Editors..(just a little vent)
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Typewriters used the same amount of space to type an "i" as it did for a "W." Computers adjust the space automatically. Two spaces were needed to make it easier to identify the end of a sentence for typewritten text. Writing conventions now favor one space. It's not too hard to make it your new habit.
Interestingly, at least one MSC lists grammar expectations, including the single space after a period. Helpful, except that page itself is written with all double spaces.
Interestingly, at least one MSC lists grammar expectations, including the single space after a period. Helpful, except that page itself is written with all double spaces.
@wildherbs wrote:
WHAT? We don't use two spaces between sentences? I was taught that in typing back in the late 60's. I didn't know it changed.
@Threemom wrote:
Typewriters used the same amount of space to type an "i" as it did for a "W." Computers adjust the space automatically. Two spaces were needed to make it easier to identify the end of a sentence for typewritten text. Writing conventions now favor one space. It's not too hard to make it your new habit.
Interestingly, at least one MSC lists grammar expectations, including the single space after a period. Helpful, except that page itself is written with all double spaces.
@wildherbs wrote:
WHAT? We don't use two spaces between sentences? I was taught that in typing back in the late 60's. I didn't know it changed.
LOL! Have you ever gotten a note from an editor telling you what you had done wrong that was full of mistakes?
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Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.
Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.
I sometimes get the "minor grammar errors corrected," or whatever that Sassie blurb is. I'm certainly capable of typos or actual goofs, but I wish they would show me these errors because I suspect some of them might be errors on their part.
@pammie8223 wrote:
LOL! Have you ever gotten a note from an editor telling you what you had done wrong that was full of mistakes?
CSE stills requires two spaces after a period and they are very strict about it. I was also taught two spaces from typing class back in the late 60s. Now days, I go with one, unless it's CSE. I also learned to put a comma before an "and." I then unlearned it when I gathered it was no longer acceptable, unless it was needed for clarity.
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The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..
Mark Twain
The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..
Mark Twain
I always use double space as I learned that in High school from a British English teacher whom I respected and believed, so happy to say, in thirteen years I've never been called on it. The Editors really don't know if single space is correct, who changed it and when, or is English taught differently in other parts of the country?
Live consciously....
Service Check doesn’t like double spaces. I can’t break the habit so I’m always having to review my narratives and eliminate the extra spaces.
I have a lot of "9's" from them......
@kenasch wrote:
Service Check doesn’t like double spaces. I can’t break the habit so I’m always having to review my narratives and eliminate the extra spaces.
Hard work builds character and homework is good for your soul.
As a former editor, when a shopper was making careless errors that, yes, I could just fix and move on, sometimes I would. When it was becoming "habit" that they were making the same error in their reporting, I would contact them to make them aware they were doing this. I would have loved to edit for a company that paid a flat $5 per report edited....try 60 cents per report. LOL
I also shop for CSE and have to remember to put two spaces between sentences. Using ONE space after a period came into being when personal computers came into being (my first personal computer was in 1981). Computers use "proportional spacing" not the typewriter standard of each character taking the same amount of space.
Holy heck!!!!@jmjmshoe wrote:
As a former editor, when a shopper was making careless errors that, yes, I could just fix and move on, sometimes I would. When it was becoming "habit" that they were making the same error in their reporting, I would contact them to make them aware they were doing this. I would have loved to edit for a company that paid a flat $5 per report edited....try 60 cents per report. LOL
I quit at $5 a report because people were so stupid.
You don't need a comma every time you use and. If it is joining 2 sentences it does. I left the house, and I took my keys. That needs a comma. I left my house and took my keys does not because that is the full phrase.
Hi Aribacat,
Your English teacher was looking for the Oxford comma. Some writing styles require it while other styles do not.
I took that online English class with (probably) the same teacher. Since the course wanted AP citations, the Oxford comma was not required. I'm still taking online classes and have resigned myself to using the Oxford comma. Some of my friends purchased Grammarly to automatically improve their papers.
I wish I could insert a GIF for the 'Now You Know' shooting star to make you laugh.
Your English teacher was looking for the Oxford comma. Some writing styles require it while other styles do not.
I took that online English class with (probably) the same teacher. Since the course wanted AP citations, the Oxford comma was not required. I'm still taking online classes and have resigned myself to using the Oxford comma. Some of my friends purchased Grammarly to automatically improve their papers.
I wish I could insert a GIF for the 'Now You Know' shooting star to make you laugh.
@aribacat wrote:
I can definitely relate to you Pammie, I went back to school in my early 50's and took my first English class in many, many years. My professor kept marking down on my essays and would always give me Bs. He would never tell me what I had done wrong either. Finally after the fifth one he said that I needed to stop making the same mistake over and over again but he still didn't tell me what it was. This class was online and I was furious, I sent back an email and asked him to please let me know what the error was because I had no idea what I was doing wrong. His email was just as hostile as his grading and he said that I was not using the comma correctly. Evidently, now you use a comma before the word and. This was not done when I went to school and I let him know this. Come to find out that he was just out of college and I was his first older student. He finally apologized and changed my grade for the course from a B to an A because he didn't realize this and should have let me know what my error was after the first essay.
Sorry, I meant when you have several items in a group like peaches, apples, and bananas.
I'm an editor and I'd like to know where I can get a $5 flat fee for each report I edit! I'm paid $2 and $3 a report, which I'm told is the "industry standard." Of course, that was five years ago.....I think I deserve a raise! 
