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furnace-red and cadmium-yellow is pretty standard. Though some publishers would take out the hyphens. I'd say put them in - it's defnitely not wrong.
DNA is standard.
I would go for PDA too, though I'm not so sure on this one. Acronyms usually start out as capitalised, and through common use go lowercase. Not sure if this has happened to PDA/pda. (I wouldn't have even known what the letters stood for if you hadn't told me...)
As I am prone to inconsistency, I currently have both in my m/s and I agree with you, PDA looks better. I'm inclined to think capitalisation is correct.
[quote=paperbackwriter]I am prone to inconsistency[/quote]
A good idea is to make a note in your re-edit folder or whatever system you use. E.g. pothole, stepmother, apple-white, to remind you that this is the one you're going with throughout. Perhaps consistency throughout your MS is more important than getting it right, because it'll show attention to editing.
Yes, Jay. I have to admit that queries like these always puzzle me. Don't people use dictionaries any more? A quick (fifteen second) check gave me pothole and cadmium yellow. Incidentally, cadmium yellow is a standard pigment, while furnace-red is not. The former is not hyphenated, the latter (a compound word) should be, I think.
A national newspaper put the word "everything" on two lines. They split the word after 3 letters. I've seen a lot of American books do the same. Why on earth don't they split it logically i.e. "every" on one line and "thing" on the next?
Possibly the spell checker recognised eve as a word, Jay, so didn't worry. The rything bit should have thrown a wobbly though.
Okay: the Oxford style manual has the following instructions:
a stainless-steel table, but a table of stainless steel.
The hand is blood red: the blood-red hand.
The rule here is that compound modifiers that follow a noun don't use hyphens, but two (or more) modifiers preceding the noun do.
An adjectival compound (happily married) - with an adverb that ends in ly doesn't have a hyphen.
I'd recommend getting a style manual: though the jargon can be a bit hard to follow at times, the explanatory examples make it (mostly) clear.
Yep, those are the rules I've been taught in my proofreading course.
A bit complicated, yes.
They are important if you are an editor/proofreader, but it you are an author they are the kind of thing your publishers should put right for you. If you are self-publishing - another good reason to pay a professional editor to check your work. :)
Comments
Pothole it is then. I will have some more soon.
No prizes for guessing that I'm copy editing. My god...
I'm describing an Autumn scene
He slows down to admire a species of tree I dont recognize, whose furnace-red and cadmium-yellow leaves make it look like a pillar of flames.
or is it
He slows down to admire a species of tree I dont recognize, whose furnace red and cadmium yellow leaves make it look like a pillar of flames.
In my case I want to say pda (personal digital assistant). Is it pda or PDA?
DNA is standard.
I would go for PDA too, though I'm not so sure on this one. Acronyms usually start out as capitalised, and through common use go lowercase. Not sure if this has happened to PDA/pda. (I wouldn't have even known what the letters stood for if you hadn't told me...)
A good idea is to make a note in your re-edit folder or whatever system you use. E.g. pothole, stepmother, apple-white, to remind you that this is the one you're going with throughout. Perhaps consistency throughout your MS is more important than getting it right, because it'll show attention to editing.
Gulp! I didn't KNOW about re-edit folders. Thanks Dwight.
no problem - and I should have remembered too, seeing as I'm also an oil painter.
A national newspaper put the word "everything" on two lines. They split the word after 3 letters. I've seen a lot of American books do the same. Why on earth don't they split it logically i.e. "every" on one line and "thing" on the next?
Okay: the Oxford style manual has the following instructions:
a stainless-steel table, but a table of stainless steel.
The hand is blood red: the blood-red hand.
The rule here is that compound modifiers that follow a noun don't use hyphens, but two (or more) modifiers preceding the noun do.
An adjectival compound (happily married) - with an adverb that ends in ly doesn't have a hyphen.
I'd recommend getting a style manual: though the jargon can be a bit hard to follow at times, the explanatory examples make it (mostly) clear.
A bit complicated, yes.
They are important if you are an editor/proofreader, but it you are an author they are the kind of thing your publishers should put right for you. If you are self-publishing - another good reason to pay a professional editor to check your work. :)
Good grief!
Thanks for that one. (I wonder why it doesn't have a hyphen.)
I have a feeling that newpapers, etc, often omit hyphens that are required.
Red-hot lover as opposed to red hot lover!
You don't get that with a happily married man. :)