Zombie Rules: part 2

Welcome to my second collection of zombie rules! Zombie rules are instructions about writing (often learned in school or from parents) that have nothing to do with correct grammar. The are called zombie rules because they keep coming back from the dead!
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I have been posting a collection of zombie rules on LinkedIn, but I'm gathering them here for readers who aren't on LinkedIn or don't feel like scrolling through my feed to find them.

You can find my first six zombie rules in Part 1.

Zombie rule:

• Begin every list item with a capital letter.

I’m blaming this one on Microsoft! 😩

When you type a bullet or numbered list in Word, the default setting puts a capital letter at the beginning of each item, even if you typed a lowercase letter.

It’s only natural for people to believe this must be how they should always write lists. After all, why would it autocorrect if it wasn’t wrong?

(You can turn this default setting off. When Word capitalizes your first word, click the “lightning bolt” dropdown menu that appears under the capital letter and select “turn off automatic capitalization.” It will stay off for that document.)

There is no overall rule for capitalization in lists. Here’s a quick guide.

You should start items with a capital letter in either of these circumstances:

• The item is a complete sentence. (You should either make all of your items complete sentences or none of them.)
• The item in question is a proper noun (the name of a person or place).

You should start each item with a lowercase letter if

• the entire list is part of a single sentence or
• each item ends with a comma or semicolon.

It doesn’t matter whether the list is a bullet list or a numbered list. The same rules apply.

If your list items have no punctuation and aren’t full sentences, you can choose to start them with capital letters or lowercase letters. Just be consistent throughout your document.

This kind of detail doesn’t need to slow you down while you’re writing. Just write your list. When you finish your document, go through all the lists (or better yet, get an editor to do it!) and make sure they’re formatted properly.

Zombie rule: Always write foreign words in italics

This rule has always had a dash of "it depends" thrown in. Most people don’t italicize "status quo" but they would italicize "nemo dat quod non habet" (you can’t give away what you don’t have), even though they’re both Latin.

Let’s consider the main reasons for italicizing non-English words in English text:

1.      To help the reader understand why they are seeing something unfamiliar.
2.      To avoid confusion with a similar (or identical) word in English that has a different meaning.

From a plain language standpoint, the easiest way to ensure your readers understand the text is to use familiar words.

So, if a non-English word is familiar to your intended audience (for example, food words like croissant, ravioli, and schnitzel) then you should be able to use them without italics. There's no need to draw special attention to them.

If the non-English word won’t be familiar to your audience, you can either replace it with a familiar English word or explain what the non-English word means (or provide a translation). In either case, italics aren’t necessary.

In cases that fall under number 2, where there is an identical word in English with a different meaning, putting the word in italics can be helpful. But again, replacing the word with its English equivalent is usually easier on the reader.

Before you accuse me of trying to “dumb down” your prose, I don’t think that multilingual texts should necessarily be avoided. If your intended readers are well-travelled, well-read, or familiar with international terminology used in a specific field (perhaps art history, cooking, or architecture), by all means use the most appropriate words to express yourself.

Plain language isn’t about banning complex or sophisticated language, it’s about targeting your language to the readers you're hoping to reach.

Zombie rule: All Headings Must Be in Title Case

Why Are Headings Important?

Headings allow you to break up your text and make it easier for readers to find the information they’re looking for.

Headings also make it easier for them to skip the parts they aren’t interested in, which saves them time.

Headings are also helpful for writers, because they make it easier to categorize your content and put together a well organized document.

Don’t We Need To Capitalize Every Word?

Actually, most rules for title case don’t suggest capitalizing every word. (Did you hear that Microsoft Word?!)

Conjunctions (and, or, but, if), articles (a, the) and short prepositions (in, on, over, for, etc.) are generally not capitalized in title case.

This confuses a lot of writers, who end up making every small word lower case because who knows whether it’s one of the special words or not!

We Need To Do This for All Headings, Right?

Not necessarily. Using title case for headings is an option, but title case is harder to read than sentence case.

Have You Ever Tried To Read A Whole Sentence Where Every Word Is Capitalized—Or A Whole Paragraph? It Gets Pretty Annoying. It’s Like The Author Is Saying, All My Words Are So Important They All Deserve Capital Letters!

If the headings in your document are long, descriptive headings (which can be helpful for readers), writing them like sentences will make them easier to read.

But how will readers know they’re reading a heading?

Headings should stand out from the text by using a larger font size, a bold font, or a different font or colour. (Often they use a combination of these.) And every level of heading should look different than the others. This approach makes it easy for readers to understand how the document is organized.

Zombie Rule: Paragraphs must contain more than one sentence 

Like most zombie rules, this one has well-meaning origins in English classrooms. 👩‍🏫

Students need to understand that paragraphs aren’t just like sentences. They combine several sentences that are linked by a single topic. It’s a lesson we all need to learn when we start writing longer pieces, like essays.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t ever have a one-sentence paragraph. Or even a one-word paragraph.

Right?

And as social media changes the way people read and write, paragraphs are becoming shorter. Readers have a low tolerance (especially online) for huge blocks of text.

On the other hand, It’s a bad idea to make every paragraph one sentence long. It’s tedious and hard to follow because ideas are not connected together in a logical flow.

But if you want to make a statement really stand out, let it stand alone!

Zombie Rule: Always capitalize Job Titles and Department Names 👨‍⚖️

As a Plain Language Consultant and former Communications Specialist who has worked in Business Development, Marketing & Communications, and Media Relations, I have encountered a whole lot of random rules about capitalization in various organizations.

Capitalizing someone’s job title is usually a way to make them feel like they have an Important Role. But let’s face it, a job is a job—it’s not your identity (I hope) and shouldn’t be treated like your name.

Exception: Sometimes jobs titles are indeed treated as part of someone’s name. Their title comes directly before their name when this happens:
President Michelle Waitzman says…

As for departments, they are simply ways to categorize functions in an organization. They don’t each carry their own brand or trademark, so why give them capitalized names? The finance department takes care of finances, the marketing department does marketing, and so on.

If you can’t tell whether someone is talking about the department or the work (e.g., the marketing department versus marketing as an activity), it’s probably a sign that the sentence is not clearly written.

Do I expect capitalized job titles and departments to disappear any time soon? No. They make people feel important, and nobody likes to have their importance diminished with puny lowercase letters!