Writers must let context be their guide

RE: Of Zeds and Zees (Oct. 28)

As a freelance writer/editor, I enjoyed Paul Berton’s take on the vagaries of Canadian and American word usage and spelling. “Theatre” versus “theater,” and so on, plus an example not mentioned: “per cent” up here versus “percent” down there. It can get seriously tricky at times making sure you’re writing/editing entirely Canadian one day and totally American the next as the occasion demands.

And, of course, many more arcane aspects of word usage abound, as when “that” is used, or not, in certain instances. Consider this statement as it would be appear in academic and government documents and certain “higher-brow” magazines: “Scientists report that the sky is falling.” For newspapers like The Spectator that would be a “that” too many: “Scientists report the sky is falling.”

Or take the so-called serial or oxford comma, the second comma here: “She’s raising pigs, koalas, and polar bears.” Again, the more formal the publication, the more likely its use would be demanded, but certainly not by newspapers like The Spec.

So how does a freelancer cope with such varying editorial subtleties? Easily enough, when a publication’s “house rules” are known. But sometimes the freelancer has to make these decisions. No formal “that” or Oxford comma then when writing a theatre company’s light and breezy seasonal brochure, but their exacting use when crafting a complex summary of a scientific conference. All a matter of letting context be your guide. Doug Lintula, Burlington