The Bsp Stylebook

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The Bsp Stylebook

A Bsp Seminars
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The Bsp Stylebook
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Knowledge in business®
The Bsp Stylebook
By
Costa Divaris
& Duncan McAllister
2015 Edition
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The BSP Stylebook 2015 ed © C Divaris DS McAllister South Africa
—5—
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—6—
Contents
Contents
Click on an item to go to that page
The Bsp Stylebook ............................................................................................. 3
Terms and conditions ....................................................................................... 5
Contents ........................................................................................................... 7
Click on an item to go to that page ................................................................ 7
Preface to the fifth edition .............................................................................. 11
(Mildly updated) .......................................................................................... 11
Preface to the ninth edition ............................................................................ 15
Preface to the 2013 edition............................................................................. 17
Alphabetical entries .......................................................................................... 21
Alphabetical entries—‘A’ .............................................................................. 23
Alphabetical entries—‘B’ .............................................................................. 33
Alphabetical entries—‘C’ .............................................................................. 37
Alphabetical entries—‘D’ .............................................................................. 47
Alphabetical entries—‘E’............................................................................... 53
Alphabetical entries—‘F’ ............................................................................... 59
Alphabetical entries—‘G’ .............................................................................. 63
Alphabetical entries—‘H’ .............................................................................. 65
Alphabetical entries—‘I’ ................................................................................ 71
Alphabetical entries—‘J’ ............................................................................... 81
Alphabetical entries—‘K’ .............................................................................. 83
Alphabetical entries—‘L’............................................................................... 85
Alphabetical entries—‘M’ ............................................................................. 91
Alphabetical entries—‘N’ .............................................................................. 95
Alphabetical entries—‘O’ ............................................................................ 103
Alphabetical entries—‘P’ ............................................................................. 107
Alphabetical entries—‘Q’ ............................................................................ 115
Alphabetical entries—‘R’ ............................................................................ 119
Alphabetical entries—‘S’ ............................................................................. 125
Alphabetical entries—‘T’............................................................................. 135
Alphabetical entries—‘U’ ............................................................................ 143
Alphabetical entries—‘V’ ............................................................................ 147
Alphabetical entries—‘W’ ........................................................................... 149
Alphabetical entries—‘Y’ ............................................................................ 155
Alphabetical entries—‘Z’............................................................................. 157
Numbers & characters .................................................................................. 159
Great reference works .................................................................................. 161
Six Steps To Improving Your Professional Writing ........................................ 163
Introduction .................................................................................................... 165
Any hope for cruddy writing? ...................................................................... 165
On professional writing in general ............................................................... 169
1. Problematic pronouns ................................................................................. 183
Types of pronouns ........................................................................................ 183
Too few pronouns ........................................................................................ 185
—7—
Contents
Too many pronouns ...................................................................................... 189
The unrelated pronoun ................................................................................. 193
The pronoun as legalism .............................................................................. 199
Choosing between ‘who’ & ‘that’ ................................................................ 201
Choosing between ‘such’ & ‘that’................................................................ 205
Take that ...................................................................................................... 207
Choosing between ‘which’ & ‘that’ ............................................................. 209
Personal pronouns and gender ...................................................................... 213
2. Ceaseless conditionals ................................................................................ 221
Conditional sentences ................................................................................... 221
3. The sting with ‘…ing’ ................................................................................ 225
Participles and gerunds................................................................................. 225
Unrelated participles and gerunds ................................................................ 229
Exceptions best avoided ............................................................................... 233
4. Artful articles .............................................................................................. 235
Who am I? (Les Miserables) ........................................................................ 235
The missing/superfluous article.................................................................... 241
5. Putrid prepositions ...................................................................................... 243
Much confusion ‘around’ this issue ............................................................. 243
6 The vroom in verbs ...................................................................................... 245
Baddadaboom! ............................................................................................. 245
Shortcut Keys In Word ................................................................................... 249
Main listing .................................................................................................. 251
ALT sequence keys (Word 2003) .................................................................. 259
Nonbreaking spaces...................................................................................... 265
The spike ...................................................................................................... 267
Highlighting text in Word ............................................................................ 269
Shortcut keys in Outlook .............................................................................. 271
Shortcut keys in Internet Explorer 8............................................................. 275
Some Windows Explorer & desktop shortcut keys ...................................... 277
Navigating Windows Explorer with the keyboard ....................................... 279
Creating file-lists .......................................................................................... 281
Switches ....................................................................................................... 285
Finding stuff—CTRL + F .............................................................................. 287
Finding stuff—refining the search ............................................................... 289
Finding stuff—find & replace ...................................................................... 293
Finding stuff—Go To command .................................................................. 295
Finding stuff—MS Outlook .......................................................................... 297
Finding stuff—Windows Explorer ............................................................... 299
Wrapping text ............................................................................................... 301
The magnifier ............................................................................................... 303
Google shortcuts........................................................................................... 305
More Google shortcuts ................................................................................. 309
Compare & merge ........................................................................................ 311
ALT sequence keys (Word 2007)—Office tab .............................................. 313
ALT sequence keys (Word 2007)—Home tab .............................................. 315
ALT sequence keys (Word 2007)—Insert tab ............................................... 319
ALT sequence keys (Word 2007)—Table keys ............................................. 321
ALT sequence keys (Word 2007)—Layout tab ............................................. 323
—8—
Contents
sequence keys (Word 2007)—References ............................................ 327
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Mailings tab .......................................... 329
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Review tab ............................................ 331
sequence keys (Word 2007)—View tab ............................................... 333
Finding stuff—Word 2010 ........................................................................... 335
Finding stuff—using Find and Replace as an editing tool ........................... 339
First-letter navigation ................................................................................... 341
Opening & saving documents ...................................................................... 343
Getting started in Outlook 2010 with ALT sequence keys ............................ 345
More on Windows Explorer ......................................................................... 349
Working with Styles—I ............................................................................... 351
Working with Styles—II .............................................................................. 353
Disabling auto-correction ............................................................................. 355
Disabling auto-numbering and auto-bullets ................................................. 357
Signatures in Outlook 2007 & 2010............................................................. 359
Backing up Outlook files ............................................................................. 361
Inaccessible PDFs—a highly unsatisfactory state of affairs .......................... 363
Header & footers .......................................................................................... 367
Creating a table of cases ............................................................................... 369
Creating a table of cases—II ........................................................................ 371
Comments in MS Word 2010........................................................................ 373
Paste special ................................................................................................. 375
Battling with bullets ..................................................................................... 377
Creating personal folder files in Outlook ..................................................... 379
Disabling protected view.............................................................................. 381
Importing styles into a Word document ....................................................... 383
Online translation services ........................................................................... 385
Bookmarks ................................................................................................... 387
Captions ....................................................................................................... 389
Cross-references ........................................................................................... 391
Sending large files ........................................................................................ 393
Downloading large files ............................................................................... 395
Excel shortcuts for Word users .................................................................... 397
Macros.......................................................................................................... 399
Creating fillable forms ................................................................................. 403
Creating accessible tables in Word 2010 ..................................................... 405
Solving the smiley conundrum in Outlook 2010.......................................... 407
Combining files with Adobe Acrobat X Pro ................................................ 409
Fractions in Word 2010................................................................................ 411
Inserting an ‘out of office’ message in Outlook 2010 .................................. 413
Changing the default file location in Word 2010 ......................................... 415
ALT
ALT
ALT
ALT
—9—
— 10 —
Preface to the fifth edition
(Mildly updated)
This work commenced life in December 1983 as the CD Editor’s Bible
of Blunders, which was updated in January 1986—a publication of
limited circulation but some notoriety, certainly among contributors to
Income Tax Reporter, Businessman’s Law, Tax Planning and Bsp
Seminars. It included ‘printing instructions’.
That was the dawn of the computer age in South Africa, and the
instructions required to be conveyed were instructions to ‘the printers’,
signifying a firm of printers or, better, typesetters, rather than the author
sitting before a computer. (That, at least, is where the author nowadays
bloody well ought to be sitting, rather than before an inkwell, a
Dictaphone or a human secretary. To see professionals, young and old,
without laptops, electronic references, databases and the most
elementary knowledge of computer and software usage and discipline
bodes ill for their clients’ welfare. What is particularly shocking is the
widespread ignorance of the research tool of the age: [CTRL & F].)
A stylebook is not a listing of what is correct and incorrect usage of
the language but a statement of preferences by which a publication or
stable of publications is distinguished from other writings and some
degree of consistency is maintained both over time and among persons.
Its purpose is to lessen some of the drudgery involved in consulting
dictionaries, at least twenty-five of which are arrayed behind my own
desk, having usurped what are usually overdignified by the appellation
‘textbooks’.
A stylebook is always a haphazard affair, usually being drawn up
from the mistakes and stylistic differences and choices an editor or
editorial team comes across over a period. This one therefore started
with an old-fashioned selection of entries but, being in an accessible
form and part of the BSP Store, has rapidly gained modern flesh.
Authors, especially if they are accountants or lawyers, are nowadays no
better at stringing together an English sentence than they were in the
early eighties.
It is also highly dependent upon a host of inputs from various
sources. For example, I will never depart from the ‘spare style’ of the
Rustica Press in Cape Town in the early seventies, or, rather, from what
I remember of it—it would be too heart-wrenching actually to consult
the copies of their stylebooks I have carefully preserved from the ‘hot
lead’ days of publishing. An important influence also comes from my
many years of association with Businessman’s Law, and the many and
great lawyers it was my privilege to meet and work with as a result of
that association, far too many of whom, alas, are now sadly departed. In
— 11 —
fact, a couple of the old entries sound to me as if they have been copied
directly from handwritten marginal notes appended to typewritten
submissions to Businessman’s Law by one of my (far more) learned
colleagues of those days as we worked mightily to turn dross into
acceptable prose. Any ancient plagiarism is regretted but now lies far
beyond redress.
Of late I have strayed further afield in search of inputs. Having
developed a strong contempt for the linguistic control exercised by
modern editors of my beloved The Economist, I nowadays comb each
issue for possible entries. Surprisingly, this exercise seems over a very
short time to have improved that newspaper’s standards remarkably, and
of late I often finish an issue empty-handed. And, notwithstanding this
sterling progress, no longer may I with justice yet pine for a changing of
the guard, since even the cursed unrelated pronouns have abated. The
books I read have also been driven into service, necessitating the
strategic placement of writing materials at all possible reading points.
Thanks to professional editing across the globe, this is a meagre source
of material, save for the occasional cultural item. Nevertheless,
professionals, and not only attorneys and accountants, will have their
unintelligible way, so that there is always the chance of striking the
mother lode. One such book, on NEPAD, was such a rich source that I
devoted an entire Supplement to it. Readers of my newsletter, Tax Shock,
Horror, of which Supplements used to be a regular part, have taken
unwittingly to contributing entries, for which I thank them, even if they
do devote themselves so zealously to pointing out my own errors. Best
of all, I have fortuitously acquired an assiduous assistant, now my coeditor, who regularly sends me both material and corrections and
improvements. He is the leading fiscal author of our day—Duncan S
McAllister, of the SARS Legal and Policy Division. Much strength to his
keyboard!
One thing that struck me in first adapting the old Bible to the present
purpose was the great number of previously hyphenated words, which
were listed precisely because hyphenation was their then ‘modern’ form,
now rendered as single words. That is a natural progression in language
(the next step being to truncate joined words but, fast though changes to
language might be, I strongly doubt whether this work or I will survive
to record any such truncation).
After years of resisting the unworthy impulse, I once opened an
electronic bin to hold the really good examples of bad writing I happen
to come across. That bin has been ransacked for input to ‘Six Steps to
Improving your Professional Writing’—my opening sally against all the
damage wrought by schools, universities and, above all, the vanity
publishing so beloved by an entire class of professionals—a version of
which is included with this work. Beware, anyone submitting anything
to me for publication: I am still on the lookout for illustrative
wrongdoing. Your stuff, too, might end up as grist to the mill. Yet follow
— 12 —
the ‘Six Steps’ and you will be amazed what a transformation you will
achieve. Trust me. It actually works, as long as you are capable of
penetrating your own ego far enough to see your own writing as a work
in progress rather than the product of the Moving Finger.
Finally, what is the hope invested in this stylebook? It represents a
tiny effort to help professionals throw away their linguistic crutches
and…Walk! Brains, energy, imagination, even connections, are all
horribly disfigured when their possessor struggles to communicate in
writing. While these entries and attached monologue may not represent
‘correct’ English, they open the way, I promise you, to sharp, clean,
unambiguous writing. From there…who knows where you might go.
Interesting? Funny? Informative? Influential?
Less inspiringly but perhaps more motivationally, this stylebook is
meant to discourage authors from daring to submit anything to me
without some careful thought and study, for I am sick of editing,
especially endless, repetitively thoughtless crud from hopelessly
recidivist linguistic thugs. Has it served that purpose since its last
edition? Bah! Authors are pearl-resistant swine. And I can say that
safely, since the one thing you absolutely know about a bad writer is that
he or she never reads.
Costa Divaris
Gauteng
January 2013
— 13 —
— 14 —
Preface to the ninth edition
This is the fourth year in which Duncan McAllister, of the legal and
policy division of the South African Revenue Service joins me as coauthor of this work. He is an indefatigable researcher, and has made—
and continues to make—many contributions to this listing. Nay, I go
further, and attest to his careful reading and actual application of the
‘rules’ contained herein. For this he deserves to be drummed out of the
public service, where rote phrases and imagined pretension are regarded
as essential tools in the outright violation of communication. Where,
then, would he go? In the world of commerce and industry, the more
critical a document is supposed to be, the more incomprehensible I
usually find it to be. The morass that is legal drafting, whether of
contracts or statutes, to me demonstrates how rare a planetary resource
is simple logic. Nor, to the despair of their editors, are the bad
professional writers ever brought to the realization of their pathetic
disabilities.
Perhaps that is why I most enjoy maintaining this listing. It is the
cartoon cliff over which the inflated egos of the bad brigade has carried
them. And it is survival of the fall guaranteed to all such cartoon
characters—if only they would look down.
As for my once-loved The Economist, today my main source of
entries, while I continue to lament what I perceive to be outright
grammatical errors, the truth is that, by following global trends, it
increasingly grows apart from the usages recommended here. As the
pressure builds, I might well yield, here and there. Although not until I
consider a page of its text to be more pleasing to the eye than a page of
mine.
Costa Divaris
Gauteng
January 2013
I continue to feel privileged to join Costa, a true master of the English
language, as co-author of the ninth edition of the BSP Stylebook. While
we may be on opposite sides of the fiscal divide, we share an
appreciation of English and a desire to improve the standard of legal
writing in our common field.
The bulk of my contributions to the Stylebook originate from my
experiences in writing the Comprehensive Guide to Capital Gains Tax
and in reviewing, editing and writing other tax-related material. In these
endeavours the Stylebook is always close at hand and an invaluable
resource. What distinguishes this work from other style guides is that it
deals with many words that are in common usage in the tax field.
— 15 —
This ninth edition contains a number of new entries as well as a
considerably expanded series of articles on keyboard shortcuts in MS
Word, first published in Tax, Shock, Horror. In this electronic age, most
authors do their own typing, with the result that they spend many hours
at their keyboards. Apart from learning to touch type—a skill I can
strongly recommend—one way in which to become more proficient is
to learn keyboard shortcuts.
Reflecting Costa’s inimical take-no-prisoners style, this work is not
for the sensitive, the easily offended or the egotistical. But if you can
put your pride in your pocket and have a willingness to learn from the
master wordsmith himself, hard taskmaster that he is, you will
undoubtedly improve your writing skills.
Duncan S McAllister
Gauteng
January 2013
— 16 —
Preface to the 2013 edition
Ordinarily, this would be the tenth edition of this work but it is
renumbered in keeping with my latest effort to keep up with the everchanging tax world, in which I have published idiosyncratic versions of
the ‘tax Acts’ (although not the monster and monstrous Income Tax Act)
in annual editions going back to 2008 consistent with the annual deluge
of new and amending acts, which are all ascribed to particular years, no
matter when they are actually promulgated or come into operation
(although special dispensation had to be made for the in-so-many-ways
discrepant Tax Administration Act, optimistically numbered ‘no 28 of
2011’).
In a further innovation, this edition is got up in my new ‘book’
format, devised in the low-tech hope that it marries an ideal printed page
with a reasonable view on whatever device it might be viewed
electronically.
With every year that passes I become increasingly aware how oldfashioned many of the entries recorded here have become, but, if you
were to keep up with fashion in English usage, you would follow no
‘rules’ whatsoever, mainly because there really are no hard and fast
rules but also because so many people no longer care. Nevertheless, the
quality journals I prefer to read all have their house styles; some, lucky
devils, even have their bespoke fonts. Since they stick to their styles, so
do I. I like the look of a page of print I produce following consistent
principles, and the purpose of this work is to gather those principles, or
at least most of them, in one place as a convenient reference.
I continue to rely on the justly famous The Economist for what I
regard as grammatical missteps and errors of logic. If that illustrious
newspaper (as it prefers to call itself) bloops—by my standards, at
least—I reckon the incident is worth recording. And my first port of call
when faced with a decision about a particular usage remains the
astonishingly reliable (by which I mean that it accords, almost perfectly,
with my prejudices) Bloomsbury English Dictionary New Edition,
which, as far as I have been able to ascertain, has to date not been
updated. I hold it in such high esteem that, when recently challenged on
the issue by my esteemed co-author, I reluctantly followed its line and
gave up the euphonious ‘rands’ for the hideous ‘rand’ as both the
singular and plural form of identifying our (Honey, I shrunk the)
currency.
My new ‘book’ format also demands that automatic hyphenation be
abandoned, in the interests of accessibility for those converting text to
other formats but also because it fatally interferes with mankind’s third
greatest invention after fire and the wheel—CTRL F. For the sake of
accessibility, shading must also go. It was hard to give up automatic
— 17 —
hyphenation but, once I did, I began to understand what I had previously
noticed, that many journals avoid using it.
After all, what really makes a page look good (after, that is, clever
word-processing software) is the unfailing use of nonbreaking spaces
whenever a particular string of text calls for its use. Professional
typesetters use such spaces only when they are necessary, that is, when
the separation of the characters in a string by a line-ending will confuse
the reader. For example, ‘p’ at the end of a line of text will slow down
your comprehension if its accompanying ‘10’ is to be found only at the
commencement of the following line. I acquired the habit from
performing mass FIND & REPLACE operations on text produced by others
as a means of saving time and now find it second nature to insert a
nonbreaking space (CTRL SHIFT SPACE) between every ‘p’ and its ‘10’.
No matter how quixotic this work might appear to be, I know it has
influenced at least a few to think about their writing and their
publishing. For me, that is sufficient. Nay, it is nothing less than
success.
I continue to relish my association with my co-author, Duncan
McAllister, who shares so many of my passions in language, law, wordprocessing and communication in general. I like to think that, following
his lead, I have upped my game in many aspects of my work, and one of
my ambitions is that he might learn as much from me as I have learnt
from him.
Costa Divaris
Gauteng
January 2014.
I have often wondered why so many people, many holding postgraduate
degrees, write so badly these days. This is not a new phenomenon, but
the standard of writing has definitely deteriorated over the past twenty
years. I am not referring to some fine point of English grammar covered
by Fowler or some stylistic preference but to the most fundamental of
mistakes, such as not knowing when to use ‘is’ and ‘are’; ‘to’ and ‘too’,
and ‘principal’ and principle’.
Is it because for many South Africans English is not their first
language? Is it because in today’s electronic age of instant gratification
they have given up reading decent books and prefer to watch television
or read Facebook or Twitter? Or is it perhaps because our schools do not
teach basic grammar rules and have allowed their standards to drop?
These errors are being perpetrated by professionals regardless
whether English is their first language. Yet I know those whose first
language is not English, and they do not make these mistakes. I know
others who read widely but show no improvement in their writing and
fail to learn from their mistakes. It would be easy to explain all these
contradictions by concluding that the ability to write well is a gift
— 18 —
conferred on a few. While I think there is merit in that conclusion, I
firmly believe that all writers are capable of improving their writing. It
just takes commitment and a willingness to learn. When I look back at
my own writing of ten years ago I am embarrassed at some of the
mistakes I used to make. Thanks to the BSP Stylebook I have eradicated
many of these errors and continue to learn more from my learned coauthor with every day that passes.
Duncan McAllister
Gauteng
January 2014
— 19 —
— 20 —
Alphabetical entries
Alphabetical entries
— 21 —
— 22 —
Alphabetical entries—‘A’
a
indefinite article; answers the question ‘Who
am I?’ with ‘an entirely new noun (see an)
(see acronyms)
a
not ‘an’ before an aspirated ‘h’—eg ‘a hotel’
a historical
not ‘an historical’
a hotel
not ‘an hotel’
abbreviation
not used to start a sentence; at that spot, write
the word in full
abbreviations
Afrikaans: ‘art’, ‘arts’; ‘subart’, ‘subarts’; ‘bl’,
bll; ‘par’, ‘parr’; ‘3 e uitg (1960)’; ‘26 cv’ (of
‘26ff’); ‘Sien Naude op cit 121’; ‘In noot 6’;
‘In die woorde van regter Smith’ (of
‘Smith R’); ‘appelregter Smit’ (of ‘Smit AR’);
‘hoofregter Steyn’ (of ‘Stein HR’); ‘die Hoof
regter’; die ‘Appelhof’
abbreviations
given in small caps unless forming a
pronounceable word—eg ‘PAYE’, ‘SA’, ‘UK’,
‘US’ but ‘Mr’, ‘Mrs’, ‘Ms’, ‘no’; although I
myself (Divaris) break the rule with ‘VAT’,
‘Vat’ is actually better for general usage,
especially in printed material but, please,
outside SA say ‘V.A.T.’
abbreviations
given in spare style with no full stops—eg
‘no’, ‘Mr’, ‘Mrs’, ‘Ms’, ‘SA’, ‘US’, ‘UK’
abbreviations
not ordinarily used in text but in headings and
tables only—eg ‘SA’, ‘US’, ‘UK’
abbreviations
in plural form are not in the possessive case
(see possessive case)
above
unless you happen to be writing on scrolled
parchment, make sure that what you refer to is
in fact ‘above’
— 23 —
above ground
not ‘above-ground’ or ‘aboveground’ (US)
abovementioned
just how did you end up in this class?
abroad
not ‘overseas’, unless you mean ‘overseas’
(see overseas)
accessorize
not ‘accessorise’
acquirer
not ‘acquiror’
acronyms
The Economist’s’ style is to use small caps for
all; alternatively, use small caps unless the
acronym forms a pronounceable word, in
which event use a capital followed by lowercase characters, although you risk confusing
your readers when a pronounceable acronym
is little known—eg ‘NGO’, ‘NPO’, ‘PAYE’,
‘STC’, ‘SCA’ but ‘Acsa’, ‘Eskom’, ‘Idasa’,
‘Interpol’, ‘Nepad’, ‘Sarb’ ‘Sars’, ‘Sasol’,
‘Unisa’, ‘Vat’. I (Divaris) nevertheless have
got stuck on using ‘SARS’, ‘VAT’ and similar,
and have finally made up my mind—all
acronyms to be represented by small caps,
even the dreaded ACSA, ESKOM, SANRAL and
TELKOM
acronyms
some journals capitalize the first letter of an
acronym otherwise shown in small caps if it
appears at the beginning of a sentence but it
looks very ugly, and so, since the whole
purpose of using small caps is to improve the
appearance of text, do not so capitalize
acronyms
establish an acronym only once, the very first
time it is used—eg ‘capital gains tax (CGT )’,
but do not establish an acronym unless you are
going to use it at least once in the text that
follows, unless the acronym is better known
than the expression it represents and so will be
more readily recognized by the reader
acronyms
it is ‘an SBC’, not ‘a SBC’; in other words,
when deciding whether to use ‘a’ or ‘an’, you
must give effect to the pronunciation of the
— 24 —
letters, thus an ‘ess bee cee’; you don’t
substitute the actual words represented by the
letters in deciding the issue, so it is not read as
‘a small business corporation’—eg ‘an FBI
report’
acronyms
it is bad form to establish an acronym simply
because you are lazy—eg not ‘the TAA’ (for
‘the Tax Administration Act’); use the
acronym, if you must, while you are writing
but then Find and Replace them into
extinction, otherwise your reader will
understand that your primary objective is to
complete your writing project as quickly as
possible, in recognition of your brilliance,
while dissing the reader
acronyms
in particular guilds acronyms are commonly
used, perhaps in satisfaction that they will be
unintelligible to outsiders, such as ‘TLAB’ for
‘Taxation Laws Amendment Bill’ and ‘SBC’
for ‘small business corporation’, but it is to
mistake the map for the territory to treat the
jargon as being fully equivalent to the original
expression, as in the abominations ‘TLAB,
2015’ and ‘the definition of ‘SBC’ ’
act, acts
when referring to legislative acts in general,
not Act, Acts
Act
when giving the full name of an Act or
referring to a particular Act
Act
for crying in a bucket, don’t say ‘s 42 of the
Act’ when ‘s 42’ will do, even if you firmly
believe that this usage will turn a pig’s ear of
an intellect into a silk purse
Act name
don’t be a pedantic poseur and write ‘the
Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (hereinafter
referred to as “the Act”)’ or even ‘the Income
Tax Act 58 of 1962 (“the Act”)’ when your
usage ought to make the matter clear
Act number
given as ‘the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962’ or as
— 25 —
‘the Income Tax Act of 1962’ in text; use a
nonbreaking space before the numeral; it is
pedantic to give the number and year of very
well-known acts such as the Companies Act
and the Income Tax Act
Act number
given as ‘no’ in legislation; use a nonbreaking
space before the numeral—eg ‘the Income
Tax Act no 58 of 1962’
Act number and year
given only the first time an act is referred to in
a passage of text—eg ‘the Income Tax Act 58
of 1962’; then use ‘the Act’
ad infinitum
see italics
advertise
not ‘advertize’
advised
‘to be well advised’ but a ‘well-advised
decision’
adviser
not ‘advisor’
aforestated
I (Divaris) am not even going to check
whether this is an English pronoun; get rid of
it
aggravate
make worse, not annoy—eg ‘A credit squeeze
will aggravate the housing bust….’ (The
Economist 4 August 2007 at 9)—eg not
‘Black holes have long aggravated
astronomers and physicists.’ (The Economist
23 June 2007 at 92)—eg not ‘With the spat
frustrating their bids to join NATO and the
European Union, the Macedonians have taken
to such aggravating stunts as placing an
outsized statue of Alexander the great, a hero
claimed by both sides, in the middle of
Skopje, their capital.’ (The Economist
8 October 2011 at 36)—eg not ‘A scandal
involving bribes at Sonatrach, the dominant
state-owned oil company is particularly
aggravating.’ (The Economist 2 November
2013 at 34)
— 26 —
albeit
a sure sign of aping your supposed betters if
you make a fetish of it; should not appear
more than once per 2 500 words; rather avoid
it as an elegant variation of ‘although’
also
‘also’ is perhaps best found between the
subject and the verb and not after the verb—
eg not ‘This exemption applies also to foreign
dividends received by or accrued to a CFC.’—
eg ‘This exemption also applies to foreign
dividends received by or accrued to a CFC.’
among
not ‘amongst’ unless followed by a vowel
amongst
not ‘among’ unless followed by a consonant
(I’m sticking with this rule for the time being)
amounts
‘R100 000,59’, not ‘R100 000.59’, and not ‘R
100 000,59’
amounts
no zeros if there are no cents—eg ‘R1’ not
‘R1,00’
amounts
spaces between groups of numerals in large
numbers are filled with nonbreaking spaces—
eg ‘R1 000 000’
analyze
not ‘analyse’, although just barely
ancien régime
see italics
an
indefinite article; answers the question ‘Who
am I?’ with ‘an entirely new noun’ (see a) (see
acronyms)
an heir
not ‘a heir’
And
although at school they told you that you
couldn’t do it, you may start a sentence with
‘And’, but do not overdo it (count how many
sentences in your piece start with ‘And’)
and
if I (Divaris) can teach you when ‘and’ is
preceded by a comma and when it is not, I
shall be justly proud, but there is ordinarily no
— 27 —
such comma unless a break in the connection
requires one; is used only once in any list of
requirements that must all be fulfilled
and/or
once you resort to this conceit you give up all
hope of being taken seriously; in any event,
one or the other is bound to work on its own
and that
boy, are you in trouble!—eg not ‘Algeria, for
its part, has always been worryingly secretive
about a nuclear research reactor discovered in
1991 and that it surrounds with air defences.’
(The Economist 25 August 2007 at 58) (can
you fix this?)
and who
make your choice since you cannot have both;
even two hundred years ago when this form
was used it was probably bad English—eg not
‘Not coincidentally, among big powers it was
the British who most curtailed the absolute
rule of their monarch and who established the
soundest base for financing a modern state.’
(The Economist 23 June 2007 at 95)—eg not
‘It is certainly the case that most of the
Americans and Israelis who took part in the
Camp David summit of 2000, and who have
subsequently written accounts….’ (The
Economist 3 January 2009 at 65; the writing is
in any event execrable)—eg not ‘Paul Dirac,
whose equations predicted the existence of
antimatter and who died in 1984, was
another.’ (The Economist 24 January 2009
at 85)
animus
not ‘animus’ (see italics)
annoyed
see irritated
anointing
is a verb, not a noun (anointment)—eg not
‘Yet in August China’s president, Hu Juintao,
abruptly dropped plans to appear at a
ceremony in Shenzhen in favour of popping
up to north-eastern China to meet the Kims,
apparently to give his blessing to the
youngster’s anointing.’ (The Economist
— 28 —
4 December 2010 at 65)
antagonize
not ‘antagonise’
any
an adjective of number or numeral adjective;
to be used sparingly, and not as an article, as
in fiscal legislation by the cretinous legal
draftsperson
any
not an indefinite article but is often used as
such in legislation; in paraphrasing legislation,
do not automatically remove all ‘any-s’ but,
for absolute accuracy, decide which, properly
called, are quantifying determiners
any
resist the temptation to use the thing as an
article and so save the effort of switching
between ‘a’ and ‘an’ in a string of nouns
starting with a mixture of vowels and
consonants—eg ‘an event, a circumstance or
an occurrence’—eg not ‘any event,
circumstance or occurrence’
any more
not ‘anymore’ (US & SA!)
apologize
not ‘apologise’
apostrophe
in possessive case and words ending in ‘s’ (see
possessive case)
apostrophe
in Word ‘smart quotes’ will produce the wrong
mark if you need the apostrophe at the
beginning of a word; what you need to do is
attach the apostrophe to the end of the
preceding word and then insert a space to
move it to the beginning of the next word—eg
not ‘ ‘alam ’
apostrophize
not apostrophise
Appellate Division
not ‘the AD’ save in headings and tables
Appellate Division
of the Supreme Court the first time the Appellate Division is referred
to in a piece, then simply ‘the Appellate
— 29 —
Division’
applicable
‘where applicable’, although massively
popular, is surely legalese for ‘when
applicable’
approaches
not ‘methods of approaches’
argy-bargy
not ‘argey-bargey’ or ‘argie-bargie’
arm’s-length price
not ‘arm’s length price’
around
see round
around
the cheapest way irrefutably to demonstrate
your left-wing credentials is to replace every
other preposition with ‘around’ (see also
surrounding)
arsehole
or ‘asshole’ (US)? It’s a delicate question;
while some dictionaries make it sound like a
really bad word, the good old Shorter Oxford
takes it in its stride, as it should; no sooner
had I (Divaris) raised this existential issue
than a reader of The Economist (‘Mind your
language’ 22 December 2007 at 17) set me
straight on which is more ‘euphonious’—
‘arsehole’
art
abbreviation for ‘article’, as in tax treaties;
with a nonbreaking space before the
numeral—eg art 8
article
an article is a word before a noun indicating
whether it is definite (the) or indefinite (a,
an); linguists speak not of a noun in this
context but of a participant (someone or
something involved in an action); thus ‘the
ship’ would signify a specific ship previously
mentioned, while ‘a ship’ would mark a single
member of the class ships; the modern
concept of determiners is a more useful class
than that of articles, since it includes articles,
‘definite and indefinite adjectives and
demonstrative, quantifying and possessive
— 30 —
adjectives’ (Oxford)
article
not ‘Article’—eg ‘article 5 of the treaty with
Spain’
as
confusing; you are undoubtedly using it
incorrectly (see since); especially confusing at
the beginning of a sentence, compelling your
reader to read ahead to see whether you are
starting with a temporal or a causal clause;
you’ll never go wrong if you use ‘since’ every
time you mean to use ‘as’ in the sense of
‘since’—eg ‘The ruling has national
implications, as 100 other cities have adopted
something similar.’ (The Economist 4 August
2007 at 41) (you cannot help thinking at first
that the ‘as 100 other cities’ phrase is temporal
in nature, and it is only at the end of the
sentence that you realize that—Aha!—the
lazy bugger meant ‘since’)
as a general rule
pretentious waffle, equivalent to spinning your
wheels, get rid of it (it’s different if there is a
general rule and you tell us what the general
rule is)
as a rule
always followed by a comma at the beginning
of a sentence, otherwise embraced by
commas, but count how many times you use it
in a piece in case you’re getting to be a
pompous old fart
as and when
choose one of them
as being interested
not ‘as interested’
as if…were
not ‘as if…was’—eg not ‘But all that had long
gone by the end; and on his visits to Mustique,
where he was now banned from building, he
would camp in a handmade tent on the beach,
for all the world as if he was on the first
Horizon holiday.’ (The Economist
11 September 2010 at 79)
as long as….
always followed by a comma unless at the end
— 31 —
of a sentence
as regards
legalism; if a sentence starts with these words,
the writer is a lazy slob
as respects
world-class editors allow very famous people
to start sentences with these words (are you
famous?)
as to
forget it unless you have studied Fowler very
extensively
as well as
this might mean no more than ‘and’ but it can
be elegant in a well-turned sentence
attention-span
not ‘attention span’ or ‘attentionspan’
authorial plural
unless there are two or more of you or you are
enjoying appropriate medical treatment, it’s
beyond the pale; by contrast, the royal plural
and the absolutive plural are entirely OK
authorize
not ‘authorise’
avant-garde
not avant garde or avantgarde (see italics)
— 32 —
Alphabetical entries—‘B’
bachelor’s degree
not ‘Bachelor’s degree’
bakkie
not bakkie—if it’s in Bloomsbury, as a South
African word, it’s not Afrikaans
bar
not ‘Bar’ for the collectivity of advocates
bare dominium
not ‘bare dominium’ (see italics) (but in a
technical piece dealing with the concept you’ll
go mad unless you drop the italics)
bare dominium holder
not ‘bare-dominium holder’
behaviour
not ‘behavior’
below
unless you happen to be writing on scrolled
parchment, make sure that what you refer to is
in fact ‘below’
below ground
not ‘below-ground’ or ‘belowground’ (US)
bewind
not ‘bewind’ (see italics)
bewind
not ‘bewind trust’
b/f
Yuck! What’s wrong with ‘brought forward’?
bibliography
when citing a book: CR Hickan Creating
Excellence 2 ed (1984) George Allen & Unin;
ie author, name of the book in italics, the
number of the edition if applicable, the year
published, and the publisher
bibliography
when citing an article: ML Stein
‘Krugerrands—That Glitter Tarnished’ (1979)
8 BML 16; ie the author, the title of the article,
the year of publication, the number of the
volume, the title (abbreviated if the
abbreviation is acknowledged) of the journal,
and the page number
— 33 —
bibliography
when citing a magazine (rather than a
journal): Time 18 June 1985; ie the name of
the magazine and the date
Black market
the underground or unrecorded market, not the
‘black market’
black, blacks
as noun and adjective, not ‘Black’, ‘Blacks’
blanch
not ‘blanche’
bodies corporate
not ‘body corporates’
boggherol
not ‘boggerall’ or ‘boggeral’ (see italics);
Beeld (29 May 2009) renders it as bokkerol, a
bokker being a ‘bugger’; the illustrious Hat
5 ed 2005 lists bokkerol, .boggerol and
boggherol.
boldface type
see italics
bona fide
see italics
brackets
printers used to call them ‘parentheses’, use
this word for corrections; use ‘brackets’ for
‘square brackets’ and ‘curly brackets’
brackets
use them sparingly in text and never in a short
story, novel or similar
brackets
use square brackets to interrupt someone
else’s writing
brackets
do not absolve you from the usual rules of
logic governing punctuation—eg not ‘(They
included a former editor of The Economist).’
(The Economist 12 January 2008 at 51) (The
Economist 16 August 2008 at 45)
brackets
your main text ought not to refer to something
embraced by brackets and thus in a sense
hidden from the main storyline; rather lose the
brackets
breach
used as a noun, not as a verb
— 34 —
breadwinner
not ‘bread winner’ or ‘bread-winner’
breakdown
not ‘break down’ or ‘break-down’
broadband
not ‘broad band’ or ‘broad-band’ (in fact, not
broad at all, at least, not in SA)
Budget speech
not ‘Budget Speech’ or ‘budget speech’
bulleted points
never include bulleted points within a list of
bulleted points unless you work for SARS, in
which event you may descend to three or four
levels of nested bulleted points—to the
acclaim of your colleagues
bulleted points
use proper bullets, not em dashes—eg not ‘—
Tax deducted at…’
businessman
not ‘business man’ or ‘business-man’
businessman or
businesswoman
not ‘businessman or –woman’ save in
headings or tables or when space is otherwise
short
businesswoman
not ‘business woman’ or ‘business-woman’
But
although at school they told you couldn’t do
it, you may start a sentence with ‘But’, but do
not overdo it (count how many sentences in
your piece start with ‘But’)
but
if I (Divaris) can teach you when ‘but’ is
preceded by a comma and when it is not, I
shall be justly proud, but there is ordinarily no
such comma unless a break in the connection
requires one
but
as an adverb rather than a conjunction—eg
‘This is of course but an observation.’
M J Hennessy in a letter to the editor,
Business Day 26 June 2009
buy
not ‘purchase’; preserve ‘purchase’ for the
sense of ‘a purchase’
— 35 —
buy back, buy-back
a share ‘buy-back’ (noun) but to ‘buy back’
shares (verb)
buzzword
not ‘buzz word’ or buzz-word’
by adding
unrelated, requires a subject; eg ‘John, by
adding...’
by means of
why not simply ‘by’?
by reason of the
fact that
you mean ‘because’
by virtue of
a ‘by virtue of’ clause is always followed by a
comma, to be used sparingly, even though it is
too sophisticated to amount to legalese
— 36 —
Alphabetical entries—‘C’
Cabinet
not ‘cabinet’
Cabinet
despite the global practice, avoid the horrid
faux-insider’s usage of ‘Cabinet’ in place of
‘the Cabinet’
cack-handed
not ‘cackhanded’ or ‘cack handed’ (don’t
worry, it merely means ‘clumsy’)—eg ‘Not
for the first time. the authorities cackhandedly gave the protestors a new reason to
come into the square.’ (The Economist
18 January 2014)
calibre
not ‘caliber’ (US)
can
see may
canaille
see italics
capitalize
not ‘capitalise’
car
even though ugly, is acceptable for ‘motor
car’
careened
v ‘careered’; the one is not a malaprop for the
other, since they mean something slightly
different
career-change
not ‘career change’ or ‘careerchange’
careered
see careened
carry forward
eg ‘he will carry forward the task’
carry-forward
eg ‘the carry-forward of the loss is denied’
carte blanche
not ‘carte blanche’ (see italics)
case
a ‘case’ is a case at law or a suitcase, or the
word may be used as ‘in case you didn’t
notice’; otherwise it’s legalese
— 37 —
cash desk
not ‘cashdesk’ or ‘cash-desk’
cash flow
not ‘cashflow’ or ‘cash-flow’ unless used
adjectivally, in which event it is ‘cash-flow’—
eg ‘cash-flow statement
cash machine
not ‘cashmachine’ or ‘cash-machine’
cash register
not ‘cashregister’ or ‘cash-register’
cautiousness
it’s a word but what’s wrong with ‘caution’—
eg not ‘An America’s cautiousness has cost
lives.’ (The Economist 31 August 2013 at 7)
caveat
not ‘caveat’ (see italics)
centralize
not ‘centralise’
centre
not ‘center’
centred
not ‘centered’
certain
as a vague, lazy adjective, it is to be avoided
like the plague. Whenever I (Divaris) have to
edit a piece of writing I usually take care to
rewrite the pompous legalism taking the form
of ‘certain x’. For example, ‘certain
[exclusions]’ might become ‘favoured
transactions’, while ‘certain [inclusions]’
might become ‘targeted transactions’, or vice
versa. Efforts to extinguish this usage, in
which the word ‘certain’ is accorded the
meaning of ‘identified or listed elsewhere’,
could be rewarding. In the court a quo in the
matter of Lombaard v Droprop (377/09)
[2010] ZASCA 86, it was said that the word
‘certain’ in the expression ‘certain portion [of
a farm]’ ‘may sometimes refer to what is
uncertain, what is unsure, what is indefinite,
what is imprecise, depending of course on the
context in which the word is used in a
particular text’. It turned out that the property
concerned was inadequately identified for the
purposes of s 2(1) of the Alienation of Land
Act. But even serious, non-legal writers mar
— 38 —
their work by using ‘certain’ excessively, often
even entirely superfluously, as a wholly
unspecific and valueless adjective. For
example, if you mean ‘some participants’,
then say it.
Cf
at the commencement of a footnote only; not
to be used in text
cf
means ‘compare’
c/f
Yuck! What’s wrong with ‘carried forward’?
chap
might be a guy or a doll
chap
use ‘chapter’ or Chapter’ unless in a footnote;
use a nonbreaking space before the numeral—
eg chap XI
Chapter
eg Chapter 11
chapter
‘this chapter’ but ‘Chapter 11’
characterize
not ‘characterise’
charlie
not ‘Charlie’ if meaning ‘a silly person; fool’
charterparty
not ‘charter party’ or ‘charter-party’
checklist
not ‘check list’ or ‘check-list’
chequebook
not ‘cheque book’, ‘cheque-book’ or
‘checkbook’ (US)
chock-a-block
not ‘chockablock’ or ‘chock a block’
cinema
not ‘bioscope’ or ‘theatre’
cinemagoers
not ‘cinema goers’ or ‘cinema-goers’
circa
do not translate (see italics)
circumstances when
think about it, are ‘circumstances’ a time? If
you must use the phrase at least ape someone
— 39 —
who knows how to use it—eg ‘circumstances
in which’
citations, articles
when you want to cite an article (eg of the
French Civil Code), use the sign ‘§’; if this is
not the correct usage for the particular
publication, write ‘art’, ‘arts’
citations, books
‘Sidney Smith Table-talk (1830) 261.’ If you
do not wish to spell it out again, add,
pompously: ‘(Cited hereafter as Smith.)’. Here
are some other hints on how to cite books:
‘John Smith Evidence 3 ed (1976) by Peter
Piper 176.’ ‘John Smith Evidence 3 ed (1976)
V 176.’ (If all the volumes are not in the third
edition: ‘John Smith Evidence 3 ed V (1976)
176.’) ‘The Works of Francis Bacon (edited by
John Spedding) (1860) V 176.’ ‘Jack Smith
Servitudes 3 ed by John Jones (1965;
corrected reprint 1977) 268.’WA Joubert (ed)
The Law of South Africa XIII (1973) sv
‘Deeds’ (by GG Denoon) para 176.’
citations, cases
do not use nonbreaking spaces in such
citations, except for case numbers preceded by
identifying alphabetical characters—eg
‘ITC 1829’
don’t be a pain through adding a superfluous
comma after every case citation starting a
sentence—eg not ‘In CIR v Delfos, it was
held…’
citations, cases
citations, foreign
legislation
citation, provisions
eg ‘The Civil Evidence Act ch 41’
(Zimbabwe); ‘The Administration of Justice
Act (10 & 11 Geo 5 c 81)’ (UK); ‘The Civil
Evidence Act 1972 (c 30)’ (UK) (you may
leave out ‘(c 30)’ if you wish, note that UK
statutes after 1962 refer to calendar and not
regnal years, so there is no mention of the
sovereign.
‘the provisions of s 22’ or even ‘the provisions
of s 22 of the Act’ will earn you not a whit
more respect than plain old ‘s 22’; and for
— 40 —
‘s 22 of the Act’ you deserve only derision
citation, sections
if the first word of the sentence or reference is
‘section’, spell it out, eg ‘Section 26 of the
Companies Act 61 of 1973 states that...’,
otherwise use the following abbreviations: ‘s’
for section, ‘ss’ for sections, ‘subsec’ for
subsection, ‘subsecs’ for subsections, ‘para’
for ‘paragraph’, ‘paras’ for ‘paragraphs’,
‘subpara’ for subparagraph, ‘subparas’ for
subparagraphs
citations, sections
‘in s 2(2) and (4)’, not ‘in subsecs (2) and (4)
of s 2’ unless great precision is required
clearly
usually pretentious waffle, get rid of it
clever-Dick
acceptable as a nounal adjective
clever Dick
is a noun not an adjective; not ‘cleverdick’ or
‘clever dick’
co-chairman
not ‘cochairman’ (US)
cockup
not ‘cock up’ or ‘cock-up’
cognizance
not ‘cognisance’
cognizance must be
had to
incorrect usage and in any event pretentious
waffle; get rid of it
collateralized
not ‘collateralised’
column-width
not ‘column width’ or ‘columnwidth’
coloured, coloureds
as noun and adjectives, not ‘Coloured’,
‘Coloureds’; why we have to curse this proud
group locally with ‘so-called’ and
internationally with ‘(mixed race)’ is beyond
me
commencement
not ‘beginning date’, write English, not
(probably poor) Japanese
— 41 —
commencement
use ‘beginning’ or ‘start’ rather, unless in
reference to a year of assessment in
connection with the effective date of a
legislative amendment or in stock phrases
such as ‘the commencement of festivities’
Commissioner
even when he was ‘Secretary’
Commissioner’s Court not ‘commissioner’s court’
common law
not ‘common-law’ even when used as
adjective
common sense
is the noun, the adjective being
‘commonsense’ or ‘commonsensical’
commonsense
not ‘common sense’ (if adjective) or
‘common-sense’
company’s
supposedly a no-no but acceptable in my book
if it avoids turgid possessive clauses
compare to
of equal value—eg ‘Shall I compare thee to a
summer’s day?’
compare with
of contrasting value—eg ‘It does not compare
well with his previous effort’
compass points
hyphenated with no capitals—eg ‘southeastern’
comprise
not ‘comprised of’, especially not when your
spats are soiled
computerize
not ‘computerise’
conceptualize
not ‘conceptualise’
concordat
although has a special use (an official
agreement between the Pope and a national
government), can be used for ‘agreement’,
that is, if you want to sound like a proper
charlie—eg not ‘…have been a great tragedy
in a pivotal country that had the potential to
develop a new concordat between Islam and
— 42 —
open politics.’ (The Economist 12 January
2008 at 51) I (Divaris) would put this blunder
on a par with President George Bush’s
‘crusade’ against terrorism
condition
not to be used in the sense of a ‘term’ or a
‘requirement’
conditions apply
acceptable form of ‘terms apply’ when
addressed to consumers
considering the
circumstances
has taken on the form of a preposition or
adverb and so may dispense with a noun
consistency
in editing is essential unless there is a danger
of confusion or inconvenience to the reader
(don’t listen to what Isaac Asimov said unless
you’re writing science fiction)
Constitution
as in ‘the Constitution’, but ‘constitutional’,
not ‘Constitutional’
contained
something is usually ‘contained in’ something;
where on earth did ‘contained under s n’ come
from? From bad Afrikaans, perhaps?
contextualize
not ‘contextualise’
contrary
‘on the contrary’, surely—eg not ‘To the
contrary, she describes two other sorts…’ (The
Economist 18 April 2009)
convener
not ‘convenor’
co-operate
not ‘cooperate’ (US)
cop-out
not ‘cop out’ or ‘copout’
co-product
not ‘coproduct’ (US)
coterminous
not co-terminous’
councillor
not ‘councilor’ (US)
— 43 —
counsel’s
not ‘counsels’; ‘counsel’ is both singular and
plural
counterintuitive
not ‘counter intuitive’ or ‘counter-intuitive’
countermeasure
not ‘counter measure’ or ‘counter-measure’
Country A
not ‘country A’; don’t forget the nonbreaking
space between ‘Country’ and ‘A’
coup de grâce
yes, you do pronounce the ‘ss’ (see italics)
court
not ‘Court’
court’s
acceptable in my book, especially if it avoids
turgid possessive clauses
courts
specify the court only if some special
distinction between findings is being made or
the judge is to be quoted
crib sheet
not ‘cribsheet’ or ‘crib-sheet’
crisscross
not ‘criss-cross’
criticism
not ‘criticizm’
criticize
not ‘criticise’
cross issue
not ‘crossissue’ or ‘cross-issue’
cross-reference
not ‘cross reference’ or ‘crossreference’
cross-references
never repeated in the same passage when the
same matter is again dealt with
crybaby
not ‘cry baby’ or ‘cry-baby’
cum
see italics, although it’s hard to complain
about ‘cum div’
curly brackets
not ‘curly parentheses’
cut off
‘cut off’ someone, for example, in medias res,
but fail to reach the cut-off point
— 44 —
czar
I (Divaris) prefer this to ‘tsar’ but both are
acceptable
— 45 —
— 46 —
Alphabetical entries—‘D’
Damascene
as in ‘…conversion’; not ‘damascene’
damascene
on a good sword you’ll find a ‘damascene’
pattern
Damocles
as in ‘sword of…’; not ‘damocles’
data
the singular is ‘datum’—eg not ‘…(the data
was first compiled in 1983).’ (The Economist
13 February 2010 at 73)
dates
eg ‘31 August 1982’, no commas, no
abbreviations; use a nonbreaking space
between the numeral and the month’s name
De Beer
not ‘de Beer’ unless preceded by first name or
initial (see also Mr De Beer)
debts due
not ‘book debts’ or ‘receivables’
decade-long
not ‘decade long’ or ‘decadelong’ (US)
decimate
means to reduce by a tenth, and no more (a
terrible rate of attrition in military terms)
decision-making
not ‘decision making’ or ‘decisionmaking’
deductible
not ‘tax deductible’
deemed
in the sense of ‘regarded as’ or ‘considered to
be’ still grates, probably because pseudointellectuals, thinking the usage is new, love it
to death; avoid it—eg not ‘these
considerations were not deemed worthy of
attention’
de facto
not ‘de facto’ (see italics)
defence
not ‘defense’
defenceless
not ‘defenseless’
— 47 —
defined terms
the word that is defined is given within single
quotation marks—eg ‘gross income’
defined terms
the modern style is simply to use a defined
term embraced by single quotation marks
without any preceding article (‘a’, ‘an’ or
‘the’) or any nounal identifier (‘the term’, ‘the
definition of the term’, ‘the word’, ‘the
phrase’, ‘the expression’ or the like)—eg ‘The
Collins English Dictionary defines “disposal”
as….’—eg not ‘The term “disposal” is defined
in The Collins English Dictionary as….’
defined terms
but it would be ugly to stick strictly to the
preceding rule when a definition requires to be
mentioned at the beginning of a sentence—eg
‘The definition of “gross income” in s 1(1) of
the Income Tax Act…’ (except that ‘gross
income’ would be embraced by single
quotation marks)
defined terms
in a technical piece it can be useful to
distinguish between statutorily or
contractually defined terms, embraced by
single quotation marks, and words, shown
without quotation marks and in italics, which
the author wants to imbue with a personal,
special meaning; as long as the reader is
unlikely to be confused, the quotation marks
and italicization are necessary only when the
term or word is first used within a passage
defined terms
in rational circles we do not write ‘the “gross
income’ definition in s 1(1)”
demobilize
not ‘demobilise’
democratize
not ‘democratise’
demoralize
not ‘demoralise’
departure
these tend to be ‘new’—eg not ‘Living wills
are not a new departure either.’ (The
Economist 21 November 2009 at 38)
— 48 —
dependant
relying upon you (see dependent)
dependent
relying upon someone or something (see
dependant)
desideratum
not ‘desideratum’
despite that
(Aaagh!) even though
despite the fact that
even though
determination
a ‘determination whether’, not ‘a
determination of whether’ unless you insert
‘the question’, which will usually be
unnecessary in the context
de trop
see italics
development
look up its meaning before you write of a
‘new development’ and lose the respect of any
educated reader—eg not ‘But the new
development involve big, established national
journals, whose bosses want to be more
visible in English.’ (The Economist
14 February 2009 at 38)—eg not ‘ The new
development is the work of Planar Energy of
Orlando, Florida—a company spun out of
America’s National Renewable Energy
Laboratory in 2007.’ (The Economist
29 January 2011 at 69)—eg not ‘But a new
development could reduce fuel consumption
and give truckers one less thing to worry
about when on the open road.’ (The Economist
4 June 2011 at 10, Technology Quarterly)
development
expenditure
acceptable double noun instead of
‘developmental expenditure’
devil
‘the devil is in the detail’ but ‘the Devil made
me do it’
dicta/dictum
see italics
different
is not an adverb—eg not ‘Now they know
different; it actually goes off to do jobs
— 49 —
uniquely suited to the chemistry of RNA
itself.’ (The Economist 30 November 2013
at 67)
different from
not ‘different to’ or ‘different than’ (US)
directly
not ‘direct’ when an adverb
dirigiste
see italics
discuss
a discussion needs at least two people; an
author does not ‘discuss’ a subject unless he’s
a pompous arsehole or mimicking one
discussion around
what on earth was wrong with ‘discussion
about’? (see around)
disposed
not ‘disposed of’ in the sense of ‘he was not
disposed to comply’, ‘with guards disposed at
all entrances’ or, an example given by Black’s
‘an outcome to be disposed by the court’
disposed of
not ‘the asset was disposed’; when used in the
sense of ‘get rid of’, ‘transfer something’, ‘kill
someone’, ‘kill something’ or ‘attend to a
matter’ the verb ‘disposed’ must be
accompanied by the preposition ‘of’
dissipater
not ‘dissipator’
distil
not ‘distill’ (US)
di untershte shure
the bottom line (Yiddish)
dividends tax
not ‘dividend tax’ or ‘Dividends Tax’ or ‘the
dividends tax’
dividend-stripping
not ‘dividend stripping’ or ‘dividendstripping’
Divorce Court
not ‘divorce court’
Domesday Book
not ‘Doomsday Book’
dominium, dominium
see bare dominium
— 50 —
doppelgänger
don’t let Bill deprive you of the umlaut
double nouns
although in wide usage, many are awful and
should be declared illegal—eg not ‘salary
limit’
double spacing
see spacing
double tax agreement
‘tax treaty’ is better; ‘DTA’ is terrible
draconian
much as I (Divaris) admire it, The Economist
cannot sway me but when the New Oxford
Dictionary for Writers and Editors adds its
weight I am ready to agree that it is not
‘Draconian’; in fact, it is pretty universally
used in this fashion
DTA
see double tax agreement
due to
dangerous, and usually wrongly used; prefer
‘owing to’ unless you have mastered Fowler
due to
is an adjective; don’t start a sentence with it
due to the fact that
you mean ‘because’
dumbo
not Dumbo, unless it’s Disney
— 51 —
— 52 —
Alphabetical entries—‘E’
each other
not ‘one another’ when only two, although no
one bothers any longer
easy-peasy
not ‘easy peasy’ or ‘easypeasy’
edition number
given as ‘5 ed’, with a nonbreaking space after
the numeral
eke out
until very recently a reliable filter assigning
you to your proper (probably lower) order,
this transitive verb today has three meanings,
roughly: make something last; supplement
something with difficulty; and achieve
something on a small scale and with
difficulty; eg (I-Divaris-would say) not—‘His
scepticism is shared by Ali Kulter, who ekes
out $12 a day as a farmworker in Tuzluca, just
south of Adana.’ (The Economist 23 May 2009
at 34); eg (I would say) not—‘…and only a
few hundred exceptionally hardy settlers were
able to eke out a living.’ (The Economist
1 August 2009 at 67)
economics
is a singular word
educationalist
not ‘educationist’
effective as from
not ‘effective from’
eg
not used save in headings, tables and footnotes
but, if you must use it, there is no need for a
following comma; why use an abbreviation if
you accord it all the honours due to its full
form? (see for example) (see abbreviations)
either…or
to be used only for two items, not three or
more
either to…or to
with ‘either’ in this position, you need two
‘or-s’ (see to either…or)
— 53 —
elegant variation
avoid unless used with humorous intent and
you know how to be funny; utterly
unacceptable in legislation or a contract
ellipsis
‘and…dovecotes’, not ‘and … dovecotes
ellipsis
in Word, press [Ctrl] [Alt] [.]
simultaneously—eg ‘…’
email
not ‘e-mail’; this has been a very short-lived
hyphen, and good riddance
em dash
‘and—dovecotes’, not ‘and — dovecotes’
em dash
in Word, press [Ctrl] [Alt] [Num -]
simultaneously—eg ‘—’
em dash
in Word on a laptop, press [Ctrl] [Alt] [Blue
key] [-] simultaneously—eg
‘—’
éminence grise
see italics
emphasize
not ‘emphasise’
employment-
much as I (Divaris) try, I cannot let go of the
hyphen in ‘employment-relationship’ and
similar ‘employment’ compound nouns
en dash
in Word press [Ctrl] [Num -]
simultaneously—eg ‘42–4’
en dash
eg ‘42–4’, not ‘42-4’ (hyphen) or ‘42—4’ (em
dash)
ended
past participle of the verb ‘end’
ending
future participle of the verb ‘end’
enduring benefit
‘it represents an enduring benefit’ but ‘the
enduring-benefit test’
enervate
although seemingly an energetic word, it
actually means ‘to deprive of strength or
vitality’; you can make a right charlie of
— 54 —
yourself with this popular malapropism
English
an extremely robust language, which, Glory
be, will survive even your onslaught
English
‘A language so haughty and reserved that few
writers succeed in getting on terms of
familiarity with it.’—Ambrose Bierce The
Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary (see ‘Great
Reference Works’)
entry-level
this is an adjective; not ‘entry level’
enquire
‘to enquire’ but ‘an inquiry’
epitomize
not ‘epitomise’
equally
of a sentence
equivalent
as an adjective is followed by ‘to’, ‘with’,
‘for’
equivalent
as a noun is followed by ‘of’—eg not ‘The
results…suggest that echelon swimming is the
underwater equivalent to carrying a child.’
(The Economist 24 November 2007 at 87)
especially
means ‘exceptionally’, ‘to an unusual or
exceptional degree’, while ‘specially’ means
