Transcribing improper grammar

[Kaleisha Straughter]

This is a tricky one to post, but here goes...
When you hear a witness say a word and you know he/she was meaning to say another, what do you do? Example: "ax" for ask, "messican" for mexican, "rockweiller" for rotweiller, "lawd" for lord, "no content" for no contest, etc., etc., and the list goes on and on... In instances like these, the reporter can be the one who looks incompetent if the transcript reads the way the wit says the word. But if we are truly supposed to be writing verbatim what we HEAR, sometimes I stop and think about writing and transcribing exactly what the wit says.
Any thoughts? I'd love to read some of your stories.
Thanks!

[Jennie Ann]

I did a little research on semicolons because I do get confused, and I came up with a great article, found on this forum, thanks to Marla. It was from Grammar Girl's website: Semicolons and Colons

I see some folks do place semicolons in front of "but" in transcripts and industry forums. Here is what Grammar Girl says:

Also, one important thing to remember is that you never use semicolons with coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, and but when you're joining two main clauses. Instead, if you're joining two main clauses with a coordinating conjunction, you use a comma. For example, "It was zero, and Squiggly wondered if he would freeze to death.

This is one rule I need to incorporate in my style. Here is what Grammar Girl says:

You use a semicolon when you use a conjunctive adverb to join two main clauses. Conjunctive adverbs are words such as however, therefore, and indeed, and they "usually show cause and effect, sequence, contrast, comparison, or other relationships" (1). For example, “The aardvark is on vacation; therefore, Squiggly has to carry the weight in this episode.” (The comma after the conjunctive adverb is optional.)

Many times I use "however" and "therefore" as the first word of a new sentence.

At any rate, I hope the link helps some folks. I like chatting about this kind of stuff. :-)

[K.C. Corbin]

Kaleisha-

You have a point on that one. I sometimes think it is more due to pride in our work than necessity!

[Sharla Preciado]

I don't put "uhs" and "ums" in when they are spoken in the middle of a sentence, or at the beginning for that matter, when they're just spoken because the attorney or witness is pausing to think.

The only time I put them in is if that's the only answer a witness gives to a question. So if the attorney asks a question and all the witness says is "Um -- uh --" so the attorney goes on to ask a different question or rephrase, I think it's important to show that the witness did verbalize something. Otherwise it looks like the attorney just went on to ask a new question, and I don't think that reflects what happened very well.

So when I'm at the depo, I take down what's spoken, including the "ums" but clean it up later. So I might have "A. Um -- well, I guess so." In that case, I take out the "um" because there was an answer that followed it. But if all they said was "Um," then I leave it in to stand alone as their answer.

I'd love to hear what others do!

[Kaleisha Straughter]

And I've learned over the years that most of the individuals reading our transcripts don't understand all this technical English that we throw in these transcripts. As my English teacher said in CR school, you can never go wrong with the KISS rule. (Keep It Simple Stupid!) All this fancy dancy punctuation for what???

[K.C. Corbin]

I attended a seminar recently where the gentleman said the only reason to use an ellipsis is to show missing material. Otherwise, a dash should be used. To me, a dash indicates an interruption, where an ellipsis shows a trailing thought. That way you know for sure which is which. If it is all dashes, it makes the meaning muddled. I do work with a transcription company which does not use ellipses, so I follow their guidelines.

In strict English construction, I understand the theory. But, again, we are working with conversation, not literature.

[Judy]

Oh, I too think that some reporters overuse the semicolon. Everybody definitely has their own style. To each his own, huh?

And I too love to read how others do things. I've changed the way I've done things just because somebody on a board made a good argument for/against something.

[Jennie Ann]

Judy, I think your husband must have gone to the same school as me. ;-)

I use semicolons very sparingly. When I read magazines, newspapers, books, and other periodicals, I don't see a lot of semicolons at all. On court reporting and transcription forums, I see the semicolon used a lot. I have two court reporter friends who often have 10 or 20 semicolons sprinkled on almost every page of their transcripts, which looks odd to my eye but not to theirs. I might have 10 semicolons in 100 pages, if that many.

These are style issues, and I agree with Judy that we do beat ourselves up over these things that others probably do not even notice. However, I really do enjoy hearing how others produce their transcripts. I like to learn new styles, and sometimes I do change my style if I can see the logic in it.

[Judy]

Veronica,

Even with just a note to check it, it would have resulted in ten pages of "notes" to check. Yeah, it was that bad.

Yesterday's depo she was asked if somebody had an accent. She responds, "No. She talks normal, like I do." Boy, did I roll my eyes at that one (to myself, of course). It's a good thing she was such a nice person.

As far as ellipses, my husband swears that people don't "talk in ellipses" (he says they also don't talk in semicolons too, though) and doesn't understand why reporters would use them, that it's wrong. I guess he's of the belief that periods and commas are the only punctuation out there. We've agreed to disagree about punctuation and I no longer proofread his legal papers for him. Otherwise he's a very bright boy. I guess my point being, we beat ourselves up over this stuff and most of the clients don't care.

[Kyung]

I use eliipses to indicate that they trailed off at end of sentences. I don't used it to indicate missing words in quoted material. If they didn't read it, I leave it out. I have no way to know whether they left it out on purpose or just inadvertently misread the document.

[Jennie Ann]

Veronica, I think everybody has their own style, and everyone does do it differently.

I only use an ellipsis for omitted words within a quote.

For example, when I have an exhibit or a document in front of my eyes and the speaker who is reading from said document leaves out a few words that I can see that he omitted, then I will use the ellipsis.

I do not use it for pauses or interruptions, et cetera. However, it may be that I am very old schoolish.

There may be many reference books available, but one I happen to have handy at the time of this writing is Diane Castilaw's "Court Reporting Grammar and Punctuation," 2d edition, which states on page 10, "Ellipsis Mark. A mark (...) indicating the omission of words, sentences, or even paragraphs within quoted material. The CR will not need to use an ellipsis mark unless, while reading quoted matter, the reader says, 'Dot, dot, dot' to indicate an ellipsis. Do not use this mark to show an interruption, pause, or dropping off of speech."

Again, this is just one style, and there may be other reference material or style guides which say the opposite.