?

Maybe they should have posted a sign.

Recently, Trever James Wearmouth and Thomas Anthony Bryce-Hartmen sneaked into the Calgary zoo after hours, engaged in a little playful banter with a Siberian tiger, and ended up in hospital.

In his capacity as Calgary Police acting Staff Sergeant and Spokesperson for the Department of the Obvious,  Rick Halford noted that both 27-year-old men had been drinking.

The story itself, of course, is fairly amusing on its own since neither was seriously injured, but the Saturday Globe and Mail adds another layer of absurdity to the tale.

The subheadline for an article describing the legal charges resulting from the incident reads: “Pair attacked by tiger charged with trespassing.”

We’d like to see the officer brave enough to deliver that particular summons.

Browns’ B Magazine: Promoting shoes and illiteracy

This is Jascha Heifetz -- in case you want to know later on.

We received a copy of B Magazine: Celebrity Edition.

Clever title: B Magazine. Very original.

So long as you don’t confuse it with the beauty journal B Magazine, the Bollywood B Magazine, the Boomer B Magazine, the bridal B Magazine, or Gibraltar’s B Magazine.

This particular B Magazine is published by Browns. It’s slick, glossy, superbly photographed, and its only purpose is to promote Browns’ shoes.

“Every season,” they boast in their mission statement, “B magazine [sic] showcases our new seasonal collections in a fun, high-spirited way.”

It may be “fun” and “high-spirited,” but does that preclude hiring an editor and writer who has a passing acquaintance with the English language?

Editors Only piece reveals flaws in cutting editorial staff

So begins William Dunkerley’s incisive and informed piece, Editors suffer from recession cuts, on the suicidal tendency of publications to cut their editorial staff during tough economic times. “The usual view,” he points out, “is that if sales-related jobs are cut, revenues will decline further.” The problem, however, is that while this may make sense prima facie, in actual fact, it can have quite the opposite effect. Threatening the stability of the editorial team can, and most probably will, result in a despirited staff and a poorer quality product — a disastor for publications which have gained their readership through good editorial content.

Even more to the point, however, is Dunkerley’s assertion that such cuts are usually not necessary to improve revenue. “In some cases, the business model has serious, unrecognized flaws. In other instances, sales performance is less than optimal. When properly addressed, both of these areas can yield significant improvement in revenues.”

To combat this self-destructive spiral, Dunkerley suggests that editors take an active role, especially in coming up with ways to make the advertising more effective. “The need for effective advertising doesn’t diminish in a recession. It’s the ineffectual advertising that gets trimmed.”

Or at least, it should be.

Read the entire article here.

With editorial staff cut to the bone, newspapers find new uses for their retail boxes.

“These days when editors speak of “future tense” they’re not talking about grammar.“

So begins William Dunkerley’s incisive and informed piece, Editors Suffer From Recession Cuts, on the suicidal tendency of publications to cut their editorial staff during tough economic times. “The usual view,” he points out, “is that if sales-related jobs are cut, revenues will decline further.” The problem, however, is that while this may make sense prima facie, in actual fact, it can have quite the opposite effect. Threatening the stability of the editorial team can, and most probably will, result in a dispirited staff and a poorer quality product — a disaster for publications which have gained their readership through good editorial content.

Even more to the point, however, is Dunkerley’s assertion that such cuts are usually not necessary to improve revenue. “In some cases, the business model has serious, unrecognized flaws. In other instances, sales performance is less than optimal. When properly addressed, both of these areas can yield significant improvement in revenues.”

To combat this self-destructive spiral, Dunkerley suggests that editors take an active role, especially in coming up with ways to make the advertising more effective. “The need for effective advertising doesn’t diminish in a recession. It’s the ineffectual advertising that gets trimmed.”

Or at least, it should be.

Read the entire article here.

Add Editors Only to your reading list.

Grammar Help: The simple, intuitive approach to prepositions

The key to prepositions is simply to follow the bouncing ball.

Almost all our communication deals with expressing the relation of one noun’s position to some other element. The words we use for this are called “prepositions”: words that indicate the “position” of something that comes before (or “pre”) a noun.

The relationship can be between noun to noun or verb to noun.

Noun to noun

These can be nouns concerning physical objects. Spoons are placed “beside” plates and “on” tables. Cars drive “through” tunnels and “under” bridges. People live “in” houses and “beside” stores.

But the nouns can also be abstract and metaphorical. My honesty may be “in” question. You may feel “under” the weather. He may be going “through” a rough patch.

Grammar help: The simple, intuitive approach to verbs

In “Grammar Help: The simple, intuitive way to understand subject and object,” we looked at how every native speaker of English already knows the difference between subjects and objects, and we learned a simple trick that allows us to quickly determine them.

A similar approach can be taken with verbs. As with subject and object, you already know which words in a sentence are verbs, even if you can’t identify them when asked. The fact is, whenever you change the tense of a subject you automatically shift the verb to match. And since verbs are the only words that change form according to tense, in order to identify verbs, all you need do is change the tense.

• Grammar help: The simple, intuitive way to understand subject and object

I don't care what the grammarians say -- I ain't sittin' on no mat!

The principles of grammar are inherently simple. Just as all mathematical operations essentially boil down to adding and subtracting (division is just repeated subtractions, multiplication is repeated additions), grammar boils down to nouns, verbs, and modifiers (considering, for the moment, prepositions and articles as kinds of modifiers).

The most common mistakes come from an inadequate understanding of the relationship between nouns and verbs.

• Touring the news media

Once again the NDP almost does something

Getting rid of a letter can be harder than you think.

One of the top stories in Canada right now is about the New Democratic Party failing to change their name to the Democratic Party at a weekend convention in Halifax. For some time the NDP, which has been losing ground in recent years, has contemplated the bold strategy employed by many brands which have fallen out of favour with the public: ignore the issues and change the name. In their latest attempt, they’d placed the name-change resolution on the agenda, but the one-hour time limit ran out before it came up.

• I watched the news today — oh boy

Breaking news: leaky faucets cost money

In general, I get my news from newspapers, which are still the most reliable and comprehensive sources around. Those who denigrate newspapers and praise the Internet are generally just getting stories online that originated with a traditional news service. In times of crisis, social networking platforms sometimes provide information unavailable to regular journalists, but at their best, these sources tend to be unreliable and intensely subjective.