by Bobbie Christmas
Q: You told me that dog breeds don’t get capitalized, right? Border collie is the one in question. I prefer to do it out of respect, but that’s not what The Chicago Manual of Style says, right?
A: Folks who write books should indeed adhere to Chicago style, which dictates that unless border collie is at the beginning of a sentence, both words should be in lowercase. What gets uppercased are proper nouns associated with breeds, such as German shepherd, Doberman pinscher, and French poodle.
Q: In one of your blog entries you wrote, “I did not know if the driver that hit the hydrant was okay.”
In all my editing I have changed such a construction to “the driver who hit the hydrant . . .” I have always believed it was supposed to be “who” rather than “that” when referencing a person. Have I been wrong all these years?
A: Good question. It even made me look it up to double-check my own knowledge.
CMOS 5.56 seventeenth edition (page 245) states, “That refers to a human, animal, or thing.”
Because driver is a thing, I used that. I would definitely use who with a name, though. For example, I would write, “I did not know if John, who hit the hydrant, was okay.”
Q: Someone in my writing group suggested that using a hyphen in a compound word isn’t important and that dropping the hyphen is a growing trend.
At the Florida Writers Association conference last October, I attended your session on Chicago style. I can’t recall anything about eliminating hyphens used in compound words. If I point out missing hyphens when judging a manuscript, am I out of step? Are hyphens in compound words no longer considered necessary punctuation?
A: I have not heard of an alleged trend toward dropping hyphens. Perhaps the following information on hyphens will help.
Hyphens join compound adjectives that modify and precede a noun. (a seven-year-old boy, his reddish-brown hair, a well-crafted table)
No space should appear before a hyphen. A space can, however, appear after a hyphen when two or more hyphenated words are linked in a sentence. Example: She had a two- and a three-year plan.
When a noun does not follow a compound adjective, a hyphen usually is unnecessary. (a boy of seven years, his hair was reddish brown, the table was well crafted.)
The only exception is not a trend but a rule that states no hyphen should separate an adverb ending in “ly” and an adjective. For example, a newly-minted coin is incorrect; the correct form is newly minted coin. Otherwise a hyphen is necessary for clarity when two words modify a third; for example, a high-rise apartment.
Q: I am repeatedly seeing introductory subordinate clauses without commas to separate them from the main (independent) clauses. I see it in fiction as well as nonfiction. I find it confusing, slowing down my reading, as I reread the beginning of the sentence to mentally determine where the comma should be. Is this comma rule (or rather lack of!) in the stylebooks now?
A: Yes, it is. The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition states that no comma is necessary after a brief introductory phrase unless it is needed for clarity. One of my publishers has defined a “brief introductory phrase” as anything four words or fewer, but as an editor, I also use my gut to determine if the comma is needed after a short introductory phrase. You’ll have to accept that the following type of sentence is acceptable today with book publishers: Everything in life changes whether you want it to or not.
Q: How do I write Biology 101 in dialogue?
A: Here’s an example: “Jerry, what time does biology one oh one start?” Note that biology is capitalized only if it is the first word in the sentence.
Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com.