On my way into town this morning, a song came on the radio and part of the lyrics were “everything I’ve dreamed for.” I also recently heard that phrase on The Voice. And what’s wrong with that? We all have hopes and dreams. But you don’t dream for things. You hope for an outcome, you wish for […]
Read More »Category: Grammar & Style
Grammar: Is It Changing Tack or Changing Tact?
Whatever your character is doing isn’t working. Time to change tactics. There’s also a similar phrase—to change tack. But the two words—tack and tactic—are actually not related. Tacking is what sailors do with sails in order to take advantage of the wind. So when used idiomatically, the phrase means you (or your character) are adjusting […]
Read More »Grammar: The Difference between a Spoon Full of Sugar and a Spoonful of Sugar
You may be wondering if there’s a difference between a spoonful of sugar or a spoon full of sugar. The same applies to roomful, forkful, and numerous other words. And the answer is yes! A roomful of people is a measurement, albeit an imprecise one. It’s how many people it takes to fill a room […]
Read More »Grammar: That vs. Which
Grammar: Commas with Relative Clauses That versus which perplexes a lot of people. First things first—let’s talk about restrictive versus nonrestrictive clauses. A relative clause is said to be restrictive if it provides information that is essential to the sentence. In these cases, that is the word you’ll want to use. Let’s take a look at some […]
Read More »Editing & Publishing: Tools of the Trade (Resources and Reference Books)
You may have wondered about the tools editors use. A dictionary is probably the first thing that comes to mind. But which one? A grammar book, probably. Although, again, which one? There are tons of books out there for just about every grammatical and craft question you can imagine. But there are two main references […]
Read More »Grammar: Ellipses… How to Torture a Writer with Three Tiny Dots
Ellipses are such handy little guys, but sadly very misunderstood. Some common issues I see: Question: What’s the difference between an ellipsis and ellipses?Answer: This is the easy one–ellipses is plural, ellipsis is singular. 🙂 😆 Q: How the heck do you make an ellipsis, anyway?A: The correct answer (see below, and it’s important) is that it’s three dots, evenly […]
Read More »Grammar: On Style Guides and Dictionaries
Today’s “Grammar Bite” is going to be more of a meal, so I hope you’ll forgive me, but this topic is pretty important and there’s not a short answer here. So grab a drink and then we’ll dive in. It’s not uncommon for friends who don’t write or edit to ask me how I decide on […]
Read More »Grammar: Passive Voice and the Word Was
I had a friend email me a sample edit today that she’d gotten from another editor. She was a bit confused because the editor had flagged every instance of the word “was” as “passive voice.” I actually run across this from time to time, so I thought I’d post here. If you already know this, […]
Read More »Grammar: The Ellipsis, That Handy Punctuation Mark
Ah, the ellipsis. The ellipsis can be a bit of a pain, but once mastered, it’s a great tool. For the purpose of this post, I’m only talking about using the ellipsis in fiction, not as it is applied to journalism, nonfiction, or academic texts. First, what are ellipses used for? They are used to […]
Read More »Grammar: Should You Put a Comma after Introductory Words Such As Now, Today, etc.?
Introductory Adverbs: So, should you put a comma after introductory words such as now, today, etc.? It depends! Wait—not what you wanted to hear? Sorry. Okay, let me try to break it down. 🙂 If you have an introductory word (or two) that is being used as an adverb (usually answers the question of when, […]
Read More »