Let's Make "Discipline" Our Favorite Word in 2012

Guest post by Jean Reynolds, Ph.D.

The year is drawing to a close, most of the cookies I baked last week are gone, and I’m thinking about…discipline. To be more specific, I’m thinking about (and bemoaning) the lack of it.

Maybe it’s the unpleasant truth that I ate most of the cookies myself. Or it’s all the talk I’ve heard in the last few days about the Gift that Went Wrong—too big, too small, or simply “What was she/he thinking?”

On the other hand, maybe it’s all the TV reports about the upcoming Republican primary in Virginia, where no fewer than five hopeful candidates (Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann, Huntsman, and Santorum) didn’t get around to qualifying to be named on the ballot.

And then are writers (today’s real topic). Why does the word “discipline” inevitably get me thinking about some of the writers I know?

Because I wish they’d get some. Discipline, I mean. As in:

• deciding to figure out once and for all the difference between a comma and a period
• vowing never to interrupt a perfectly good sentence with an unnecessary colon
• making a once-and-for-all, I’m-sticking-with-my-decision about ambiguous issues like the Oxford comma, possessives of names ending with “s” (Louis’ or Louis’s?), and words with alternative spellings (gray or grey? catalogue or catalog? doughnut or donut?)
• relentlessly double-checking for correctness (Katherine or Katharine Hepburn? U.S. Calvary or U.S. Cavalry?)
• learning how to place apostrophes correctly in tricky plural nouns (men’s, people’s)
• swearing off the questionable practice of forming plurals by adding an apostrophe after the final “s”: three Christmases and two bosses, not three Christmas’ and two boss’
• using a comma correctly with the coordinate conjunctions and/but (if you don’t have two sentences or a series of three or more, omit the comma)
• abandoning the notion that a semicolon is a kind of glorified comma
• practicing writing sentences with three parallel parts (a skill that has just about disappeared, even from professional writing)

I suspect that most people, like me, resist thinking about discipline amid the festivities of December (which is why all those cookies disappeared so quickly). But the beginning of a new year is a traditional time for resolutions, so a hefty dose of discipline seems quite in order in January.

Let me suggest, therefore, that we resolve to take a more regulated and systematic approach to the writing tasks that lie ahead of us. Here are three suggestions:

• use the spellchecker, even for emails and Facebook postings
• ask a friend or family member to proofread final drafts of important documents before we email, post, or publish them
• read (or reread) at least one good book about writing this year

Or…choose one of your weak points and make a resolution to tackle it this year. Here’s mine: Write down ideas for writing projects instead of relying on my memory to keep track of them.

Discipline isn’t glamorous. Nobody is going to be impressed if you and I announce that we’re going to work harder on our writing in 2012. The results, though, may surprise everyone—including us. And that’s reason enough to make that extra effort in the days, weeks, and months to come. Happy 2012!

Jean Reynolds, Ph.D., is the author of seven books, as well as an internationally recognized Shaw scholar and an avid ballroom dancer. Visit her blog at www.WritewithJean.com.

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3 comments discipline, grammar tips, writer's resolutions, writing goals

TYPO Is Just a Euphemism! Common Grammar Flubs...

by Arlene Miller

A couple of years ago, former spelling bee champion Jeff Deck and his friend Benjamin Herson embarked upon The Great Typo Hunt, a road trip from coast to coast of the United States in which they located and corrected typos! The journey has now been made into a book and a blog. They found over 400 typos on their trip.

Now, you and I both know that these really were not all typos...a typo is when your fingers inadvertently hit the wrong key, right? For the most part, these are MISTAKES!!!!!

Well, as an editor, teacher, and author of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever, I know a mistake when I see one. What do you think are some of the most common mistakes in grammar (spelling, punctuation, and usage)? My book covers a myriad of mistakes, but when I really think about it, there are a few mistakes that appear over and over and over again. I was hoping to give you a Top Ten List, but I think it is going to be a mere Top Four!

In no real particular order, here are the Top Four Grammar Mistakes of the Current Time:

1. What is with that apostrophe in a plain old plural noun?

Here are my vacation photo’s! What?? Oh, you mean photos!!

There is NO apostrophe in a plural noun unless it is a number, letter, or symbol (a’s, 5’s, &’s).

