Karen L. Reddick Releases 2nd Edition of "Grammar Done Right"

I thought I'd let you know that the long-awaited second edition of Karen L. Reddick’s Grammar Done Right is now available (ISBN 9780978990435).

I love it for its clear Contents and Index; they make it easy to use the book as a reference and I prefer this book to the ever-famous and often-misunderstood Fowler’s.

Like Fowler’s or my own Frugal Editor, it by no means covers every grammar and style exigency (imagine the size a book would need to be to do that!), but I feel certain that even a writer who is also an excellent editor will find something in it to love. Learn more at www.UnityHousePublishing.com and www.GrammarDoneRight.com.

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

And, and, and, and, and. So, do your overdo yours?

Starting your sentences with "and?"

Of course you can! And it isn't wrong! When you edit, just inspect each one them to see if you are overuseing them or if your "and" adds something or is just excess baggage.

Also, it might not be best to use to use "and" this way in a query letter. There may still be agents and editors out there who believe the myth that it is improper grammar. You do want them to read your manuscript, after all.

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Don't Tick Off An Editor--Or Make Her Anxious

I'm still working on a little booklet, an addendum if you will to The Frugal Editor (www.budurl.com/frugaleditor). This is one f my favorite entries because the words are misused so much in both conversation and in writing:

anxious/eager:

You're eager to learn new things. You get anxious when a friend coaxes you into going for your first paragraph jump. Big difference.

Remember, The Frugal Editor urges zero tolerance on grammar rules, even style choices that people tend to think are grammar "rules." That's because you have to get your manuscript by the gatekeepers so you should aim not to give them anything to criticize--and certainly nothing to tick them off. So, even if you find a dictionary that says you can use "anxious" when you mean "eager," avoid doing it for the sake of your career.


Technorati Tags:
usage, grammar, anxious vs eager, eager vs anxious, using anxious, using eager, the frugal editor, carolyn howard-johnson, query letters, getting and agent, agents, gatekeeprs,
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

The Folly of Trusting "Elements of Style"

It is the Elements of Style's 50th anniversary. It seems timely to mention our folly:

People use this little book as a rule book. It is not. Note the title. It calls itself a "style book;" but it is not that either. It was originally written by a college professor to help his students write. That was a century ago. Styles and rules have changed.

Yes, the book is updated. Yes, I think it does lots of good. But even if you love it, try to think differently about it. As an example, this book is probably where the idea that "hopefully" shouldn't be used as an adverb as in "Hopefully my writing friends will read this language book with open eyes and some skepticism--and with a knowledge of the difference between 'rules,' 'style' and 'opinion.'" As you can see, "hopefully" can be used the way White says it can't.

I just did and it isn't "wrong." But do follow my advice in The Frugal Editor. That is, don't use constructions or other language that--however right it is--is believed by large numbers to be incorrect (often because of the Elements of Style) in your query letters.

That's because some agent, publisher, or editor out there will have read Strunk's book and taken every idea in it as a language commandment. You aren't in a poistion to make your point if you want to get published.


Technorati Tags:
elements of style, strunk and white, the frugal editor, using "hopefully", book editing, editing books, editing query letters, query letters
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Punctuating Close Quotes in Four Easy Steps: Part IV

Today guest blogger Boyd Sutton is finishing up his series on punctuating with close quotes. The topic is "Closing Quotes with Question Marks and Exclamation Points." I like that he has obviously read my The Frugal Editor. (-: " If you didn't catch the first three installment, just scroll down.

By Boyd Sutton

Punctuating Close Quotes with Question Marks and Exclamation Points


How you punctuate your question marks and exclamation points depends on context. Both of these marks are inserted before the close quotation mark if they are part of the quotation (that is, if the quotation is a question or an exclamatory statement), but after the close quotation mark if the entire sentence is a question or exclamatory statement.

Wrong: He asked, “Why wait until tomorrow”?

Right: He asked, “Why wait until tomorrow?”

Wrong: She wailed, “Not again”!

