It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. That’s the difference between grammar and style.
Here are a few principles that go beyond what you may have learned in English classes.
Exclamation Marks
When editors see an exclamation mark, they recognize an amateur writer who thinks shouting is better than well-chosen words. If the words carry the excitement, then an exclamation mark isn’t needed. If they don’t, then the punctuation doesn’t help.
Therefore, use an exclamation mark for one-word statements. Wow! How important is that?
Who or That?
Think of “who” as something personal, so it has to do with people. “That” is impersonal, so it associates with things.
Some writers use “who” and “that” indiscriminately, but if we’re smart, we’ll use the relational pronoun “who” when referring to people and “that” for everything else.
Approximations
We think we’re being specific when we say a girl was “about three years old” or a boy had “over a hundred” cars in his toy chest. Those words represent a clear picture for the author, but for readers, the image is fuzzy. Here’s why:
Readers have no means to determine the exact age of the girl. Is she thirty-three months old or thirty-nine? That’s a six-month variance. Leave out “about” to sharpen the image.
How many cars does the boy have? All readers know for certain is that the number is somewhere over one hundred. Is it 110, 130, or 170? Just say the boy had a hundred cars. Readers don’t want to guess, and they won’t stop to question whether your number is precise.
“About forty to fifty” presents an impossibility. You might choose “forty,” “fifty,” or “forty to fifty,” but never use “about” for a specified range, which is logically inaccurate.
Round numbers like forty, one hundred, or three million are perceived as near-precise, so we don’t need “about.” But numbers like 153 fish, 12.3 seconds, or 13.1 billion years are obviously not rounded. In those cases, the use of “about” is confusing. Leave it out.
It’s delightful to know people read this stuff. Thank you.
Frank,
Yours on leaving out “about” is helpful. Not sure my comment deserves a glance–however, it does say I’ve been here reading yours. And, Thank You.
Anne