What's a homonym?
Homonyms are two words which sound the same, but are spelled differently.
Let's look a few commonly misused homonyms:
It's vs. its; there vs. they're vs. their; let's vs. lets; you're vs. your; whose vs. who's; capital vs. capitol; principle vs. principal; passed vs. past
It's: A contraction of "it is." Do not use anywhere you would not use "It is."
ex: It's purple.
Its: The possessive of "it." Use when "it" owns something.
ex: Its hat is purple.
There: A place. Should only be used when pointing at something, or in text when "there" has been clearly specified.
ex: It is over there.
There: A way of starting a sentence in passive voice. (Why are you using passive voice in your writing? You'd better have a good reason. No, really.)
ex: There is nothing worse than getting squashed by a falling toilet.
They're: A contraction of "They are." Use only when you would use "they are."
ex: They're in Georgia.
Their: The possessive form of "they." Use when they own something.
ex: Their car broke down in Georgia.
Let's: A contraction of "let us." Use only as a substitute for "let us."
ex: Let's go to Canada.
Lets: The present tense conjugation of "let" (as a synonym for "allow") for a singular person.
ex: He lets me borrow his flour.
You're: A contraction of "you are." Use only as substitute for "you are."
ex: You're angry, aren't you?
Your: The possessive of "you." Use when you own something.
ex: Your book bag is heavy.
Whose: The possessive of "who." Use when you are trying to determine the owner of something, or when you are using "who" as a pronoun.
ex: Whose book bag is that?
ex: I gave it to Jacob, whose book bag needed the extra space.
Who's: The contraction of "who is." Use only to replace "who is."
ex: Who's responsible for the laundry this week?
Capital: A city that serves as the seat of government for an area, or an asset such as wealth, or a capital letter.
ex: Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina.
Capitol: Only used to name a building; specifically, the building in which the legislature meets.
ex: We were really bored during our tour of the Capitol Building.
Principle: A moral purpose.
ex: It's against my principles to eat raw steak.
Principal: An adjective meaning most important, or the leader of a school, or the initial investment of money before interest is added.
ex: The principal objective is to not get eaten by the dinosaurs; after that, you need to capture the flag.
Passed: The past tense of the verb "to pass." Use only if someone has physically moved from behind to ahead of something, or passed a test.
ex: I passed the test with flying colors.
ex: He passed me in the right-hand lane.
Past: A location; a time period; a preposition; an adverb; "past" locates something in time and space.
ex: I stuck my tongue out as I drove past him.
ex: One look at the funny breeches told him everything: he was stuck in the past, with no way home.
ex: In my past life, I was an osterich.
ex: The days for mourning are now past.
ex: It was half past three.
What are the most common homonym mistakes you see?
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Grammar Brigade: Semicolons, the forgotten punctuation
I was going to do a lesson on using semicolons. However, I cannot possibly outdo The Oatmeal's semicolon lesson.
I can, however, paraphrase it for those too lazy to follow the link, or those who fear being sucked into The Oatmeal's endless supply of ridiculously funny pages. (Go ahead and bookmark the page for later. You know you want to.)
Semicolons are usually used to connect two independent clauses together.
ex: I love morning glories; my mother loves hydrangea.
This should only be done when the two independent clauses are actually related.
NO!: I love morning glories; Sister Anne drove the van to a conference in Italy. :NO!
They can also be used in sentences wherein there are already commas (for the purposes of clarity.)
ex: I have visted Austin, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Juneau, Alaska; and New York, New York.
ex: My teacher, Mr. Norris, loved apples; and when finished eating, he would bury the cores under piles of nasty, steamy tar.
Questions, besides why Mr. Norris loves to bury apple cores beneath tar?
I can, however, paraphrase it for those too lazy to follow the link, or those who fear being sucked into The Oatmeal's endless supply of ridiculously funny pages. (Go ahead and bookmark the page for later. You know you want to.)
Semicolons are usually used to connect two independent clauses together.
ex: I love morning glories; my mother loves hydrangea.
This should only be done when the two independent clauses are actually related.
NO!: I love morning glories; Sister Anne drove the van to a conference in Italy. :NO!
They can also be used in sentences wherein there are already commas (for the purposes of clarity.)
ex: I have visted Austin, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Juneau, Alaska; and New York, New York.
ex: My teacher, Mr. Norris, loved apples; and when finished eating, he would bury the cores under piles of nasty, steamy tar.
