The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1922-10-05


sing, putting reached, farmers, grotes-
quely, reason, domin- alton, declined,
chances, passed, postoffi-ces further, for
ce, formed, closed, league, unique, as
semb-age, sprink-ling, added, passage,
presented, award, inconsistent, Gala
nifty, after, colonial, Episcopal assessed,
salaries family, announced, economic,
representative, Junior, senior, and a
legion of other improper divisions of
words. And this is no fiction. These ex-
ampes are taken from memoranda made
on a proofdesk in the course of ordinary
work.
Then there are few misspellings, such
as william, seperate, indispensable, Ash(el
vile, N. c., Green (e)ville, Tenn, Pitts
burg(h), Pa. Others might be cited, but
let these suffice.
Then there is the use of the word affect
for effect, and vice versa; the word former
when divided former means one who
forms; when divided former, its meaning
is previous to or going before.
Then there is the question Of punctua-
ton moot question? Yes. But there is
no sufficient reason for the innumerable
errors of this kind. Neither poor copy"
nor Indifferent editing" relieves the com
positor" of his share of responsibility in
these premises.
The question of capitalization is also a
stumbling block. There is no solution of
this question except style book" which
should be the "rule of conduct" There
are many words that are up" or down."
according to the style" or custom of the
office in question, and it is well nigh i'm
possible to determine in ones mind which
to do. Such words as president, governor,
state, will be up" in one office and down"
in another; and where the style book" is
not used these and like words will be
found both up" and down" so often
that no one knows what is proper. Many
a time, as matter of expediency the
prootreader will pass up" such errors, or
mark a letter down" that he knows should
be up" because the word used was begun
three times with a capital letter and six
times with small letter.
Then there are operators who heckle the
proofreader, and complain of his inconsis-
tency; and that he does not mark on others
the same errors marked on him or her
with the emphasis on her) and while
complaining of the numerous marks on The
proof, take special delight in returning
was not marked.
Other very common errors are noted in
the use or misuse of the comma, apostrophe
and parenthesis. The comma is often used
parentheticaly, as with the words that is,
therefore, wherefore, too, etc.; the apostro-
phe to denote omission or possession Often
the apostrophe is used before the possessive
S, instead of after it, and vice versa. And
often it is used in simple plural and as
often not used when it should be- The
parenthesis may often fall at the end of
sentence, and either inside or outside of the
period There are some who insist on using
the parenthesis outside" in every case,
while others insist en- putting the period
last In fact, neither is right under given
conditions. A few operators persist in the
use of the abbreviation of per centum (per
cent?, while the general custom is to drop
the period
While admitting that these items are not
all-important one person at least thinks
that it is quite as easy to do things right as
to do them wrong; and that there is no
excuse for the operator having the same
error marked over and over; and there is
no reason in persistence in a fault.
Once upon time proofreader offended
an operator by the numerous marks on a
proof and had this note with the "revise"
of the aforesaid proof:
"The marking up of this proof is moth