Common Mistakes in English Usage (with Advice for Taking Minutes)

Transcription

1 Annual Meeting of the Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association Common Mistakes in English Usage (with Advice for Taking Minutes) October 18, 2017 Spartanburg, South Carolina Nancy Lewis Tuten, PhD Professor of English Columbia College, South Carolina

2 Contents Using Apostrophes Handling Titles Punctuating with Quotation Marks Using Semicolons Using Colons Using Commas Discerning Among Confusing Words Choosing the Correct Pronoun Case Avoiding Agreement Errors Avoiding Redundancies Avoiding Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers Taking Meeting Minutes Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association 2

3 Part I: Punctuation and Mechanics 1. Happy Holidays from the Smith s. 2. The Williams are meeting with their attorney before the hearing. 3. Please be our guest for a dinner celebrating Tom and Mark s promotions. 4. John and Mary s wedding is next month. 5. The Harris s home was burglarized on 3 June 2006, and Mr. Harris car was stolen out of his garage on the same evening, allegedly by the same suspect. 6. When I returned from vacation, I had three weeks worth of work waiting for me. 7. Martha asked Bob, Did you complete the year-end financial report? 8. We know we cannot win the case unless we find more evidence; something we are not likely to do after so many years. 9. She chose three employees to work on the case; Marchant, Smith, and Tyler. 10. Guests included John Doe, president of Nextron, Jane Smith, chief financial officer for Superior Hotels, and Matthew Brown, chairman of the board of directors for Acme Tires. 11. Bill accurately predicted the outcome of the Moore case; it was settled out of court. 12. Bill accurately predicted the outcome of the Moore case, he has amazing accuracy in predicting the results of most cases. 13. Please fill out the application and send it to: Senator Goldbloom, 234 Galway Lane, Greenville, TX The attorneys who log the most billable hours in July will receive a bonus. 15. The juror made unauthorized calls to her sister who lives in Chicago. 16. The courtrooms that were painted over the summer look clean and bright. 17. The courtrooms which were painted over the summer look clean and bright. Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association 3

4 18. Critics praised Charleston writer Josephine Humphrey s novel, Fireman s Fair. 19. The food at the pot-luck dinner included chicken, okra and tomatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, greens beans and red rice. 20. Mrs. Duck stated in her will that her assets were to become the property of her three sons, Huey, Dewey and Louie. 21. Mr. Farnsworth named the following heirs in his will: Harriet and Marvin Farnsworth, Suzanne and William Farnsworth, Melanie and Brian Mills, Patricia and Robert Jones and their children. Notes: Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association 4

5 Part II: Word Usage and Grammar 1. The attorneys in our firm are (anxious eager) for their new computers to arrive. 2. The partners are (anxious eager) because the fiscal year is only half over and the firm is already over budget. 3. The judge felt (badly bad) about having to sequester the jury. 4. Stan did not convince the jury of his client s innocence because he presented the evidence (badly bad). 5. (Less Fewer) people appear to have voted in this year s presidential election than in the last one. 6. (Lay lie) the book on the table. 7. When the trial was finally over, I went home and (laid lay) down for an hour. 8. The plaintiff claimed that he had (loaned lent) Mr. Smith over $500, Mr. Thompson was such a slow worker that he (drug dragged) the rest of us down with him. 10. We left early that morning to (insure ensure assure) that we would arrive before six o clock. 11. He was concerned about the progress of the campaign, so we tried to (insure ensure assure) him that he was ahead in the polls. 12. I had to remember to keep the conversation between my client and (I me myself). 13. Meredith gave the briefs to Harold and (I me myself). 14. We hired Ms. Williams because we recognized that no one else was as skilled as (she her). 15. (Who Whom) shall we say is calling? 16. The attorneys will select jurors (who whom) they believe will have sympathy for their client. 17. The judge will sentence (whoever whomever) the jury finds guilty. 18. Neither of our Canadian clients were available to meet on Thursday. Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association 5

6 19. Everyone in the courtroom had been asked to empty their pockets before entering. 20. The reason why the briefs were late was because absolutely essential information about the case was missing from the files. 21. The students were given advance warning about the first-year law school experience. 22. Tuition does not include incidental expenses (e.g., food, books, utilities, etc.). 23. The judge made it clear to the accused that assault with intent to kill is a serious crime during the trial. 24. To reschedule the hearing, an available date had to be identified. 25. Prepare to stop when flashing. Notes: Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association 6

