Once in awhile, I'll get an article submission that reads as though the author has been using what I like to call The MySpace Elements of Style. Maybe it includes "emoticons" (smileys), multiple exclamation marks after individual sentences, or the cringe-worthy abbreviation "LOL." My ultimate peeve is using "u" for the pronoun "you." Really, are you texting in your submission? I don't think so.

Remember that, just because you see it on a cat macro (see left), use it in a forum discussion, get it sent to you in a text message, or use it in a casual email to friends, that does not mean that it is equally acceptable in a submission.

If you use the kind of language popularized by the above, I will have to see you in my office. I are serious editor.

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When writing the short summary or including keywords in your photo submission form, think about the types of information that would be useful to a potential customer. In addition, refrain from including information that doesn't add anything to the usefulness of the photo.

Include:

• The geographic location in which the photo was taken (Colorado, Moscow, Near the Eiffel Tower)
• A description to help the viewer make sense of what he or she sees (antique buttons, homemade lasagna, geese flying south)
• Any particulars that will make the photo more useful - species name, cocktail type, dog breed (Scottish Thistle, Martini, Cairn Terrier)

Do Not Include:

• Irrelevant information (When I took this photo, I was so happy.)
• Information that isn't particular enough (I found this flower in my back yard.)
• Information that states the obvious, without going further. (This is a photo of a dog.)

Think about what kind of information will encourage the user to know they are choosing the right image for their website, article, advertisement, or other publication. Let's use the owner of a gardening site for example. This person has an article on wildflowers of Ohio, and he would like to spruce it up with some relevant, meaningful, and illustrative photos.

His choices are:

1. A photo of a wild orchid, that may or may not be a Lady's Slipper, a rare wildflower that grows in Southern Ohio - the photographer doesn't give the type of flower or the region where this photo was taken.
2. A photo of a white flower, growing in a shady area that the photographer specifically states is a Trillium that was photographed in John Bryant State Park in Ohio.

The website owner who desires to present accurate information that will respect his readers' desire for accurate information will choose the second photo. The photographer has confirmed that this image is right for an article about Ohio wildflowers.

Remember, just as you write very narrowly focused articles for Constant Content, so are webmasters providing narrowly focused articles for their readers. Therefore, they need photographs that are specific. When the image doesn't speak for itself, the photographer must fill in the details.

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Your article may have been rejected because you included a web address or link. Please do not do this. Why? The question can be answered very easily if you look at the article through the purchaser's eyes.

A website owner wants readers to come to their website and stay on it. If you include a link off-site, the reader may click on it and be sent away from the website on which the purchaser of the article wants them to remain. The buyer of an article wants the reader to click on links within his or her own website. This means that readers linger longer, giving them greater opportunity to click on relevant ads or purchase merchandise. Any time a reader does this, the website owner makes money.

Any time a reader clicks away, the website owner doesn't make any money. Buyers want articles that make them money! Don't include website addresses or links!

If you must, remove the "http://www" in front of the address, even if you use websites for references.

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The English language is an organic system. Words take on new meanings and usages almost daily, especially with the Internet acting as a tool for global communication. However, that doesn't mean that words can take on whatever meaning we want them to. Words must be used in ways that are understandable to a broad group of people and convey meaning accurately.

Because of the English language's indefatigable vocabulary, accurately conveying meaning can be an art. Synonyms are not necessarily interchangeable, as many words with similar interpretations are imbued with subtlety of meaning. Using the right word out of a set of synonyms can can put you head and shoulders above other writers who are haphazardly choosing words that seem to fit. Or worse, some writers try to make words take on meanings they were never meant to, simply because they think they can.

For example, take the verb "to decrease." M-W.com defines this verb as "to grow progressively less." Synonyms of this word are given, but their subtle differences described. "Lessen suggests a decline in amount rather than number." "Reduce implies a bringing down or lowering." "Dwindle implies progressive lessening and is applied to things growing visibly smaller."

For example:

• Marianne lessened the size of her debt. (She lessened an amount rather than number. Marianne didn't lessen her bank balance, which is described as a number.)
• Marianne reduced the size of her debt. (Her debt did not reduce, unless it reduced her ability to spend.)
• Marianne's bank balance dwindled when she paid off her loans. (Marianne's bank account didn't dwindle--this wouldn't make sense; the account is where the money is held. And Marianne's money didn't dwindle because money doesn't get visibly smaller.)

If you try to use these words completely interchangeably without acknowledging their subtle differences, you can hurt your writing. Sentences will sound awkward and may be unclear. Give your reader credit for being sensitive to the language that they speak, read, and write. You don't want anything to distract the reader from you article, and using the wrong word certainly can. Remember--wanting a word to mean something that it doesn't won't make it so. Language is a system where the individual has very little autonomy, and it grows and adjusts to the collective users.

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If your article has been rejected for "accuracy of expression," you may not understand what this means at first. Let me try to explain.

Accuracy of expression is how correctly you've used the language to describe your thought or idea. When your article needs revised for accuracy of expression, it's possible that you have used words incorrectly or used the wrong words to convey your meaning.

For example, a couple of days ago I went to a seminar about anger. The speaker had a Ph.D. and was also the director of a college department. When he began describing children who have been beaten, he said, "You see these children, and they have whips on their arms." (The point I wanted to make about this person having had obtained a Ph.D. - it means nothing when it comes to language usage, really . . . and maybe unfortunately.)

Whips on their arms? Really? Not whip marks, lash marks, welts, lesions, switch marks, or red marks?

Now, for those of you fellow pedants, M-W.com does include "a stroke or cut with or as if with a whip" in its definition of the word "whip" as a noun. But this is the stroke itself, not the resulting injury.

Maybe it's just me, but a child with "whips on their arms" conjures up vision of the newest Heroes-like character (a pretty lame character who wouldn't last an episode--swords or poison daggers would be much cooler).

There are endless examples I could cite. I've blogged before about "regime" vs. "regimen" and "comprise" vs. "compose." One person I was talking to about this subject recounted a story in which he was told to "back up" while driving a U-Haul. The speaker meant "go forward."

The speaker did not use accuracy of expression. In fact, the speaker didn't use good communication at all. And really, there is a very fine line between inaccurately expressing an idea and just plain bad communication. And writing is all about communicating, and communicating well. So we should all strive to improve our accuracy of expression. The differences between a boy having welts on his arms and whips on his arms, or the difference between backing up or going forward are great. Say what you mean . . . and in any case when you aren't sure, look it up!

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