• Intro
  
• Feedback from Subscribers
  
• The Office Corner
  
• Giveaway Stuff
  
• Grammar Question of the Month - Is "enamored with" acceptable?
  
• Tech Tips by Terence Kierans - DTP, HTML, Perl...
  
• Tech Corner
  
• Writing Corner
  
• Trivia
  
• Word of the Month - Uptick
  
• Recommendations
  
• Judy's Corner
  

* You gotta love Mrs. Bluezette. Mona Scott, former English teacher (is there such a person as a FORMER English teacher?) and former anchorwoman, is terrific. If you love the English language, you'll want to read her clever articles. On the same site, her husband has a hilarious daily column of media tidbits. He spares no one. Subscription fees are reasonable.
http://www.newsblues.com/grammar.htm

* Jim Wilson of VirtualPromote and JimWorld died earlier this month. He was such a powerful influence in my life as I started up my Internet business. What a loss to the Internet community!

* If you have filtering software, please make sure you whitelist judyvorfeld@ossweb.com. My newsletter and even messages to those who have won a book are often bounced.

* If you've ever sent me a grammar-related question and haven't heard back, it may be that you typed in your email address incorrectly or that you've blocked my email messages. I enjoy finding answers, and regret it when the message comes back.

* The finalist in last month's book drawing is Cheri of Evansville, Indiana. And Cheri also has a nice supply of Natural Choice Dog Treats, courtesy of Kathy Podolski, http://www.naturaldogtreats.com.

1. I'm taking this opportunity to thank you for your continuing efforts in publishing this monthly newsletter to keep me informed and educated.

How do I express my appreciation to my clients or associates? I do it in an indirect way by means of sending small pieces of information that is of relevance to individual clients/associates via email. It's tough for me to keep up with sending monthly newsletters, but I've recently found another web tool that may prove to be a useful tool of communications with clients. It is a weblog, which I'm starting to build as a means of keeping updates with clients.

Elsie Lee
ELIX Virtual Management
www.elix.com.sg

Specializes in writing, translating, researching, analyzing and presenting business information.

2. My bad. Your article reminded me that it's time for me to do a print order for those "thank you" postcards I've designed.

Martha Retallick, "The Passionate Postcarder"
http://www.PostcardMarketingSecrets.com/

3. I just love your publication ... Serenata
http://www.serenata.nu/

1. MRS. BLUEZETTE'S GRAMMAR CORNER: A PBS mind in an MTV world. Great tips by Mona Scott to help you keep on top of grammar and style issues. Nice layout and good fun!
http://www.newsblues.com/grammar.htm

2. NEED TO BREAK DOWN THE COUNTRY CODE ON AN EMAIL? Here are the ISO 3166 Country Codes.
http://www.immigration-usa.com/country_digraphs.html

* Last month Kathy Podolski of Natural Choice K-9 Cookies gave away a generous supply of dog treats to Cheri. This month Kathy repeats her offer. The SECOND person to contact her at the following email address gets $30 worth of natural dog treats mailed, postage paid.
nd-info@naturaldogtreats.com?subject=judy

GIVEAWAY BOOK! Subscribers are eligible to sign up to win a copy of "The Home Office and Small Business Answer Book: Solutions to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Starting and Running Home Offices and Small Businesses" by Janet Attard, a Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, or Allan Wyatt's book, "Word 2002 Beginner's Guidebook."
http://wordtips.vitalnews.com/ Sign up once a month at http://www.ossweb.com/freebook.html

Q. I keep hearing and seeing the phrase "enamored with" in various places. Seems it's become a mainstream grammatical error (isn't it?). Problem is I can't find a source to back me up. Could you tell me whether I'm right or wrong and, if right, where I could find a source to back me up?

A. Staff is a collective noun. When it is the subject and it refers to the group acting as a whole group or single unit, the verb is singular. Occasionally it refers to members acting individually. In that case, the verb is plural.

A. Here's what http://www.m-w.com says:

Main Entry: en·am·or
Pronunciation: i-'na-m&r
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -ored; en·am·or·ing /-m&-ri[ng], -'nam-ri[ng]/
Etymology: Middle English enamouren, from Middle French enamourer,
from en- + amour love -- more at AMOUR
Date: 14th century
1 : to inflame with love -- usually used in the passive with of
2 : FASCINATE 2b -- usually used in the passive with of or with

*By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary at www.m-w.com by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

This Australian site is used frequently, by many colleges around the world, as an assignment reference and an online training source.

