Grammar/Punctuation

Just one more reminder why punctuation is important. Saturday, when we were slowly, painfully inching our way out of the crowded parking area at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck … even two hours before the fair closed, it took us half an hour to get out of…

It’s one of the cardinal rules for writing, though you hear it more with fiction than non-fiction. (It applies to both, though.) Show, Don’t Tell. Instead of saying, “He was nice to small children and animals.” You write, “As he dashed out the door to put out the fire, he…

You’ve heard writers telling you to eliminate extra words, to tighten up your prose, right? It’s so easy to write with careless zeal, lassoing every word we come across, willy-nilly, just to rope it into our work. If 50 words are good, 60 must be better. There’s no such thing…

No, I’m not saying you can’t use the word “that” at all. It’s such a useful word. In fact, I love “that.” It’s so strong and versatile, it can do almost anything. It can be a pronoun. (“That‘s my cousin over there.” “I like the bigger painting better than that…

You’ve seen the milk ads, right? “Got Milk? Have you noticed that there’s no “subject” to that sentence? Two words– a verb “Got” and a noun which is the object of the sentence, “Milk”–but neither of which is the subject of the sentence. That, of course is “You.” As in,…

Bullet lists are all the rage these days, so let’s give a very quick overview about correct usage, shall we? Each bullet should begin a new idea, or a new item Unless every bullet is a complete sentence, you do not need periods at the end of each item If…

Does the thought of talking about sentence clauses make your eye twitch? Well, let’s see if we can’t make this a little simpler for you. We have talked about basic sentence structure over the last two weeks, and how all a sentence really needs is a subject and a predicate–either…

Last week we talked about Subjects and Predicates–the very basis of sentence structure. Today, let’s talk about Compound Subjects and Predicates. Basically, if there are two or more subjects to the sentence, you have a Compound Subject: Running laps, doing push-ups, and eating well are all good for your health.…

Okay, who remembers hearing their seventh grade English teacher blathering on (and on) about sentence subjects and predicates? Anyone? Hmm. Only mine, then? Then, in honor of Mrs. Babyock, allow me to remind you: The Subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that the sentence is talking…

Here’s the grammatical equivalent of a trick question: “How are you?” The instinctive answer–here in the U.S., at least–is to say, “I’m good.” Except, of course, that “good” is an adjective, not an adverb, and this inspires lots of debate. Because when you say “I am good,” the word “good”…

“Mom, can I have a cookie?” “May I.” “Oh, right. Mom, may I have a cookie? Does this sound familiar to anyone? How about this one? “It’s been really nice meeting you. So, er, can I call you later?” “I don’t know, can you?” There’s nothing quite like using grammar…

This one has to be a quickie, today, so I’m just going to give you a list of some commonly misspelled words to remind you what they should be. (American spellings, just in case.) Absence Accommodate Commitment Completely Definitely (My favorite memory-device for this word? It’s got “finite” right in…

Last week, we briefly discussed the different verb “persons,” but this is important in writing and warrants some extra attention. Because, you see, it comes down to “voice,” and voice is extraordinarily important in narrative. First Person, when the speaker uses “I”. That is, I, We, Me, Us So far…

So, the last two weeks, we’ve talked about verb tenses and moods. Today, we’ll talk about their person. In their simplest form… First Person: I, We A verb uses first person when the speaker is talking about himself. I love typing. We watched the race. I am going to go…

Last week, we spoke about verb tenses; today, let’s talk about their moods. Well, not their moods, exactly, but rather, our moods when using the verbs. Indicative Mood This is the most common, and is used to make a statement or ask a question. The dog played with the ball.…

Let’s take a quick look at verb tenses, shall we? In their simplest form, they’re quite, well, simple. Present Tense: This is the easy one. If it’s happening right now, taking place in the present, the verb is in present tense. Repeat after me: “I am reading Deb’s blog.” See?…

In the comments to last week’s Mangled Monday about the structure of a letter, Melissa asked: “What do you think about emails that don’t have a salutation? I always try to start mine with a greeting unless I get into a really fast-paced conversation with short emails flying back and…

People don’t write letters as often as they used to–emails, yes; text messages, yes; the occasional hand-written note, even, yes … but actual letters? Not so much. Especially outside of normal business hours. So, let’s review the essential elements of a basic letter, shall we? Return Address: On both personal…

Two famous, latin abbreviations that so many people seem to get wrong. i.e. is short for “id est” and should be used for “that is.” I strongly recommend the driver of the automobile cease their forward movement at this time, i.e, STOP! This weekend, I played with my kids, ran…

I’ve been racking my brain, trying to think of a punctuation mark we haven’t discussed yet. We’ve covered periods, commas, exclamation points, quotation marks, colons, semi-colons, and hyphens, not to mention parentheses, ellipses, and dashes. What else is there? Then the light dawned. The answer was right there in front…

The primary use of a semi-colon is to link two sentences together. Now, obviously, sentences are usually kept separate and distinct. Sometimes, however, they are very involved with each other, and like to keep close. Like twins, or mirror images, they’re more connected to each other than to the sentences…