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• Tangled Passages

  94 readersA pileup of dashes and commas in a sentence should be a warning sign. Sometimes the punctuation itself is the source of the problem, leading to snarled syntax. In other cases, the commas and dashes are a symptom. As a sentence gets more and more convoluted, the writer desperately clutches at punctuation to hold it

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  Showing and Telling for Article Writers

  826 readersWarning: I’m getting into realms that can send fiction writers to insane asylums – showing v. telling. Do you need to show rather than tell in non-fiction, as well? The answer, as with so many things in writing, is a definitive, “Sometimes.” (And that’s the case in fiction, as well!) The examples I provide in my

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  Let’s Get to the Action: Verbs

  672 readersThis post is the second in my series on “parts of speech.” Workshop teachers often instruct aspiring fiction writers to begin their stories: “in media reas” (in the middle of the action). Without verbs, a story would have no action. How dull would that be? Verbs – Verbs are action words. Nouns can “do” verbs. Dogs bark. Writers have

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  Comma Before Too?

  262 readersMost of us were taught to place a comma before a sentence-ending "too." But is that comma really necessary? Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

• Period Goes Inside Quotation Marks

  176 readersWhen does a period go inside the quotation marks? Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

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  More than a Wink: How to Use a Semicolon

  238 readers// As a copyeditor, I often correct semicolon usage. If you don’t quite understand how to use a semicolon, you’re not alone; you wouldn’t believe how many professional writers use this little mark incorrectly. And I’m not talking about when you want to indicate a joke or teasing in a chat room. A semicolon

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  All About Adjectives

  484 readersI recently talked about adverbs as an important part of writing. If verbs are the action – the core of our stories and articles – and nouns are the characters, adjectives are the color and style. An adjective is, quite simply, a descriptive word. In some circles, adjectives are as badly maligned as adverbs. “Flowery” prose

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  In Defense of Adverbs

  648 readersEarlier this week, I discussed verbs in our “Parts of Speech” discussion. Verbs create the “meat” of our writing. In fiction, they move the plot forward. In articles and speechwriting, they tell the story. They’re the “do-ers.” If the adage “90 percent of the work is done by 10 percent of the people,” pertained to words,

• The Royal Order of Adjectives

  221 readersHave you ever wondered why we instinctively say “the shiny new red car” and not “the red new shiny car”? Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

• First Steps in Plotting a Novel

  156 readersAre plots really "a dime a dozen"? Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.