Questions, besides why Mr. Norris loves to bury apple cores beneath tar?
Monday, July 25, 2011
Grammar Brigade: Clauses, and why they matter
What's a clause?
A clause is a group of words which contains both a subject and a verb.
ex: He walks.
ex: while I ran
ex: if you look under the couch
Sometimes, clauses have implied subjects. That's okay, too - they still count as clauses.
ex: Don't do that! (implied subject: person addressed)
ex: Run! (implied subject: person addressed)
ex: don't worry (implied subject: someone who should probably be worried)
Note: Clauses with implied subjects are different from interjections. Interjections are one-word expressions, usually showing emotion. They can stand alone, or be added to a sentence.
ex: Oops. (not a clause!)
ex: Wow! (not a clause!)
Clauses come in two types: independent and dependent.
An independent clause is a clause that is, in and of itself, a sentence. It can stand on its own, although you might want to add more to it.
ex: He runs.
ex: He throws a Frisbee at Mike.
ex: Mike dodges the ninja star disguised as a Frisbee.
A dependent clause is a clause that cannot stand on its own. By itself, it is just a sentence fragment. It is preceded by a conjunction or a marker word.
ex: because Mick didn't move fast enough
ex: when Mick dodged
ex: if I do a cartwheel
Dependent clauses must be tacked on to independent clauses in order to be a full sentence (They're kind of needy that way.) This usually requires punctuation, in the form of a comma, unless one of the clauses is particularly short.
ex: When Mick ran for president, I voted for the other guy.
ex: If I do a cartwheel, I will break my neck.
ex: I'll bake the cake, while you make the icing.
ex: I laughed when Susan dropped flour on Mick. (I laughed/ when Susan dropped flour on Mick) ("I laughed" is short - no comma is needed in this case!)
Independent clauses may be joined together to form a full sentence, but they require either the addition of conjunctions (and, so, but, yet, for, nor, or), or the use of a semicolon.
ex: I walked to the store, but Mick ran.
ex: I walked to the store; Mick ran.
ex: I planted a gardenia outside, and now my yard smells nice.
ex: I planted a gardenia outside; now my yard smells nice.
Some common words can be added to independent clauses without removing their independent status. Some of these are words like: however, moreover, also, nevertheless, furthermore.
ex: I walked to the store; however, Mick ran. (Still need that semi-colon!)
ex: I planted a gardenia outside; nevertheless, my yard still smells like fish.
If you combine two independent clauses with a comma, then you have a comma splice. This is a type of run-on sentence, and your paper will bleed red when your editor returns it to you.
NO!: I walked to the store, Mick ran. :NO!
NO!: I planted a gardenia outside, now my yard smells nice. :NO!
NO!: I planted a gardenia outside, nevertheless, my yard still smells like fish. :NO!
Be supportive for your dependent clauses. Give them the punctuation they need in order to survive an editor's brutal attack.
(Thanks to Purdue OWL for definitions!)
This Grammar Brigade attack is brought to you by... common comma errors!
Do you have a grammar question? If I don't know the answer, I'll look it up!
A clause is a group of words which contains both a subject and a verb.
ex: He walks.
ex: while I ran
ex: if you look under the couch
Sometimes, clauses have implied subjects. That's okay, too - they still count as clauses.
ex: Don't do that! (implied subject: person addressed)
ex: Run! (implied subject: person addressed)
ex: don't worry (implied subject: someone who should probably be worried)
Note: Clauses with implied subjects are different from interjections. Interjections are one-word expressions, usually showing emotion. They can stand alone, or be added to a sentence.
ex: Oops. (not a clause!)
ex: Wow! (not a clause!)
Clauses come in two types: independent and dependent.
An independent clause is a clause that is, in and of itself, a sentence. It can stand on its own, although you might want to add more to it.
ex: He runs.
ex: He throws a Frisbee at Mike.
ex: Mike dodges the ninja star disguised as a Frisbee.
A dependent clause is a clause that cannot stand on its own. By itself, it is just a sentence fragment. It is preceded by a conjunction or a marker word.
ex: because Mick didn't move fast enough
ex: when Mick dodged
ex: if I do a cartwheel
Dependent clauses must be tacked on to independent clauses in order to be a full sentence (They're kind of needy that way.) This usually requires punctuation, in the form of a comma, unless one of the clauses is particularly short.
ex: When Mick ran for president, I voted for the other guy.
ex: If I do a cartwheel, I will break my neck.
ex: I'll bake the cake, while you make the icing.
ex: I laughed when Susan dropped flour on Mick. (I laughed/ when Susan dropped flour on Mick) ("I laughed" is short - no comma is needed in this case!)