‘for a special or particular purpose’; don’t
demonstrate your humble intellectual origins
by confusing the two
essential
requires no subsequent ‘must’, since it is an
absolute word not needing qualification
et al
see italics
etc
not to be used except in headings and tables
but in any event not to be preceded by a
comma; for example, substitute with ‘and so
forth’ or ‘and the like’
even-steven
not ‘even-Stephen’ or ‘even Stephen’ or ‘even
— 55 —
steven’
every day
as a noun meaning ‘each day’—eg not
‘Everyday the news is dominated by the
question if and when there will be an
election.’ (The Economist 11 January 2014
at 22)
everyday
as an adjective meaning ‘ordinary’—eg not
at 22)
evidentiary
not ‘evidential’ (US)
ex
see italics, although it’s hard to complain
about ‘ex div’
exact
as a transitive verb, means to force, compel,
extort, demand, insist upon, call for, require
exchange control
not ‘exchange-control’ even when used as an
adjective; but, to me, ‘exchange-control
regulations’ still looks good even though no
one uses the hyphen anymore in this
compound noun, probably by reason of the
heavy weight of official custom
exchange rate
not ‘exchange-rate’; but ‘exchange-rate
regime
exposé
not ‘exposè’
expiry
not ‘expiration’
Explanatory
Memorandum
if the full title is given, use italics—eg
Explanatory Memorandum on the Income Tax
Bill, 1982; use upper-lower case if referring to
a particular memorandum already identified;
note that only money bills are accompanied by
an Explanatory Memorandum, ordinary bills
will, if you are lucky, have a ‘Memorandum
on the Objects of…’ (91 TSH 2010)
— 56 —
explanatory
use lower case if referring to explanatory
memoranda
expression
memoranda in general
word, words or phrase embraced by quotation
marks or a set of mathematical symbols
embraced by parentheses
eye-catching
not ‘eyecatching’ or ‘eye catching’
— 57 —
— 58 —
Alphabetical entries—‘F’
fact
almost a hundred entries for this Stylebook
were derived from twenty pages of (thriceedited) galleys (in the days of galley slaves)
for a mainstream textbook
fait accompli
see italics
farmworker
not ‘farm worker’ or ‘farm-worker’
far-reaching
not ‘far reaching’ or ‘farreaching’
fascist
not ‘Fascist’
favour
not ‘favor’
favourable
means promising, approving and the like, not
‘favours’—eg not ‘Calik’s media arm,
Turkuaz, which is favourable to the
government, is co-managed by Mr Erdogan’s
son-in-law, Berat Albayrak.’
favouritism
not ‘favoritism’
fewer than
not ‘less than’ with numbers as opposed to
quantities—eg ‘fewer than five people
attended’ but ‘less than 5% full’
fideicommissum
see italics
finalize
not ‘finalise’
find
in Windows press [Ctrl] [F]
firetrap
not ‘fire trap’ or ‘fire-trap’
first in, first out
but the ‘first-in-first-out’ system (FIFO)
first, secondly, thirdly
not ‘1st’, ‘2nd’, ‘3rd’
first, secondly, thirdly
not ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’
— 59 —
fiscus
not ‘fiscus’ (see italics)
footnote
a footnote is generally always placed after
punctuation, eg—The Rubicon principle was
established in the Natal Estates case.1 eg—On
the meaning of expenditure Harms AP stated
the following in CSARS v Labat Africa Ltd:2 ;
an exception to this rule occurs when the cited
material is contained within brackets eg—If a
company purports to have acquired land for
the purpose of development as an investment
but has insufficient funds to implement that
intention, the lack of funds may indicate that
the company’s true intention was to acquire
the property for the purpose of resale at a
profit with the result that the proceeds will
constitute income (Ropty (Edms) Bpk v SBI3).
footnote
a footnote indicating the source of a quotation
should always be placed at the end of the
sentence immediately preceding the quotation
and not at the end of the quotation
footnote
after the closing parenthesis if applying to the
entire subject-matter embraced by the
parentheses, otherwise, within the parentheses
footnote
referring to a case, at the end of a single
sentence in which the case is described but as
early as possible in a descriptive passage of
more than one sentence
footnotes in
a quotation
if you want to leave them out, add ‘(footnotes
suppressed)’ straight after the citation (these
days, readers may quickly find the footnotes if
they really want them)
footnotes in
a quotation
if you want to include them, it’s best to list
them immediately after the quotation, subject
to a further indentation; if you rely on
indentations rather than quotation marks to
highlight quotations, no quotation marks are
needed for the footnotes; if your quotation is
embraced by quotation marks, further
quotation marks embracing the footnotes will
— 60 —
confuse the reader, and do not seem to be
commonly used in such a situation
for
confusing; you are undoubtedly using it
incorrectly (see since)
for
used instead of today’s most neglected
preposition, ‘about’, or simply pleonastic—eg
not ‘Theories abound for why people
procrastinate.’ (The Economist 24 January
2009 at 81)
for example
not ‘eg’ (see eg) save in headings or a table;
always followed by a comma and, except
when beginning a sentence, preceded by a
comma
for example
no need for a ‘say’ as well in the same
sentence; you’ve already said it’s an
example—eg not ‘For example, say…’ (can’t
you see that it’s dumb? Tautologous?
Pleonastic? Repetitive?)
forefend
not ‘forfend’
foreign words
in italics, including all Latin and Afrikaans
words (see italics)
forklift
not ‘fork lift’ or ‘fork-lift’
formalize
not ‘formalise’
former
see the former…the latter
fractions in words
‘one-and-a-half’, not ‘one and a half’ and not
‘1½’, even if you do know how to do that on
the computer
Frankenstein
It’s a popular mistake to confuse the scientist
of the eponymous novel with the creature he
created—eg not ‘You won’t have the Treasury
standing there like a Frankenstein barking at
other departments.’ (Mathews Phosa Business
Report 9 April 2009)
— 61 —
fraught
go ahead, use it as you would any other
adjective
free
the whole set of ‘x free’ or ‘x-free’ works on
the principle that the adjective takes the form
of ‘x free’—eg ‘this money was advanced
interest free’, while the compound adjective
takes the form of ‘x-free’—eg ‘interest-free
loan’
frisson
see italics
from a letting
point of view
might be Japanese but is certainly not English,
and so too for all ‘from a…point of view’
formulations, unless you have a human being
in there—eg ‘from a woman’s point of view’
fruit tree
not ‘fruit-tree’ or ‘fruittree’
fuhgeddaboudit
forget about it; long did I (Divaris) search for
this form of spelling
fulfil
not ‘fulfill’
fundi
not ‘fundi’ (see italics)
furore
for some reason journalists love this ugly
word; the modern pronunciation gives it three
syllables
— 62 —
Alphabetical entries—‘G’
geddit
get it?
gerund
a verbal noun—eg ‘No smoking’ (cf
participle) (see unrelated)
gestalt
if Afrikaans can use it in the sense of ‘beingness’, why not English?
génocidaire
by analogy with ‘leggionaire’, a word I
(Divaris) often reach for in local despair; a
real italic
gets
unacceptable in the sense of ‘enjoys’ or any
one of a hundred other possible meanings, in
short, unacceptable except in a quotation,
unless you’re a good writer and know what
you’re doing
globalizer
not ‘globaliser’
goods
never ‘good’, unless in ‘a public good’
(economic jargon) or ‘a social good’ (social
science jargon)
going forward
Americanisms are insidious and well-nigh
impossible to resist (for example, I—
Divaris—prefer to say ‘rOUTer’) but this silly
expression simply means ‘in the future’
got
used far too frequently, and usually
unnecessarily
gotten
is truly ugly, even if you have taken ‘got’ to
heart, yet it is to be found even in the most
prestigious journals, sometimes even meaning
‘become’—eg not ‘It has gotten so bad
that….’
government
not ‘Government’, save in exceptional
circumstances, which I (Divaris) cannot
currently articulate; the adjective is really
— 63 —
‘governmental’ but ‘government’ has become
acceptable as an adjective
government
acceptable double noun in place of
expenditure
grant
‘governmental expenditure’ (see government)
‘the granting of’, not ‘the grant of’; you will
find ‘grant’ in the dictionaries (eg The New
Shorter Oxford) as a transitive verb in the
sense of transferring ownership but its usage
as such sounds ugly and is possibly no longer
idiomatic
gravitas
see italics
Greenpeace
not Green Peace or Green-peace
Gresham’s law
bad money drives out good
ground
you would use ‘on the ground that’ in
reference only to a legal matter, elsewhere it
would be a pretentious substitute for ‘because’
or ‘since’
grounds
is plural; if you have only one, it’s ‘ground’—
eg ‘he advanced five grounds of objection’—
eg not ‘Their request has been rejected on the
grounds that it would “undermine” the
(distant) schools their children would
otherwise have to use.’ (The Economist
24 April 2010 at 23)
gross profit percentage no hyphens
grow
‘grow a tomato’, Yes, but ‘grow the business’?
(yuck)
gruelling
not ‘grueling’
— 64 —
Alphabetical entries—‘H’
ham-fisted
not ‘ham fisted’ or ‘hamfisted’
ham-handed
not ‘ham handed’ or hamhanded’
hand
see on one hand
hands
see in the hands of
hard-and-fast rule
not ‘hard and fast rule’
hardliner
not ‘hard liner’ or ‘hard-liner’
hard-nosed
not ‘hard nosed’ or ‘hardnosed’ but be careful
of the ‘hard-’ compounds, where no hard and
fast rule prevails (sorry)
hard up
not ‘hardup’ or ‘hard-up’
having said that
you are free to come across as a colossal
poopall in your own time but not on my watch
Heath Robinson
if your readers are too lazy to research the
cultural background of your milieu, well sod
them—eg not ‘…it resembled the cartoons of
Heath Robinson, who drew preposterous
assemblages of levers, cranks and pulleys,
kept running by the tinkering of small bald
men in spectacles.’ (The Economist 18 August
2007 at 43)
head count
not headcount’ or ‘head-count’
headings
many of the usual ‘rule’s may be broken in
headings, in the interests of saving space;
many publications follow a single-line rule for
headings or, at most, a double-line rule; a
heading is a name, and names are not required
to describe either persons or products; for
example, bureaucrats launching, say, Coca
Cola would have called it ‘A dark, sticky,
sugary fluid packed in an unusual bottle made
— 65 —
of shaped glass closed with a metal cap
removable by means of the application of a
standard bottle-opener, to be served cold by
means of the application of refrigeration
technology’
headings
you can be sure that readers do not read long
headings, especially is they are present in bold
type or capitals—eg not ‘Disposal by way of
donation, consideration not measurable in
money and transactions between connected
persons not at an arm’s length price’ (Unusual
and artificial transactions)—eg not
‘DISCUSSION PAPER ON THE TAX
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SELLER
AND PURCHASER IN RELATION TO
THE ASSUMPTION OF CONTINGENT
LIABILITIES IN PART SETTLEMENT
OF THE PURCHASE PRICE OF ASSETS
ACQUIRED AS PART OF A GOING
CONCERN’ (Discussion paper: contingent
liabilities in the acquisition of a going
concern)
hereinbefore
you must be joking
heinous
say ‘HAYnous’
Herculean
not ‘herculean’
High Court
not ‘high court’
highfalutin
not ‘high falutin’ or ‘high-falutin’
his
even in these days of women’s lib, ‘his’ is
quite capable of standing for a noun of
unspecified gender, otherwise saddle yourself
with ‘his or her’ and end up with a text
looking like a multiple-choice examination or
a banker’s standard-form contract; much
rather rewrite
hit man
not ‘hit-man’ or ‘hitman’
hodgepodge
better recognized than the original
— 66 —
‘hotchpotch’; not ‘hodge podge’ or hodgepodge’; a noun altogether capable of standing
on its own
hoi polloi
not ‘the hoi polloi’; already means ‘the many’
(see italics)
hokey-pokey
not ‘hokey pokey’ or ‘hokeypokey’
hoist
see petard
holus-bolus
not ‘holus bolus’ and not italicized (pseudo
Latin)
hopefully
is an adverb, not an adjective; you are not
supposed to say ‘Hopefully, I’ll win the
match’ unless you mean that you’ll win the
match in a state of hopefulness rather than,
say, joy; yet, sadly, it is ‘hopefully’, alone of
all the sentence adverbs, that is singled out for
censure (see sentence adverbs); but sentence
adverbs appear at the beginning of sentences:
there can be no excuse for—eg not ‘He comes
from an industry that is dull rather than
entrepreneurial, though hopefully having seen
the near bankruptcy of the electricity business
in California ten years ago will make him a
true believer in the campaign against bad
regulation.’ (The Economist 4 June 2011
at 57)—eg not ‘The imposition of curfews and
the deployment of the army were discussed
but thankfully not implemented.’ (The
horseracing
not ‘horse racing’ or ‘horse-racing’
hotchpotch
see hodgepodge
hotelkeeper
not ‘hotel keeper’ or ‘hotel-keeper’
housebreaking
not ‘house breaking’ or ‘house-breaking’
however
still looks bad if used to start a sentence; use
extremely sparingly, but don’t rush into ‘buts’
and other alternatives when you are looking
— 67 —
for a link between two sentences; a rewrite
would be preferable—eg not ‘However, things
are looking up.’ (The Economist 18 August
2007 at 46)
humanism
not ‘humanizm’
humanize
not ‘humanise’
humour
not ‘humor’ (US)
humourous
not ‘humorous’ (US) or ‘humerous’
hymn book
not ‘hymn-book’ or ‘hymnbook’
hyphen
‘-’ not to be confused with an en dash ‘–’ (see
en dash)
hyphen
to be used only in words, not with numerals
(see en dash)—eg ‘second-class carriage’
hyphen
no matter how convenient, unless in a
heading, it’s still lazy to use a place-keeper
hyphen—eg not ‘first- and second-class
carriages’; to leave out the place-keeper is
outrageous—eg not ‘pre and post-CGT events’
hyphen
adjectival compounds take a hyphen—eg
‘physical-presence test’—eg ‘an interest-free
loan’—eg not ‘Yet the subtitle of his
biography…perhaps heralds a too sympathetic
portrayal.’ (The Economist 18 July 2009 at 76)
hyphen
an adverbial compound used after the noun to
which it refers usually does not take a
hyphen—eg ‘a well-prepared victim’ but ‘I
lent him the money interest free’—eg not
‘Other potential victims also seem wellprepared.’ (The Economist 4 August 2007
at 9)—eg not ‘While next-generation biofuels,
such as cellulosic ethanol, are struggling to
come of age, corn ethanol is well-established.’
(The Economist 3 July 2010 at 43)—eg not
‘Lawyers, though, have long suspected that
such lofty ideals are not always achieved in
— 68 —
practice, even in well run judicial systems free
from political meddling.’ (The Economist
16 April 2011 at 79)—eg not ‘Even the most
cohesive and determined government would
be hard-pressed to get out of this kind of fiscal
mess.’ (The Economist 14 May 2011 at 77)
hyphen
descriptive adverbs do not usually take a
hyphen—eg ‘newly incorporated company’,
not ‘newly-incorporated’
hyphen
adverbs ending in ‘…ly’ forming part of a
compound adjective or adverb never take a
hyphen—eg ‘wholly owned subsidiary’, not
‘wholly-owned’—eg ‘numerically challenged
lawyers’—eg not ‘Only nicely-behaved
people had gone on the Horizon Holidays.’
(The Economist 11 September 2010 at 79)
hyphen
compass points are hyphenated with no
capitals—eg ‘south-eastern’
hyphen
much as I (Divaris) try, I cannot let go of the
hyphen in ‘employment-relationship’ and
similar ‘employment-’ compound nouns
hyphen
not ‘exchange-control’ even when used as an
adjective; but, to me, ‘exchange-control
regulations’ still looks good even though no
one uses the hyphen anymore in this
compound noun, probably by reason of the
heavy weight of official custom
hyphen
not to be used when compound adjective is
artificial and within quotation marks—eg ‘has
to be effected upon a “sudden death” basis’;
otherwise ‘has to be effected upon a suddendeath basis’
hyphen
in poor technical writing, used to connect
triple adjectival compounds but not to be used
when a comma is called for—eg ‘high-entrylevel, specialist schemes’
— 69 —
— 70 —
Alphabetical entries—‘I’
I believe
not ‘it is believed’
Ibid
means ‘in the same place’ (see italics)
Idem
means ‘the same’ (see italics)
identical
there is no adverb ‘identically’
ie
not used save in headings, tables and footnotes
but, if you must use it, there is no need for a
following comma; why use an abbreviation if
you accord it all the honours due to its full
form? Surely it is an insanity to inflict ‘i.e.,’
upon an undeserving world? (see that is) (see
abbreviations)
if
count the number of ‘if’ clauses in your piece
then hang your head in shame before rewriting
it; if your sentence starts with ‘if’ you are a
lazy, uncreative slob, although you are
allowed a few ‘if’ sentences and could
otherwise be employed as the legal
draftsperson; ‘if’ clauses take a comma, with
no exception; ‘if’ is very seldom preceded by
a comma, particularly not at the beginning of
a sentence
if
in place of ‘where’ or ‘when’ is at least honest
but you’re missing the point—if you wanted
to, you could rewrite War and Peace in purely
conditional sentences; if so, you could then
even give it a fresh title: If Not War, Then
Peace
if and when
choose one or the other
if…then
not used unless you are feeling Victorian and
have the writing ability of a great Victorian
novelist
if was, if were
‘if’ followed by ‘was’ if in past tense but
— 71 —
followed by ‘were’ if signifying a possibility
that has not or cannot eventuate
ill feeling
not ‘illfeeling’ or ill-feeling’
illuminati
see italics
imagery
be sure you really are in control—eg not ‘In
the same vein, a Ministry for Women would
also be an expensive breast-beating exercise,
which a developing economy like ours can ill
afford.’ (Thami Mazwai Business Day 8 May
2009)
immunize
not ‘immunise’
impact
to be avoided unless you know what you are
doing; the business management writers
(perhaps the worst in the history of language)
have used this verb in a figurative sense until
it hurts—eg ‘this impacts the bottom line’
impasse
even in SA (see italics); not ‘impasse’
impermissible
not ‘not permissible’, although you may often
find ‘not permissible’ easier to use than
‘impermissible’; note the spelling too, unless
Mr Gates does
important, importantly I (Divaris) always thought that the first was an
adjective and the second an adverb—eg not
‘Most important, the economy’s weakest
link—the housing market—was in even worse
shape than many [realized].’(The Economist
impossible
not ‘not possible’
in addition
of a sentence
in as many
for some unfathomable reason journalists all
over the world love to get this wrong—eg not
‘Mattel’s share price fell after it issued a
second global recall for some of its toys in as
— 72 —
many weeks.’ (The Economist 18 August
2007 at 7)—eg not ‘This second allegation of
massive fraud in as many months is unlikely
to be the last.’ (The Economist 21 February
2009 at 72)—eg not ‘The ECB lowered its
benchmark interest rate from 1,25% to 1%,
the second quarter-point cut in as many
months, to try to mitigate the coming
recession.’ (The Economist 17 December 2011
at 123)—eg not On February 12th the
government unveiled its second anti-crime
plan in as many months, focused on the
country’s 100 most violent towns.’ (The
Economist 16 February 2013 at 39)—eg not
‘The latest was the third in as many months
and took place on May 6th at a station in
Guangzhou, capital of the southern province
of Guangdong.’ (The Economist 10 May 2014
at 50)
in duplum
not ‘in duplum’; not ‘in duplum’—eg not ‘induplum rule’ (see italics)
in each instance
not followed by a comma at the beginning of a
sentence
in essence
of a sentence and otherwise embraced by
commas
in fact
‘In fact,’ at the beginning of a sentence, is
followed by a comma and will often be
bracketed by commas within a sentence but,
as always, you have to be careful of your
logic—eg ‘he, in fact, chooses the plane’ is
plain wrong
in futuro
not ‘in futuro’ (see italics)
in general
pretentious waffle, get rid of it
in item 1 above
not ‘item (1)’, but ‘item (a) above’ is correct
in light of
ugly, ugly, ugly; get back to ‘in the light of’ or
try a lighter touch—eg not ‘In light of his
— 73 —
discoveries, Mr Kemedie hopes to reduce the
state salary bill by 20%.’ (The Economist
14 November 2009 at 31)—eg not ‘In light of
the recent surge in violence, American cooperation with Yemen’s forces has increased.
‘Disunity is all the more remarkable in light of
the harmony that prevailed after the flawed
presidential poll.’ (The Economist 20 August
2011 at 31)
in my view/opinion
you have to be careful here, since what is
pretentious in ordinary writing might be
necessary in a professional opinion
in order to
at the beginning of a sentence not ‘to’—eg ‘In
order to start the car, he had….’—eg not ‘To
start the car, he had…’; the comma is needed,
even compulsory, while ‘in order’ seems to be
rapidly disappearing yet, somehow, ‘in order
to’ sounds more complete
in our opinion
there had better be two of you; alternatively,
you must be some arsehole ‘leader’ using the
royal plural in the guise of speaking for the
collective
in practice
not ‘in practice,’ unless followed by a
parenthetical clause embraced by commas
in praesenti
not ‘in praesenti’ (see italics)
in respect of
you don’t know what you want to say, so how
do you expect the reader to know? Unless
you’re the legislative draftsperson, bugger off
in specie
not ‘in specie’ or ‘in specie’ (see italics)
in such circumstances
may or may not be followed by a comma at
the beginning of a sentence; you have the
choice, but you should prefer to use fewer
commas
in terms of
legalese (see under)
— 74 —
in terms of
bet you’re actually quite dumb at the law (see
legalese)
in terms of
never followed by a comma
in terms of which
legalese; do you find that you bore yourself to
death? Liven things up with ‘under which’
in the case of
pretentious; avoid case, unless you mean a
court case, and you’ll immediately sound like
less of a twit
in the event that
which tortured mind, I (Divaris) wonder, first
dreamt up this circumlocution for ‘if’
in the hands of
a company has no hands (and no body to kick
or soul to damn), an estate also has no hands,
and neither has a trust, so hands off
in the light of
(see in light of)
in the main
pretentious waffle, get rid of it
in these circumstances may or may not be followed by a comma at
the beginning of a sentence; you have the
choice, but you should prefer to use fewer
commas
in view of
legalese; have you ever discovered whose
ponderous style it is that you are aping? Try
‘because’
inadequate
not ‘not adequate’
inapplicable
not ‘not applicable’
inconsistency
if your writing or editing shows that you have
dealt with the same problem in two or more
ways (eg you use ‘sale price’ and ‘selling
price’) your work deserves a raspberry (see
elegant variation)
inconsistent
not ‘not consistent’
incorporated in
not ‘incorporated into’
— 75 —
incorrect
not ‘not correct’
incorrectly
not ‘not correctly’
indian, indians
as noun and adjective, not ‘Indian’, ‘Indians’
industrialize’
not ‘industrialise’
inequitable
not ‘not equitable’
infinitive
see split infinitives
…ing clause
if it describes a noun (—eg ‘in coming to its
conclusion, a court’) is embraced by commas
or, if used at the beginning of a sentence, is
followed by a comma;
…ing clause
if commenced with ‘in’, is followed by a
comma
…ing clause
poor or unthinking writers are altogether
unfamiliar with ‘…ing’ words and their uses
but, when they do use them, they usually use
them wrongly, in defiance of logic—eg not
‘More recently, it has been reported that ISIS
and Jabhat al-Nusra are being financed by
selling oil and gas from wells under their
control through the regime.’ (The Economist
25 January 2014) (they might raise finance by
selling, they might be raising finance by
selling, or they are being financed by their
sales—‘are being financed’ and ‘by selling’
simply cannot simultaneously be related to
‘ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra’ (see unrelated)
initials
given in spare style with no stops; do not use
nonbreaking spaces between initials and the
surname—eg JG Langenhoven
initials
are not rendered in small capitals but in
ordinary capitals
inserted in
not ‘inserted into’
Insha’Allah
not insha’Allah or inshallah (see italics)
— 76 —
insist that it be
not ‘insist that it must be’
instalment
not ‘installment’
insofar as
not ‘in so far as’ or ‘insofaras’
inter alia
this is not a Latin class, use English unless
you are commemorating BJ Vorster, who was
a lawyer, amongst other things (Geddit?), and
relished the term, probably because he
somehow knew everyone hated hearing him
say it
interest free
adjective—eg ‘this money was advanced
interest free’ (see free)
interest-free
compound adjective—eg ‘interest-free loan’
(see free)
internationalize
not ‘internationalise’
internet
not ‘Internet’
into
not ‘in to’, yet on to
inquiry
‘an inquiry’ but ‘to enquire’
inventory
‘trading stock’ is preferable in this part of the
world, unless you want to say ‘to make an
inventory of’
invoicing
avoid it, you don’t need to advertise what
you’ll say, merely say it
irrelevant
not ‘not relevant’
irritated
famously confused with ‘annoyed’—eg not
‘This has irritated several national
governments, especially the British and
French ones, which think the PMOI is a nasty
nuisance and its presence on their soil bad for
relations with both Iraq and Iran.’ (The
Economist 8 April 2009 ‘Where will they all
go?’)—eg not ‘Last week, they irritated the
president by introducing a raft of amendments
— 77 —
to a bill to phase out costly subsidies.’ (The
Economist 12 December 2009)—eg not ‘In
July, irritated by the JWST’s rising costs, the
House of Representatives tried to cut
$1,9 billion from NASA’s budget for next year,
in an attempt to have the project cancelled.
(The Economist 12 November 2011 at 76)
is applicable in respect of
what did these chaps imbibe with their
mother’s milk? Could this merely mean
‘applies to’?
issue
‘the issue of’, not ‘the issuing of’
I think, correctly,
inoffensive even if patronizing but don’t leave
out the necessary commas
it follows, therefore,
pretentious duplication
it is considered
do you really want to come across as a twit?
it is debatable whether pretentious waffle; get rid of it
it is important to note that
pretentious waffle; get rid of it
it may be noted that
italics
in the new SA all words from a foreign
language, even if accepted into the language
in more privileged parts of the world, should
be given in italics; it grates to follow this rule
but—Hey!—look around you (but see via)
italics
the proper rule is that you should use no italics
for any foreign word unless it can mean
something you do not mean in English or
Afrikaans, whichever language you are
writing in—eg the Latin ‘res’ as a rule would
not be in italics, but if you are writing in
Afrikaans it might have to be, since ‘res’ in
Afrikaans may be read as an Afrikaans word
italics
the old rule used to be to show immediately
following punctuation also in italics but not
quotation marks—eg ‘as was shown in Smith
— 78 —
v Jones’, but it grates when the punctuation
concerned is a question mark or an
exclamation mark, therefore rather scrap the
old rule and show all immediately following
punctuation marks in roman (regular) typeface
italics
use italics for legal decisions, including the ‘v’
in a citation—eg ‘In Smith v Jones 1988 (3)
SA 176 (A) it was held...’
italics
use italics for the name of an explanatory
memorandum—the Explanatory
Memorandum on the Taxation Laws
Amendment Bill, 2002
italics
don’t use italics for SARS publications, rather
use quotation marks, unless the publication is
a substantial work, such as Comprehensive
Guide to Capital Gains Tax
italics
use italics for the names of books and
periodicals—eg War and Peace, SALJ; there is
no need to insert a nonbreaking space in such
a name, since the italics will avoid any
confusion should a line-end interrupt the
name—eg The Taxpayer
italics
use italics for the names of films, plays and
ships—eg Black Beauty, The Taming of the
Shrew and the SS Waratag
italics
use italics for the titles of music—eg
‘Wagner’s Die Meistersinger’
italics
you may use italics for emphasis but
emphasize very sparingly, since it normally
represents poor style to do so; the sentence
should contain an implicit emphasis
italics
some clever advice picked up off the internet:
if you are using a sans serif typeface, rather
use bold, not italics, since italicized sans serif
type just doesn’t stand out enough
italicize
not ‘italicise’
— 79 —
item 1
use a nonbreaking space before the numeral
item (a)
use a nonbreaking space before the opening
parenthesis
it is important to note that
it’s
never as a pronoun; if you make this mistake,
your education has been woefully lacking, and
it shows
it’s
see possessive case
its
a useful pronoun; always to be preferred
rather than a repetition of the noun save when
confusion might arise
its
is the possessive case of ‘it’ (see possessive
case)—eg ‘There is no evidence of its doing
so.’ (The Economist 1 January 2011 at 60)
it should be noted that pretentious waffle; get rid of it
it should be borne in
mind that
— 80 —
Alphabetical entries—‘J’
Alphabetical entries—‘J’
jeopardize
not ‘jeopardise’
je ne sais quoi
‘I know not what’ (see italics)
Johnny-come-lately
not ‘Johnnycomelately’ or ‘Johnny come
lately’; the uppercase ‘J’ is required
journals
as a general rule, write out the name except
for LJ, LQ (give the volume number if there is
one)—eg (1982) 95 Harvard LR 176; (1983)
85 Yale LJ 176; (1983) 56 North Dakota LJ;
(1981) 6 Tydskrif vir Regswetenskap 76; 1965
Juridical Review 76; 1983 Annual Survey of
South African Law 76; these abbreviations are
used—BML, CILSA, LQR, SACC, SALJ, THRHR,
TSAR, TSAR, TSH
judgment
not ‘judgement’; I (McAllister) have always
followed the rule that judgment is reserved for
a court case but judgement is used in the sense
of evaluation—eg ‘he exercised poor
judgement’
— 81 —
— 82 —
Alphabetical entries—‘K’
Alphabetical entries—‘K’
key
on my watch, used only as a noun, ie the thing
that opens a lock, or as an adjective—eg ‘his
co-operation served as a key factor’; if you
believe that co-operation is ‘key’, try to keep
it to yourself
kick-start
not ‘kick start’ or ‘kickstart’
kingpin
not ‘king pin’ or ‘king-pin’
kombi
not ‘Kombi’ or ‘combi’—eg By taxi people do
not mean the Western-style saloon cab but the
privately owned 16-seat minibus ‘kombi’,
used throughout Africa as the main form of
public transport.
Krugerrand
not ‘Kruger Rand’, ‘krugerrand’ or
‘Krugerand’
— 83 —
— 84 —
Alphabetical entries—‘L’
labelling
not 'labeling'
lacuna
see italics
lacunae
this is a plural form—eg not ‘to fill this
lacunae’
landlord
use ‘lessor’
last-chance
as adjective—eg not ‘They are enjoying a free
lunch—in the last chance saloon.’ (The
Economist 11 July 2009 at 15)
last in, first out
but the ‘last-in-first-out system (LIFO)’
last-known
not ‘last known’ or ‘lastknown’—eg ‘lastknown address’
latter
(see the former…the latter)
latter-day
not ‘latter day’ or ‘latterday’
learned judge
don’t use it; rather use his name again (see
elegant variation)
leapt, leaped
interchangeable
lease
a lessor ‘lets’ an asset; a lessee ‘hires’ it at a
‘rent’ under an agreement of ‘lease’; ‘leasing’
and ‘to lease’ are unacceptable—eg not ‘Of
these 28% will be franchised to other hotel
operators, 30% will be managed but not
owned by Accor and the rest will be fully
owned or leased.’ (The Economist
13 November 2010 at 71)
legal decisions
the normal practice is that the short title of a
case (other than a criminal case) comes from
the first name—eg Derry v Peek could be
cited as Derry’s case or even as Derry, but
should not be cited as Peek’s case or Peek, but
— 85 —
S v Smyth could be cited only as Smyth’s case
or Smyth, if a variant is to be used at all
legalese
not ‘legaleze’
legalese
do you really want to sound like a lawyer?
legislature
not ‘legislator’ unless you mean an individual
legislator
legislature
not ‘Legislature’—eg ‘the legislature’
legitimate
to make legitimate (see legitimize); the two
words might mean the same thing but I
(Divaris) don’t like ‘legitimate’ as a verb
legitimize
not ‘legitimise’; to make legitimate (see
legitimate)
lend
‘to lend’, not to ‘loan’ (see loan)
lent
not ‘loaned’
lèse majesté
I (Divaris) so much prefer this to ‘lese
majesty’ (see italics)
less than
not ‘fewer than’ with quantities as opposed to
numbers—eg ‘fewer than five people
attended’ but ‘less than 5% full’
let
not ‘rent’ if a verb (see rent); a lessor lets
property to a lessee, who hires it
leviathan
(lower case) a monstrous beast or sea monster
-level
hyphenated only when a true compound
adjective (see entry-level)—eg not ‘STC is a
tax levied at company-level while dividends
tax is a tax levied at shareholder-level’
liberalize
not ‘liberalise’
licence
not ‘license’, is the noun
license
not ‘licence’, is the verb
— 86 —
lienholder
not ‘lien holder’ or ‘lien-holder’
lifelong
not ‘life long’ or ‘life-long’
lifestyle
not ‘life style’ or ‘life-style’
light
‘in the light of’, not (ugh!) ‘in light of’
like
does not mean ‘in the same way as’ or ‘such
as’; see a dictionary or else suffer the risk of
perpetrating a particularly uneducated blunder
likely
not to be used instead of ‘probably’ (US)—eg
not ‘this is likely his attitude’; the US usage is
seeping into SA—eg not ‘Without this form of
extension, the farmers would likely not get
their inputs.’
liquidation distribution acceptable double noun; in fact, ‘liquidation’
is an adjective
lists
the lazy contributor always expects to inflict
his or her style for lists upon the eversuffering publication instead of discovering
what its style might be; if your list is preceded
by a colon, each list-item must start with a
capital and end with a full stop; if not, save in
special circumstances, each starts with a
lower-case character and ends with a semicolon, save for the last item, which ends with
a full stop or other punctuation mark
appropriate to the context; whatever you do,
even if you work for SARS, never start a list
within a list; and, please, do not preface the
list with an em dash (‘—’)
literal
publishing insider’s term for a typographical
booboo
littoral
when last I (Divaris) looked this was an
adjective—eg not ‘China is playing an
elaborately dangerous game of “chicken’’
around its littoral with its neighbours.’ (The
Economist 21 December 2013 at 13)loan
not ‘loan funds’
— 87 —
local division
not ‘Local Division’—eg ‘a local division of
the High Court’
Loc cit
means ‘in the place cited’ (see italics)
locally derived
not ‘locally-derived [noun]’ (see hyphen)
lodgment
not ‘lodgement’
logbook
not ‘log book’ or ‘log-book’
logic
without it, you’re a literary bum—eg not
‘Larry Summers, his chief economic adviser,
is a famous gorer of liberal ones.’ Que? The
pronoun appears to be referencing ‘one of the
country’s most conservative states’ in the
immediately preceding sentence, but I
(Divaris) could be wrong. (The Economist
28 March 2009 at 28)
logic
the prestige, or persistence, of the author can
overwhelm the willpower of even the most
illustrious editors—eg not ‘Handley’s
somewhat tentative explanation for these
cross-national differences focuses on the
organization of the business community and
whether or not the business community is
dominated by the same ethnic group that
controls political power. When this is not the
case, she argues, business autonomy is more
likely.’ (Nicolas van de Walle in a review in
88 Foreign Affairs 2 at 164) There can only be
a single focus of this vomit of verbiage: the
degree of domination of the business
community by ethnic hegemonists.
long drawn
I’m not sure what this means; ‘long-drawnout’?—eg not ‘long drawn move to floating
exchange rates’
loony
not ‘looney’—eg ‘loony bin’
loophole
not ‘loop hole’ or ‘loop-hole’
lorries
obsolete
— 88 —
lower income-brackets not ‘lower-income brackets’
lump sum
noun
lump-sum
adjective eg ‘lump-sum benefit’
— 89 —
— 90 —
Alphabetical entries—‘M’
Mafiosi
see italics
Magistrate’s court
so spelt if it is of one magistrate’s court that
you are speaking of, otherwise ‘magistrates’
courts’—eg ‘Procedure in the magistrates’
courts is governed by…’ (see the Magistrates’
Courts Act 32 of 1944, especially s 1)
mainstream
not ‘main stream’ or ‘main-stream’; if you’re
going to use it as a verb, you had better stick
to an educational context
maintenance court
not ‘Maintenance Court’
malaprops
see enervate
malaprops
‘affliction of time’ (effluxion)
‘preponderance for using the media’
(predilection)
mano a mano
not ‘mano a mano’ or ‘mano-a-mano’ (see
italics)
marketplace
not ‘market place’ or ‘market-place’
market-related
not ‘market related’
mark up
the verb
markup
the noun and adjective
marshalled
not ‘marshaled’
mastermind
not ‘master mind’ or ‘master-mind’, whether
as verb or noun
matric
not ‘Matric’
maximize
not ‘maximise’
— 91 —
may
not ‘can’, in sense of what is permissible or
possible
may
be sure you don’t mean ‘might’
McCoy
as in ‘the real…’.
meagre
not ‘meager’ (US)
means test
not ‘meanstest’ or ‘means-test’
meanwhile
my standard used to be ‘Meanwhile, back at
the ranch…’ but ‘in the mean while’ but, with
great, nostalgic reluctance, I’ll accept
‘meanwhile’ across the board
medical scheme
not ‘medical aid’ or ‘medical aid fund’ or
‘medical aid scheme’
medium-term or
long-term
not ‘medium or long-term’ or, unless space is
very short, ‘medium- or long-term’
mêlée
(mUHlAY) not ‘mêlée’ or ‘melee’ (see italics)
Merde!
(editorial comment) you have perpetrated a
blunder that has been pointed out to you a
thousand times; see a French dictionary,
stepping carefully (see italics)
meticulously
is the only way to edit or write on a technical
subject
Middle-West
not ‘mid-West’
milieu
see italics
militarize
not ‘militarise’
militate
verb followed by preposition meaning ‘to
have effect’—eg ‘to militate against his
powerful influence was difficult’; cf ‘mitigate’
minimal
means ‘of the least possible’; cf ‘minuscule’,
which means ‘extremely small, unimportant’
(see minuscule)
— 92 —
minimize
not ‘minimise’
minuscule
not ‘miniscule’ (which is in truth fully
acceptable) (see minimal)
misdemeanour
not ‘misdemeanor’
mitigate
verb requiring noun object meaning ‘to make
less’—eg ‘to mitigate his culpability, there
was the influence of chance’—eg not ‘and
mitigate against Madlala-Routledge’s sacking
by working hard’; cf ‘militate’
mobilize
not ‘mobilise’
modernize
not ‘modernise’
moegoe
country bumpkin
monetary amounts
in text ‘R1 million’ or ‘R1 m’ (with a
nonbreaking space) is far easier to read than
‘R1 000 000’ (with two nonbreaking spaces)
money-laundering
not ‘moneylaundering’ or ‘money laundering’
moneylender
not ‘money lender’ or ‘money-lender’
moneylending
not ‘money lending’ or ‘money-lending’
moneys
not ‘monies’
moralize
not ‘moralise’
mortgage
the document or agreement is a ‘mortgage
bond’, the loan is a ‘mortgage loan’ or ‘loan
secured by a mortgage’
motivated
use it only if you are a Professor of English or
doing an MBA; if you must use it, look it up
motor car
not ‘motorcar’ or ‘motor-car’ (unless an
adjective); ‘car’ is ugly but acceptable
motorcycle
not ‘motor cycle’ or ‘motor-cycle’
— 93 —
motorcycle
you ‘drive’ a motor car but ‘ride’ a motorcycle
motor dealer
not ‘motordealer’ or ‘motor-dealer’
motormouth
not ‘motor mouth’ or ‘motor-mouth’
motor scooter
not ‘motorscooter’ or ‘motor-scooter’
motor-van
not ‘motor van’ or motorvan’
motor vehicle
not ‘motorvehicle’ or ‘motor-vehicle’ (unless
an adjective); ‘car’ is ugly but acceptable
motorized
not ‘motorised’
Mr De Beer
not ‘Mr de Beer’ (see also De Beer)
Mr De Beer
use a nonbreaking space between the title and
the name
Mr JM de Beer
not ‘Mr JM De Beer’ (see also De Beer); use
a nonbreaking space between the title and the
initials, and between the initials and the name
(I—McAlister—prefer a nonbreaking space
between the initials as well)
mumbo jumbo
not ‘mumbo-jumbo’
mull
you don’t see it often in this form but you can
use this as a transitive verb—eg ‘…General
Musharraf is now mulling his options.’ (The
multilayered
not ‘multi-layered’
multinational
not ‘multi-national’
mutatis mutandis
not ‘mutatis mutandis’ (see italics) (meaning:
‘after making the necessary changes’)
— 94 —
Alphabetical entries—‘N’
namely
not ‘ie’; is treated in the same way as ‘for
example’ as far as concerns commas (see for
example)
nationalize
not ‘nationalise’
nebbish
not ‘nebbish’ (see italics)
negative economic
growth
an obscenity outside a forum where
economic jargon is expected
neither…nor
to be used only for two items, not three or
more
new
be careful of the pleonastic ‘new’! (see
departure, development)
nexus
not ‘nexus’ (see italics)
nirvana
not ‘Nirvana’
no, No
‘the answer is No’ but ‘I have no idea’, at least
on my (Divaris) watch
no doubt
does not take a comma at the beginning of a
sentence
no later
not ‘not later’
nogschlepper
not ‘nogschlepper’ (see italics)
nonacceptance
not ‘non acceptance’ or ‘non-acceptance’
nonallowable
not ‘non allowable’ or ‘non-allowable’
nonapplication
not ‘non application’ or ‘non-application’
nonapproval
not ‘non approval’ or ‘non-approval’
nonbreaking
not ‘non breaking’ or ‘non-breaking’
— 95 —
nonbreaking space
in Word, press [Ctrl] [Shift] [Space]
simultaneously—eg ‘ ’
nonbreaking space
there is no need to insert a non-breaking space
in the name of a book or periodical, since the
italics will avoid any confusion should a lineend interrupt the name—eg The Taxpayer
nonbreaking space
used in judges’ names and titles—eg
Corbett CJ
nonbusiness
not ‘non business’ or ‘non-business’
noncertificated
not ‘non certificated’ or ‘non-certificated’
noncorporate
not ‘non corporate’ or ‘non-corporate’
noncharitable
not ‘non charitable’ or ‘non-charitable’
noncomputable
not ‘non computable’ or ‘non-computable’
noncompliance
not ‘non compliance’ or ‘non-compliance’
nonconforming
not ‘non conforming’ or ‘non-conforming’
noncontractual
not ‘non contractual’ or ‘non-contractual’
nondeductible
not ‘non deductible’ or ‘non-deductible’
nondeduction
not ‘non deduction’ or ‘non-deduction’
nondefining
not ‘non defining’ or ‘non-defining’
nondelivery
not ‘non delivery’ or ‘non-delivery’
nondepreciable
not ‘non depreciable’ or ‘non-depreciable’
nondisclosure
not ‘non disclosure’ or ‘non-disclosure’
nondiscrimination
not ‘non discrimination’ or ‘nondiscrimination’
nondisposal
not ‘non disposal’ or ‘non-disposal’
nondutiable
not ‘non dutiable’ or ‘non-dutiable’
— 96 —
nonenterprise
not ‘non enterprise’ or ‘non-enterprise’
nonentity
not ‘non entity’ or ‘non-entity’—eg not ‘His
replacement, Carlos Fernández, is a nonentity.’ (The Economist 3 May 2008 at 58)
nonevent
not ‘non event’ or ‘non-event’
nonexclusive
not ‘non exclusive’ or ‘non-exclusive’
nonexempt
not ‘non exempt’ or ‘non-exempt’
nonexemption
not ‘non exemption’ or ‘non-exemption’
nonexistent
not ‘non existent’ or ‘non-existent’
nonfarm
not ‘non farm’ or ‘non-farm’
nonfinite
not ‘non finite’ or ‘non-finite’
nonfiscal
not ‘non fiscal’ or ‘non-fiscal’
nonfulfilment
not ‘non fulfilment’ or ‘non-fulfilment’
nongovernmental
not ‘non governmental’ or ‘non-governmental’
nonindependent
not ‘non independent’ or ‘non-independent’
nonjudgmental
not ‘non judgmental’ or ‘non-judgmental’
nonmember
not ‘non member’ or ‘non-member’
nonparty
not ‘non party’ or ‘non-party’
nonpayment
not ‘non payment’ or ‘non-payment’
nonpensionable
not ‘non pensionable’ or ‘non-pensionable’
nonperformance
not ‘non performance’ or ‘non-performance’
nonprinciple
not ‘non principle’ or ‘non-principle’
nonproductive
not ‘non productive’ or ‘non-productive’
nonprofit
not ‘non profit’ or ‘non-profit’
— 97 —
nonprosecution
not ‘non prosecution’ or ‘non-prosecution’
nonreciprocal
not ‘non-reciprocal’
nonregistrable
not ‘non-registerable’
nonqualification
not ‘non qualification’ or ‘non-qualification’
nonrebuttable
not ‘non rebuttable’ or ‘non-rebuttable’
nonrecoupable
not ‘non recoupable’ or ‘non-recoupable’
nonrecoverable
not ‘non recoverable’ or ‘non-recoverable’
nonrefundable
not ‘non refundable’ or ‘non-refundable’
nonqualified
not ‘non qualified’ or ‘non-qualified’, thus
‘nonqualifying’
nonrealized
not ‘non realized’ or ‘non-realized’
nonregistration
not ‘non registration’ or ‘non-registration’
nonrendition
not ‘non rendition’ or ‘non-rendition’
nonreportable
not ‘non reportable’ or ‘non-reportable’
nonresident
not ‘non resident’ or ‘non-resident’
nonreturn
not ‘non return’ or ‘non-return’
nonsearchable
not ‘non searchable’ or ‘non-searchable’
nonsexist
not ‘non sexist’ or ‘non-sexist’
nonsubmission
not ‘non submission’ or ‘non-submission’
nonsupply
not ‘non supply’ or ‘non-supply’
nontaxable
not ‘non taxable’ or ‘non-taxable’
nontrade
not ‘non trade’ or ‘non-trade’
nontransferable
not ‘non transferable’ or ‘nontransferable’
— 98 —
non-vendor
not ‘non vendor’ or ‘nonvendor’
no one
some idiots in the media, including
respectable publications, have resorted to ‘noone’
nota bene
not ‘nota bene’ (see italics)
not only…but
‘not only…but also…’ is usually pleonastic
and a dead giveaway of sloppy writing
skills—eg not ‘Not only would it reduce the
risk of inflation, but it would also help to trim
China’s embarrassing trade surplus.’ (The
Economist 29 September 2007 at 73)
not…or
not ‘not…nor’
not so much…as
not ‘not so much…than’—eg not ‘Mark
Gunzinger, an authority on air power at the
Centre for Strategic and Budgetary
Assessments, a think-tank based in
Washington, thinks the admiral was not so
much aiming a broadside at the F–35 than
making the case for having the right mix of
aircraft for future carriers.’ (The Economist
28 July 2012 at 48)
not permissible
you may often find this easier to use than
‘impermissible’, although when you grow up
you’ll prefer ‘impermissible’; note the
spelling too, unless Mr Gates does
not possible
= ‘impossible’
no way
avoid it, it has been killed by slang usage
no ways
is even worse
none the less
not ‘nonetheless’
normal
preserved as antithesis of ‘abnormal’; not used
in place of ‘usual’ or ‘ordinary’
note that
pretentious waffle, get rid of it, unless you
actually are referring to a feature of some
— 99 —
preceding text
notwithstanding
if followed by ‘that’, rewrite the sentence in
English or use ‘even though’
notwithstanding,
reveals your pretensions even more than your
ignorance
number
is ‘plant and machinery’ a single item or two?
If you wrote ‘both plant and machinery is
included’, you would come across as a cretin,
as you would if you wrote ‘the plant and
machinery is in good condition’; yet if you do
a Google search on the ‘is’ formulation, you
return 75 600 hits; that’s an awful lot of
cretins; but once you establish a style by
usage, you end up with no style at all, just as
the third edition of Fowler, based on internet
searches, ended up as something other than a
grammar
number
is an institution, such as SARS or the National
Treasury a singular or plural entity? Well,
count ’em; I (Divaris) make it one each—eg
not ‘SARS lost their appeal’—eg not ‘the
Treasury have their hands full’
number
numerical laziness can stop your reader in his
tracks—eg not ‘But if this much-trumpeted
change is contentious, three others should not
be.’ (The Economist 11 June 2011 at 35)—eg
not ‘This impact would have sprayed huge
quantities of material into space, forming a
ring around Earth similar to, but much thicker
than, those that now adorn Saturn.’ (The
at 22)
number
be sure to tie up your subject and verb despite
nearby distractions—eg ‘The strength
[subject] of the merits of the matter does
[verb] not relieve the taxpayer from the
— 100 —
obligation of furnishing acceptable reasons for
the delay in lodging an objection.’
number
outside the US, countable compound nouns are
better treated in the singular form—eg ‘There
are eight types of trust’—eg not ‘There are
eight types of trusts.’
number
can there be anything written more vile than
‘the trustee/s’ and similar? if no one has
previously been identified, the singular
implies the plural, and ‘the trustee’ would
encompass the entire universe of trustees
number, numeral
not used to start a sentence; write the number
out in full; when the number is a year the
sentence probably ought to be rewritten to
reposition it
number, numerals
up to ninety-nine in words except for ages,
years, money and mathematical calculations
but use numerals if a single sentence includes
numbers both smaller and greater than ninetynine
number, numerals
from 100, use numerals
— 101 —
— 102 —
Alphabetical entries—‘O’
obviously
followed by a comma at the commencement
of a sentence, although, if it’s obvious, ought
you to be mentioning it?
of course
if it is obvious to you, it’ll be obvious to the
reader; there is no need to be patronizing or
apologetic, but acceptable in humorous usage
office-holder
not ‘office holder’ or ‘officeholder’
offset
not ‘off set’ or ‘off-set’
offshore
although more suited to an insular geography,
an acceptable alternative to abroad
of the Act
once you have identified the piece of
legislation you are writing about, don’t you
think it’s obvious that the sections to which
you refer are sections of that Act? There is no
need to cater for readers with Alzheimer’s,
and your saintly mother, may she rest in piece,
simply could not be impressed by your
accomplishments while she was alive, and is
even more impervious now
of what
Japanese, perhaps
ominous
it can also mean ‘serving as or having
significance as an omen’ (Collins), although
you’ll spend a lifetime before coming across a
usage such as ‘Yoshiro Mori…was ominous.’
(The Economist 1 September 2007 at 46)
once-off
as an adjective, not ‘once off’
one
as pronoun takes the same number as the
noun—eg not ‘But the cost of weddings may
be the least of the reasons why the Japanese
are increasingly putting off marriage or
avoiding it altogether. One weightier one
is….’ (The Economist 20 November 2010
— 103 —
at 15 of special supplement)
one another
not ‘each other’ when more than two,
although no one bothers any longer
only
move it, since you undoubtedly have it in the
wrong place; what is to be avoided is perhaps
not so much ambiguity as slowing the reader
down; try to place it as close as possible to the
thing it modifies—eg ‘only half’, and if it is
used as an adverb, it will probably be best
placed after the verb it modifies—eg ‘applies
only’
on one hand
the expression is ‘on one hand…on the other’;
‘on the one hand’ is a vulgar pleonasm
on the basis that
always preceded by a comma when used in
the body of a sentence
onshore
although more suited to an insular geography,
an acceptable alternative to local or locally
on the ground that
nearly always preceded by a comma
on to
not ‘onto’; yet into—eg not ‘But can the
discounters hold onto their gains?’ (The
Op cit
means ‘in the work quoted’ (see italics)
or
used only once in a list of alternatives, any
one of which may be fulfilled or failed; not
preceded by a comma save in exceptional
circumstances
orally
not ‘verbally’ if you mean ‘by the spoken
word’
orally
pronunciation is indistinguishable from
‘aurally’
ordinance
not ‘Ordinance’
organize
not ‘organise’
— 104 —
otherwise
‘unless the context indicates otherwise’ not
‘unless the context otherwise indicates’, after
all, it is the context not the indication that is
otherwise
ought not to
see should not be
outright
not ‘out-and-out’
outside of
why not simply ‘outside’?—eg not ‘outside of
South Africa’
outta
no apostrophe
over-
no matter what Bill Gates says, all ‘over-’
compounds are one word—eg ‘overdeduction’
overpay
not ‘over pay’ or ‘over-pay’
overriding
not ‘over riding’ or ‘over-riding’
overseas
adverb
overseas or oversea
as adjective, ‘foreign’ is to be used in
preference if no sea is involved (there are a
few places other than our own country on this
continent, you know) (see abroad)
— 105 —
— 106 —
Alphabetical entries—‘P’
page, footnote
if the word is in a parenthesis or not part of a
sentence, use ‘p’, ‘pp’, or, if appropriate, ‘n’,
‘nn’ and ‘ch’, ‘chs’—eg ‘Smith states (p 26)
that…’; ‘Smith states (p 26n16) that…’;
‘Smith states (note 26) that ...’, ‘Smith states
(pp 26ff) that…’
page, footnote
in general, both in text and footnotes, if ‘page’
or ‘note’ or ‘chapter’ etc is mentioned, write
the word in full if it is part of a sentence—eg
‘Smith states in his article on page 26 that…’,
or, ‘…in note 16 on page 26 that’
Paragraph
eg Paragraph 13
Paragraph, paragraphs always written out in full at the beginning of a
sentence
para
eg para 13
paragraph
starting on a new page is indented even if the
context requires it to be out-dented (see
paragraphs)
paragraph, paragraphs abbreviated as ‘para’, ‘paras’
paragraphs
the first paragraph of any article starts on a
new line, that is, it is ‘out-dented’; all other
paragraphs are indented except after a break in
the text such as a heading, quotation, formula,
chart, diagram or table (see paragraph)
parent
is a noun, the adjective being ‘parental’, yet
‘parent power’ means something different
from ‘parental power’—eg ‘Yet the Tory
policy group charged with thinking deep
thoughts about public services paid only lip
service to parent power…. (The Economist
— 107 —
parenthetical clause
embraced by two commas or by none; not one
unless it commences a sentence
Parliament
but ‘parliamentary’
parliamentary
see Parliament
partially
in the sense ‘to a limited degree’—eg partially
drunken
partially
when in doubt use ‘partly’
participle
a verbal adjective; a verb used to modify a
noun—eg ‘the idling car’ (cf gerund) (see
unrelated)
participial clause
a relative clause with a participle as a verb—
eg ‘the accountant adding his figures’
partly
used in the sense ‘as regards a part and not the
whole’
pasteurize
not ‘pasteurise’
patronize
not ‘patronise’
pavilion
not ‘pavillion’
pay dirt
not ‘paydirt’ or ‘pay-dirt’
payer
not ‘payor’, unless you work for the National
Treasury’s drafting team
penchant
it kills me (Divaris), but see italics
per
as in ‘per annum’, do not use it except in
direct quotations, when it will usually not be
in italics (see italics)
per
only in the sense of ‘per Oatgut J, who
delivered the judgment...’ (see italics)
per cent
not ‘percent’ or ‘per-cent’; always replace
with %, even in a quotation, unless quoting
from legislation
— 108 —
percent per annum
since Dickens, we say ‘percent a year’ or ‘x%
a year’
père
not ‘pere’ or ‘pere’
period of time
not quite the same as a ‘plate of food’, since
the plate might contain many things but
temporal periods?
per month
rather ‘a month’ but it’s hard to avoid ‘price
per share’, where the ‘per’ serves as no other
English word can; on the other hand ‘price per
the Gazette’ shows that you hate your
language even more than yourself
per se
see italics
persona
see italics
petard
hoist with one’s own petard, not ‘by’—eg not
‘But distaste for Mr Spitzer—or keen pleasure
in seeing a hypocrite hoist with his own
petard—should blind no one to the fact that
the whole affair is a crock of nonsense.’ (The
Economist 15 March 2008 at 60)
phrase
use only if you have mastered the Oxford
Dictionary sv ‘phrase’, although I (Divaris)
am almost ready to give up on this one
pipe dream
not ‘pipedream’ or ‘pipe-dream’
placeholder
not ‘place holder’ or place-holder’
plethora
sounds but is not wrong when followed by a
singular noun—eg ‘plethora of misconduct’
(The Economist 30 June 2007 at 48)
plurality
an ugly, affected substitute for ‘majority’—eg
not ‘Most think Mr Obama is doing a good
job in Iraq, and a plurality think his plan
to…’(The Economist 11 April 2009 at 40)
polarize
not ‘polarise’
— 109 —
polemic
is just as much an adjective as ‘polemical’, yet
‘it is deliberately polemic’ does not sound
good
point of view
see from a letting point of view
politics
is a singular word
politicize
not ‘politicise’
poopall
I (Divaris) prefer this to the probably more
authentic ‘poephol’
pore
‘pore over a book’ but a ‘pour-over trust’
possessive acronyms
for acronyms ending in an ‘s’, add an
apostrophe and a further ‘s’—eg ‘SARS’s’, not
‘SARS’ ’
possessive case
either learn when and how to use this or
rewrite the sentence—eg not ‘When poor,
rural children wreck theirs, they often prefer
to keep their new status symbols clutched to
their chests than risk the postal service not
returning it promptly from the central
maintenance centre.’ (The Economist
3 October 2009 at 66)—eg not ‘Even if it is
too soon to assess the results, the fact of it
being talked about so openly makes a change.’
(The Economist 17 October 2009 at 41)—eg
not ‘He deserves at least some of the credit for
the American financial system not collapsing.’
(The Economist 16 January 2010 at 25)—eg
not ‘All three had been badly burned by the
near-doubling of petrol prices in 2008 and
were convinced that even though gas was
cheap again, a business model built on it
staying that way was broken.’ (The Economist
23 January 2010 at 55)—eg not ‘Part of the
deal reportedly entailed the city agreeing to
insure a portfolio of loans against default
through a collateralized-debt obligation
(CDO).’ (The Economist 20 March 2010
at 67)—eg not ‘Shareholders moan that banks
levy fat fees to underwrite “rights issues” even
— 110 —
though the risk of a deal failing is minimal.’
(The Economist 5 February 2011 at 34)—eg
not ‘That contract is being challenged in the
Pakistani courts by the provincial government,
which could open the way to China taking
over.’ (The Economist 28 May 2011 at 56)—
eg not ‘Its resulting identity crisis has meant it
losing viewers faster than other channels.’
‘He is determined to end talk of his firm
having replaced Citi-group as America’s
clumsiest bank.’ (The Economist 2 July 2011
at 67)—eg not ‘Mr Bark, backed by the
current prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu,
is going to agree to Egypt deploying
thousands of troops in Syria though the IsraelEgypt peace treaty strictly forbids it.’ (The
‘But Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime
minister, said Israel would not apologize for
its soldiers defending their lives. (The
Economist 10 September 2011 at 42)—eg not
‘Limiting the role of the new fund would
reduce a risk of it getting bogged down by
disagreements between its many owners.’ (The
Economist 5 November 2011 at 87)
possessive case
(continued; clearly, the apostrophe is on the
way out)—eg not ‘Twenty-five years elapsed
between Karl Benz beginning small-scale
production of his original Motorwagen and the
breakthrough, by Henry Ford and his
engineers in 1913, that turned the car into the
ubiquitous, mass-market item that has defined
the modern urban landscape.’ (The Economist
20 April 2013 at 9)—eg not ‘It took place
under a party hostile to France rejoining
NATO’s military command four years ago.’
(The Economist 4 May 2013 at 27)
possessive case
words ending ‘s’ take an apostrophe and
another ‘s’—eg ‘SARS’s’, ‘fiscus’s’
possessive case
when two enjoy possession of the same thing
use only one apostrophe—eg ‘that person or
— 111 —
special trust’s primary residence’—eg not
‘that person’s or special trust’s primary
residence’
possessive case
when two enjoy possession of different things
use two apostrophes—eg ‘that person’s
residence or that trust’s company’
possessive case
those using an abbreviation often want to
indicate the plural form with a hugely ignorant
apostrophe—eg not ‘This year, according to a
study from the National Bureau of Economic
Research, China will award more Ph.D.’s in
engineering and the sciences than any other
country in the world, including the United
States, the current titleholder.’ (89 Foreign
Affairs 6 at 66)
postconflict
as adjective, not ‘post conflict’ or ‘postconflict’
postindependence
ugh! but I (Divaris) have to allow it, rather
than ‘post independence’ or ‘postindependence’
postgraduate
not ‘post graduate’ or ‘post-graduate’
pour
see pore
practice
is the noun; the verb is ‘practise’
practices
it is best to avoid referring to alleged
unwritten practices of SARS
practise
is the verb; the noun is ‘practice’
practised
is always a verb
practising
is always a verb—eg ‘practising advocates’
premiss
I (Divaris) enjoy using it rather than ‘premise’
presumably
at the beginning of a sentence is followed by a
comma but not in the body of a sentence
— 112 —
pre-written
not ‘prewritten’
principal act
to be used only in relation to an amending act
and not in relation to a schedule to an act visà-vis the remainder or main body of that act
principle
is commonly used when ‘principal’ is
intended—eg not ‘Jim Hough of Glasgow
University, the principle British investigator
on GEO600, an Anglo-German gravitational
wave detector….’ (The Economist 31 July
2010 at 62)
prior
what’s wrong with ‘earlier’? (see legalese)
prior to
what’s wrong with ‘before’? (see legalese)
prioritize
not ‘prioritise’
prise
the verb, not ‘prize’ (US)
privatize
not ‘privatise’
proceeds
a plural noun—eg ‘the proceeds are reserved’
profitmaking
not ‘profit making’ or ‘profit-making’
profit sharing
not ‘profitsharing’ or ‘profit-sharing’; but
‘profit-sharing ratio’
pro forma
not ‘pro forma’ (see italics)
promoter
not ‘promotor’
pronouns
use them when the noun is referred to again
(see, eg its if you haven’t been accustomed to
writing English) (see unrelated)
proofreading
the more illustrious your publication, the more
painstaking you have to be—eg not ‘But can
the discounters can hold onto their gains?’
(The Economist 16 August 2008 at 53)
pro rata
despite my strictures on italicizing every
foreign word in sight in the New SA (see
— 113 —
italics), I (Divaris) make an exception for this
one, which has been common usage for so
long that to italicize it would raise eyebrows;
seeing that it is, as it stands, both an adjective
and an adverb, there is no need to hyphenate
it—eg ‘a pro rata share’
Protector
as in Public Protector, not ‘Protecter’
pro tem
see italics
provision
see section
provisions of
see citation, provisions
publicize
not ‘publicise’
purchase
use only in the form of ‘a purchase’, not as a
substitute for ‘buy’
pursuant
as an adjective meaning ‘following in order to
catch’ (Bloomsbury) it’s magnificent, even if
some spoilsports believe it to be ‘archaic’
(Collins); ‘pursuant to’ is listed as ‘formal’
(Bloomsbury: ‘pursuant to something in
accordance with something’) or ‘legal’,
signifying ‘in agreement or conformity’
(Collins); enemies of the language had better
leave it well alone, on the ground of being
legalese or pandering to the overblown egos
of lawyers
Pyrrhic
not ‘pyrrhic’ if a ‘Pyrrhic victory’
— 114 —
Alphabetical entries—‘Q’
quasi-usufruct
not ‘quasiusufruct’ or ‘quasi usufruct’
question
‘the question whether’ not just simply
‘whether’, and not ‘the question as to whether’
(see as to)
question arises
‘the question arises whether’ is far too pseudoacademic for my taste; why not simply ask the
question directly and have done with it?—eg
‘Is tax deductible?’
question mark
I (Divaris) usually struggle to decide whether
to add a question mark to a rhetorical question
but there has to be a question to begin with—
eg not ‘The real question is whether China’s
stimulus is big enough? (The Economist
14 March 2009 at 69–70)
quondam
it’s not archaic as long as I (Divaris) keep
using it (see italics)
quid pro quo
see italics
quotation marks
for an American publisher, close quotation
marks after the punctuation no matter whether
the quotation includes the punctuation or not;
in more reasonable parts of the world use
logic—eg not ‘this is what is called “applying
your discretion.” ’ (US); as opposed to (rest of
the free world)—eg ‘this is what is called
“applying your discretion”. ’
quotation marks
what? Your logical abilities are challenged?
Here, then are the rules: when quoting an
entire sentence (starts with a capitalized letter
and ends with a full stop), the quotation marks
embrace the full sentence—eg ‘The judge
said: “In my view there is no equity in a
tax.” ’
quotation marks
when using just a portion of an entire sentence
— 115 —
or embedding an entire sentence within your
own sentence , the quotation marks embrace
the portion selected, and you must indicate
any changes of case or pronouns you have
inflicted upon the original material—eg ‘In
making the remark that “[i]n [his] view there
is no equity in tax”, Pontificus J was stating
the obvious.’
quotation marks
when using bits and pieces of quoted material
you had best not follow the embedded route;
rather set the quotation out in a separate
paragraph, with a colon at the end of your last
word preceding the quotation (I—Divaris—
strongly prefer an indented paragraph and a
slightly smaller typeface; in fact, in such a
situation I dispense with embracing quotation
marks altogether, since it is clear what is
going on), but the ‘rules’ get complicated—eg
‘ “…there is no equity in a tax. But tax law
should be interpreted fairly.” ’ there is never a
second stop after the stop in the quotation—eg
not ‘ “…there is no equity in a tax. But tax
law should be interpreted fairly.”.’, which
looks idiotic
quotation marks
separate two quotation marks with a
nonbreaking space—eg “…this decision.” ’
quotation marks
in the so-called spare style, use single only—
eg ‘gross income’, not “gross income” but a
quotation within a quotation will take double
quotation marks, and a quotation within a
quotation within a quotation will revert to
single—eg The judge said: ‘I find that
Melamet J went too far when he said such
expenses were “always deductible”.’
quotation marks
it is offensive, particularly in technical
writing, to embrace commonly accepted
words in quotation marks as if they were the
latest thing in jargon—eg not ‘In “shortselling” VW he was siding with mostly hedge
funds and engaging in a form of trading that is
grudgingly accepted in America and Britain,
— 116 —
but is still frowned upon in Germany.’ (The
Economist 10 January 2009 at 561) (I—
Divaris—would have inserted a comma before
‘VW’ and, with great relish, removed the one
before ‘but’)
quotations
use indented small print without quotation
marks, except for quotations within the
quotation, which take single quotation marks,
and quotations within a quotation within a
quotation, which take double quotation marks;
then alternate between single and double
quotation marks
quotations from cases
the judge’s name is always given in the
footnote (if footnotes are used) (unless his or
her name is pertinent to the text ) for Special
Court or tax court cases but otherwise in the
text
quantum
not ‘quantum’ (see italics), unless you are
writing about ‘quantum’ physics
— 117 —
— 118 —
Alphabetical entries—‘R’
R sign
on the left of a column of figures only if the
column is totalled or subtotalled, and then the
R appears next to the total or subtotal as well,
otherwise appears only once on top of the
column
R100
not ‘R 100’; and not R100,00, save in an
example including other sums running to cents
raison d’être
see italics
rand
not ‘Rand’
rand
the plural of ‘rand’—eg ‘ten rand’—it sounds
dreadful but is blessed, without reserve, by
Bloomsbury
rat hole
not ‘rathole’ or ‘rat-hole’
reading
if you cannot derive some satisfaction from
reading your own stuff, suicide becomes an
attractive option, for all concerned
realize
not ‘realise’
reappoint
not ‘re-appoint’
receipts basis
in tax law, not ‘cash receipts basis’ or anything
else
recognize
not ‘recognise’
record-keeping
not ‘record keeping’ or ‘recordkeeping’, even
though Mr Gates tolerates this last and I
(Divaris) rather like the look of it myself;
whichever form you prefer (provided that you
join me in rejecting ‘record keeping’), it
makes no difference if the term is used as a
compound noun (—eg ‘to simplify recordkeeping’) or compound adjective (—eg ‘the
record-keeping requirements’)
— 119 —
re-educate
not ‘reeducate’ (US)
re-election
not ‘reelection’ (US)
re-engage
not ‘reengage’ (US)
re-establish
not ‘reestablish’ eg—It was necessary to reestablish the base cost of the asset.
references
here are some hints, mainly relating to
footnotes: ‘See note 21.’ ‘Op cit note 21
at 367.’ ‘In the work cited in note 21.’ ‘See
also s 7.’ ‘See, too, s 7.’ ‘In Schedule II.’ ‘In
the Schedule.’ ‘See part VI below.’ ‘See
previous note.’ ‘See text to note 21.’ ‘See text
following [or to] note 21.’ ‘Op cit previous
note.’ ‘Jones op cit note 21 at 602 says that…’
‘In Regal’s case (supra)…’ ‘In Regal’s case
(supra note 21)...’ At 361n21.’ ‘See 261
above.’ (see italics)
reference to a list
of items using
alphabetical tags
‘see item A above’, not ‘(A)’, but ‘see item (a)
above’
reference to a list
of items using
numerical tags
‘see item 1 above’, not ‘(1)’, but ‘see item (i)
above’
regarding
often for ‘in’ but also for ‘for’, ‘on’, ‘about’; a