The site is a compilation of tutorial & lesson pages relating to:

• Desktop Publishing
• Hyper Text Markup Language
• Free perl cgi scripts etc.

There are also a couple of utilities and free Web Graphics for down loading.

http://www.dtp-aus.com/

Terence Kierans
Principal, Cyberspace Virtual Services, Western Australia
We keep your project on the boil, while you sleep
Tel: 61 8 9304 6983   Fax: 61 8 9304 3202   Mobile: 61 414 25 1091
UK Residents: 07092391723
http://www.virtualservices.com.au/

1. HOW TO BLOCK DICTIONARY ATTACKS BY ADAM BOETTIGER
http://www.email911.com/resources/articles/dictionary.html

1. ACADEMIC WRITING: QUOTING AND PARAPHRASING. From the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QuotingSources.html

2. PROOFREADING FOR EDITING A NEAR-FINAL DRAFT: Bemidji State University Writing Resource Center.
http://cal.bemidji.msus.edu/WRC/Handouts/ProofAndEdit.html#aa11

3. FORWARD MOTION: By author Holly Lisle. Articles and Workshops section,(Writers) offers resources and essays on her experiences in writing professionally as well as workshops that people can use to improve their work.
http://www.hollylisle.com/fm/index.html

1. HOW EARTHQUAKES WORK: Earthquakes are one of the most terrifying natural phenomena because they break a fundamental assumption--that the rock-solid earth isn't moveable.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/earthquake.htm

2. HORSERADISH: FACTS ABOUT AMERICA'S FAVORITE ROOT: This site's a hoot!
http://www.horseradish.org/facts.html

3: CLEOPATRA DROPS PEARL IN VINEGAR, THEN...
http://tinyurl.com/6v95

Main Entry: up·tick
Pronunciation: '&p-"tik
Function: noun
Etymology: 2up + 3tick
Date: 1955
: INCREASE, RISE

*By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary at www.m-w.com by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

1. CRIMINAL RECORDS IN THE LEGAL RESEARCH GUIDE: The author gives links to each state's criminal records database and explains what kinds of information each contains and what its limitations are. Be sure to read the caveat.
http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/criminal_records.html

2. BRAILLE BUG: The information, activities, and games are designed to teach children in grades 3 through 6 about braille. An assortment of games and activities and is also fully accessible to all visitors.
http://www.afb.org/braillebug/

3. ARE YOU IN CONTROL OF YOUR WEBSITE? Powerful article by Gerry McGovern, who suggests: "Many managers have not put professional publishing procedures in place. They do not know what is being published on their websites. This is an unacceptable situation."
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2003/nt_2003_05_12_control.htm

* I have a special request for you. One of my site visitors is a grammar teacher in China. Here's a plea for help: "Sometimes I find that some of the simple sentences are difficult to explain according to grammatical rules. At present I find it hard to make grammar lessons interesting. Do you have any good suggestions?"

Can you go back to your school days and see if there were any special teaching techniques that sparked enthusiasm in the students? I told the teacher I had a snazzy group of subscribers and that they might have an idea or two.

If you want to send me some information on good learning experiences, send to: judyvorfeld@ossweb.comSubject=grammar.

* Interested in true professionalism? Recently Dennis Gaskill aka Boogie Jack published an article in his ezine regarding this subject. After reading it, I asked if I might publish it on my site. If you haven't read it, and need some inspiration blended with common sense, try this: http://www.ossweb.com/article-23.html

* Hope you are having a wonderful month. We're off to a good start. Today we get one of our granddogs for a few days: Shimmy. He's a mature cocker spaniel that gives us great joy. I would like to say the same for our cat, Bear. He doesn't like intrusions on his routine, but Shimmy respectfully never moves toward Bear, and they always end up co-existing quite nicely.

Need editing help for any type of books, email letters, sales letters, press releases, or text on your website? Problems describing your business in terms of benefits and services? I may be able to help. Email me at copyediting-help-needed@ossweb.com - if I can't help, I'll find someone who can. See more at http://www.ossweb.com/m3.html

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http://www.ossweb.com/ezine-archive-index.html

Questions, comments, recommendations?
Contact Judy Vorfeld at www.ossweb.com.contact.html

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