I understand that different academic disciplines and their respective journals have their preferred or required style guides.
Out in the non-academic world, I have gathered that book publishers tend to use the Chicago Manual of Style
Are there any other stylebooks that are popular, and for what? I can't find an authoritative resource about this.
Sometimes I write sentences in which I'm not sure whether I should be using "that" or "which" or "who".
I'm pretty sure I have the who/whom rule down -- you use whom when, if you changed the sentence to refer to a specific person, you would use him or her, and you use who if you would otherwise use he or she. Correct? I forget the actual grammatical term for the difference between the pronoun groups he/she/who vs. him/her/whom but I think I grasp the rule and how to use it (even if I don't always remember to).
But I don't always know when I should that vs. which vs. who. For example:
Obviously "which" doesn't belong there, but even though I can't remember a specific example right now I know that I sometimes encounter situations in which I'm not sure whether I should use "which" or "that".
I don't know the rule for these situations and I'm pretty sure that this is one area in which I sometimes unwittingly make mistakes.
Grammarians, please advise! Thanks!
I enrolled in a summer session writing course at UNLV, Fundamentals of Business Writing: "Examines the rhetorical principles and composing practices necessary for writing effective business letters, memos, and reports." It covers not just core writing skills but also business writing conventions, formatting, planning and managing research and writing projects, writing collaboratively, etc. I'm pretty excited about it so far.
It's the prerequisite course for UNLV's Professional Writing Certificate, which also sounds interesting. Here are the certificate's courses and descriptions:
Document Design: "Explores fundamental theories and practices of designing professional documents. Considers how design is influenced by genre and rhetorical context. Students will use appropriate tools to design printed documents."
Advanced Professional Communication: "Analyzes a range of professional writing topics, applying rhetorical theories and techniques to specific professional writing situations, especially within organizations."
Electronic Documents and Publications: "Explores advanced principles of information architecture and content development for web-based documents and publications. Students will plan, design, develop, edit and publish in a variety of web-based genres."
The certificate also requires three elective English courses. These look the most interesting to me:
Advanced Composition: "Explores writing and literacy. Students will develop greater awareness of themselves as strategic writers by studying and creating texts for different audiences, purposes and contexts in a variety of styles and genres."
Research and Editing: "Library research, as distinct from experimental or laboratory research, and report writing and editing for students in all disciplines."
Writing for Publication: "Intensive study of the business of writing, designed to serve the needs of the freelance writer. Includes discussion of literary markets and popular literary genres."
Visual Rhetoric: "Study of the persuasive and aesthetic effects that visual elements have on readers/users in print and online documents. Visual elements include typography, graphics, images, color, paper or screen textures, alignment, and multimedia."
Principles of Modern Grammar: "Surveys the structure of contemporary English grammar. Examines the workings of the English language from a linguistic perspective, concentrating primarily on sentence structure."
The prerequisite chains and class schedule of the MS Accounting program are such that I don't think I'll be able to take a full 15 credit load of graduate accounting classes most semesters (the program seems designed with part-time, working students in mind), so it may be possible to simultaneously complete all or most of the Professional Writing Certificate program without tacking more semesters on.
I'm seriously considering enrolling in it because it looks like its emphasis is on the type of writing I am interested in: practical nonfiction that explains or instructs. I have no interest in writing fiction or "creative nonfiction", which unfortunately seems to be the focus of most writing courses I've looked at. No Great American Novel for me -- I just want tell people how to manage their personal finances or where to find a good beer in Las Vegas or how to make money on the internet or how to get a date or other useful information and advice gleaned from my own research and experiences.
I'd really like to expunge any lingering errors from my writing, but I don't know which errors I'm making because I learned to write mostly by reading and not by studying the rules of English. If I'm going to improve I need other people to help me by pointing out the errors that I make so I can learn to stop making them.
So, Grammar Nazis of the world, welcome! Please nitpick my errors in grammar, mechanics, and usage. If you notice that something I've written is unclear or too wordy, please feel free to criticize that as well. Any level of help will be appreciated, from pointing out errors to correcting them to naming the rule or principle violated. You can comment on the post containing the error or email me at 
, whichever is more convenient for you.
Also, if you know other people who enjoy pointing out others' language errors but don't find many opportunities to practice their hobby without irritating the people they're trying to help, please send them my way! I will welcome and appreciate them here!
Thank you!!!
Update: The blog posts, other web content, articles, and books I aspire to write will be primarily practical non-fiction that explains, analyzes, instructs, or advises. I have no desire to write fiction, poetry, or "creative nonfiction". If that makes a difference in the advice you would give, please keep it in mind. Thanks!