dead giveaway that you either work for the
government or are a sociologist
regularly paid cheque
words ending in ‘…ly’ are not hyphenated
when used in compound forms
relatively
only when there is something else to relate to;
cannot be used as a refined substitute for
‘fairly’ or ‘rather’, which are themselves
precious
relaxed style
in relaxed style some of these rules need not
be rigidly adhered to—eg some double nouns
are permissible for reasons of economy and in
any event are these days rife
— 120 —
relegated
‘relegate’ is a transitive verb, meaning that it
requires an object; in soccer it might have
become common to speak of a team that has
been relegated, meaning that it has been
relegated to a lower division, but it is
decidedly odd outside team-sporting circles to
speak of a language that has been relegated
and then fail to supply the object—eg not
‘This also applies to other languages in our
country and worldwide which were relegated,
particularly under colonial domination.’
(Tokyo Sexwale ‘When literal translations
mislead’ The Star 30 January 2009)
remember that
rent
stick to using it as a noun and not as a verb
(see let)—eg not ‘…a small Pennsylvania
town, began fining landlords who rent to
illegal immigrants…’ (The Economist
4 August 2007 at 41)—eg not ‘(Buttonwood
should declare an interest: he sold his London
house last year and is renting.)’ (The
Economist 25 April 2009)—eg not ‘Over a
third of the world’s airline fleet is now rented
and the proportion is likely to keep growing.’
(The Economist 21 January 2012 at 65)
rent free
adverb, as in ‘use rent free’(see free)
rent-free
adjective, as in ‘rent-free usage’ (see free)
rent-seeking
not ‘rent seeking’ or ‘rentseeking’
reopen
not ‘re open’ or ‘re-open’
Republic
(see South Africa)
Republic
acceptable in this form as an adjective
require
does not also require a ‘must’
requirement
does not also require a ‘must’
requirement
not ‘requisite’ in the sense of a ‘requirement
— 121 —
of the Act’ (see also condition)
residential status
not ‘residence status’
resolutive condition
a condition affecting a perfected contract—eg
by terminating it
resonate
can you say ‘The decision will still resonate,
however’ (The Economist 23 February 2008
at 70)? Yes, since ‘resonate’ is both a
transitive and an intransitive verb
response-service
not ‘response service’
retrospect
‘to retrospect’ is archaic—eg not ‘If Mr Pauw
was to retrospect on his own experiences….’
retroactive/
retrospective
both are adjectives, and ‘retroactively’ and
‘retrospectively’ are both adverbs, but I
(Divaris) harbour a deep and, I hope,
consistent prejudice against ‘retroactively’—
eg ‘will rectify the problem with retroactive
effect’ but—eg ‘will retrospectively rectify the
problem’
revert
as a verb, simply means ‘return to’—eg not
‘I’ll revert to you.’
revert back
tautologous tautologous
rewriting
if you’re not rewriting, you’re not writing;
stop kidding yourself that your first drafts are
perfect
rhetorics
please tell me (Divaris) that this is a literal
rhetorical
a ‘rhetorical speech’ perhaps doesn’t mean
quite what you expect
right-winger
not ‘right winger’ or ‘rightwinger’
rigour
not’rigor’ unless in rigor mortis (see italics)
ring-fence
as verb and noun; not ‘ring fence’ or
‘ringfence’—eg ‘This follows the decision to
— 122 —
ring-fence the National health Service (a Tory
commitment) while continuing to raise the
small overseas-aid budget (a pledge made by
both parties). (The Economist 22 May 2010
at 37) (see this)
ring-fenced
not ‘ring fenced’ or ‘ringfenced’
ring-fencing
not ‘ring fencing’ or ringfencing’
roll-over
as a noun, not ‘roll over’ or ‘rollover’
roll over
as a verb, not ‘roll-over’ or ‘rollover’
roof
plural is ‘roofs’, not ‘rooves’
roof garden
not ‘roof-garden’ or roofgarden’
roof rack
not ‘roof-rack’ or ‘roofrack’
roughly speaking
round
v around; be careful of misleading your
reader—eg not ‘The main exception is a lively
business re-exporting Brazilian ethanol to the
United States to get round tariffs.’ (The
Economist 14 July 2007 at 50) (in that part of
the world nothing’s straight) (Collins sv
‘around’ says: ‘The use of around in adverbial
senses is less common in British English.’)
round robin
not ‘round Robin’
rule nisi
not ‘rule nisi’ or ‘rule nisi’ (see italics)
running-down
as compound gerund, not ‘running down’—eg
not ‘the running down of social capital’
— 123 —
— 124 —
Alphabetical entries—‘S’
s 11
not ‘Section 11’ unless at the beginning of a
sentence
s 13
eg s 13,
s 11(o)
is a paragraph, not a section but you should
avoid referring to subsections, paragraphs,
subparagraphs and the like unless absolutely
necessary; rather give the provision’s
abbreviation and distinguishing alphanumerical reference; if you must refer, use the
generic ‘provision’
ss 13, 14 and 15
after both ‘ss’ and ‘and’—eg ss 13, 14 and 15
ss 13, 14 and 15
after both ‘ss’ and ‘or’—eg ss 13, 14 or 15
sans
see italics
sans serif
not sans serif or sans serif; no one will know
what you mean
SARS
be very careful; since the advent of the Tax
Administration Act you must be sure to take a
court action against both SARS and the
Commissioner, and I (Divaris) take this
opportunity to wish you the very best of luck
satirize
not ‘satirise’
say
see for example
say
embraced by commas if setting up an example
or a hypothetical situation; do not use in
addition to ‘for example’ in the same sentence
Say’s law
supply creates its own demand
— 125 —
say-so
not ‘say so’ or ‘sayso’
Schadenfreude
if you’re going to pinch their noun, you
should pay them the courtesy of capitalizing it
Schedule
a Schedule found in an act is a ‘Schedule to’
that act—eg not ‘the Fourth Schedule of the
Income Tax Act’; the uppercase ‘S’ is required
not ‘scrapping allowance’
scrapping or
termination
allowance
Second Schedule to
the Act
not ‘Second Schedule’ in a piece not dealing
specifically with that schedule but only the
first time in that piece
Section, sections
written out in full at the beginning of a
sentence
Section 13
eg Section 13
section
is a section, not a subsection, paragraph,
subparagraph, item or proviso; use ‘provision’
as the generic
section, sections
abbreviation ‘sec’, ‘secs’
see, especially,
not ‘see especially’ or ‘see specially’
self-…
allegedly, all such expressions take a hyphen
self-defence
not ‘self defence’
self-explanatory
not ‘self explanatory’
selling price
not ‘sale price’
sentence adverbs
you are allowed, without comment, to start a
sentence with, say, ‘Certainly,…’ or
‘Frankly,…’ but will be regarded as an
ignoramus should you hit on ‘Hopefully,…’
(see hopefully)
sequela, sequelae
often given specialized meanings but perfectly
— 126 —
acceptable in its Latin sense of ‘that which
follows’ (see italics)
set off
‘to set off’ (verb) but ‘a set-off’ (noun
groups)—eg ‘Set-off (verbal noun) of taxable
capital gain against ring-fenced assessed loss’;
‘No set-off (noun) is permitted’; ‘the dividend
will have been discharged through set-off
(verbal noun) against the debit loan’; will be
available for set-off (verbal noun) against
future farming taxable income’; ‘prevents the
set-off (verbal noun) of a foreign assessed loss
against domestic trade income’; ‘The amount
may not be set off (verb) against taxable
income from another trade.’
sharecropper
not ‘share cropper’ or ‘share-cropper’
share block
not ‘share-block’ or ‘shareblock’
share block company
not ‘share-block company’ or ‘shareblock
company’
Share Blocks Control
Act 59 of 1980
not Share Block Control Act 59 of 1980
share-dealer
not ‘share dealer’ or ‘sharedealer’
share-dealing
not ‘share dealing’ or ‘sharedealing’
shareholder
not ‘share holder or share-holder’
shipowner
not ‘ship owner’ or ‘ship-owner’
short circuit
is a noun
short-circuit
is a transitive verb
short-lived
not ‘shortlived’ or ‘short lived’
short-paid
not ‘shortpaid’ or ‘short paid’
should not be
not ‘ought not to be’
similarly
— 127 —
of a sentence
since
a ‘since’ clause starting a sentence is always
followed by a comma; ‘as’ in the sense of
‘since’ is confusing, avoid it; preceded by a
comma only when there is a break in the flow
of the sentence, which happens fairly often
(see as)
situation
nothing drives me madder than what I
(Divaris) call ‘schoolboy English’, as in ‘in
the situation where’ instead of ‘in the situation
in which’; ‘where’ indicates a location, ‘in
which’ a circumstance
situation when
think about it, are ‘circumstances’ a time? If
you must use the phrase at least ape someone
who knows how to use it—eg ‘circumstances
in which’
slimeball
both noun and adjective
slimeball
not ‘slime ball’ or ‘slime-ball’
small capitals
in Word, press [Ctrl] [Shift] [k]
simultaneously—eg ‘SA’
small capitals
in case citations—use for ITC, SATC, (C), (AD),
and so on; it’s hard work but
your page ends up far more pleasing to the eye
SIR, CSARS, (SA)
small capitals
in judges’ titles—J, JA, CJ and so on
small capitals
beginning a sentence or heading, use the small
capital, not a full capital—eg ‘STC is a
voluntary tax’; not ‘STC is a voluntary tax’
small capitals
in an upper-lower-case heading, use a full
capital—eg This Is How The STC Works’
small capitals
(see acronyms)
small capitals
plurals take a small ‘s’—eg PBOs.
smallholding
not ‘small holding’ or ‘small-holding’
— 128 —
smart aleck
noun
smart-aleck
adjective
snake oil
not ‘snakeoil’ or ‘snake-oil’
so
see ‘that, for “so” ’
so
in the sense of ‘therefore’ or ‘thus’ to be used
only by an expert hand, and even then only
rarely
so-called
eg ‘so-called coloureds’, not ‘so-called
“coloureds” ’; the subject-matter (next word)
does not take quotation marks (see coloured,
coloureds)
socialize
not ‘socialise’
socioeconomic
not ‘socio-economic’
so cold
in preference to ‘that cold’
so easy
in preference to ‘this easy’
soliloquize
not ‘soliloquise’
so that
always preceded by a comma
source
you might be interested to note that a great
number of the items listed in this stylebook
were taken from material that had already
been edited twice and even thrice
source/sourced
in ‘foreign-sourced income’, ‘sourced’ is a
transitive verb, past participle, but is used as
part of a compound adjective; to me
(McAlister) this construction tells me that
something active was done to source the
income
source/sourced
in ‘foreign-source income’, ‘source’ is a noun
used as part of a compound adjective; this
construction is simply a statement of fact, no
action having been required to ‘source’ the
— 129 —
income
South Africa
not ‘the Republic’ unless territoriality is the
issue
South Africa’s
acceptable, especially if it avoids a turgid
possessive clause
southern Africa
not ‘Southern Africa’
spacing
never submit copy to an editor or publisher
with double spacing between sentences; it is a
convention from the days of typewriters (Use
CTRL + F to search your document for double
spaces)
Special Court for
Hearing Income
Tax Appeals
the first time the court is referred to in a piece,
then ‘Special Court’, but in Zimbabwe it is
‘Income Tax Appeals Special Court’; today
it’s simply the ‘Tax Court’
specially
means ‘for a special or particular purpose’,
while ‘especially’ means ‘exceptionally’, ‘to
an unusual or exceptional degree’; don’t
demonstrate your humble intellectual origins
by confusing the two
specific-identification
method
not ‘specific-identification method’ or
‘specific-identification-method’
spin off
verb; what is its past tense? Surely ‘spun
off’—eg (not?) ‘But most transactions were
domestic, as companies span off units or took
direct control of affiliates.’ (The Economist
20 June 2009 at 63).
spin-off
adjective
split infinitives
if you were a good enough writer to indulge,
you wouldn’t be reading this Stylebook but if
you’re a sociologist you’ll do it deliberately to
show that you’re above such bourgeois
concerns, as well as confirm that you cannot
write, except for your fellow drearrainians
(Divaris 2006a: 203)—eg not ‘to irrefutably
— 130 —
confirm’
square brackets
not ‘square parentheses’
square brackets
used only in a quotation to indicate editorially
introduced material
starting point
not ‘startingpoint’ or ‘starting-point’
starting price
not ‘startingprice’ or ‘starting-price’
state
not ‘State’ save in very special circumstances,
which I (Divaris) cannot currently articulate; I
remember that the late Ellison Kahn used to
explain it very well and am told that he said it
was ‘State’ only when the state was a litigant
but fear he has been quoted out of context
station hand
not ‘stationhand’ or ‘station-hand’
station wagon
not ‘stationwagon’ or ‘station-wagon’
status quo
the existing state of affairs (see italics)—eg
not ‘But it is unlikely that the status quo can
be restored soon, if ever.’ (The Economist
4 January 2014 at 29)
status quo ante
the previously existing state of affairs (see
italics)
statute book
not ‘Statute Book’ or ‘statute-book’
step by step
‘he approached cautiously, step by step’, but
‘a step-by-step approach’
step-up
‘he obtained a step-up in base cost’ but ‘his
appointment represented a significant step up
for him’
stepparent
not ‘step parent’ or ‘step-parent’
sterilize
not ‘sterilise’
stockbroker
not ‘stock-broker’
— 131 —
Stock Exchange
in ‘London Stock Exchange’, otherwise lower
case
substitute for
you can only substitute something for another
sub-item
not ‘subitem’
succour
not ‘succor’ (US)
such
sod such suchy suchness! ‘such’ is a word best
left to legislators, use it sparingly, and never in
the simple sense of ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’ or ‘that’—
eg not ‘such court held…’—eg not ‘A
member of a provident fund cannot retire from
such fund….’
such
see that
such a
not ‘any such’
such an amount
not ‘such amount’
such a way
not ‘such way’
such as that
que?
suit
as a verb, essentially means ‘be convenient’ or
‘enhances’ (see suite)
suite
many South Africans believe that this, sWEEt,
is how you spell the sOOt in ‘That date does
not suit me.’
summarize
not ‘summarise’
supercede
not ‘supersede’
supervise
not ‘supervize’
supposing that
supra
rather use ‘above’ (see italics)
surnames
in Afrikaans ‘van’, ‘de’ etc are capitals unless
— 132 —
preceded by first name or initials, they take
capitals also with ‘Dr’, ‘Mnr’, ‘Mev’, Mej’
alone)
surrounding
oh so refined elegant variation for ‘around’,
the universal, one-size-fits-all, left-wing
preposition (see around)
surprise
not ‘surprize’
suspensive condition
a condition whose fulfilment delays the
perfection of a contract, eg until finance is
raised
swap, swop
either is acceptable when used as a (transitive)
verb
synchronicity
sometimes you simply have to look up in a
dictionary a smart word you’ve seen
somewhere, that is, unless you’ve read Jung
or, far better, Koestler—eg not ‘It works by
allowing him to view only the rubber hand
while both it and his real hand are stroked in
synchronicity with one another.’ (The
synchronize
not ‘synchronise’
sympathize
not ‘sympathise’
— 133 —
— 134 —
Alphabetical entries—‘T’
tax
an individual is ‘liable to tax’ but an amount
‘is taxable’
taxable
an individual is ‘liable to tax’ but an amount
‘is taxable’
tax board
not Tax Board the first time the court is
referred to in a piece, then ‘board’ (see
s 83A(2) of the Income Tax Act)
tax court
not Tax Court (see s 115 of the Tax
Administration Act)
tax court
the first time the court is referred to in a piece,
then ‘court’
tax free
‘tax-free income’ but ‘income is tax free’
tax planning
hyphenated only if an adjective
tax treaty
not ‘double tax agreement’
tax year
the correct term is ‘year of assessment’
telephone
not ‘phone’ or ‘ ’phone’
tenant
use ‘lessee’
term
for a group of words with a particular
meaning—eg inter alia
term
not ‘word’ if referring to a word defined in
legislation or a contract (see word); one word,
ie in the sense ‘the term “editing” ’, cf
expression and phrase;
term
‘the term ‘x’ means’, not ‘ “x” means’
terms and conditions
choose one or the other, unless in advertising
textbook
not ‘text book’ or ‘text-book’
— 135 —
thankfully
(see hopefully)
than what
your education has been more seriously
lacking than even I (Divaris) imagined
That
for ‘The fact that’ is odious in the extreme,
mostly because you are leaving out so much
of the other stuff necessary for the
construction of an English sentence; but
rewrite the sentence anyway—eg not ‘That
humanity is one and indivisible would have
been taken for granted until about the time of
Darwin’s birth.’ (The Economist 24 January
2009 at 83) (see also the fact that)
that
for ‘the fact that’ in the middle of a sentence is
even worse—eg not ‘Such inventions
underline that Haier has graduated faster than
did, say, Japanese and South Korean
companies from the bargain basement into the
swish mall.’ (The Economist 1 October 2011
at 54) (see also the fact that)
that
signifies the particular subject matter; cf
‘which’
that
one of the few pronouns that may be used to
signify either an individual or a legal persona
but it’s silly and ugly to use it for an
individual when there is no need to avoid a
simple ‘who’—eg not ‘It is a rare company
boss, let alone one who has just got the top
job, that can get away with likening his firm’s
culture to a police state.’ (The Economist
16 August 2008 at 57) (in any event, a terrible
sentence)
that
under the tax laws words such as ‘person’ and
‘taxpayer’ could represent individuals and
juristic and entirely artificial persons; it might
therefore be considered appropriate to use
‘that’ instead of ‘who’ when referring to them,
except that you must be on guard not to use
the pronoun ‘that’ as an incredibly stupid
substitution for the article ‘the’, especially not
— 136 —
when the remarkably precise pronoun ‘such’ is
perfectly serviceable
that
as article (‘a’, ‘an’ ‘the’) will sink your
writing—eg not ‘that employee must
immediately inform that person and that
employer thereof’ when ‘the employee must
immediately inform both the person and the
employer of the gain’ will do
that
followed by a verb will often be both ugly and
superfluous—eg not ‘a company that disposes
of an asset’ when ‘a company disposing of an
asset’ will do (see participles)
that cold
almost universally acceptable now but use ‘so
cold’ rather
that, for
leave this comma out at your peril—eg ‘to see
that, for the process to work…’
that, for ‘so’
‘so’ is an adverb; a very common practice is to
replace it with ‘that’—eg not ‘The difference
between the BBB and BB categories is not that
fundamental.’ (The Economist 8 February
2014 at 60)
that is
not ‘ie’ save in headings or a table (see ie); is
treated the same as ‘for example’ in the matter
of commas (see for example)
that said
pretentious waffle, get rid of it; a change of
editor at The Economist was possibly
fortuitously associated with a sudden, endless
stream of insertions, apropos of nothing, of
‘that said’s, many appearing to have been
added at the editing stage, until—Lo!—the
editor in chief and management editor of that
newspaper, as it likes to describe itself, wrote
an article in Foreign Affairs of 1 August 2014,
proving that the thesis that culpability lies at
the very highest levels
the fact that
not just simply ‘that’ but rewrite the sentence
anyway—eg not ‘Despite the fact that he was
— 137 —
badly injured, he soldiered on.’—eg, rather
‘Despite being badly injured he soldiered on.’
the former…the latter
utterly verboten, as being slovenly and totally
inconsiderate of the reader
the granting of
not ‘the grant of’, which is especially ugly
the issue of
not ‘the issuing of’; both are nouns but the
usage of one is unidiomatic
them, their
the possessive gerund is not everyman’s cup
of tea; eg not—‘Teaching people about what
they might wear during intercourse is an
important way of reducing the chance of them
catching HIV.’ (The Economist 22 September
2007 at 87)
their, them
see them, their
thereafter
not ‘after that’; but generally best avoided,
since it has become a legalism; what’s wrong
with ‘afterwards’, ‘then’ or ‘after that date’?
therefore
despite what you learned in school, is very
seldom preceded and followed by commas,
and only when the sense absolutely demands
it, ie when ‘therefore’ breaks the flow of the
sentence—eg ‘It is questionable, therefore, to
conclude that there is no equity in a tax’
therefore
not ‘∴’ save in a mathematical treatise
thereof
show some respect for the reader, you
pseud—eg ‘A bank failure (or the fear thereof)
could create a systemic panic.’ (The
thereto
a legalism, to be used only in an attempt at
humour
theses and
dissertations
unpublished, cite as follows: ‘George Jones
Personal Servitudes (unpublished LLD thesis
University of Blikkiesfontein 1976) 261.’, if a
master’s degree, it would be ‘(unpublished
— 138 —
LLM dissertation…)’
this
if unrelated to a preceding noun fitting exactly
into the sentence using ‘this’, is wrong,
without qualification save in headings and
tables and when space is at a premium; the
question is: this what? Pronouns stand in for a
noun, if the noun is not in the previous (or
current) sentence in the exact form required
by the second sentence, you have an idle mind
and an even lazier hand; notice how The
Economist has under its latest editor (2006–
2008) become harder to read enjoyably, then
count the number of unrelated pronouns the
swine allows; here are examples taken from a
single edition, that of 9 July 2011 (in each
instance, I—Divaris—certify the absence of
any related noun): ‘In principle, every liberal
should celebrate this.’ (p 11) ‘Four deeply
worrying questions emerge from this.’ (p 12)
‘There is no good economic reason why this
should be happening.’ (p 13) ‘If much of this
is true, there were no qualms, and few limits,
in the way the paper went after scoops.’
(p 31) ‘What are vote-seeking politicians to
make of this?’ (p 48)
this
more on the unrelated pronoun—eg not ‘It
really should fall to Michigan’s governor to
bang the necessary heads together, but this has
not yet happened.’ (The Economist 22 October
2011 at 58)
this, doubly unrelated
very seldom do you see a single unrelated this
made to stand in for two, lightly sketched
ideas—eg not ‘As developing countries, albeit
major emitters, they need undertake no
mitigation commitment. This [first idea] was
America’s biggest objection to the UN scheme
and is [second idea], above all, what they seek
to preserve.’ (The Economist 3 September
2011 at 52)
this easy
almost universally acceptable but rather use
‘so easy’
— 139 —
this means that
thus
those
as pronoun takes the same number as the
noun—eg not ‘The economy suffered badly in
the global recession of 2009, but over the
previous five years it had been unusually
vigorous, and it has bounced back so quickly
that this year it is likely to grow faster than
those of almost all other European countries.’
(The Economist 23 October 2010 at 15 of
special supplement)
thus
means ‘in this way’, not to be used in sense of
‘therefore’;
thus
not followed by a comma unless followed by a
parenthetical clause preceding the conclusion
pointed to by the word ‘thus’
thus
not ‘so’ in the sense of ‘thus’ (see so)
time-consuming
not ‘time consuming’
timeous
all my (Divaris) sources say this is a word of
Scottish usage, which is no reason to dislike
it; I (McAllister) have taken to rather using
alternatives—eg ‘in time’—eg ‘within the
prescribed period’, since the word is popular
only in Scotland and SA
timeshare
not ‘time share’ or time-share’ unless you are
dealing with legislation using the hyphen
time sharing
not ‘time-sharing’ or ‘timesharing’
titles
see headings
tjommies
not ‘chommies’ or ‘chommies
to be, verb
when used with a missing object brings your
reader up short—eg not ‘Less advertised was
that on the journey back home Barghash could
not resist buying a selection of women slaves
in Egypt for his harem.’ (The Economist
6 August 2011 at 65) (puzzled? ‘Was’ is the
— 140 —
first person singular, past tense, conjugation of
the verb ‘to be’)
to contextualize
the issue
to either…or
with ‘either’ in this position, you need only
one ‘or’ (see either to…or to…)
toing and froing
not ‘to-ing and fro-ing’
too
these days often not embraced by commas—
eg ‘In this instance too…’
to be, the verb
schoolboys of all ages never learn how to use
irregular verbs—eg not ‘The biggest danger
for companies is if workers head for the door
as the economy picks up.…Most problematic
of all is when star employees decide to look
for work elsewhere.’ (The Economist 22 May
2010 at 73) (still with us, dumbo? An irregular
verb is one not following regular patterns of
conjugation)
to the best of my
knowledge
yuck! What on earth is wrong with ‘as far as I
know”?
to stop up
not ‘to stopup’ or ‘to stop-up’
trade
the adjective is really ‘trading’ but ‘trade’ has
become an adjective—eg ‘trade debts’, ‘trade
creditors’, ‘trade cycle’
trademark
not ‘trade mark’ or ‘trade-mark’
trading stock
not ‘stock-in-trade’ and not yet ‘trade stock’
trading stock
not ‘inventory’
tramline
not ‘tram line’ or ‘tram-line’
transactions costs
not ‘transaction costs’ (economics jargon)
transitional
is the adjective from ‘transition’
— 141 —
translations
indicate elegantly by adding—eg ‘(Translated
from the Afrikaans.)’
transparent
in the old South Africa it meant ‘can’t be
seen’; now it is supposed to mean ‘visible’ but
fuhgeddaboudit
transpire
you ought to save it for biology but in these
days of computer-aided analysis of huge
volumes of writings, if enough people make
the same mistake, the mistake is recorded as
correct usage even in respectable dictionaries;
I (Divaris) still think it makes you look like a
prat if you use it to signify ‘come to light’—
eg not ‘One recent poll showed that the
Socialists had cut the PP’s lead to seven
percentage points. If that transpires on
election day, Mr Rajoy would find himself at
the head of a minority government, with less
clout over the economy.’ (The Economist
6 August 2011 at 23)
traveller
not ‘traveler’
travelling allowance
not ‘travel allowance’, which is an
unnecessary compound noun (see participle)
tripartite
not ‘tri-partite’
trite
is an adjective, the nounal form of which is
‘triteness’; therefore you cannot say’ It is trite
that…’
trust’s
acceptable, especially if it avoids turgid
possessive clauses
tsar
I (Divaris) prefer ‘czar’ but both are
acceptable
— 142 —
Alphabetical entries—‘U’
unable
not ‘not able’ or ‘not be able’
unacceptable
not ‘not acceptable’
unavailable
not ‘not available’
unclear
not ‘not clear’
under
not ‘in terms of’, for crying in a bucket
under-
no matter what Bill Gates says, all ‘under-’
compounds are one word—eg ‘underground’
underline
do not extend underling to any immediately
preceding or following punctuation marks—
eg ‘…the idea is dead.’
underpay
not ‘under pay’ or ‘under-pay’
under way
not ‘underway’ or ‘under-way’—eg ‘already
under way’, but an ‘underway inspection’
undoubtedly
always followed by a comma when at the
beginning of a sentence
unfortunately
of a sentence
unhappy
not ‘not happy’
unit-holder
not ‘unit holder’ or ‘unitholder’
unlikely
not ‘not likely’ unless you interpose a
‘bloody’, which I (Divaris) find is often called
for
unmarried
not ‘not married’
unnecessary
not ‘not necessary’
unregistered
not ‘nonregistered’
— 143 —
unrelated
pronouns, gerunds and participles destroy
what might otherwise be passable writing;
allow only in headings and tables or when
space is at a premium;—eg not ‘Using an
independent estimate of inflation, the poverty
rate has risen from 27% in 2006 to 30%, with
1.3m Argentines descending into poverty last
year, according to calculations by Ernesto
Kritz, a labour economist in Buenos Aires.’
(The Economist 3 May 2008 at 58)—eg not
‘However, comparing data from various
studies can be unreliable because slightly
different methods may be used.’ (The
Economist 16 August 2008 at 71)—eg not ‘By
bringing the CNDP into Congo’s army and
reducing the Hutus’ FDLR to shards in the
forest, security in eastern Congo could
worsen, with smaller and more erratic gangs
of often drunken gunmen looking for even
nastier ways to make money and have fun.’
(The Economist 31 January 2009 at 43)—eg
not ‘Shopping at Waitrose with my husband, a
man came and tapped Johnnie on the
shoulder.’ (Sarah Standing The Spectator
11 July 2009)—eg not ‘A Republican and a
Mormon from a city, Mesa, that has lots of
both, he shot to fame last year after
sponsoring SB1070, a state law that would,
among other things, require local cops to
enforce federal immigration laws whenever
they suspect an individual of being in the
country illegally (which, critics argue, would
force them to go after people who look
Mexican). (The Economist 4 June 2011
at 60)—eg not ‘So before rebuilding houses,
shops and factories, the sea wall will have to
be restored and heightened, and the ground
raised.’ (The Economist 6 August 2011
at 43)—eg not ‘As a share of GDP, the French
state now spends more than Sweden.’ (The
unrelated
adjectival clause
the main purpose of professional writing is to
offer the reader a smooth, logical flow of
words; if the writer contributes enough effort,
— 144 —
unreported decisions
the reader will be able to absorb the message
effortlessly and be left in peace to react to it;
all is lost when the poor reader has to search
for your noun—eg not ‘Already half-finished,
experts worry that it may be too late to correct
any problems.’ (The Economist 16 January
2016 at 34)
‘in S v Jones (TPD 1 September 1983,
unreported), ‘In S v Jones (TPD 1 September
1983 (Case 8148 (82), unreported)’
unsuitable
not ‘not suitable’
until
up to a time but not afterwards, according to
Bloomsbury, but it is surprisingly ambiguous;
what, for example, does ‘I am out of the office
(on leave) until 9 January 2014’ mean?
Strictly, that I get back on the 10th, but it
sounds as if I’ll be in on the 9th
up front
as an adverb, not ‘up-front’ or ‘upfront’—eg
‘a payment made upfront’
up-front
as an adjective, not ‘up front’ or ‘upfront’; I
(Divaris) still see this as commercial slang but
it is too useful to abjure—eg ‘an up-frontpayment’
use
not ‘utilize’ unless in a technical piece you are
using the exact wording of legislation; even
then I cannot see the harm of using normal
language
usable
not ‘useable’
usage
not ‘useage’ or ‘usuage’
usufruct
not ‘usufruct’
usufructuary
not ‘usufructuary’
usually
preserved as antithesis of ‘unusually’, not
used in place of ‘normal’ or ‘ordinary’
utilize
not ‘utilise’ but use it only in a quotation;
— 145 —
what, after all, what is wrong with good old
‘use’? (see use)
Utopia
not ‘utopia’
— 146 —
Alphabetical entries—‘V’
Alphabetical entries—‘V’
v
in italics in case citation
Value-Added Tax Act
not ‘Value-added Tax Act’
vandalize
not ‘vandalise’
vagaries
although I (Divaris) still love the old
pronunciation, people will think you mad
unless you say ‘VEYgaries’, that is, if they
have even the faintest idea of what you’re on
about
venerable
does not mean ‘old’
verbally
does not mean ‘orally’, see a dictionary; all
agreements are ‘verbally concluded’ but only
some are orally
via
not via; despite my (Divaris) strictures about
italics (see italics), this word is simply too
embedded to be regarded as foreign
vice versa
not ‘vice versa’ (see italics)
vis-à-vis
hyphens, accent, italics (see italics) but please
use only when nothing else will work; in its
most popular usage it means not ‘to’ but ‘in
relation to’ or ‘regarding’, so the chances that
you are waffling when you resort to it are
great; it always amazes me how near-illiterate
writers somehow pick up this little grace
— 147 —
— 148 —
Alphabetical entries—‘W’
warmed over
since ‘warm over’ is a transitive verb and its
past tense is ‘warmed over’, I (Divaris) would
say that no hyphen is required in the adverbial
sense, ie not ‘warmed-over’—eg ‘these
warmed over theories’
wartime
not ‘not war time’ or ‘war-time’
was due to
you had better be sure of your sentence
wastepaper basket
not ‘waste-paper-basket’
wastepaper bin
not ‘waste-paper-bin’
watershed
not ‘water shed’ or ‘water-shed’
was when
what I (Divaris) call schoolboy English—eg
not ‘The biggest deal of the year was when
Takeda, a Japanese drug firm, bought
Nycomed, a Swiss one, for Y1 trillion.’ (The
Economist 17 December 2011 at 116)
we
unless you and the reader are an item, avoid
apostrophizing the two of you unless for
humorous purposes
webpage
apparently the way Mr Gates writes it, not
‘web page’
weighted-average
method
not ‘weighted average method’ or ‘weightedaverage-method’; therefore, by analogy,
‘moving-weighted-average method’ (see
hyphen)
‘to be well advised’ but a ‘well-advised
decision’ (see hyphen)
well advised
well known
he is ‘well known’, but a ‘well-known’ book
(see hyphen)
well established
a ‘well-established principle’ but a ‘principle
is well established’ (see hyphen)
— 149 —
Western
not ‘western’ countries
whatchamacallit
what can I (Divaris) say? That’s how you spell
it
what is critical
what is evident
what must always
be borne in mind
when
when used instead of ‘where’ or ‘if’—you’re
an attorney, aren’t you? (see if, where)
when
for ‘in which’—eg not ‘Another issue is how
to deal with the situation when…’ (see
situation, circumstances)
when
use solely to indicate time
where
if you start a sentence with ‘where’, you are
fooling no one with your supposed erudition,
and, I (Divaris) suspect, not using English but
Japanese (see if) (sources tell me it comes
from an old English drafting style, favoured
also in the colonies)
where
use it solely to indicate place—eg not ‘It
might involve omitting especially awkward
readings; or where, for example, a heat source
like an airport has sprung up alongside a
weather station, inputting a lower temperature
than the data show.’ (The Economist
22 October 2011)
whereabouts
as noun takes a singular or plural verb—eg
(I—Divaris—think it sounds awful) ‘His
whereabouts is unknown.’ (The Economist
20 November 2010 at 64)
whereas
who lost ‘while’?
whereby
legalese, not allowed; try ‘by which’, ‘because
of which’, ‘under which’ (see in terms of
— 150 —
which)
whether
not ‘as to whether’ (see as to); ‘the question
whether’ not just simply ‘whether’, and not
‘the question as to whether’ (see as to)
whether or not
when the ‘or not’ is pleonastic, as it often is,
get rid of it; eg not—‘They may also modify
premiums depending on whether or not
someone has a gene known as SRY—the one
that makes you male.’ (The Economist
25 August 2007 at 74)—eg not ‘They looked
for whether or not competitors indulged in
post-match behaviour such as tilting their
heads back…’ (The Economist 16 August
2008 at 71)—eg not ‘Tim Murphy, a
Pennsylvania congressman, is championing a
bill that would give Congress power to review
presidential decisions on whether or not to
increase import duties in the face of sudden
dislocation.’ (The Economist 31 January 2009
at 49)
which
signifies a descriptive clause amplifying the
quality of the subject-matter (see that)
which
if unrelated (see unrelated), leaves the reader
to write your stuff for you—eg not ‘The
Maastricht treaty of 1992 proscribed bail-outs
of improvident member nations, which was
meant to avoid such issues ever arising.’ (The
which x
this had better be a question
while
a ‘while’ clause is always preceded by a
comma
while
not ‘whilst’ unless you really want to come
across as a poopall
whisky
not ‘whiskey’
whistleblower
not ‘whistle blower’ or ‘whistle-blower’
— 151 —
white, whites
as noun and adjective, not ‘White’, ‘Whites’
with respect to
legalese; writers using ‘respect’ deserve none;
try ‘about’, ‘for’ or ‘on’, or simply rewrite
who
can refer only to a natural person (see that)
who
never repeated twice in the same sentence
with reference to the same person
who
‘or who’ is bound to be pleonastic
Who am I?
the question you need to ask of every article,
whether definite or indefinite
wholly owned
not ‘whollyowned’ or ‘wholly-owned’
wholly controlled
not ‘whollycontrolled’ or ‘wholly-controlled’
whose
can be used in relation to natural persons and
things and although sometimes ugly can get
you out of a turgid spot
wilful
not ‘willful’
willy-nilly
not willlynilly or willy nilly
willy-nilly
means ‘without wanting to’ or ‘haphazardly’,
not ‘capriciously’
wind up
(not involving the movement of air) the verb
wind-up
the noun
winding up
the verb (present participle), not ‘winding-up’;
(‘up’, a correspondent tells me, is a
prepositional verb which may be used as an
adverb or an adjective; it is used here as an
adverb)—eg ‘The winding up of a solvent
company is regulated by part G of Chapter 2
of the Companies Act.’
winding-up
the noun, not ‘winding up’—eg ‘Generally, a
liquidator will carry on a company’s business
temporarily in order only to ensure its
— 152 —
beneficial winding-up.’—eg ‘A voluntary
winding-up may be instituted.’—eg ‘A
winding-up order may be obtained by an
interested party.’ (nounal adjective)—eg ‘The
winding up [verb] of a company arises when a
company ends its corporate existence through
a formal process of winding-up [noun] or
liquidation.’
witch-hunt
not ‘witchhunt’ or ‘witch hunt’
with regard to
legalese; try ‘about’ or ‘for’
wont
if you are ‘wont’ to do something, you are
accustomed to doing it—eg not ‘If it succeeds
in pressuring the NPA into withdrawing the
renewed corruption charges against Zuma, as
it seems wont to do….’
word
not ‘term’ if referring to a word in ordinary
language (see term)
work in progress
not ‘work-in-progress’, at least, not as a noun;
but the ‘work-in-progress account’
workplace
not ‘work place’ or ‘work-place’
worldwide
not ‘world wide’ or ‘world-wide’ (even I—
Divaris—no longer remember the World-wide
magazine—or was it Worldwide)?
writing
is hard work but enjoyable
write down
the verb—eg ‘We are going to write down the
value of our investment.’
write-down
the noun—eg ‘The provision provides for a
write-down of trading stock.’
wrongdoing
not ‘wrong doing’ or ‘wrong-doing’
— 153 —
— 154 —
Alphabetical entries—‘Y’
Alphabetical entries—‘Y’
year
a year, not ‘per year’
year
not used to start a sentence; write the number
in full or find some other solution—eg ‘The
year 2006…’
year 1
not ‘Year 1’ save at the beginning of a
sentence or a line in an example
year ending
see ended, ending
year of assessment
not ‘tax year’ save in examples using ‘tax
year 1’, headings and tables
Yes
‘the answer is Yes’ is a wonderful liberty in a
world without subeditors
yet, as
the comma remains necessary in most
instances, especially if you are going to use
one at the end of the ‘as’ clause—eg not ‘Yet
as our briefing this week explains…, the role
of outsiders has been secondary.’ (The
yuck
not ‘yuk’
— 155 —
— 156 —
Alphabetical entries—‘Z’
Alphabetical entries—‘Z’
zero-rating
not ‘zero rating’ or ‘zerorating’
— 157 —
— 158 —
Numbers & characters
/
when two words are separated by a forwardslash symbol, there is no space on either side
of the slash, except when the writer knows of
no other method to prevent bad line-breaks
/
when a forward-slash is used to denote a
fraction not used in a calculation there are no
spaces on either side of the slash—eg ‘The
exempt portion of a foreign dividend is 25/40
for an individual.’
/
when a forward-slash is used as a division
sign a nonbreaking space should be left on
either side of it—eg ‘R100 / 2 = R50’—eg
‘R60 × 1 / 3 = R20’
×
multiplication sign; in MS Word you will find
it as a small ‘x’ in Insert Symbols, with the
Unicode ‘00D7’; the shortcut key is ALT +
0215 (numpad)
computer abbreviations GB (gigabyte) MB (megabyte) KB (kilobyte) TB
(terabyte)Gb (gigabit) Mb (megabit) Kb
(kilobit)—eg ‘He has a 1 Mbps line, which
gives a theoretical maximum download speed
of 125 KBps.’ (Confused? There are 8 bits in a
byte. Therefore 1 Mbps = 1 000 Kbps and
1 000 Kbps = 1 000 Kb / 8 = 125 KBps.)—eg
‘She upgraded her 250 GB hard drive to a 3 TB
hard drive.’
metric system (SI)
leave a nonbreaking space between the
number and measurement unit—eg ‘10 kg’
and ‘150 km’
rand sign
no space between a rand sign and a number—
eg ‘R5,75’—eg not ‘R 5,75’
x% or fewer
for discrete items—eg not ‘The government
usually accepts them, but since the UMNHCR
office is headed by a former Israeli diplomat
and approves 1% or less of applications,
— 159 —
immigrants’ [organizations] hardly see it as
impartial.’ (The Economist 25 August 2007
at 41–2)
x % or less
for volumes—eg ‘10% or less of the mixture
is wasted’
— 160 —
Great reference works
Great reference works
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage 1 ed (2002) by H W Fowler
Oxford University Press
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage 2 ed (1968) by H W Fowler and
revised by Sir Ernest Gower Oxford University Press
Authors and Printers Dictionary 11 ed (1973) by F Howard Collins and
revised by Stanley Beale Oxford University Press
Black’s Law Dictionary Bryan A Garner editor in chief 9 ed (2009) West
Group
Bloomsbury English Dictionary 2 ed (2004) Bloomsbury Publishing plc
Collins English Dictionary 9 ed (2007) HarperCollins Publishers
English Pronouncing Dictionary by Daniel Jones and revised by
A C Gimson 14 ed (1984)
Glossarium by Dr Theo B Rood (2003) Proctrust Publications
New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors R M Riter ed (2005)
Oxford University Press
The Chambers Dictionary New edition (2000) Chambers Harrap
Publishers Ltd
The Language Wars—A History of Proper English Henry Hitchings
(2011) John Murray
The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary Lesley Brown ed (1993) Clarendon
Press (two vols)
The Right Word at the Right Time John Ellison Kahn ed 1 ed (1985) The
Reader’s Digest Association Ltd
The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Pierce, David E Schultz
& S T Joshi editors (2002) The University of Georgia Press
The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher (2005) Arrow Books
— 161 —
— 162 —
Six Steps To Improving Your Professional
Writing
by
Costa Divaris
Avoid a remarkably small list of mistakes picked up from your
supposed betters and start reading like the Jane Austen or
Antony Sher of business communications
Original revised and expanded
— 163 —
— 164 —
Introduction—Any hope for cruddy writing?
INTRODUCTION
Any hope for cruddy writing?
Gresham’s law of writing
I don’t know much how the other professions write English but I have
been editing technical stuff prepared by lawyers and accountants for a
very long time. Apart from a couple of giants, now sadly gone, whose
stuff you did not dare to edit but merely read, with enjoyment, they all
occlude their meaning with a number of graces designed to impress their
colleagues and baffle their clients. Most of them picked up their bad
habits from the crappy textbooks their university lecturers inflicted upon
them, in the certain knowledge that there was no other path to book
sales. The mystery is why they took no leaf from the books written by
the giants. Perhaps in the economics of the commercial professions bad
writing always drives out good.
What has always puzzled me is the question whether there is any
hope for these miserable wretches. Can you teach them to improve their
efforts? There are, alas, reasons for despair.
Be grateful to & learn from your editor
In the first place, only once in my career as official, if not professional,
editor did I ever notice one of my victims notice, and we remain, down
through the decades, steadfastly not on speaks. The rest accepted that
sparkling prose had somehow sprung from their awkward wrists with
the inevitability of an estate agent’s description of a swimming pool.
Outsiders cannot possibly grasp the astonishing power of this
authorial delusion, which holds even when a loaves-and-fishes editorial
operation is carried out upon a pathetic few morsels tendered at the last
possible moment before publication. Not only may the multitude feast
without miraculous appreciation but even water in the form of a clutch
of phrases turned into reams of printed wine will elicit no comment
from an absurdly proud author.
Sometimes pride comes from membership of a learned trade union. I
recently sat with two high-ranking attorneys, showing them, by chapter
and verse, the appalling structural deficiencies and bad drafting of a
will, the product of their very own hand, leading to astonishing
unintended consequences and contradictions, only to be told that ‘you
cannot say everything at once’, for which you may read ‘you are not a
lawyer and so cannot possibly understand’.
Only once in my entire career has someone I have bluntly told that he
or she is a bad writer actually tried to do something about it, and with
some success, I might add.
— 165 —
Read, read, read
Secondly, and this point is somehow related to the first, professionals of
this ilk never read. Reading is the sole path to better writing, and it does
not necessarily have to be of the works of the best English novelist of all
time mentioned in my subtitle or even those of someone who in my
opinion is a worthy local equivalent and on that account enjoys equal
credits. A weekly dip into The Economist would do as well, even though
its current global reach has encouraged it to experiment with
innovations and solecisms I personally still disallow. Business Day
exhibits world-class qualities, yet the newspaper of choice of the type of
professional I am describing will probably be The Citizen.
Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite
Thirdly, they never read—and rewrite—their own stuff. Mozart was
blessed with a direct line to God and immediately and immaculately
recorded what came down the pipe. Churchill wrote and never had to
correct or improve, relying upon his vast experience, in life as in prose.
The rest of us were mostly born to struggle, without necessarily
becoming rich. But professionals are incredibly egotistical. I had to deal
for several years with one jackanapes (name available on written
request) who recorded his efforts while driving to work through the
Cape Town traffic, had his secretary type out whatever she thought she
heard, and then posted the finished product, unread, to editors and
publishers of repute (including, not least, moi). Another extremely
famous man (ditto), having solemnly undertaken personally to
contribute to a publication in his capacity as co-editor, left everything to
an underling, whose forte was the most impenetrable legalese
imaginable, which landed on my troubled desk unreviewed either by
master or lackey.
Tailor the message to the medium
Fourthly (and I begin to see a link between all these things—these
bastards are irredeemably arrogant), they have no regard for the
destination of their scribblings. A senior job applicant knocking on, say,
Pick ’n Pay’s door would presumably learn as much beforehand about
the company as possible. But a professional contributing to, say, a
business magazine never seems to study it and its style in an attempt to
discern its peculiar standards of excellence. I have had huge fights with
eminent lawyers over idiotic issues such as the use of CAPITALS for
trade marks and the capitalization of the names of courts when these
were matters fixed indelibly by the stylebook.
A lawyer will give you bulleted points including their own subbulleted points, while an accountant will give you paragraphs, subparagraphs, sub-sub paragraphs and sub-sub-sub paragraphs
distinguished by an elaborate decimal numbering system, neither
conceit adding anything to the content and both systems totally
— 166 —
unacceptable as a form of presentation to fee-paying readers. As I often
suggest to the national fiscal draftsperson, even if only apostrophically,
when structure is meant to carry your meaning, all you achieve is to
abuse the reader while confusing the hell out of yourself.
Enjoy the ride
Finally, they take no pleasure whatsoever in the act of literary creation
but see it as a mere chore on the to-do list to be ticked off as soon and as
painlessly as possible. Imagine how many other jobs they complete
without pride, often at the cost of you, their client! A real professional—
like a professional sportsperson in imagination replaying a shot, throw
or kick—reads and rereads his or her published stuff, mentally marking
both previously unnoticed slips and unconsidered improvements for the
future but mostly enjoying the relived experience of hard-won expertise
professionally deployed.
If not by passion, then by rote
Nevertheless, over the years I have been struck by a statistical oddity,
namely, the striking similarity of the mistakes that professionals
perpetrate when putting pen to paper or thumbs to keyboard—mistakes
they would ordinarily not be caught dead making in ordinary speech.
Remarkably, these mistakes cluster under so few heads that the hope
arises that through the simple expedient of listing them they will in
future be recognized and avoided. Fat chance.
Even so, I have a principal job to do in this series of Supplements in
learning and conveying what it means to draft a contract or legislation
well, and you surely cannot hope to write a contract or a law well if you
cannot yourself write a decent paragraph or two, whether of a letter, a
report or an article or an opinion.
Pessimism must consequently be shunted aside and pearls cast
putatively before the proverbial swine.
References
Since I have neither the know-how nor the urge to delve into the arcane
technicalities of language, I restrict myself to two main sources—for
definitions, The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary Lesley Brown
ed Clarendon Press Oxford (1993), and for grammatical insights, the
glossary to a delightful book I have chanced upon, The Unfolding of
Language by Guy Deutscher Arrow Books United Kingdom (2005).
Other references I have used are Bloomsbury English Dictionary New
Edition Bloomsbury Publishing Plc London (2004); Roget’s Thesaurus
of English Words & Phrases 150th Anniversary Edition George
Davidson ed Penguin Books Ltd London (2002) and Fowler’s Modern
English Usage revised by Sir Ernest Gowers 2 ed Oxford University
Press Oxford (1977) (I cannot tolerate the modern 3 ed and note with
some spite that it was supplanted by the 1 ed, which, for a while at least
— 167 —
was back in print and on sale).
— 168 —
Introduction—On professional writing in general
On professional writing in general
Tradesmen’s shibboleths
No one wants to be a scab, even in an intellectual union, and certain
trades demand certain styles of presentation. Real science writers, for
example, will leave you—and me—nonplussed by the subtitle, and that
is as far as we will ever go. As for maths books, I have never managed
to reach the end of the first page. But in these fields there is only one
audience, and woe betide you if you cannot reach it. In softer disciplines
there is far more reliance upon a general audience, yet convention and
hubris refuse to release their tenacious hold. Sociologists have to tell
you which of their colleagues first used the word ‘and’. Accountants
have to number their dreary concerns to five decimal places. Economists
have to tell you that prices will go up unless they go down. And lawyers
have to tell you how truly, truly great they are, really.
But, as a writer, you have to decide. Are you out to impress your
colleagues? They are unimpressible and take you for a fool and a
charlatan. (Quick test: What do you think of them?) Nevertheless, if that
is what you want, go for it, and perhaps one day, after you are dead, they
will remember that you once muttered under your breath: ‘Even so, it
does move.’ Or are you out actually to communicate with anyone
prepared to listen and to benefit from your experience and dedication to
the truth as you see it? A vast audience exists, eager to learn and grow.
Take the present passage as a disclaimer, then, attesting to at least
some familiarity with these professional conceits, for that is all that they
are, coexistent nevertheless with an intention to hold professional
writers accountable to their readers even in the face of a blizzard of selfjustification and rationalization.
In other words, I am fully aware that various styles of writing belong
within the context of particular disciplines and are coloured by the
conventions and standards of those disciplines, yet I refuse to grant any
such style either sanctuary or asylum.
Column-width
In all professional writings, while perhaps being constrained by the
medium and circumstances, you still have to exercise whatever
authority you might enjoy in deciding upon the physical form of
presentation. An important issue under this head is the width of your
columns.
A newspaper is quickly accessible mainly because of its extremely
narrow columns. You can read it while brushing your teeth yet never
lose your place. More content-laden and lengthier material requires
wider columns, since acres of narrow columns on a single topic would
make even the Wall Street Journal (at least under its previous owners)
— 169 —
look eye-catching.
On the other hand, many professionals do themselves a disservice by
presenting lengthy writings in A4-wide columns, which are difficult and
take time to read. By contrast, most attorneys and advocates maintain a
learned convention of writing screeds and screeds in a single narrow
column centred on A4 pages and in double-spacing, which, for me, at
least, results in a complete disconnect between eye and brain. Even
normal people surely lose the thread, probably because the rate of dataflow is too slow to maintain continuity. (Very much like the ridiculously
misnamed ‘broadband’ ADSL lines I hire from no fewer than four South
African ‘service’-providers, in the hope that at least one of them will be
operative at any particular time.)
To the extent that you enjoy any influence over the matter, choose a
moderate column-width, well surrounded with critical white space. You
will find that even when you control all the publishing levers it is
surprisingly difficult to end up with a well-designed page.
Length of paragraphs
By contrast, the length of your paragraphs is entirely up to you, unless
you are lucky enough to have an editor and are willing to take advice.
Again, newspapers are easy and quick to read because they use only
short paragraphs. Taken to extremes, the idea of short paragraphs
backfires, since, once again, you break your reader’s attention-span, as
was amply demonstrated by The Citizen in the days when it was
notoriously—although for several years secretly—run by the South
African government, which allocated only a single sentence to each
paragraph. To read it was a bizarre experience, in more than one sense.
(The present lot in power also want their own newspaper but cannot
work out a suitable wheeze to steal from you the money needed to run
it.) [OK, so it’s now a solved problem.]
On the other hand, in some quarters long paragraphs are associated
with erudition, thus serving to massage the author’s vanity and polish
his or her standing within a particular intellectual milieu rather than
promote communication with the reader.
Since there would appear to be some connection between columnwidth and paragraph-length, we are perhaps all well advised to shorten
our paragraphs as our columns constrict, since, like crime in South
Africa, long paragraphs may merely be a perception. (After all, it is not
as if you will be shot if you write a long paragraph.)
Simple annoyances
What about simple annoyances? Couldn’t these make the going rough
for the long-suffering reader? Here are a few illustrations, in rough
alphabetical order:
— 170 —
Abbreviations & acronyms
Unnecessary abbreviations and acronyms can be annoying, especially
when space is not a limiting factor. On the other hand well-known,
pronounceable acronyms are entirely acceptable. Thus write South
Africa and the United States, not SA or the US; but SARS, not the South
African Revenue Service.
Should you believe it necessary to explain an acronym, do it once, the
very first time you refer to the entity or concept, and do it simply. For
example, your reader is less likely to take you for an insufferable prig if
you write the capital gains tax (CGT) rather than the capital gains tax
(‘CGT’). In my experience, the greater the resort to the affectations of
academe, the more sterile the content.
But be careful! A proliferation of obscure acronyms will make your
copy look terrible to the eye and could utterly confuse your reader.
Rather write out in full the names of the institutions or concepts
concerned and stick to mainstream acronyms only. Never, ever translate
a personally devised concept into an acronym, expecting your reader to
memorize it, such as TBI for the Big Idea, but if you must, do it for a
single concept only. If it is CTS you fear, rather use the acronym in
producing the work and then replace it with your word-processing
program’s find-and-replace facility. (What’s that? Your program lacks
such a facility? Ask your child to show you.) Otherwise your reader will
simply give up.
Nothing is more offensive to my eye than the conversion in a text of
the name of a piece of legislation into an acronym, such as ITA for the
Income Tax Act or VATA for the Value-Added Tax Act. The idea of writing
is not to save your supposedly valuable time but to communicate with—
not abuse—the reader. If you do not have the time to fashion the letters
or capture the keystrokes, please do not write.
Authorial plural
Even a short while in high office, anywhere in the world, permits you
to indulge in the royal plural, although in some countries you had best
leave sufficient doubt about your meaning to avoid open mockery. On
the other hand, what I call the absolutive plural, although superficially
sounding the same, is more widely acceptable, since there is a universal
need to spread the blame.
But who, pray tell, is the ‘we’ you write of? You and the reader?
Puleeze. Unless you have a co-author, like the late Milton Friedman and
his wife (and even then the usage is tiresome), say I or address the
reader directly as you. In the movies, you notice the camera only when
the cameraman makes a mistake. The authorial plural is the equivalent
of such a mistake, leaving the reader to wonder just who this arseholewriter thinks he or she is tjommies with.
— 171 —
Illustration 1
There are no real proceeds, so we have to establish whether there are
deemed proceeds.
As I have already explained, para 12(5) does apply to the waiver, so
that we must conclude that para 38 is inapplicable and no deemed
proceeds will arise when you waive the debt owing by your trust.
Now in our example you have waived a debt of R100 000 owing to
you by your trust.
In our opinion, the receipt of prize money would be a fortuitous gain
(other than a scheme of profit-making) and so would not have been
subject to capital gains tax.
Because & since
Beware because. It leads your reader to expect something of an
explanation, while since can handle mere identities without deflation.
Illustration 2
This paragraph applies because you and your family trust are
connected persons.
Jargon & conceits
How about jargon and conceits?
At the same time is very easily overused.
A superfluity of Certainly-s at the beginning of sentences is
indicative of habit, certainly bad.
Even a single having said that is too much for my frail editorial
constitution, especially when it represents an unrelated participle.
And the same goes for a sentence starting with However.
An occasional indeed, I can live with and even indulge in myself,
since the word gives any author such a juicy frisson of authority and
gravitas.
Impacted used in the figurative sense is beyond bounds, being better
left to the management gurus, whose books are the most unreadable in
the universe and an offence to forests everywhere.
In fact has a role to play, although only in strict moderation (authorial
solidarity might here be corrupting my judgment, since I myself tend to
— 172 —
overuse it).
If you’re going to interrogate, unpack or caucus or express concern
for your stakeholders, do not expect to hold your reader’s attention for
long.
Per annum I will accept only from a writer who has at least a major
in Latin, if not an honours degree.
Prior to for before I cannot abide.
Somewhat and modicum are to be viewed with suspicion, as is
problematic and its derivatives.
The lawyer’s—and aping accountants’—usage of where or when for
if is entirely unacceptable, as is even a single usage of whereby or
whereas.
In a rare effort to be kind, I shall ascribe the atrocities recorded here
to the bad example set by generations of professional people living in a
low-stimulus environment:
Illustration 3
As a general rule it is best to ensure that the powers of the deed are
framed as widely as possible.
As previously discussed, there is no law in South Africa which limits
the duration of a trust.
By the same token, because there is no consideration for the disposal,
it may be argued that you are not making a disposal for a
consideration.
Clearly, too, the reference to ‘taxable capital gains’ means that the
gain upon which relief may be claimed must be computed according
to the South African CGT rules.
Cognizance must however be had to Du Plessis v Pienaar NO and
Others 2003 (1) SA 671 (SCA) where the court held that for the
purposes of insolvency, the Insolvency Act 24 of 1936 does not
recognize separate estates of a joint estate of spouses married in
community of property.
However, and more importantly, what if the position is such that the
veto right is not a veto right in the ordinary sense of the word.
Importantly, where less than the required number of trustees are
appointed in terms of the trust deed, the remaining trustees lack the
power to bind the trust. This is so even where the trust deed makes
provision for majority vote.
— 173 —
In general, the rules that govern distributions are limited to those
contained in the trust deed.
In principle, it would appear that under South African law there is no
reason why a trustee cannot delegate the administration of the trust to
his agent.
In the main, the common law and statutory duties of the trustees may
be summarized to include the following:
It is debatable whether the latter proviso should be included.
It may be noted that there are views among trust practitioners that the
creation of an inter-vivos trust cannot be as a result of a contract
between the founder and the trustee.
It should be borne in mind that under South African common law, it is
not possible to deprive a fully contractually competent beneficiary of
the right of control by placing the property under the control of
another (eg trustee). This is particularly so when one is confronted
with a trust where the trust property vests in the beneficiaries but the
property is to be administered by trustees.
It should be noted that in a normal deal, when the shares are held
individually, the fiscus will get duty on the shares and are therefore
happy to exempt the policies.
It should be noted that SARS is doing audits on companies to check
that there are proper service contracts when there are deferredcompensation schemes in place.
It should be stressed that failure to make proper disclosure may leave
the way open for the Commissioner to raise an additional assessment
after three years have passed on the basis that there has been a
material nondisclosure.
Note that only assets situated offshore come in for relief, and that the
relief is in any event restricted to ‘residents’.
Notwithstanding, we are of the view that the courts, as reflected
above, have clearly pronounced upon the fact that the creation of an
inter-vivos trust is one of stipulatio alteri.
Of course, a lot depends on the answer to the next question.
On this issue, it may be said that where a beneficiary is party to the
— 174 —
amendment he could hardly cry ‘foul’.
Remember that in terms of s 11 of the Estate Duty Act, the beneficiary
of the policy has to refund the duty to the estate.
That said, the vendor may apply to the High Court for the return of
any information, documents or things seized under s 57D.
That said, sanctions are visited upon the vendor who knowingly uses
an illegitimate tax invoice to support an input-tax deduction.
The question of course that needs to be asked is….
To contextualize the issue of invalid tax invoices, let us consider, first,
the rules for valid tax invoices.
What is critical is the fact that if the trust deed does not make
provision for the way in which trustees must vote, then the unanimous
decision of all trustees is required.
What is evident from the above is that the class is clearly identifiable.
What must always be borne in mind is that where a trustee acting
alone is capable of benefiting himself or his estate this will have estate
duty implications. This must be avoided at all costs.
Legislation
Try, above all, not to come across as a right charlie in dealing
pompously with legislation. The wonderful English language has no
need whatsoever of the flatulent formulation the Income Tax Act (‘the
Act’) or the even worse s 15 of the Act (for crying in a bucket; what else
could it be a section of?). You impress nobody, and warn your reader of
imminent, persistent boredom.
In referring to legislative provisions, always abbreviate section (s)
and paragraph (para), save when commencing a sentence with either of
these words. Never write item (i) of paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of
section 6 for s 6(2)(c)(i). Your reader is looking for insights, not
affectations and graces.
— 175 —
Illustration 4
(All references to paragraphs below refer to paragraphs of the Eighth
Schedule, while all references to ‘the Act’ refer to the Income Tax
Act.)
You and your family trust are ‘connected persons’ (as defined in s 1(1)
of the Act).
The waiver of the debt will amount to a gratuitous waiver or
renunciation of a right and will therefore be a ‘donation’ as defined for
donations tax purposes in s 55(1) of the Act.
Lists
Bulleted lists were once a good idea but, usually, are not so any longer,
and are certainly completely out of a place in a published book, where
they look thoroughly unprofessional and unlearned. They are often used
by a lazy author to make utterly indigestible material appear as if it has
been presented in point form. If at all, use them sparingly, and only
when there is an excellent reason to depart from conventional
paragraphs.
Perhaps harshly, I judge a writer’s intellectual abilities mainly by his
or her punctuation of lists. There is no suspension of the usual rules of
punctuation in favour of lists, and lists are consequently required to
display logically proper punctuation. For example, in a list preceded by
a colon, each item in the list must start with a capital letter and end with
a full stop. Absent the colon—as the Americans, especially, lawyers,
say—each item in the list starts with a lower-case character and ends
with no punctuation mark, a comma or a semicolon, depending upon the
length and construction of the list, save for the last item, which,
depending upon the context, might end with a full stop.
Pleonasms
Pleonasms indicate to the reader that you are too bloody lazy to read
through your work before presenting it to the outside world. Why, then,
should the reader bother to read it? So, if you are in the habit of
following your not only-s with but also-s, Verwyder!, as they used to say
in the army, and rightly so. (Oh, how you come, eventually—although
perhaps only when you are safely too old to don a uniform—to value
experienced NCOs! They are the salt of the earth and the backbone of
any army, the little shits.)
The if…then formulation and similar is fine for algorithms and actual
programs but has no place in texts designed for human consumption,
— 176 —
save in expert hands.
Illustration 5
If the cost price cannot be readily determined, then you are deemed to
recover or recoup the market value of the trading stock.
Quotations
In my book, the use of quotation marks in the manner of the hideous
American practice of shifting them beyond the full stop when they fall
at the end of a sentence, regardless of the context, is altogether beyond
the pale.
When a full, stand-alone quotation is given, it should appear wellseparated from, in a smaller font than, and with a deeper indent than the
main body of the text. Being altogether unnecessary under such a
regime, which represents international best practice, quotation marks are
dispensed with.
When you do use quotation marks, use single quotation marks instead
of double for your principal quotation, and double quotation marks for
quotations within your quotation.
Schoolboy English
While I can, although with difficulty, forgive you the errors you
