CONTENTS FEATURE: How to create accent marks on your computer NEWS: EditPros marks an anniversary GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: How to create diacritics, or accent marks, on your computer      Modern English is a composite language that has Germanic underpinnings but has a history of appropriating words from other languages, including French, Greek and Latin. Many of those "borrowed" words stand out because of their diacritics—the little squiggles and dots that hover above or dangle below some letters in certain words. They're commonly called "accent marks," which is a term that more properly applies to notations on musical scores.      Diacritics, also known as diacritical marks, indicate pronunciations that differ from those of unmarked characters. Their presence or absence can change the meaning of a word radically. For example, the Spanish word pena (pronounced PAY-na) refers to grief or pity, while peña (pronounced PAIN-ya due to the tilde) means "rock" or "stone." And unconscious omission of the tilde from año (ON-yo), the Spanish word for "year," results instead in ano (ON-no) the Spanish word for "anus."      Many people are uncertain not only about the names of the individual diacritics, but how to type them on a computer. Diacritical mark and character combinations number in the dozens, but we'll identify the most common ones for you and tell you how to create them.      Bear in mind that some e-mail applications, other software programs and some type fonts may may be incapable of displaying diacritics properly. The keyboard shortcuts we'll describe should produce predictable results, however, in your word-processing application.      Diacriticals are produced for Web pages by means of specific HTML "tags." ACUTE ACCENT: (as in résumé)      Slanting from lower left to upper right, the acute accent is the diacritic most commonly called an "accent mark." Macintosh: press the "Option" and "e" keys (indicated as Option+e) simultaneously, then type the desired letter over which you want the acute accent to appear Windows: while pressing "Ctrl" ("Control" key) type an apostrophe (indicated as Ctrl+') and then the desired letter HTML: type &Xacute; and replace "X" with the desired letter (be sure to include the ampersand and semicolon). GRAVE ACCENT: (as in voilà or crème)      The grave (rhymes with either "save" or "suave") accent slants from upper left to lower right. Macintosh: type Option+` (grave accent) and then the desired letter Windows: type Ctrl+` (grave accent) and then the desired letter HTML: type &Xgrave; and replace "X" with the desired letter. CEDILLA: ç (as in façade)      The diacritical that resembles a tiny numeral "5" hanging below the letter "c" is a cedilla (pronounced just as it looks: suh-DIL-la). Macintosh: type Option+c for lowercase; Option-Shift-c for cap Windows: type Ctrl+, (comma) and then the desired letter HTML: type &Xcedil; and replace "X" with the desired letter. CIRCUMFLEX: (as in maître)      The circumflex looks like an upside-down "v". Macintosh: type Option+i, then the desired letter Windows: type Ctrl+Shift+^ (Shift-6) and then the desired letter HTML: type &Xcirc; and replace "X" with the desired letter. DIAERESIS or UMLAUT: (as in naïve or noël or kümmel)      This is the mark consisting of two dots above some letters. Macintosh: type Option+u and then the desired letter Windows: type Ctrl+Shift+: (colon) and then the desired letter HTML: type &Xuml; and replace "X" with the desired letter. RING: å (as in smörgåsbord or ångström)      The letter "Â" is a unique character in Scandinavian languages resembling a "degree" symbol suspended above the letter "a" in either capital or lowercase. Macintosh: type Option-a for lowercase; Option-Shift-a for cap Windows: type Ctrl+Shift+@ (Shift-2) and then the desired letter HTML: type &Xring; and replace "X" with the desired letter. SLASH OR STROKE: / (as in the ø in Sønderborg)      A character resembling an "o" with a slash through it is a distinct vowel in Scandinavian languages. Although the character doesn't exist on U.S. English keyboard layouts, you can generate it. Macintosh: type Option-o for lowercase; Option-Shift-o for cap Windows: type Alt+0248 for lowercase; Alt+0216 for cap (you must use the right-hand numeric keypad with the "Num Lock" key depressed, so this numeric entry method may not function on many laptops) HTML: type &Xslash; and replace "X" with the desired letter. TILDE: ñ or ã (as in piñata or São Paulo)      The tilde is a squiggle that appears above the letter "n" in many Spanish words or over vowels in Portuguese. Macintosh: type Option+n and then the desired letter Windows: type Ctrl+Shift+~ (tilde) and then the desired letter HTML: type &Xtilde; and replace "X" with the desired letter.      To view and paste additional diacritical mark combinations using Macintosh OS X, click the "international" menu (the flag icon in the menu bar), and select "show character palette." Choose the "Roman" character view, then in the "by Category" scroll box select "Accented Latin" to view a list of accented characters that you may drag or copy and paste into open documents.      The Microsoft Windows operating system likewise offers a United States-International keyboard layout. A support page at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306560/en-us describes its use with Windows XP.      