Briefly and shortly are easily confused. While brief and short are often synonymous (as you can read here), briefly and shortly have very different meanings.
Briefly means for a short time.
She appeared briefly in an Italian film. In Britain he worked briefly as a veterinarian. We spoke briefly about the weather.
Shortly means soon and indicates a point in time.
Shortly after her exam, she moved to Paris. I’ll be with you shortly.
The following message should not worry you too much:
The landlord will briefly cut off electricity in the building. This means that you will be without electricity for a short time.
However, if you get the following message, you might worry:
The landlord will shortly cut off electricity in the building. This implies that you may not have time to prepare for the power cut.
To sum up:
Briefly tells us that something lasts for a short time. Shortly indicates a short time before or after something.
I’ll see you briefly means that I will see you for a short time. I’ll see you shortly means that I will see you very soon.
They said they’d be back shortly
As I mentioned above, you can read about the words brief and shorthere.
These two words usually indicate direction in relation to the speaker or the listener.
Take implies moving something from where the speaker or listener is. Bring implies moving something to where the speaker or listener is.
Can you take my dress to the dry cleaner’s? You can bring it back when you come next week. Should I take some flowers to Mary’s party? Don’t take your car to work today. There’s an awful traffic jam in the centre. Bring the salt, please! Wait a second! I’ll bring you your towel.
In the last sentence we look at the situation from the listener’s point of view. In other words, we have changed the perspective as in the following examples:
I took your briefcase home with me by mistake. Thanks for your kind invitation. I’ll be happy to come. Shall I bring some wine?
Shall I bring some wine?
To sum up, think of movement to or from a position. You can compare with come and go. You come here and you go there. Bring it here and take it there.
That said, you may find that either take or bring is used when the direction is unclear or unimportant. It can also depend on whether you put the emphasis on here or there, if you think about where you are now or already imagine yourself at another location.
When you say ”Should I take some flowers to Mary’s party?”, you are still at home. When you say, ”Shall I bring some wine?”, you are already imagining yourself at the party.
Some writers use like when they should have used such as instead.
When you suggest a category or give something as a type example, write like:
Uncle Bill often listens to crooners like Bing Crosby.
Here Bing Crosby represents a specific type of singers, crooners, who often perform in a sentimental way (think of Crosby’s version of White Christmas and you will understand!).
The sentence does not state that Uncle Bill actually listens to Bing Crosby, only that he listens to singers of that type.
When you specify singers that Uncle Bill listens to, use such as:
He collects vinyl records with singers such as Dean Martin, Fred Astaire, Perry Como, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole.
These singers are generally known as crooners, and here we understand that Uncle Bill has their records.
Seafood such as octopus is healthy
Some more examples:
You should eat more fruits like oranges. Citrus fruits such as tangerines, clementines and lemons are rich in C vitamin. Advanced tools like robots can reduce production costs. Robots can take over more complicated tasks such as welding and grinding. The course covers basic concepts of business administration such as accounting, finance, human resources and marketing.
A songwriter like Leonard Cohen will be remembered forever (Songwriters similar to Cohen will never be forgotten). A songwriter such as Leonard Cohen will be remembered forever (Leonard Cohen will never be forgotten).
There should not be a comma or a colon after such as, but you can have a comma before such as. Leave out that comma if what comes after such as is additional and essential information.
To sum up:
Use like when you refer to a category (you imply comparison).
Use such as when you give actual examples (you imply inclusion).
What is a recipe and what is a receipt? The two words have different meanings, but it was not always so.
A recipe is something you use in the kitchen. It is a list of ingredients and instructions on how to prepare a dish or make a cake, for example.
When you pay for something you usually get a receipt, a proof of a transaction. Money has been received.
Originally these two words had the same meaning, coming from the Latin word recipere, to receive or take. In 14th century English both words referred to medicine, not to food. A prescription for a medicine usually started with the word recipe, meaning take.
