Colloquial speech, local dialects and bad grammar

Not all bad guys use bad grammar. Some are very suave and sophisticated. Similarly, not all persons doing minimum wage jobs use bad grammar either.

Every person from Scotland does not use “wee” or “drap” in every second sentence, nor does every Australian call you “mate”.

Typecasting happens because there are similarities inside groups. An Australian is far more likely to call you “mate” than an American person is, but both of them are more likely to use your given name.

Please don’t typecast your characters. If that strong young man on the road crew drops his mallet on his toe he probably will swear. But then, so would a doctor or lawyer. And all of them are equally likely to say invite (verb) instead of invitation (noun) because they’re probably all on Facebook. But there is no excuse for bad grammar in narrative. Nor is there need for endless “local color” in dialogue. The lady in the Scottish hotel may offer your hero “A wee drap” of something alcoholic to drink. But leave it there. Don’t overload your story with colloquialisms or poor grammar.

Helen Woodall

Who or Whom and some comments about adverbs

Grammar book explains when to use who and when to use whom really well.
http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoVwhom.asp

Use the he/him method to decide which word is correct.
he = who
him = whom

Examples:
Who/Whom wrote the letter?
He wrote the letter. Therefore, who is correct.

For who/whom should I vote?
Should I vote for him? Therefore, whom is correct.

We all know who/whom pulled that prank.
This sentence contains two clauses: We all know and who/whom pulled that prank. We are interested in the second clause because it contains the who/whom. He pulled that prank. Therefore, who is correct.

We want to know on who/whom the prank was pulled.
This sentence contains two clauses: We want to know and the prank was pulled on who/whom. Again, we are interested in the second clause because it contains the who/whom. The prank was pulled on him. Therefore, whom is correct.


I know many publishers/editors/agents hate adverbs, and that is because often if you delete them you have not removed any additional information.

The old man’s bones creaked and groaned as he slowly, gradually lowered himself into the armchair.
Take out gradually or slowly and you still have a clear picture of what happened.

Words like “just” and “actually” can almost always be deleted without changing the sense of the line.
I just walked in the room and saw him.
I walked in the room and saw him.

I actually walked in the room and saw him.
I walked in the room and saw him.

Some authors seem to think if they delete the suffix from a word it magically is not an adverb. Ah no. if you are using it as an adverb you’re now using incorrect grammar instead of the adverb.

When she stood on my toe I yelled loud.
No. You yelled loudly.
But since you can’t yell softly just "When she stood on my toe I yelled" would work fine.


Helen Woodall

Grammar Nerd Jokes

You have probably heard these jokes before, but most of them will still bring a smile to a grammar nerd’s face.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/smart-living/20-clever-jokes-only-grammar-nerds-will-appreciate/ss-BByur6g?li=BBnb7Kz

Helen

Opposites and contronyms

English is a weird language, but that’s why it’s so much fun. A particular favorite of mine, grammatically speaking, is the contronym.

The contronym (also spelled “contranym”) goes by many names, including “auto-antonym,” “antagonym,” “enantiodrome,” “self-antonym,” “antilogy” and “Janus word” (from the Roman god of beginnings and endings, often depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. That’s how January was named – looking back to the previous year and forward to the new one).

“Dust” is a good example of a contronym. The forensic specialists dust your furniture (add dust to it) to check for fingerprints. Then you have to dust the furniture to remove the dust.

“Fast” is another one. The Olympic athlete ran very fast holding fast to his javelin, then threw it.

And how about “garnish”? You garnish the salad by adding parsley or mint to it. But if you garnish someone’s wages, you take money away from them.

For a lot more examples check out: http://mentalfloss.com/article/57032/25-words-are-their-own-opposites and http://www.dailywritingtips.com/75-contronyms-words-with-contradictory-meanings/ which has some great examples including “refrain” which can be something repeated over and over (the refrain of a song) or to not do something.

Happy reading.

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Punctuation in Classic Books

Attention all Grammar Nerds, and Readers of Classic Fiction.

Wow! This is absolutely fascinating article comparing the punctuation in various classical books and how punctuation has changed over time.
A must read for every grammar nerd.
http://www.bustle.com/articles/142818-the-punctuation-in-classic-books-tells-a-story-all-of-its-own


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

7 Reasons Why Readers Hate Your Book Blurb

Book Daily has an interesting article on writing book blurbs. They list seven main fails.

The first sentence is incredibly important. A blurb is short, the shorter the better, so wasting the opening sentence with an introduction is a bad step. Jump right in with a catchy hook.

They also advise against using clichés or rhetoric, and also against introducing too many characters, too many place names, or too many plot points.

From my own observation a major problem I see with blurbs is that they give away too many plot points or twists. They should hook the reader to buy the book. Why bother to read the book if the reader can already guess exactly what happens just from reading the blurb. Remember, keep it short, punchy, and intriguing.

