I am new to the site and would appreciate knowing which language is used for moderating.
I am British, married to an American and know this is a Canadian site. There are significant spelling and grammar differences between British and American English (not so sure about Canadian) but I can have so far not found clarification on which language is used.
Could someone kindly advise?
Thank you.
Language
Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant
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jadedragon
- Posts: 699
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Re: Language
The site accepts English, in all regional variations. Just try to be consistent with the version of English you use.
Re: Language
Thank you for the response but this doesn't seem to be accurate in practice. My first article was accepted without a problem, the second article was rejected because (it said) one comma was in the wrong place and should have been put in front of the word 'and'. In British English that is a massive faux pas and never accepted. This is what has confused both my husband and I.
Re: Language
There are a couple of things going on with that particular rejection, and a couple of solutions.
I speak and write Midwestern U.S. English and have trouble "recognizing" British English except for spelling differences. In other words, it "sounds" the same to me most of the time. So, the editor may not have "heard" you writing British English. Second, serial commas are a confusing mess no matter what kind of English you write. Some editors around here reject serial commas completely, and some insist on adding that comma before the and. In reality, both ways are acceptable in good English writing--except by the Brits, as you point out.
You can solve this situation in a couple of ways. If that was the ONLY reason for rejection, you can add the serial commas in and resubmit, and stew about how the editors want you to abuse commas. OR you can resubmit with a note in the short summary explaining your comma use, and if you back it up with grammar references you'll make your point even better.
The editors are human too, and each of us has different--but still perfectly correct--ways of writing with good grammar. If correct use of commas means a lot to you, let the editors (politely) know what you think. For me it's apostrophes... I can't stand seeing apostrophes misused.
The key point is that you must write with perfect grammar, punctuation and clarity. The definition of perfection has some leeway. Lots of folks succeed around here with more relaxed rules and casual voices, but ultimately it has to be spot on. Make your point if you want to, or let it go. Either way you'll sell your article!
I speak and write Midwestern U.S. English and have trouble "recognizing" British English except for spelling differences. In other words, it "sounds" the same to me most of the time. So, the editor may not have "heard" you writing British English. Second, serial commas are a confusing mess no matter what kind of English you write. Some editors around here reject serial commas completely, and some insist on adding that comma before the and. In reality, both ways are acceptable in good English writing--except by the Brits, as you point out.
You can solve this situation in a couple of ways. If that was the ONLY reason for rejection, you can add the serial commas in and resubmit, and stew about how the editors want you to abuse commas. OR you can resubmit with a note in the short summary explaining your comma use, and if you back it up with grammar references you'll make your point even better.
The editors are human too, and each of us has different--but still perfectly correct--ways of writing with good grammar. If correct use of commas means a lot to you, let the editors (politely) know what you think. For me it's apostrophes... I can't stand seeing apostrophes misused.
The key point is that you must write with perfect grammar, punctuation and clarity. The definition of perfection has some leeway. Lots of folks succeed around here with more relaxed rules and casual voices, but ultimately it has to be spot on. Make your point if you want to, or let it go. Either way you'll sell your article!
Re: Language
I'm British and I use serial (Oxford) commas whenever they help with the sense of the sentence. Sometimes without that comma the word sequence can be ambiguous. I've never had a UK editor complain about that.
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HayleyWriter
- Posts: 536
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Re: Language
Hi,
As an Australian, I was taught UK English at school. However, I find that US English articles sell better here. I think that many of the customers are based in America, so US style articles do sell. I tend to write in US style for most articles, unless I am responding to a public or private request where UK English is likely to be wanted (ie an Australian requestor would prefer a UK style). While you don't always know where a requestor comes from, sometimes requestors will mention the projected audience in the request, so this helps. The most important thing is to be consistent with the style within an article. As for the commas, I was always taught that the comma before the and at the end of a list of serial commas was correct, so I am surprised to learn that this is not accepted in UK English.
In the end, you can write in whatever style you feel comfortable in, as long as you are consistent within the article. You can swap between styles for different articles, if you are writing for different audiences.
Hope this helps,
Hayley
As an Australian, I was taught UK English at school. However, I find that US English articles sell better here. I think that many of the customers are based in America, so US style articles do sell. I tend to write in US style for most articles, unless I am responding to a public or private request where UK English is likely to be wanted (ie an Australian requestor would prefer a UK style). While you don't always know where a requestor comes from, sometimes requestors will mention the projected audience in the request, so this helps. The most important thing is to be consistent with the style within an article. As for the commas, I was always taught that the comma before the and at the end of a list of serial commas was correct, so I am surprised to learn that this is not accepted in UK English.
In the end, you can write in whatever style you feel comfortable in, as long as you are consistent within the article. You can swap between styles for different articles, if you are writing for different audiences.
Hope this helps,
Hayley
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Celeste Stewart
- Posts: 3528
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Re: Language
Though CC is owned by a Canadian company, it has U.S. roots. Not that really matters, but I do think a large percentage of the customers are US-based. In fact, I've found that most of my Canadian customers prefer U.S. English because they're targeting the American market. Not to worry, CC has plenty of international customers.
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travisbaker
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:10 pm
Re: Language
You Don't worry. This site only accept English Language. We know English writing style and language presentations are varying based on the locality and country.... 