Huge thanks to the few of you that shared your most helpful posts in response to my Lost or Found post. Since so few people participated, I'm not doing a prize. Maybe next time!
So what's helpful? What did I learn from my post on rules? (1) if it's not grammar rules, they're just guidelines, (2) amazingly enough, I can pick and choose which guidelines I want to use! *gasp!* (3) it's important to understand the reason behind the guideline- that is what makes the difference and will help the most.
Here's a short compilation of helpful posts by Icy, Roses, Penny, Marisol, BJ Keltz, and me:
Stay True to Your Style
Is it crap?
Writing Advice is Hazardous to Your Health
Ten Commandments for the Happy Writer
On Writing - Heinlein's Rules
Daily Writing Tips
Different Readers
Oh no you didn't . . . Writing in the negative.
Question For The Day: What's a grammar rule you always get wrong? I have a hard time with further and farther.
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20 comments:
Hmmmm, I'm bad at commas but for actual grammar I'm not sure. They usually stick in my head pretty well. I guess farther and further is one I have to second guess myself on. Oh, awhile and a while. :-)
Commas.
~ Wendy
Possessive apostrophes vs plurals.
Then vs Than
Split infinitives
This is why one of my alpha-readers is a language arts teacher :o) She's teaching me how to write English.
I was one of those geeks that enjoyed diagramming sentences, so grammar rules don't usually stump me. That being said, I do love to break the rules. Often. ;)
Great links! Thanks for sharing 'em.
I catch myself using "there's" when my sentence calls for "there are" a lot. I think it flows naturally for many of us, though. I wonder why?
Thank you for those sites!
Commas are the bane of my existence. LoL.
Oooh, I can't wait to check out all of these links. Thanks for posting them.
Oh, I hate diagramming sentences! It's huge in the curriculum we use and all my kids just bringe when it comes up.
Ugh. I hate grammar. For me it's unconsciously putting in the word that sounds the same but is spelled differently and has a different meaning. Like one and won. Or road and rode. I KNOW what it should be, but I just keep doing it without thinking. I don't know what they're called.
My most common grammatical mistake is, I think, subject-verb agreement. I'll write "None of the computers are..." instead of "None of the computers is..." Because "computers" is not the subject of that sentence; "none" is. I get that wrong often.
Lay and lie! I always have to look it up on Grammar Girl.
(I'm going to de-lurk now, so I feel like less of a stalker.)
I used to use towards until I found out that's the old English version. There seem to be constantly changing rules about commas so I break those too.
I always get everyday versus every day wrong.
Grammar! yuck, I get most of them wrong quite regularly.
Yep, I have trouble with further and farther, and lay and lie (high-fives Icy Roses), and my use of commas is more instinctual than grammatical. My sentence structure is probably a mess as well. I haven't done a sentence diagram since the 9th grade. I vaguely remember the diagrams looked like space ship rockets...
commas, commas, commas. as you well know. I used to think I knew what I was doing, but alas...
Gosh, I have so many that I get wrong. Where do I start. Back to learning grammar rules, I guess.
There's the big one tho: by brain still cannot seem to process a different between past and pass, over and over I end up misusing them. It's embarassing actually.
Jessica: Commas seem to be a problem for most people. They're so small, but such a big pain!
Wendy: Haha. Yep! I struggle with them, too. Should there be a comma right there after "them"???
Liana: Yes, that's nice to have! We love our grammar freaks.
Sherrie: I need to hire you!
Janna: I use "there's" a lot in dialogue, but I'm aware that I'm doing it. I always yell at the character - be grammatically correct! But they just stick their tongue out a me.
Amy: You're welcome. Hope they're helpful!
quixotic: You're welcome. There's some really good ones in there. I think I'll be referring to them quite a lot.
Rena: Haha. I haven't diagrammed a sentence for years. I use aspects of it, but not full on diagramming. I should sit down and do that sometime. Oh what fun!
Bonnie: I do that all the time. They're called homonyms.
Scott: I think I do that too, but I never catch it. I should be on the lookout!
Icy Roses: I'm so glad you won't be lurking anymore! I'd love to see more of your comments. Grammar Girl is a great site.
Jill: Hmmm, I didn't know that! *Goes off to manuscript to do a search and kill of all "towards"*
Davin: Interesting one!
Rita: Haha, it's a whole different language!
Becca: I use commas instinctually, as well. I really should sit down and learn the rules on them.
Lois: Yes, but on all of the other grammar issues, you are spot on!
Crimey: I wouldn't worry too much about it. The little nitty gritty things can wait till a final edit most of the time. :)
\ No prizes? Awwww...
That's okay. I'm treating myself to pizza tonight as both a bribe to catch up on blog reading and a reward for doing the same. Tasty treats always make things more fun!
"(3) it's important to understand the reason behind the guideline- that is what makes the difference and will help the most."
aka
It's the principles behind the "101 Things To Remember" that make writing good. Learn them and know how to write in any situation! A "give man a fish" vs" teach man to fish" lesson.
Speaking of which: Since we know teaching principles is so vital, why do we spend a dozen years in formal education learning examples? Gah! Think of how much further we could be if we didn't have to unlearn everything from when we were growing up to relearn it the correct way.
Grammar glitch bonus? "Affect" versus "Effect" is probably my worst homonym mistake. Though really I break way too many of all kinds...
Alicia: Ah, yes, NOW I WANT PIZZA. You know, I really do deserve pizza today...
Yes, I've always thought of it as give the fish vs. teach to fish method. If we understand those reasons, then the actual list of rules isn't that necessary!
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