2. Doesn’t anyone know the difference between your and you’re anymore, or are they just too lazy to use the apostrophe? (Hint: Take the apostrophe from the plural it doesn’t belong in!)

I hope your coming with us. Huh??? Oh, you mean you’re!

3. Just because you say “Harry and I are going to the movies,” you don’t have to use I all the time. Sometimes it really is ME! If the pronoun is a direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition, you use me (or her or him or them or us or whom!)

He gave the tickets to my friend and I. Well, if he didn’t give the tickets to I, then he didn’t give the tickets to my friend and I either! Me is correct here.

4. YOU CANNOT SEPARATE TWO SENTENCES WITH A COMMA!!!!! (Oh, I am sorry...am I shouting?) You just can’t. It is called a comma splice.

I hope you can attend the meeting, it will be very productive. Sorry, no way. (Oh, is that a comma splice?) There are several ways to fix this:
I hope you can attend the meeting. It will be very productive.
I hope you can attend the meeting; it will be very productive.
I hope you can attend the meeting because it will be very productive.

***

Arlene Miller is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her business, bigwords101, provides grammar and business writing workshops to corporations and other groups. Her workshops use her book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!

The Best Little Grammar Book Ever is available on Arlene’s website, as well as on Amazon (and Kindle), Barnes and Noble (and Nook), and other online booksellers.

Find out more about Arlene by visiting her website, http://www.bigwords101.com/,  or contact her via email at bigwords101[at]yahoo[dot]com.

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5 comments Arlene Miller, common grammar mistakes, grammar tips

Give Your Writing a Revision Sweep

For the past week, I've been proofing and correcting articles written by my high school Intro to Journalism students. In most instances, like many professional writers, my students still struggle with the revision process.

"Nothing is perfect the first time," I chime. Are you listening?

Students shake their heads knowingly, but the next draft doesn't improve. What's a teacher - and a writer - to do?

I hand out a "sweep list", highlighters, and an article to each student and have them follow this six-step program. You may find it tightens your storytelling, too.

1. Follow the stylebook. The class uses its own stylebook for formatting, headlinges, grammar and usage, etc. When a writer submits a piece, the publication or publisher expects you to follow certain rules. For example, when I write for the newspaper, I'm expected to follow the AP Stylebook. When I submit poetry or fiction, many expect the piece to follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Best advice: familiarize yourself with the publication to which you are submitting and get up close and personal with the style guide.


2. Use your grammar text. My preferred text is The Little, Brown Handbook. It's thorough and addresses questions dealing with every aspect of writing.


3. Highlight to be verbs. Too many times, to be verbs indicate passive voice. And even if they don't push a sentence into passive mode, drop the helper verb and push it into a tighter, straightforward, stronger sentence.


4. Avoid pronouns. Pronouns tend to cloud a sentence by making an unclear reference. Make sure each incidence of pronoun use makes sense!


5. Keep dialogue tags simple. Beginning writers like to pepper a quote with flowery dialogue tags. In journalism, the KISS method works best. A simple "said" carries a sentence/quote.


6. Evict adverbs. Writers rely on the -ly words, but in a number of instances, the adverb does not add new information to the piece. Adverb overload slows the timing and rhythm. Use sparingly and for impact.

Revising and strengthening a story doesn't need to be a difficult process. A sweep list may make your nonfiction article or flash fiction piece squeaky clean! Or, at least impress an editor.

by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at http://luannschindler.com.

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1 comment adverb usage, dialogue, dialogue tags, grammar, grammar tips, LuAnn Schindler, pronoun use, revision tool, style guides, to be verbs, writing styles

Grammar: Slips, Trips, and Falls

by Annette Fix

When it comes to grammar, word usage, and the finer points of writing (or speaking) the English language, there are so many rules to remember--and so many opportunities to make mistakes.

Here are a few basic tips to help you understand the more frequent causes of slips, trips, and face-plant falls in your writing.

Lie/Lay/Lain and Lay/Laid/Laid
This is one of the top 10 most common mistakes.

INCORRECT: I like reading more than laying around watching TV.
CORRECT: I like reading more than lying around watching TV.

PRESENT TENSE Lie/Lay
Lie means to rest. (The dog lies in the yard.) It's an intransitive verb and doesn't need a direct object. You can't lie something; however, you can lay something.

Lay is a transitive verb and means to place or to put. Use lay when you can substitute the word set. (She lays the book across her lap.)

