Related Articles

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  Should You Ever Start a Sentence with “And?”

  1424 readersFor many of us, it’s one of the first grammar rules we learned: Never start a sentence with “And.” The reasoning? “And” connects two clauses. For those of you who zone out when we start using scary grammar terms like “clause,” a clause is just a group of words with a noun (subject) and a predicate. What

• 5 Ways to Set Smothered Verbs Free

  1882 readersNominalizations are nouns formed from verbs. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; various parts of speech are transmogrified into others as part of the process of language. Original Post: 5 Ways to Set Smothered Verbs Free Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

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  Showing and Telling for Article Writers

  2340 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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  Words Our Writing Can Do Without, Part 1

  2847 readersWhen a new writer comes to me for advice, I typically recommend they begin their career by stocking their bookshelf with several must-read titles. Some cover the craft of writing, and others, the business. Of course, I always recommend they visit FWJ, too, including, but not limited to, the job listings and Bob Younce’s business

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  In Defense of Adverbs

  2406 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,

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  All About Adjectives

  2054 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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  Divine Passive Voice

  2486 readersMost writers know the difference between active and passive voice. In active voice, there’s a clearly identified agent performing an action: Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

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  Using Strong Verbs for Strong Writing

  3165 readersGuest post by Jose M. Blanco The Problem Some of our writing becomes weak when we use verbs like "to be" and "to have." These verbs add little to our prose; instead, they inflate our writing and make us sound verbose. Add power to your writing by u...

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  The Noun’s the Thing

  2279 readersDid you ever play Mad Libs as a kid? If you did, you remember filling in nouns, verbs and adjectives to make up wacky stories. But you might not remember what those words mean. Based on readers’ questions over the past few weeks, I’m launching a new series defining grammatical terms. We’ll start with the basics

• 7 Classes of Noun/Verb Agreement

  7728 readersBelow you’ll find seven classes of noun/verb agreement you need to understand. 1. Indefinite Pronouns Most indefinite pronouns correspond to singular verbs: “Someone has left her plate on the table.” “Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion.” “Each boy is responsible for his actions.” To confirm, test for the proper verb form by writing a simple sentence in which is