Words into Type (3rd Edition)
By Marjorie E. Skillin, Robert Malcolm Gay
* Publisher: Prentice Hall
* Number Of Pages: 585
* Publication Date: 1974-06
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0139642625
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780139642623
Amazon.com Review
This is the definitive text for questions of manuscript protocol, copyediting, style, grammar, and usage. For those who find The Chicago Manual of Style a bit cumbersome and sometimes ambigous, Words Into Type will be a welcome reference guide. With its easy-to-use index and definitive explanations, this third edition makes life simpler for writers, editors, and proofreaders. You may never need to know about frontispieces and imprimaturs, but if you deal with words, this is a wonderfully edifying, reassuring fount of clarity and wisdom.
From the Preface
In the years since its first publication, Words into Type has become a classic among style manuals, an invaluable reference source for many of the fine points of grammar, usage, style, and production methods. Writers, editors, copy editors, proofreaders, compositors, and printers have turned to Words into Type with the confidence that, whatever the problem, they would find help there.
The third edition of Words into Type provides an overview of the many processes of transforming the written word into type—from the preparation of the copy to the market-ready work.
For the writer, an understanding of the technical problems of copy-editing and typographical style may facilitate his preparation of the manuscript, while a knowledge of the various stages in production may explain what is happening during the seemingly interminable wait for the final printed and bound product.
For the editor, copy editor, compositor, proofreader, production writer, or printer, an understanding of the publishing processes outside his particular field may prove equally beneficial, while for the student this survey offers a practical introduction to the world of publishing.
Contents
Preface
Part I: Manuscript
Technicalities of Form
Physical Form
Final Reading of the Manuscript
Author's Alterations
Editorial Marks
Style
Topical Heads
Excerpts
Footnotes
Tables
Bibliographies
Illustrations
Special Responsibilities of the Book Writer
Front Matter
Back Matter
Legal Areas of Particular Concern to the Author
The Copyright Law
Libel
The Right of Privacy
Part II: Copy and Proof
Workers on Copy and Proof
The Editor
Editor or Copy Editor
The Copy Editor
The Production Department
Layout
Introduction
Front Matter
Back Matter
Work on Proof
Introduction
Galley Proofs
Page Proofs
Indexes
Introduction
Indexes by Names
Compiling a Dictionary-Style Index
Alphabetical Order
Typography of Indexes
Part III: Copy-Editing Style
Style
Abbreviations
Acronyms and shortened forms
Agencies and organizations
Beginning a sentence
The Bible
Compass directions
Dates and time
Dialogue
Firm names
Geographical terms
Latin words and phrases
Latitude and longitude
Laws, constitutions, bylaws
Measures, weights, and other units
Medical terms
"Number"
Personal names
Philological terms
Plurals
References
"Saint"
Scholastic, military, and civil honors
Temperature and gravity
Time
Titles
"Versus"
Symbols and Signs
Book sizes
Chemical elements and compounds
Chess
Degree mark
Mathematical signs
Prime marks
Times sign
Trigonometry
Standard signs and symbols
Numbers
Large numbers
Small numbers
Numbers with abbreviations
Ages
Beginning a sentence
Use of commas
Dates
Decimals
Degrees
Dialogue
Dimensions
Divisions
Elision
End-of-line division
Fractions
House and room numbers
Money
Ordinals
Page numbers
Percentage
Roman numerals
Subscripts and superscripts
Time of day
Votes and scores
Italics
Book titles
Characters in books and plays
Differentiation
Emphasis
Foreign words
Legal citations
Letters
Musical compositions
Newspapers and periodicals