To read the complete article go to: http://www.bookdaily.com/authorresource/blog/post/1802306


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Grammar Myths Revealed

Do you know what a run-on sentence is, and how to avoid it? No, sticking in a couple of semicolons, or sprinkling it liberally with commas is not a solution!

Do you know when it is permissible to use passive voice?

How about i.e. and e.g. They aren’t the same thing. But do you know what they mean and how to use them correctly?

And then there’s one of my favorites, Never Use a Preposition to End a Sentence With.

Grammar Girl herself (aka Mignon Fogarty) explains away ten common myths on Mental Floss. You can read her article here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/61350/top-10-grammar-myths


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Misspelled and Misused words

In his latest book, The Sense of Style, Harvard cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker explores the most common words and phrases that people stumble over.
It is reminiscent of Strunk and White's classic The Elements of Style, but is based on linguistics and updated for the 21st century.
Pinker has identified the 51 most commonly misused words and phrases from his book and among them are Adverse, Depreciate, Flaunt (a lot of authors get this one wrong), Literally, and Staunch.

For the entire story go here: http://www.theage.com.au/world/our-51-most-commonly-misused-words-and-phrases-20151202-gldkqf.html

To test yourself on commonly misspelled and misused words try these two games:
http://bitecharge.com/play/grammartricky/h3
http://bitechargemedia.com/play/misspelled/h7

I got them all right. How about you?

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

The world’s costliest typos

Typos can be a lot more than just embarrassing.

Mental Floss has compiled a list of possibly the most expensive typos in the world.
This is why it’s important for everyone to proofread any important document or email before hitting send.

My personal favorite story is the missing hyphen in the coding of NASA’s Mariner I space probe. Five minutes after launch the Mariner had to be recalled because of that missing hyphen which had the spacecraft veering off course. That cost around $80 million. (http://www.wired.com/2009/07/dayintech_0722/)

Then there was the car dealership that mailed out 50,000 scratch tickets, one of which was supposed to be worth $1000. Instead ALL of them were winners. That made a total of $50 million which the car dealership, not surprisingly, was unable to pay.

In a typo costing half a million dollars, New York City’s Transportation Authority had to recall 160,000 maps and posters that announced the recent hike for the minimum amount put on pay-per-ride cards from $4.50 to $5.00. The only problem was they said the new price was $4.50.

You can read more typo stories here (http://mentalfloss.com/article/49935/10-very-costly-typos). But to avoid starring in one of them yourself, always proofread your documents!


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Writing emails 101

Sending a clear, concise and grammatically correct email seems like a no-brainer yet consistently, mistakes are made. Most of the time, these mistakes are minor and quickly forgotten, but sometimes they can be disastrous.

A well-written email is about presentation and professionalism. You don’t have to be Shakespeare, but a sound grasp of basic spelling and grammar is essential.

1. Incorrect names or titles. While spell checkers and auto-correct are important tools in eliminating spelling and grammatical errors, they can trip you up when it comes to writing names accurately. Ensuring you spell people’s names correctly, use their preferred title, and address them as the correct gender is about basic research.

2. Everyone knows that work isn’t always rainbows and lollipops, but never let the frustration bleed into an email. Take a deep breath, consider the recipient and the content of the email, and write to that point. Remember that long after your anger is gone, the email will live on in someone else’s inbox as a relic of your bad mood.

3. The subject line needs to grab the attention of prospective readers quickly, and convey what your email is about succinctly. Make sure it doesn’t sound like spam.

4. ALWAYS check the addressee and never hit “Reply All” or “Forward” without checking. The internet is full of horror stories about emails sent to the wrong person.

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

The $19billion typo

An American nuclear waste facility, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico, took 20 years and $19 billion to build and a simple typo has shut it down. A radioactive drum burst open on Valentine’s Day last year. Drums of radioactive material were trucked in from around the US, where they were placed in salt caverns that would eventually be collapsed, burying the waste.

But investigations have shown that instead of INorganic (clay) kitty litter being added to the contents of the drums to stabilize it, a revised policy manual in 2012 instructed workers at the laboratory to use organic kitty litter to soak up excess liquid in drums of nitrate salts.

Which in turn led to the inevitable kaboom. A site that was supposed to last for 10,000 years is now being closed after just fifteen years.

It really would have been much cheaper to get their manual edited and proofread professionally by a couple of grammar Nazis.

The full story is here: http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/eric-schlosser-exposes-our-nuclear-delusions-at-festival-of-dangerous-ideas/story-fn5fsgyc-1227478302666


*Bonus points to anyone who noticed the typo in the picture.

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

10 Common Mistakes Writers Overlook

Writers’ Life recently published a list of ten common mistakes writes overlook.

