Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 608, Formatting Text.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 608.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
This episode is called Formatting Texts.
It's a dialogue between Chad and Pamela that is going to be using a lot of vocabulary that you might need when talking about preparing a formal document on a word processing program such as Microsoft Word.
Let's get started.
Okay, this report is finally finished.
Oh, not quite.
I'm still working on the formatting.
We used the standard formatting for this type of report.
I don't think we should play around with the text.
Standard is boring.
I want our report to be special.
I'm putting a nice border on the cover, adding some shading, and centering some of the text.
No, I really think that's a bad idea.
All of the text should be flush left.
And nobody else puts shading in their reports.
It cuts down on readability.
Readability is secondary to presentation.
Look, I'm just putting some of the titles in caps and underlining them, adding some bullets and putting some of the important sections in bold or italics.
This will all make each page look more professional.
I don't think it's going to have your intended effect.
Really?
Yes.
Instead of thinking we're being professional, they'll think we've gone off our rocker.
Don't be so stodgy.
Hey, I think adding some clip art would really jazz things up, don't you?
Oh, God.
Chad begins our dialogue by saying to Pamela, okay, this report is finished.
A report is a document that summarizes some information about a particular topic, often as a result of research on that topic.
Pamela says, oh, not quite, meaning no, it isn't finished yet.
Not quite.
I'm still working on the formatting.
The formatting is the way that words are printed or displayed in electronic documents.
It's the visible style of the words, how they appear on the page.
Chad says, we used the standard formatting for this type of report.
Standard in many business uses typically means the basic ordinary normal, expected type of whatever it is you're talking about.
So the standard formatting would be the formatting that their company always uses for these kinds of reports.
Chad says, I don't think we should play around with the text.
To play around is a phrasal verb, which here means to change without really needing to change.
Play around can often just mean to look at something closely, to try different options.
In this case, it's used somewhat as a negative to mean that it's a waste of time.
The text are the written words, what you have actually written.
Pamela says, Standard is boring.
Standard formatting, she means, is boring.
It's not interesting.
She says, A border is a line or some sort of artistic design that goes around text or other images.
Usually it is rectangular in shape.
It's like a big box that goes around everything else, often a black line.
Shading is gray area behind the text, behind the writing, or behind objects.
It's often used for emphasis.
You might make a certain sentence gray, meaning that the background is gray, but the actual type, the actual text is still in black in order to emphasize a particular sentence.
Usually in black and white documents.
Shading is what we call the color between black and white, which is gray.
Shading has a couple of other meanings, however, and those can be found only in our learning guide.
To center C-E-N-T-E-R means to put the text on the page so that each sentence is in the middle of the page or the middle of the area.
When you center your text.
There isn't a line, a vertical line, at the left or right sides of the paragraph.
That the paragraph is oddly shaped.
Each side, both the left and the right side, are going to be slightly different because the sentences are in the middle of the page.
Sometimes we use this for poetry or perhaps for special invitations.
That's to center.
Well, Pamela wants to put a nice border on the cover, add some shading, and center some of the text.
Chad says, No, I think that's a bad idea.
And Pamela says, No, she doesn't say that.
Chad continues, All of the text should be flush left, and nobody else puts shading in the reports.
To be flush left means to be immediately next to the left-hand side of the page.
Basically, it means that all of the sentences begin on the same vertical line on the left side of the page.
To be flush right means that all of the sentences are on a vertical line on the right side of the page.
Finally, the third possibility, other than centering, is to be justified.
Text that is justified J-U-S-T-I-F-I-E-D is text that has two lines, one on the left, one on the right, and all of the sentences reach those two lines.
So there are two straight lines of text on the left and the right, if you look at the page.
Most books are written either flush left or justified.
You don't often see a long document flush right or centered.
Chad thinks all the text should be flush left and says that to put shading in, the report cuts down on readability.
To cut down on something is a phrasal verb meaning it reduces, it lessens, it makes it less.
In this case, it makes it less readable because it cuts down on readability.
Readability is how easy it is to read something, both because of the words, the grammar, the vocabulary, as well as the way they appear on the page.
You want things to be very readable in terms of the appearance of the text.
Pamela says Readability is secondary to presentation.
Secondary means it is not as important as or is second most important, but the most important is presentation.
Presentation is the way that you show something or share something with other people.
Presentation is often also used to mean a speech or a talk in front of a group of people.
Here, however, it means simply the way that something looks when you give it to someone else.
Pamela says, look.
Meaning, I want you to listen to me.
I'm just putting some of the titles in caps and underlining them.
Adding some bullets and putting some of the important sections in bold or italics.
