I write for frum magazines AMA

amother

Silver

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 2:11 pm

seeker wrote:

The magazine I edited for gives out their own style guide with rules of thumb for common situations (including their stance on serial commas, italicizing or capitalizing various Jewish terms, and others). Beyond that, nobody should care whether a casual leisure reading magazine follows APA, CMOS, or nothing in particular, as long as it is not just plain wrong.

That/which, independent clauses, inconsistencies, and the like should have been addressed in high school ELA, and because I don't remember everything, I Google for refreshers when I get rusty.

I'm talking about instances which are, as you say, "just plain wrong." And if they're not using a particular style guide, they will tend to be inconsistent, for example, sometimes using serial comma and other times not. And in general, when I say inconsistencies, I mean mistakes in the content, for example, wrong country name, historical date, or using wrong character's name. Definitely not something you learned in HS ELA. Regardless, I don't think most of these rules are taught in elementary or high schools.

seeker

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 2:31 pm

amother Silver wrote:

Wrong countries and dates you won't learn in an editing or proofreading course either. They can't possibly cover every piece of history and geography and if they did there's no way you would remember. Failing to verify names and dates is not a course vs no course problem; it's a matter of conscientiousness.

amother

Silver

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 2:42 pm

seeker wrote:

I think we need to agree to disagree. You obviously don't think it's necessary, while I believe a comprehensive course would make a world of difference in upping the quality of our publications.
That is my take...

amother

Honeysuckle

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 6:20 pm

amother Silver wrote:

I posted above why I think it's important. 1. Because they don't know basic rules

For example, according to Chicago Manual of Style, "too" and "either" at the end of the sentence does not have a comma preceding it.

Restrictive vs nonrestrictive clauses, for example, that vs which. That has no comma preceding it; which does.

"Not only...but also" does not get a comma. (She's not only pretty but also clever.)

Serial comma according to CMOS, no serial comma according to AP Style. Which is just one reason why it's important to know which style the publication you're working for uses.

Oh, and the example I posted upthread. Two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction are separated by a comma.
2. They don't know the importance of using the dictionary, style guide, and checking for inconsistencies

Very interesting, thank you.