Tag: author

Pronouns — Good Rules & Evil Tips

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[found on grammarbook.com]

“A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Pronouns can be in one of three cases: Subject, Object, or Possessive.

Rule 1

Subject pronouns are used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence. You can remember subject pronouns easily by filling in the blank subject space for a simple sentence.

Example:
______ did the job.
I, you, he, she, it, we, and they all fit into the blank and are, therefore, subject pronouns.

Rule 2

Subject pronouns are also used if they rename the subject. They follow to be verbs such as is,are, was, were, am, and will be.

Examples:
It is he.
This is she speaking.
It is we who are responsible for the decision to downsize.

NOTE: In spoken English, most people tend to follow to be verbs with object pronouns. Many English teachers support (or at least have given in to) this distinction between written and spoken English.

Example:
It could have been them.

Better:
It could have been they.

Example:
It is just me at the door.

Better:
It is just I at the door.

Rule 3

Object pronouns are used everywhere else (direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition). Object pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them.

Examples:
Jean talked to him.
Are you talking to me?

To be able to choose pronouns correctly, you must learn to identify clauses. A clause is a group of words containing a verb and subject.

Rule 4a

A strong clause can stand on its own.

Examples:
She is hungry.
I am feeling well today.

Rule 4b

A weak clause begins with words such as although, since, if, when, and because. Weak clauses cannot stand on their own.

Examples:
Although she is hungry…
If she is hungry…
Since I am feeling well…

Rule 4c

If a sentence contains more than one clause, isolate the clauses so that you can decide which pronoun is correct.

Examples:

Weak

Strong

[Although she is hungry,]

[she will give him some of her food.]

[Although this gift is for him,]

[I would like you to have it too.]

Rule 5

To decide whether to use the subject or object pronoun after the words than or as, mentally complete the sentence.

Examples:
Tranh is as smart as she/her.
If we mentally complete the sentence, we would say, “Tranh is as smart as she is.” Therefore,she is the correct answer.

Zoe is taller than I/me.
Mentally completing the sentence, we have, “Zoe is taller than I am.”

Daniel would rather talk to her than I/me.
We can mentally complete this sentence in two ways: “Daniel would rather talk to her than to me.” OR “Daniel would rather talk to her than I would.” As you can see, the meaning will change depending on the pronoun you choose.

Rule 6

Possessive pronouns show ownership and never need apostrophes.
Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs

NOTE: The only time it’s has an apostrophe is when it is a contraction for it is or it has.

Examples:
It’s a cold morning.
The thermometer reached its highest reading.

Rule 7

Reflexive pronouns – myself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, ourselves, yourself, yourselves– should be used only when they refer back to another word in the sentence.

Correct:
I worked myself to the bone.

Incorrect:
My brother and myself did it.
The word myself does not refer back to another word.

Correct:
My brother and I did it.

Incorrect:
Please give it to John or myself.

Correct:
Please give it to John or me.”

[found on http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/pronoun.asp]

A dash of Em— A dash of En–

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[found on makeuseof.com]
“Stop avoiding dashes in your writing just because you don’t know how to type them outside of word processors. Learn the proper keyboard shortcuts and you can type these essential parts of the English language in basic text editors, browsers and anywhere else you may need them.
 
The en dash (–) is my favorite piece of punctuation–it’s perfect for inserting points, like this one–but I’ve been neglecting it in my writing for a couple of years, for a really dumb reason. What’s my dumb reason? I’ve stopped using Word and Open/Libre Office. I know their shortcut for an em dash–type two dashes between two words and they will transform once you type a space after the second word.
 
I stopped using word processors when I started writing for the Internet, however, because they add a bunch of nonsense code to my writing. But outside programs with their own shortcut, I never got around to learning how to write em or en dashes. This means the text editors and browsers I now do my writing in are dashless wastelands. There are online tools for creating em dashes, and I’ve resorted to Googling “en dash” and copying the resulting punctuation, though
Not anymore. I’m going to stop restructuring sentences out of laziness, and I’m going to help you do so as well. Here’s how to make your favorite punctuation on your favorite operating system. Keep reading!

Create Em and En Dashes On A Mac!

First up: the easy one. Apple’s operating system OS X comes with a couple of keyboard shortcuts that make typing em and en dash a snap.
    • For an en dash (–), use “Option” and “-”.
    • For an em dash (—), use “Option”, “Shift” and “-”.

Create Em and En Dashes on Windows!

Windows users can easily make an em dash if they’re using Word: just type two dashes between two words, as I explained above. Outside of Word, however, the story is different: you need to use four digit alt codes. You’re going to need a keyboard with a number pad for this–the block of numbers to the right of the arrow keys:

Laptops without physical number pads can occasionally use the “Fn” key and some letter keys instead of a number keypad–search your keyboard for blue numbers. Lacking that, you may be out of luck.