Plays, movies, television series
Resolutions and legislative acts
Scientific names
Sounds
Thoughts
Vessels, airplanes, spacecraft
Capitalization
Capitals to Mark Beginnings
Titles, Headings, Legends
Proper Nouns and Adjectives
Punctuation
Introduction
Period
Exclamation Point and Question Mark
Colon
Semicolon
Comma
Em Dash
En Dash
Two-Em Dash
Parentheses
Brackets
Quotation Marks
Apostrophe
Hyphen
Points of Ellipsis
Compound Words
Principles of compounding words
Temporary compounds
Form dependent upon meaning
Names of kindred
Two nouns of equal value
Noun and possessive
"Like"
"Self," "Half," "Quasi"
Adjective and noun
Verb and preposition or adverb
Number and noun
Fractions
Colors
Compounds with present participle
Compounds with noun plus "-d" or "-ed"
Compounds with the past participle
Adverb-and-adjective compounds
Suspended compounds
Phrases
Division of Words
General Rules
Part IV: Typographical Style
Elements of Typographical Style
Leading
Spacing
Indention
Problems of Typographical Style
Headings
Initials
Synopses
Epigraphical Quotations
Excerpts
Footnotes
Tables
Captions and Legends
Bibliographies
Details of Page Makeup
Folios
Front matter
Running heads
"Widows"
Long and short pages
Headings
Spacebreaks
Poetry
Columns
Ditto marks
"Continued"
Illustrations
Footnotes
Typography of Various Forms
Fiction
Poetry
Plays
Writings on Religion
Letters
Legal Writing
Mathematical and Scientific Writing
Composition of Foreign Languages
Danish
Dutch
French
German
Classic Creek
Hebrew
Italian
Latin
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Phonetics
Part V: Grammar
Verbs
Voice
Mood
Tense
Auxiliaries
Agreement
Nouns
Number
Possessive Case
Pronouns
Case
Antecedents
Adjectives and Adverbs
Predicate adjectives
Comparison
Adjectives misused for adverbs
Nouns as adjectives
"Above"
"Barely," "hardly," "scarcely"
"Different"
"Due to"
"Very," "very much"
Articles
Indefinite Articles
Definite Article
Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating Conjunctions
Correlative Conjunctions
Prepositions
Terminal prepositions
Allowable omissions of prepositions
Incorrect omissions
Faulty use of prepositions
"Among," "between"
"In," "into," "in to"
"On," "onto," "on to"
Sentence Structure
Introduction
Position of Modifiers
Omissions
Glossary of Grammatical Terms
Part VI: Use Of Words
Wordiness
Redundancy and pleonasm
Tautology
Circumlocutions
Words and Phrases Often Used Superfluously
Trite Expressions
Appropriateness
The Right Preposition
Words Likely to be Misused or Confused
Spelling
The "EI" or "IE" Difficulty
Forming Derivatives by Adding Suffixes
Troublesome Suffixes
Formation of Plurals
Formation of the Possessive Case
Ordinary Words that Cause Trouble
Foreign Words and Phrases
Bibliography for Parts V and VI
Dictionaries
General Reference Works
Book Publishers
Part VII: Typography and Illustration
The Size of the Book
Casting Off
Trim Size
Type Page
The Mechanics of Composition
Hot Metal Composition
Type
Type Measurement
Classification of Typefaces
Choice of Size and Face
Computing the Length in Type
Typesetting
Cold Type Composition
Photocomposition or Phototypesetting
Sample Pages
Proofs
The Mechanics of Printing
Letterpress
Offset Lithography or Photo- Offset
Illustrations
Preparation
Sizing
Line cuts
Halftones
Benday screens
Two-color illustrations
Four-color illustrations
Proofs
Dummy
Layout
Paper
General characteristics
Texture
Color
Brightness
Opacity
Finish
Weight
Grain
Bulk
Permanence
Computation of paper needed
Book Sizes
Binding
Case-bound books
Paper-bound books
Mechanical-bound books
Binding processes
Bibliography
Dictionaries
General
Graphic Arts
Typographic Design
Type and Typography
Composition and Printing
Glossary of Printing and Allied Terms
Index
Summary: In Really Good Shape
Rating: 4
I didn't expect this used book to be in such good shape, and I received it a couple of days after I ordered it.