7 Meeting Minutes The minutes usefulness goes well beyond the mere satisfaction of a statutory requirement. Minutes are necessary to confirm what was acted on and agreed to at a meeting and to record decisions to ensure no ambiguity exists in what was actually decided. Without agreed-upon minutes, individual recollections of what transpired are bound to differ, and they will increasingly differ over time (Handbook for Municipal Officials in SC, p. 25). For very specific guidance about what to include in minutes, see the Handbook for Municipal Officials in South Carolina, pages The handbook is available online at For a list of the requirements of Robert s Rules of Order for meeting minutes, go to /Minutes+Guidelines.pdf. For very helpful general guidelines, see communication/a/minutes.htm. Here is some general but helpful information adapted from these sites: Use the medium with which you are most comfortable: pen and paper, keyboard, voice recorder. Have a back-up method. Use the meeting agenda to prepare an outline before the meeting. MS Word templates are helpful: Come to the meeting with a list of anyone who might be at the meeting to simplify the process of recording names of those present and absent. Type minutes soon after the meeting, while it is fresh on your mind. Include the following information, as outlined in the Handbook for Municipal Officials of SC (pp ): name of the municipality, date, place and time of the meeting; a statement that the media and public were duly notified of the date, time and place of the meeting; type of meeting regular, special, emergency or public hearing; Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association 7

8 list of members present and absent, including whether or not a quorum was present; disposition of the minutes of the previous meeting; all main motions, whether adopted or defeated (A withdrawn motion should not be recorded.); names of movers (names of seconders may or may not be recorded); points of order and appeals, whether sustained or lost; summarized reports of committees, boards and other bodies, unless written reports are attached; all appointments to committees, boards and other bodies; all resolutions, ordinances, official communications, technical papers and other items entered in full or appended; the number of votes on each side or the names of individual council members when a count has been ordered or where a vote is by ballot or roll call; time of adjournment; and the clerk s signature followed by an approval date and verifying initials. Here are some important points from the Handbook that can help guide decisions about what to include in minutes: Minutes should provide intent for actions: Beyond recording the dates of official readings and the passage of policies, resolutions and ordinances of council, minutes kept in sufficient detail can provide valuable insight into the legislative intent behind council actions. Without records to draw on, the purpose of a council s act may be lost or misinterpreted. (p. 25) Minutes should provide a to-do list for administrators: Approved minutes have several valuable administrative uses. Ordinances, resolutions, policies and other official pronouncements represent a list of things to do for the administrative arm of the municipality. Also, discussions recorded in the minutes relating to the adopted acts, or even to matters not adopted, may give administrative personnel strong insight into how the legislative body expects a matter to be treated or administered. (p. 25) Minutes ensure follow-up: The dissemination of minutes, or some simplified version of them, can be used to effectively see that the proper administrative responsibilities of a council action are carried out. A timely review of minutes of previous meetings is an indispensable step in preparing the council agenda. (p. 25) Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association 8

9 Minutes provide historical accounts: Also, minutes may be valuable to a municipality in a historical sense because they represent the only, perhaps the most complete, chronicle of the public activities, concerns and accomplishments of the municipality. (p. 25) Verb Tenses in Minutes Use the same verb tense that you would use if you were talking to someone immediately after the meeting on the same day and telling him or her about the actions taken at the meeting and the words spoken there. On her Web site Business Writing, Lynn Gaertner-Johnson uses the following examples ( A. John said the next meeting will be on October 1. B. John said the next meeting would be on October 1. A. Min reported that the new shipment arrived today and is ready for processing. B. Min reported that the new shipment had arrived that day and was ready for processing. A. Stella said that we need to seek a legal opinion. B. Stella said that we needed to seek a legal opinion. In each case, A is preferable to B because it reflects more accurately what was actually spoken at the meeting. At the meeting, Stella most likely said we need to seek a legal opinion, not we needed to seek a legal opinion or if she did say needed, she was referring to a time previous to the meeting, not to an action that would take place after the meeting. Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks, and Treasurers Association 9