    • To create you dash, first put your cursor where you’d like it and hold down the “Alt” button. Now you need to type a four digit code:
      • 0150 for the en dash (–)
      • 0151 for the em dash (—).”
[found on http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/type-em-en-dashes-word-processor]

We don’t need no stinkin’ italics!

95 Comments
[found on grammar.quickanddirtytips.com]
Did you know…when you italicize a word or phrase,  the following punctuation should NOT be in italics?
Here are some more fun facts:
“…a medium-sized list of things you probably should italicize. Just be sure to double-check the style guide you’re supposed to use, as rules vary. Here goes:
      • foreign words not yet assimilated into English—more on that later;
      • legal citations;
      • letters of the alphabet when you’re referring to them as letters;
      • scientific names;
      • titles of works, including books, plays, short stories, very long poems, newspapers, and magazines;
      • titles of movies and radio and television series;
      • names of operas and long musical compositions;
      • and names of paintings and sculptures (1).
      • You might also be asked to italicize the names of famous speeches, the titles of pamphlets, the names of vehicles (such as Challenger), and words used as words (2).”
[found on http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-use-italics.aspx]

Struggling with lie, lay, lain, laid, lying, laying….?

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When do you use them? And HOW?

Here is a simple breakdown to guide your pen:

Screen Shot 2013-06-08 at 7.09.52 PM

How does this correlate to the page—in the real world of writing?

Let’s take a look:

PRESENT TENSE:

      • I am going to lie down on the floor.
      • Henry lay his book on the floor.

PAST TENSE:

      • Yesterday, Henry lay in the hammock before dinner.
      • Yesterday, I laid the book in the hammock before dinner.

PAST PARTICIPLE:

      • He had lain in the sand two hours before they left.
      • He had laid the lunchbox in the sand two hours before they left.

Bitter writer? Or Better writer?

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[found on goinswriter.com]

“Anyone who writes is a writer, but that doesn’t mean they’re a very good one. So let’s talk about how to become a better writer. We’ll begin with the basics — here are seven key lessons:

    • Writing is simple, but not easy.
    • Before you get a larger audience, you have to get better.
    • Practice makes you better; it’s the repetitions that make it effortless.
    • Until you put your work out there, you’re only screwing around. Write for real.
    • You can’t practice without discipline. Keep showing up and persevering.
    • There will always be resistance; type through it, anyway.
    • Get over your excuses and do the work.”

[found on http://goinswriter.com/writing-tips]

Trouble Your Readers Effectively

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“The Inciting Incident as a Trigger

The inciting incident is the crucial event—the trouble—that sets the whole story in motion. It triggers the initial surface problem and starts to slowly expose the protagonist’s story-worthy problem. Now, the protagonist won’t fully realize the extent of his story-worthy problem in the opening scene, so the initial surface problem has to be so compelling that it forces him to take immediate action. The protagonist’s understanding of his story-worthy problem, then, will grow clearer to him as a direct result of what he goes through in his journey to resolve it.
Also keep in mind that each of the protagonist’s attempts to resolve the initial and subsequent surface problems must end in failure. There can be partial victories, but once an action ends in success, the story is effectively over. Success, in this case, means that all the problems are resolved. That cannot happen until the final scene of the story.
So, if we were to broadly outline the shape of a publishable story—the inciting incident and all its intertwined surface and story-worthy problems—it would look something like this:
    • The inciting incident creates the character’s initial surface problem and introduces the first inklings of the story-worthy problem.
    • The protagonist takes steps to resolve the initial surface problem.
    • The outcome of the major action the protagonist takes to resolve the initial surface problem is revealed, triggering a new surface problem. The scope of the protagonist’s story-worthy problem continues to unfold.
    • The outcome of the major action the protagonist takes to resolve the additional surface problem is revealed, and yet another surface problem is created. The story-worthy problem continues to become more apparent to the protagonist, as well as to the reader.
    • Another outcome is revealed, and more surface problems are created. The story-worthy problem continues to become clearer.
    • All lingering surface problems are resolved, and the story-worthy problem is fully realized. The resolution of the story-worthy problem is represented by both a win and a loss for the protagonist…..”
-found on http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/write-fiction-that-grabs-readers-from-page-one

Who, Which, and That…Oh my!

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[found on wsuonline.weber.edu]

Who, Which, That:

“Do not use which to refer to persons. Use who instead. That, though generally used to refer to things, may be used to refer to a group or class of people.

    • I just saw a boy who was wearing a yellow banana costume.
    • I have to go to math next, which is my hardest class.
    • Where is the book that I was reading?”

[found on http://wsuonline.weber.edu/wrh/words.htm]