Independent clauses may be joined together to form a full sentence, but they require either the addition of conjunctions (and, so, but, yet, for, nor, or), or the use of a semicolon.
ex: I walked to the store, but Mick ran.
ex: I walked to the store; Mick ran.
ex: I planted a gardenia outside, and now my yard smells nice.
ex: I planted a gardenia outside; now my yard smells nice.
Some common words can be added to independent clauses without removing their independent status. Some of these are words like: however, moreover, also, nevertheless, furthermore.
ex: I walked to the store; however, Mick ran. (Still need that semi-colon!)
ex: I planted a gardenia outside; nevertheless, my yard still smells like fish.
If you combine two independent clauses with a comma, then you have a comma splice. This is a type of run-on sentence, and your paper will bleed red when your editor returns it to you.
NO!: I walked to the store, Mick ran. :NO!
NO!: I planted a gardenia outside, now my yard smells nice. :NO!
NO!: I planted a gardenia outside, nevertheless, my yard still smells like fish. :NO!
Be supportive for your dependent clauses. Give them the punctuation they need in order to survive an editor's brutal attack.
(Thanks to Purdue OWL for definitions!)
This Grammar Brigade attack is brought to you by... common comma errors!
Do you have a grammar question? If I don't know the answer, I'll look it up!
Friday, July 22, 2011
In the Publishing World: Part Two
A two-part post today, because I'm covering a couple weeks' worth of links.
From BookEnds, LLC, Jessica gives us three short glimpses into her world: Don't say, "My book still needs editing," don't send a rude reply to a rejection, and find out Jessica's "red flags" that can turn a "yes" into a "no."
Getting worried that your novel has taken a while to sell? Nathan Bransford has reposted an older blog on why you shouldn't worry if you haven't heard back within four months of getting an agent. Selling books takes time - frequently, a lot of time. If you don't want to wait, then self-publish.
If you haven't heard that Borders is closing, you've been on vacation without computers, phones, or television. Hope you have a nice tan to show for it.
Eric Blank's Pimp My Novel gives an opinion on what this will do the writing market.
USA Today suggests who benefits from the loss of Borders (Obviously, Barnes and Nobles!), why Borders closed, and what that means for the market. (and I personally find the quote "I'm not going to buy another paperback in my life" to be horrifying on a fundamental level.)
On QueryTracker's Publishing Pulse, links to several major blogs worth checking out - including some on Google+. The rest of the links are pulled from that page, so if you're planning to read everything, just skip to QueryTracker and read their list.
Marian Perera offers the pros and cons of blogging.
Getting onto Google+? Here's some tips for using the site, courtesy of Robert Brewer.
A list of which literary folks happen to be on Google+, compiled by Debbi Ohi.
Mary Robinette offers advice on having a Writers' Hangout on Google+.
What do you think about the plight of Borders? Is a death sentence for the physical book market? Or is it the start of a new era? How will it affect (or not) your choice of traditional vs. self-publishing?
From BookEnds, LLC, Jessica gives us three short glimpses into her world: Don't say, "My book still needs editing," don't send a rude reply to a rejection, and find out Jessica's "red flags" that can turn a "yes" into a "no."
Getting worried that your novel has taken a while to sell? Nathan Bransford has reposted an older blog on why you shouldn't worry if you haven't heard back within four months of getting an agent. Selling books takes time - frequently, a lot of time. If you don't want to wait, then self-publish.
If you haven't heard that Borders is closing, you've been on vacation without computers, phones, or television. Hope you have a nice tan to show for it.
Eric Blank's Pimp My Novel gives an opinion on what this will do the writing market.
USA Today suggests who benefits from the loss of Borders (Obviously, Barnes and Nobles!), why Borders closed, and what that means for the market. (and I personally find the quote "I'm not going to buy another paperback in my life" to be horrifying on a fundamental level.)
On QueryTracker's Publishing Pulse, links to several major blogs worth checking out - including some on Google+. The rest of the links are pulled from that page, so if you're planning to read everything, just skip to QueryTracker and read their list.
Marian Perera offers the pros and cons of blogging.
Getting onto Google+? Here's some tips for using the site, courtesy of Robert Brewer.