assimilated at the feet of your tertiary tormentors, it is surely high time
to set aside the pastimes of your youth, including your high school
essayist ‘skills’. The trouble is that your teacher never knew that, among
several other linguistic problems, you were experiencing difficulties
with the verb to be. That and several other juvenile problems are
showcased here:
Illustration 6
Accordingly, the estate of a spouse married in community of property
comprises not only the undivided interest in the joint estate, but also
the spouses separate property that fell outside the joint estate. This is
despite the fact that the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984
recognizes the fact that not all property of spouses married in
community necessarily forms part of the joint estate.
A testamentary reservation is where the founder reserves the right to
himself (or often his spouse or other family member) to prescribe a
— 177 —
formula or method for distributing the trust capital to capital
beneficiaries by way of their wills.
A typical testamentary reservation which allows for the holder of the
power to prescribe a formula for the distribution of capital is as
follows:
But the Act introduces a useful practical rule, which is a departure
from the general principles of the Act.
But the matter is dealt with in para 4 of the Seventh Schedule. It
provides for the situation where your employer’s ‘associated
institution’ provides you with a fringe benefit by reason of the fact that
you are in the employment of your employer or as a benefit or an
advantage of that employment or as a reward for services rendered or
to be rendered by you to your employer.
But the position would be different where the testator set out in his
will who the trustees should be and the terms and conditions of any
income and capital awards to be made by the trustees).
However, s 9 of the Trust Property Control Act specifically provides
that any provision contained in the trust deed is void insofar as it
attempts to indemnify a trustee for breach of trust where he fails to
show the degree of care, diligence and skill which can reasonably be
expected of a person who manages the affairs of another.
It is permissible for a trustee to seek expert guidance and consultation
where he does not have the requisite knowledge.
Notwithstanding, it seems possible that in the event that a beneficiary
is declared insolvent and the trust deed makes provision for the
trustees to apply income or capital for the benefit of the insolvent
beneficiary or a third person who is not insolvent (for example the
insolvent’s family) so that the trust may nonetheless be carried on out
in such a way that it does not benefit the insolvent, this does not
amount to fraud upon creditors.
One of the situations when a credit note may be called for is when a
discount or rebate is given to a customer. The various situations are
dealt with below, in particular what documentation is required for
each situation.
Paragraph 56 deals with the situation when, as a creditor, you dispose
of a claim owed by a debtor who is your connected person.
Provided you are not abusing the trust concept, and, of course,
— 178 —
behaving in accordance with the law, when it comes to trusts,
flexibility is the name of the game.
Short of amending the trust deed with all its attendant complications,
should circumstances warrant the early termination of the trust, the
trustees’ hands are tied to the death of the last survivor as reflected in
the clause.
The VAT reconciliation is an early alarm signal to possible errors in
your VAT affairs.
This will depend upon the factual nature of your relationship with your
‘principal’ rather than upon any formal agreement or appointment, so
that you should investigate this issue so as to ensure that you are
accounting for VAT properly.
What all this amounts to is the fact that you will not be carrying on an
enterprise to the extent that you provide services as a labour-law
employee in consideration for remuneration that is subject to PAYE.
What must always be borne in mind is that where a trustee acting
alone is capable of benefiting himself or his estate this will have estate
duty implications. This must be avoided at all costs.
Where the insolvent beneficiary’s interest is not forfeited it may be
attached by the beneficiary’s creditors. This is based on the principle
that a vested right is available to creditors.
With a finance lease or hire-purchase agreement, the deduction is
limited to the tax fraction of the cash value that has become
irrecoverable.
Split infinitives
There is nothing especially wrong with splitting infinitives (‘to boldly
go’, for example, is, I think, how the famous phrase from Star Trek
goes), and the context will sometimes demand that you split. But the
weaker you are as a writer the more closely you should hew to the path
laid out for you, if you are old enough, by your quondam grammar
teacher, and rather break a leg than split an infinitive.
Nor is it your role to show what a silly rule it is not to split infinitives
by splitting them as often as possible. I have known authors guilty of
obsessive behaviour of this nature, altogether happy to sacrifice the
reader’s concentration on their message only to have it focused upon
their idiosyncrasies.
— 179 —
That is & for example
Why is it that professional writers will use ie instead of good old that
is? (To my disbelieving horror, under its current editor even The
Economist commits this heresy.) In an American book, where the socalled spare style is usually outlawed (US will always be U.S.), ie will
appear as i.e., thus replacing the seven characters of that is with the four
characters of i.e.. Some writers narrow the difference further by
insisting on following each ie with a comma, as in i.e.,. What, then, does
the substitution achieve? Certainly not any significant saving of
keystrokes.
Two possible explanations come to mind.
First, professionals perhaps express themselves by using ie and eg
thanks to a habit they picked up while as undergraduate students in a
pre-electronic age they took longhand notes. (On the rare and
environmentally toxic occasions when I myself take up an actual pen I
still use 22 for ‘double’, from which you may accurately gauge my
mathematical proficiency.) Today they perhaps consider it a mark of
learned gravitas.
Alternatively, the term for example is substantially longer than eg but,
under altogether understandable egalitarian principles, in order to justify
the labour-saving usage of eg, that is has to be afforded the same
truncated treatment.
Wheel-spinning
Accept that your first few paragraphs of a required piece of writing are
going to be crap because you have not thought long and deeply enough
really to get going. In fact, unless you are a very experienced writer, you
have no business beginning at the beginning, and, by doing so, you will
double or even treble the time needed for completion. Should you
nevertheless insist on playing out of your league, let the crap stand until
you are properly engaged and then rewrite the introduction. Don’t
embarrass yourself and half of mankind alike by allowing it anywhere
near a reader.
Illustration 7
One advantage of attending tax seminars is that you may just learn
something new. But equally important is the fact that when you join
your peers in an intensive learning environment you may just be
stimulated to re-examine some of your entrenched perceptions. And so
some thoughts expressed by a delegate at a recent seminar on trusts
led me to revisit the controversial and complex para 12(5) of the
Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act.
— 180 —
Section 22(8) deals with various situations when a taxpayer is deemed
to have recouped an amount for trading stock. It is probably fair to say
that these situations are very often overlooked in practice. So you have
been warned. They represent an area of great risk to ignorant
taxpayers or those who blissfully rely on ignorant advisers.
Doing without an editor
Can clutter of this nature slow the reader up? Certainly, and by
sweeping it away, a good, unconstrained editor will make even an
author with eleven thumbs read like a literary genius. Professional
writers without the benefit of an editor need to learn to break their bad
literary habits of this nature, which are usually picked up from their
supposed betters, whether in the lecture hall or between supposedly
prestige-bestowing hard covers. By doing so, they will improve the
signal-to-noise ratio, a universal aim in all communication.
— 181 —
— 182 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Types of pronouns
1. PROBLEMATIC PRONOUNS
Types of pronouns
My instincts strongly signal that the greatest damage to professional
writing is done by pronouns, whether through their noun-crammed
absence or their pronounced (sorry) overabundance.
pronoun…. A word used instead of a noun to designate an object which is
identifiable from context or usage, or which has already been mentioned or
indicated (eg we, their, this, ourselves, who). (One of the parts of speech.)
Think about what you have read so far. Were any pronouns used? The
answer is certainly, loads of them, but most of them were (or so I like to
think) so inconspicuous that you have to search hard. One sentence
stands out in its almost ferocious reliance upon pronouns:
Illustration 8
Remarkably, these mistakes cluster under so few heads that the hope
arises that through the simple expedient of listing them they will in
future be recognized and avoided.
Pronouns in fact take the place not so much of nouns as of ‘noun
phrases’. The personal pronouns come in the first person variety,
referring to the speaker (I, we, us and also me), the second person,
referring to the person addressed (you, your), and the third person,
referring to another person or to an object (he, she, it, them, and also her
and his). There are also:
 Demonstrative pronouns, specifying which person or thing (this,
that, these, those, such).
 Indefinite pronouns, not referring to a specific person or thing
(someone, nothing, anything, anybody).
 Possessive pronouns, indicating ownership or association (his, her,
our, their).
 Interrogative pronouns, used to ask a question (who, what, where).
 Reflexive pronouns, ‘referring to the same person or thing as
another noun or pronoun in the same sentence’ (myself, yourself,
ourselves).
 Relative pronouns, ‘refer[ing] to a previously used noun and
— 183 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Types of pronouns
introduce[ing] a relative clause’ (that, which, who).
This list is important only as a showcase for the variety of pronouns that
exist. You and I were born hardwired for grammar. All we have to do to
master it is allow our genes to speak.
— 184 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Too few pronouns
Too few pronouns
The symptom of this malady is the unnecessary repetition of a noun
when a pronoun might be used without any danger of confusion.
A legal draftsperson will insist that, in legislation, such repetition is
essential, but the claim is a lie, since you will find pronouns in almost
any sizable piece of legislation, and the sky has yet to fall down. That is
one of the principal problems I have with legal draftspersons—they
insist upon recreating their history and culture afresh each morning.
Rather than investigating what are truly their traditions, they prefer the
raw power of making things up as they go along.
Even so, the one place I am prepared to tolerate the repetition of a
noun—although not its needless repetition—is in legislation. Clarity of
meaning must always trump style, especially in legislation. And please,
please, repeat the bloody noun rather than overuse pronouns such as
‘that’ in an entirely unidiomatic fashion. The single, minimum
requirement demanded of the fiscal draftsperson is that he or she be an
earthling.
The professional writer often commits the same repetition of a noun
as the legal draftsperson simply because what is under way is not
writing but a mere paraphrasing of a scrap of legislation. Good grief!
The days of paraphrasing legislation are long over. Just reproduce the
actual provision and have done with it, man! And if you have nothing to
add, why pretend you are teaching the rest of us something useful?
Don’t you notice our yawns?
Here is a simple but classic example of just such a methodical but
unthinking paraphrase:
Illustration 9
Before
If goods or services are progressively or periodically supplied under
any agreement or law providing for instalments or periodic payments,
the goods or services will be deemed to be successively supplied.
After
If goods or services are progressively or periodically supplied under
any agreement or law providing for instalments or periodic payments,
they will be deemed to be successively supplied.
Full rewrite
Goods or services progressively or periodically supplied under an
— 185 —
agreement or a law providing for instalments or periodic payments are
deemed to be successively supplied.
Here is an example of what damage the malady can wreak in its
terminal form:
Illustration 10
Before
And the associated institution may argue that it is not required to
deduct PAYE because you are not the associated institution’s employee
and the associated institution has not granted you a fringe benefit
either as the associated institution’s own employee or as a ‘deemed’
employee under the Seventh Schedule, which deems the fringe benefit
to have been provided by your employer rather than the associated
institution for the purposes of the Seventh Schedule.
After
And the associated institution may argue that it is not required to
deduct PAYE because you are not its employee and it has not granted
you a fringe benefit either as its own employee or as a ‘deemed’
employee under the Seventh Schedule, which, for the purposes of the
Schedule, deems the fringe benefit to have been provided not by such
an institution but by your employer.
Full rewrite
For its part, the associated institution may argue that it is not required
to deduct PAYE, since neither are you its employee nor has it granted
you a fringe benefit—not even as a ‘deemed’ employee under the
Seventh Schedule. This deems the fringe benefit to have been
provided by your employer and not by your employer’s associated
institution.
In this sentence the author runs as well into a problem of number:
Illustration 11
Before
Provided that the letter of wishes is not in conflict with the trust deed,
is not binding upon trustees and simply serves as a guide to trustees as
— 186 —
to the founder’s intention with regard to the administration of trust
property, there is little reason to believe that letters of wishes are a
danger to the trust concept in terms of South African law.
After
Provided that a letter of wishes is not in conflict with the trust deed, is
not binding upon the trustees, and simply serves as a guide to them on
the founder’s intentions in the administration of the trust’s property,
there is little reason to believe that it represents a danger to the
concept of trusts under South African law.
And here is a sentence bleeding from a thousand wounds, including at
least one bad noun-cut:
Illustration 12
Before
Where a new deed comes into being, the new deed will have to
registered with the Master (and a new reference number issued), new
Letters of Authority will need to be issued by the Master and all other
attendant administrative and legal issues that would ordinarily be
involved if the trust was set up from scratch would come into play (eg
registering the trust with Revenue and opening a new bank account).
After
When a new deed comes into being it will have to be registered with
the Master, who will grant it a fresh reference number and the trustees
fresh letters of authority. All other administrative and legal issues
ordinarily associated with the creation of an entirely new trust set up
from scratch would also have to be attended to, such as the registration
of the trust with SARS and the opening of a banking account.
The cure
‘Listen’ to your writing. Would you ever say ‘My father gave me a lift in
my father’s car?’ Or ‘Father, please give me a lift in Father’s car’? You
would? Well, then try something else: rewrite your stuff until it is as
short as possible. Pronouns reduce the word-count, fast.
— 187 —
— 188 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Too many pronouns
Too many pronouns
This malady is itself a symptom of a greater disability—a total
bankruptcy of structural resources in the fashioning of English
sentences. It is the pronoun that that gives it away, in fact, a great
stuffing down your throat of one tiresome that after another.
Illustration 13
Before
It may be argued that the ‘independent-contractor’ exclusion would be
inapplicable, on the basis that it applies only when ‘amounts’ are
‘payable’ and that the provision of a cell phone or its use does not
constitute an ‘amount’ that is ‘payable’, unless it is transferable and
may therefore be converted to money or money’s worth.
After
The ‘independent-contractor’ exclusion is, it may be argued,
inapplicable, since it applies only when ‘amounts’ are ‘payable’. The
provision of a cell phone or its use does not constitute an ‘amount’
‘payable’, unless it is transferable and may therefore be converted to
money or money’s worth.
Full rewrite
Applying only when ‘amounts’ are ‘payable’, the ‘independentcontractor’ exclusion is surely inapplicable. Unless transferable and
therefore convertible to money or money’s worth, the provision of a
cell phone or its use cannot constitute an ‘amount’ ‘payable’.
Before
A business that purchases upwards of R5 million of goods a week
from a single wholesaler has been found not to be registered for any
taxes!
After
A business purchasing upwards of R5 million of goods a week from a
single wholesaler has been found not to be registered for any taxes!
Full rewrite
A business spending more than R5 million a week in buying goods
taxes!
— 189 —
Here a guess has to be made about what exactly it is that the writer
means:
Illustration 14
Before
For example, if the policy was ceded to or by the employer during the
year of assessment so that someone else was or would have been
entitled to any benefits that were or could have become payable on the
policy during part of that year, no premiums will be deductible by the
employer during that year.
After
For example, if the policy was ceded to or by the employer during the
year of assessment, thus entitling someone else to any benefits payable
or potentially payable on the policy during part of the year, no
premiums will be deductible by the employer during the year.
Full rewrite
Premiums will, for example, be nondeductible by an employer during
a year in which a policy is ceded to or by it in such a way that
someone else becomes entitled to policy-benefits payable or
potentially payable during part of the year,
Before
From a creditor perspective, the assets that vest in the beneficiaries
represent an attachable claim against the trustees.
After
From a creditor’s perspective, assets vesting in the beneficiaries
represent an attachable claim against the trustees.
Full rewrite
For creditors, assets vesting in beneficiaries represent an attachable
claim against the trustees.
Before
In light of Land and Agriculture Bank of South Africa v Parker and
Others 2005 2 SA 77 (SCA) it may be said that the courts have now
sanctioned the validity of these types of trusts albeit that they sounded
words of caution surrounding the abuse thereof.
After
Land and Agriculture Bank of South Africa v Parker and Others 2005
2 SA 77 (SCA) sanctioned the validity of these types of trusts, subject
to a word of caution on their possible abuse.
— 190 —
Full rewrite
Land and Agriculture Bank of South Africa v Parker and Others 2005
2 SA 77 (SCA) sanctioned the validity of these trusts and expressed a
word of caution on their possible abuse.
Before
Goods or services that are supplied under a rental agreement or an
agreement providing for periodic payments are deemed to be supplied
when each successive payment becomes due or is received, whichever
event is earlier.
After
Goods or services supplied under a rental agreement or an agreement
providing for periodic payments are deemed to be supplied when each
successive payment becomes due or is received, whichever event is
earlier.
The cure
Count the number of that-s in your piece and express the result as a
percentage of the number of sentences. Count how many sentences
include two or more that-s. Express these, too, as percentages of the
total number of sentences. Get hold of a novel and analyze a few pages
in the same way. Can you bring your percentages down to the same
proportions as those of the novel?
— 191 —
— 192 —
1. Problematic pronouns—The unrelated pronoun
The unrelated pronoun
Even in the best circles, this malady is tolerated when space is tight or
time is short but it really mars your writing and can drive your reader
mad. It is perhaps the greatest passion-killer in the history of writing.
The Economist is one of the world’s greatest newspapers and today a
fabulously successful global publication. Recently, it changed editors, in
what for the normally personality-shy paper amounted to a blaze of
publicity, and the current chappie is tolerating, now, luckily, on a
steadily diminishing scale, the use by its writers of the unrelated
pronoun, in particular, the word this. The result is that the readability,
intelligibility and interest of its material has taken a nosedive, and with
it my loyalty as a lifelong reader.
While many supposed solecisms of the day are washed into
mainstream usage and acceptance through simple hydraulic pressure,
and while the unrelated pronoun might (perhaps; personally, I am not so
sure) be common in speech, there can be no excuse for it in serious
writing, since it transfers the writing workload from the author to the
reader. Having read and absorbed one sentence, you move on to the next
and discover that it contains a cross-reference to some element in its
predecessor identified only vaguely by a word such as ‘this’. You are
compelled to stop, go back and root about in the earlier sentence trying
to divine what it was that is now enjoying elaboration.
In good writing, there is no need to go back, since the author will
have built sufficient momentum into the subject-matter to be crossreferenced to propel it across the circuit-breaker ordinarily formed by
the full stop at the end of a sentence. There is energy, there is an arcdischarge, and the current flows again smoothly on the other side.
In bad, unforgivable writing, there is no build-up, and you go back
and find…nothing. The writer has either left the missing piece of the
puzzle behind in his or her head or has had too much to drink, smoke or
otherwise ingest and has lost coherence, and you are left with only a
vague notion of what is supposed to be going on.
For example, if I were now to resort to a this, as in This is why…, to
what would I be cross-referring? Bad writing? Nothing? The piece of
the puzzle? The writer’s head, toking-up, coherence? Your notion? What
is supposed to be going on? At this instant it is my job, not yours, to join
up my sentences, and if I were to expect you to perform it, I would be
insulting your indulgence in reading my stuff and wasting your precious
time.
Thus you know a pronoun is unrelated when you can find no noun
preceding or even following it to which it relates, leaving the reader to
do the author’s work.
Experts at the unrelated pronoun sometimes start a sentence with
— 193 —
That this…, with both pronouns being unrelated.
Illustration 15
Before
Section 16(4)(a)(ii) specifies that output tax on the sale of fixed
property is payable only to the extent that payment has been made.
This effectively allows sales of fixed property to be accounted for on
the payments basis.
After
Section 16(4)(a)(ii) specifies that output tax on the sale of fixed
property is payable only to the extent that payment has been made.
This rule effectively allows sales of fixed property to be accounted for
on the payments basis.
Full rewrite
Since output tax on the sale of fixed property is payable only to the
extent that payment has been made (s 16(4)(a)(ii)), sales of fixed
property are accounted for on the payments basis.
Here is a particularly venomous specimen. It is not at all clear what the
author means, and not merely because of the unrelated pronouns (other
italics at first suppressed):
Illustration 16
Before
A single trustee is rarely suggested. A single trustee may have estate
duty implications where a trustee is capable of benefiting himself or
his estate. Furthermore, a founder cannot be the sole trustee of an inter
vivos trust. This harks back to the fact that an inter vivos trust is
created by contract (stipulatio alteri). You cannot contract with
yourself. Under common law, a trust is not a legal persona. This was
confirmed in Badenhorst v Badenhorst.
After
To have a single trustee is rarely, if ever, recommended. The
officiation of a single trustee capable of benefiting himself or herself
or his or her estate would engage the famously undesirable provision
of the Estate Duty Act. In any event, a founder simply cannot be the
sole trustee of an inter vivos trust, since such a trust is created by
— 194 —
contract (stipulatio alteri), and you cannot contract with yourself.
Under common law a trust is not a legal persona, a point confirmed in
Badenhorst v Badenhorst.
Before
The disregarding or exemption is also available when an amount is
derived by the former spouse of the original beneficial owner of the
policy, but only if the policy was ceded to the former spouse in
consequence of a divorce order or qualifying agreement. This means
that if the original owner cedes a policy to his or her extant spouse and
they subsequently get divorced, the exemption would not apply to
amounts derived by the (now) former spouse after the divorce.
After
The disregarding or exemption is also available when an amount is
derived by the former spouse of the original beneficial owner of the
policy, but only if the policy was ceded to the former spouse in
consequence of a divorce order or qualifying agreement. The outcome
is that, if the original owner cedes a policy to his or her extant spouse
and they subsequently get divorced, the exemption would not apply to
amounts derived by the (now) former spouse after the divorce.
Full rewrite
The disregarding or exemption of the proceeds under the policy is also
available when an amount is derived by the original beneficial owner’s
former spouse. The policy must have been ceded to the former spouse
in consequence of a divorce order or qualifying agreement. Perversely,
should the original owner cede a policy to an extant spouse and they
subsequently divorce, the exemption will be unavailable to the
divorcee.
Here comes another whopper. Although the first this is indeed related
(to view), it is so far separated from its noun and is followed so soon by
another this, this time wholly unrelated, that the reader can do no more
than guess what is going on:
Illustration 17
Before
It may be noted that there are trust practitioners who are of the view
that only the administrative elements of a trust can be varied and that
the identified beneficiaries or class thereof cannot. This is based on the
premise that you cannot make an amendment to a deed that will
prejudice a beneficiary’s rights. Why should this necessarily be so?
— 195 —
After
Some trust-practitioners are of the view that only the administrative
elements of a trust may be varied, and that neither specifically
identified nor classes of beneficiaries may be varied. Their view is
based on the premise that you cannot make an amendment to a deed
that will prejudice a beneficiary’s rights. Does this premiss enjoy any
authority?
Full rewrite
Some trust-practitioners hold the view that only the administrative
elements of a trust may be varied, and that neither specifically
identified nor classes of beneficiaries may be varied without
catastrophic results. For some of them, the overriding premiss is that
you cannot make an amendment to a deed in prejudice of a
beneficiary’s rights. Does this premiss enjoy any authority?
What follows is a whole bunch of this-sentences, twisting in an
unrelated wind. I cannot be bothered to tease out their meaning but
perhaps you need the exercise:
Illustration 18
The overriding principle is that when an agent makes a supply of
goods or services for and on behalf of a principal, the supply is
deemed to be made by the principal and not the agent. This means that
it is the principal and not the agent who must account for VAT on the
supply.
Indeed, it is said that more than 25% of the additional VAT recovered
by SARS is recovered as a result of inquiries by SARS prompted by
unexplained differences between financial and VAT figures. This is
why it is crucial for vendors to act pre-emptively in accounting for the
differences between the two sets of figures by doing a reconciliation.
It is therefore absolutely crucial that every vendor reconcile these
figures as often as possible—ideally at the end of each tax period,
which for most vendors will be a two-month period, but for some may
be a one-month, four-month, six-month or even twelve month period.
For those with one-month or two-month periods in particular, this will
mean that both the accounting and the VAT figures should be available
when required for the reconciliation.
The logical focus of the SARS VAT audit is the tax invoice. If the tax
— 196 —
invoice is imperfect in any way, this signifies a result for SARS. For
this reason, the auditors will usually concentrate on tax invoices with
high values.
What is reasonable is not defined, but this must certainly be sufficient
notice to enable the vendor to obtain any information or assemble any
documents that are or might be required by SARS, for example, tax
invoices.
The overriding principle is that when an agent makes a supply of
goods or services for and on behalf of a principal, the supply is
deemed to be made by the principal and not the agent. This means that
it is the principal and not the agent who must account for VAT on the
supply.
It is clear, then, that for VAT purposes goods includes any movable
things (whether capital or not), fixed property and any real rights in
these assets. What this means is that a vendor disposing of capital
assets forming a part of an enterprise must account for output tax on
these supplies.
And here are some unrelated-which-sentences:
Illustration 19
The loan account system therefore works only if there are credit loan
accounts or if there are debit loan accounts and these are reconciled
monthly, which rarely happens in practice.
It may therefore be assumed that the policies will not be exempt,
which means that the policy will have to be ‘grossed up’ or ‘upsold’ to
take account of the duty that will be paid.
The cure
Play the good shepherd and gather home all your unrelated pronouns.
Since many of them will be standing forlorn at the beginning of
sentences, this ought not to be too great a job. (Geddit? This [job] ought
not to be too great a job. Yup, it’s related.)
— 197 —
— 198 —
1. Problematic pronouns—The pronoun as legalism
The pronoun as legalism
Rather than making you sound learned, legalisms make your writing
resemble that of the twits who wrote the textbooks inflicted upon you
during your so-called tertiary education or the Neanderthal who last sent
you a letter of demand. Particularly stomach-churning are pronounal
legalisms.
Illustration 20
Before
the identified beneficiaries or class thereof cannot.
After
the identified beneficiaries or class of beneficiaries cannot.
Full rewrite
Some trust-practitioners believe that only the administrative elements
of a trust may be varied and not the beneficiaries, whether identified
specifically or by class.
Before
But the aforementioned special time-of-supply rule is overridden if an
invoice is issued and payment is made for the supply.
After
But this time-of-supply rule is overridden if an invoice is issued and
payment is made for the supply.
Full rewrite
This time-of-supply rule is overridden when an invoice is issued and a
payment is made for the supply.
The cure
Read your stuff aloud. Would you really speak that way? Okay, would
you speak that way with a straight face to your friends? Do you have
any friends?
— 199 —
— 200 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Choosing between ‘who’ & ‘that’
Choosing between ‘who’ & ‘that’
It still sounds better to write of a person who and a thing that is or does
something, even though conventions on this score have long since
disappeared off the face of the earth. Nevertheless, the rule endures that
the relative pronoun that is the only one that may be applied to both
persons and things.
Illustration 21
Before
Vendors who continuously or regularly supply motor cars in the
ordinary course of their enterprises are entitled to claim the VAT on
their acquisitions.
After
Vendors that continuously or regularly supply motor cars in the
ordinary course of their enterprises are entitled to claim the VAT on
their acquisitions.
Full rewrite
Vendors continuously or regularly supplying motor cars in the
ordinary course of their enterprises are entitled to claim VAT on their
acquisitions.
Here the writer has forgotten that trustees need not be restricted to
persons:
Illustration 22
Before
The trustees who sign the initial trust deed are commonly referred to
as the first trustees.
After
The trustees that sign the initial trust deed are commonly referred to as
the first trustees.
Full rewrite
The trustees signing the initial trust deed are commonly referred to as
— 201 —
the ‘first’ trustees.
The compromise-usage of who or that is not altogether successful.
Illustration 23
Before
Therefore some sort of estimate might well be envisaged, although
without any relief for the hapless provisional taxpayer who or that
ends up making an underpayment.
After
without any relief for the hapless provisional taxpayer that ends up
making an underpayment.
Full rewrite
without any relief for the hapless provisional taxpayer ending up with
an underpayment.
Before
In any event, because the definition of the term ‘labour broker’ in
para 1 of the Fourth Schedule refers to a ‘person’, companies, close
corporations, trusts and even deceased and insolvent estates who or
that are labour brokers are included here.
After
In any event, because the definition of the term ‘labour broker’ in
para 1 of the Fourth Schedule refers to a ‘person’, companies, close
corporations, trusts and even deceased and insolvent estates that are
labour brokers are included here.
Full rewrite
In any event, since the definition of ‘labour broker’ in para 1 of the
Fourth Schedule refers to a ‘person’, companies, close corporations,
trusts and even deceased and insolvent estates qualifying as labour
brokers are included here.
In the objective case, who becomes whom:
— 202 —
Illustration 24
Before
As the word trustee suggests, a trustee should be a person which the
founder trusts.
After
As the word trustee suggests, a trustee should be a person whom the
founder trusts.
The cure
You ought in any event to be sensitive to the number of that-s you are
using.
— 203 —
— 204 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Choosing between ‘such’ & ‘that’
Choosing between ‘such’ & ‘that’
Only once in my life have I heard someone using such as a pronoun in
ordinary speech—a lawyer with a very poorly developed sense of selfesteem (he was driven by his employers, a big firm of accountants, one
of the Big Three-and-a-half in fact, to sell tax advice door to door on
commission). The use of such as a pronoun is very common in
legislation, where, I imagine, it represents a great leap forward from
said. Here is an imperfectly ‘modernized’ provision from the Income
Tax Act:
ITA s
3(2)
(2) Any decision made and any notice or communication issued or signed by any
such officer or person may be withdrawn or amended by the Commissioner or by the
officer or person concerned, and shall for the purposes of the said provisions, until it
has been so withdrawn, be deemed to have been made, issued or signed by the
Commissioner: Provided that a decision made by any such officer in the exercise of
any discretionary power under the provisions of this Act or of any previous Income
Tax Act shall not be withdrawn or amended after the expiration of three years from
the date of the written notification of such decision or of the notice of assessment
giving effect thereto, if all the material facts were known to the said officer when he
made his decision.
This formal, legislative provenance of the usage of such encourages
attorneys to bedeck their writing with a cheap mantle of imagined
learning, and accountants to follow suit. Here is an example clearly
copied almost word for word from a legislative provision and paraded as
paraphrase or, worse, text:
Illustration 25
Before
It provides that when the officer named in the warrant has reasonable
grounds to believe that the information, documents or things are at any
premises not identified in the warrant and are about to be removed or
destroyed, but a fresh warrant cannot be obtained timeously to prevent
such removal or destruction, the officer may search the other premises
and further exercise all the powers granted by s 57D, as if the premises
had been identified in a warrant.
After
It provides that when the officer named in the warrant has reasonable
grounds to believe that the information, documents or things are at any
— 205 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Choosing between ‘such’ & ‘that’
premises not identified in the warrant and are about to be removed or
destroyed, but a fresh warrant cannot be obtained timeously to prevent
the removal or destruction, the officer may search the other premises
and further exercise all the powers granted by s 57D, as if the premises
had been identified in a warrant.
Full rewrite
A special situation catered for arises when the officer named in the
warrant has reasonable grounds for believing that the information,
documents or things are at premises not identified in the warrant and
are about to be removed or destroyed. As long as there is insufficient
time to prevent their removal or destruction under a fresh warrant, the
officer may search those premises, exercising all the powers granted
by s 57D as if they had been identified in a warrant.
The cure
Never use such as a pronoun. Nor is it a great idea to replace it with
that. As the illustration shows, what might be required is a simple
article, in this instance, the.
— 206 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Take that
Take that
In recent times a brief initiative was launched by our fiscal authorities to
remove, as the opportunity presented itself, the old-fashioned usage of
the pronoun such without any accompanying article (as in such person)
from our tax legislation and to replace each instance with a far more
boring, repetitious and entirely unidiomatic that. In drafting legislation
or a contract, you achieve nothing by such (= adjective) a substitution,
and there is nothing stopping you from using the full panoply of
pronouns. Nevertheless, the decision was manifestly taken that the word
‘that’ was far more modern (true) and more likely to ensure precision of
meaning (rubbish). But in a bureaucratic environment decisions become
rules, and, because, famously, rules is rules, the outcome is a
monstrosity such (= adjective) as this one:
th
ITA 4
Sch para 11A(2)
(2) Employees’ tax in respect of the amount of remuneration contemplated in
subparagraph (1) must, unless the Commissioner has granted authority to the
contrary, be deducted or withheld by that employer from any consideration paid or
payable by him or her to that employee in respect of the cession, or release of that
right or the disposal of that equity instrument or qualifying equity share, as the case
may be, or from any cash remuneration paid or payable by that employer to that
employee after that right has to the knowledge of that employer been exercised,
ceded or released or that equity instrument has to the knowledge of that employer
vested or that qualifying equity share has to the knowledge of that employer been
disposed of.
Incredibly, there are twelve ‘that’s in this single sentence, and the result
is not idiomatic English; which is to say that, although an Englishspeaker might with concerted determination and fierce control of the
gag-reflex get at the writer’s meaning, he or she will nevertheless
suspect either that there is something seriously wrong with the writer’s
mental processes or that what is going on is a parody of a proud world
language.
What is even more remarkable is that, within the context of the
sentence itself—which is, after all, a separate and entire subparagraph,
equivalent to a subsection in the main body of the Income Tax Act—
every blessed one of these eleven pronouns is unrelated, in the sense
that there is not a single noun to be found anywhere in the sentence
represented by any one of the ‘that’s.
Nor may the draftsperson raise the defence that all the relevant nouns
are to be found in the immediately preceding provision (para 11A(1) of
the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act), since another of the
drafting rules manifestly clutched fast to the modern fiscal
draftsperson’s pigeon-sized breast is that one provision may not rely
— 207 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Take that
upon another save by way of a specific cross-reference. An
idiomatically proficient English-speaker would have no difficulty
discussing in one paragraph elements identified in a preceding
paragraph but would never, ever—let me say that again—never, ever
refer to them all by way not merely of a pronoun but, for crying out
loud, the very same pronoun in every instance! Having identified the
elements (employer, employee, rights or whatever), an idiomatic
English-speaker would probably use a simple definite article (as in the
employee), and, Lo!, the all-important question ‘Who am I?’ having
been answered, even a public servant would be referred back,
unerringly, to the very same noun indicated by that.
As I have already suggested, however, the rule followed by our fiscal
authorities is to use only specific cross-references, as is in fact
evidenced by the phrase to be found in the opening salvo of the quoted
subparagraph, ‘the amount of remuneration contemplated in
subparagraph (1)’. I strongly suspect that in the initial draft of the
subparagraph each cross-referenced element (employer, employee,
rights or whatever) was similarly treated, until someone with greater
authority but no less disrespect for the language came along and
replaced eleven as contemplated in formulations with eleven (count
’em, eleven) that-s. I suppose the very first of the twelve crossreferences was left in the as contemplated in format so as to steer the
reader to the fons et origo of the remaining eleven.
— 208 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Choosing between ‘which’ & ‘that’
Choosing between ‘which’ & ‘that’
Let the modernists say what they like (mostly, that you may do as you
please, as long as a lot of other people are doing the same), nothing
tightens a piece of professional writing more easily or more noticeably
than a quick rationalization of the author’s choices between which and
that. The thing to aim for is to limit the use of which to nondefining
relative clauses and that to defining relative clauses. (Hint: which
clauses may be bracketed by commas without any loss of meaning; that
clauses may not.)
Illustration 26
Before
The supply of things which are neither goods nor services, such as
money, will also not attract VAT.
After
The supply of things that are neither goods nor services, such as
money, will also not attract VAT.
Before
Section 8(2) which deals with the cessation of a business requires the
vendor to account for output tax on all goods on hand.
After
Section 8(2), which deals with the cessation of a business, requires the
vendor to account for output tax on all goods on hand.
Before
It is submitted that such negative control does not take away from the
trustees’ requisite degree of independence which is required for a valid
trust.
After
It is submitted that such negative control does not take away from the
trustees’ requisite degree of independence that is required for a valid
trust.
Full rewrite
It is submitted that such negative control does not diminish the degree
of independence required of trustees in order for a valid trust to come
into and remain in existence.
— 209 —
Here is an example whose meaning is ambiguous. Is the relative clause
defining or nondefining? Is there content in the words ‘certain types of’
other than the fact of operation as a labour broker? It is hard to tell
without the full context.
Illustration 27
Before
Recently made dangerous for this reason are certain types of
management companies, which might have operated as ‘labour
brokers’ since 1990 and hence have been deemed to be deriving
‘remuneration’ in their capacity as deemed ‘employees’ for PAYE
purposes.
After
Recently made dangerous for this reason are management companies
that might have operated as ‘labour brokers’ since 1990 and hence
have been deemed to be deriving ‘remuneration’ in their capacity as
deemed ‘employees’ for PAYE purposes.
Here are a couple of sentences in dire need of aid far beyond a broken
which:
Illustration 28
Before
It is suggested that towards the end of each year of assessment a
trustees’ meeting is held whereby the trustees record in a written
resolution the distributions which the trustees intend making to each
discretionary beneficiary.
After
Good practice demands that towards the end of each year of
assessment the trustees hold a meeting at which they will record in a
written resolution the distributions that they intend making to each
discretionary beneficiary.
Before
Thus it would appear that an indemnity clause which attempts to
indemnify a trustee for the dishonest act or otherwise of a co-trustee
does not fall within the statutory limitation.
— 210 —
After
Thus a clause that indemnifies a trustee against the dishonest act of a
co-trustee is not nullified by the statutory prohibition.
The cure
It will prove well worth your while to interrogate your pronounal that
and which clauses. If the answer to the question ‘Can I expunge you
without changing the basic message of the sentence? is Yes, it is a which
clause. Otherwise it is a that clause. Be the first on your block to
astonish your friends and clients with your clarity of mind merely by
adopting this simple expedient.
— 211 —
— 212 —
1. Problematic pronouns—Personal pronouns and gender
Personal pronouns and gender
Gender baggage
In South Africa you cannot indulge the luxury enjoyed by writers
elsewhere, who may rely upon the age-old grammatical convention (I
am not even going to say what that is), use the pronoun appropriate to
their own sex (female writers use she, male writers he) or resort to some
fair-apportionment rule (an author whose book I reviewed decades ago
still doesn’t speak to me because I failed to notice that in odd chapters it
was she and in even he—or was it the other way around?). In this part of
the world you simply have to be gender-sensitive, although not to the
extent of the fiscal draftsperson, one of whose recent projects was to
refer throughout to the Commissioner (who appears to be male, and
permanently so) as he or she. The latest wheeze is to refer to him
throughout as ‘the Commissioner’, where, that is, the legal
draftsperson’s extremely limited attention-span…now, what was I going
to say?
The trouble is that once you have the he or she tiger by the tail you
will quickly lose your readers as your text grows turgid with an evergrowing profusion of copies of he, she, hers and his. And what about it?
Discrimination is an ugly thing, wherever you might come upon it, and
I, for one, cannot stomach the thought of discrimination against nonhuman persons, ruthlessly stamping it out insofar as it is in my power to
do so.
Some relief is afforded by the relative pronoun that, which, as
already recorded, is the only one that may be applied to both persons
and things. And even in the best circles the possessive pronoun their is
today used both in the singular and plural number. Neither word is
coloured by gender.
Yet the only real remedy to the problem is to rewrite, vigorously, and
so extirpate as many of the offending sexist pronouns as possible, even
if, ahem, fairly coupled or even (really!) trebled. What drives me to
desperation is the enduring propensity of weak writers to recidivism, no
matter how large the number of previous convictions. A his-or-her
rewriting exercise is both onerous and boring, especially since you
never come across a decent writer who (another nonsexist relative
pronoun) lands in the slightest bit of difficulty with his and her. A good
writer simply does not think along the lines of his or her but writes in an
imaginative, rote-free style. Try it! Read a decent novel for once in your
miserable life. You will not come across a single ‘he or she’.
Here is a passage crammed with error but none so great as its
essential indigestibility:
— 213 —
Illustration 29
Before
The exemption is limited to R500 000 during the person’s lifetime,
which means that he or she may qualify for the exemption more than
once but that the aggregate exemption over his or her lifetime may not
exceed R500 000. But if he or she operates more than one small
business by way of a sole proprietorship, partnership interest or direct
interest of at least 10% in the equity of a company, he or she may
include all these businesses in the lifetime exemption of R500 000
only if they are all substantially different in nature.
After
Over your lifetime you are entitled to a cumulative exemption of
R500 000. While you may qualify for the exemption more than once,
your aggregate, lifetime exemption simply may not exceed a
cumulative total of R500 000. Should you be operating more than one
small business by way of a sole proprietorship, an interest in a
partnership or a direct interest of at least 10% in a company’s equity,
you may include all these businesses in your lifetime exemption of
R500 000 but only if these various businesses are all substantially
different in nature.
Can you imagine one day with pride drawing your grandchildren’s
attention to a little gem composed along the following lines (note the
use in the ‘After’ version of period as a pronoun and the huge risk of
confusion taken with the adverb then):
Illustration 30
Before
If he or she fails to conclude a contract by the end of the relevant year
of assessment or to bring the replacement asset into use within the
prescribed period or extended period, he or she must treat the deferred
capital gain as a capital gain on the date on which the prescribed
period or extended period ends. He or she must then determine interest
at the ‘prescribed rate of interest’ on the capital gain from the date of
the disposal to the end of the prescribed or extended period and treat
the interest as an additional capital gain on the last day of the
prescribed or extended period.
After
A failure to conclude a contract by the end of the relevant year of
— 214 —
assessment or to bring the replacement asset into use within the
prescribed or extended period will render the deferred capital gain a
capital gain on the date on which the period ends. Interest at the
‘prescribed rate of interest’ will be computed on the capital gain from
the date of the disposal to the end of the period and treated as an
additional capital gain arising then.
No editor, no matter how saintly, likes to undertake this sort of work,
since it is work for which the supposed writer has already been paid.
The reader, almost certainly not realizing that what is going down is the
laziest imaginable excuse for a paraphrase, escapes into distracting
fantasises of root canal work. And so, wearily, it goes on (note, in the
‘After’ version, how the adjective such (not the forbidden pronounal
usage) removes the need for tedious repetition):
Illustration 31
Before
A foreign life policy (that is, one that is not a domestic policy) is not
deemed property in a person’s estate, but if he or she was the owner of
the policy, the value will constitute actual property in the estate, unless
it qualifies as exempt foreign property. And no deduction is allowed
for the premiums or consideration paid by the deceased on a policy of
which he or she was the owner, since he or she is not the person
entitled to the amount due under the policy.
After
Although a foreign life policy (the opposite of a domestic policy) does
not constitute deemed property in an estate, it will be caught as actual
property if it was owned by the deceased at the time of death, and
must be valued as such, unless it qualifies as exempt foreign property.
Premiums paid on or a consideration paid for such a policy by the
deceased cannot qualify for deduction, since the deceased can never
be the person entitled to an amount due under the policy.
Why don’t you try to fix this next one yourself? No peeking at the
answer! Hey! Stop that!
— 215 —
Illustration 32
Before
SARS has said that the structure does not comply with the requirements
of the exemption, since, they claim, the deceased’s share is not being
bought, since he or she owned no shares.
After
According to SARS, the structure fails to comply with the requirements
of the exemption, on the ground that the deceased owned no shares
capable of being bought.
Before
The broker may well find that he or she is taken before the FAIS
Ombud for professional negligence!
After
The broker may well be hauled before the FAIS ombudsman for
professional negligence!
Before
Well, this might happen if the trust is a so-called business trust and he
or she is neither a trustee or a beneficiary of the trust but is an
employee of the trust so that it effects a key-man policy on his or her
life.
After
These circumstances would prevail only in a business trust of which
the insured is neither a trustee nor a beneficiary but is its employee
whose life is covered by a key-man policy.
This next one is tough:
Illustration 33
Before
If an individual incorporates a company in which he or she owns
100% of the shares, but later disposes of shares to other parties so that
he or she ends up owning less than 50% of the shares, the exemption
will remain unavailable on the proceeds of any policies that it owns on
his or her life, since it will have been a family company at some time.
After
— 216 —
An individual incorporating a company and owning 100% of its shares
not only starts with what is a family company but remains saddled
with its history as such, even if 50% of its shares are later sold. No
proceeds of a policy on the shareholder’s life owned by the company
will ever be exempt, since it was once a family company.
A stiff drink is indicated by but would incapacitate you for this one:
Illustration 34
Before
Well if you provide a cell phone or the use of a cell phone as a fringe
benefit to an independent contractor who is also your employee for
PAYE purposes, not only must you account for VAT on the fringe
benefit and deduct PAYE on the amount (net of VAT) of the
remuneration that arises, but you must also ensure that he or she
charges you VAT on the consideration that he or she charges you for
any taxable supplies made to you.
After
A cell phone or the use of one provided as a fringe benefit to an
independent contractor who is also your PAYE-employee will represent
both a consideration and remuneration for services rendered or to be
rendered. The contractor presents you with a tax invoice covering the
consideration (R114) and accounts for VAT in the form of output tax
(R14). You, on the other hand, deduct PAYE (R40, maximum) from the
remuneration (net of VAT, R100), account for VAT in the form of
output tax on the fringe benefit (R12,28), and, in qualifying
circumstances, claim VAT in the form of input tax on the supply (R14,
maximum).
Now see how difficult it is to get off the his or her train once you have
stepped aboard:
Illustration 35
Before
A person’s assessed capital loss is determined for a particular year of
assessment. If he or she has an aggregate capital gain for the year, it is
the amount by which his or her assessed capital loss for the previous
— 217 —
year of assessment exceeds the amount of his or her aggregate capital
gain for the year. If he or she has an aggregate capital loss for the year,
it is the sum of his or her aggregate capital loss for that year and his or
her assessed capital loss for the previous year. If he or she has neither
an aggregate capital gain nor an aggregate capital loss for the year, it
is the amount of his or her assessed capital loss for the previous year.
After
An assessed capital loss is determined for a particular year of
assessment. For someone who has an aggregate capital gain for the
year, it is the amount by which the assessed capital loss for the
previous year of assessment exceeds the amount of that aggregate
capital gain. For someone with an aggregate capital loss for the year, it
is the sum of that aggregate capital loss and the assessed capital loss
for the previous year. For anyone else, it is the amount of the assessed
capital loss for the previous year.
Before
If he or she disposes of the replacement asset or ceases to use it for the
purposes of his or her trade in a particular year of assessment, any
portion of the capital gain that has not yet been taxed will then be
taxed in that year of assessment.
After
The disposal of the replacement asset or the cessation of its use for the
purposes of trade in a particular year of assessment will trigger the
taxation of the untaxed portion of the capital gain in that year.
Even the tiniest badly crafted sentence can bog down and even stymie a
professional editor, especially if it starts with an unrelated pronoun:
Illustration 36
Before
This makes sense, because he or she is undoubtedly better off by the
reduction in his or her liabilities.
After
The rule makes sense, since the debtor undoubtedly benefits from the
reduction in the creditor’s claim.
— 218 —
The cure
Count how many pairs of he or she and his or her appear in your piece
and express the total as a percentage of the number of sentences it
includes. Even 1% might be on the high side. Alternatively, rewrite
sentences containing two or more such pairs.
— 219 —
— 220 —
2. Ceaseless conditionals—Conditional sentences
2. CEASELESS CONDITIONALS
Conditional sentences
It is altogether possible to express an entire piece of fiscal legislation as
a series of statements or algorithms bearing the form:
If Condition Then Outcome.
In fact, a very large part of our tax laws enjoys the benefit of this
imaginative structure. Because so many textbooks consist largely of
paraphrases of legislation, you find the selfsame structure infecting
swathes of stuff students are meant to ‘learn’, with the result that they
then go out into the world and write like a learned author—atrociously,
but basking in the glow of a high-minded self-satisfaction. Sentences
constructed along these lines are called conditional sentences.
conditional…. 1 Gram & Logic. Expressing or including a condition or supposition.
A knock-on effect of conditional sentences of the if–then form is that
they encourage a proliferation of pronouns, as this example illustrates:
Illustration 37
Before
If such a company in fact does not carry on an independent trade, it
will not be carrying on an enterprise in relation to the management
fees it earns.
After
A company not in fact carrying on an independent trade will not be
carrying on an enterprise in relation to the management fees it earns.
Full rewrite
Even if it earns ‘management’ fees, a company not in fact engaged in
an independent trade cannot be seen as carrying on an enterprise,
whether of a ‘management’ or any other character.
Left to themselves, many professional writers will let rip with if
sentences and clauses, as this example tediously shows:
— 221 —
Illustration 38
Before
If the twenty-fifth day happens to be a Saturday, Sunday or public
holiday, your deadline becomes the last business day falling before
that Saturday, Sunday or public holiday. In fact, you are obliged to
render a return even if no tax is payable or refundable. If you are liable
for the payment of VAT but fail to pay it on time, you will be liable for
a penalty of 10% of the VAT due. If you fail to pay the VAT due before
the first day of the month following that in which the tax was meant to
be paid, you will also become liable for interest on the VAT, calculated
at the prescribed rate for each month or part of a month in the period
reckoned from the first day of the first month after the tax fell due.
After
[Fuhgeddaboudit. Life is too short.]
There is—as a lawyer would say, although for a higher fee—a gloss
brought to bear upon this topic, in that, while if clauses are for hoi
polloi, the truly lawyerly types always write where:
Illustration 39
Before
Where the object is personal, it is a person or persons (known as the
beneficiaries) who will benefit under the trust. Where the object is
impersonal it is referred to as a purpose trust.
After
Under a trust with a personal object a person or persons (known as the
beneficiary or beneficiaries) will benefit. A trust with an impersonal
object is referred to as a ‘purpose’ trust.
Here is a sentence that on its own would make a decent test of your
editorial skills right across the board. It represents an art-form I call
writing by gesture (it comes from the Afrikaans ‘maak ’n gebaar’; when
in a previous life I lived in Cape Town I used to read Die Burger,
following the magical ’toon exploits of Wonderman, who solved every
problem in the same fashion, ‘Wonderman maak ’n gebaar’)—a gesture
compelling the reader to finish a job that has altogether overwhelmed
the writer’s meagre linguistic skills:
— 222 —
Illustration 40
Before
Where a person, for example a donor of trust property, is also a
beneficiary then it may be possible to make an award to this person to
‘reimburse’ him for the ‘tax’ cost, but of course, there may very well
be further tax consequences in making this award compounding the
problem.
After
It may be possible to make an award to a donor who is also a
beneficiary by way of a ‘reimbursement’ of the ‘tax cost’, although the
award itself may engender further tax consequences and thus
compound the problem.
For a dazzling foray into elegant variation, the truly innovative author
will mobilize when:
Illustration 41
When the last day for rendering the return happens to fall on a
Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, you are not given more time to
render your return.
When the bill of entry or other prescribed customs documents for the
import are held by the agent, it must again maintain sufficient records
to enable the name and address and VAT registration number of the
principal to be ascertained, and must provide the principal in writing
with certain particulars within twenty-one days of the end of the
calendar month during which the supply was received.
When a taxable supply of goods or services is made by a company in
the group as agent acting on behalf of another company in the group,
which is the principal, the supply is deemed to be made by the
principal and not the agent.
When a tax invoice, credit note or debit note for a supply has been
issued by or to an agent or a bill of entry or other prescribed document
for an importation of goods is held by an agent, the agent is required
to maintain certain records.
When the input tax for a tax period exceeds the output tax for that
period, the amount of the excess will be refundable to the vendor by
— 223 —
SARS.
If (Geddit?) stuff like this is incredibly boring to read, can you
imagine the excruciating pain of editing it? Try another dose, this time
of if-sentences:
If you fail to pay the VAT due before the first day of the month
following that in which the tax was meant to be paid, you will also
become liable for interest on the VAT, calculated at the prescribed rate
for each month or part of a month in the period reckoned ‘from the
first day of the first month after the tax fell due’.
If you overpay tax, penalties or interest or if the Commissioner refunds
less than he should have, he is obliged, on application by you, to
refund the excess or shortfall, unless it does not exceed R25, in which
event it will be carried forward to your next tax period.
If there is a material difference between the figures reflected in your
financial statements or books of account and those that you report for
VAT, there is every possibility that there is something wrong, either
with your accounting figures or your VAT figures.
If the supplier issues a tax invoice with the terms of the settlement
discount clearly stated upon its face, no credit note need be issued.
If you are liable for the payment of VAT but fail to pay it on time, you
will be liable for a penalty of 10% of the VAT due.
The cure
Never ever use where or when for if, and use if sentences extremely
sparingly. A measure both of bad drafting and of bad writing is the
number of conditional sentences in a piece expressed as a percentage of
the total number of sentences.
— 224 —
3—The sting with ‘…ing’—Participles and gerunds
3. THE STING WITH ‘…ING’
Participles and gerunds
A bad professional writer is a remarkably consistent being. In his or her
entire lifetime opus, either you will never ever come across a word
ending in —ing or you will discover such words used incorrectly—
again, without exception. I really fail to understand how some writers do
not bore themselves to distraction, since they learn nothing and forget
nothing. They certainly bore me. It is difficult to imagine a more tedious
job than having to edit careless, cruddy, cretinous writing. The poor
reader faced with bilge may merely decline to imbibe but the editor has
to recycle the stuff to some internationally acceptable standard of
potability.
participle…. 2 Gram. A nonfinite part of a verb used with an auxiliary verb in
expressing tense and voice, as in English (has) gone, (had been) kicked, (will be)
working, and which may be used adjectivally….
participial adjective an adjective that is a participle in origin and form, as English
burnt, cutting, engaged.
More simply described, a participle is a verbal adjective—a verb used
to modify a noun (the idling car). A participial clause is a relative clause
with a participle as a verb (the accountant adding his figures).
gerund…. A form of the Latin verb which is used as a noun but retains the syntactic
relationships of the verb; a similar verbal form in other languages, spec the
English verbal noun, ending in –ing, esp when used distinctly as part of the verb.
Thus, while a participle is a verbal adjective (a loving relationship), the
gerund is a verbal noun (No smoking).
A participle can help get rid of clumsy, unnecessary and even
incorrect pronouns:
Illustration 42
Before
A business that purchases upwards of R5 million of goods a week
taxes!
After
— 225 —
A business purchasing upwards of R5 million worth of goods a week
taxes!
Before
It is standard practice to include a provision in the trust deed that
attempts to ensure that any benefits which accrue to a beneficiary
under the trust are excluded from any joint property in terms of any
matrimonial regime.
After
It is standard practice to include a provision in the trust deed designed
in the hope that any benefits accruing to a beneficiary will be excluded
from joint property of spouses.
Before
vendor to account for output tax on all goods on hand upon cessation
but only certain rights that form part of its enterprise.
After
vendor to account for output tax on all goods on hand upon cessation
but only certain rights forming part of its enterprise.
Before
As previously discussed, there is no law in South Africa which limits
the duration of a trust.
After
As already mentioned, there is no law in South Africa limiting the
duration of a trust.
Before
A provision in a will which permits the trustees to create a new trust in
favour of a beneficiary on terms and conditions as imposed at the