Perhaps you need a prescription for this
There is not really much difference between preparing medicine and preparing food – in both cases it is a matter of preparing ingredients – so in the 18th century recipe began to be used also in the kitchen.
Recipe can also be used metaforically in expressions such as a recipe for disaster or a recipe for success.
In modern language, prescription is used to refer to medicine. The doctor prescribes what medicine you should take.
Then, when you have paid the doctor, he may write out a receipt.
Writers often say too much by adding unnecessary words. Phrases such as free gift and joint cooperation are examples of tautology (saying the same thing twice) or pleonasm (using more words than necessary). Words that do not add information are called redundant words. Get rid of redundancies!
Here are some examples of unnecessary words:
General consensus – if you have a consensus, all agree Foreign imports – imports are always from another country Unexpected surprise – it wouldn’t be a surprise if you expected it Personal friend – if you have a friend, you have a personal relationship. Someone who is not a friend may be an acquaintance Past history – history is about the past The two twins – would you expect them to be three? Four different colours – if something comes in four colours, you can be sure they are different Unsolved mystery – if you have solved it, it is not a mystery
I am sure you can see what’s wrong in the following examples:
Moment in time Period of time Few in number On a daily basis In actual fact Sum total Close proximity Necessary requirement New beginning Advance planning Outward appearances The reason why Return back
Combinations with together and each other are common – and unnecessary:
Combine together Collaborate together Join together Merge together Mix together Blend together Interact with each other
We might include end result and final outcome in the list of unnecessary words, but these combinations are acceptable, since it is possible to also talk about a preliminary result or a preliminary outcome.
Some abbreviations:
Since LCD means liquid crystal display, you should not write LCD display.
In PIN and ISBN, N stands for number – writing number after the abbreviation is pleonastic.
RAM means random access memory – don’t add memory.
UPC stands for universal product code and therefore you should not write UPC code.
ATM means automated teller machine – write only ATM.
Pleonasm is sometimes used as a rhetorical device for emphasis:
Each and every Any and all First and foremost To all intents and purposes
Such emphasis is common in legal texts:
Null and void Aid and abet Fit and proper Cease and desist Sole and exclusive
Redundant words are so common that we often don’t notice them. Read your text with an eye on redundancies – and delete them!
Am I a copy editor or a copy-editor? Or perhaps a copyeditor?
First, what is a copyeditor? In publishing, copy means text. Consequently a copyeditor edits texts. However, one could argue that there is a difference between what, for example, a managing editor does and what a copyeditor does. Or, to quote Karen Judd, ”A copyeditor does not edit copy; a copyeditor copyedits copy”. You can read about how I work here.
Copyeditor at work
Dictionaries differ in their recommendations. Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionary have copy editor; The American Heritage Dictionary and The Chicago Manual of Style have copyeditor.
In book titles we can find both one and two words:
The Copyeditor’s Handbook (University of California Press) Carol Fisher Salter: The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (University of Chicago Press) Butcher’s Copy-editing (Cambridge University Press) Karen Judd: Copyediting: A Practical Guide (Crisp Publications)
The Copy Editor newsletter changed its name to Copyediting newsletter.
CIEP, the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, prefers copyeditor.
As you can see from the URL of this site, I have settled for the one-word version copyeditor. One of the reasons is that my website address copyeditor.se looks better as one word; another reason is that many words beginning with copy are written as one word:
Copywriter, copydesk, copyright, copybook, etc.
There seems to be a trend for some compound words to go from two words via hyphenation to one word. A few examples:
proof reader – proof-reader – proofreader base ball – base-ball – baseball sub editor – sub-editor – subeditor ink well – ink-well – inkwell living room – living-room – livingroom
As always, the important thing is that you are consistent!
UPDATE June 2021: Debbie Emmitt brilliantly sums up the issue here.
Job titles such as chairman, salesman, policeman and fireman imply that it is a man that is performing the job. And stewardess and barmaid would suggest women. But both men and women work in the police force or stand behind the bar.
