[bksvol-discuss] Re: More Questions about proofreading.
- From: "Deborah Murray" <blinkeeblink@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 07:05:45 -0500
Hi ann,
actually, Judy didn' say anything about converting m-dashes to blank spaces.
She had a list of things the converter does: converting m-dashes; converting
tabs to blank spaces etc.
We were told quite some time ago that m-dashes, properly formatted, would be
converted to two hyphens by the converter. I think some proofers do it
anyway, since with speech it reads a little better.
We were also told that, in one of the latest updates to the converter, that
section breaks would now be converted to page breaks and that volunteers no
longer needed to do it.
But, I do agree, we need a current manual. And really, the old one just
needs to be removed from the site. It's full of outdated and contradictory
instructions. I'm officially offering to help.
Deborah
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ann Parsons
Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2013 6:49 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: More Questions about proofreading.
Hi all,
Yes, it would be very helpful, as I just converted all the m-dashes in
my recent proof to double hyphens, as I have been doing since I started
proofing. BTW, converting an m-dash to a space is no good because it
takes away from the meaning of the text. the long dash indicates a
pause of some length or a change of subject. this is *not* indicated
by a space. Converting m-dashes to two hyphens preserves the
grammatical meaning of the text. You can check this I'm sure, but it
may make a significant difference because replacing an m-dash with a
space doesn't preserve the text at all, it changes it significantly.
<English teacher mode on>
Punctuation is there to indicate the sound and the tone of voice in
which text must be read. It is the way we tell a reader how to phrase
when reading. Remember The panda eats, shoots and leaves? And
remember, the panda eats shoots and leaves. the comma is telling here.
the same is true for an m-dash.
<English teacher mode off>
The necessity of converting section breaks to page breaks has been a
bugaboo which has been discussed over and over. The need to do this
was stressed. Judy is right in saying that we were told categorically
to reject books which had section breaks for page breaks unless we knew
how to convert them manually. Maybe we need a phone call or a chat
with tech to find out just exactly what the newest build of the
conversion tool can and can't do.
Hmmm, seems I need to go to google this morn' to see what can be found
about m-dashes and their use. Expect more on this shortly. I hate to
be didactic without proof.
Ann P.
.
--
Ann K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
EMAIL: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
web site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
Skype: Putertutor
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost."
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