Easy-Peasy
By Annette Rey
Let’s not waste a lot of time and create confusion on this one.
The difference between lay and lie is simple.
Lay or Lie?
Tag Archives: Grammar Help
Misplacing the Modifier “Only”
Reader’s Woes
By Annette Rey
We’ve become lazy in our daily speech and that is reflected in our writing. If we become aware of our verbal faults, we will be better equipped to use the English language effectively.
Let’s look at one area of incorrect word placement. Let’s focus on the word only.
Fewer or Less?
Easy Hint to Know the Difference
By Annette Rey
Your writing is flowing. You’re sliding along like an oiled zipper. Then, darn, you hit a snag. A sentence you are constructing is posing a problem. You’re not sure which word to use. In this case, the words to choose from are fewer or less. Some writers move on and keep writing, planning to correct later. Some writers, like me, stop forward momentum and waffle with a word choice.
All writers can avoid either scenario by learning in advance which of these words to use. It’s a matter of memory and I have a hint for you.
Keep your writing flowing. Read on.
Book Review of Sin and Syntax by Constance Hale
By Annette Rey
The full title of the book is Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wicked Good Prose. I am only through Chapter Four and I am miles smarter than I was before. Ok, so, let’s agree I am miles more informed. And I know of what I speak. My library is full of instructional books on writing and, yes, I have read them. Some stand out from the others, but I’d say this one leads the pack.
Constance Hale has command of the English language and uses that skill to generously inform her audience. She includes grammatical detail without fogging the facts with superfluous words. She smoothly weaves correct English usage among short pieces of the works of other authors, and adds appropriate and entertaining quotes. She deftly demonstrates participles and other language conundrums so they can be understood. The way she illustrates the parts of speech in a piece of work illuminate the idea bulb above my head, and old mysteries are made clear.
Ms. Hale uses terms like “adjective-polluted” and sentences like: Adverbs are crashers in the syntax house party.
I suggest buying the book just to passionately (oops! adverb!) treasure pages 64-70. If you love fluent use of the English language, you will understand why I want these pages, this book, in my personal book collection.
The book reads like a story, not like a manual or guide or boring instructional course. I am immersed in the book and can’t put it down. At the end of chapter four is a directive from Ms Hale, an exercise, to write of a turbulent sky. I chose this moment to write of a sky view I have seen, so beautiful, I did not want to minimize it by my feeble attempts to describe it. Yet, on her directive, I did so. And I accomplished a great thing. I wrote that sky.
Study this book. Enjoy this book. It will make you a better writer.
It’s a book I look forward to reading again.
Who Are the Whoms?
Quick Tip
By Annette Rey
Grade school grammar classes were a drag and I owe that memory to the teacher who made it boring. She went too fast and made the rules sound like mysterious science. Though it is still very important to know the rules of using parts of speech correctly, there comes a time when brevity serves best.
And what better time for a quick tip than muddling through with the correct choice between who and whom?
The Free Grammarly Program is Awesome!
You Really Need to Use This Software
By Annette Rey
Writers, how familiar are you with multiple predicate commas? And do you add a comma when there are less than three predicates? Do you miss adding determiners in your sentences? What about missing a comma to isolate a clause? How about adding an unnecessary hyphen or not adding a necessary hyphen? How about the rule to make a word a gerund so it can act as a noun?
I thought so. Not many of us do know all the rules of grammar. Read on to see how the free program at Grammarly.com can instruct you and make you more confident in your work before you press send.
Writer's Block No More 