Right: She wailed, Not again!”

But, when a statement inside quotes is only part of the sentence and the entire sentence is a question or exclamation, the marks come after the close quote—even if the quote itself might be a question or exclamation.

Wrong: Did she really say, “Can you ever forgive me?”

Right: Did she really say, “Can you ever forgive me”?

Wrong: How dare you call me “strumpet!”

Right: How dare you call me “strumpet”!


Summary

1.Commas and periods always come before close quotes. Always!

2. Colons and semicolons always come after close quotes. Always!

3/ Question Marks and exclamation points may come before of after close quotes, depending on context.

There are many, more esoteric, rules for punctuation. I’ll discuss those in future editions of this blog or in the print edition of the Wisconsin Writers Journal. The basics in the last couple of blogs on The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog are important and easy to remember and account for at least half of the errors I see in submissions. As an editor, I’m “easy”; I just fix them. But, get them wrong in a query letter, a book proposal, or a submission to a newspaper or magazine and you give an editor or agent an easy excuse to reject your manuscript. I think that's why Carolyn keeps talking about using zero tolerance editing before you these documents; they are your first contacts with the gatekeepers who can make or break your career.

-------
Boyd Sutton is producer and editor of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal, a quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association . His articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines. He is a freelance editor and has won many writing awards, including the Jade Ring, Wisconsin’s most prestigious writing award, for his essay, “Owning Your Own Time—Managing Your Retirement.” He may be reached at journal@wrwa.net. This article first appeared in the 2008 winter edition of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal.

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Punctuating Close Quotes in Four Easy Lessons, Part III

Today guest blogger Boyd Sutton will be helping out with easy rules and examples for "Closing Quotes with Dashes." If you missed parts I and II just scroll down a bit!


By Boyd Sutton


Punctuating Dashes and Close Quotes

A single dash may be used to indicate that a statement within quotes is incomplete. In such cases, put the dash before the closing quotation mark.

Wrong: John said, “I don’ believe that he”-

Right: John said, “I don’ believe that he-” (Note there is no terminal punctuation after the dash.)

An em-dash (double dash) follows the close quotation mark if the dash belongs to the sentence housing the quotation, but not to the quotation.

Right: He said, “You’ll never take me alive”—and jumped from the roof. (Note there is no punctuation before the close quote.

Tomorrow we'll cover punctuating closing quotes with question marks and exclamation points.
------
Boyd Sutton is producer and editor of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal, a quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association . His articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines. He is a freelance editor and has won many writing awards, including the Jade Ring, Wisconsin’s most prestigious writing award, for his essay, “Owning Your Own Time—Managing Your Retirement.” He may be reached at journal@wrwa.net. This article first appeared in the 2008 winter edition of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal.


-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Punctuating Close Quotes in Four Easy Lessons Part II

If you didn't catch Part I of Punctuating Close Quotes, check out yesterday's post! Today guest blogger Boyd Sutton, editor of Wisconsin Regional Writers' Association' Journal is guest blogging on using those damndable close quotes with colon and semicolons. It's the least confusing rule in the entire grammar book--at least in my opinion! (-:
Part II
Closing Quotes with Colons and Semicolons

By Boyd Sutton

Colons and Semicolons
Reverse the rule in yesterday's post on using periods and commas with close quotes. Always put colons and semicolons after the closing quotation marks.

Wrong: The first poem she read was “Silence”; then she went on to read “Laughter”, “Joy”, and “Shade”.

Right: The first poem she read was “Silence”; then she went on to read “Laughter,” “Joy,” and “Shade.”

(I threw in some wrongly-punctuated commas and a period just for fun and reinforcement. Hope you caught them. Grin!

Tomorrow we'll cover punctuation marks with closing quotes and dashes.
-------
Boyd Sutton is producer and editor of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal, a quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association . His articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines. He is a freelance editor and has won many writing awards, including the Jade Ring, Wisconsin’s most prestigious writing award, for his essay, “Owning Your Own Time—Managing Your Retirement.” He may be reached at journal@wrwa.net. This article first appeared in the 2008 winter edition of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal.


