Constructive Criticism Thread

[WordCraft]

One-dollar, yes.

Yes, the renters' explanation would be useful Celeste!

[Evelyn]

Wouldn't you write $1 fountain drink, 50 cent cookie, and 75 cent savings? Or am I terribly gauche...

If not, one-dollar fountain drink would probably be best.

[Celeste Stewart]

The Yahoo! Style Guide says: For prices of a dollar or more, use numerals and the $ symbol: a $6 coffee. . . For prices under a dollar, use the cents with the numeral: 89 cents.

So, if you go with Yahoo!'s style, it would be: I bought a $1 fountain drink and a 50 cent (50-cent?) cookie.

AP Stylebook is similar. It specifies using the numeral and cents for amounts less than a dollar as in 50 cents (instead of fifty cents).

[WordCraft]

Depends, I guess. I would still use "one-dollar" if making a reference to something that was cheap (though not necessarily literally a dollar). I'd not use a "$" sign in a story, for example; but in a practical article it'd be different.

[MelissaNott]

Thanks for all the info about money and prices. I found Yahoo's Style Guide online, went back, and made some corrections. Here is one of the paragraphs in question:

**deleted content here***

It just seems like "half a thousand dollars" should not be written with numerals. What do you think?

Missy

[Celeste Stewart]

I like the way you have it. Spelling out half a thousand dollars gives it more impact than $500.

[MelissaNott]

Did I post too much of my article above? Will there now be problems with it passing Copyscape?
Missy

[Celeste Stewart]

It should be fine. If you want to go in and delete it, you can.

[MysteryMan]

Turns out this seven month old computer has crashed and had Windows Vista reinstalled five times.

[FondRegards]

Hi Celeste
How about this?

Crashes on this seven month old computer have already necessitated five windows Vista reinstallations!

[cdoug]

I don't really know the context of the line, but I'ma take a stab anyway:

This seven-month-old computer has crashed and had Windows Vista reinstalled five times!

Crashes on this seven-month-old computer have required five Windows Vista reinstallations!

With maybe tacking on an "already" somewhere if the tone is extra-casual, or losing the exclamation point if it needs to sound more matter-of-fact.

Alternately:

The computer is only seven months old, yet crashes are such a frequent problem that it has already had Windows Vista reinstalled five times.

In seven months of use, this computer has needed five Windows Vista reinstallations.

Age of the computer: Seven months. Number of Windows Vista installations: Five.

Okay, done now. Was having fun. Tell them to use Windows 7.

[Whiskey]

We offer custom social media, content writing, and graphic design services.

or

We offer custom social media services, content writing services, and graphic design services.

[Celeste Stewart]

I'd go with the first as it's not so redundant. However, I'd reorder the series mainly because "custom social media" on its own seems awkward or incomplete to me:

We offer custom content writing, graphic design, and social media services.

[cdoug]

Agree with Celeste, though I like the cadence of "custom graphic design . . ." better for some reason, so I'd swap those two in her example.

[Lor]

I haven't written for CC in a while and my first article reviewed gets a no go for grammar. In particular "A perennial is a plant that dies back the ground in fall ... [grammar]" I'm sorry, but how is that bad grammar? I don't mean to sound argumentative, but I just don't see it. Any thoughts?