Parentheses within abbreviations

The example that I have is from South Africa. Chartered accountants here abbreviate their titles in emails to: CA(SA) This is meant to abbreviate “Chartered Accountant (South Africa)”. I feel, however, that this may be a mistake that is propagated by a precedent set by other accountants. Is it not more correct to use a … Read more

(un)conditional or (un-)conditional?

I want to write “conditional (mean imputation)” and “unconditional (mean imputation)” shorter, which of these 4 is the best way to do that? If multiple ways are correct, which is the most common (in American English)? (un)conditional or (un-)conditional or (un) conditional or (un-) conditional Which way of writing is correct; and Edit: for clarification: … Read more

“Webpages” or “Web Pages”?

Sometimes I found it written as “WebPages” and sometimes it is “Web Pages” .. I’m confused should it be written as one word or two words ?! Answer Here is an Ngram chart of "web page" (blue line) versus "web pages" (red line) versus "webpage" (green line) versus "webpages" (yellow line) for the period 1980–2019: … Read more

Why is the noun “blacklist” (written without a space) in the dictionary, but not “whitelist”?

Checking Oxford Dictionaries Online, I find the noun blacklist, written as one word, and the noun white list, written as two. There is no black list defined as a compound written open, and there is no whitelist written closed-up. Why this inconsistency in spelling? How did blacklist end up being written as one word, but … Read more

In a statistical model context, “overfitting” or “over fitting”?

I have been writing a research proposal. In a particular part of the proposal, I talk about statistical methods that will be used to avoid “overfitting.” This is a statistical concept describing a situation in which a model is overly complex and therefore has low error but not because of real signal but because of … Read more

Correct spelling for the abbreviation “FPS” (frames per second)

Well-known game journalists TotalBiscuit and Jim Sterling use [the number of frames per second] fps instead of 30FPS or 30 FPS, without an intervening space between the units and the following units (like 30fps or 60fps). Example One http://www.thejimquisition.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-mutants-in-manhattan-review/ PC users will be delighted to know it’s [the game] locked at 30fps on all platforms. Example Two … Read more

Why is “a lot” written as two words even though “ahead” is written as one word?

So I know “alot” should be written “a lot” and I have seen this amusing post on the treatment: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co.nz/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html However, why is a word like “ahead” OK? Surely they are doing the same thing, aren’t they? I have read the question Why is writing "alot" such a common mistake? but it doesn’t answer my … Read more

Punctuating local area names

I’m writing an informational essay that includes a description of an organization called Shepherd Community Center, and they say they work primarily in the "near Eastside of Indianapolis." I’d like to include this phrase in my essay, but their punctuation, capitalization, and/or spacing doesn’t look right. What is the proper way to capitalize, punctuate, and … Read more