They include ones I’ve mentioned many times before. In fact, you should all be able to recite them. Things like telling instead of showing the reader what is happening, and repeating “pet” or “crutch” words. Then there are run-on sentences, and empty words that are pure padding and don’t forward the story at all.

One good point they make that’s slightly different is to watch the dialogue. Do all the characters speak the same? Is someone more a caricature than a character? Try reading the dialogue out loud and see if it makes you cringe.

The full article is at: http://writerslife.org/10-common-mistakes-writers-overlook/ and is well worth reading.

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

UK Grammar Test

Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary in the UK, is apparently a Grammar Nerd. (Grammar Nerds are cool!) Recently he released a short test to see if people in the department were good enough at grammar to please him. He believes the little details, like good grammar, are very important.
His full list of instructions is here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/michael-gove-instructing-his-civil-servants-on-grammar-10334298.html
but for a short fun test go here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11690785/Can-you-pass-Michael-Goves-grammar-test.html
I actually disagree with him on one of the items, but see how you go!


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Hated and incorrect buzz words

The Sydney Morning Herald (Aussie newspaper) did an article on the most hated buzzwords. I have to say mine is “invite” used as a noun. Despite everything Facebook might tell you, invite is a verb. I might invite you to my party. But the piece of paper or email I send you telling you about my party is a noun, invitation.
So imagine my joy when they chose Gifted as #10 on their list, with this comment, “Used incorrectly as a verb to mean to give a gift. Gifted is not a verb. The word is gift, which is a noun. If you don't know the difference between the various parts of speech, you probably need a refresher in primary school English.”
The same goes with invite.

Other buzz words they disliked were “big data” especially when used by people to mean any old data, “double down”, and literally, misused when people mean figuratively.

For the complete list check out: http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/trends/blogs/the-big-idea/the-most-hated-buzzwords-of-2015-20150205-3pjdf.html


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Looking for a job? Fix your grammar!

Byron Reese is CEO of Knowingly, which recently launched Correctica, a tool that scans websites looking for errors that spell checkers miss. "When I look for these errors on LinkedIn profiles they're all over the place--tens of thousands," he said.
Correctica recently scanned a handful of prominent websites. Here is Reese's list of the some of the most commonly misused phrases on the Web.

1. Prostrate cancer. That would be a cancer you get from lying down. They mean prostate.
2. First-come, first-serve. That means they have to serve everyone else. There should be a d on the end of serve.
3. Sneak peak. It’s pretty hard to hide a mountain. Try peek.
4. Deep-seeded. Should be seated. Even the White House website had this one wrong.
12. Piece of mind. I don’t think they mean brain surgery. For serenity try peace.
18. Do diligence. I like the idea of people being diligent, but if you’re talking about the business and legal term it’s due.

If you want to be educated or just need to giggle at things people get wrong, go to:
http://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/20-embarrassing-phrases-even-smart-people-misuse.html?cid=sf01002


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Good Grammar = Higher Salary

Do you know what these words mean?

Here are some words from everyday speech that are often used incorrectly.

Literally: means something that really happened.

Regularly: something that happens at fixed pre-planned intervals

Factoid: A fun fact that is wrong

Invariably: Something that never changes

Enormity: The extreme scale of something that is bad or wrong.

Refute: To prove something is wrong

Now here are some others that the author might have meant to use correctly but that spellcheck won’t find for you:

Reign/rein
Founder/flounder
Palate/palette
Form/from
Than/then
Casually/causally
Loose/lose
Definitely/defiantly
Juncture/junction

If you need a dictionary to understand what I’m saying, there’s a good one at: www.onelook.com

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Seven Books Every Writer Should Read

Allison Vesterfelt has written a great blog on what she considers are the seven books every writer should read. A couple of them might surprise you. One of them is one of my particular favorites, by Grammar Girl (aka Mignon Fogarty).

The books she lists are; “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron, “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott, “Thinking Write” by Kelly L. Ston, “Why We Write” edited by Meredith Maran, “The Story Within” by Laura Oliver, “Zen and the Art of Writing” by Ray Bradbury, and “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Every Writer” by Mignon Fogarty.
For her reasoning and the full article, go here: http://allisonvesterfelt.com/books-every-writer-should-read/


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

More commonly confused or misused words

Irregardless and unthaw: These are not words. The words are regardless and thaw.

Bring and take: People bring things toward you and take things away from you.

Loose and lose: Loose means not tied down. Lose is when you can’t find something.

Borrow and lend: The person doing the giving lends and the person receiving something borrows it.


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Pronunciation Part 2: For Advanced Pronouncers

Here's a challenge for you:

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!
– The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité

And for those who love place names, how many of these can you get?

http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/tonguetwisting-towns-of-nsw-can-you-pronounce-pallamallawa-bermagui-or-nyngan/story-fnii5s3x-1226945720927

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.