[bksvol-discuss] Re: More Questions about proofreading.

  • From: Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 06:49:03 -0500

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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