discretion of the trustees is invalid.
After
A provision in a will permitting the trustees to create a new trust in
favour of a beneficiary on terms imposed at their discretion is invalid.
Before
And factors that might have a bearing on the matter are, for example,
the availability of the necessary staff, who might just be on leave and
access to records kept off-site, say at a document storage facility.
— 226 —
After
Factors possibly having a bearing on the matter include the availability
of the necessary staff, who might just be on leave, and access to
records kept off-site at a document-storage facility.
Before
A vendor who fails to comply with these rules is guilty of an offence
and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding 24 months.
After
A vendor failing to comply with these rules is guilty of an offence and
liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding twenty-four months.
A participle can also get rid of even clumsier infinitives:
Illustration 43
Before
In this context, the term ‘due’ should be interpreted to mean that the
supplier must be entitled to payment.
After
In this context, the term ‘due’ should be interpreted as meaning that
the supplier must be entitled to payment.
Before
The Act does, however, contain a provision, to stymie the vendor who
tries to move things out of the back door while the Commissioner or
his officers are being entertained at the front door or elsewhere in the
vendor’s premises.
After
The Act includes a provision stymieing the vendor who tries to move
things out of the back door while the Commissioner or his officers are
being entertained at the front door or elsewhere on the vendor’s
premises.
Here it disposes of a conditional (if) clause, as well as several blunders:
— 227 —
Illustration 44
Before
It states that when an agent who is a vendor makes a taxable supply it
may issue a tax invoice or a credit note or a debit note for the supply
as if it had made the supply.
After
It states that an agent that is a vendor making a taxable supply may
issue a tax invoice, credit note or debit note for the supply as if it had
made the supply.
Full rewrite
Authorized by this provision, an agent that is a vendor making a
taxable supply may issue a tax invoice, credit note or debit note for the
supply as if it itself had made the supply.
You have to struggle with the next example to decide exactly what it is
the writer is saying:
Illustration 45
Before
Ensuring that your business is VAT-compliant is more important than
simply avoiding interest and penalty charges. VAT-compliance also
means unlocking the 14% VAT on expenses where VAT is claimable.
Doing this timeously will improve cash flow, since input tax reduces
the net VAT liability to SARS.
After
The process of ensuring that your business is VAT-compliant involves
more than the simple avoidance of interest and penalty charges. It also
yields an unlocking of the 14% VAT on expenses when VAT is
claimable. Timeous claims will improve cash-flow, since input tax
reduces the net VAT liability to SARS.
The cure
Go ahead. Have a fling with ‘…ing’. The improvement will be
remarkable.
— 228 —
3—The sting with ‘…ing’—Unrelated participles and gerunds
Unrelated participles and gerunds
Unrelated participles and gerunds deserve especial attention, since they
give trouble even to linguists and therefore must be treated as a live rail
by amateurs—touch it and you, and I—die. For most of us, it is
sufficient to be aware of the golden rule: weak writers will never use a
word ending in ‘…ing’ save in error.
Here is someone having a go at using the –ing word without the
bother of supplying any subject at all to which it applies. Both
participles and gerunds may be ‘unattached’ in this way, being referred
to as unattached or hanging participles or gerunds:
Illustration 46
Before
The distinction between goods and services may also be important in
determining whether a foreign person carries on an enterprise in South
Africa.
After–I
The distinction between goods and services may also be important in a
determination whether a foreign person carries on an enterprise in
South Africa.
After–II
You may find the distinction between goods and services to be
important in determining whether a foreign person carries on an
enterprise in South Africa.
Who in the next example is doing the eroding and the undermining? It is
not Nepad, nor even Nepad’s strictures. It simply has to be the unnamed
and unidentified persons who are going to do the implementing (sorry)
or, better, to carry out the implementation. Consequently, this is a
perfect example of the unrelated usage.
In the ‘after’ version I have taken the easy way out and made the
structures themselves the baddies:
— 229 —
Illustration 47
Before
Nepad’s strictures on good governance and democracy cannot be
implemented without eroding the very nature of the postcolonial
African state and undermining the positions of incumbent elites—an
unlikely possibility.
After
Nepad’s strictures on good governance and democracy cannot be
implemented without bringing about the erosion of the very nature of
the postcolonial African state and undermining the positions of
incumbent elites—an unlikely possibility.
Violence against the author becomes an attractive option when you have
to deal with elliptical garbage of this order:
Illustration 48
Before
Yet accepting that Africa’s leaders do have a role in the continent's
denouement is perhaps the first step towards constructing realistic
strategies for Africa's renewal….
After
Acceptance of Africa’s leaders’ role in the continent's denouement is
perhaps the first step towards the construction of realistic strategies for
Africa's renewal….
Here is a great example of opportunities both wrongly grasped and sadly
missed:
Illustration 49
Before
The danger of having registered a company that makes only exempt
supplies is that it might wrongly issue tax invoices that might be used
as the basis for input-tax deductions by other companies in the group.
— 230 —
After
The danger of your having registered a company making only exempt
supplies is that it might wrongly issue tax invoices and that these
might be used as the basis for input-tax deductions by other companies
in the group.
Full rewrite
The registration of a company making only exempt supplies is
dangerous, since it might then wrongly issue tax invoices, and these
might be used as the basis for input-tax deductions by other group
companies.
Here is someone using the dreaded –ing word but confusing his readers
mightily, who, while they are undoubtedly familiar with the last
shopping day before Xmas (verbal adjective), are probably not quite
ready to handle a last day for furnishing a return. The trouble is that the
participle furnishing is ‘wrongly attached’, the expectation being that it
is persons and not days that are capable of and so required to furnish
anything:
Illustration 50
Before
This is the last day prescribed by the Act for furnishing the return for
the tax period during which that supply would have been made.
After
This is the last day prescribed by the Act on which you may furnish
the return for the tax period during which the supply would have been
made.
The cure
Simply get into the habit of asking yourself ‘If my subject is not in this
sentence, where the hell is it?’
— 231 —
— 232 —
3—The sting with ‘…ing’—Exceptions best avoided
Exceptions best avoided
Over time an increasing number of participles and adjectives take on the
form of prepositions or adverbs and so may dispense with a noun.
Examples include considering the circumstances, roughly speaking and
supposing that. It is best to risk these only in conversation and to keep
your writing within the confines of the —ing words you are sure you
can handle, whether or not you are capable of telling a participle from a
gerund from a preposition.
— 233 —
— 234 —
4—Artful articles—Who am I? (Les Miserables)
4. ARTFUL ARTICLES
Who am I? (Les Miserables)
You might scoff but a bad writer—and a bad draftsperson—will manage
to cock things up even with the humble little article, boring the reader
with needless repetitions and wasting the reader’s precious time by
creating avoidable confusion. What you need to do is to make all your
be-articled nouns sing the song and reveal, at last, the truth about their
identities.
article…. IV Gram 12 A member of a small set of words (in English two,
traditionally regarded as adjectives, now also classed as determiners) that give
definiteness or indefiniteness and specificness or genericness to the application of
a noun.
More simply put, an article is a word before a noun indicating whether it
is definite (the) or indefinite (a, an). Linguists speak not of a noun in
this context but of a participant (someone or something involved in an
action). Thus ‘the ship’ would signify a specific ship previously
mentioned, while ‘a ship’ would mark a single member of the class
ships.
The modern concept of determiners is a more useful class than that of
articles, since it includes articles, ‘definite and indefinite adjectives and
demonstrative, quantifying and possessive adjectives’.
The fiscal draftsperson, for example, has failed to learn that any is
(amongst other things) a quantifying determiner, using it instead as an
indefinite article. This practice might once have served as a work-saver,
replacing, say, ‘a motor car or an engine’ with ‘any motor car or
engine’. But, today, with our taxing acts stuffed to capacity with any-s,
the draftsperson has lost the ability to use any in any other sense than a
or an. At the same time the place of the definite article the is taken by
the pronoun such or, latterly, and with the proverbial enthusiasm of the
convert, that.
Regrettably, what the draftsperson does, no matter how erroneous or
misguided, is quickly aped by the professional classes. Catachresis, as I
do not say often enough, begets solecism.
This stuff is so simple that you cannot read about it in any grammar
or guide to writing yet professional writers somehow managed to
imbibe something with their mothers’ milk other than the difference
between definite and indefinite determiners. In this, as in so many other
things, they lag the human race.
What you have to ask the suspect noun—and sternly—is: ‘Do I know
you?’ After some familiarity has developed between the two of you, you
— 235 —
may soften this to: ‘Don’t I know you?’ but put any thought of a date
right out of your mind.
The first time you conjure up a noun it is a noun; from then on it is
the noun. No need to mark it as the noun that, the noun which, the
aforementioned noun, the noun mentioned above, the abovementioned
noun, the noun of which, the noun whereof which, the noun
contemplated in, the previously referenced noun—just plain old the
noun will do.
Here is a magnificently representative example of what I mean:
Illustration 51
Before
Recently, the court launched a scathing attack on the misuse and abuse
of what has become known as the family business trust.
After
A court recently launched a scathing attack on the misuse and abuse of
what has become known as the family business trust.
In reply to the question ‘Do I know you?, the court replies ‘Not bloody
likely. There are plenty of different courts, even recently, and no poopall
is going to add lustre to his (or her) self-esteem by reifying or even
deifying me. Until you hear just which court I am, “a court” will do just
fine. Harrumph.’ There you have it, straight from his Lordship’s mouth.
You might think the point to be trivial but the reader is thrown off
stroke: ‘Court? Court? Which court? Did I miss something? Oh, I see.
It’s just some self-important lawyer-feller or similar attempting to lord it
over me. Well, I’ll have none of that. Burp!’
On the other hand, if in the very next sentence you were to refer to a
court again the reader would rightly think you are bonkers, unless you
were writing about an entirely different case, in which event you ought
to have written another court. In the actual case upon which this
dramatic presentation is based this basic error may have been avoided in
the immediately following sentences but very few other howlers
escaped uncelebrated. For example, once you have referred to the court
two or three times it is time to invest in a pronoun or two:
— 236 —
Illustration 52
Before
In the main, the court attacked the fact that in family trust situations,
and in particular the family business trust, there is lack of functional
separation between enjoyment and control and that they are
designedly created so that there is no separation of beneficial interest
from control to ensure that everything continues ‘as before’. The court
remarked that lack of separation between enjoyment and control
invites abuse.
After
It attacked the lack of functional separation between enjoyment and
control in family trusts; in particular family business trusts, which are
deliberately designed so as to prevent any separation of beneficial
interest from control and ensure that everything continued ‘as before’.
A lack of separation between enjoyment and control, said the court,
invites abuse.
The correct use of three determiners, the, any and a, has transformed
sludge into high-performance lubricant thus demonstrating the awesome
power of these little words.
In the following example the reader simply has to exclaim ‘Who
she?’, even if it very soon emerges that it must be the distaff member of
the couple described as the spouses. For excitement of this order,
readers prefer to buy detective novels:
Illustration 53
Before
This judgment deals with the request by the wife for a redistribution
order, on divorce of the spouses, to take into account assets held in a
trust that was created during the marriage.
After
The judgment deals with a request by a wife for a redistribution order,
upon her divorce, taking into account assets held in a trust created
during her marriage.
Two errors with pronouns, four with determiners, one with an infinitive
— 237 —
used in the place of a participle represent quite a haul for a sentence of
only thirty-three words. The rate is about one error for every four words.
Pity the poor reader but even more the hapless editor.
With no fewer than nine determiners, the next sentence still manages
to bewilder the reader:
Illustration 54
Before
The fact that a trustee is unable to attend a trustees’ meeting does not
per se invalidate any decisions made by the majority trustees so long
as the trustee was given the perquisite notice of the meeting and the
opportunity to attend.
After
A trustee’s inability to attend a trustees’ meeting does not of itself
invalidate decisions made by the majority of the trustees, provided that
the absent trustee was given notice of the meeting as well as the
opportunity to attend.
Note
Perquisite, a noun and not an adjective, is a learned malaprop for the
adjective requisite.
Is there an any-doctor in the house?
Here is an example of the pleonastic use of the quantifying determiner
any. It plays no role whatsoever in the sentence and thus assists in the
depreciation of any’s currency:
Illustration 55
Before
The major benefit is that it allows them to take cognizance of any
exigencies as time progresses.
After—I
Its major benefit is that it allows them to take cognizance of
unexpected exigencies.
After—II
Its major benefit is that it allows them to take cognizance of any
exigencies that might arise.
— 238 —
Full rewrite
Its major benefit is that it allows them to respond flexibly to changing
circumstances.
The next example of the misuse of any encourages bad thoughts about
the general authorial competence of any writer weak enough to be
incapable of making any headway with a word so simple that any child
could use it in the correct context. Moreover, all trustees do not
satisfactorily answer the question ‘Do I know you?’:
Illustration 56
Before
This should be the case except in specific circumstances such as a
distribution of any income or capital to any beneficiary who is also a
trustee, where perhaps the unanimous vote of all trustees may want to
be considered.
After
This ought to be the rule, except when special circumstances prevail,
such as a proposed distribution of income or capital to a beneficiary
who is also a trustee, when the unanimous vote of all the trustees may
be preferred.
Here is a passage so typical of professional writing that, having edited it
three thousand two hundred and eighty-nine times, I feel I know it well:
Illustration 57
Before
For example, where the trust deed requires three trustees to be
appointed but only two have been so appointed (or one of the three has
resigned or been subsequently disqualified and only two trustees
remain in office) any decisions made by the remaining two will not be
binding because despite the fact that the majority (two out of three)
made the decisions, the trustees still lacked capacity to act.
After
Decisions made by only two trustees appointed under a deed requiring
— 239 —
three trustees will not be binding: although what would have been the
majority of trustees, had three been appointed, made the decisions,
they still lacked capacity to act. The same result will ensue when three
trustees have been appointed and one of them has resigned or been
disqualified. The remaining two are powerless to act.
The cure
Your victim the reader will forgive you almost anything except a lack of
logic, and you will never get your logic right in writing unless you think
about the determiners you use. There must be no room for
disappointment, surprise, confusion, arrests or even suicide between the
reader’s interrogation of nouns and their response in the ‘Who am
I’/‘Do I know you?’ duet.
— 240 —
4—Artful articles—The missing/superfluous article
The missing/superfluous article
My lip curls when a writer tries to indicate membership of or at least
familiarity with inner circles by omitting the article altogether, thus
indulging in a special type of jargon. Cabinet, Congress and even
conference are pre-eminent among these naked nouns. Perhaps, though,
the dress code in this area is determined by usage over time, since no
one says the Parliament.
But nothing will ever persuade me to accept in light of for in the
light of. Yet, as far as I am concerned, the correct usage is on one
hand…, on the other…, not on the one hand…, on the other….
— 241 —
— 242 —
5—Putrid prepositions—Much confusion ‘around’ this issue
5. PUTRID PREPOSITIONS
Much confusion ‘around’ this issue
In South Africa there is one bad usage that you cannot extirpate by the
simple remedy of reading your stuff aloud, since your usage of
prepositions might depend upon your political affiliation, in which event
you will be unable to do without around. Every left-winger in the land
would be silenced if a law came out prohibiting sentences containing
around. You might also strongly prefer stilted, pretentious prepositions
in preference to the short, brutal prepositions used by right-wingers like
myself, such as in, on and, above all, about.
Do you or, for that matter, I really know what a ‘preposition’ is?
PREPOSITION: A syntactic category, a group of words which appear before a noun (or
more accurately, before a ‘noun phrase’, that is, the noun together with its entourage
of appendages), and specify various types of relations, such as spatial (in the house)
or temporal (from January). Prepositions can also mark the precise role of a
participant in an action, for instance ‘beneficiary’ (‘I did it for George’) or ‘agent’
(‘he was murdered by the butler’).
I analysed 108 pages of the book on Nepad previously quoted for its
usage of prepositions and came up with this list:
Preposition
Incidence in database
in
1 155
for
373
with
347
by
346
on
310
from
203
at
137
over
90
about
70
after
45
within
42
— 243 —
5—Putrid prepositions—Much confusion ‘around’ this issue
regarding
41
under
26
toward
25
into
23
upon
23
before
15
around
14
vis-à-vis
11
beyond
10
with regard to
10
by means of
1
in view of
0
in respect of
0
Up to within this is a strong list but from then on a few rotten apples
spoil the barrel. Altogether beyond the pale are regarding, vis-à-vis, and
with regard to. Others that ought to be outlawed outright are with
respect to and in respect of, the very, very worst being in respect of,
which can mean anything or nothing. It is a disgrace to expect your
reader to puzzle out the relationship you might or might not have in
mind when you use in respect of, and if you use it because of its
extensive usage in fiscal legislation, you are mixing with some very bad
company. At the time of writing the latest version of the consolidated
Income Tax Act contained no fewer than 2 613 usages of in respect of,
showing how little regard the fiscal authorities have for communicating
the true import of the law to its users.
— 244 —
6—The vroom in verbs—Baddadaboom!
6 THE VROOM IN VERBS
Baddadaboom!
And now—Baddadaboom!—what we have all been waiting for, the real
reason why much professional writing is difficult and boring to read.
Professional texts are too ‘nounsy’, verbs usually making a text racy,
and nouns usually slowing it down.
Here is an insignificant but interesting example, because two of the
nouns are gerunds—verbal nouns. One verb to four nouns is perhaps not
a bad ratio, except that it may be improved upon. In the ‘after’ version
there are three verbs and two nouns.
Illustration 58
Before
Nor is there much focus on encouraging and mobilizing domestic
savings.
After
Nor is much effort expended to encourage and mobilize domestic
savings.
The following passage serves as a good illustration of the nounsy style
of much professional writing and includes in its clutter a catachresis or
two (a free copy of the latest Tax Shock, Horror Database, autographed
and personally dedicated, if you can spot all of them):
Illustration 59
In a study of thirty sub-Saharan African countries, Ndikumana and
Boyce (2002) estimated that total capital flight for the period from
1970 to 1996 amounted to $187 billion (see Table 3.1). Adding
imputed interest earnings, the stock of Africa’s capital flight stood at
$274 billion, that is, equivalent to 145 percent of the debts owed by
those countries. In 2002 sub-Saharan Africa’s total foreign debt was
“only” (in comparison to the amount shipped out of Africa through
capital flight) $204 billion (Africa Table 3.1 Indicators of Capital
Flight from Thirty African Countries, 1970–1996 (US$ millions)
Recovery, vol. 17, no. 2, 2003: 10). As an aside, in September 2004 it
— 245 —
was announced that there were over 100,000 African millionaires on
the continent, worth around $600 billion in total (African Business,
London, September 2004: 8).
In my opinion, this form of presentation is totally unacceptable, and I
don’t care a fig if it is how all political economists and sociologists
write. If they do, they are all a bunch of old farts.
The following gem demonstrates almost everything I have been
saying about slovenly professional writers who do not read and rewrite
their stuff before releasing it upon an unsuspecting public. It is woolly
(various, certain), repetitive (provisions…providing…containing a
provision, connected person, connected person) and, above all, nounsy
and obscure. The surprise is that the ‘…ing’ words (providing, dealing),
both participles, are correctly used:
Illustration 60
Before
Various provisions in the Income Tax Act providing capital
allowances contain a provision dealing with assets acquired by a
taxpayer from its connected person or on which its connected person
has already claimed certain allowances. (9)
After
Capital allowances in the Income Tax Act cater for assets acquired by
a taxpayer from its connected person or on which its connected person
has already claimed an allowance. (7)
Full rewrite
In bestowing capital allowances, the income tax system deals unkindly
with assets you acquire from your connected person or on which it has
already enjoyed an allowance. (6, and one is a gerund)
The tortuous thread is picked up a little later, with (what else?) an
unrelated pronoun:
— 246 —
Illustration 61
Before
This means that these provisions apply, for example, even when a
taxpayer acquires an asset from someone who is not its connected
person if that person previously acquired the asset from the taxpayer’s
connected person who had in the past claimed capital allowances on
the asset. (11, plus at least one for the unidentified subject-matter of
the unrelated pronoun)
After
Even if a taxpayer acquired an asset from an unrelated party who had
acquired it from the taxpayer’s connected person, the rule would
apply, as long as the connected person had claimed allowances on the
asset. (9)
Full rewrite
This rule applies even when you acquire an asset from an unrelated
party who acquired it from your connected person who claimed the
allowances. (5)
In the unlikely event that you are still paying attention, the author, in a
flurry of nouns, treats you to a reprise:
Illustration 62
Before
Thus the taxpayer acquiring a qualifying asset must establish, first,
whether a connected person has claimed any qualifying allowances on
the asset and, when appropriate, whether the asset was acquired from
that connected person; secondly, what the cost of the asset was to the
connected person; and, thirdly, what the current market value is of the
asset. (12)
Full rewrite
Thus you need to know the historic cost and current market value of a
depreciable asset you acquire from or via your connected person. (4)
Never mind the noun-count in the next example; without doing
extensive research, you cannot possibly understand what is being said:
— 247 —
Illustration 63
Before
But para 39 is expressly made inapplicable to a capital loss that is
dealt with under para 56, namely, a loss suffered on the disposal of a
debt to a connected person. This appears to be the effect of the
clumsily worded para 56(2), which is dealt with above and allows a
loss to be claimed on the waiver of an inter-connected-person debt that
gives rise to a capital gain for the debtor under para 12(5) ‘despite
paragraph 39’. (17)
Full rewrite
But—and here we go around again—para 39 is expressly made
inapplicable to a capital loss dealt with under para 56, namely, a loss
suffered upon the disposal of a debt to a connected person! Yet there
is nothing to this effect in para 39 itself. Paragraph 39 is done in by the
clumsily worded para 56(2), which allows a loss to be claimed on the
waiver of an inter-connected-person debt giving rise to a capital gain
for the debtor under para 12(5) despite paragraph 39! Your loss lives
on.
And so we say goodbye, farewell
Take care in what you write to curb the bad habits you have picked up
during your education by your supposed betters, and pay respect always
to the long-suffering reader. Your hard work will perhaps go unnoticed
but never your lack of respect.
— 248 —
Shortcut Keys In Word
by
Duncan S McAllister
These listings and articles first appeared in the Tax Shock,
Horror newsletter March 2009–December 2015
— 249 —
— 250 —
Shortcut keys—Main listing
Main listing
A ‘+’ sign indicates that keys must be pressed together. A comma
indicates that keys must be pressed in sequence.
Any power user of a PC can save time by learning keyboard shortcuts instead of
using the mouse. There are numerous key-combinations for various tasks, but,
for starters, here are the main ‘CTRL +’ and ‘CTRL + Shift +’ key combinations
for MS Word 2003. A few do not work in Word 2007.
CTRL
+ Key
CTRL +
Key
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
[
]
spacebar
Select all
Bold
Copy
Open font window
Centre text
Find
Go to
Find and Replace
Italic
Justify paragraph
Insert hyperlink
Left align
Indent paragraph
New document
Open
Print
Remove paragraph formatting
Right align
Save
Increase hanging indent
Underline
Paste
Close window
Cut
Repeat last action
Undo
Decrease font size
Increase font size
Remove character formatting
— 251 —
CTRL + +
CTRL + TAB
CTRL + numpad
CTRL + 1
CTRL + 5
CTRL + 2
CTRL + F6
CTRL +
–
F7
CTRL + F10
CTRL + left
/ right
arrow keys
CTRL + up/down
arrow keys
CTRL + home
CTRL + end
CTRL + del
CTRL + backspace
CTRL
Subscript
Dialog box—move to next tabbed section
En dash
Single line spacing
1,5 line spacing
Double line spacing
Next Word window (cycle through all open Word
documents)
Move document window (press then use arrow keys to
move window. To restore press esc)
Maximize window
Go to next / previous word
Go to next / previous paragraph
Go to beginning of document
Go to end of document
Delete one word at a time
Delete one word at a time backwards
+ Shift keys
CTRL +
Shift keys
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
Shift + A
Shift + B
Shift + C
Shift + D
Shift + E
Shift + F
Shift + G
Shift + H
Shift + I
Shift + J
Shift + K
Shift + L
Shift + M
Shift + N
Shift + O
Shift + P
Shift + Q
Shift + R
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
Shift + S
Shift + T
Shift + U
All caps
Bold
Copy formatting
Double underline
Revision marks on / off
Font type box
Word count list
Hidden text
Italic
Distribute para across a page
Small caps
List bullet
Decrease indent
Normal style
Research lookup
Font size box
Symbol font
Update the word count in the word count toolbar (CTRL
+ Shift + G, S)
Style box
Decrease hanging indent
Underline
— 252 —
CTRL + Shift + V
CTRL + Shift + W
CTRL + Shift + X
CTRL + Shift + Z
CTRL + Shift + =
CTRL + Shift
ENTER
CTRL + Shift + 8
CTRL + Shift
+
Paste formatting
Underline word
Toggle XML tag view
Remove character formats
Superscript
Column break
+
Show/hide
Insert a non-breaking space
spacebar
CTRL + Shift + <
CTRL + Shift + >
CTRL + Shift + TAB
CTRL + Shift +
home
CTRL + Shift + end
CTRL + Shift + left
arrow
CTRL + Shift + right
arrow
CTRL + Shift + up
arrow
CTRL + Shift +
down arrow
CTRL + Shift + (keyboard)
CTRL + Shift + .
(keyboard)
CTRL + Shift + ,
(keyboard)
CTRL + Shift + F3
CTRL + Shift + F5
CTRL + Shift + F6
CTRL + Shift + F7
CTRL + Shift + F8
CTRL +
Shift + F9
CTRL +
CTRL +
Shift + F11
Shift + F12
CTRL
Decrease font size
Increase font size
Move to the previous tabbed section within a dialog box
Highlight all text to beginning of document
Highlight all text to end of document
Select one word at a time to the left
Select one word at a time to the right
Select paragraph below
Select paragraph above
Insert a non-breaking hyphen
Increase font size
Decrease font size
Paste spike (to cut to spike: CTRL + F3)
Bookmark
Previous window
Update field
Select text vertically (once activated use up or down
arrow keys to select).
Unlink a hyperlink (eg use to remove underlining from a
website address)
Unlock fields
Print
+ Alt + Key
CTRL +
Alt + Key
CTRL + ALT +
CTRL + ALT +
C
D
Insert copyright symbol (©)
Insert endnote
— 253 —
CTRL + ALT + E
CTRL + ALT + F
CTRL + ALT + I
CTRL + ALT + K
CTRL + ALT + L
CTRL + ALT + M
CTRL + ALT + N
CTRL + ALT + O
CTRL + ALT + P
CTRL + ALT + R
CTRL + ALT + S
CTRL + ALT + T
CTRL + ALT + U
CTRL + ALT + V
CTRL + ALT + Y
CTRL + ALT + Z
CTRL + ALT +
(keyboard)
CTRL + ALT +
(keyboard)
CTRL + ALT +
(keyboard)
CTRL + ALT +
(keyboard)
CTRL + ALT +
(numpad)
CTRL + ALT +
(numpad)
CTRL + ALT
1
Euro currency symbol (€)
Insert footnote
Print preview
Auto Format
List num field
Insert comment
Normal view (Draft view in Word 2007)
Outline view
Print Layout view
Insert registered trade mark symbol (®)
Split document window
Insert trade mark symbol (™)
Update Auto Format
Auto Text
Repeat Find after closing Find and Replace window
Go back
Heading 1 style
2
Heading 2 style
3
Heading 3 style
.
Insert ellipsis (…)
+
Customize keyboard
-
Em dash (—)
+
Style separator
ENTER
CTRL + ALT + =
CTRL + ALT + CTRL + ALT + page
Customize—add menu shortcut
Customize—remove menu shortcut
Start of window
up
CTRL
+ ALT + page
End of window
down
CTRL + ALT +
CTRL + ALT +
CTRL + ALT +
home
F1
F2
ALT +
Shift keys
ALT +
Shift keys
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
Shift + A
Shift + C
Shift + D
Browse selection
System information
Open
Outline—show all headings
Restore document window split/close reviewing panel
Insert date
— 254 —
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
Shift + E
Shift + F
Shift + I
Shift + K
Shift + L
Shift + M
Shift + N
Shift + O
Shift + P
Shift + R
ALT + Shift + T
ALT + Shift + U
ALT + Shift + X
ALT + Shift +
up
arrow
ALT + Shift + down
arrow
ALT + Shift + page
up
ALT + Shift + page
down
ALT + Shift + home
ALT + Shift + end
ALT + Shift + F1
ALT + Shift + F2
ALT + Shift + F6
ALT + Shift + F7
ALT + Shift + F9
ALT + Shift + F11
ALT + Shift + (numpad)
ALT + Shift + ALT + Shift + left
arrow
ALT + Shift + right
arrow
ALT + Shift + +
(numpad)
ALT + Shift + =
ALT +
Shift +
Backspace
ALT + Shift + 1 to 9
ALT +
Mail merge edit data source
Merge field
Mark Table of Authorities entry
Mail merge preview
Outline—show first line
Mail merge to printer
Mail merge to document
Mark Table of Contents entry
Page number field
Copy header or footer used in previous section of
document
Insert time
Update fields
Mark an index entry
Move a paragraph up (or row in a table up)
Move a paragraph down (or row in a table down)
Start of column
End of column
Start of row
End of row
Previous field
Save
Previous window
Translate pane
Double click in field
Microsoft script editor
Outline—collapse
Outline—collapse
Outline—promote
Outline—demote
Outline—expand
Outline—expand
Redo
Outline—show Heading 1 to 9 respectively
numpad
Some useful symbol and special character keys (ALT + numpad)
— 255 —
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
0128
0163
0167
0232
0233
0234
0235
0224
0225
0228
0244
0246
Euro currency (€)
Pound (£)
Paragraph (§)
è
é
ê
ë
à
á
ä
ô
ö
Function keys
Function keys
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F8 twice
F8 three times
F8 four times
F8 five times
F8 + left arrow
F8 + right arrow
F8 + up arrow
F8 + down arrow
F9
F10
F11
F12
Help
Move text (highlight text, press F2, place cursor where
you want to move text, ENTER)
Auto Text (In Word 2007, insert building block (after
BB name typed)
Redo or repeat last action
Go to dialog box
Other pane (eg if you are in normal view in the footnote
area and want to jump to the main document area). To
jump in the other direction use Shift + F6
Spelling and grammar dialog box
Activate extend selection (use arrow keys or keep
pressing F8 to select text, press ESC to deactivate). To
highlight text over several pages, insert a unique
character at the end of the intended selection (eg > or *).
Return to the beginning of the selection, press F8
followed by the unique character
Select word
Select sentence
Select paragraph
Select entire document
Select one character at a time to the left
Select one character at a time to the right
Select one line up at a time
Select one line down at a time
Update field
Menu mode (activates toolbar)
Next field
Save as
— 256 —
Shift + Key
Shift + Key
Shift + F1
Shift + F2
Shift + F3
Shift + F4
Shift + F5
Shift + F6
Shift + F7
Shift + F8
Shift + F9
Shift + F10
Shift + F11
Shift + F12
Shift + Del
Shift + insert
Shift + up arrow
Shift + down arrow
Shift + end
Shift + home
Shift + left arrow
Shift + right arrow
Shift + page up
Shift + page down
Shift + TAB
Open reveal formatting task pane
Copy text (highlight text, press shift + F2, place cursor
where you want to paste, ENTER)
Change case (toggle between lower case, capitalize first
letter of each word, upper case)
Repeat Find (CTRL + F, enter search term, ENTER (to
find first hit), ESC (to close Find dialog box – press esc),
keep pressing shift + F4 to find more hits. As an
alternative to shift + F4, you can use CTRL + page up or
page down.
Last change, or go to last location in reopened
document
Previous pane (see F6)
Opens Thesaurus Research task pane
Shrink selection (see F8)
Reveal field codes (toggle to hide field code)
Shortcut menu
Previous field
Save
Cut
Paste
Highlight text one line at a time up
Highlight text one line at a time down
Highlight text to end of line
Highlight text to start of line
Highlight text one character at a time to the left
Highlight text one character at a time to the right
Highlight text up
Highlight text down
Previous cell in table
Mouse + key
Mouse + key
CTRL +
mouse click
+
mouse
double click
CTRL + mouse triple
click
CTRL
Select sentence (hold down CTRL, point to the sentence
and click)
Select word
Select paragraph (first place cursor in paragraph)
— 257 —
ALT +
drag mouse
Shift + left click
Select text vertically
To highlight a chunk of text, place cursor at the
beginning point. Scroll to end point using scroll bars or
mouse wheel. Press shift + left click at end point.
Many but not all of these sequence keys will also work in Office 2007.
— 258 —
Shortcut keys—ALT sequence keys
ALT
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2003)
sequence keys (Word 2003)
File (ALT + F)
ALT, F, S
ALT, F, A
ALT, F, G
ALT, F, N
ALT, F, O
ALT, F, C
ALT, F, H
ALT, F, M
ALT, F, R
ALT, F, B
ALT, F, U
ALT, F, V
ALT, F, P
ALT, F, D, M
ALT, F, D, C
ALT, F, D, A
ALT, F, D, R
ALT, F, D, E
ALT, F, D, O
ALT, F, D, F
ALT, F, D, X
ALT, F, D, P
ALT, F, I
ALT, F, 1
ALT, F, 2
ALT, F, 3
ALT, F, 4
Save
Save As
Save as Webpage
New
Open
Close
File Search
Permission
Versions
Web Page Preview
Page Setup
Page Preview
Print
Send to Mail Recipient
Send to Mail Recipient (for Review)
Send to Mail Recipient (as Attachment)
Send to Routing Recipient
Send to Exchange Folder
Send to Online Meeting Participant
Send to Recipient using a Fax Modem
Send to Recipient using Internet Fax Service
Send to Microsoft Office PowerPoint
Properties
Most recent document
Second most recent document
Third most recent document
Fourth most recent document
Edit (ALT + E)
ALT, E, L
ALT, E, U
ALT, E, R
ALT, E, T
ALT, E, C
ALT, E, B
ALT, E, P
ALT, E, S
ALT, E, H
ALT, E, A, F
Select All
Undo typing
Repeat typing
Cut
Copy
Office Clipboard
Paste
Paste Special
Paste as Hyperlink
Clear Formats
— 259 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
E, A, C
E, F
E, E
E, G
E, V
E, K
E, O
Clear Contents
Find
Replace
Go To
Reconvert
Links
Object
VIEW (ALT + V)
ALT, V, N
ALT, V, W
ALT, V, P
ALT, V, R
ALT, V, O
ALT, V, K
ALT, V, T
ALT, V, L
ALT, V, D
ALT, V, B
ALT, V, H
ALT, V, F
ALT, V, A
ALT, V, U
ALT, V, Z, 2
ALT, V, Z, 1, OK
ALT, V, Z, 7, OK
ALT, V, Z, E, OK
ALT, V, Z, P, OK
ALT, V, Z, T, OK
ALT, V, Z, W, OK
ALT, V, Z, M, OK
Normal
Web Layout
Print Layout
Reading Layout
Outline
Task Pane
Toolbars
Ruler
Document Map
Thumbnails
Header and Footer
Footnotes
Markup
Full Screen
Zoom 200%
Zoom 100%
Zoom 75%
Zoom Percent (insert number, ENTER)
Zoom Page width
Zoom Text width
Zoom Whole page
Zoom Many Pages
Insert (ALT + I)
ALT, I, B
ALT, I, F
ALT, I, N, N
ALT, I, N, C
ALT, I, N, R
ALT, I, N, D, X
ALT, I, N, D, C
ALT, I, N, D, F
ALT, I, N, D, A
ALT, I, L
ALT, I, U
ALT, I, T
ALT, I, A
ALT, I, S
Break
Field
Reference Footnote
Reference Caption
Reference Cross-reference
Reference / Index and Tables / Index
Reference / Index and Tables / Table of Contents
Reference / Index and Tables / Table of Figures
Reference / Index and Tables / Table of Authorities
File
Page Numbers
Date and Time
AutoText
Symbol
— 260 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
I, M
I, W
I, P
I, G
I, X
I, K
I, I
Comment
Web Component
Picture
Diagram
Text Box
Bookmark
Hyperlink
Format (ALT + O)
ALT, O, F, N
ALT, O, F, R
ALT, O, F, X
ALT, O, P
ALT, O, B, B
ALT, O, B, P
ALT, O, B, S
ALT, O, T
ALT, O, S
ALT, O, N
ALT, O, C
ALT, O, D
ALT, O, X
ALT, O, E
ALT, O, K
ALT, O, H
ALT, O, R
ALT, O, A
ALT, O, S
ALT, O, V
ALT, O, O
Font / Font
Font / Character Spacing
Font / Text Effects
Paragraph
Borders and Shading / Borders
Borders and Shading / Page Border
Borders and Shading / Shading
Tabs
Styles and Formatting
Bullets and Numbering
Columns
Drop Cap
Text Direction
Change Case
Background
Theme
Frames
AutoFormat
Styles and Formatting
Reveal Formatting
Object
Tools (ALT + T)
ALT, T, S
ALT, T, T
ALT, T, D
ALT, T, R
ALT, T, L
ALT, T, W
ALT, T, U
ALT, T, H
ALT, T, K
ALT, T, P
ALT, T, N
ALT, T, E
ALT, T, M
ALT, T, I
ALT, T, A
Spelling and Grammar
Track Changes
Compare and Merge Documents
Research
Language
Word Count
Autosummarize
Speech
Shared Workspace
Protect Document
Online Collaboration
Letters and Mailings
Macro
Templates and Add-ins
AutoCorrect Options
— 261 —
ALT,
ALT,
T, C
T, O
Customize
Options
Table (ALT + A)
ALT, A, W
ALT, A, I, T
ALT, A, I, L
ALT, A, I, R
ALT, A, I, A
ALT, A, I, B
ALT, A, I, E
ALT, A, D, T
ALT, A, D, C
ALT, A, D, R
ALT, A, D, E
ALT, A, C, T
ALT, A, C, C
ALT, A, C, R
ALT, A, C, E
ALT, A, A, F
ALT, A, A, W
ALT, A, A, X
ALT, A, A, N
ALT, A, A, Y
ALT, A, M
ALT, A, P
ALT, A, T
ALT, A, F
ALT, A, V, B
ALT, A, V, X
ALT, A, S
ALT, A, H
ALT, A, O
ALT, A, G
ALT, A, R
ALT, A, W
Draw Table
Insert / Table
Insert / Columns to the Left
Insert / Columns to the Right
Insert / Rows Above
Insert / Rows Below
Insert / Cells
Delete / Table
Delete / Column
Delete / Rows
Delete / Cells
Select / Table
Select / Column
Select / Rows
Select / Cells
AutoFit / AutoFit to Contents
AutoFit / AutoFit to Window
AutoFit / Fixed Column Width
AutoFit / Distribute Rows Evenly
AutoFit / Distribute Columns Evenly
Merge cells (first highlight cells)
Split cells (first highlight cells)
Split Table
Table AutoFormat
Convert / Table to Text
Convert / Text to Table
Sort
Heading Rows Repeat
Formula
Hide/show Gridlines
Table Properties
Draw Table
Window (ALT + W)
ALT, W, A
ALT, W, B
ALT, W, 1
ALT, W, 2
Arrange All
Compare Side By Side
First document
Second document etc
Help (ALT + H)
ALT, H, H
ALT, H, M
ALT, H, K
Microsoft Office Word Help
Microsoft Office Online
Check for Updates
— 262 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
H, A
H, R
H, O
H, C
H, P
H, V
H, F
About Microsoft Office Word
Detect and Repair
Show the Office Assistant
Contact Us
WordPerfect Help
Activate Product
Customer Feedback Options
— 263 —
— 264 —
Shortcut keys—Nonbreaking spaces
Nonbreaking spaces
Nonbreaking spaces are used to glue characters together. For example,
with ‘31 March 2009’, you do not want the ‘31’ to remain on one line if
‘March’ moves on to the next line.
The shortcut key for inserting a nonbreaking space is:
CTRL
+ Shift + Spacebar
The following examples illustrate where nonbreaking spaces should be
used. The symbol ‘º’ has been used to indicate a nonbreaking space.
References to legislation
Itemº(a)
paraº5
Paragraphº10
PartºI of ChapterºII
sº1
Sectionº25
sectionsº13, 14 andº15
sectionsº13, 14 orº15
ssº1, 3 andº4
Income Tax Actº58 of 1962 (in text)
Income Tax Act noº58 of 1962 (in legislation) (note the ‘spare’,
lower-case style for ‘No.’)
artº5 (as in tax treaties)
Titles and names
JGºLangehoven
MrºDe Beer
MrºJMºde Beer
CorbettºCJ
Dates
20ºMarch 2009 (Note: not between month and year)
— 265 —
Shortcut keys—Nonbreaking spaces
Figures
R1º000º000
R1ºmillion
Quote within a quote
‘…he remarked’º”.
Other
5ºed
In general
Nonbreaking spaces are not used in case names or references (except for
case numbers preceded by identifying alphabetical characters), such as
in ITCº1829 (2007) 70 SATC 106 (G) or Natal Estates Ltd v SIR 1975 (4)
SA 177 (A), 37 SATC 193.
To view nonbreaking spaces use:
+ Shift + 8
(8 on the keyboard, not the numpad).
CTRL
This sequence will activate show/hide formatting. Press it again to hide
formatting. Alternatively, in MS Word 2003 you can click on the
paragraph symbol (¶) on the toolbar.
— 266 —
Shortcut keys—The spike
The spike
The two relevant shortcut keys included in the main listing are CTRL +
F3 (cut to Spike) and CTRL + Shift + F3 (paste Spike contents).
The Spike is a separate clipboard which runs independently of and in
parallel with the Windows clipboard and the more advanced Office
clipboard. In other words, you can use the Windows or Office clipboard
and the Spike at the same time.
The Spike works as its name suggests—like one of those metal spikes
one uses to ‘spear’ odd bits of paper such as invoices, cash sale slips and
the like. To cut to the Spike, highlight the text and press CTRL + F3. To
paste the Spike contents use CTRL + Shift + F3.
When you have finished spiking your selection the entire contents of
the Spike will be pasted when you apply CTRL + Shift + F3. The items
you cut to the Spike will be pasted in the order in which you cut them.
The Spike is thus a cumulative clipboard, unlike the Windows
clipboard, which just keeps the last entry. There is no limit to how many
items you can cut to the Spike, unlike the Windows clipboard, which
retains only the last item, and the Office clipboard, which has a limit of
twenty-four items.
Once you have pasted the contents of the Spike using the shortcut
key, it will be empty, unlike the Windows or Office clipboard, which
can be used to paste the same item multiple times.
It is possible only to cut to the Spike—you cannot copy to it. But you
can easily get around this limitation by simply undoing the cut after you
have made it (CTRL + Z will undo the last action but will leave the cut
item on the Spike).
In most instances I find the normal copy (CTRL + C), cut (CTRL + X)
and paste (CTRL + V) functions fulfil my day-to-day needs. But
occasionally the Spike comes in handy. For example, you may need to
sort a list of items into some sort of order. You can just spike them in the
desired sequence and then paste them where you need them. The Spike
is also useful if you need to cut multiple extracts from legislation or
court decisions that are not next to each other. For instance you may
need to cut the SA Law Reports and the SA Tax Cases Reports references
from a court case, and these are usually a few lines apart.
To preview the Spike contents in Word 2003, press ALT, I, A, X,
which brings up the AutoCorrect dialog box. Type Spike in the ‘Enter
Autotext entries here’ box. The Spike contents can then be viewed in the
Preview box. To paste the Spike contents without emptying the Spike
click Insert.
In Word 2007, on the Insert tab, choose Quick Parts and then select
Building Blocks Organizer. In the ‘Building Blocks:’ list, select Spike.
The Spike's contents are displayed in the Preview box. To insert the
— 267 —
Shortcut keys—The spike
Spike’s contents without emptying it, press Insert. To achieve the same
end with a series of shortcut keys, press ALT, N, Q, B, spike, ALT + I.
A simpler way of copying the Spike’s contents without emptying it is
to type the word ‘spike’ (minus the inverted commas) and then press F3.
In order to avoid extra lines when pasting the Spike’s contents make
sure you do not highlight the paragraph mark at the end of an item
before pressing CTRL + F3. You can see the paragraph marks if you
press CTRL + Shift + 8 (keyboard, not numpad). Press these keys again
to remove show/hide.
— 268 —
Shortcut keys—Highlighting text in Word
Highlighting text in Word
Most novice users (and some old hands too) use the mouse for
highlighting text in MS Word. The problem with using the mouse is that
it is very difficult to highlight a single character or word without the
mouse slipping and highlighting more or less than what you intended.
The keyboard offers a far better alternative, with more control and one
or two nifty tricks. But, if you just can’t release your beloved ‘rat’, don’t
worry—I’ve included a few mouse shortcuts in this special collection of
the key combinations for highlighting text:
Shortcut keys for highlighting text
CTRL + A
ALT, E,
L (Word
2003)
ALT, H, SL, A
(Word 2007)
ALT, H, SL, O
(Word 2007)
ALT, H, SL, S
(Word 2007)
Shift + left arrow
Shift + right arrow
Shift + up arrow
Shift + down arrow
Shift + end
Shift + home
CTRL + Shift + left
arrow
CTRL + Shift + right
arrow
CTRL + Shift + up
arrow
CTRL + Shift +
down arrow
F8
F8 + left arrow
F8 + right arrow
F8 + up arrow
F8 + down arrow
Shift + F8
F 8 twice
F 8 three times
Select All
Select All
Select All
Select Object
Select Text with Similar Formatting
Select text one character at a time to the left
Select text one character at a time to the right
Select text one line at a time up
Select text one line at a time down
Select text to end of line
Select text to start of line
Select one word at a time to the left
Select one word at a time to the right
Select paragraph above
Select paragraph below
Turn on extend mode
Select one character at a time to the left
Select one character at a time to the right
Select one line up at a time
Select one line down at a time
Reduce selection
Select word
Select sentence
— 269 —
Shortcut keys—Highlighting text in Word
F8 four times
F8 five times
CTRL + Shift + F8
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
A, C, T
A, C, C
A, C, R
A, C, E
Select paragraph
Select entire document
Select text vertically (once activated use up or down
arrow keys to select).
Select Table
Select Columns
Select Rows
Select Cells
Some nifty tricks
By pressing F8, you activate highlighting. To deselect it, press ESC. Sometimes
you need to highlight several pages in a document, and it can be quite difficult
to stop at the end point without overshooting. Alternatively, sometimes the
cursor becomes stuck at the bottom of a page, especially when tables go across
pages. The following tip solves that problem. Place an unusual character which
does not appear in your text at the end of the piece that you want to select (for
example, > or *). Next, return to the beginning of the piece, press F8 followed
by the character. The text will instantly be highlighted. Don’t forget to delete
the character at the end of the selected piece (it will not appear at the
beginning).
Mouse shortcut keys for highlighting text
CTRL +
mouse click
+
mouse
double click
CTRL + mouse triple
click
ALT + drag mouse
Shift + left click
CTRL
Select sentence (hold down CTRL, point to the sentence
and click)
Select word
Select paragraph (first place cursor in paragraph)
Select text vertically
To highlight a chunk of text, place cursor at the
beginning point. Scroll to end point using scroll bars or
mouse wheel. Press shift + left click at end point.
— 270 —
Shortcut keys—Shortcut keys In Outlook
Shortcut keys in Outlook
Listed here are some time-saving shortcut keys for use in Microsoft
Outlook. Many of the Word shortcut keys for editing text also work in
Outlook. For example, to format an outgoing email message: CTRL + A
(select all) and CTRL + D (open font dialog box). As usual, the plus sign
indicates a combination key, while commas indicate that keys must be
pressed in sequence.
Some of these shortcuts may not work in Outlook 2003. I have
indicated ‘(2003)’ or ‘(2007)’ for those keys that I understand will work
only in one or the other version of Outlook.
This list is not exhaustive—there are many other specialized keys for
use in the various Outlook views, such as the calendar and contacts
views.
Outlook Shortcut Keys
windows + R,
ENTER outlook
CTRL + 1
CTRL + 2
CTRL + 3
CTRL + 4
CTRL + 5
CTRL + 6
CTRL + 7
CTRL + period
CTRL + comma
CTRL + B
CTRL + D
CTRL + E
CTRL + ALT +
A
(2007)
CTRL + ALT + F
(2007)
CTRL + ALT + J
CTRL + ALT + K
(2007)
CTRL + ALT + M
(2007)
CTRL + ALT + S
CTRL + ALT + U
CTRL + ALT + W
Launch Outlook using the Run command (the windows
key is between CTRL and ALT on the left hand side of the
keyboard)
Switch to mail
Switch to calendar
Switch to contacts
Switch to tasks
Switch to notes
Switch to folder list in navigation pane
Switch to shortcuts
Switch to next message (with message open)
Switch to previous message (with message open)
Display send/receive progress dialog box
Delete an email message, calendar item, contact or task
Go to the search box (press ESC to clear)
Expand search to include all items in the module (eg—all
mail items, all calendar items)
Forward as attachment
Mark a message as not junk
Expand search to include the desktop
Mark for download
Define send/receive groups
Clear mark for download
Expand the search query builder
— 271 —
(2007)
CTRL + F
CTRL + K
CTRL + M
CTRL + N
CTRL + O
CTRL + P
CTRL + Q
CTRL + R
CTRL + S
CTRL + T
CTRL + U
CTRL + Y
CTRL + Z
CTRL + enter
ALT + B or ALT +
left arrow
ALT + right arrow
ALT + I (2003)
ALT + K
ALT + L
ALT + P
ALT + R
ALT + S
ALT + W
ALT + backspace
ALT + enter
ALT, N, A, F
(2007)
ALT, I, L (2003)
ALT, V, A, D
ALT, V, A, F, first
letter of sender’s
name
ALT, V, A, T, first
letter of recipient’s
name
ALT, V, A, S
ALT,
P, 1, H
(2007)
ALT, P, 1, L (2007)
ALT, P, 1, R (2007)
ALT, H, X, V
(2007)
F3
F4
Shift + F4
F6
Forward
Check names
Check for new mail
Open new (blank) email message
Open selected item
Print
Mark as Read
Reply
Save
Post a reply in this folder
Mark as Unread
Open folder list
Undo
Send
Go back to previous view in main Outlook window
Go forward to next view in main Outlook window
Look for (places cursor in search box)
Remove last semi-colon from mail addressee
Reply to All
In a new email, open message options dialog box
Reply
Send
Forward
Undo
Show properties for selected item
Attach file
Attach file
Arrange folder (eg—sent items) in date order
Arrange inbox in ‘from’ order
Arrange sent items in ‘to’ order
Arrange folder in size order
Convert message to HTML (use to convert a message
you want to forward or reply to)
Convert message to Plain Text
Convert message to Rich Text
View email message in Internet Explorer
Go to the search box
Search for text within an email message
Find next while searching in a message
Move between the navigation pane, the main Outlook
— 272 —
F7
F9
F11
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift +
CTRL + Shift
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
+ (
(in a message)
CTRL + Shift + J
CTRL + Shift + K
CTRL + Shift + L
CTRL + Shift + M
CTRL + Shift + N
CTRL + Shift + O
CTRL + Shift + P
CTRL + Shift + Q
CTRL + Shift + R
CTRL + Shift + S
CTRL + Shift + U
CTRL + Shift + V
CTRL + Shift + W
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
Shift + X
Shift + Y
Shift + Z
Up / down arrow
window, the reading pane and the to-do bar
Spell check
Send/receive
Activate the ‘find a contact’ box
Create new appointment in calendar
Open address book
Create contact
Dial a new call
Create folder
Open Advanced Find dialog box
Create flag for follow up
Create new MS Office document
Switch to inbox
Display blocked external content
Create journal entry
Create task
Create distribution list
Create new email message
Create note
Switch to outbox
Create a new search folder
Create meeting request
Reply All to a message
Post to a folder
Create task request
Move an item
Select the infobar and show the menu to download
pictures, change automatic download settings, or add a
sender to the safe senders list
Create a fax
Copy an item
Clear formatting in an email message
Go to next / previous message
Have you ever wondered how to insert a web address in an email
without displaying the full web address but only a hyperlink such as
‘click HERE’? This can make you look like a pro, and it’s quite easy.
First, copy the web address onto the clipboard. In order to do this, open
the web page, highlight the web address in the address block (press ALT
+ D to do this quickly), and press CTRL + C to copy. Next, highlight the
word you want to hyperlink (eg HERE), press CTRL + K, press CTRL +
V to paste the web address into the address block of the hyperlink dialog
box, and hit ENTER.
— 273 —
— 274 —
Shortcut keys—Shortcut keys in Internet Explorer
Shortcut keys in Internet Explorer 8
Listed here are time-saving shortcut keys for use in Microsoft Internet
Explorer 8. This list is probably the most comprehensive you will find
on the planet.
For those looking for some quick gains, here are my top six shortcut
keys:
 ALT + left or right arrow keys—to move back and forward between
webpages.
 CTRL + F5—to refresh a webpage.
 ALT + D—to highlight the contents of the address box so you can
delete or modify it.
 F4—to drop down the list of recently visited addresses (use the
down arrow key to navigate to your chosen address and hit enter).
 ALT, A, first letter of name of website—to access your Favourites.
For example, say you have added a webpage named CPD to your
Favourites. Press ALT, A, C to open the webpage. If you have more
than one Favourite beginning with the letter ‘C’, keep pressing ‘C’
until you reach the desired webpage and then hit enter.
 CTRL + F—To find text on a webpage.
Finally, if you want to copy and paste the text of a webpage into a Word
document, use the Paste Special command in Word to prevent your PC
from hanging for several minutes while it attempts to copy all the
hyperlinks on the webpage.
Thus, in Internet Explorer: CTRL + A (highlight webpage), CTRL + C
(copy) and in Word: ALT, E, S, U, enter (paste as Unformatted Unicode
Text).
I normally do this in a blank Word document, and from there copy
and paste the selected text into the document I am working on.
General
windows + R,
iexplore, ENTER
windows + R, web
address, ENTER
Launch Internet Explorer using the Run command (the
windows key is between CTRL and ALT on the left hand
side of the keyboard)
Launch a webpage in Internet Explorer using the Run
command. It is unnecessary to type http:// for a web
address beginning with www. For example, to launch
the IOL website type www.iol.co.za in the Open block
— 275 —
Shortcut keys—Shortcut keys in Internet Explorer
F1
F12
ESC
CTRL + N
CTRL + O
CTRL + W
ALT + F4
and hit ENTER.
Help
Open Internet Explorer Developer Tools
Stop downloading page
Open current webpage in a new window
Open a new website or page
Close current window (if tabbed browsing disabled)
Close window
— 276 —
Shortcut keys—Some Windows Explorer & desktop shortcut keys
Some Windows Explorer & desktop shortcut keys
The Windows key (between CTRL and ALT on the left-hand side of the
keyboard) provides a variety of time-saving shortcut keys which are
listed in the table below.
WIN
key combinations
WIN
WIN
+D
WIN
WIN
WIN
WIN
WIN
+E
+F
+L
+M
+ Shift + M
WIN
WIN
WIN
+R
+ F1
+U
Activate start menu
Minimize all open windows (handy for quickly
accessing your desktop). Press it again to restore your
windows.
Open Windows Explorer
Display Find all Files dialog box
Lock workstation
Minimize all open windows
Restore all previously open windows to how they were
before you minimized them
Open the Run window
Display Windows Help and Support
Display Utility Manager with accessibility options
(Magnifier, Narrator and On-Screen Keyboard)
— 277 —
— 278 —
Shortcut keys—Navigating Windows Explorer with the keyboard
Navigating Windows Explorer with the
keyboard
It is possible to navigate the Windows Explorer window using the
keyboard. In order to do this, first open the explorer window using WIN
+ E. To jump into the right hand pane, use the TAB key in XP or the right
arrow key in Vista. Next, press the first letter of the folder you wish to
open. If there is more than one folder beginning with the same letter,
continue pressing the letter until you reach your desired folder. Press
enter to open the folder, and repeat the procedure in the next window to
find a subfolder or a file. With a bit of practice you will soon be
accessing your folders at lightning speed.
The Run command
The Run command provides a fast way of opening folders, files and
programs. For example, to open Outlook press WIN + R, enter ‘outlook’
and press enter. To open other Windows applications use these words:
Run command shortcuts
Word
Calculator
Command prompt
Control Panel
Excel
Firefox
Internet explorer
Magnifier
Notepad
PowerPoint
WordPad
winword
calc
cmd
control panel
excel
firefox
iexplore
magnify
notepad
powerpnt
wordpad
You can also use the Run command to open a specific webpage in
Internet Explorer—for example, www.iol.co.za (you do not need to type
http://).
For secure webpages, however, you need to type in the full address
(https://…).
The Run command will retain your last entry, so there is no need to
retype it if you need to use it again.
— 279 —
Shortcut keys—Navigating Windows Explorer with the keyboard
Miscellaneous
F2
F3
CTRL +
E
ALT + TAB
ALT + Shift
+ TAB
Right click key
F10
Shift + F10
CTRL + Shift + ESC
ALT + F4
CTRL + F4
ALT + ENTER
Shift + del
ALT +
print screen
With the file name highlighted, press F2 to edit the file
name
Start Find from desktop
When in Windows Explorer (Vista) use this to get to the
search box.
To scroll through open windows
Switch backwards between open windows
To open a right click menu use the right click key (to the
left of the CTRL key on the right-hand side of the
keyboard)
Activate menu bar
Simulates right-click on selected item
Open the Task Manager
Close current open program
Closes window in program
Display Properties for selected item
Delete file or folder without placing it in the Recycle
Bin
Create screen shot of only the current program (copies
image to clipboard)
— 280 —
Shortcut keys—Creating file-lists
Creating file-lists
This article examines an interesting computing problem: How do you
create a list of files in a folder?
You could take a couple of screen prints of Windows Explorer (ALT +
print screen) but they will not be searchable. Or you could select each
filename one at a time (select filename, F2, CTRL + C and CTRL + V in
Word). Try doing that with Costa’s Tax Shock Horror Database and
you’ll be at it for a month of Sundays.
Strangely, Windows does not offer a standard feature for creating file
lists, so the solution is not obvious. You could try to find a utility on the
web to perform the task, but it’s far more fun to do it yourself. For that
you must go back to the pre-Windows days and use MS-DOS.
First, bring up the DOS window: WIN + R, type CMD in the Open:
block and hit enter.
If the Run command has been disabled for security reasons, you will
have to go the long way round: Start/Programs/Accessories/Command
Prompt.
To activate it without the mouse in Vista: WIN, P, right arrow (to
expand Accessories), press C twice (Calculator, Command Prompt),
enter. If the first-letter method of navigating the Start menu does not
work (that is, ‘P’ for Programs and ‘C’ for Command Prompt) you can
navigate with the up and right arrow keys.
The procedure outlined below will create a text file (filelist.txt) that
will list the contents of your selected folder.
Three options are shown below. Which of these you should use
depends on where you want to create your list of files, and whether the
folder you want to list is on a different drive.
Option 1: Create list on default drive in target folder
In this option there is a folder called Tax, Shock, Horror within My
Documents on the C drive in which the user stores monthly copies of
TSH. The file list will be created in the Tax, Shock, Horror folder.
The first step is to get the PC to point to the target folder where you
will create your list. The change directory (CD) command is used for this
purpose. Note the use of double inverted commas (not single) and the
backslash (\), not forward slash (/).
The next step is to list the directory (folder) contents and output it to
a text file named ‘filelist.txt’. You can give it any name, for example,
tshfiles.txt, as long as it ends with the extension ‘.txt’. The terms /b and
/s are known as switches.
The /b switch instructs the PC to use ‘bare format’—in other words, it
leaves out surplus information about the file such as time and date of
creation and file size.
— 281 —
The /s switch ensures that the contents of subdirectories (subfolders)
are also listed. There are many other switches that can be inserted to
perform other tasks, but more on that later. A switch is preceded by a
forward slash (/), not a backslash.
The exit command will close the Command Prompt window.
Once you have completed the steps, open Windows Explorer (WIN +
E), open the target folder (in this case Tax, Shock, Horror), and look for
a file called filelist. It will contain your list of files. The file will open in
Notepad, from where you can copy it to another Windows application.
Option 1
Displayed text
Text to be entered, then press
ENTER
C:\????\????>_
Note: The actual displayed text will depend on
the user’s default path. Examples:
C:\Users\Duncan>_
C:\Documents and Settings\Duncan>_.
C:\My Documents\Tax, Shock, Horror>_
C:\My Documents\Tax, Shock, Horror>_
cd “C:\My Documents\Tax,
Shock, Horror”
dir /b /s > filelist.txt
exit
Option 2: Create list on another drive in target folder on that
drive
This option enables you to create a list of files on another drive (such as
a network drive or external hard drive). In order to write the file to the
other drive, the first step is to make that drive your default drive. The
instructions below assume that your external drive is on the F drive. It is
also assumed that the target folder (Tax, Shock, Horror) is within the
My Documents folder on the F drive.
Option 2
Displayed text
*C:\????\????>_
F:\ >_
F:\My
Documents\Tax,
Horror>_
F:\My
Documents\Tax,
Horror>_
Shock,
Text to be entered, then press ENTER
F:
cd “F:\My Documents\Tax, Shock,
Horror”
dir /b /s > filelist.txt
Shock,
Exit
— 282 —
Option 3: Create list on default drive of a folder on another
drive
In this example the target folder is on an external hard drive (F) but the
text file is written to a folder named Indexes within My Documents on
the C drive.
Option 3
Displayed text
C:\Users\????>_
C:\My Documents\Indexes>_
C:\My Documents\Indexes>_
Text to be entered, then press ENTER
cd “C:\My Documents\Indexes”
dir/b/s
“F:\My
Documents\Tax,
Shock, Horror” > filelist.txt
Exit
— 283 —
— 284 —
Shortcut keys—Switches
Switches
Apart from /b and /s discussed above, there are many other switches you
can use to sort or restrict your data. Some of them are listed below. In
order to obtain a list of all switches: dir/? To output that list to a text file:
dir/? > filelist.txt. You might want to first change the default directory
so that the list will be created in the folder of your choice by using the
CD command.
Switches
/ah
/ad
/ON
/OS
/OE
/OE
/OG
/OS
dir *.pdf
dir b*.*
Displays hidden files
Displays folders only
Sort by name
Sort by size (ascending)
Sort by extension
Sort by date
Sort by parent folder
Sort by attribute
Lists all files with the .pdf extension
Returns all files whose name begins with b.
— 285 —
— 286 —
Shortcut keys—Finding stuff
Finding stuff—CTRL + F
With the volume of information we face today, being able to find
something quickly is critical. The Find shortcut key CTRL + F is one of
the most versatile and useful shortcut keys available because it works in
many different programs, including MS Word, Outlook, Excel,
PowerPoint, Internet Explorer and Adobe Acrobat, to name a few.
Searching MS Word
In MS Word you can use the Find feature to search for letters, spaces,
numbers, words and phrases, formatting and special characters. You can
also refine your search in many ways.
Finding characters, words and phrases
To commence your search, type CTRL + F, or using the mouse: Edit,
Find (or ALT, E, F). Type the character or word you are searching for in
the ‘Find what’ box. The cursor should already be in the box when you
first open the Find window, but if not you can place it there using ALT +
N.
Click on the Find Next button (ALT + F, F or ALT + F, enter) and Word
will highlight the first hit. A quick way to search is to type CTRL + F,
type the word you are looking for and hit enter.
To search for more hits, keep pressing F or enter.
Here’s a really handy tip: When searching for multiple hits of the
same item, the Find window can be a nuisance because it obscures your
view of the screen. After searching for the first word, press ESC to close
the Find window. Then use CTRL + Page Down to search for more hits.
To search in the opposite direction use CTRL + Page Up. The reversedirection search is useful when you have accidently skipped a hit.
In the next article I will examine ways in which you can refine your
search.
— 287 —
— 288 —
Finding stuff—refining the search
Where is Find?
Before getting on to this month’s topic I want to point out where you
can find the Find feature in Word 2007 using the mouse. It is located on
the Ribbon on the Home tab. On the extreme right of the screen you will
see the Editing drop-down menu, and within that the Find drop-down
menu. On the latter menu you will see Find and Go To.
You can also open the Find dialog box by pressing these keys in
sequence: ALT, H, ZN, FD, F.
What a convoluted path to a critical function! Fortunately you have
CTRL + F as an alternative.
Refining the search
After opening the Find dialog box with CTRL + F, press ALT + M (or
click on the More button). This sequence will expand the dialog box. To
refine your search, place a tick in the appropriate check box under
Search Options. You can also check or uncheck a box using these
shortcut keys:
Search Options