Clearly not a policeman
Gender-neutral language aims at avoiding reference to a male or a female when the job is not gender-specified. Thus we use neutral forms: chair or chairperson, sales representative or salesperson, police officer, firefighter, flight attendant and bartender.
Some job titles that were seen as typically male or female are now used with reference to both genders, such as nurse, judge, doctor and model. You should avoid specifying, for instance, male nurse or female judge.
In some cases, the male form has taken over: actor instead of actress, usher instead of usherette.
Interestingly, man meant person in Old English (Anglo-Saxon). And female has nothing to do with male; it comes from the Latin femella, the diminutive form of femina, meaning woman.
When the gender of the person referred to is unknown or irrelevant, you can use the pronoun they to refer to that person. Read more about the use of theyhere.
To sum up, when you write in English, avoid using gender-specific job titles when there is a neutral alternative.
Most writers either use these two words indiscriminately or simply choose cooperation without even reflecting on the alternative collaboration.
The main difference between the two words is that collaboration involves people working together towards a shared goal, while cooperation implies somebody working to support somebody else’s goal.
Collaborating towards a common goal
As a copyeditor, I work with the author of a text. The author wants me to make sure the manuscript is in fluent English without any linguistic or factual errors. (You can read here about how I work.) The author may ask for comments on a certain passage and I may want clarification of what the author intends. I can suggest an alternative formulation. Our shared objective is an article that deals with an interesting topic, has perfect language and format and is of such a quality altogether that it can be accepted for publication. That is collaboration. Collaboration is teamwork requiring mutual respect, trust and adaptability.
In my job as a copyeditor I may come across a word that is totally unknown to me. I can then call an expert to ask about that word. For example, I once called the coast guard to ask what word they used in a certain context. Thanks to their cooperation I could achieve my goal – to use that word correctly.
Should you have a hyphen or not? The answer is here.
Perhaps some writers hesitate to use the word collaboration since it has a less agreeable connotation. A collaborator is someone who helps an enemy that has occupied their country in a war.
Many writers seem to be unsure of how to use the semicolon.
A combination of a comma and a full stop
The semicolon looks like a combination of a full stop and a comma, and that is an indication of how it is used. Like the comma and the full stop, the semicolon separates clauses. The semicolon links two independent clauses that are closely related. In other words, we use a semicolon between two complete sentences to indicate that what they say is of equal importance. The semicolon can replace words such as and and but.
Finally, Tom found his bike behind the garage; it was rusty and the tires were flat. This method is based on many years of research; particularly important are the findings from four studies in the heavy vehicles industry. The potential variables are numerous; they include everything that might influence the evaluation criteria.
You cannot have a semicolon after a dependent clause beginning with words such as since, although, when, because, etc.
Since she had visited the city several times, she knew all the tourist spots. She had visited the city several times; she knew all the tourist spots.
To avoid confusion, use a semicolon to separate groups in an enumeration.
Among the cities in the study were Hamburg, Germany; Milan, Italy; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Helsinki, Finland.
Don’t use the semicolon where you must have a colon!
He had three main interests: vintage cars, whisky and antique furniture.
You cannot write *He had three main interests; vintage cars, whisky and antique furniture (For the use of the asterisk read at the end of this text). After a semicolon there must be a complete, independent clause with a subject and a verb. So you could write: He had three main interests; they were vintage cars, whisky and antique furniture.
Are you disinterested or are you uninterested? If you are not sure about the difference between those two words, you are not alone. Many writers find it difficult to distinguish between them.
DISINTERESTED
If you are disinterested, you have no stake in the actual matter, you are impartial or neutral. It is understandable that this word is often used in legal or business contexts.
Can we take it for granted that the judge in this case is truly disinterested?
UNINTERESTED
You should use uninterested if you mean that someone is bored or not engaged.
How can we catch the attention of uninterested students?
Uninterested?
Chances are that you will find disinterested used where you would expect uninterested. Not surprisingly, the two words are often confused. But you, as a good writer of English, will of course make the distinction.
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