If you are using Word, the ^p will find paragraph marks. The way I have done this takes twenty-six find and replaces plus occasional by hand correction. Since sentences don't usually begin with a lower case letter, in find put ^p then a letter and just the letter in the replace box. That gets rid of most of the extra paragraph marks. You will still have extra paragraph marks where there is a word that is capitalized like a name in the middle of a sentence, but there is one of these extra paragraph marks in front of it. For a sighted person, it is usually pretty easy to scan through the book and notice these remaining paragraphs that start in the middle of a sentence. I didn't invent the technique, I got it from someone else on this discussion list. Oh, and of course, as Bob said, make backups first.
Or, you can reject the book with the reason being the paragraph marks after every line. At the least, if the scanner left contact info you should tell him or her of the problem.
Misha Valerie Maples wrote:
Thanks, Mayrie! What is the keystroke in find and replace for a carriage return/paragraph mark? Or, do I just remind them one by one? Either is fine; it is under 200 pages, and I can plunk away at it. I just wish there were doubles to be sure I get true paragraphing right. Have a great night! Valerie-----Original Message----- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss- bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mayrie ReNae Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 11:46 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: formatting question Hi Valerie, Unless the book is poetry, you definitely want to get rid of extra paragraph marks. Even using only synthesized speech to read, an improper pause is inserted where those paragraph marks exist that aren't supposed to be there. Very often, new people scanning books do not know to turn off the setting that inserts paragraph marks at the end of each of the lines on the printed page. I was one of these people who didn't know. I thought, "Oh, we want the book to look like it did in print, so I should keep the line endings where they were in the book." I didn't know that each line ending actually made a new paragraph begin, or that those foreshortened lines were very awkward for folks using a much wider screen to read. Kellie taught me about removing those. And I know that lots and lots of people, blind and not have been grateful that I get rid of those extra paragraph marks now! So, long story short, yes, please, do get rid of paragraph marks that don't happen in the book, unless you are proofreading poetry. In that case, the only way to keep line endings where they belong in poetry is to have paragraph marks at the ends of every line. Mayrie -----Original Message----- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Valerie Maples Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 7:48 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] formatting question I am working on a book right now that has needed a lot of formatting work. One of the things I noticed in trying to remove all the soft page breaks after determining the pagination that every single line has a paragraph marker after it. I typically only see that at the end of the paragraph. Is it okay to remove it or are they simply being used as line breaks? It leads to a very choppy right margin and peculiar spacing if you use full justification. It seems it would be better off to remove them so the text flowed more naturally or could be managed better by people who might magnify it. I am sure I did not fully describe this and it may be an annoying question to people who do not utilize visual context for reading, but I find it very hard to proofread, so I can imagine it would be equally awkward to read the text in its current format. It most certainly does not actually resemble the actual book in its current state. Any thoughts? Thanks as always for your help! Valerie To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line. To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
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