ALT + H
ALT + Y
ALT + U
ALT + K
ALT + W
Match case
Find whole words only
Use wildcards
Sounds like (English)
Find all word forms (English)
Additional features in Word 2007




ALT + X
ALT + T
ALT + S
ALT + A
Match prefix
Match suffix
Ignore punctuation characters
Ignore white space characters
The Match case option is perhaps the most useful of these options. Say
you have a large document with many examples, and you want to check
the numbering of the examples. You could select Match case and then
search for ‘Example’ (excluding the inverted commas). This will
prevent you from hitting the word ‘example’ which may also appear in
the document. In other words your search should take you directly to the
example headings.
At the bottom of the dialog box you will see the following buttons:
 Format [drop-down menu]
 Special [drop-down menu]
— 289 —
 No formatting
The Format menu contains these items:







Font (ALT + O, F)
Paragraph (ALT + O, P)
Tabs (ALT + O, T)
Language (ALT + O, L)
Frame (ALT + O, M)
Style (ALT + O, S)
Highlight (ALT + O, H)
These options can be used to search for formatting. For example, if you
have used Arial as your default font and are concerned that Times New
Roman has crept into your document, select Font and then Times New
Roman in the Font dialog box, OK. You will see that the words ‘Font:
Times New Roman’ have appeared just below the Find what: box.
Leave the box empty and select Find next. The Find feature will pick up
all occurrences of Times New Roman in the document, which you can
then replace with Arial.
You can also search for bold text, text in italics, font of a particular
size (for example,—11 pt), styles (for example,—hyperlinks) and many
others. Once you have finished searching, clear the formatting search by
clicking on the No formatting button.
There is a quicker way to search for some formatting types. And the
beauty of this trick is that you can search negatively for text that does
not match the set criteria. Press the following shortcut keys for the
desired search:
 CTRL + B once
 CTRL + B twice
Bold
Font: Not Bold
 CTRL + I once
 CTRL + I twice
Font: Italic
Font: Not Italic




CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
U once
U twice
Shift + D once
Shift + D twice
Underline
Not underline
Double underline
Not underline




CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
CTRL +
J
L
E
R
Justify
Left
Centred
Right
 CTRL + Shift + K once
Small caps
— 290 —
 CTRL + Shift + K twice
Not Small caps
Leave the Find what: box empty if you want to search for formatting
only. To get rid of the formatting search press the relevant shortcut key
for a second or third time as applicable.
The ‘not small caps’ search is useful for checking that you have
applied small caps to all the occurrences of a particular item. For
example, say you use small caps for the acronym ‘CGT’ but are unsure
whether you have applied this to all instances of CGT in the document.
Just type cgt in the Find what: box, press CTRL + Shift + K twice, and
you will find all instances where CGT appears not in small caps.
The ‘Font: Not italic’ option is useful for identifying foreign words or
references to legislative provisions which have not been italicized. For
example, s 11(a) or s 10(1)(cA) in which the ‘a’ and the ‘c’ should be in
italics. To identify all such instances, enter ‘(a’ or ‘(c’ in the Find what:
box (you should omit the closing bracket so that you can pick up (cA),
(aa) and other similar references. It’s a pain but you will need to test the
entire alphabet. References to (i) and (v) can usually be omitted because
with few exceptions (among them s 11(i)) these Roman numerals are
not placed in italics.
The Special drop-down menu (ALT + E) allows you to search for
special characters, such as a paragraph mark (press CTRL + Shift + 8 to
reveal these marks), paragraph character (¶), en dash (–), em dash (—),
footnote mark (for example—3), nonbreaking space to name a few.
— 291 —
— 292 —
Finding stuff—find & replace
Find and Replace in MS Word
Now it is the turn of the ‘Find and Replace’ feature in MS Word. To
activate it, press CTRL + H, or, if you prefer, the sequence keys ALT, E, E
(Word 2003 and 2007), or, if you’re a masochist, ALT, H, ZN, R (Word
2007).
There are two fields in the dialog box:
 Find what: (ALT + N) and
 Replace with: (ALT + I).
Once you have entered your data in these fields, you can click on one of
these buttons:





More
Replace
Replace All
Find next
Cancel
ALT + M
ALT + R
ALT + A
ALT + F
TAB until
you get there
Once in Find what: you can jump to Replace with: and Cancel using the
TAB key.
By pressing the More button, you are enabled to refine your search.
The Replace button will replace only the selected item. Replace All is a
dangerous feature, which must be used with extreme caution. Find next
is used in conjunction with the Replace button—in other words, you
first view the selected item before replacing it.
Here are some examples of how the feature can be used:
 You have used ‘in terms of’ in your document and want to replace it
with the plain English equivalent of ‘under’.
You will need to refine your search by selecting More and then place a
tick in the Match case check box (ALT + H). The reason is that some
sentences might begin with ‘In terms of’, and you would want to replace
these with ‘Under’ and not ‘under’. Thus you would need to perform
two replacing sessions: The first to replace ‘in terms of’ with ‘under’
and the second to replace ‘In terms of’ with ‘Under’.
But what happens if the words ‘in terms of’ appear in a quote?
Clearly, you should not replace them.
If all your quotes are in, say, 10 pt font, with the main text set at
11 pt, you could refine your search to only select 11 pt entries. Do this
by selecting More (ALT + M), Format (ALT + O), Font (F), TAB twice to
— 293 —
get to Size and enter 11, OK. This will ensure that only the words ‘in
terms of’ in 11 pt font will be replaced.
 Assume you have written the word ‘fiscus’ throughout your
document without italics and want to replace it with fiscus.
Enter ‘fiscus’ in the Find what: and Replace with: fields. With your
cursor in the Replace with: field, press CTRL + I once. The words ‘Font:
Italic’ will appear below the ‘Replace with:’ field. Then press Replace
All (ALT + A).
Find and replace can be used to replace characters, words, font types,
font sizes and styles, to name a few.
I personally very seldom use Replace All because I have been burnt
too often by unintended consequences. These include replacing words
beginning a sentence with a word beginning with a small letter,
replacing text in quotes and so on. It is far safer to replace item by item.
Finally, if you are in the Find window (CTRL + F), you can quickly
get to Find and Replace by pressing CTRL + Page down.
Note that any entry in the Find what: field will be carried across to
Find what: in the Find and Replace dialog box.
— 294 —
Finding stuff—Go To command
I now examine ways of accessing a particular point in a document using
the Go To command and other shortcut keys in MS Word.
To open the Go To dialog box, press F5 or CTRL + G. Or, using the
ALT sequence keys press ALT, E, G (Word 2003 and 2007), and, if you
have time on your hands, ALT, H, ZN, FD, G (Word 2007). Mouse users
can double-click the page number on the status bar to open the Go To
command in the Find and Replace dialog box.
Alternatively, if you have the Find and Replace dialog box open on
Find (CTRL + F) or Find and Replace (CTRL + H), use CTRL + Page
down to navigate to the Go To tab. To get to a particular page in your
document simply enter the page number and hit enter. By selecting a
particular item in the Go to what: menu (ALT + O) you can also access
any of the following:












Page (default)
Section
Line Bookmark
Comment
Footnote
Endnote
Field
Table
Graphic
Equation
Object
Heading
After pressing ALT + O, press the first letter of the item to select it. To
select Equation press ‘E’ twice.
To navigate from your present position use the + and – keys. For
example, to move four pages forward type +4 in the Enter page number:
box (ALT + E). I sometimes use this feature to check the formatting of
footnotes, which can become inadvertently italicized when placed after
case names.
Thus, ALT + O (access Go to what: drop-down menu), F (select
Footnotes), ALT + E (Enter footnote number), +1 (enter this to advance
one footnote at a time), enter (to go to the first footnote). Then press ESC
to get rid of the Find and Replace dialog box and use CTRL + Page up or
down to move from one footnote to the next.
Accessing the last editing point in a doc
Use Shift + F5 to locate the last editing point in a document. It stores the
— 295 —
last three editing points, so you can press it up to three times to go back
to previous editing points. Pressing it a fourth time will return you to
where you started.
In Word 2003 this feature can also be used to locate your last editing
point in a document when you first open it. Unfortunately it does not
work in Word 2007. You can work around this deficiency by inserting a
couple of asterisks at your last editing point before you close your
document. When you next open the document search for the asterisks
using CTRL + F.
— 296 —
Finding stuff—MS Outlook
MS
Outlook
Finding text within old email messages in the inbox or sent items or
within a single message in MS Outlook is something we all need to do
from time to time. Here are the shortcut keys for achieving this task.
Searching within a message
CTRL +
F
Find text within a new (unsent) message.
F4
Search for text within the body of an incoming or sent
message. Unlike CTRL + F, this key works in sent or
received messages. I find it particularly handy for
searching for words like ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘do not’ when
trying to unsubscribe from junk mail. To navigate to the
next hit press ALT + F
Shift + F4
Find next while searching in a sent or received message
(first close the Find dialog box by pressing ESC)
Searching inbox and sent items
CTRL +
E
Go to the ‘Look for’ (2003) or ‘Search’ (2007) box
(press ESC to clear). Type in the text that you are looking
for and press ENTER, or click on Find Now
CTRL +
Shift + F
Open advanced find dialog box
+ ALT + A
(2007)
CTRL
Expand search to include all items in the module (eg all
mail items, all calendar items)
— 297 —
— 298 —
Finding stuff—Windows Explorer
WE &
other general search functions
Set out below are some shortcut keys for finding files and folders using
Windows Explorer, the desktop and the start menu.
General keys
WIN
+F
F3
Open search from any application
Open search from desktop
Windows Explorer keys
WIN + E
CTRL+ E
Open Windows Explorer
From Windows Explorer press CTRL + E to access the
search option in the Explorer bar (Vista) or to open
search options (XP)
Start menu sequence keys
WIN,
WIN,
WIN,
WIN,
WIN,
C, F
C, I
C, R
C, O
C, P
For Files or Folders
On the Internet
Find Printers
Using Microsoft Outlook
For People (in Contacts)
To find a file or folder in XP from Windows Explorer, do the following:
Open Windows Explorer (WIN + E).
Right click on the drive or folder in which you wish to search.
Preferably select a specific folder so that you can target your search. The
right-click key can be found to the right of the spacebar (usually to the
left of the right hand CTRL key). Select Search or press E. Then enter the
filename in the ‘All or part of the file name’ box.
You can also search for ‘A word or phrase in the file’ by inserting the
word or phrase in that box.
The ‘Look in:’ box should already contain the drive or folder name,
but if not you can select the drive or folder.
Press Search (ALT + R) to commence the search.
This method is unavailable in Vista. In Vista open Windows Explorer
(WIN + E), highlight the drive or folder in which you want to search,
press CTRL + E and enter the search term in the search box. The search
will automatically commence.
— 299 —
— 300 —
Shortcut keys—Wrapping text
Wrapping text
If you are battling to read the text in your MS Word documents, the
obvious solution is to boost the Zoom percentage. A quick way to do
that is to hold down the CTRL key while rolling the mouse wheel.
But boosting the zoom percentage has an adverse side effect, in that
not all the text will be visible on the page. That means you have to scroll
back and forth, an exercise that can be quite irritating. Fortunately Word
contains a ‘text wrapping’ feature, which ensures that the text wraps to
the window. This feature works in Normal view (Draft view in Word
2007) and Web Layout view. Web Layout view can also wrap tables, if
they do not have too many columns.
To activate text wrapping:
 Word 2003: ALT, T, O. Select the View tab at the top of the dialog
box. Then ALT + W to select Wrap to window and OK.
 For mouse users: Tools, Options, View tab, under Outline and
Normal options put a tick in the Wrap to window checkbox and OK.
 Word 2007: ALT, T, O, A gets you to Advanced under Word options.
Press tab to jump to the right-hand pane. Then press W several
times until you get to Show text wrapped within the document
window.
 To select Normal (Draft) view: CTRL + ALT + N.
 To select Web layout view: ALT, V, W (2003) or ALT, W, L (2007).
 To return to Print Layout view: CTRL + ALT + P.
— 301 —
— 302 —
Shortcut keys—The magnifier
The magnifier
Windows has a built-in magnifier, which appears in default as a strip
along the top of the screen. It is particularly handy for the visually
impaired but can also be used by others, for example, to read very small
text or to enable an audience to see information projected on a screen.
Press WIN + U to activate the magnifier. (The WIN key is between CTRL
and ALT.) In XP you will first have to close the narrator or, in Vista,
select the magnifier from the Ease-of-access-center. Alternatively, WIN +
R, type magnify, OK. Here is how to bring up the magnifier only, using a
shortcut key of your choice:
Step 1: Press WIN + R to bring up the Run window, or Start/Run.
Step 2: Type this in the Run window and press OK: %userprofile%\Start
Menu\Programs\Accessories\Accessibility
Step 3: Right-click on Magnifier and select Properties. Click in the
shortcut key block, hold down CTRL and type 1 on the numpad. The
shortcut key will appear as CTRL + 1 NUMPAD. Press Apply and OK, and
close the window.
From now on when you want the magnifier, just press CTRL + 1 on the
numpad. Or you can select another shortcut key of your choice.
With a notebook, which does not have a numpad, you could try CTRL
+ Shift + M.
The magnifier sometimes partially obscures the top part of dialog
boxes (such as the Save in box). You can drag the magnification area to
a position of your choice with the mouse by left-clicking in the area,
holding down the button and dragging. You can also increase or
decrease the magnification area by clicking on its edge and dragging.
Apart from these, suggestions, the only other solution I am aware of is
to close the magnifier and reopen it. The dialog box will then be
repositioned below the magnifier.
The magnifier contains a number of useful features. You can:
 Change the magnification level from 1x to 16x.
 Invert the colours, for example, if you battle to read black text on a
white background. Your inverting the colours will enable white text
on a black background.
 Select a docking position for the magnifier, whether top, left, right
or bottom.
 Ensure that your typing appears in the magnification area as you
type or move the mouse.
— 303 —
Shortcut keys—The magnifier
Magnifier dialog box—shortcut keys
CTRL + 0 (keyboard, not numpad)
ALT + I
CTRL + =
CTRL + - (keyboard, not numpad)
ALT + N
ALT + D
ALT, F, X (or ALT + F4)
ALT + M
ALT + K
ALT + T
Invert colours
Invert colours
Increase magnification
Decrease magnification
Minimize on Startup
Docked
Exit
Follow mouse cursor
Follow keyboard focus
Follow text editing
— 304 —
Shortcut keys—Google shortcuts
Google shortcuts
Many people are unaware that the Google search engine can do far more
than find a website containing a search term.
Dictionary definitions
If you need to find the meaning of a word or phrase quickly, just type
‘define’ or ‘define:’ followed by the word or phrase in the search block.
Eg: define: arcane
Adding the colon after ‘define’ will yield a list of definitions from
various online sources.
Synonyms
To find synonyms of a term, insert the tilde (~) sign immediately before
the search term.
Eg: ~inexpensive
Calculator
Google can be used as a calculator. Just type in the formula, as in these
examples:







Multiplication: 2*3 Division: 6/5
Addition: 2+3+5
Subtraction: 10-4
To the power of: 2^3 or 2**3
Percentage of: 15% of 100
Roots: Square root of 36 or sqrt(36)
Cube root of 8
4th root of 16
Mathematical constants: e, pi, I (imaginary number, being the
square root of -1)
Eg: Circumference of a circle = pi x diameter.
Thus if the diameter is 5, enter pi*5
 Factorial: 5! (that is, 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1)
Google can perform many other scientific, electrical, trigonometric and
logarithmic functions.
Eg: To find the mass of Mars, type m_mars.
— 305 —
To find the speed of sound at sea level type speed of sound.
Currency conversions
To obtain the current rate of exchange between various currencies:
in
dollar.
USD
GBP
will give you the number of British pounds in one
US
To translate a specific amount just enter it before the abbreviation, as in
2200 ZAR in USD
Some abbreviations:
ZAR
= rands, EUR = euros, AUD = Australian dollars.
If you do not know the abbreviation for a currency, just type it out in
full:
ZAR in
Malaysian ringgits
Weights and measurements:
To convert numerous imperial measurements to metric and vice versa,
see these examples:





kilograms in pounds or kgs in lbs
kilometres in a mile or km in a mile, or 1 mile in km
Centigrade in Fahrenheit
Imperial gallon in litres
Seconds in a week
Time in major cities
To obtain the current time in major cities in the world type ‘time’
followed by the city name followed if necessary by the country.
Eg: Time Melbourne
Weather
To find the weather for a city, type ‘weather’ followed by the city name,
and, if necessary, the country.
Eg: weather Melbourne
weather London, UK
— 306 —
Sunrise and sunset
To obtain sunrise or sunset times for specific cities, type ‘sunrise’ or
‘sunset’ followed by the city name.
Eg: sunrise Durban
— 307 —
— 308 —
Shortcut keys—More Google shortcuts
More Google shortcuts
Here are some more shortcut keys for refining your Internet search
using Google. The square brackets must be ignored when typing the
search term.
“[text]” Find exact term or phrase eg—“comprehensive guide to
CGT” Note: Google is generally case insensitive.
[text] OR [text] Find pages containing either word eg—insolvency
OR sequestration
Note: the ‘OR’ must be in capital letters.
[word A]–[word B] Find word A but not word B eg—SARS-virussyndrome
[words] * [words]
The asterisk is used to indicate unknown missing words eg—
disappeared like snow upon the * face
Note: The asterisk (known as a wildcard) only works with words and
not letters. Thus you cannot use Google to solve your crossword in that
manner.
site:[website address] eg—site:www.sars.gov.za “comprehensive
guide”
link:[find linked pages] eg—link:www.bspseminars.co.za
#...#[search within a number range] eg—interpretation notes
55…60
daterange:[search within specific date range] eg—integritax
daterange:200901-201012
safesearch: [exclude adult content] eg—safesearch:breast cancer
— 309 —
Shortcut keys—More Google shortcuts
info: [find info about a page] eg—info:www.bsp-seminars.co.za
related: [related pages] eg—related:www.sars.gov.za
cache: [view cached page] eg—cache:google.com
filetype:[restrict search to specific filetype] eg—dividends tax
filetype:pdf
allintitle: [search for keywords in page title] eg—allintitle:"what’s
new on the site" SARS
inurl:[restrict search to page URLs] eg—inurl:kalahari
site:.doman extension [specific domain search] eg—site:.ac,
site:.edu, site:.gov, site:.org and so on
site:country code [restrict search to country] eg—site:.uk “capital
gains tax”
intext:[search for keyword in body text] eg—intext:expropriation
allintext: [return pages with all words specified in body text] eg—
allintext:9C safe haven
book[search book text] eg—book Spud – Learning to Fly
— 310 —
Shortcut keys—Compare & merge
Compare & merge
The ‘compare and merge’ feature in MS Word compares two documents
and produces a third document showing the differences in ‘track
changes’. This feature is particularly useful when you are comparing
different versions of legislation, for example, a bill and an act. You can
also use it to display your editing changes if you did not turn on ‘track
changes’ (CTRL + shift + E) before you commenced editing.
The procedures in Word 2003 and 2007 differ somewhat, although
the basic principles are the same. The main difference is that in Word
2003 you can compare the current open document without having to
first locate it on the file menu. In Word 2007 you have to select the
revised document from the file menu, an annoying extra step. The
shortcut keys are set out here.
Word 2003
ALT, T, D
Compare and Merge Documents (merges changes from the active document to an
earlier version)
ALT + B
Insert a tick in the L or press the first letter of the drive legal blackline check box
ALT + F
Insert a tick in the Find formatting check box ( but only if you want to display
formatting changes)
Alternatively, you can navigate to the check boxes using the TAB key, and then press
the spacebar to put a tick in the boxes.
ALT + I
Takes you to the Look in drop-down menu.
Use the up and down arrow keys to select the drive on which the earlier version of
your document is located or press the first letter of the drive (eg—‘L’ for Local Disk
(C:)).
If the earlier version is in the same folder, the folder name will already be in the
Look in box.
Press TAB three times to get to the contents of the dialog box.
Then press the first letter of the file or folder name to navigate to it (keep pressing
the letter if there are multiple folders and files beginning with the same letter).
Alternatively use the down arrow key to navigate to the file or folder.
Once you have selected the file, hit ENTER to complete the merge.
Word 2007
ALT,
R, Z, D, M, C
— 311 —
Shortcut keys—Compare & merge
Compare two versions of a document (legal blackline)
ALT + O, TAB, ENTER
Browse for the Original document
ALT + I
Takes you to the Look in box.
Use up or down arrow keys to navigate to the drive containing the original document
or press the first letter of the drive
Press TAB three times to reach the contents of the dialog box.
Use down arrow or first-letter method to navigate to file name.
Press ENTER.
ALT + R, TAB, ENTER
Browse for the Revised Document.
Follow the same procedure used in finding the original document in order to select
the revised document.
ALT + M
Expand the dialog box.
You can change the comparison settings in order to expand or limit the items you
want to compare.
Check or uncheck the check boxes using the spacebar.
Press TAB until you reach the OK button and press ENTER
— 312 —
Shortcut keys—ALT sequence keys (Word 2007)
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Office
tab
Users switching from Word 2003 to 2007 often have difficulty in
finding functions on the Ribbon (the equivalent of the toolbar in Word
2003). In order to assist users, I have mapped most of the ALT sequence
keys, which I will share over the coming months.
Once you have the complete listing you can search it using CTRL + F
to find the desired function. Until then, you can use the list of ALT
sequence keys for Word 2003 listed in the BSP Stylebook 7 ed, many of
which also work in Word 2007.
Yet they do not all work, and Word 2007 also has many additional
sequence keys not found in Word 2003. The Ribbon contains the
following tabs:
ALT +
F
H
ALT + N
ALT + P
ALT + S
ALT + M
ALT + R
ALT + W
ALT + B
ALT +
ALT
Office
Home
Insert
Page Layout
References
Mailings
Review
View
Acrobat
sequence keys (Word 2007)—The Office tab
Office (ALT + F)
ALT, F, N
ALT, F, O
ALT, F, V
ALT, F, S
ALT, F, O
ALT, F, A
ALT, F, F, W
ALT, F, F, T
ALT, F, F, 9
ALT, F, F, A
ALT, F, F, F
ALT, F, F, O
ALT, F, P
ALT, F, W, Q
ALT, F, W, V
New
Open
Convert
Save
Open
Save As
Word Document
Word Template
Word 97-2003 Document
Adobe PDF
Find add-ins for other file formats
Other Formats
Print (F12 or CTRL + P)
Quick Print
Print Preview
— 313 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
F, E
F, E, P
F, E, I
F, E, E
F, E, R
F, E, S
F, E, F
F, E, C
F, D
F, D, E
F, D, M
F, D, R
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
F, D, I
F, U
F, U, B
F, U, D
F, U, C
F, C
F, 1
F, 2
F, 3 etc
Prepare
Properties
Inspect Document
Encrypt Document
Restrict Permission
Add a Digital Signature
Mark as Final
Run Compatibility Checker
Send
E-mail
Create Adobe PDF and email
Create Adobe PDF and Send for
Review
Internet Fax
Publish
Blog
Document Management Server
Create Document Workspace
Close
Recent document # 1
Recent document # 2
Recent document # 3 etc
— 314 —
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Home
tab
Set out here are the ALT sequence keys for accessing the functions on
the Home tab in Word 2007.
ALT sequence keys (Word 2007)—The Home tab
Home (ALT + H)
ALT, H, V, P
ALT H, V, S
ALT, H, V, S, U,
Paste (CTRL + V)
Paste Special
Paste as Unformatted Unicode Text
ENTER
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
ALT, H,
Paste as Hyperlink
Cut (CTRL + X)
Copy (CTRL + C)
Format Painter (CTRL + SHIFT + C)
Office clipboard
Font (eg—Arial)
Font Size (eg—11)
Bold (CTRL + B)
Italic (CTRL + I)
Underline (CTRL + U)
Strikethrough
Subscript (CTRL + =)
Superscript (CTRL + SHIFT + =)
Clear formatting
Text highlight colour
Font colour
Sentence case
Lower case
Upper case
Capitalise each word
Toggle case
Grow font
Shrink font
Font dialog box
Bullets
Change List Level
Define New Bullet
Numbering
Change List Level
Define New Number Format
Set Numbering Value
V, H
X
C
F, P
F, O
F, F
F, S
1
2
3
4
5
6
E
I
F, C
7, S
7, L
7, U
7, C
7, T
F, G
F, X
F, N
U
U, C
U, D
N
N, C
N, D
N, V
— 315 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
H, M
H, M, C
H, M, D
H, M, L
H, A, O
H, A, I
H, A, L
H, A, C
H, A, R
H, A, J
H, K
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
H, H
H, H, N
H, H, M
H, B
H, B, B
H, B, P
H, B, L
H, B, R
H, B, N
H, B, A
H, B, S
H, B, I
H, B, H
H, B, V
H, B, W
H, B, U
H, B, Z
H, B, D
H, B, G
H, B, O
H, S, O
H, 8
H, P, G
H, L
H, G
H, F, Y
H, Z, N, F, D,
Multilevel list
Change List Level
Define New Multilevel List
Define New List Style
Decrease indent
Increase indent
Align Left (CTRL + L)
Centre (CTRL + E)
Align Right (CTRL + R)
Justify (CTRL + J)
Line Spacing (CTRL + 1 (keyboard) = single; CTRL + 2 =
double; CTRL + 5 = 1.5)
Shading
No Color
More Colors
Borders
Bottom Border
Top Border
Left Border
Right Border
No Border
All Borders
Outside Borders
Inside Borders
Inside Horizontal Border
Inside Vertical Border
Diagonal Down Border
Diagonal Up Border
Horizontal Line
Draw Table
View Gridlines
Borders and Shading
Sort
Show All
Paragraph
Quick Styles List
Change Styles
Styles (CTRL + SHIFT + S)
Find (CTRL + F)
H, Z, N, F, D,
Go To (CTRL + G)
H, Z, N, R
H, Z, N, S, L,
Replace (CTRL + H)
Select All (CTRL + A)
H, Z, N, S, L,
Select Objects
H, Z, N, S, L,
Select Text with Similar Formatting
F
ALT,
G
ALT,
ALT,
A
ALT,
O
ALT,
— 316 —
S
ALT,
H, F, 1
Quick
access
toolbar
ALT, 1
ALT, 2
ALT, 3
ALT, 4
ALT, 5
Help
Save (CTRL + S)
Undo (CTRL + Z)
Repeat (CTRL + Y)
Send to MS Office PowerPoint
Styles (CTRL + SHIFT + S)
— 317 —
— 318 —
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Insert
tab
the Insert tab in Word 2007. Some points to note: First, not all insert
functions are on the Insert tab. For instance, to insert a table of contents,
a footnote, and similar references you must use the References tab (ALT,
S). Secondly, the functions for modifying a table appear only when you
are in a table. These hidden table functions begin with the sequence
‘ALT, J’ and will be examined in the next article.
ALT sequence
keys (Word 2007—The Insert tab
Insert (ALT + N)
ALT, N, Z, P
ALT, N, Z, P, V
ALT, N, Z, P, N, P
ALT, N, Z, P, B
ALT, N, T
ALT, N, T, I
ALT, N, T, D
ALT, N, T, V
ALT, N, T, X
ALT, N, T, T
ALT, N, P
ALT, N, F
ALT, N, S, H
Alt, N, S, H, N
ALT, N, M
ALT, N, C
ALT, N, Z, L
ALT, N, I
ALT, N, K
ALT, N, R, F
ALT, N, H
ALT, N, H, E
ALT, N, H, R
ALT, N, H, S
ALT, N, O
ALT, N, O, E
ALT, N, O, R
ALT, N, O, S
ALT, N, N, U
Pages
Cover Page
Blank Page
Page Break
Tables
Insert Table
Draw Table
Convert Text to Table
Excel Spreadsheet
Quick Tables
Picture
Clip Art
Shapes
New Drawing Canvass
SmartArt
Chart
Links
Hyperlink (CTRL + K)
Bookmark
Cross-reference
Header
Edit Header
Remove Header
Save Selection to Header Gallery
Footer
Edit Footer
Remove Footer
Save Selection to Footer Gallery
Page Number
— 319 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
N, N, U, T
N, N, U, B
N, N, U, P
N, N, U, C
N, N, U, F
N, N, U, P, R
N, X
N, X, D
N, X, S
N, Q
N, Q, D
N, Q, F
N, Q, B
N, Q, G
N, Q, S
N, W
N, R, C
N, R, C, D
N, G
N, G, M
N, G, A
N, D
N, J, J
N, J, F
N, E
N, E, I
N, E, S
N, U
N, U, M
N, Y
Top of Page
Bottom of Page
Page Margin
Current Position
Format Page Numbers
Remove Page Numbers
Text Box
Draw Text Box
Save Selection to Text Box Gallery
Quick Parts
Document Property
Field
Building Blocks Organizer
Get More on Office Online
Save Selection to Quick Parts Gallery
WordArt
Drop Cap
Drop Cap Options
Signature
Microsoft Office Signature LIne
Add Signature Services
Date and Time
Object
Text from File
Equation
Insert New Equation
Save Selection to Equation Gallery
Symbol
More Symbols
Flash
— 320 —
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Table
keys
In this instalment I examine the shortcut keys for modifying tables.
These keyboard shortcuts become available only once you are in a table.
See Part III of this series for the shortcut keys for inserting or drawing a
table, converting text to a table, inserting an Excel spreadsheet and
quick tables.
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Table modification keys
ALT,
J, L, K, L
Select Cell
ALT,
J, L, F, N
ALT,
J, L, K, C
Select Column
ALT,
J, L, H
ALT,
ALT,
J, L, K, R
J, L, K, T
Select Row
Select Table
ALT,
ALT,
J, L,, U, R
J, L, W
ALT,
J, L, T, G
View Gridlines
ALT,
J, L, U, C
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
J, L, O
J, L, D, D
J, L, D, C
J, L, D, R
J, L, D, T
J, L, A
ALT, J, L, O
ALT, J, L, T, L
ALT, J, L, T, C
ALT, J, L, T, R
ALT, J, L, C, L
ALT, J, L, C, C
ALT,
J, L, E
ALT,
J, L, L
Properties
Delete Cells
Delete Columns
Delete Rows
Delete Table
Insert
Row
Above
Insert
Row
Below
Insert Left
ALT,
J, L, R
ALT,
Fixed
Column
Width
Table
Row
Height
Distribute Rows
Table
Column
Width (edit)
Distribute
Columns
Properties
Align Top Left
Align Top Centre
Align Top Right
Align Centre Left
Align Centre
ALT,
J, L, C, R
ALT,
J, L, B, L
Insert Right
ALT,
J, L, B, C
J, L, I
Insert Cells
ALT,
J, L, B, R
ALT,
J, L, M
ALT,
J, L, G
ALT,
J, L, P
Merge
Cells
(operates when
cells
to
be
merged
are
selected)
Split the selected
cells
into
multiple
new
cells
Align
Centre
Right
Align
Bottom
Left
Align
Bottom
Centre
Align
Bottom
Right
Text Direction
ALT,
J, L, N
Cell Margins
— 321 —
ALT,
J, L, Q
ALT,
J, L, S, O
Sort
J, L, F
Split table into
two tables
AutoFit
ALT,
ALT,
J, L, J
J, L, F, C
J, L, F, W
AutoFit Contents
AutoFit Window
ALT,
ALT,
J, L, V
J, L, U, L
Repeat
Header
Rows (operates
when cursor is
placed in header
row)
Convert to Text
Formula
ALT,
ALT,
— 322 —
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Layout
tab
the Page Layout tab in Word 2007.
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—The Page Layout tab
Page Layout (ALT
+ P)
ALT, P, T, H
ALT, P, T, H, R
ALT, P, T, H, O
ALT, P, T, H, B
ALT, P, T, H, A
ALT, P, T, C
ALT, P, T, C, C
ALT, P, T, F
ALT, P, T, F, C
ALT, P, T, E
ALT, P, M
ALT, P, M, A
ALT, P, O
ALT, P, S, Z
ALT, P, S, Z, A
ALT, P, J
ALT, P, J, C
ALT, P, B
ALT, P, B, P
ALT, P, B, C
ALT, P, B, T
ALT, P, B, N
ALT, P, B, O
ALT, P, B, E
ALT, P, B, D
ALT, P, L, N
ALT, P, L, N, N
ALT, P, L, N, C
ALT, P, L, N, R
ALT, P, L, N, E
ALT, P, L, N, S
ALT, P, L, N, L
ALT, P, H
ALT, P, H, N
Themes
Reset to Theme from Template
More Themes on Microsoft Office Online
Browse for Themes
Save Current Theme
Colors
Create New Theme Colors
Fonts
Create New Theme Fonts
Effects
Margins
Custom Margins
Orientation
Size
More Paper Sizes
Columns
More Columns
Breaks
Page
Column
Text Wrapping
Next Page
Continuous
Even Page
Odd Page
Line Numbers
None
Continuous
Restart Each Page
Restart Each Section
Suppress for Current Paragraph
Line Numbering Options
Hyphenation
None
— 323 —
ALT, P, H, U
ALT, P, H, M
ALT, P, H, H
ALT, P, S, P
ALT, P, P, W
ALT, P, P, W, W
ALT, P, P, W, R
ALT, P, P, C
ALT, P, P, C, N
ALT, P, P, C, M
ALT, P, P, C, F
ALT, P, P, B
ALT, P, P, B, H
ALT, P, P, B, P, B
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + N
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + X
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + A
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + D
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + U
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + Y
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + C
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + W
ALT, P, P, B, P, B,
ALT + L
ALT, P, P, B, P
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + N
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + X
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + A
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + D
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + U
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + Y
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + C
ALT, P, P, B, P,
Automatic
Manual
Hyphenation Options
Page Setup
Watermark
Custom Watermark
Remove Watermark
Page Color
No Color
More Colors
Fill Effect
Borders and Shading
Horizontal Line
Borders
None
Box
All
Grid
Custom
Style
Color
Width
Apply to
Page Border
None
Box
Shadow
3-D
Custom
Style
Color
Width
— 324 —
ALT + W
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + R
ALT, P, P, B, P,
ALT + L
ALT, P, P, B, S
ALT, P, P, B, S,
ALT + Y
ALT, P, P, B, S,
ALT + L
ALT, P, I, L
ALT, P, I, R
ALT, P, S, B
ALT, P, S, A
ALT, P, P, G
ALT, P, P, G, T
ALT, P, P, G, D
ALT, P, P, G, I
ALT, P, P, G, I, G
ALT, P, P, G, I, O
ALT, P, P, G, I, L
ALT, P, P, G, I, R
ALT, P, P, G, I, S
ALT, P, P, G, I, Y
ALT, P, P, G, I, B
ALT, P, P, G, I, F
ALT, P, P, G, I, N
ALT, P, P, G, I, A
ALT, P, P, G, I, C
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
P, P, G, P
P, P, G, P, W
P, P, G, P, X
P, P, G, P, K
P, P, G, P, B
P, P, G, P, S
P, P, G, P, D
P, P, G, P, R
P, P, O
ALT,
P, A, F
ALT,
P, A, E
ALT,
P, T, W
ALT,
P, A, A
Art
Apply to
Shading
Style
Apply to
Indent Left
Indent Right
Spacing Before
Spacing After
Paragraph
Tabs
Default
Indents and Spacing
General—Alignment
General—Outline level
Indentation—Left
Indentation—Right
Indentation—Special
Indentation—By
Spacing—Before
Spacing—After
Spacing—Line spacing
Spacing—Line spacing At
Spacing—Don’t add space between paragraphs of the
same style
Line and Page Breaks
Pagination—Widow/Orphan control
Pagination—Keep with next
Pagination—Keep lines together
Pagination—Page break before
Formatting exceptions—Suppress line numbers
Formatting exceptions—Don’t hyphenate
Textbox options—Tight wrap
Position (of object) —only available once object is
inserted
Bring to Front (only available once object is inserted and
selected)
Send to Back (only available once object is inserted and
selected)
Text Wrapping (only available once object is inserted
and selected; changes the way text wraps around a
selected object)
Align (the edges of multiple selected objects)
— 325 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
P, A, A, L
P, A, A, C
P, A, A, R
P, A, A, T
P, A, A, M
P, A, A, B
P, A, A, H
P, A, A, V
P, A, A, P
P, A, A, A
P, A, A, O
P, A, A, S
P, A, A, G
P, A, G
ALT,
P, A, Y
Align Left
Align Center
Align Right
Align Top
Align Middle
Align Bottom
Distribute Horizontally
Distribute Vertically
Align to Page
Align to Margin
Align Selected Objects
View Gridlines
Grid Settings
Group (groups objects together to be treated as single
object)
Rotate (rotate or flip the selected object)
— 326 —
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—References
the References tab in Word 2007.
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—The References tab
References (ALT +
S)
ALT, S, T
ALT, S, T, I
ALT, S, T, R
ALT, S, T, S
ALT, S, A
ALT, S, U
ALT, S, F
ALT, S, E
ALT, s, O, N
ALT, s, O, P
ALT, s, O, ,X
ALT, s, O, V
ALT, S, H
ALT, S, Q
ALT, S, C
ALT, S, C, S
ALT, S, C, P
ALT, S, C, L
ALT, S, M
ALT, S, L
ALT, S, B
ALT, S, B, B
ALT, S, B, S
ALT, S, P
ALT, S, G
ALT, S, V
ALT, S, R, F
ALT, S, N
ALT, S, X
ALT, S, D
ALT, S, I
ALT, S, R, T
ALT, S, R, U
Table of Contents
Insert Table of contents
Remove Table of Contents
Save Selection to Table of Contents Gallery
Add Text
Update Table of Contents
Insert Footnotes [CTRL + ALT + F]
Insert EndNote [CTRL + ALT + D]
Next Footnote
Previous Footnote
Next Endnote
Previous Endnote
Show Notes
Footnote and Endnote Dialog Box
Insert Citation
Add New Source
Add New Placeholder
Search Libraries
Manage Sources (opens Source Manager dialog box)
Style
Bibliography
Insert Bibliography
Save Selection to Bibliography Gallery
Insert Caption
Insert Table of Figures
Update Table of Figures
Cross-Reference
Mark Entry [ALT + SHIFT + X]
Insert Index
Update Index
Mark Citation [ALT + SHIFT + I]
Insert Table of Authorities
Update Table of Authorities
— 327 —
— 328 —
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Mailings
tab
Set out here are the alt sequence keys for accessing the functions on the
‘Mailings’ tab in Word 2007.
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—The Mailings tab
Mailings (ALT +
M)
ALT, M, E
ALT, M, L
ALT, M, S
ALT, M, S, L
ALT, M, S, E
ALT, M, S, V
ALT, M, S, A
ALT, M, S, D
ALT, M, S, N
ALT, M, S, W
ALT, M, R
ALT, M, R, N
ALT, M, R, E
ALT, M, R, O
ALT, M, D
ALT, M, H
ALT, M, A
ALT, M, G
ALT, M, I
ALT, M, U
ALT, M, U, A
ALT, M, U, F
ALT, M, U, I
ALT, M, U, R
ALT, M, U, Q
ALT, M, U, N
ALT, M, U, X
ALT, M, U, B
ALT, M, U, S
ALT, M, T
ALT, M, B
ALT, M, P
ALT, M, Q
ALT, M, M
Envelopes
Labels
Start Mail Merge [ALT + shift + M]
Letters
E-mail Messages
Envelopes
Labels
Directory
Normal Word Document
Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard
Select Recipients
Type New List
Use Existing List
Select from Outlook Contacts
Edit Recipient List [ALT + shift + F]
Highlight Merge Fields
Address Block
Greeting Line
Insert Merge Field
Rules
Ask …
Fill-in …
If…Then…Else…
Merge Record #
Merge Sequence #
Next Record
Next Record If …
Set Bookmark
Set Record If …
Match Fields
Update Labels
Preview Results [ALT + shift + N]
First
Previous
— 329 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
M, W
M, X
M, V
M, J
M, K
M, F
M, O
Record
Next
Last
Find Recipient
Auto Check for Errors [ALT + shift + K]
Finish and Merge
Merge to Adobe PDF
— 330 —
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—Review
tab
the Review tab in Word 2007.
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—The Review tab
Review (ALT + R)
ALT, R, S
ALT, R, R
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
R, E
R, L
R, P, T
R, U
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
R, U, ALT + N
R, U, ALT + P
R, U, ALT + D
R, W
R, C
R, D, D
R, D, A
R, D, O
R, V
R, N
R, G, G
R, G, O
R, G, U
R, T, B
R, T, B, B
R, T, B, I
R, T, B, C
R, T, D
R, T, D, F
R, T, D, O
R, T, D, O, O
R, T, M
R, T, M, C
R, T, M, K
R, T, M, I
R, T, M, F
R, T, M, H
Spelling and grammar [F7]
Research – to close the Research and other task panes:
F6, CTRL + spacebar, C
Thesaurus [Shift + F7]
Translate
Translation screen tip
Set Language (Mark selected text as: English (South
Africa), English (U.K.), English (U.S.))
Do not check spelling and grammar
Detect language automatically
Default
Word Count
New Comment
Delete the Selected Comment
Delete All Comments Shown
Delete All Comments in Document
Previous Comment
Next Comment
Track Changes [CTRL + shift + E]
Change Tracking Options
Change User Name
Balloons
Show Revisions in Balloons
Show All Revisions Inline
Show Only Comments and Formatting in Balloons
Display Final Showing Markup
Final
Original Showing Markup
Original
Show Markup
Comments
Ink
Insertions and Deletions
Formatting
Markup Area Highlight
— 331 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
R, T, M, R
R, T, P, V
R, T, P, H
R,A, M
R, A, C
R, A, A
R, A, D
R, J, M
R, J, R
R, J, A
R, J, D
R, F
R, H
R, M, C
R, M, M
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
R, O
R, P, R
R, P, R, F
R, P, R, U
R, P, R, R
R, P, R, M
Reviewers
Reviewing Pane Vertical
Reviewing Pane Horizontal
Accept and Move to Next
Accept Change
Accept All Changes Shown
Accept All Changes in Document
Reject and Move to Next
Reject Change
Reject All Changes Shown
Reject All Changes in Document
Previous track change
Next track change
Compare two versions of a document (legal blackline)
Combine revisions from multiple authors into a single
document
Show Source Documents
Protect Document
Restrict Formatting and Editing
Unrestricted Access
Restricted Access
Manage Credentials
— 332 —
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007)—View tab
Set out here are the alt sequence keys for accessing the functions on the
View tab in Word 2007.
ALT
sequence keys (Word 2007—The View tab
View (ALT + W)
ALT, W, P
ALT, W, F
ALT, W, L
ALT, W, U
ALT, W, E
ALT, W, R
ALT, W, G
ALT, W, D
ALT, W, V, M
ALT, W, H
ALT, W, Q
ALT, W, J
ALT, W, 1
ALT, W, 2
ALT, W, I
ALT, W, N
ALT, W, A
ALT, W, S
ALT,
W, B
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
W, V, S
W, T
W, W
W, M
W, M, V
W, M, R
W, M, P
Print Layout
Full Screen Reading
Web Layout
Outline
Draft
Show/Hide:
Ruler
Show/Hide:
Gridlines
Show/Hide:
Message Bar
Show/Hide:
Document Map
Show/Hide:
Thumbnails
Zoom
100%
One Page
Two Pages
Page Width
New Window
Arrange All
Split the current window into two parts so that you can
view different sections of the document at the same time
View Side by Side (active when two or more documents
are opened)
Synchronous Scrolling
Reset Window Position
Switch Windows (between documents)
Macros
View Macros [ALT + F8]
Record Macro
Pause Recording
— 333 —
— 334 —
Shortcut keys—Finding stuff (Word 2010)
Finding stuff—Word 2010
Word 2010 introduces an alternative way of finding text in a document.
The new method takes the form of a navigation pane which appears on
the left-hand side of the screen when you press CTRL + F. The
conventional Find dialog box is still there, but you can no longer reach
it using CTRL + F. In order to access it you must now press CTRL + G to
open the Go To dialog box and then press CTRL + Page Down to select
the Find tab. Alternatively, you can use ALT, E, F. From there the
procedure is the same as in Word 2007.
When it comes to the taskpane it’s a case of one man’s meat is
another man’s poison. Personally, I prefer the old dialog box because it
offers more advanced Find features (for example, for finding
formatting). I also find that the task pane takes up quite a bit of the
screen. You can reassign CTRL + F to the Find dialog box and thus avoid
the navpane by following these steps:
1. Press ALT to put focus on the Ribbon
2. Press the right-click key (usually on the left of the CTRL key on the right-hand
side of the keyboard)
3. Press R to select Customize the Ribbon
4. Press ALT + T to select the Customize button for keyboard shortcuts
5. Press H to select the Home tab
6. Press TAB and then press E four times to select the EditFind command.
7. Press ALT + N (or TAB twice) to reach the ‘Press new shortcut key’ box and press
CTRL + F
8. Press ENTER twice, TAB until you reach OK and press ENTER again
In order to restore CTRL + F to the navigation pane, perform the above
procedure but instead of pressing E four times to select the EditFind
command, press N to select NavPaneSearch.
Navigation pane
The shortcut keys for the search navigation pane are set out below.
After you press CTRL + F the cursor will appear in the search box and
you can simply enter your text and press enter to commence your
search. To navigate within the navigation pane use the TAB key.
NavPaneSearch shortcut keys
CTRL + F
CTRL +
spacebar,
Open the ‘search’ navigation pane
Close the navigation pane
C
— 335 —
F6
Search box
tab once to put
focus on the search
split button, then
press:
O
A
R
G
R
T
E
N
C
A (submenu of C)
Place focus on the navigation pane
Enter search text
TAB
TAB twice
TAB thrice
Browse the headings in your document
Browse the pages in your document
Browse the results from your current search
Options—see below for commands to select check boxes
Advanced Find (the old Find dialog box in Word 2007)
Replace
Go To
Graphics
Tables
Equations
Footnotes/Endnotes
Comments
All Reviewers
Options check boxes
Use the up or down arrow keys to navigate to a particular check box and
press spacebar to check or uncheck it or use these shortcuts):
Options check boxes
ALT +
ALT +
H
Y
ALT +
ALT +
U
K
ALT +
W
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
X
T
S
ALT +
A
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
G
R
D
Spacebar
Match case
Find whole words
only
Use wildcards
Sounds
like
(English)
Find all word
forms (English)
Match prefix
Match suffix
Ignore punctuation
characters
Ignore white-space
characters
Highlight all
Incremental find
Set as Default
button
ok
— 336 —
Spacebar
Cancel
— 337 —
— 338 —
Finding stuff—using Find and Replace as
an editing tool
A colleague recently asked me how to get rid of double spaces in a
document after she had copied the text from a PDF document and pasted
it into a Word document. The Word document had a double space
between every word. ‘Simple’ I replied, ‘use the Find and Replace
feature’.
Find and Replace has a myriad of uses (86 TSH 2010) but it is
particularly useful for quickly rectifying those annoying formatting
issues that arise after you copy information from a PDF or webpage.
Aside from double spaces, I frequently encounter the problem of
sentences that have been broken. In other words, it’s as if someone has
hit enter at random throughout the document, thus littering the
document with unwanted hard returns. If you have ever tried to copy
information from MyLexisNexis, you will know what I mean.
Another formatting issue arises when people forward or reply to
plain-text e-mail messages. The whole message is riddled with ‘greater
than’ signs (>). I really dislike forwarding something like that, and the
Find and Replace tool is always close at hand to solve the problem.
To bring up the Find and Replace dialog box, press CTRL + H. If you
can’t remember this key, you can press CTRL + F (assuming you have
disabled the Find navigation pane—104 TSH 2011) and then use CTRL +
Page down to tab to Find and Replace. Or you can use CTRL+ G (Go To)
followed by CTRL + Page up.
Removing double spaces
To remove double spaces, type a double space by pressing the spacebar
twice in the Find what: box (ALT + N) and pressing it once in the
Replace with: box (ALT + I). Then press the Replace All button (ALT +
A). If you want to replace each double space one at a time press the
Replace button (ALT + R).
Removing hard returns
Select the text from which you want to remove the hard returns. Press
CTRL + H to bring up the Find and Replace dialog box. Make sure that
the Find what box is empty. Press ALt + M to expand the dialog box.
Then ALT + E to access the Special button and then P for paragraph
mark. This will insert ^p in the Find what: box. Alternatively you could
just type ^p in the Find what: box (the ^ symbol is obtained by pressing
shift + 6 on the keyboard). Insert a space in the Replace with: box and
press ALT + A to Replace All. You may need to check your document for
double spaces after this operation.
— 339 —
Removing > from plain text messages
The Find and Replace function also works in Outlook. After pressing
ALT + R to reply to the message containing the > symbols or ALT + W to
forward it, tab to the message area and press CTRL + H to bring up the
Find and Replace dialog box. Type > in the Find what: box, leave the
Replace with: box empty and press ALT + A to replace all instances of >.
— 340 —
Shortcut keys—First-letter navigation
First-letter navigation
First-letter navigation is one of the most useful features for navigating
Windows applications with the keyboard. Here is how it works. Let’s
say you want to open a file on Local Disk C: without using the mouse.
Press WIN + E to open Windows Explorer (the WIN key is between CTRL
and ALT). Now let’s say your folder structure looks like this:
DVD RW Drive (E:)
New Volume (D:)
Local Disk (C:)
Floppy Disk Drive (A:)
If you are using Windows XP press TAB to get into the right-hand pane.
This step is unnecessary in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Then press L to highlight the Local Disk and hit enter. Now let’s say
you are presented with the following folder structure:
Music—albums
Music—singles
My Documents
Program files
Tax Notes
Let’s say that the file you want is in the My Documents folder. Press M,
Y (that is, M followed by Y in quick succession) and hit enter. I’m sure
by now you have the idea. Just keep on pressing the first letter or first
letters of the folder or file you want to put focus on and hit enter.
Multiple first-letter navigation is particularly useful when you have a
large number of files all beginning with the same letter. In practice I find
I can get pretty close to where I want to be using two letters but you can
use more if the need arises. The method worked in Windows Explorer
even when I typed five letters in succession. The method also works
with numbers. For example, I have a folder called Explanatory
Memoranda which contains fifty folders named after the various years
(1962…2011). To get to a particular year, I just type the numbers of the
year in quick succession.
— 341 —
Shortcut keys—First-letter navigation
As an alternative to multiple first-letter navigation you can keep
pressing the first letter until you reach the folder or file of your choice
or you can use the down arrow.
First-letter navigation works in many Windows applications. For
example, you can use it in Outlook to find an e-mail from a particular
person. First sort your incoming messages into ‘From’ order (ALT, V, A,
F in Outlook 2003 or 2007 or ALT, V, A, B, F in Outlook 2010). Then
press the first letter of the sender’s name, or press more than one letter
in quick succession to further narrow the search (for example, pressing
L may take you to Lara but L, O will take you to Louis). The same
technique works in Sent Items. To sort into ‘To’ order: ALT, V, A, T
(Outlook 2003/7) or ALT, V, A, B, T (Outlook 2010). The first-letter
technique can also be used in Internet Explorer to search, say, the
Favourites menu (ALT + A to select Favourites and then use first letter
navigation to get to the internet site of your choice.
You can also use multiple first-letter navigation to select an icon on
your desktop. To put focus on the desktop press WIN + M. You can make
it easier to use the technique by renaming your icons. For example, if
you have three icons labelled ‘Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word and
Microsoft Excel you could delete the word ‘Microsoft’ from each icon.
To edit a label just press F2 when on the relevant icon.
The technique also works outside Windows. For example, you can
use it to navigate your contacts on your cell-phone, for example, on
Nokia phones just type the first few letters of the person’s surname.
— 342 —
Shortcut keys—Opening & saving documents
Opening & saving documents
I explain here how to open or save a Word document using only the
keyboard.
Saving
 To save changes to a document press CTRL + S.
 To save a new document activate the Save As dialog box by