I sympathize with you! A specific company I used to do phone shops for did this all the time and they were measly 5 dollar shops. I would wind up taking 45 minutes to listen to my recorded call and write down everything verbatim and still get a response back that I missed a comma, or the total time for the call was off by seconds etc. I stopped doing their shops almost completely because it just isn't worth it for me (or my sanity).
Mystery shopper, Merchandiser and part time mortgage loan underwriter & processor
An editor jumbled up what I wrote and combined 3-4 sentences into one. Then I received an email from another staff asking me to explain the described incident because it was "confusing". Well, it was confusing because their editor conflated incorrectly what I wrote and completely made the transaction I wrote about incomprehensible. This never happened before. Editors should not change what was actually written except for grammar and sentence structure. They should not be changing the gist of the sentence to such an extent that it completely changed the nature of the transaction or incident.
I commented on this in my response but they did not address my concern.
I commented on this in my response but they did not address my concern.
That's right...if they don't tell us what the error was, we will continue to make it.
@pammie8223 wrote:
@Threemom wrote:
Typewriters used the same amount of space to type an "i" as it did for a "W." Computers adjust the space automatically. Two spaces were needed to make it easier to identify the end of a sentence for typewritten text. Writing conventions now favor one space. It's not too hard to make it your new habit.
Interestingly, at least one MSC lists grammar expectations, including the single space after a period. Helpful, except that page itself is written with all double spaces.
@wildherbs wrote:
WHAT? We don't use two spaces between sentences? I was taught that in typing back in the late 60's. I didn't know it changed.
LOL! Have you ever gotten a note from an editor telling you what you had done wrong that was full of mistakes?
NO, but I've seen many "guidelines' that are grammatically wrong....and spelling, also.
@Fidobaxter wrote:
I sympathize with you! A specific company I used to do phone shops for did this all the time and they were measly 5 dollar shops. I would wind up taking 45 minutes to listen to my recorded call and write down everything verbatim and still get a response back that I missed a comma, or the total time for the call was off by seconds etc. I stopped doing their shops almost completely because it just isn't worth it for me (or my sanity).
It makes me not want to shop for them.
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Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.
Motivation increases when we assume large responsibilities with a short deadline.
I got that too. I'd been writing reports (lots of narrative) for this MSC for years and no one had ever told me to use just one space after a period. This one knocked me down on it and on every report after if I did not find every extra space and delete it. I complained about it because I've been doing that for sixty years now and always got great grades on my papers for mechanics. My son then told me he'd learned in college that the standard was now one period. I don't know where I would have learned that, otherwise; it's not something the post in the headlines in the newspaper. It doesn't make the evening news. I still slip (see? I'm doing it on this message!) because I have to unlearn something that is so automatic I don't know I'm doing it. Now I get my hubby to proof those reports and take out the extra spaces for me, and the scheduler no longer complains.
Spacing depends on the company...and not just in the MS world either. The (generally narrative-heavy) MSC I edit for accepts either one or two spaces after sentences as long as it's consistent throughout the report. We also aren't supposed to reduce ratings or give feedback for spelling and grammar errors. Of course, other MSCs are different. I also work as a legal transcriptionist, and we are required to use two spaces after every sentence there. That works for me because that's how I type by default on a computer. Also, that's how I learned throughout school. I am in my late 20s and went to school in the 90s and 2000s. I have only even heard of one space also being correct within the last few years. I've heard the typewriter reasoning, and it makes sense. I just don't think anyone should feel like they're decades behind on it because two spaces is not wrong. It's just that both are apparently acceptable now, and beyond that, it's just individual/company preference.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2019 06:58AM by RedRose22.
Happily shopping the Pacific Northwest. Shopping since 2013
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2019 06:58AM by RedRose22.
They probably count the amount of effort needed to correct every sentence in your report. There are easier ways to do it, but they probably went through manually. That is a significant result of an insignificant error.
@quovatis wrote:
I got an 8/10 on a report because I used 2 spaces after each sentence, just like I was taught in school. Apparently, the standard is one space now, but that's still a ridiculous reason to knock me down two points. Whatever, I got paid.
The rule changed once proportional spacing arrived with computers and terminals. Typewriters used fixed letter spacing (monospacing), and it was easy to overlook the period thus the need for two spaces. Since I am also among the youth-challenged, I can point you to this article and hope that you appreciate the title: [www.cultofpedagogy.com]
@wildherbs wrote:
WHAT? We don't use two spaces between sentences? I was taught that in typing back in the late 60's. I didn't know it changed.
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
@myst4au wrote:
IMHO, because they can (send it back, that is). A minor power trip.@JASFLALMT wrote:
Now why in the world would the editor not just check the uploaded receipt for the tracking number and correct it?
Or because trying to enter/figure out which number is missing in 21 numbers is a pain to do. I don't know how many of you do these reports in 5 minutes. It takes me that long to check and double check i got all those numbers transcribed correctly. The tracking numbers are easy as they are in groups of 4 but the list of ID#'s takes some work.
@wildherbs wrote:
WHAT? We don't use two spaces between sentences? I was taught that in typing back in the late 60's. I didn't know it changed.
That has changed along with no double row spacing between paragraphs, no indent at the start of a paragraph and now evidently a comma after the first and in a series. If anyone knows all or any other updates for us older folks can you make a list and put it in this thread?
@Irene_L.A. wrote:
I always use double space as I learned that in High school from a British English teacher whom I respected and believed, so happy to say, in thirteen years I've never been called on it. The Editors really don't know if single space is correct, who changed it and when, or is English taught differently in other parts of the country?
Ha ha, Irene as I recall when I was in High School we always used double spacing between rows and triple sometimes between paragraphs in order to get away with a much shorter 10 page paper! My teachers did not often complain.
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