Summary: Technical writing book
Rating: 5
Essential book for any kind of editor. My 30-year old copy needed replacing. Where else to look but Amazon? It came in less time than predicted. A treasure to me.
Summary: apprecaite the opportunity to purchase item
Rating: 4
Thank you for the opportunity to purchase. Book answers many questions and is an assest in improving my abilities.
Summary: At home on any writer's shelf
Rating: 5
This is a great reference book for grammar and English rules in general.
For new writers, I recommend going through it front to back once, to familiarize yourself with what's inside - it really is of immense help if you are at all interested in writing cleanly and/or editing your own work (as far as THAT is possible!).
While certainly no substitute for a good editor, this book is one of my most-used references. It has a pretty decent index, and is organized in a useful manner that makes most "rules" easy to find.
Summary: Nearly indispensable, yet thirty years old!
Rating: 5
Somebody who had read my review of Bryan A Garner's Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (2003)--IMHO, the preeminent book on usage, per se--wrote me the other day asking about a good book on typographical style. I recommended Words into Type which I have used for many years. But as I prepared to write a review, I was amazed to learn that a new edition of this outstanding reference work is lacking.
What we have here is the Third Edition from 1974, the same book I have in front of me. Yet, so much has changed since 1974--including the invention and phenomenal growth of a little thing called the Internet--that a new and updated work is sorely needed. On the other hand, so much in terms of what is appropriate style in the publishing world has not changed, which means that this venerable and authoritative work remains a most valuable addition to anyone's library.
First, a note on "style" as used here and as understood in the publishing business. Style does not refer to what should more properly be called the writer's "mode of expression," nor does it refer to such things as elegance or flair in wordsmithing; and yet it does have something to do with "fashion" in terms of how words, numbers, and symbols appear on the pages of books, magazines, and newspapers. In this sense "style" refers to "the rules or customs of spelling, punctuation, and the like..." (from Random House Webster's College Dictionary).
Style should therefore be contrasted with and compared to usage and grammar. Indeed Words into Type includes in its pages plenty of advice on grammar and usage. Part V is devoted to "Use of Words" and Part VI to "Grammar." Still, most of the book is about how characters appear on pages and how pages should be laid out and how various sections of books--introductions, indices, appendices, footnotes, typographical style for tables and headings, etc.--should be ordered. Also included is guidance on the various responsibilities of writers, editors and copyreaders. To put it simply, I know of no book that gives anywhere near as much guidance on how words are transformed into type than this very appropriately named, Words into Type.
I have by way of comparison in front of me a copy of my old The Associated Press Stylebook, which I used when I was a newspaper reporter years ago. The AP stylebook tells us which words to capitalize for example and which words to leave lower case. It covers abbreviations, punctuation, whether numbers should be spelled out or not, conventions to follow in the reporting of sports, and various other matters related strictly to newspaper reporting.
Words into Type does all this and, as indicated above, much, much more. The AP stylebook is fifty-some pages long; Words into Type is nearly six hundred. I do not have the Chicago Manual of Style in front of me, but it is the only book that I know of that can compete with Words into Type in terms of inclusiveness. Perhaps it is a better book today. But when I compared them some years ago it wasn't even close. Words into Type was more comprehensive while being at the same time easier to use and understand. Still the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style is from 2003.
Publishers, even if they use the Chicago Manual of Style, should have a copy of Words into Type at the ready. And any writer who wants to look professional and furthermore wants to understand the process of turning words into type--and indeed would like an education in "style"--should also own this book. With self-publishing and Web-based publishing growing by leaps and bounds everyday, I think it would be a good idea to update this book.
Maybe the people at Prentice-Hall or whoever now owns the copyright are working on such an edition. I hope so. Until such an edition or its equivalent comes out, I cannot recommend this book too highly as indispensable to serious writers, editors and publishers. |