Don't let omission of a tilde or other diacritical mark give anyone reason to be critical of your writing. NEWS: EditPros enters teenage years      EditPros has turned 13. No, we don't have braces, spend time in Internet chat rooms, hang out at the mall or crash parties. But we are commemorating the 13th anniversary of the establishment of EditPros marketing communications.      We began EditPros as a home-based business in July 1993, and launched the http://www.editpros.com Web site in 1996. Two years later, we moved into an office building in downtown Davis, where we remain.      We are grateful to our many clients for trusting and relying upon us throughout these baker's dozen years. Thank you. GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions 1. Mike May wrote:      "Which is correct: My GPS receiver has '10 foot' or '10 feet' accuracy?" The grammar coach replies:      "Foot" is the proper word to use when forming hyphenated compound modifiers to express units of measure. A "two-foot diameter" is correct but "a two-feet diameter" is not, because "two-foot" is a compound adjective modifying "diameter." The hyphenated structure is required when the compound adjective precedes the noun—in this case, the adjective "two-foot" appears before the noun "diameter." The word "feet" becomes acceptable if the measurement is not part of a compound modifier but rather is the object of a preposition—as in "a circle with a diameter of two feet"; also correct (but used less commonly) is "a diameter of two foot."      The easiest rule to remember is to use "foot" between a number and a noun (as in "10-foot pole"), while you can use either "feet" or "foot" between a number and an adjective (as in "6 feet tall").      You would therefore be correct in saying either "my GPS receiver has 10-foot accuracy" or "my GPS receiver is accurate within a zone 10 feet wide." 2. Marie wrote:      "Not a question, but an appalling example of unrestrained marketing speak. Can you guess what they're talking about?      '(This product) utilizes a methodical progression and circumplex modeling to graphically assist the participant in assessment, measurement, enrichment, and action planning. This approach includes identifying current and desired states involving key life dimensions, as well as exercises that help identify life stressors, stress agents, skill set competencies, and resources necessary to enrich the quality of life.'      Lord, where do these people go to school?" The grammar coach replies:      Thank you for sending that spectacular example of circumlocution, Marie. This product or service may be beneficial, but after reading the paragraph you sent we have no idea what it is or does.      Did you ever pour a can of pineapple juice into a motorized blender and whip it up for about 20 seconds? It looks luxuriant and sinfully frothy, but the underlying content is still canned pineapple juice. Same thing with turgid, pompous, tiresome writing like this. It baffles and fatigues readers, and thus fails to communicate.      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help—at no charge, just for the sport of it. FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn a finder's fee of up to $500      Do you know of a friend or colleague whose office can benefit from EditPros services? If you do, EditPros may reward you with a "finder's fee" of up to $500.      EditPros, established in 1993, performs writing, editing, proofreading and publication management services for newsletters, brochures, Web sites, annual reports, research studies, business proposals and other informational and marketing materials. Our office is in Davis, Calif., between Sacramento and San Francisco.      Our clients include educational institutions, private corporations, health-care organizations, trade associations, scientific research institutions, Web site developers and government agencies. We have worked with some of them for more than 10 years.      If you recommend our services to a friend or business colleague, and that introduction leads to an assignment for EditPros, we will award you a "finder's fee" equaling 10 percent of the amount we earn on the first assignment for the new client, up to a maximum finder's fee of $500. Naturally, the finder's fee is applicable only to clients for which we have not worked previously.      This offer will remain in effect until further notice. YOUR TURN: Ask the "grammar coach" or subscribe      We invite you to submit your questions to the "grammar coach," and we welcome you to subscribe to this monthly newsletter—which we'll send to your e-mail address at no charge. We respond to all "grammar coach" questions personally, but delays may occur because we must place top priority on assignments from our clients. We appreciate your patience and your interest.      You also can change your e-mail subscription address. For an address change, please indicate your existing AND your new e-mail address. Thank you. OUR PRIVACY POLICY for e-mail newsletter subscribers:      We do not use any commercial e-mail lists or automated mass-mailing programs, and we do not allow access to the list by anyone else for any reason. Our subscriber list is maintained by hand, and it is not for sale. We are protective of confidentiality because many of our readers are also clients of ours. Any accompanying advertising is placed by Yahoo.com in exchange for our use of the e-mail server to distribute this newsletter.