PAST TENSE Lay/Laid
The past tense of lie is also lay. So, this is what those sentences would look like in past tense:
The dog lay in the yard.
She laid the book across her lap.

PAST PARTICIPLE Lain/Laid
The past participle of lie is lain.
The dog has lain in the same spot in the yard for a week. (Yes, she's still alive, it's just her favorite spot.) ;-)

The past participle of lay is laid.
She has laid the book across her lap at 3pm every day since Sunday.

The best way to avoid making a lie/lay mistake is to memorize how the two verbs function:
Lie/Lay/Lain
I want to lie on the beach. I lay on the beach last Saturday. I have often lain on the beach.

Lay/Laid/Laid
Lay the book on the table. She laid the book on the table. She has laid the book on the table many times.

Subject - Predicate(Verb) Agreement
There are 12 different rules of subject/predicate agreement, but I'll only cover the most common rule that trips many writers.

INCORRECT: The cost of basic necessities such as gasoline and groceries have risen exponentially.
CORRECT: The cost of basic necessities such as gasoline and groceries has risen exponentially.

It's common to mistakenly pair a plural predicate with a singular subject (or vice versa) when the the subject and predicate are separated by a phrase containing singular and/or plural nouns.

In the sample sentence above, the cost is the subject that has risen exponentially. Always keep your eye on the subject.

Who vs. Whom

INCORRECT: Whom shall I say is calling?
CORRECT: Who shall I say is calling?

This rule is easy to understand when you take a minute to mentally rearrange the sentence and exchange the who with she and whom with her.

Who = she
Whom = her
The correct choice is who because she is calling.

It also works with whoever/whomever.
INCORRECT: Tell the story to whoever you want.
CORRECT: Tell the story to whomever you want.

Whoever = she
Whomever = her
The correct choice is whomever because you want to tell the story to her.

Between You and I vs. Between You and Me

INCORRECT: Everyone overheard the disagreement between you and I.
CORRECT: Everyone overheard the disagreement between you and me.

The first sentence may sound correct, but between is a preposition and prepositions must be followed by an object. (Remember the preposition tree from grade school? A preposition can be in a tree, on a tree, near a tree, under a tree, over a tree, for a tree, etc.)

I is a subject/nominative pronoun (as are he, she, we, and they).
Objective pronouns: me, you, him, her, us, and them follow a preposition.

INCORRECT: Everyone overheard the disagreement between you and they.
CORRECT: Everyone overheard the disagreement between you and them.

Me vs. I

I know... You thought we covered that confusing usage in the last example. Well, not quite. Some people automatically assume that if the sentence sounds more formal, it must be the correct word choice. Wrong.

INCORRECT: He brought pizza for Angela and I.
CORRECT: He brought pizza for Angela and me.

Again, think about the preposition tree. In this sentence, Angela and me are direct objects.

Another grammar slip often occurs in sentences when than or as is used.

INCORRECT: She is smarter than me.
CORRECT: She is smarter than I.

In a comparison using than or as when the last portion of the sentence is dropped, just tack on the missing words and the proper word choice will be obvious.

She is smarter than I am.

With a little practice and a true love for the written word, grammar really can be fun!

I had an early start. On Saturday mornings, in between my favorite cartoons, the 1970's Schoolhouse Rock! commercials took my Generation X mind on a musical grammar train with songs like "Conjunction Junction," "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here," and "Verb: That's What's Happening." As a matter of fact, I remember having quite a crush on Verb Man.

But I'll save you from listening to me reminisce while singing the lyrics; instead, I'll share a list of 31 random writing tips emailed to me by a fellow scribe. I'm sure it's making the rounds like the urban legend about the tourist's missing kidney.

Enjoy:

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.

2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.

4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat)

6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.

7. Be more or less specific.

8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.

9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.

10. No sentence fragments.

11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.

12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.

13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.

14. One should NEVER generalize.

15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

16. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

17. One-word sentences? Eliminate.

18. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

19. The passive voice is to be ignored.

20. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.

21. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.

22. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.

23. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas.

24. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

25. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.

26. Puns are for children, not groan readers.

27. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

28. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

29. Who needs rhetorical questions?

30. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

And the last one...

31. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

Now, get on that grammar train!

And for a fun grammar resource, check out Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips Blog.

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2 comments Annette Fix, common grammar mistakes, grammar tips