Several formatting terms there.
Let's start with CAPS.
C-A-P-S.
CAPS refers to, or is short for, capital letters.
We sometimes call these uppercase letters.
They are the large form of the letter.
You also have lowercase letters.
These are smaller forms of the letters.
So, in English, sentences always begin with a capital letter.
The first letter, in other words, is in caps, that is, a capital letter.
To put an entire word in caps would mean to capitalize the entire word.
All of the letters are uppercase.
To underline means to put a usually black horizontal line underneath or below a sentence.
A bullet B-U-L-L-E-T.
In formatting is a small mark underneath, often a round circle.
That is used at the beginning of each item in a list.
You often will see what are called bullet points.
Bullet points are the same as bullets.
They are usually small white or black circles that go in front of a list of things, each item, each thing on that list.
Bullet has other meanings in English as well, and those can be found in the learning guide.
If you don't know them, you might want to learn them because it could save your life.
Bold, B-O-L-D, are letters that are thicker and darker than the other letters around them.
Usually we use this to emphasize a particular word, to make it, we would say, stand out, to make it noticeable.
Finally, Pamela talks about italics.
Italics is when the letters are printed at an angle so that it looks more like handwriting.
Again, this is used for emphasis.
So Pamela says that she's going to put some of the titles in caps and underline them.
She's going to add some bullets or some bullet points, and And she's going to put some of the important sections in bold or italics.
This will make each page more professional, she says.
Chad says, I don't think it's going to have your intended effect.
The intended effect is the result that you want to achieve.
It's what you plan to do or hope to have happen as a result of your actions.
If you walk up to a beautiful woman in a bar and you say to her, do you come here often?
The intended effect is for her to start a conversation with you.
However, the more probable effect is for her to ignore you or turn the other way.
Well, at least that's what always used to happen to me.
Chad doesn't think Pamela's changes are good ones.
Pamela says, really?
Chad replies, yes.
Instead of thinking we're being professional, they'll think we've gone off our rocker.
The expression to go off your rocker R-O-C-K-E-R, or to be off your rocker means to be crazy, to not be able to think clearly or rationally, to be nuts.
A rocker is crazy word for a rocking chair, which is a chair that has, instead of regular legs, two semi circles, almost like parts of a circle, that you can move the chair back and forth easily.
And This is sometimes a kind of chair we associate in the United States with old people, with elderly people who, it is sometimes thought, don't always think rationally because they're old and their brains are old.
This is certainly true of my old brain.
Well, that's the association then.
The rocker is an old person who may be a little crazy.
I suppose to be off your rocker means that you are up and out of your rocking chair and causing problems somewhere else.
In any case...
Pamela says to Chad, don't be so stodgy.
S-T-O-D-G-Y.
To be stodgy means to be very old-fashioned, to think the way people thought 50 years ago or 100 years ago.
It can also mean to be unwilling or unable to accept new ideas, new ways of doing things.
Pamela says, hey, I think adding some clip art would really jazz things up.
Don't you?
Clip, C-L-I-P, art, two words, art. refers to small electronic drawings or other images that you can put in electronic documents like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint that some people think will make the presentation the way it looks more interesting.
When personal computers first started to become popular in the 80s and 90s, it was very common to see people putting clip art in all sorts of things, including on web pages.
I think that has become less popular, thankfully, now.
Pamela wants to put some clip art in order to jazz things up.
To jazz something up means to make it more exciting, to make it more interesting.
Pamela says, I think adding some clip art would really jazz things up, don't you?
Chad doesn't agree.
He simply says, oh God, meaning he doesn't agree at all.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Okay, this report is finally finished.
Oh, not quite.
I'm still working on the formatting.
We use the standard formatting for this type of report.
I don't think we should play around with the text.
Standard is boring.
I want our report to be special.
I'm putting a nice border on the cover, adding some shading, and centering some of the text.
No, I really think that's a bad idea.
All of the text should be flush left, and nobody else puts shading in their reports.
It cuts down on readability.
Readability is secondary to presentation.
Look, I'm just putting some of the titles and caps and underlining them, adding some bullets and putting some of the important sections in bold or italics.
This will all make each page look more professional.
I don't think it's going to have your intended effect.
Really?
Really.
Yes.
Instead of thinking we're being professional, they'll think we've gone off our rocker.
Don't be so stodgy.
Hey, I think adding some clip art would really jazz things up, don't you?
Oh, God.
I apologize for our episode going a little long today.
Who knew formatting text could be so fascinating?
Well, Lucy Say, Dr. Lucy Say to you, knows, and we thank her for her efforts.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
