Grammar

Fun Fridays – September 24, 2021

By Steve Laubeon September 24, 2021

Today is National Punctuation Day!

Established by Jeff Rubin in 2004, it is a “celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semicolons, and the ever mysterious ellipsis.”

Please visit the official site: www.nationalpunctuationday.com.

Recently, I walked into a church classroom to find a list of the 10 Commandments on the board. The first line read “No other God’s.”
Sigh.

So while you take a moment to appreciate the need for precise punctuation, enjoy this delightful five-minute repartee between Dean Martin and Victor Borge singing with Phonetic Punctuation. The video is a bit blurry as it must have been clipped from an old video tape or similar. But hilarious nonetheless!

(If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to our site to view it. Or go to it’s native address: https://youtu.be/ecOGlZ-XAs4.)

To Comma or Not to Comma?

By Steve Laubeon June 28, 2021

I came across this entry in Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. The book is a classic on punctuation. (Although based on British English usage, it is still a great book.) On his deathbed in April 1991, Graham Green corrected and signed a typed document which restricts access to his papers at Georgetown University. Or does it? The document, before correction, stated: “I, Graham Greene, …

Category: Book Business, Contracts, Grammar, Language, SteveTag: commas, Grammar, Language, punctuation

Nagging Grammar Questions

By Bob Hostetleron October 14, 2020

Some time ago I asked my clients what publishing terms or concepts they wished someone would define or explain for them. I covered some of those in my September 16 post on this site. Some, however, asked for help with some nagging grammar questions. (We all—even the most accomplished—have such questions.) So I was going to answer them, but then I thought, Why not ask my friend, editor, and grammar …

Category: Writing CraftTag: Grammar

476 Ways to Avoid Writing “Said”

By Steve Laubeon October 5, 2020

The folks over at ProofreadingServices.com created the incredible infographic below. Four hundred and seventy-six alternatives to the word “said.” Take care not to use all 476 in your manuscript! Very often “said” is all that is needed. In fact, overusing alternatives can weigh your manuscript down unnecessarily. However, I do hope that having this handy dandy chart at your …

Category: Writing CraftTag: Grammar

He Said. She Said.

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 14, 2020

A blog reader recently left an excellent comment on an earlier post:
Tamela, fiction workshop presenters taught me that the best word for “said” is “said”–that others only tend to slow down the reader’s eye. I’d appreciate a discussion on this.
While I don't know the workshop presenters in question, what I can guess they meant is to avoid substituting creative verbs for "said" as a tag. For …

Category: Craft, Tamela, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Grammar, Tamela, Writing Craft

The Editorial Process

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 27, 2020

It is important to understand the process through which a book takes under the umbrella called “The Edit.” I meet many first timers who think it is just a one-time pass over their words and that is all that will ever happen. And many who self-publish think that hiring a high school English teacher to check for grammar is enough of an edit.

There are four major stages to the Editorial Process. …

Category: Editing, Get Published, Publishing A-Z, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Agents, Editors, Grammar, Proposals, Writing Craft

Floating … Floating … Gone …

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 23, 2020

Writers conferences and blogs talk about this topic often so I don't pretend to be breaking new ground with this post. Yet I still see some floating body parts and cliches creep into otherwise great stories. No, I don't mean murder mysteries depicting a stray arm floating in a river. I mean much gentler fare.

Yes, floating body parts offer the reader -- and writer -- shortcuts. But relying on …

Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Grammar, Tamela, Writing Craft

Tag, You’re It!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 12, 2019

One of the most common habits I see burdening stories is overemphasis on conversational tags, which goes hand in hand with not making good use of action tags. Here's an example I just made up:

"No," she exclaimed. She looked at the the pot of stew bubbling the stove and saw red juice splattering. She began to stir.

Unable to resist multitasking, I demonstrated several bad habits in the above …

Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Dialogue tags, Grammar, Tamela, Writing Craft

Oxymorons

By Steve Laubeon July 22, 2019

Oxymorons can be fun. Two words that can have contradictory meaning are put together to create a new phrase. Or it can be expanded to mean two separate thoughts or ideas that are in direct conflict with each other but when combined create something new.

For example, if you've ever worked in a cubicle you can see the humor in the description "office space."

Category: Creativity, Grammar, Writing CraftTag: Creativity, Grammar, Oxymorons, Writing Craft

A Writer’s Best Friend

By Bob Hostetleron January 31, 2018

If I asked you what you considered to be a writer’s best friend, what would you say? Please don’t say “Wikipedia.” My clients would probably reply, “Bob Hostetler.” But that can’t be everyone’s answer. You might consider “a fine fountain pen” or “a blank page in a brand new journal” to be your best friend as a writer. Maybe the thesaurus is your best friend (ally, associate, buddy, companion, …

Category: Craft, Grammar, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Editing, Grammar, Writing Craft