-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Punctuating Close Quotes in Four Easy Lessons

My loyal Frugal Editor readers, I decided to break some of Boyd Sutton's great article on Close Quotes into a few easy doses. I believe that sometimes the mistake good grammar teachers make is forcing too much on students in one lesson, just because the text they use puts all that information into one chapter. So here is Boyd's "Punctuating Close Quotes Part I, "Closing Quotes with Periods and Commas." And thank you Boyd, for contributing to The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor once again!

Oh, by the way. The easiest way to get other grammar, formatting, and other editing essentials from this blog is to subscribe! See the little subscription box in the left column.

By Boyd Sutton, editor of WRWA Journal

A good friend who was working on publicity for the Wisconsin Regional Writer's Association's Spring Conference in Siren, WI, brought to my attention that we had somehow managed to post some badly punctuated prose on our Web site. It’s a bit embarrassing for a writers’ Web site to get the basics of punctuation so wrong. But such mistakes are common, even among experienced writers. I see them every time I process Club News and other submissions for the Journal. Accordingly, I thought it might be useful to give everyone a brief reminder on some of the basic rules of punctuation, especially "Punctuation Marks and Closing Quotations."

Close Quotes with Periods and Commas

American style (they do it differently in England) requires that periods and commas always (repeat, always—-no exceptions) be inserted before the closing quotation marks. This is so whether the quotation involves an entire sentence, a phrase, or a single word.

Wrong: He told me I was “too harsh”.
Right: He told me I was “too harsh.”

The most frequent error I see in submissions is when citing a publication by an author.

Wrong: Her article, “The Bloom is Off the Roses”, was recently published in What’s Playing magazine.

Right: Her article, “The Bloom is Off the Roses,” was recently published in What’s Playing magazine.

The same problem occurs when someone cites several publications.

Wrong: Gina had three poems published last month: “Silence”, “Laughter”, and “Joy”.

Right: Gina had three poems published last month: “Silence,” “Laughter,” and “Joy.”

Always, always, always put periods and commas before the closing quotation marks.
Tomorrow we'll cover Colons and Semicolons.

--------
Boyd Sutton is producer and editor of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal, a quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association . His articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines. He is a freelance editor and has won many writing awards, including the Jade Ring, Wisconsin’s most prestigious writing award, for his essay, “Owning Your Own Time—Managing Your Retirement.” He may be reached at journal@wrwa.net. This article first appeared in the 2008 winter edition of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal.

Technorati Tags:
boyd sutton, wrwa, wisconsin regional writers association, close quotes, commas, periods, quottation marks, punctuating with quotation marks, american punctuation rules, four part series on punctuating quotation marks, the frugal editor, carolyn howard-johnson, the frugal smart and tuned-in editor,
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |


-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Until or Til. Assumptions Can Kill Credibility!

Couldn't resist sharing this editing tip from my Sharing with writers newsletter with you. I just saw it used incorrectly in a respected literary journal.

Til is a word. ‘Till isn’t. Nor is ‘til. Many of us incorrectly assume that the apostrophe takes the place of “un” in “until” but it doesn’t. I don’t know of single dictionary or style book that doesn’t agree with this spelling so that makes it pretty much a RULE you don’t want to break.

Yep, assumptions--even logical ones--can kill credibility!


Technorati Tags:
grammar, correct usage, til vs 'till, until and til, till vs til, english usage
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

"Everyday" Editing Problem Featured Here "Every Day": Well, OK. Frequently

So many words spelled differently depending on how you use them. Don't be mislead by dictionaries!

Everyday, as an example, is listed in most dictionaries as one word. But that's only true sometimes.

"May Co. offers everyday values." One word! When it's used as an adjective.

But "May Co. offers new values every day." Two words. Don't ask. Just get a sense of it. Sometimes that's the best way.

There are others like this. "A way" and "away" discussed elsewhere on my blog www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com comes to mind.

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.