One of my grammar pet peeves? Song lyrics with bad grammar. Just this morning, I heard a John Cougar (Mellencamp) song* that irritated me so much that I had to loudly sing along, using the correct grammar. (Don’t worry, I was in my car, so I didn’t bother anyone else!) The song in question: I … [Read more…]
Me, myself and I. How hard can it be? While these tips on choosing between me, myself and I will be most helpful for anyone writing in first person, we could all use a little refresher. After all, even if we write our fiction in third person, we still write emails, letters, Facebook posts, etc. … [Read more…]
We all use compound words on a regular basis. Compound just means that each word is made up of two or more stand-alone words. Airport. Ballroom. Fingernail. Henchmen. Compound words are lovely things. They let you be clear and descriptive. But they can present a challenge. Should compound words be: Smushed together into one word? … [Read more…]
Since we’re probably all still recovering from the last few days of heavy eating and shopping, I thought I’d keep this month’s topic short and sweet: using commas before conjunctions when they are followed by a complete thought. Let’s break that down. First: conjunctions. You may remember conjunctions from School House Rock: “Conjunction junction, what’s … [Read more…]
Grammarly – A Review Grammarly is a site that lets you upload sections of your writing to have them checked for grammar, punctuation, style, etc. How Does It Work? Grammarly is very easy to use. Simply copy the text you’d like to analyze and paste it into the window. Select the type of writing that … [Read more…]