pressing ALT, F, A or F12. Some people prefer ALT, F, A because you
can perform the three keystrokes without removing your left hand
from the keyboard. The cursor will appear in the File Name box, so
at this point you should name your document.
To change the file type (for example, from .docx to .doc or .pdf), tab
once to get to the ‘Save as type’ list-box and then press ALT + down
arrow to open it. You can then use the up or down arrow to navigate
to the file type of your choice or use first-letter navigation (for
example, pressing ‘p’ will get you to .pdf). Press shift + TAB to
return to the file name box.
The next step is to save the document in the location of your choice.
For this purpose I shall assume that the cursor is still in the file
name box. In Word 2003 and 2007 press ALT + I to activate the Save
in drop-down menu. Then use the up or down arrow or first-letter
navigation to select the drive of your choice, enter and then press
TAB thrice to get into the dialog box. From there you can use firstletter navigation to select the folder of your choice. Continue
tabbing until you get to the Save button and enter.
Alternatively, press ALT + S to save the document.
In Word 2010 a different procedure is called for after you have
brought up the Save As dialog box. This is because there is no
longer a ‘save in’ drop-down list which can be accessed with ALT +
I. Press shift + TAB twice. This gets you into the dialog box. To get
higher up the folder tree keep pressing the backspace key. Once you
have gone back as far as you need to, use first-letter navigation to
drill down to the folder of your choice.
For example, if you have backspaced as far as you can go, press C
for Computer, enter, then L for Local Disk, enter then M, Y for My
Documents and so on.
Opening
Press CTRL + O to bring up the Open dialog box. From there the
procedure for opening a document is the same as for saving one.
 In Word 2003/7 press ALT + I to get to the Look In drop-down
menu, select the drive of your choice, tab thrice to get into the
— 343 —
Shortcut keys—Opening & saving documents
dialog box and so on. When you have selected the file to open, tab
to the Open button and hit enter or press ALT + O. In Word 2010
press shift + TAB twice to get into the dialog box, then press
backspace to go up the folder tree and use first-letter navigation to
drill down to the folder and file you are looking for. Once you have
selected the file name, tab to the Open button and hit enter or press
ALT + O.
— 344 —
Shortcut keys—ALT sequence keys (Outlook 2010)
Getting started in Outlook 2010 with ALT
sequence keys
Having recently upgraded to Office 2010, I thought it might be useful to
share some of my favourite ALT sequence keys. Since Outlook 2003,
Microsoft has had this irritating habit of changing the ALT sequence
keys in the two successive versions of the program (2007 and 2010).
The move from 2003 to 2007 was the worst, and even from 2007 to
2010 there are more changes, some of which make little sense. For
example, to sort your messages in 2003 and 2007 you pressed ALT, V, A,
D (date order). Now it’s ALT, V, A, B, D. Why was it necessary to insert
the extra ‘B’?
ALT
sequence keys in Outlook 2010
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
V, A, B, F
V, A, B, D
V, A, B, S
V, A, B, T
N, A, F
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
O, T, H
O, T, P
O, T, R
H, A, V
O, P, G
Sort inbox into ‘From’ order
Sort inbox into Date order
Sort inbox into Size order
Sort Sent Items into To order
Attach file to message. This will bring up the
Insert File dialog box. To get into the box press
Shift + TAB twice and then backspace to get up
the folder tree. From there use first-letter
navigation to drill down to the file you wish to
attach.
Convert message to html
Convert message to Plain Text
Convert message to Rich Text
View message in Internet Explorer
Change Paragraph formatting—useful when
replying to an e-mail in which the sender has used
paragraph formatting which causes large gaps
between your own paragraphs.
Footnotes & endnotes
And now, how to insert, navigate, and find footnotes in Word using the
keyboard.
Shortcut keys for footnotes
CTRL + ALT +
F
Insert footnote
— 345 —
ALT,
S, F
ALT,
S, O, N
ALT,
S, O, P
ALT,
I, N, N
ALT,
S, Q
Insert footnote (Word
2007/10)
Navigate to next
footnote
Navigate to previous
footnote
Open footnote and
endnote dialog box
(Word 2003/7/10)
Open footnote and
endnote dialog box
(Word 2007/10)
For inserting footnotes I prefer to use ALT, S, F because it can be
performed one-handed, compared with the two hands required for CTRL
+ ALT + F.
Once you have inserted your footnote, Word takes you down to the
footnote area at the bottom of the page where you can enter the footnote
text.
To return to the original location in the main text you can use shift +
F5 or ALT, V, F (Word 2003/7/10) or ALT, S, H (Word 2007/10).
To return to the footnote area, just press ALT, V, F or ALT, S, H again.
Footnotes can be difficult to view in Normal/Draft mode. You can
expand the footnote window using the mouse or you can make the
footnotes visible by switching to Page Layout View by pressing CTRL +
ALT + P while in the footnote window of normal/draft view.
To go to a particular footnote number in the main body text, use the
Go To command: CTRL + G, ALT + O, F, tab once, enter footnote
number, enter.
Once you have found the first footnote using this command you can
jump from one footnote to the next by pressing ESC to get rid of the
dialog box and then CTRL + Page Down (or CTRL + Page Up if you want
to search in the reverse direction).
Sometimes footnotes can become inadvertently italicized, for
example, when inserted after a case name. To correct an italicized
footnote reference, highlight it and press CTRL + I.
To find instances of italicized footnotes use the Find command (CTRL
+ F). Expand the dialog box (ALT + M), then ALT + O (format button), S
(styles), press F three times to get to Footnote reference in the Find style
list and hit enter. The cursor will be in the Find What box. Press CTRL +
I to add italicized text to your search criteria and hit enter.
Once you have found the first footnote reference you can press ESC
and use CTRL + Page Down or Page Up to search for further instances of
italicized footnotes.
When you are done press CTRL + F and click on the No formatting
button to remove the search criteria. On more than one occasion I have
— 346 —
forgotten to do this and wondered why I couldn’t find anything in my
document. To press the No formatting button I use ALT + O which gets
me to the Format button, esc, TAB twice, enter. Although the no
formatting button indicates that it can be pressed with ALT + T this key
will simply put a check in the Match suffix check box, so don’t use it.
Sometimes it becomes necessary to edit the footnote separator (that’s
the line that separates the main text from the footnotes). For example, it
might be too far from the footnote text because of incorrect paragraph
spacing. To edit the footnote separator, select normal or draft view. On
the left-hand upper side of the footnote window you will see a dropdown list from which you can select Footnote separator.
To do this with the keyboard starting from the main document pane:
CTRL + ALT + N (normal view), ALT, V, F (activate footnote window),
press F6 four times and then use down arrow to select the footnote
separator.
To adjust paragraph spacing: ALT, O, P then ALT + F to get to Spacing
after, enter required spacing and enter.
Endnotes
I am not a fan of endnotes but for those who use them here are some
shortcut keys:
Shortcut keys for endnotes
CTRL + ALT +
ALT, S, E
ALT, S, O, X
ALT, S, O, V
D
Insert endnote
Insert endnote (Word 2007/10)
Next endnote
Previous endnote
— 347 —
— 348 —
Shortcut keys—More on Windows Explorer
More on Windows Explorer
In 82 TSH 2010, I dealt with some shortcut keys for use in Windows
Explorer and, in 105 TSH 2011, I expanded on first-letter navigation, a
technique for navigating files and folders in Windows Explorer and
other programs. I now examine the keyboard shortcuts for selecting and
moving files and folders in Windows Explorer.
Let’s assume that you want to cut or copy some files in a folder in
Windows Explorer and move them to another location. Here’s how to do
it.
Open Windows Explorer by pressing WIN + E. Jump to the right-hand
pane in Windows XP by pressing the TAB key (unnecessary to do
anything in Vista or Windows 7). Open the drive of your choice by
pressing its first letter (or letters if there is more than one drive with the
same letter) (for example, press L or LO for Local Disk (C:). Keep on
pressing the first letter or letters of the folders of your choice, hitting
enter to open the next folder until you reach the target folder. If you
need to go back up or down the folder tree press ALT + left arrow (back)
or ALT + right arrow (forward). You can also go back by pressing the
backspace key.
Selecting files or folders
Selecting a single item
When you first open a folder the focus will be on the first item in the list
but it will not be selected. To select it you can
 press the spacebar,
 down arrow once to move away from the item and then up arrow to
get back onto it, or
 press the item’s first letter or letters.
To deselect an item press CTRL + spacebar.
Selecting all items
Press CTRL + A to select all the items in the window.
Selecting items that are next to each other
To select files or folders that are next to each other:
 Navigate to the first item using first-letter navigation or by using the
up or down arrow keys.
 Hold down the shift key and use the up or down arrow to highlight
the items of your choice.
 You can also select all the items to the top or bottom of the window
by using shift + home or shift + end.
— 349 —
Shortcut keys—More on Windows Explorer
Selecting items that are not next to each other
To select items that are not next to each other:
 Navigate to the first item using first-letter navigation or by using the
up or down arrow keys. If the first item is not selected (for example,
because it is the first item on the list) press spacebar.
 Hold down the CTRL key.
 Move up or down the list by using the up or down arrow (or home
or end). When you reach the file or folder you want to select press
the spacebar. To deselect an item press spacebar again.
 Release the CTRL key.
To cut selected items press CTRL + X. To copy them use CTRL + C.
Navigate to the location of your choice and paste the files or folders by
pressing CTRL + V.
— 350 —
Shortcut keys—Working with styles (I)
Working with Styles—I
With MS Word’s Styles feature you can standardize the formatting of
text so as to create consistency and save time.
For example, let’s say that you indent quotes by 2 cm, with a font size
of 10 pt and 12 pt paragraph-spacing after the quote. Instead of applying
these attributes to the text each time you have to format a quote, you
could create a style called Quote, which you could apply to the text.
As soon as you click on the Quote style, the paragraph you have
selected will immediately indent by 2 cm, have 10 pt font and contain
spacing of 12 pt after the paragraph.
This process can be further speeded up by using keyboard shortcuts.
This article is based on Word 2007 and 2010.
Step 1—creating a new Style
As with most functions in Word, there is more than one way to skin a
cat or, in for present purposes, to create and modify a style. The easiest
way to create a style is to first format the text as you would like it to
appear. Highlight the text you want to format, and use these shortcut
keys to format it:
Font
CTRL +
D
Paragraph
ALT,
O, P
Tabs
ALT,
O, T
Borders and shading
ALT,
O, B
Once you have formatted the paragraph, place the cursor in it and press
the Windows Application Key (or right-click key as I prefer to call it). It
is usually located on the left of the right-hand CTRL key. A menu will
appear. Scroll down to Styles or just press T ( you might have to press it
twice if there is another menu item that is also selectable with T, such as
Keep Text Only). Right arrow to open the submenu and select Save
selection as a new Quick Style or press Q.
A dialog box will appear entitled ‘Create New Style from
Formatting’. The cursor will be in the Name block, which should
contain a name such as Style1. Replace this name with the name of your
choice, such as Quote. Tab once to get to the OK button and press enter.
You have now created a new style called Quote.
To apply the Quote style to an unformatted paragraph, place the
cursor in the paragraph and press CTRL + Shift + S. An Apply Styles
— 351 —
Shortcut keys—Working with styles (I)
menu will appear on the screen. Type Quote in the block or scroll down
with the arrow keys to the Quote style and hit enter. The Quote style
will be applied to your selection.
To get rid of the styles menu, press F6 to put focus on it, press CTRL
+ spacebar, C. You can also put focus on the styles menu by pressing
CTRL + Shift + S again.
Step 2—modifying a Style
You can modify an existing style in a similar way.
Let’s say you want to change the font size of the Quote style to 9 pt.
Place your cursor in the paragraph to which you have already applied
the Quote style. Press the right-click key, select Styles, right arrow and
select ‘Update Quote to match selection’ or press P and hit enter. The
Quote style will be amended throughout your document.
— 352 —
Shortcut keys—Working with styles (II)
Working with Styles—II
In 110 TSH 2012, I dealt with the creation and modification of styles in
MS Word using the Windows application (or right-click) key.
Another way of dealing with styles is to use the styles task pane. To
open the task pane, press ALT, O, S. Use the down arrow to navigate to
the style of your choice (eg—Normal). Then press the right-click key (to
the left of the right-hand CTRL key).
The following items appear on the drop-down menu:
P
M
S
C
D
Q
Update Normal to Match Selection
Modify
Select all x instances
Clear Formatting of all x Instances
Delete Normal
Remove from Quick Style Gallery
Creating a new style
To create a new style, you could start with the Normal style.
Select Normal, press the right-click key and then M for Modify. This
will bring up the Modify Styles dialog box. The cursor will be in the
Name field. Change Normal to the name of your choice (eg—Quote 1).
Then press ALT + O to click on the Format button. A drop-down list will
appear with the following items: Font (F), Paragraph (P), Tabs (T),
Border (B), Language (L), Frame (M), Numbering (N), Shortcut Key
(K), Text Effects (E).
Modify the style by selecting the particular menu item and selecting
the attributes from the resulting dialog box.
For example, to change the font size to 10 pt select Font (or just press
F), tab twice and type 10 in the font size box and press OK (enter). Then
apply the next attribute, say, an After 12 pt paragraph space: ALT + O
(format), P (Paragraph), ALT + F (to access the After spacing box in
Word 2010), type 12 and OK (enter).
To apply another attribute just press ALT + O again to drop down the
format menu and apply the required attributes as described above. Once
you have applied all the necessary attributes press OK (enter) and you
will have created your new style.
Modifying an existing style
The procedure for modifying an existing style is the same as that for
creating a new one except that you do not need to rename the base style.
Thus, ALT, O, S, use the down arrow to get to the style you want to
modify, press the right click key, M (Modify), ALT + O (Format) and so
on.
— 353 —
Shortcut keys—Working with styles (II)
Tip
When copying (CTRL + C) and pasting text into your document always
use the Paste Special command (ALT, E, S, U). Select Unformatted
Unicode Text in the dialog box and enter. In this way you will avoid
‘polluting’ your document with foreign styles which can result in style
conflicts and clutter up your style list.
— 354 —
Shortcut keys—Disabling auto-correction
Disabling auto-correction
Have you noticed how Word turns (c) into a copyright symbol and (r)
into a registered mark symbol? This phenomenon is caused by Word’s
AutoCorrect function. It has its uses but I suspect most people working
in the tax field make far more frequent use of (c) and (r) than © and ®.
Here’s how to disable these auto corrections in Word 2010.
Press ALT, T, O to bring up the Word Options dialog box.
Tap the down arrow twice until you reach Proofing then press TAB to
jump into the right-hand pane.
You should be on the AutoCorrect options button. Press spacebar or
enter to activate it.
Then arrow down to the line showing (c) and ©. Press TAB until you
get to the delete button and press enter. Tab until you get to OK and press
enter.
In the Proofing dialog box tab until you get to OK and press enter.
Actually, a quicker way of getting to the OK button in the Proofing
dialog box is to go in the reverse direction by pressing shift + TAB
thrice. This is a handy trick to remember for use in dialog boxes, since it
can save you having to hit TAB numerous times (twenty-one in this
instance).
If you don’t want permanently to remove the auto-correction, you can
just press CTRL + Z immediately after Word has auto-corrected (c) to a
copyright symbol and it will undo the auto-correction. Follow the same
procedure to delete other auto-corrections.
If you need the copyright symbol in future, press ALT + 0169
(numpad). For the registered mark press ALT + 0174 (numpad).
— 355 —
— 356 —
Shortcut keys—Disabling auto-numbering and auto-bullets
Disabling auto-numbering and auto-bullets
Word’s auto-numbering feature automatically inserts heading or
paragraph numbers after you have inserted the first number and pressed
the spacebar or TAB key. The auto-bullets feature inserts another bullet
after you press enter in a bulleted list.
I find auto-numbering particularly irritating for several reasons but
the one that irks me the most is that the numbers do not display in the
hyperlink dialog box when you want to hyperlink a cross-reference to a
paragraph or heading number using CTRL + K, ALT + O).
Another problem is that the feature does not always work, and you
can end up with missing paragraph or heading numbers. Fortunately
there is a way of disabling auto-numbering and auto-bullets.
Auto-bullets are actually quite useful but if you want to get rid of
them the procedure is the same as for getting rid of auto-numbering.
Here’s what to do in MS Word 2010:
Press ALT, T, O to bring up the Word Options dialog box. Press P for
Proofing and then tab once. This should take you to the AutoCorrect
Options button. Hit enter and the AutoCorrect Options dialog box will
appear. Use CTRL + Page Up or Down to get to the AutoFormat as you
Type tab. Then tab down to Automatic bulleted lists and Automatic
numbered lists and deselect them by pressing the spacebar on each one.
Tab to OK and enter.
If you do not want to disable auto-numbering or auto-bullets, you can
press CTRL + Z (undo) immediately after the auto-number or bullet
appears. If you decide to retain auto-bullets, here is a useful tip. After
you have typed the last item in your bulleted list and hit enter an
unwanted bullet will appear. To get rid of it just press CTRL + shift + N.
This handy shortcut key removes all formatting in a paragraph. If you
have disabled auto bullets you can create a bullet by pressing CTRL +
shift + L.
MS
— 357 —
— 358 —
Shortcut keys—Signatures in Outlook 2007 & 2010
Signatures in Outlook 2007 & 2010
Having Outlook automatically insert a ‘signature’ in your mail messages
is a time-saver which also lets you give your messages a professional
look. By ‘signature’ I’m referring to that part of your email where you
end off with ‘Regards, Joe Bloggs, Tax consultant and so on.
Creating or editing the signature
It’s simple enough to create or edit a signature but a procedure easily
forgotten because it’s only necessary after an event such as an Office
upgrade, change in signature details or computer crash.
Here are the instructions to get you to the signature dialog box from
where you can create or modify a signature.
Outlook 2010: ALT, F, T, M, tab once, N, enter. Then shift + TAB to get into the
signature block.
Outlook 2007: ALT, T, O, CTRL + page down twice to get to the Mail Format
tab, ALT + G to press the signature button. Then shift + TAB to get you into the
signature block.
If you have not previously created a signature or want to create a new
one the first step is to click on the New button (ALT + N) and give your
signature a name. You can create different signatures for different
purposes (for example, one for office use and one for home use). You
can also assign the signature to different mail accounts as a default (ALT
+ A). For example, you could assign the office signature to your office
e-mail account and the home signature to your home e-mail account.
You can delete an existing signature by selecting its name from the list
and pressing the Delete button (ALT + D). To rename a signature press
the Rename button (ALT + R).
To edit an existing signature press ALT + C and then select the
signature from the list. Then shift + TAB four times to get into the
signature block and do the necessary. Once you have finalized your
signature press ALT + S to save it and then OK.
Although the dialog box contains a number of editing functions
which you can use to format your signature, you may find it easier to
work on your signature in Word. To format the font in Word highlight
the text and press CTRL + D to bring up the font dialog box.
Make sure that the font type and size of your signature matches the
default font type and size of your e-mail text. For example, if your
default e-mail font type and size is Arial 10 pt make sure that ‘Regards’
or ‘Sincerely’ is also in Arial 10 pt. Typically most people use a larger
font-size for their name (say 11 pt) and a smaller font size (say 7,5 pt)
— 359 —
Shortcut keys—Signatures in Outlook 2007 & 2010
for contact details.
Once you have formatted the signature you can just copy (CTRL + C)
and paste (CTRL + V) it into the block in Outlook.
If you want to get fancy you can scan your signature and paste it in
above your name but it’s not something I would lightly recommend,
what with the amount of fraud around these days.
You can also copy and paste your firm’s logo into the signature block.
There is a Picture button which can be used for this purpose but it’s
probably quicker to just copy and paste directly into the signature block.
Remember that you won’t be able to use graphics if you have selected
plain text as your default mail format.
You can also decide whether to have Outlook automatically insert a
signature on new messages (ALT + M) or Replies/Forwards (ALT + F). I
recommend only inserting the signature automatically on new messages
because it simply clutters up your correspondence when you engage in
back and forth e-mails with the same person.
Inserting your signature manually
If you want to insert your signature on replies/forwards you can do that
manually. To insert your signature into a new mail message:
ALT,
N, G (Outlook 2007)—ALT, N, A, S (Outlook 2010)
— 360 —
Shortcut keys—Backing up Outlook files
Backing up Outlook files
Do you back up your emails? I suspect that many do not, and the reason
is that the Personal Folder (.pst) file in which Outlook stores the
calendar items, contacts, inbox, sent items and so on is buried in the
recesses of the computer’s hard drive, and it’s not easy to find. In case
you wondered, .pst means ‘personal storage table’.
Here’s how to find and back up your Outlook files.
Outlook 2007
ALT,
F, D, to open Data File Management. You should be on the Data
Files tab but, if not, navigate there using CTRL + TAB. From here follow
the instructions for Outlook 2010 below.
Outlook 2010
ALT,
F, I, S, A, to get to Account Settings. Then CTRL + TAB to get to
Data Files. Press shift + TAB twice to get into the list of locations where
your data files are stored. Here you will be able to obtain the various
paths to your .pst files. For example, a typical file location might be
C/Users/User/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Outlook/Personal Folders.pst.
Arrow down to the Personal Folder file you wish to locate and press
ALT + O to open File Location. This will take you to the folder in which
your .pst file is kept.
Your emails should be in a file called Personal Folders.pst but could
have another name with a .pst extension such as Outlook.pst. Highlight
the file name, CTRL + C to copy. Then close the window, close all
Outlook windows and paste the Personal Folder.pst file onto your
external hard drive using CTRL + V.
— 361 —
— 362 —
Shortcut keys—Inaccessible PDFs
Inaccessible PDFs—a highly unsatisfactory
state of affairs
The Portable Document Format (.pdf) is widely used these days for
publishing documents. It has the advantage of being widely accessible
through the Adobe Reader, regardless of the user’s operating system or
Office application, and retains the page layout of the original text
document.
While not everyone can access MS Word, one would have expected
that all PDF documents could be accessed by all. Think again. In 115 TSH
2012 editor Costa Divaris raised the problem of protected Government
Gazettes in a PDF format. This problem is not restricted to the Gazettes
but is found everywhere. For example, the invoices I receive from
Telkom are also protected.
Now, for a sighted person that may not be too much of a problem but,
for a blind person relying on screen-reading software, such as Jaws (Job
Access With speech) or NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access), it simply
means that the document is inaccessible, and the originator of the
document might as well have sent you a blank piece of paper.
In my experience there is a great deal of ignorance about inaccessible
PDFs, the problems they cause, and the solutions available to make them
accessible. And I’m not referring only to the average Joe; I include
people in the publishing field.
The problem goes much further than denying access to the blind
community, who are admittedly a very small user group. An
inaccessible PDF cannot be searched with CTRL + F. The result is that
you could spend hours looking for information in a document, which
would have taken a few seconds to find if the document were
electronically searchable. Another problem is that you cannot copy text
from an inaccessible PDF in order to paste it into a Word document.
Thus you are bound to make transcription errors when attempting to
retype the contents. Lastly, some inaccessible PDFs have very large filesizes.
Inaccessible PDF documents come in two types or a combination of
them.
The most common form of inaccessible PDF is an image PDF.
Typically, a PDF of this nature arises from a scanned image of a
document. The preparer of the PDF has simply placed the paper
document on a scanner and created a PDF without running any form of
optical character recognition (OCR). The result is that the PDF is
essentially just a picture or graphic of the text. This sort of PDF tends to
be very large in size and will quickly eat up your hard drive space and
annoy anyone unfortunate enough to receive it by e-mail. In fact, many
— 363 —
firms block large attachments from their e-mail servers, so your image
PDF may not even reach its intended recipient.
The other type of inaccessible PDF is a protected PDF. Typically, this
is a text PDF that has been locked in order to prevent copying, usually
for copyright protection but also to prevent anyone changing the
contents of the document. It’s usually a misguided and futile exercise. A
good example is the recently released Rates and Monetary Amounts and
Amendment of Revenue Laws Act 13 of 2012 (GG 35775 of 9 October
2012). There are other ways of protecting PDFs, such as DRM (digital
rights management), which is typically used by online sellers of e-books
and password protection (used, for example, by some banks on their estatements).
Making image PDF accessible
To make an image pdf accessible you will need some ocr software.
There are quite a few programs on the market but I am yet to find one
that is better than Omnipage by Nuance. Omnipage comes in two
versions, namely, Omnipage 18 and Omnipage Pro 18. The list prices
are $149,99 and $499,99 respectively for the digital download but from
time to time Nuance has specials, and you may be lucky enough to pay
half those prices.
After installation you can just right click on the image PDF, arrow
down to Omnipage 18 and then across to select the format of your
choice (MS Excel, MS Word, PDF, RTF, text, Word Perfect). You can also
convert to many other formats, and even create a sound file in WAV
format, which you can play on your iPod or other music player. You
could even listen to TSH while stuck in the traffic.
The overpriced Adobe Acrobat Pro or Standard can also be used to
convert image PDF to text but, in my experience, Adobe Acrobat Pro X’s
OCR capability does not come close to that of Omnipage 18. Adobe has
recently released Acrobat Pro XI (list price $449 but obtainable for $255
if you shop around).
Costa converted an image PDF of a 1963 Explanatory Memorandum
to Word using his recently acquired Adobe Pro XI, and I converted the
same document using Omnipage Pro 18. Omnipage Pro won the faceoff hands down with very few errors, while the Adobe conversion was
riddled with errors. Costa subsequently took advantage of another
Nuance product called PDF Converter Professional 8 which was
available as a half-price special for €49,50. This product converted the
image PDF to Word with the same level of accuracy as Omnipage with
an even smaller file size.
While there have been great strides in the field of OCR, you should
not expect miracles, regardless of your choice of software. The quality
of your output will depend on the quality of the scanned image. This in
turn depends on the quality of the original document and the capability
of the scanner and its software. Very old documents with faded type are
— 364 —
less likely to produce a decent image.
Unlocking protection
In 115 tsh 2012, Costa mentioned a handy little program called a–pdf
Restrictions Remover, which is available as a download for $9,99. Once
it is installed you just right-click on the file and select ‘Remove
restrictions’, and the protection is gone in an instant. I tried the program
on Act 13 of 2012 and, while it removed the protection, I was left with
an error message ‘Cannot find or create the font 'Arial'. Some characters
may not display or print correctly’. Yet it worked fine on my Telkom
invoices and password-protected bank statements (with such documents,
you will need to insert the password).
After a quick Internet search I came across a free PDF-protection
removal website at
http://www.pdfunlock.com/.
I uploaded Act 13 of 2012, and the resulting unlocked PDF was perfect,
with no error messages. The site apparently has some size restrictions
but you can buy the program (PDF Unlocker) for €25 (R285). I haven’t
bought it yet and have tested only this one document, so cannot
comment further on its effectiveness.
Omnipage will also unlock PDF documents, and gives you the option
to insert the permissions password or simply ignore it. However, I
would prefer not to have to run it on something like a Gazette, in case
some of the information changes during the OCR process.
There are programs to remove DRM from e-books but here you are
treading in the area of genuine copyright protection, and so I will not
comment further. Even password protection can sometimes be removed
but it can take several days or longer depending on the level of
encryption and length of password. It’s not something I have done, so,
again, cannot comment further.
Problematic PDFs
Some pdfs can be really difficult to convert to a searchable format. A
case in point is the sars ‘Notice to furnish returns for the 2012 year of
assessment’ (GG 35485 of 29 June 2012). This particular pdf appears to
have been created from a source document comprising text and
embedded graphics. The only part of the pdf that is accessible is the
cover page and the headers and footers on each page. The actual
subject-matter is in embedded graphics.
So how did Omnipage Pro 18 perform? It converted most of the
graphics to text but the first two paragraphs remained in a graphic. To
convert that graphic. I had to right click on it and save it as a .jpg file. I
then ran Omnipage on that file and it successfully converted it to Word.
I was then able to copy and paste the text into the main Word document.
— 365 —
This was quite a mission, and goes to show that even the best OCR
software is not infallible.
As an alternative, I downloaded the scanned image PDF version of the
Gazette from LexisNexis Gazettes Online and then ran Omnipage on the
image PDF. The result was very good, and provided a much better result
than a conversion of the embedded image PDF from the Government
Printing Works (GPW).
Costa tested his Adobe Acrobat Pro XI on the same GPW PDF file and
had the same problem as I had with Omnipage. The resulting Word
document still had the first two paragraphs in a graphic.
So what does the Constitution have to say about these problems?
Section 9(3) states that
[t]he state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone
on one or more grounds, including…disability….
Section 101(3) provides as follows:
(3) Proclamations, regulations and other instruments of subordinate legislation
must be accessible to the public.
In my view, denying the blind access to legislation is an unreasonable
form of discrimination, which also contravenes s 101(3). There can be
no justification for continuing the practice, since there is no copyright in
legislative material (s 12(8) of the Copyright Act 98 of 1978) and there
are no cost implications for the state.
Thus far all I have managed to establish, after numerous telephone
calls and e-mails, is that the GPW is not responsible for compiling the
inaccessible PDFs. The problem therefore must lie with Parliament or
one of its service-providers.
— 366 —
Shortcut keys—Headers & footers
Header & footers
There is quite a lot to headers and footers but here I deal with two issues
only. The first is how to access the header and footer area using shortcut
keys, while the second is how to insert different chapter headings in the
header area.
Accessing the header or footer area
Word 2003: ALT, V, H will take you to the header area. To get to the
footers just use the down arrow. This key sequence also acts as a toggle
switch, which you can use to get you back to the main document
window. It also works in Word 2007 and 2010 and is easy to remember
(V for View and H for Header)
Word 2010: ALT, N, H, E (Headers) or ALT, N, O, E (footers).
Inserting different chapter headings
In order to insert different chapter headings in your document you will
need first to separate each chapter by inserting a section break (next
page) at the end of each chapter. This type of section break will insert a
section break and then start the next section on the next page. To insert
the break press:
Word 2003: ALT, I, B, N, enter.
Word 2007/2010: ALT, P, B, N.
Next, press ALT, V, H (or the Word 2010 alternative) and type the first
chapter heading, say ‘Chapter 1—Introduction’ in the header area of that
chapter.
Once you have done that, down-arrow to the header area of
Chapter 2. You will notice that it already contains a reference to
Chapter 1. This is because Word automatically links the current section
to the previous one and in the process repeats the contents of the header
of the previous section.
Before changing ‘Chapter 1’ to read ‘Chapter 2’ you must break the
link to Chapter 1. If you fail to first break the link, you will end up
changing the header of the previous section—in other words the header
of Chapter 1 would read ‘Chapter 2’ because the linking works both
ways.
To break the link to Chapter 1, while in the header area of Chapter 2
press ALT, J, H, K (Word 2010).
Now you can change ‘Chapter 1’ to read ‘Chapter 2’, and it won’t
affect the header in Chapter 1.
— 367 —
Shortcut keys—Headers & footers
Repeat the process for subsequent chapter-headings. To avoid
confusion, it might in fact be better to remove all the linking from the
header area of each section before typing any headers. This will prevent
you from inadvertently changing earlier chapter headings and repeating
the information in subsequent chapters.
To copy the header or footer of the previous section into the current
one, press ALT + shift + R.
In Word 2010, to remove a header use ALT, N, H, R and a footer ALT,
N, O, R.
— 368 —
Shortcut keys—Creating a table of cases
Creating a table of cases
Creating a table of court cases in Word is a simple task made even easier
through the use of shortcut keys. The process involves marking each
court case in the main document with a field code. Word then gathers up
all the entries in the main document and inserts them, in alphabetical
order, into the table of cases together with the page numbers on which
the cases appear. Word allows you to create multiple tables of
authorities, such as a Table of Tax Court Cases and a Table of Supreme
and High Court Cases.
Marking the cases
The first step in the process is to select a category name and number for
your table. You will then be able to give your table a unique heading.
The category number will also enable you to alter the field code of each
marked entry in the document, thus ensuring that the particular case will
appear in the correct table.
Press ALT + shift + I anywhere in the document. Then press ALT + G,
thus activating the Categories button.
The cursor will be in the categories list, which contains various
sample headings: Cases (c 1), Statutes (c 2), Other Authorities (c 3),
Rules (c 4), Treatises (c 5), Regulations (c 6), Constitutional Provisions
(c 7) followed by categories 8 to 16 (c 8 to c 16).
Let’s choose 8 for our table. Arrow down to 8 and press TAB. In the
‘replace with’ block type ‘Table of Supreme and High Court Cases’, tab
again and hit ENTER on the Replace button (ALT + R). Tab again and hit
OK. Then on the first dialog box tab to the Close button and hit ENTER.
You can select any name or number from the category list and replace
it with a name of your choice.
Next, mark each case in the document with a field code. I normally
do this in the footnotes but you could also mark the case in the main
document window. To mark the case, select the full case name and its
reference, for example, Natal Estates Ltd v SIR 1975 (4) SA 177 (A), 37
SATC 193. Then press ALT + SHIFT + I and hit ENTER. This sequence will
bring up the Mark Citation dialog box. The cursor will be in the Short
citation box. Here you can edit the case name.
If the Commissioner appears as the appellant you will need to change
the citation as follows:
SIR
v ABC (Pty) Ltd would become ABC (Pty) Ltd, SIR v.
This approach will make it easier to find the case in the table. You can
instead arrange the citation in this way before marking it. I normally do
this in the footnote and, after marking the case, I just delete the name
— 369 —
Shortcut keys—Creating a table of cases
and leave the case reference.
After marking the case you may also need to change the category
number in the field code. Typically, the field code will end with ‘c 1’.
This is the Cases reference (that is, the first item in the categories list).
If, for example, you chose category 8 for your table, edit the field code
to read c 8. If the same case appears again in the main document just
press ALT + shift + I and then select the case from the short citation list
and mark it.
Inserting the table of cases
Navigate to the front of the document and place your cursor where you
want to insert your table of cases.
Press ALT, S, R, T. This sequence brings up the Table of Authorities
dialog box. Press ALT + G to get to the Categories drop-down list and
arrow down to the applicable category (in our example, 8, which we
changed to Table of Supreme and High court Cases).
Tabbing once will take you to the ‘Use Passim’ checkbox (ALT + P).
If the box is checked Word will insert the word ‘passim’ in place of the
page numbers when the case appears more than four times in the
document. The idea is to make the table less cluttered but in my view
this feature is not very helpful, and you may want to uncheck this box
by pressing the spacebar. Tab again and you will be at the ‘Keep
Original Formatting’ check box (ALT + R). By ticking this box, you will
ensure, for example, that if your case appears in italics in the main
document it will also appear in italics in the table of cases.
Tabbing again takes you to the Tab leader drop-down menu (ALT +
B). The leader is the series of dots that run from the end of each case
name to the page numbers. The standard dots are fine in my view but if
you want no leader, dashes or a straight line just press ALT and downarrow to open the combo box and arrow up or down to your choice.
Tab again and you will be at the Formats combo box (ALT + T). I
recommend you leave the default setting (From Template) but you can
choose from Word’s other formats, namely, Classic, Distinctive, Formal
and Simple. There is a modify button which you can click on if you
need to change the formatting of the table.
When done press OK and your table will be inserted into the
document.
To refresh the table place the cursor in the table and press F9. This
action will ensure that you pick up any new cases you have marked in
the document and ensure that the page numbers in the table are updated.
Should your table heading later mysteriously disappear (something I
have experienced on several occasions) and be replaced with the default
category name or number just follow the procedure for replacing the
default with the heading name of your choice as described at the
beginning of this article, that is ALT + SHIFT + I, ALT + G and so on).
— 370 —
Shortcut keys—Creating a table of cases (II)
Creating a table of cases—II
In 118 tsh 2013, I showed how to insert an alphabetical table of
Supreme Court and High Court cases into a Word document. For a table
of tax court cases, a different approach is required, since, depending on
the case numbers, Word may not list all the cases in strict numerical
order.
For example, if you marked ITC 76, ITC 77, ITC 175, ITC 180,
ITC 1020 and ITC 1025 AS CATEGORY 1 (C 1), they would appear in your
table of cases as follows (only the first part of the case reference is
shown):
ITC 1020
itc 1025
ITC 175
ITC 180
ITC 76
ITC 77
Word first sorts the numbers according to the first numeral to the left. It
then sorts according to the second numeral, and so on—the same
method used for sorting a list in alphabetical order.
One solution to this conundrum is to use different category numbers
in order to arrange the case numbers in sequence. Under this approach
you will not be able to insert the normal table of cases, since you would
end up with three headings in the same table. Instead, you must insert
TOA field codes, each with its own unique category number.
Marking the cases
In order to sort the case numbers in the example into numerical
sequence, you will need three categories, say c 1, c 2 and c 3. ITC 76
and 77 will be in c 1, ITC 175 and 180 in c 2, and ITC 1020 and 1025 in
c 3.
Follow the procedure for marking the cases in the main body of the
document. Highlight the case and press ALT + shift + I. To select the
category number, you can either press the Category button (ALT + G) in
the Mark Citation dialog box or simply edit the field code. For example:
[TA \l “ITC 1025” \s “ITC 1025” \c 2]
In this field code I changed c 1 to c 2.
— 371 —
Shortcut keys—Creating a table of cases (II)
Inserting the table
Type the heading of the table at the appropriate place at the front of the
document, for example: TABLE OF TAX COURT CASES.
Press ENTER to move to the next line. Press ALT, N, Q, F to bring up
the field dialog box. Then navigate to the table of authorities field code
(TOA), using first-letter navigation (that is, type TOA).
If you tab twice you will get to the ‘preserve formatting’ checkbox.
Make sure it is ticked if you want to retain your formatting from the
citation in the main body of the document (press the spacebar to check
or uncheck the box).
Tab twice again and hit OK. A field code will appear in the document.
Since you need three different field codes in this example, repeat the
process twice more, inserting the field codes one below the other.
With your cursor on the first field code press SHIFT + F9 to edit the
field code. After TOA insert \c 1 as shown below:
[TOA \c 1 \* MERGEFORMAT]
For the second field code, repeat the procedure and insert \c 2.
And for the third field code, insert \c 3. Make sure you don’t have
any double spaces in the field codes.
Press SHIFT + F9 to toggle off the field codes. Before publication be
sure to Update each of the field codes by pressing F9.
This is not a very elegant solution but it does work, especially if there
are not too many categories.
— 372 —
Shortcut keys—Comments in MS Word 2010
Comments in MS Word 2010
Word contains a handy reviewing feature enabling you to insert
comments, which appear in balloons in the margin of a document.
Inserting comments
To insert a comment press CTRL + ALT + M or ALT, R, C and type the
comment. To return to the main document press ESC.
Navigating comments
ALT, R, V
ALT, R, N
CTRL + G
(Go To), ALT + O (Go to
what), C (Comment), TAB or ALT + E,
select Reviewer’s name (ALT + DOWN
ARROW to open list, ALT + T (Next)
Move to the previous comment
Move to the next comment
If there is only one reviewer or if you
don’t need to see a particular
reviewer’s comments, you can leave
the default setting (Any reviewers)
unaltered. Once you have found the
first comment press ESC to get rid of
the dialog box and then use CTRL +
PAGE DOWN or CTRL + PAGE UP to
move from one comment to the next
(you can search in both directions
with these key combinations).
Deleting comments
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
R, D, D
R, D, A
R, D, O
Delete a comment
Delete All Comments Shown
Delete All Comments in Document
Changing the user name and initials
To change the user name and initials that appear next to each comment
press ALT, R, G, U, followed by ALT + U (username) and ALT + I
(initials). This takes you to the user name and initials fields in the
General tab of Word Options. Enter your name and initials in the
respective boxes. Press SHIFT + TAB eight times from the initials box to
get to the OK button and hit ENTER.
— 373 —
— 374 —
Shortcut keys—Paste special
Paste special
Most users know how to copy (CTRL + C) and paste (CTRL + V) text
within or between Word documents and other applications. But fewer
users are aware of the Paste Special command.
In 111 TSH 2012, mentioned that the Paste Special command could be
used to ensure that you do not import foreign styles into your document.
It is also useful when copying and pasting from web pages, since it
prevents the importation of numerous hyperlinks, which can cause your
computer to hang. Nor would you want to import broken hyperlinks into
material that you wish to quote or keywords that have been highlighted
in red after a search in a well-known publisher’s website.
I recently discovered that Word 2007 and 2010 contain a new Paste
Special shortcut key, namely, CTRL + ALT + V. The good news is that
this key also works in other MS Office programs such as Excel, Outlook
and PowerPoint.
As an alternative in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, you can still use
the ALT sequence keys ALT, E, S, U, ENTER or ALT, H, V, S, U, ENTER to
paste as unformatted Unicode text. However, these sequences do not
work in Outlook, which has its own key sequence: ALT, O, V, S, U,
ENTER. That’s quite a long sequence but one advantage is that you can
keep your hands on the keyboard, compared with CTRL + ALT + V,
which is a tad awkward, necessitating the use of both hands at once.
To ensure that you do not import foreign styles into your Word
document, I suggest that you always select unformatted Unicode text
from the list of alternatives in the Paste Special dialog box.
Occasionally, however, you may want to select another alternative. For
example, if you copy from Excel, you will be given the option to paste a
Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object, which will import the worksheet
into Word.
In Excel the Paste Special command is particularly useful if you want
to copy a formula and paste it as a value. To achieve this outcome, you
can use ALT, E, S, V, ENTER or CTRL + ALT + V followed by V and
ENTER.
And finally, if you forget to use the Paste Special command you can
always remove the formatting from the pasted text by highlighting it and
pressing CTRL + shift + N.
— 375 —
— 376 —
Shortcut keys—Battling with bullets
Battling with bullets
Bullet basics
To insert a bullet press CTRL + shift + L. Pressing ENTER at the end of
each bulleted paragraph will create another bullet. To get rid of the last
trailing bullet, use CTRL + shift + N (remove formatting).
For more advanced customized bulleted lists, you will need to create
bullet styles (see Working with Styles I and II in 110 TSH 2012 and 111
TSH 2012).
Bullets and styles
Recently, the bullet styles in one of my documents became infected with
the Heading 1 style, which resulted in the appearance of the bullets in
the table of contents.
I tried removing the formatting from an infected bullet, copying the
formatting from the template (CTRL + SHIFT + C) and pasting it over the
unformatted text (CTRL + SHIFT + V). The text aligned properly but no
bullet was inserted.
I inserted the bullet (ALT, H, U, right-arrowed to a filled round bullet,
ENTER). I then right-clicked on the text of the newly formatted bullet
paragraph (the right-click key is next to the right-hand side CTRL key),
arrowed down to Styles, and selected ‘Update [style name] to match
selection’, but, as soon as I moved off the bullet and back again, it was
reinfected.
Eventually I went to the Styles task pane (ALT, O, S), arrowed down
to the bullet style, right-clicked on it and selected ‘Clear formatting of x
instances’. I then returned to the styles task pane (ALT, O, S) and deleted
the problematic bullet style as well as a number of foreign styles which
had crept into the document, making sure that they were not being used,
or if they were, selecting the text in question, removing the formatting
and applying the correct formatting style.
I then went back to my template and copied the styles back onto the
unformatted bulleted text, and this time the bullets retained their
formatting and did not become infected with the Heading 1 style.
In my experience bullet styles in Word are notoriously unstable. I
often find that they lose their spacing, both between the margin and the
bullet and between the bullet and the text. I usually resolve this problem
by correcting the spacing manually. Once the bulleted text is properly
formatted, I update the style in question by right-clicking on it in the
manner described above.
To modify the spacing, press ALT, O, P to bring up the Paragraph
dialog box, insert the left spacing (ALT + L), if applicable, tab to the
Special combo box, and select Hanging, tab again, and insert the
— 377 —
Shortcut keys—Battling with bullets
measurement in the ‘by’ box (the default of 0,63 cm seems to work
well), ENTER. Then tab down further and enter the above or below
spacing (most users seem to use 6 pt below and 0 pt above), make sure
that the ‘Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style’
checkbox is unchecked and enter.
Avoid automatic updating
Have you ever changed a single bulleted paragraph to bold and then had
all the other bulleted paragraphs turn bold too? This problem occurs
when the particular bullet style has been set to automatically update.
I recommend always turning off automatic updating when creating
styles by pressing ALT, O, S, arrowing down to the style you wish to
modify, right-clicking on it and selecting Modify. Then, in the Modify
Styles dialog box, press SHIFT + TAB until you reach the Automatically
Update check box and uncheck it by pressing the spacebar. Then tab
back to OK and enter.
Styles disappearing from the right-click menu
I have also noticed that I am unable to update the bullet style of the last
bullet in a list if the cursor is at the beginning of the sentence. When I
right-click on the paragraph the Styles option does not appear on the
menu. To solve this problem, make sure that the cursor is in the middle
of the paragraph.
Bullets and borders
Using indented bullets within a border will cause the border to break up.
For example, if you use a left-paragraph indent of 1,27 cm for nonbulleted text and your bullet style uses 1,9 cm, the border will align at
1,9 cm around the bullets.
The only solution I have come up with is to use a bullet symbol
combined with tab spacing (press ALT, O, T to bring up the tabs dialog
box). To find a bullet symbol that exactly matches the bullets in my
document, I usually copy a line of bulleted text (CTRL + C) and paste it
using Paste Special (CTRL+ ALT + V, select unformatted Unicode text,
enter). I then delete the unwanted text and just cut (CTRL + X) and paste
(CTRL + V) the bullet symbol into the desired location. If I need more
bullet symbols I just copy and paste them.
In conclusion, bullet styles in Word can be problematic. The best
advice I can offer is to turn off automatic updating, avoid importing
foreign styles into your document and stick to the styles created on your
template.
— 378 —
Shortcut keys—Creating persona; folder files in Outlook
Creating personal folder files in Outlook
Many businesses impose size restrictions on the amount of e-mail that
employees can store on the corporate server. As a result, you are
frequently plagued with e-mail messages pronouncing that ‘Your mail
box is almost full’.
It then becomes necessary either to delete unwanted e-mail or to
transfer your e-mail to a personal folder file located on your C drive.
Here, I explain how to create a personal folder file together with
subfolders on your C drive, and how to move your excess e-mail to it.
In Outlook 2010, press ALT, F, I, S, A, followed by CTRL + TAB. This
sequence will take you to the Data Files tab of Account Settings. Press
ALT + A (or just tab twice and hit ENTER on the Add button).
The cursor will be in a block in which you must enter the name of
your .pst file. It might already contain a name such as My Outlook Data
File.pst, which you could use, or you could give it a name of your
choice. If you choose a new name, don’t forget to end it with ‘.pst’.
Once done, press ENTER, and your personal folder file will have been
created. Press ESC or tab to the Close button to get rid of the Data Files
dialog box. The personal folder file will be on the list of personal folders
on the left-hand side of Outlook.
Creating subfolders
The next step is to create some subfolders into which you can transfer
your inbox and sent items.
Navigate to the personal folder file by pressing Shift + F6, and arrow
down to it or use first-letter navigation. With your cursor on the folder,
press the application key (next to the right-hand side CTRL key) and
arrow down to New folder or just press N. Your cursor will be in the file
name block. Type the subfolder name, eg—Inbox 2013 and hit ENTER.
Follow the same procedure to create a Sent Items 2013 folder (or
whatever you want to call it). Some people like to create folders for
specific topics or contacts.
Moving your email to the personal folder file
To move the contents of, say, your inbox to Inbox 2013, highlight the email messages you want to move by holding down the SHIFT key and
Down arrow. Or just press CTRL + A to highlight the entire contents of
the folder.
Next, press the application key, arrow down to Move, right-arrow,
and then down-arrow to the Inbox 2013 folder and hit ENTER.
If it’s not displayed, select Other folder and hit enter. This sequence
will display a full list of your Outlook folders. Arrow down to the target
folder or use first-letter navigation. To expand a folder in order to
— 379 —
Shortcut keys—Creating persona; folder files in Outlook
display its subfolders, just right-arrow on the folder.
Hit enter on the subfolder, and your emails will be moved to the
personal folder file.
Tip
To access a particular Outlook folder, press CTRL + Y for a full list of
folders. Down-arrow or use first-letter navigation to navigate to your
desired folder and hit ENTER.
Warning
Now that you have moved your e-mails on to your computer’s hard
drive your files will be at risk should your hard drive crash. On how to
back them up, see 115 TSH 2012 ‘Backing up Outlook files’.
— 380 —
Shortcut keys—Disabling protected view
Disabling protected view
Office 2010 contains a security feature called Protected View, which
opens documents downloaded via e-mail or the Internet in read-only
mode. This mode prevents macros from opening and installing malware
in your Office programs.
Microsoft does not recommend disabling this feature but I just find it
an irritation. Here I describe how to disable it. If you are paranoid about
security or one of those gullible types who can’t wait to click on that
attachment providing details of your tax refund or £100 million UK
Lottery winnings, then read no further. You need Protected View and a
lot more.
To disable it, ALT, T, O to bring up Word Options. Press T for Trust
Centre, TAB once, ALT + T to activate Trust Center Settings, press P
twice to get to Protected View and then TAB through the check boxes
and deactivate those that you do not want by pressing the spacebar. TAB
to OK and hit ENTER. The choices are:
MS
Enable Protected View for files originating from the Internet.
Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations.
Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments.
Enable Data Execution Prevention mode.
I have kept the unsafe locations and Data Execution Mode check boxes
ticked, and have disabled the other two.
These instructions also work with MS Excel and PowerPoint.
— 381 —
— 382 —
Shortcut keys—Importing styles into a Word document
Importing styles into a Word document
Here I explain how to import styles from a template into a document
using MS Word 2010. This is a handy feature for updating older
documents that may not have been compiled using styles or which may
have been based on outdated styles. It might also assist when the styles
in a document have become corrupted, by replacing them with clean
styles. Be aware that this procedure might well require quite a bit of
formatting after the styles have been imported.
Before the import procedure can begin it is necessary to show the
Developer tab on the Ribbon and to place your template in the templates
folder (assuming it is not already there).
Adding the Developer tab to the Ribbon
Press ALT, T, O to bring up Word options, press C for Customize Ribbon
and press TAB. The cursor should be in the ‘Choose commands from:’
combo box. Press ALT + DOWN ARROW to expand it, press M until you
reach Main Tabs, and hit ENTER. Tab again and down arrow to
Developer. Then tab to the Add button and activate it by pressing
SPACEBAR or ALT + A. Then tab to OK and hit ENTER. The Developer tab
should now appear on the Ribbon. If you later want to remove it, just
follow the same procedure and select the Remove button instead of the
Add button.
Placing your template in the Templates folder
The Templates folder is buried in the recesses of your PC and can be
found here:
In XP: C:\Documents and settings\user name\Application data\Microsoft\Templates
In Vista: C:\Users\user name\App Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates
In Windows 7: Windows (C)\Documents
Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates
and
settings\User
name\App-
It seems that the exact location varies depending on the installation. For
example, one article I read indicated that the path for Windows 7 was
the same as for Vista, and this indication coincided with a colleague’s
experience but not with mine.
As an alternative, you can quickly find the folder by pressing WIN +
R to bring up the run command and then type
%appdata%\Microsoft\Templates and hit ENTER.
If your template is not in the templates folder copy and paste it into
the folder.
— 383 —
Shortcut keys—Importing styles into a Word document
Importing the styles
Press ALT, Y, 1 (numpad), U. This sequence will bring up the
Templates/Add-ins dialog box. You should be in the Templates tab of
that dialog box.
Tab to the Organizer button and press SPACEBAR or press ALT + O.
This action will bring up the Organizer dialog box, and you should be
on the Styles tab within that box.
The dialog box has a left and a right section. On the left-hand side
you will find the currently open document and its styles into which you
will be importing your styles. On the right hand side you will find the
Normal.dotm template.
Before you can proceed you must replace the Normal.dotm template
with your chosen template. Press SHIFT + TAB twice and hit the spacebar
on Close File (or press ALT + E). This sequence will close the
Normal.dotm template.
Then press SHIFT + TAB thrice to get to the Open file button and press
SPACEBAR (or ALT + E). In the Open file dialog box press SHIFT + TAB
twice to get into the file list and arrow down on to the template from
which you wish to import the styles. Then tab to the Open button and
press SPACEBAR (or ALT + O).
Next you must copy the styles listed in your template. Press SHIFT +
TAB twice to get to the list of styles in your template. While holding
down the shift key, down arrow until you have selected the entire list.
Alternatively, if you want to import only selected styles, keep the CTRL
key depressed and press the space bar on the styles you want to select
while arrowing down the list.
Then press the Copy button (ALT + C) to copy the styles across from
your template to your open document. You will then be asked whether
you wish to overwrite the existing styles in the document. Depending on
the number of styles, you may receive several requests; answer ‘Yes’ to
those you want to overwrite.
After that you can close the dialog box with ALT + F4. The styles in
your template should now have been transferred to your document. To
check whether the styles are there press CTRL + SHIFT + S and arrow
down the list of styles.
— 384 —
Shortcut keys—Online transaction services
Online translation services
Being a user of screen-reading software, I have found great difficulty in
understanding Afrikaans text in case reports, since the pronunciation is,
at least to my ear, unintelligible. Even if they can understand the
language, I am sure that many would find it much quicker to read or
search the case reports in their home language.
Fortunately, most of the law reports have an English summary but
sometimes you would like to read the full text of the case. The problem
is compounded with court reports in non-South African languages. I
recall last year trying to understand a case written in Dutch, for which
there was no English translation available, and could not make head or
tail of it.
The good news is that you can translate text online in an instant, free
of charge, and you need look no further than Google.
If it’s a short phrase or word that you want to translate, just type
‘translate x to y “text to be translated” ‘ in the Google search box and hit
enter. For example:
Translate English to German “where is the bus parking lot?”
The answer will appear in the search results:
1. wo ist der Busparkplatz?
To translate an entire court case to English, you will need to go to one of
the online translation services. There are several available, among them
Google Translate(http://translate.google.com/), which by all accounts is
one of the better ones.
The results will not be perfect, with sentences often being back to
front and with the odd word missing or mistranslated, but you can
certainly get the substance of the translation and fine tune it later
yourself or with assistance. Here is an example of a well-known
Afrikaans sentence taken from Elandsheuwel Farming (Edms) Bpk v SBI
and the Google Translate translation:
Wat dit betref, moet egter onthou word dat die doen en late van ’n regspersoon deur
lewende wesens beheer word, en dat hulle die brein en tien vingers daarvan is.
In this regard, it must be remembered that the affairs of a body corporate controlled
by living beings, and their brains and ten fingers.
This is not a bad translation, and, with a few tweaks, could be corrected.
For example, a regspersoon is better translated as a legal persona or
— 385 —
Shortcut keys—Online transaction services
juristic person. The point is that it is certainly understandable.
Upon opening Google Translate, you will find that the cursor will
already be in the block into which you must paste the text requiring
translation. The program automatically detects the language and
translates it. From there you just arrow down eight times to the
translated text, which you can copy and paste into a Word document or
other application if you so choose.
— 386 —
Shortcut keys—Bookmarks
Bookmarks
Bookmarks serve a dual purpose.
First, they can be used as a navigation aid quickly to find a place in a
document. For example, assume you are reviewing a large document
and would like to resume your review later. You can insert a bookmark
at your last location and, upon reopening the document, quickly
navigate to that place and continue from there.
Alternatively, you could simply insert something like ‘xxx’ and then
use CTRL + F to find it but the danger is that you may forget to delete it
before publishing. By contrast, bookmarks have the advantage that they
are not normally visible, so it will not make any difference if you forget
to remove them.
Secondly, you can insert a bookmark at a specific location in the
document in order to hyperlink to it from elsewhere in the document.
While you can hyperlink to headings in a document to which you have
applied heading styles, that method of hyperlinking will take you to a
heading only, while hyperlinking to a bookmark facilitates more precise
cross-referencing. For example, using a bookmark, you could hyperlink
to specific text in a paragraph, a diagram or a table.
To open the Bookmark dialog box, use one of the following shortcut
keys:
ALT,
I, K
(Word 2003, 2007 and 2010)
ALT,
N, K
(Word 2007 and 2010)
CTRL
+ shift + F5
The Bookmark dialog box contains three buttons: Add, Delete and Go
To. The buttons will be grayed out until you have added your first
bookmark.
To insert a bookmark, place your cursor at the desired location or
highlight the text that you want to bookmark. After opening the
bookmark dialog box, give your bookmark a name.
The name may contain numbers or letters but it must begin with a
letter, and no spaces are allowed. Use an underscore to separate words.
If you breach these rules Word will keep the Add button grayed out until
you have complied.
After inserting the name, tab once to the Add button and hit ENTER or
press ALT + A.
To delete a bookmark, bring up the Bookmark dialog box, select the
bookmark name by using the up or down arrow keys, tab twice to the
delete button and hit ENTER or press ALT + D.
— 387 —
Shortcut keys—Bookmarks
To go to a bookmark, bring up the Bookmark dialog box, select the
bookmark name by pressing the up or down arrow keys, tab thrice to the
Go To button and hit ENTER or press ALT + G.
You can also navigate to a bookmark by using the Go To command
(CTRL + G). After the Go To dialog box opens, press SHIFT + TAB, press
B to get to Bookmark, and tab once to the box containing the bookmark
names. Use your up or down arrow to navigate to the desired bookmark,
tab and press ENTER.
After finding the first bookmark, you can navigate to other
bookmarks by pressing ESC and then CTRL + PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN.
Hyperlinking
Let’s say you have Table 1 on page 50 and you want to refer to it on
page 160.
First, add a bookmark to the table on page 50 called Table_1 (or any
other name of your choice) by following the add bookmark procedure
already described.
On page 160 highlight the text you want to hyperlink, for example, if
you have written ‘See Table 1’, highlight ‘Table 1’ and press CTRL + K
to open the Hyperlink dialog box.
Then press ALT + O to click on the Bookmark button, followed by
SHIFT + TAB twice to get into the list of headings and bookmarks. Arrow
down to the bookmark name Table_1 and hit ENTER, then tab thrice to
the OK button and hit ENTER.
Now if you click on the ‘Table 1’ hyperlink, it should take you to the
table on page 50.
— 388 —
Shortcut keys—Captions
Captions
If you work with large documents involving sequentially numbered
objects, such as equations, figures and tables, you may find MS Word’s
Captions feature useful.
A caption is a sequentially numbered heading, which can be placed
above or below the target object. It consists of a ‘label’ and a number.
For example, ‘Table 1’ is a caption comprised of the label ‘Table’ and
the number ‘1’.
There are three types of default captions, namely, equations, figures
and tables. Here I illustrate the use of captions for tables.
To bring up the Captions dialog box, use one of the following
shortcut sequences:
ALT,
ALT,
I, N, C
S, P
Word 2003, 2007 & 2010
Word 2007 & 2010
Say that you will be inserting numerous tables in your document and
wish to number them sequentially. Insert the first table (ALT, A, I, T).
Next, place your cursor anywhere in the table and open the Captions
dialog box, using the shortcut sequence just described. Table 1 will
appear in the Caption box. You can add to the text in this box, for
example, by typing ‘—Prescribed rates of interest’.
Tab once (or ALT + L) and the Label combo box should state ‘Table’.
The other options in the dropdown list are Equation (E) and Figure (F).
Tab again and you will be at the position combo box. There are two
options: ‘above selected item’ and ‘below selected item’. Since table
headings are usually inserted above a table, ensure that you select this
option.
Tab again and you will find a checkbox entitled ‘Exclude label from
caption’. If you check this box by pressing the spacebar or ALT + E the
caption will simply show the table number followed by the additional
text you inserted after it.
Since you want ‘Table 1—Prescribed rates of interest’ above your
table and not ‘1—Prescribed rates of interest’, leave the checkbox
unchecked.
Three buttons follow: New Label (ALT + N), Numbering (ALT + U)
and Auto Caption (ALT + A).
The New Label button is used if you want to create a label other than
equations, figures or tables. For example, this facility could be used to
create an ‘Example’ label, which you could use to serve as part of the
heading in sequentially numbered examples such as Example 1,
Example 2 and so on.
The numbering button can be used to select a different style of table
— 389 —
Shortcut keys—Captions
numbering, such as Roman numerals or alphabetical letters.
Finally, the Auto Caption button can be used automatically to insert
the labels every time you insert a new table. There is a long list of
objects to which you can apply this feature but the one applicable in the
present context would be Microsoft Word Table.
Check that checkbox by pressing the spacebar if you want to activate
auto insertion of the caption every time you create a new table. Do not
select this feature if you plan to have some tables in your document
without numbered headings. The long list of objects can be navigated by
using first-letter navigation.
— 390 —
Shortcut keys—Cross-references
Cross-references
For those seeking a more advanced method of cross-referencing within
large documents, Word contains a cross-referencing feature.
Unlike hyperlinking to heading styles or bookmarks, the links created
by the cross-referencing feature are dynamic and can be updated to
reflect changes in the document.
For example, assume you have auto-numbering turned on so that
your headings are auto-numbered (see 113 TSH 2012 to enable or disable
auto-numbering), and that you have a cross-reference to one of those
headings (‘see 5’). Now say that you had to insert another heading
before 5, so that what was 5 becomes 6, and so on. After you have
updated the field codes in the document your reference will now read
‘see 6’. If this were a normal hyperlink, you’d have had to delete the ‘5’,
manually type ‘6’ in its place and then hyperlink the ‘6’.
The cross-referencing feature enables you to cross-reference to a
number of things, such as headings, tables and footnotes, to name but a
few.
With equations, figures and tables, Word uses ‘captions’ to indicate
the target of the cross-reference. These captions are also dynamic, and
will renumber themselves when their field codes are updated (see 128
TSH 2013 for more on captions).
To bring up the Cross-references dialog box, use one of the following
ALT sequence keys:
ALT,
ALT,
I, N, R
S, R, F
Word 2003, 2007 & 2010
Word 2007 & 2010
After opening the cross-references dialog box you will need to tab
through the various items and make the appropriate selections.
The Reference Types combo box (ALT + T) lists the various things
that you can cross-reference to, namely:








Numbered item.
Heading.
Bookmark.
Footnote.
Endnote.
Equation.
Figure.
Table.
For numbered lists and headings, ensure that auto-numbering is turned
on. For headings, make sure that you have applied Heading Styles and
— 391 —
Shortcut keys—Cross-references
that auto-numbering is part of the Heading Style. For equations, figures
and tables, you will need to have used captions.
The next combo box is ‘insert reference to’ (ALT + R). The items that
appear here will depend on what you have chosen to cross-reference to
in the first combo box. For example, if you chose Heading, you will be
given these choices:






Heading text.
Page number.
Heading number.
Heading number (no context).
Heading number (full context).
Above/below.
A selection of ‘Heading text’ will insert only the text of the heading
without its number. The terms ‘no context’ and ‘full context’ apply when
Word’s advanced outline level numbering has been used. For example,
you may have numbered your headings 1, a), (i). If you select, say, (iii)
within 2 b), your using ‘full context’ would display 2 b) (iii), but, if you
select ‘no context’, only (iii) will appear. A selection of ‘Above/below’
will insert either of those words instead of the number or text.
Next there are two check boxes:
 Insert as hyperlink (ALT + H).
 Include above/below (ALT +N).
Make sure that the ‘Insert as hyperlink’ check box is ticked (use the
spacebar to check or uncheck it). It is usually unnecessary to insert the
word ‘above’ or ‘below’ after the cross-reference, so I would leave that
one unchecked. In the ‘For which heading’ combo box, select the
heading that you wish to cross-refer to.
Finally, press Insert.
To update the cross-references, place the cursor before the crossreference and press F9. You can update all field codes in a document by
first pressing CTRL + A followed by F9.
— 392 —
Shortcut keys—Sending large files
Sending large files
MS Outlook is fine for sending small files by e-mail but once your filesize starts to go beyond 4 MB it is time to look for another solution.
Apart from not wanting to overload their recipients’ inboxes, many
firms do not allow large files to be sent or received via their servers.
The solution is to use one of the online file-transfer services. These
may also be used for off-site storage or, to use the current buzzword,
cloud storage.
One of the problems with uploading large files is the data-transfer
speed, which is typically half that of the download speed. The good
news is that Telkom announced last year that its fixed-line ADSL
customers would have their lines upgraded. During November and
December 2013 customers on a 2 Mbps line were upgraded to 4 Mbps,
and 4 Mbps customers were upgraded to 10 Mbps. The process of
upgrading the rats and mice like myself from 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps is
expected to be completed before the end of February 2014.
Most of the file-transfer services allow data to be transferred or
stored free of charge up to a specified limit, beyond which you will need
to pay.
One of the most popular file-transfer services is sendspace
(www.sendspace.com). The company’s webpage is simple to use,
accessible and permits free users to upload a maximum of 300 MB at a
time.
After loading the webpage, tab until you reach the Browse button and
hit ENTER. Then press SHIFT + TAB twice to enter the file/folder area and
use first-letter navigation to drill down to the file of your choice. Then
hit ENTER. To send a folder, first zip it and, if it contains sensitive
material, use a long password.
To load more files just hit Browse again and select the file. You can
then add a description of the file in the block provided if you so choose.
Tab to the To and From blocks and fill in the relevant e-mail
addresses. I usually just complete my own e-mail address in both
blocks. Next click on the Upload button and the upload will begin. The
webpage will indicate when the upload is complete, and you will
receive an e-mail message from sendspace containing the download
link.
If you entered your own e-mail address in the To block, just forward
the e-mail to your intended recipient; otherwise there’s nothing more to
do.
You can delete the files after uploading them by following the link
sent to you as the uploader—a useful security feature.
One of the problems I have experienced with large uploads of the
300 MB variety is that the upload might be interrupted, and you will then
— 393 —
Shortcut keys—Sending large files
have to begin again from scratch. I have also had uploads stop on 99%
and refuse to finish.
The free service does not support the resumption of a file upload but I
understand that the paid service, which entitles the user to use a
sendspace wizard, will resume your upload if it is interrupted. You can
minimize this problem by sending files in smaller batches.
The current upload speed varies depending on the time of day but a
1 Mbps user may expect a maximum upload speed of around 50 KB/s.
Other services you can try include Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com)
(size limit = 2 Gb), Google Drive (https://drive.google.com) (size limit =
15 Gb) and Microsoft SkyDrive (https://skydrive.live.com) (size limit =
7 Gb).
— 394 —
Shortcut keys—Downloading large files
Downloading large files
If you have ever had to download a really large file, it is likely that your
download will have been interrupted before you completed it. It might
have taken several attempts before you were able to download the file or
you may have just given up.
In order to overcome the problem of broken downloads you need a
download manager that will resume your download after the connection
has been broken. One such program which has served me well is Free
Download Manager (FDM), which you can download from this site:
http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/
To begin a download with FDM, hit ENTER on the download link. A
dialog box will pop up asking you to confirm the download. Press
ENTER to select OK and the download will begin. Another dialog box
will pop up and indicate the size and speed of the download. If clicking
on the download link does not work, you can try right-clicking on the
link and selecting Save Target As or one of the other ‘download with’
FDM menu items.
The downloaded files will be placed in a Downloads folder, and
within that folder there will be subfolders such as software and music.
If you have to turn off the computer and the file download does not
resume automatically, just click on Free Download Manager on the
desktop. A dialog box will open which contains a list of all downloads.
Scroll down to the one you wish to restart and right-click on it with the
application key (on the immediate left of the right-hand CTRL key) and
select Restart Download. You can also review the percentage
completion of your downloads to ensure that they are all 100%
complete.
FDM has three options for downloading: Automatic, Manual and
Schedule. Select from these options by clicking on the appropriate radio
button on the dialog box that opens after clicking on the download link.
For most users, Automatic will be the simplest option.
With the Schedule option, you can select a time for your download to
begin. This is handy if you want to download files sequentially rather
than simultaneously. In my experience FDM usually does not download
more than two files at a time but this may just be a consequence of my
relatively slow line-speed.
With the Automatic option as soon as one file has finished
downloading the next one will begin automatically.
— 395 —
— 396 —
Shortcut keys—Excel shortcuts for Word users
Excel shortcuts for Word users
Being mostly an MS Word user, I tend not to use MS Excel too often.
Nevertheless, I thought it would be useful to share some Excel keyboard
shortcuts I have picked up over the years and in researching this article.
Many of the frequently used shortcuts that work in Word also work in
Excel, such as CTRL + C (copy), CTRL + X (cut), CTRL + V (paste), CTRL
+ B (bold), CTRL + I (italic), CTRL + N (open new workbook), CTRL + O
(open), CTRL + P (print), CTRL + S (save), CTRL + Y (repeat last action)
and CTRL + Z (undo last action).
Don’t forget the application key (to the left-hand side of the righthand CTRL key)—it contains a number of useful functions.
SHORTCUT KEY
ALT+ =
ALT,
H, 0
ALT,
H, 9
CTRL +
1 (keyboard)
F2
Shift + F2
CTRL + ;
CTRL + Shift + :
CTRL + ` (grave accent
on extreme left of the
row of numbers on the
keyboard)
CTRL + ALT + V, V,
ENTER
ALT + ENTER
CTRL +Page
Page Down
CTRL + D
CTRL + R
CTRL + ‘
ALT, E, I, S
Up or
DESCRIPTION
Highlight a column or row of figures including the
last empty cell and press the shortcut to obtain the
total.
Each time you press this key sequence you will
increase the number of decimal places by one.
Each time you press this key sequence you will
decrease the number of decimal places by one.
This activates the format cells dialog box.
Edit a cell.
Add a comment to a cell.
Insert current date.
Insert current time.
Toggles the display of all formulae on the worksheet.
Paste special, values. Use this if you want to copy and
paste a formula as a value.
Insert a new line within a cell.
Move from one sheet to the next
To repeat the contents of a cell over several cells
downwards, start in the cell you want to replicate,
highlight the cells using shift + down arrow and then
press CTRL + D.
To repeat the contents of a cell over several cells
sideways, start in the cell you want to replicate,
highlight the cells using shift + right arrow and then
press CTRL + R.
Copy formula or value from above cell.
Use this sequence to create a series of numbers. For
example, if you want column headings to read 1 to 10,
— 397 —
Shortcut keys—Excel shortcuts for Word users
CTRL + + (NUMPAD)
put 1 in the first cell, highlight the row, press the
sequence, enter 10 in the dialog box as the stop value
and hit enter. To create a column or row of months
type the starting month in the first cell, highlight the
row or column you want to fill, press the key
sequence, ALT + F (autofill), enter.
Move cells after first highlighting the ones you want
to move.
— 398 —
Shortcut keys—Macros
Macros
A macro is a program you can create to automate procedures, such as
inserting formatted text into a document, applying formatting or
opening a document. You can launch a macro by using:
The macro dialog box.
 A button on the toolbar.
 A keyboard shortcut.
Creating a macro
1. Press ALT, W, M to get to the macros group on the View tab on the
Ribbon. At this stage you can arrow down three options, namely:
 View macro (ALT, W, M, V).
 Record macro (ALT, W, M, R).
 Pause macro (ALT, W, M, P).
The Pause macro option will not be available at this stage, since you
have not yet commenced recording.
2. Select Record macro and ENTER. A Record macro dialog box will
appear. It contains a macro name box (ALT + M). The default name in
the box will be Macro1 but you can replace it with a name of your
choice, for example, Address1. No spaces are permitted in macro names
but you can capitalize the first letter of each word in a multiple word
name if you so choose.
If you tab around the dialog box, you will find a Toolbars button and
a Keyboard button. Clicking on these buttons will assign your macro to
a button on the ribbon or a shortcut key respectively.
There is also a Store Macro in: combo box. Pressing ALT and down
arrow will expand it, and you can then choose whether to apply your
macro to all documents (Normal.dotm) or only the currently open
document.
Next, there is a description text box in which you can describe your
macro.
At this point tab until you reach the OK button and hit ENTER.
3. Begin recording your macro in your document.
Everything you type or format will be recorded. You can insert text,
graphics, tables and apply formatting; in fact almost anything you can
do in Word with a keystroke can be recorded.
In my example, I would type the address and right-align it. When you
are done press ALT, W, M, R to stop recording (this option has appeared
— 399 —
since recording began). You can also pause recording (ALT, W, M, P) if
you want to test the macro or look up some information to insert. Once
you are ready to resume press ALT, W, M and arrow down to Resume
Recorder.
4. To test your macro, open up a new document and activate the macro,
using either ALT + F8 or ALT, W, M, V to bring up the macro dialog box.
Arrow down the list of macros to the one of your choice and hit ENTER
(this activates the Run button which is highlighted by default).
Deleting a macro
To delete a macro press ALT + F8 (or ALT, W, M, V), select the macro
you want to delete by arrowing down the list until you reach it, and then
tab to the delete button (ALT + D). A dialog box will appear asking you
to confirm that you want to delete the macro (Do you want to delete
macro Address1?). Select Yes if you want to delete it, and hit ENTER.
Assigning a shortcut key to a macro
To assign a shortcut key to a macro press the keyboard button in step 2
above either by hitting ENTER or by pressing the spacebar. This action
will bring up the Customize keyboard dialog box.
The cursor will be in the Specify keyboard sequence box. Select an
unassigned shortcut key, such as ALT + shift + M, and tab twice to the
Assign button and hit ENTER or press ALT + A when on the button. Then
press ESC to get rid of the dialog box and finish recording your macro.
The next time you want to run your macro in a document just press
the keyboard shortcut.
A word of caution: This dialog box is not very user friendly for
keyboard users. Do not use the up or down arrow keys to navigate after
typing your shortcut key, otherwise that action will be recorded as part
of the key sequence. Do not even try to arrow left while in the key
sequence block, since that action will also be taken as part of the
sequence. Also tab onto the Assign button before pressing ALT + A. I
tried using it while in the key sequence block and it just inserted the
letter ‘A’ as part of the sequence.
How not to create a macro (unless you are a programmer)
It is also possible to record a macro by clicking on the Developer tab
and then selecting the macro button (ALT, Y, 1, P, M), assuming you
have first installed the Developer tab via Word options (ALT, T, O, C,
TAB and so on). Several articles recommended this method but the
authors obviously just followed each other like a bunch of masochistic
sheep. After all, why go to all that trouble when the macro button is
already on the View tab?
I also initially battled to find out how to record a macro, thinking I
could create one by using the shortcut ALT + F8. Pressing on the Create
— 400 —
button in that dialog box will simply take you into the world of Visual
Basic programming, which is outside the knowledge of the average
Word user.
— 401 —
— 402 —
Shortcut keys—Creating fillable forms
Creating fillable forms
Word 2010
To create a fillable form you must first activate the Developer tab on the
ribbon. For instructions on how to add the Developer tab see ‘Importing
Styles into a Word Document’ 125 TSH 2013.
Begin creating the form by typing the descriptions of the fields that
must be completed, for example, ‘Surname:’.
Then leave a space or two and insert the form field.
You have two choices, plain text or rich text. Press ALT, Y, 1, E for
the Plain text content control button or ALT, Y, 1, Q for the Rich Text
control button.
Once you have entered all the text and related form fields press ALT,
Y, 1, P, E to bring up the Restrict Editing and Formatting pane. Arrow
down to the ‘Allow only this type of editing’ check box and check it by
pressing the spacebar. A combo box will appear, open it by pressing ALT
and down arrow. Then arrow down and select the ‘Filling in forms’
option. Tab to the ‘Yes begin enforcing protection’ button and hit
ENTER. Then enter new password (optional) [ALT + E], tab and re-enter
new password to confirm [ALT + P], tab and hit ENTER on OK.
Now the user of your form will have access only to the form fields.
Save the form as a template (ALT, F, A, enter the file name, tab once,
ALT + down arrow, select Word Template (.dotx), Shift + TAB three
times to get into the folder/file area, backspace up the folder tree and
then drill down using first-letter navigation to the folder of your choice
in which you wish to save the template, tab nine times to the save button
and hit enter, and you are done.
Adobe Acrobat X Pro
I recently had to complete an insurance claim form, and was
disappointed to receive two unfillable PDF forms from the broker. Why,
in this 21st century, organizations are still sending out unfillable forms is
beyond me.
For sighted users with bad handwriting, mistakes are likely to be
made when capturing the form, and, for blind users, the forms are
inaccessible.
I had heard of Adobe’s form-creation feature, and was amazed at how
easy it was to convert an unfillable form into a fillable one.
Here is the procedure for Adobe Acrobat X Pro: ALT, F, R, O (File,
Create, PDF Form).
This sequence brings up the Create or Edit Form dialog box. You then
have two choices: Use the current document or browse to a file, or Scan
a paper form. Arrow up or down onto the radio button of your choice.
I shall assume that you want to use an existing unfillable PDF file. Tab
— 403 —
Shortcut keys—Creating fillable forms
to next (ALT + N) and hit ENTER.
Next, locate the file to convert by pressing on the Browse button (ALT
+ B). Then shift + TAB twice to get into the folder/file area and follow
the backspace and first-letter navigation procedure described above to
find the unfillable PDF file you want to convert. Enter on the file and tab
to Next and hit ENTER.
A Form Editing dialog box appears, which states that ‘[y]ou are in
Form Editing Mode. To access more Acrobat tools choose ‘Close Form
Editing’ in the right-hand pane. Acrobat searches through
‘[filename].pdf’ and automatically detects the form fields.
Press OK, and you are done, apart from saving the file.
According to what I have read, Acrobat automatically detects the
form fields by looking for lines or blocks.
You may have to resort to editing the form further but most of the
time the program will produce a fully fillable form with the form fields
in the right place.
— 404 —
Shortcut keys—Creating accessible tables in Word 2010
Creating accessible tables in Word 2010
Placing information in tables can make life particularly difficult for
blind users who rely on screen-reading software such as Jaws (Job
Access with Speech). Yet, tables can be made accessible by following
the simple guidelines discussed here.
Creating the table
Keep the table simple and follow these rules:




Do not merge cells or split cells.
Do not use the table drawing tool.
Do not use a table to control page layout.
Do not control spacing in the table by inserting blank columns or
rows—rather use line-spacing
To create a table use ALT, N, T, I, which will bring up the Insert Table
dialog box. Specify the number of columns and rows, tab to OK and hit
enter.
Headers
If your table spans more than one page, ensure that the headers are
repeated at the top of each page by doing the following: Place the cursor
in the header row. Next, press the application key (next to the right-hand
CTRL key) and select Table Properties. Press CTRL + TAB to select the
Row tab. Then ensure that the checkbox labelled ‘Repeat as header row
at the top of each page’ is checked. To check or uncheck the check
boxes use the spacebar.
To prevent text in a row from going over the page select the entire
table: ALT, A, C, T, select Table Properties and the Row tab, as above.
Next, ensure that the checkbox labelled ‘Allow row to break across
pages’ is unchecked.
Inserting bookmarks
By inserting a bookmark with appropriate wording in the top left-hand
corner of the table (A1) Jaws will recognize the table column and row
headings and will read them out as the user arrows across a row or up a
column before reading out the cell contents.
The need for this feature will become apparent if you imagine how
difficult it would be to navigate a table of average exchange rates that
has 120 rows (excluding the header row) showing the months of the last
ten years with the names of ten currencies above each column except
the first one. Now say you want the rate for February 2008 for the
British pound, which happens to be in column 8. As you arrow down the
— 405 —
Shortcut keys—Creating accessible tables in Word 2010
\months, Jaws will read out the months until you reach February 2008.
Now you arrow across to the right but all you hear is the contents of
each cell and, unless you count the number of times you have moved
from cell to cell, it will be difficult to know whether you are in the
correct column.
A sighted user would just look up to the top of the table but a blind
user does not have that luxury without the use of the bookmark feature.
When the appropriate bookmark has been inserted, Jaws would read, for
example, ‘Australian dollar’ followed by the exchange rate, then
‘Canadian dollar’ and that rate and so on, until you reach the United
Kingdom pound and its rate in column 8.
The following bookmark names should be used:
 Tables with both row and column headers: Place the cursor in the
cell at which the row and column headers meet (usually the top left
hand cell A1). Press ALT, I, K to bring up the Bookmark dialog box.
Type ‘Title’ without the inverted commas, tab once and hit ENTER
on the Add button (ALT + A).
 Table with row headers only: Place the cursor in any cell in the
column containing the row headers. Follow the same procedure
described above to insert the bookmark name ‘RowTitle’ without
the inverted commas.
 Tables with only column headers: Place the cursor in any cell in the
row containing the column headers. Follow the same procedure as
above and insert the bookmark ‘ColumnTitle’ without the inverted
commas.
Word does not allow two bookmarks to use the same name. If your
document contains multiple tables, add a number or descriptive word to
the end of the bookmark text used to indicate headers. For example:
Title_1 or Title1
RowTitle_Month
ColumnTitle_Income
Accessibility checker
After you have created your table you can test it and the rest of your
document for accessibility by
using Word’s accessibility checker. To
bring up the checker press ALT, F, I, I, down arrow once onto Check
accessibility and hit ENTER. The contents of the checker are contained in
a task pane to which you can navigate using F6.
— 406 —
Shortcut keys—Solving the smiley conundrum in Outlook 2010
Solving the smiley conundrum in Outlook
2010
One way of inserting a smiley emoticon  is to type a colon followed
by a right parenthesis (round bracket).
Alternatively, you can type a colon followed by a dash and a right
parenthesis.
Word or Outlook’s AutoCorrect feature will then create the symbol.
I have noticed, however, that when I insert a smiley in an Outlook
2010 e-mail message, it turns into a ‘J’ after I have sent the message.
After some research, I discovered that this phenomenon is caused by
Outlook’s AutoCorrect function. The problem is linked to the Wingdings
font. For example, if you press CTRL + D in Word 2010, select
Wingdings, hit ENTER and press SHIFT + J in the document, you will
create a Wingdings smiley.
Similar problems occur when you type ‘(e)’, which turns into a euro
symbol, and ‘(c)’, which turns into a copyright symbol. I dealt with a
similar problem in Word 2010 in ‘Disabling auto-correction’ 112 TSH
2012. Here is how to solve the smiley problem in Outlook 2010:
1. Create a smiley in a blank Outlook message by pressing ALT + 1 (numpad) and copy
it to the clipboard using CTRL + C.
2. ALT, F, T, M will take you to the Mail tab.
3. Tab four times and hit ENTER on the Spelling and AutoCorrect button and hit ENTER.
4. You should be on the Proofing category. Tab once and hit the AutoCorrect button.
5. The cursor will be in the ‘replace:’ (ALT +R) box. Type :) in the box.
6. Tab once and paste the smiley into the ‘With:’ (ALT + W) box by pressing CTRL + V.
Tab to the replace button and hit ENTER. A dialog box will pop up asking ‘An
AutoCorrect entry for :) already exists. Do you want to redefine it?’. Select ‘Yes’ and
hit ENTER. Then repeat the above procedure for:-).
Then tab to OK and hit ENTER. SHIFT + TAB on the next screen until you
reach OK and ENTER. Do the same with the last screen.
You can replace other AutoCorrect entries, such as the euro symbol
and copyright symbol, by following the same procedure, except just
arrow down to the entry in question and tab to the delete button to
remove the entry.
— 407 —
— 408 —
Shortcut keys—Combining files with Adobe Acrobat X Pro
Combining files with Adobe Acrobat X Pro
I recently had to upload supporting documents on to eFiling and was
confronted with the problem that SARS would not accept more than
twenty documents. Since I had exceeded that number, I needed a way to
combine several files into a single PDF, for example, by combining six
separate medical-expense vouchers into a single six-page PDF document.
Adobe Acrobat X Pro provided the solution.
Here is the procedure:
1. Open Windows Explorer (WIN + E) and navigate to the folder in which the
separate files are kept. Adobe will convert files in another format such as .xlsx
(Excel) or docx (Word) into PDF as part of the process, so there is no need to first
convert them to PDF.
2. Highlight the files in the folder using SHIFT + down arrow and press the
application key (next to the right-hand CTRL key).
3. Arrow down the list and hit enter on ‘Combine supported files in Acrobat’ which
will bring up the Combine Files dialog box.
4. Sort the files into the order into which you would like them to be combined.
Arrow down on to a file you would like to move and then tab onto the ‘move up’ or
‘move down’ button and hit enter. Repeat the procedure until the file is in the desired
position.
5. You can select the number of pages (all pages) or enter a number of pages by
pressing the Choose Pages button. The default is All pages.
6. Remove any unwanted files from the list by arrowing onto them using the up or
down arrow key, tab onto the Remove button and hit enter.
7. Select the appropriate quality setting by pressing the applicable button (smaller
file size, default file size or larger file size).
8. Press the Combine Files button and save the resulting combined pdf using ctrl +
shift + S.
Alternatively you can combine files by opening Adobe Acrobat X Pro
from the desktop and then press ALT, F (File), R (Create) and M
(Combine files into a single PDF). After the Combine Files dialog box
has opened click on the Add files (F) button and then navigate to the
files you want to add. Use SHIFT + TAB twice to get into the file/folder
area and then backspace up the folder tree and use first-letter navigation
to drill down to the file of your choice.
Besides adding files you can add other things by arrowing down the
list after the dialog box opens. The other alternatives are: Add folders
(R), Add PDF from scanner (S), Add Webpage (W), Add from clipboard
(C), Add email (E), Reuse files (U) and Add Open files (O).
— 409 —
— 410 —
Shortcut keys—Fractions in Word 2010
Fractions in Word 2010
Word automatically creates a fraction after you type 1/2, 1/4 and 3/4 by
means of its AutoCorrect function. But it does not create fractions for all
combinations of numbers separated by a slash. I recently had to create a
fraction for 1/3 and noticed that Word did not convert it to a fraction.
It turns out that there are multiple ways of achieving this task. One
method involves using Word’s equation editor, which is apparently not
installed during a typical Word installation. I found that the equation
editor was not accessible to my screen-reader but, according to one
website, one must first bring up Insert Object (ALT, I, O) and then scroll
down to Microsoft Equation 3.0 and then tab to OK. That was as far as I
was able to proceed, so I will move on and leave that option to the
sighted world, except to note that it does apparently create a fraction
containing a diagonal line.
The second method involves using an equation field to create a
fraction, but it contains a horizontal line between the numerator and
denominator, which was not suitable for my purpose. To create a
fraction using this method, type CTRL + F9. This action will insert a pair
of field brackets. Next, with the cursor placed within the field brackets,
type EQ\F(a,b) in which a is the numerator and b the denominator. Press
shift + F9 to reveal the fraction. It is not readable by a screen reader.
The third and simplest method involves using superscript and
subscript. To create a one-third fraction type 1 followed by a division
slash (ALT + 8725 on the numpad) followed by 3. Next, highlight the ‘1’
and press CTRL + shift + =. This action will convert the ‘1’ into a
superscript 1. Next, highlight the ‘3’ and press CTRL + =. This action will
turn the ‘3’ into a subscript 3. Press CTRL + spacebar to return to normal
font. The result will appear as 1⁄3. This method is not as graphically
pleasing as the symbol fractions produced by Word. Nevertheless it is
screen-reader friendly.
Finally, the fractions in the table below can be created by pressing
ALT plus the specified number on the numpad. Unfortunately my Jaws
screen-reader would not read out the fraction symbols produced by
these shortcut keys other than the first three entries without first adding
them to the custom dictionary, so, if you place accessibility above
aesthetics, consider staying with the superscript/subscript method.
Fraction
1/2
1/4
3/4
1/3
2/3
Symbol
½
¼
¾
⅓
⅔
Shortcut
ALT + 0189
ALT + 0188
ALT + 0190
ALT + 8531
ALT + 8532
— 411 —
Shortcut keys—Fractions in Word 2010
1/5
2/5
3/5
4/5
1/6
5/6
1/8
3/8
5/8
7/8
⅕
⅖
⅗
⅘
⅙
⅚
⅛
⅜
⅝
⅞
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
ALT +
8533
8534
8535
8536
8537
8538
8539
8540
8541
8542
— 412 —
Shortcut keys—Inserting an ‘out-of-office’ message in Outlook 2010
Inserting an ‘out of office’ message in
Outlook 2010
These instructions apply only to users on an exchange server.
To insert or turn off an ‘out of office’ message press ALT, F, I, O (File,
Info, Automatic Replies button). In the resulting dialog box select one of
the two radio buttons by arrowing down onto the button of your choice,
namely,
 Do not send automatic replies (ALT + N)
 Send automatic replies (ALT + S)
If you want to turn off the feature and have made that selection, press
twice and hit ENTER on the OK button, and you are done.
If you chose to send an out of office message, tab once. Do not use
the down-arrow key.
Next, you will be presented with a checkbox ‘Only send during this
time range:’. If you want to make use of this feature, check the
checkbox by pressing the spacebar. Then tab to the start date and change
the day and date (ALT + M). Note the use of the American format for the
date (mm/dd/yyyy). Tab again and change the start time. Tab again to
change the end date (ALT + D), tab again and change the end time.
At this point the procedure for keyboard-only users becomes
confusing because Word does not tab through the options in the correct
order, and my Jaws screen reader would not read out all the options
when I tried to tab or arrow through them. But, for sighted mouse users,
the procedure will be obvious. Briefly, Word allows you to have
separate out-of-office messages for external and internal recipients, and,
for external recipients, you can choose to limit the replies to your
contacts or simply send to every Dick, Tom and Harry.
Tab past 10 text formatting buttons. After the last one (increase
indent) your cursor will be in the text box in which you can type your
out of office message.
Once you have entered the message, tab once to get out of the text
box. You will then be on the ‘inside my organization’ tab and the
message you have just typed will be sent to users within your
organization only. Arrow to the right and you will be on the ‘Outside my
organization’ tab. It will indicate whether it has been turned on or off.
To turn it on, press ALT + U. This action will check or uncheck the
checkbox entitled ‘Auto-reply to people outside my organization’.
Assuming you have checked this checkbox, press TAB, and you will be
on one of two radio buttons specified below:
SHIFT + TAB
— 413 —
Shortcut keys—Inserting an ‘out-of-office’ message in Outlook 2010
 My contacts only (ALT + C), or
 Anyone outside my organization (alt + A).
If you land on the second radio button, use the up arrow to select the
first one, if you so choose. Tab through the 10 formatting buttons as
described earlier and enter your message for external recipients. Tab
until you get to the OK button and hit ENTER.
— 414 —
Shortcut keys—Changing the default file location in Word 2010
Changing the default file location in Word
2010
If you regularly open or save files from or to a location other than the
default file location in Word 2010, you can save time by changing the
file location to one of your choice.
Press ALT, T, O to bring up the Word Options dialog box. Press S for
Save, then ALT + I to navigate to ‘Default file location:’ where the
default path will be specified. Tab once and hit ENTER on the Browse
button. In the Modify location dialog box press SHIFT + TAB twice to get
into the folder/file area of the dialog box and backspace up the folder
tree. After reaching the top of the folder tree, drill down to the folder
location of your choice using first-letter navigation. Once on the folder
of your choice tab four times and hit ENTER on the OK button. Press TAB
six times to get to the OK button and hit enter.
From what I have read it is possible to change the default file location
for saving attachments in Outlook 2010 but this involves editing the
registry.
— 415 —
— 416 —
Shortcut keys—Page numbers
Page numbers
The page number function can be activated from within a document by
using the key sequences in the first column of the table below or from
the header or footer area by using the key sequences in the second
column. To get into the header or footer area press ALT, V, H.
Key sequence from
document pane
ALT, N, N, U, T
ALT, N, N, U, B
ALT, N, N, U, P
ALT, N, N, U, C
ALT, N, N, U, F
ALT, N, N, U, R
Key sequence from
header or footer area
ALT, J, H, N, U, T
ALT, J, H, N, U, B
ALT, J, H, N, U, P
ALT, J, H, N, U, C
ALT, J, H, N, U, F
ALT, J, H, N, U, R
Description
Top of page submenu
Bottom of page submenu
Page margins submenu
Current position submenu
Format page numbers
Remove page numbers
ALTernatively you can bring up the page numbers dialog box by using
the sequence ALT, I, U. This sequence was carried over from Word 2003
and, like so many sequences from that version of Word, is short and
easy to remember, unlike so many long and meaningless sequences from
current versions.
To insert a page number field while in the header or footer area, use
ALT + SHIFT + P.
Next, I explain how to insert multiple types of page numbers within
the same document. This type of page-numbering is typically required
by universities when a thesis or dissertation is compiled. A good
example can be found in the SARS Comprehensive Guide to CGT, in
which the front cover and table of contents contain no page numbers,
followed by the preface, acknowledgments, tables of cases and
abbreviations having Roman numerals (I, ii, iii), followed by Arabic
page numbers (1, 2, 3), beginning with Chapter 1.
1. Insert a ‘next page’ section break at the bottom of the page
immediately preceding a change in numbering. For example, in the CGT
Guide these breaks are placed at the end of the table of contents and at
the end of the list of abbreviations. Press ALT, I, B to bring up the Break
dialog box. Arrow down to ‘next page’ (ALT + N), tab once to get to the
OK button and hit ENTER. If you insert two section breaks, you will
create three sections, such as ‘Section 1’, covering the cover page and
table of contents, ‘Section 2’, covering the preface, acknowledgments,
tables of cases and abbreviations, and ‘Section 3’, covering chapter 1
onwards.
2. Break the links to previous sections. To achieve this task, press
The BSP Stylebook 2015 ed © C Divaris DS McAllister Gauteng
— 417 —
Shortcut keys—Page numbers
ALT,
V, H to get into the header area of section 3 (chapter 1). Press ALT,
J, H, K. Then move to the header area of section 2 (preface) and repeat
the key sequence.
3. Move to the header area of section 2 and press ALT, I, U to bring
up the Page Numbers dialog box. Select the position (eg top of page)
and alignment (eg centre). To drop down the contents of the position
and alignment combo boxes press ALT + down arrow. If you want the
page number to appear on the first page of the section, leave the ‘Show
number on first page’ check box checked. Press the Format button (ALT
+ F) and arrow down onto the page number format of your choice (eg I,
ii, iii). Tab to the ‘continue from previous section’ radio button and press
the down arrow to activate the ‘Start at’ option, Make sure there is an ‘I’
in the box. Tab to OK and hit ENTER. Press ENTER again to close the
Page numbers dialog box.
4. Move to the header area of section 3 (chapter 1) and repeat step 3
but this time select Arabic numerals as the format option.
5. To remove the page numbers from section 1, move to the header
area of section 1, highlight the page number field and hit the delete key.
— 418 —
Shortcut keys—Splitting PDF files with Acrobat X Professional
Splitting PDF files with Acrobat X
Professional
Being reliant on screen-reading software, I try to avoid using large PDF
files, because of the time my screen reader takes to process them, which
can be several minutes. My solution is to convert PDF files to Word,
using Omnipage Ultimate. I typically convert the annual amending acts
to Word but find the Government Printer’s practice of placing the
Afrikaans text on the odd pages annoying, since it requires unnecessary
scrolling and interrupts my train of thought. I was therefore looking for
a way to remove the odd pages from a PDF before converting it to Word.
My program of choice for achieving this task is Adobe Acrobat X
Professional but I was unsure how I should approach the task,
particularly given the fact that I was restricted to using the keyboard. It
turned out that there are a number of ways to remove pages from a PDF
file, and I detail some of them here.
Print to Adobe PDF
1. Establish how many pages are in the PDF. For a sighted user, the
information will be displayed on the toolbar but since the information is
inaccessible to a screen-reader user, press CTRL + end to get to the last
page and then press CTRL + SHIFT + N. The Go To Page dialog box will
display the current page number.
2. Press CTRL + P to bring up the Print dialog box. Use the down arrow
to select Adobe PDF as the printer.
3. Tab until you reach the initial page-range radio button (All) and then
arrow down to Pages. ALTernatively, press ALT + G to get directly to
Pages. Press TAB and enter the page-range in the box, for example, 1–
131. For sighted users, click on More Options, which will bring up the
Odd or even pages combo box. For Jaws users, switch to the Jaws
cursor and scroll down until you reach More Options. Left-click with
the mouse. The mouse click can be done by using the mouse or by
pressing the slash on the NUMPAD (next to the NUMLOCK key). Turn the
PC cursor back on. Tab again to the combo box containing the words
‘All pages in range’. Press ALT and down-arrow to expand the box to
display ‘Odd pages only’ and ‘Even pages only’. Select odd pages only,
tab to the Print button and hit enter.
Note: This method, known as refrying, will result in the loss of all
hyperlinking in the document. The absence of hyperlinking is, however,
not a concern when it is a Government Gazette that is split.
— 419 —
Shortcut keys—Splitting PDF files with Acrobat X Professional
Deleting individual pages
You can delete individual pages by scrolling to the page to be deleted
and press CTRL + SHIFT + D, which will bring up the Delete Pages
dialog box. The From (ALT + F) and To (ALT + T) boxes should contain
the current page number. Tab to OK and hit ENTER. You will be asked to
confirm that you want to delete the page in question (Yes = ALT + Y; No
= ALT + N). You can also use this method to delete a page-range. For
example, if you want to delete pages 12 to 22 in a 22-page document,
just enter 12 in the From box and 22 in the To box. This method will not
delete hyperlinking in the document.
Extracting pages
You can extract selected pages in a range by using the extraction feature.
Press ALT + V to activate the View menu, scroll down to Tools (T)
and then right-arrow on to Pages (P). Press F6 to get on to the task pane
and arrow-down until you reach the Extract button. Press the spacebar
to activate the button and the Extract pages dialog box will pop up.
Enter the page-range in the From (ALT + F) and To (ALT + T) boxes.
Next, check or uncheck the ‘Delete pages after extracting’ (ALT + D)
and ‘Extract pages as separate files’ (ALT + E) check boxes as desired by
pressing the spacebar. Tab to OK and hit ENTER. This method will also
not interfere with hyperlinking in the document. Unfortunately, the
feature does not contain an odd or even page number option.
Thumbnails
You can delete pages by deleting the selected thumbnails on the lefthand side of the document by arrowing down to the page in question
and hitting the DELETE key. To activate the thumbnails, first bring up the
Pages task pane, as described above (ALT, V, T, P). Then keep pressing
F6 until you get to the Thumbnails tab and hit ENTER. Navigate up or
down the thumbnails by using the up or down arrow keys. If you no
longer want the thumbnails displayed, press F6 to navigate to the
Thumbnails tab again and hit ENTER to toggle them off.
Online splitting
Many websites offer a PDF-splitting or extraction service at no cost. To
find such a site, just do a Google search. For example, you could search
for ‘extract odd or even pages from PDF online’. You will be required to
upload the file, and the service will then do the extraction and provide
you with a download link.
— 420 —
Shortcut keys—Creating multiple tables of contents
Creating multiple tables of contents
The easiest way to create a table of contents (TOC) in Word 2010 is to
use heading styles. However, you may wish to add to a TOC of this
nature by using TOC and TC field codes.
One reason for doing so arises when the font that you would like to
appear in the TOC differs from the font in the heading. For example, the
heading may be fully capitalized, while you may want only the first
letter of the heading to be capitalized in the TOC.
An example can be found in the Comprehensive Guide to CGT, in
which this method is used to construct the initial entries in the TOC
(preface, acknowledgments, tables of cases, paragraph numbers and
abbreviations) and the last entry, being the alphabetical index. The
Guide thus contains three tables of contents in one, with the first and
third being constructed using the method described in this article and the
second being constructed using heading styles.
In order to perform this task, TC fields must be inserted next to each
relevant heading in the document and a TOC field must be inserted in the
TOC. Both the TC and TOC fields must contain the same unique identifier
in order that the headings can be collected in the TOC. For this purpose, I
used the letter ‘p’ for the initial TOC and ‘q’ for the alphabetical index
but you can choose any unallocated letter of the alphabet. My research
into this topic revealed that there are at least three ways in which to
insert these fields, namely, manually, using ALT + SHIFT + O, and by
using the Insert Field dialog box.
Inserting the TC fields—manually
Place your cursor immediately after the heading in the document (for
example PREFACE), and type the field code as follows:
TC
Preface \f p
Next, highlight the entry and press CTRL + F9. This action will convert
the entry into a field code. You could ALTernatively press CTRL + F9 to
insert the curly field brackets and then type the code within the brackets
but I found the former method easier.
The ‘\f’ switch instructs Word that you are inserting multiple TOCs,
and, when followed by an identifier (‘p’ in the example), will ensure that
the relevant heading will appear in the related TOC.
Repeat the above process for the other headings that you want to
appear in the TOC. For example:
— 421 —
TC
Acknowledgments \f p
TC “Table of Tax Court Cases” \f p

Ensure that you surround multiple-word headings with quotation marks,
otherwise only the first word will appear in the TOC.
Using ALT + SHIFT + O
Highlight the heading you want to mark and press ALT + SHIFT + O to
bring up the Mark Table of Contents Entry dialog box. Modify the text
of the heading in the entry box as you would like it to appear in the TOC.
Tab to the Table Identifier combo box (ALT + I), press the letter of your
choice. (eg ‘p’). Then tab to the Level spin box (ALT + L) to select the
level.
In the Guide, I used the default ,which is ‘1’ but, if you want another
outline level for your entry, use the up arrow to select it. Tab to Mark
and hit ENTER. Then hit ENTER on Close and you are done. The field
code will appear as follows:
TC
“Preface” \f p \l “1”
The \l switch is used to indicate which hierarchical level should be
assigned to the entry in the TOC. In other words, level 1 will be set at the
extreme left-hand margin, level 2 will be left-indented, and level 3 will
be further left-indented. If you only use level 1, you do not need The \l
switch.
Likewise, if there is only one word you do not need to surround it
with quotation marks
Using the Insert Field dialog box
I mention this method out of interest but do not recommend it, since it is
not very user-friendly.
Place your cursor immediately after the first heading in the
document. Press ALT, I, F to bring up the insert field dialog box. Type
TC to get to that field and tab once to get into the text entry box. Enter
the name as you would like it to appear in the TOC, such as
Abbreviations. Then tab to the Field codes button (ALT + I) and hit
ENTER. In the next dialog box press SHIFT + TAB to get to the Options
button (ALT + O) and hit ENTER. In the Field Options dialog box press
TAB once to get to the list of switches. Place your cursor on \f and hit
ENTER. Then press SHIFT + TAB to get to the field entry and insert the
letter ‘p’ after \f (ensure there is a space between the ‘f’ and ‘p’). Tab
once to OK and hit ENTER. Hit ENTER again on the next dialog box and
you are done.
— 422 —
Inserting the TOC field
At the appropriate position in the TOC, insert a TOC field. For example,
with the guide the fields would be placed immediately before and after
the TOC created with heading styles. The TOC field should be typed as
follows:
TOC
\f p
Highlight the entry and press CTRL + F9 to create the field.
The procedure for inserting the TOC field by using the field dialog
box is similar to that described for the TC field. Just select TOC instead
of TC after opening the dialog box. I do not, however, recommend this
method for the current task, because Word tends to insert other switches
in the field, which are not suitable, and you will need to remove them.
There are also a lot of options in the dialog box, which can cause
confusion. This option would be more suitable for inserting a TOC based
on heading styles.
Revealing the TOC entry
To reveal the TOC entry, that is, to replace the field code with the
heading text, press F9 to update the TOC followed by SHIFT + F9.
The table below sets out shortcut keys for use with fields.
CTRL +
SHORTCUT KEY
+ 8 (keyboard not numpad)
ALT,
I, F
F9 or ALT + SHIFT + U
SHIFT + F9
ALT + F9
CTRL +
F9
CTRL + SHIFT +
CTRL +
F9
6 (keyboard, not numpad)
ALT + SHIFT +
F9
F11
SHIFT + F11
CTRL + F11
CTRL + 3 (keyboard,
CTRL + SHIFT + F11
not numpad)
FUNCTION
Reveal hidden text such as paragraph
marks and field codes
Insert field
Update field after first placing cursor
in field
Toggle field display
Toggle display of field codes in entire
document
Insert new field brackets for manually
inserting field codes
Delink fields – converts field to hard
text
Delink fields – converts field to hard
text
Simulates double mouse click (eg—
use on a hyperlink)
Go to next field
Go to previous field
Lock field to prevent updating
Lock field to prevent updating
Unlock field to enable updating
— 423 —
CTRL +
4 (keyboard, not numpad)
CTRL + SHIFT +
F7
Unlock field to enable updating (Jaws
users should rather use this shortcut
because CTRL + SHIFT + F11 brings up
the system tray virtual viewer.
Update link in source (this rather
obscure shortcut has to do with
Word’s master document feature.
— 424 —
Shortcut keys—Comparing two folders
Comparing two folders
Here I explain how you can compare the contents of two folders and
output the results to a text file or the clipboard.
The ability to carry out such a comparison is particularly useful
when you are dealing with large folders, which would otherwise take
several hours to replace. For example, you might keep a copy of a folder
on an external drive for back-up purposes but not wish to delete it and
recopy it from scratch in order to bring it up to date, if only a few files
have been added to the primary folder. Software exists to perform such a
task but it is not always accessible to a screen-reader user. It is, in any
event, unnecessary to resort to third-party software, since the task can be
performed in-house via the Command Prompt window.
I found it easier to construct the command line in a Word document,
since it is easier to move text around in Word. Once you have finalized
the command line you can paste it into the Command Prompt window.
Obtain the paths to the two folders that you want to compare. Open up
Windows Explorer by pressing WIN + E. Then navigate to the first
folder, using first-letter navigation. When on the folder, hold down
the SHIFT key and press the application key (next to right-hand CTRL
key). Arrow down the list until you reach ‘Copy as path’ and hit
ENTER. This action will copy the path to the source folder on to the
clipboard. Next, open up a blank Word document and paste the path
using CTRL + V. Repeat the procedure for the second folder and
paste that path below the first path.
Type the following in the Word document:
robocopy <source path> <destination path> /e /l /ns /njs /njh /ndl /fp /log:diff.txt
In the above expression delete <source path> and replace it with the
path to the source folder. Do the same with <destination path> and
replace it with the path to the destination folder. Here is an example:
robocopy "D:\Tax Shock Horror Database February 2015\TSH Newsletter"
"H:\Tax Shock Horror Database February 2015\TSH Newsletter" /e /l /ns /njs /njh
/ndl /fp /log:diff.txt
In the above example the source drive (D:), is a secondary internal hard
drive, while the destination drive (H:) is an external hard drive. The
default drive (Local disk (C:)) is not mentioned in the expression but it
is the drive to which the text file called ‘diff’ will be sent. In the
— 425 —
Shortcut keys—Comparing two folders
example, the text file has been named ‘diff’ but you can use any name of
your choice as long as it ends with .txt.
Highlight and copy the command line to the clipboard using CTRL + C.
Press WIN + R to launch the Run dialog box. Type ‘cmd’ and hit ENTER
to bring up the Command Prompt window.
Paste the command line from the clipboard into the Command Prompt
window by pressing ALT + SPACEBAR, E (Edit), P (Paste). Note that
CTRL + V does not work in the Command Prompt window. Hit enter
with the cursor at the end of the command line.
The Command Prompt window contains a path before the cursor such as
C:\Users\User>. This path will lead you to the location where your
diff text file has been placed. Thus in my example the diff file was
on Local disk (C:) Under Users/User.
Instead of outputting the results to a text file, you can copy them to the
clipboard by substituting /log:diff.txt with | clip. The vertical bar
symbol can be obtained by pressing ALT + 124 on the numpad, not
the keyboard. Then you can just open up the application of your
choice, such as MS Word, and paste the results using CTRL + V. In
this way you can avoid having to find and open the diff file, which
is unlikely to have any permanent utility and will just clutter your
hard drive.
To close the Command Prompt window type ‘exit’ and hit ENTER.
Tip: Be careful to use the correct type of slash when typing the
command line. The slashes in the paths are back slashes (\), while the
slashes in the switches are forward slashes (/).
Meaning of switches
switch
/e
/l
/fp
/ns
/ndl
/njs
/njh
/log:filename.txt
function
Copy subfolders, including empty
subfolders
Do not modify or copy files; log
differences only
Include the full path of files in the
output
Do not include file sizes in output
Do not include folders in log
Do not include Job Summary
Do not include Job Header
Output log file
— 426 —
ALT
sequence keys (Outlook 2010)—Home
tab
the Home tab of the Ribbon in Outlook 2010. The available shortcut
keys vary, depending on the view in Outlook, for example, different
keys are available in the Calendar compared with the Inbox.
Home [ALT + H]
ALT,
H, N
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
H, I
H, I, M
H, I, A
H, I, C
H, I, E
H, I, T
H, I, T
H, I, U
H, I, U, M
H, I, U, P
H, I, U, R
H, I, U, H
H, I, I
H, I, I, P
H, I, I, G
H, I, I, Q
H, I, I, J
H, I, I, N
H, I, I, X
H, I, I, O
H, I, I, I
H, I, I, F
H, C
H, C, C
H, C, E
H, C, F
H, D
H, J, B
H, J, S
H, J, D
H, J, M
New E-mail [Inbox], Appointment [Calendar], new
Contact [Contacts], new Journal Entry [Journal]
New items
New E-mail message [CTRL + SHIFT + M]
New appointment [CTRL + SHIFT + A]
New contact [CTRL + SHIFT + C]
New meeting [CTRL + SHIFT + Q]
New task [CTRL + SHIFT + K]
New text message (SMS) [CTRL + SHIFT + T]
New e-mail message using submenu
More stationery
Plain text
Rich text
HTML
More items submenu
New Post in This Folder [CTRL + SHIFT + S]
New Contact Group [CTRL + SHIFT + L]
New Task Request (CTRL + SHIFT + K]
New Journal Entry [CTRL + SHIFT + J]
New Note [CTRL + SHIFT + N]
New Internet Fax [CTRL + SHIFT + X]
Choose Form
Choose InfoPath Form
Outlook Data File
Clean Up submenu
Clean Up Conversation
Clean Up Folder & Subfolders
Clean Up Folder
Delete [CTRL + D]
Block Sender
Never Block Sender
Never Block Sender's Domain (@example.com)
Never Block this Group or Mailing List
— 427 —
ALT, H, J, N
ALT, H, J, O
ALT, H, R
ALT, H, K
ALT, H, W
ALT, H (use
Not Junk [CTRL + ALT + J]
Junk E-mail Options
Arrange Calendar by Day [CTRL + ALT + 1]
Arrange Calendar by Work Week [CTRL + ALT + 2]
Arrange Calendar by Week [CTRL + ALT + 3]
Arrange Calendar by Month [CTRL + ALT + 4]
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
Calendar Options
Show Low Detail in Calendar
Show Medium Detail in Calendar
Show High Detail in Calendar
Schedule View [CTRL + ALT + 5]
Open Calendar submenu
From Address Book
Create New Blank Calendar
From Internet
Open Shared Calendar
From Room List
Show Today in the Calendar [Calendar]
Open Calendar Groups Submenu
Create new Calendar Group
Save as New Calendar Group
E-mail Calendar
Permissions [Calendar]
Publish Online submenu
Share Published Calendar (Invite people to view your
published calendar)
Publish to WebDAV Server
Remove from Server
Reply [CTRL + R]
Reply All [CTRL + SHIFT + R]
Forward [CTRL + F]
More
Forward as Attachment [CTRL + ALT + F]
Forward as Text Message
New Meeting [CTRL + ALT + R]
Move
Quick Steps
New Quick Step
Move to Folder
Categorize & Move
Flag & Move
New E-mail To
Forward To
New Meeting
Custom
arrow
key)
ALT, H, C, O
ALT, H, T, L
ALT, H, T, M
ALT, H, T, H
ALT, H, S, V
ALT, H, O, C
ALT, H, O, C, A
ALT, H, O, C, B
ALT, H, O, C, I
ALT, H, O, C, O
ALT, H, O, C, R
ALT, H, O, D
ALT, H, C, G
ALT, H, C, G, C
ALT, H, C, G, N
ALT, H, E
ALT, H, F, P
ALT, H, P, O
ALT, H, P, O, C
H, P, O, U
H, P, O, M
H, R, P
H, R, A
H, F, W
H, M, E
H, M, E, F
H, M, E, T
H, M, R
H, M, V
H, Q, S
H, Q, S, N
H, Q, S, N, M
H, Q, S, N, T
H, Q, S, N, G
H, Q, S, N, N
H, Q, S, N, F
H, Q, S, N, W
H, Q, S, N, C
— 428 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
H, Q, S, M
H, Q, Q
H, R, R
H, R, R, M
H, R, R, U
H, R, R, L
H, O, N
H, O,D
H, L,
H, X
H, G
H, G, C
H, G, A
H, W
H, U
H, U, T
H, U, O
H, U, W
H, U, N
H, U, A
H, U, C
H, U, R
H, U, M
H, U, E
H, U, Q
H, A, B
H, F, C
H, L
H, L, C
H, L, F
H, L, H
H, L, I
H, L, T
H, L, U
H, L, C, A
H, L, C, N
H, L, S
H, L, M
H, S
H, N, 1
H, C, 1
H, S
H, T
H, K
H, R, L
H, W
Manage Quick Steps
Manage Quick Steps
Rules submenu
Always Move Messages From:
Create Rule
Manage Rules & Alerts
Send to One Note
Go to Today in calendar
Go to Date in calendar
Next 7 days in calendar
Categorize submenu
Clear All Categories
All Categories
Unread/Read
Follow up submenu
Today
Tomorrow
This Week
Next Week
No Date
Custom [CTRL + SHIFT + G]
Add Reminder
Mark Complete
Clear Flag
Set Quick Click
Address Book
Find a Contact
Filter e-mail submenu
Categorized submenu
Flagged
Has Attachments
Important
This Week
Unread
All Categories
No Categories
Sent To: Me or CC: Me
More Filters
Send/Receive All Folders
New Task [Tasks]
Mark Complete [Tasks]
Follow up task Tomorrow [Tasks]
Follow up task Today [Tasks]
Follow up task This Week [Tasks]
Remove from List [Tasks]
Follow up task Next Week [Tasks]
— 429 —
ALT, H, N, 2
ALT, H, Z, V
ALT, H, H
ALT, H, L
ALT, H, V
ALT, H, C, V, M
ALT, H, C, V, S
ALT, H, C, V, A
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
H, R, G
H, S, C
H, T, I
H, J, T
H, J, J
H, O, S
Flag task as having no start or end date [Tasks]
Change View [Tasks]
High Importance [Tasks]
Low Importance [Tasks]
Private [Tasks] [Contacts]
Change View/Manage Views [Contacts]
Save Current View As a New View [Contacts]
Apply Current View to Other Contact Folders
[Contacts]
Mail Merge [Contacts]
Share Contacts [Contacts]
Communicate Meeting [Contacts]
Assign Task [Contacts]
Journal Entry [Contacts]
Open Shared Contacts [Contacts]
— 430 —
ALT
sequence keys (Outlook 2010)—File
tab
Here are the ALT sequence keys for accessing the functions on the File
tab of the Ribbon.
File [ALT + F]
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
F, A
F, M
F, I
F, I, A
F, I, D
F, I, S
F, I, S, A
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
F, I, S, E
F, I, S, B
F, I, S, M
F, I, S, P
F, I, L
F, I, O
F, I, T
F, I, T, M
F, I, T, Y
F, I, T, R
F, I, R
F, I, X
F, O
F, O, C
F, O, O
F, O, I
F, O, U
F, P
F, P, P
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
F, P, I
F, P, R
F, P, Y, 1
F, P, Y, 2
F, H
F, T
Save As
Save Attachments
Info
Selected Account—IMAP/SMTP
Add an account
Account settings
Account settings [add and remove
accounts or change existing connection
settings
Delegate Access
Download Address Book
Manage Mobile Notifications
Prepare for offline use
Access this account on the web
Automatic Replies
Clean Up Tools
Mailbox Clean Up
Empty Deleted Items Folder
Archive
Manage rules and alerts
Return to Home
Open
Open Calendar
Open Outlook Data File
Import and Export Wizard
Open User’s Folder
Print
Print - Send item directly to default
printer
Select a printer from Print Preview
Open print options
Define print styles—Table style
Define print styles—Memo style
Help
Options
— 431 —
ALT,
F, X
Exit
— 432 —
ALT
sequence keys (Outlook 2010)—
Send/Receive tab
Here are the ALT sequence keys for accessing the functions on the
Send/Receive tab of the Ribbon.
Send/Receive [ALT + S]
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
S, S
S, D
S, A
S, G
S, G, 1
S, G, 2
S, G, B
S, G, S
S, G, D
S, P
S, C
S, H
S, M, T
S, M, C
S, U, U
ALT,
ALT,
S, U, K
S, R, P
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
S, R, O
S, X
S, X, U
S, L
S, L, F
S, L, D
ALT,
ALT,
S, L, H
S, L, S
ALT,
S, W
Send/Receive All Folders [F9]
Update Folder
Send All
Send/Receive Groups
1 Send/Receive All Accounts Group
2 Send/Receive Selected Account
Download Address Book
Define Send/Receive Groups
Disable Scheduled Send/Receive
Show Progress
Cancel All
Download Headers
Mark to Download [CTRL + ALT + M]
Mark to Download Message Copy
Unmark to Download [CTRL + ALT +
U]
Unmark All to Download
Process Marked Headers [CTRL + ALT +
R]
Process Marked Headers in All Folders
Dial-Up Connection: My Location
Use Existing Connection (LAN)
Download Preferences
Download Full Items
Download Headers And Then Full
Items
Download Headers
On Slow Connections Download Only
Headers
Work Offline
— 433 —
— 434 —
ALT
sequence keys (Outlook 2010)—Folder
tab
Here are the ALT sequence keys for accessing the functions on the
Folder tab of the Ribbon.
Folder [ALT + O]
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
O, N
O, S, F
O, R, N
O, C, F
O, M, F
O, D, F
O, M, A
O, R, R
O, C, U
O, C, U, F
O, C, U, E
O, D, A
O, R, D
O, F, A
O, A
O, F, P
O, P
New Folder [CTRL + SHIFT + E]
New Search Folder [CTRL + SHIFT + P]
Rename Folder
Copy Folder
Move Folder
Delete Folder
Mark All as Read
Run Rules Now
Clean Up
Clean Up Folder
Clean Up Folder and Subfolders
Delete All
Recover Deleted Items
Show in Favourites
Auto Archive Settings
Folder permissions
Folder Properties
— 435 —
— 436 —
Shortcut keys—Backing up Outlook files
Backing up Outlook files
In 115 TSH 2012, I showed how to back up your files in Outlook 2010
by using the File tab on the Ribbon (File/Info/Account Settings/Data) or
ALT, F, I, S, A, CTRL + TAB, SHIFT + TAB twice.
While the list of folders contains a path to the related .pst file, and
you can open the relevant file location with ALT + O, I was still unsure
which file contained my current inbox and sent items. This problem
prompted me to find another way of opening up the file location.
Starting with the inbox, press F6 until you reach Mail Folders tree
view on the left hand side of Outlook. Arrow down once and you should
be on the name of the folder (for example, ‘Personal folders’).
While on the folder name, press the application key (next to righthand CTRL key) and arrow down to Open File Location and hit ENTER.
Windows Explorer will open up and the cursor will be on the
relevant .pst file. Bear in mind that the name of the .pst file may not
correspond with the folder name. For example, one of my folders is
called New Folder but the related .pst file is called Personal
Folders(1).pst. Another folder is called Personal Folders but the related
.pst file is Outlook.pst.
When on the .pst file in Windows Explorer, press CTRL + C to copy
the file, close Windows Explorer and Outlook with ALT + F4 and then
reopen Windows Explorer with WIN + E, navigate to the desired location
on your external hard drive with first-letter navigation and save your
.pst file by pressing CTRL + V.
— 437 —
— 438 —
ALT
sequence keys (Outlook 2010)—View
tab
Here are the ALT sequence keys for accessing the functions on the View
tab of the Ribbon.
View [ALT + V]
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
V, C, V
V, C, V, M
V, C, V, S
V, C, V, A
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
V, V
V, X
V, G, C
V, C, S
V, A, B
V, A, B, D
V, A, B, G
V, A, B, Y
V, A, B, F
V, A, B, U
V, A, B, A
V, A, B, T
V, A, B, S
V, A, B, O
V, A, B, E
V, A, B, J
V, A, B, I
V, A, B, W
V, A, B, V
V, R, S
V, A, C
V, E
V, E, C
V, E, E
V, E, G
V, E, X
V, N
ALT,
ALT,
V, N, M
V, N, O
Change view
Manage views
Save Current View as a New View
Apply Current View to Other mail
Folders
View Settings
Reset View
Show as Conversations
Conversation Settings
Arrangement/Arrange by
Date
Flag: Start Date
Type
From
Flag: Due Date
Attachments
To
Size
Account
Categories
Subject
Importance
Show in Groups
View Settings
Reverse Sort
Add Columns
Expand/Collapse
Collapse This group
Expand This group
Collapse All Groups
Expand All Groups
Navigation Pane [Default is Normal
View]
Minimize
Off [ALT + F1]
— 439 —
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
ALT,
V, N, F
V, N, N
V, P, N
V, P, N, R
V, P, N, B
V, P, N, O
V, P, N, N
V, B
V, B, M
V, B, O
V, B, D
V, B, A
V, B, T
V, B, N
V, P, P
V, P, P, N
V, P, P, M
V, P, P, O
V, P, P, A
V, M
V, O, N
V, C, A
Favourites
Options
Reading Pane
Right
Bottom
Off
Options
To-do Bar [Default is Normal View]
Minimize
Off
Date Navigator
Appointments
Task List
Options
People Pane
Normal
Minimize
Off
Account Settings
Reminders Window
Open a New Window
Close All Items
— 440 —
Shortcut keys—Language formatting
Language formatting
As a Jaws (Job Access with Speech) screen-reader user, I recently
experienced a problem when reviewing a Word document.
Jaws read out parts of the text in a French accent, which was
impossible to understand. In other parts of the document, Jaws read out
the text in Portuguese (Brazil), which was equally enigmatic.
Now Jaws does have a setting enabling language detection to be
turned off (Ins + V, type language in the search box, arrow down to
Language detect change, and uncheck the check box, SHIFT + TAB until
you reach OK and ENTER).
But regardless whether you are a screen reader user, there is another
problem. The spell checker (F7) will show English words as spelling
errors. It was therefore necessary to restore English (South Africa) to the
text in question.
To change the language formatting, select the affected text, press
ALT, R, U, L (set proofing language). Then type E and arrow down the
list of English choices until you reach English (South Africa) and hit
enter. If it’s a large document it will be easier to highlight the entire
document (CTRL + A) before following the procedure outlined.
To check if you have successfully changed the language formatting,
press F6 and arrow to the right until you reach the language indicator
button.
Another way of changing the language is to highlight the text, press
F6, arrow to the right until you reach the language indicator button,
press spacebar, and arrow up or down the language list until you reach
the desired language and hit ENTER.
In Word, I find that some text persists in regarding itself as being French,
indicating a spelling error for the English text so regarded, even if it is in the same
paragraph as further, unmolested English text. No matter what I do, the next time I
open the file, the error reappears.—Ed
— 441 —
— 442 —
Shortcut keys—Attachments and mail formats in Outlook 2010
Attachments and mail formats in Outlook
2010
Outgoing emails can be sent in three formats, namely, HTML, rich text
and plain text. For a Jaws screen-reader user different techniques are
required to open attachments, depending on the format of the incoming
email.
For the HTML and plain text formats, three techniques are available.
First, with the cursor at the top of the message body, press SHIFT +
TAB. This keystroke will take you to the attachment line from where you
can right-arrow onto the attachments. To open them, press ENTER or use
the application key which is next to the right-hand CTRL key and select
Open.
Secondly, a Jaws user can press 0 on the numpad with numlock
turned off together with A. This key combo will likewise take you to the
attachment line.
Thirdly, press ALT, F, A, to save the attachment in the destination
folder of your choice. I find the latter method time-consuming because
it requires Windows Explorer to be opened so that the user can navigate
to the destination folder. If you were not attentive when you saved the
attachments and your destination folder contains a lot of other files, you
may have difficulty identifying the attachments. But if you need to save
the attachment for future use the method is fine.
The receipt of an email with attachments in the rich-text format
poses a challenge, since the attachment is embedded in the message
body and there is no simple way to access it directly from the keyboard.
There are some work-arounds such as saving the attachment using ALT,
F, A, but, as already explained, that requires navigation to the
destination folder.
My favoured approach is to just forward the email (ALT + W), tab to
the message body and then use the Jaws shortcut key CTRL + SHIFT + O,
which lists the objects embedded in the message. I then select the object
and open it with the application key.
My other method is to convert the forwarded email to HTML using
ALT, O, T, H. Once the email is converted to HTML, I just follow the
procedure outlined earlier for opening attachments in HTML. I have read
of some users copying and pasting the body of the email into a Word
document so they can use CTRL + SHIFT + O but I find it easier to
forward the message, since it saves having to open Word.
It is preferable to educate the sender on how to change the default
format of outgoing emails. To change the format of outgoing emails in
— 443 —
Shortcut keys—Attachments and mail formats in Outlook 2010
Outlook 2010, press ALT, F, T. This sequence will bring up Outlook
options. Down-arrow once onto the mail tab (or press the letter M) and
then tab twice to reach the ‘Compose messages in this format:’ combo
box (or press ALT + C). Expand the box using ALT and down arrow and
select HTML. Press SHIFT + TAB four times to get to OK and hit ENTER
and you are done.
— 444 —

The Bsp Stylebook

Transcription

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Parent Info 28 January 2016 Issue 271