A list of which literary folks happen to be on Google+, compiled by Debbi Ohi.
Mary Robinette offers advice on having a Writers' Hangout on Google+.
What do you think about the plight of Borders? Is a death sentence for the physical book market? Or is it the start of a new era? How will it affect (or not) your choice of traditional vs. self-publishing?
In the publishing world
Here's another set of blogs worth checking out for the other prospective authors out there:
D.L. Orton guest posts on Eric Nathan's Pimp My Novel with a humorous reminder that even great authors get rejected - frequently, in fact. Orton also gives us a numerical estimation on your debut manuscript's statistical chances of being published: Approximately 1 in 15,625. I never knew, by the way, that agents only manage to sell about 60% of their agented manuscripts to publishers. It's a tight market out there! I don't know about you, but I'm not about to give up. After all, someone has to be that 1.
Jessica Faust offers suggestions on getting through the spam filter if you're requerying an agent after making the revisions he or she suggested.
Agent Rachelle Gardner gives advice for pitching and offers a vlog on why agents don't say why they rejected queries.
Ingrid Sundberg (and I really love her hair) talks about alternative plot structures besides the typical Aristotelian story arch (you know, central conflict, obstacles, climax, zombies... all that jazz. Okay, maybe Aristotle wasn't much for zombies. His loss.)
Alan Rinzler talks about why, as an author, you should be tweeting. He also offers tips on what to do on Twitter, in order to build your followers. (I'm still not tweeting. I'm afraid my cats might eat me if I do. The tweet argument is raging - not every agent or editor requires you to get on Twitter.)
Twitter debate: Do you think Twitter is necessary as a writer? Why or why not?
D.L. Orton guest posts on Eric Nathan's Pimp My Novel with a humorous reminder that even great authors get rejected - frequently, in fact. Orton also gives us a numerical estimation on your debut manuscript's statistical chances of being published: Approximately 1 in 15,625. I never knew, by the way, that agents only manage to sell about 60% of their agented manuscripts to publishers. It's a tight market out there! I don't know about you, but I'm not about to give up. After all, someone has to be that 1.
Jessica Faust offers suggestions on getting through the spam filter if you're requerying an agent after making the revisions he or she suggested.
Agent Rachelle Gardner gives advice for pitching and offers a vlog on why agents don't say why they rejected queries.
Ingrid Sundberg (and I really love her hair) talks about alternative plot structures besides the typical Aristotelian story arch (you know, central conflict, obstacles, climax, zombies... all that jazz. Okay, maybe Aristotle wasn't much for zombies. His loss.)
Alan Rinzler talks about why, as an author, you should be tweeting. He also offers tips on what to do on Twitter, in order to build your followers. (I'm still not tweeting. I'm afraid my cats might eat me if I do. The tweet argument is raging - not every agent or editor requires you to get on Twitter.)
Twitter debate: Do you think Twitter is necessary as a writer? Why or why not?
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Grammar Brigade: Commas and Addressing People
Look, Charlie, it's the Grammar Brigade! That's right; we often forget the importance of grammar in our hurry to get the story across. But good grammar does make a difference. Bad grammar is one of my pet peeves (just ask anyone I've edited,) so I'll be putting up the occasional lesson for frequently forgotten rules.
Today's topic: Commas in addressing people. I frequently see writers forget to set names off with commas. This makes a difference. Consider:
Fly to the North James.
Huh? Where is "North James"? Is that a city?
Oh, you mean: Fly to the North, James. As in, James the character should be flying North.
When directly addressing a person, set off their name with a comma.
Nora, look out! The Grammar Brigade is out to get you!
Don't worry, mom; it's not as bad as it looks. (Note: "Don't worry" is a complete clause. If you add anything else, you'll usually need a semi-colon. This is another common mistake.)
In all of these cases, the name is a way to identify to whom the sentence is addressed. "Luke walked to the store" does not need a comma, because you're not directly addressing Luke. "Cherry, Luke walked to the store" does need a comma - you're informing Cherry that Luke walked to the store; thus, you are directly addressing her (and she probably just asked where Luke was, at the same time that Sally asked where her shoes were.)
Any questions?
Today's topic: Commas in addressing people. I frequently see writers forget to set names off with commas. This makes a difference. Consider:
Fly to the North James.
Huh? Where is "North James"? Is that a city?
Oh, you mean: Fly to the North, James. As in, James the character should be flying North.
When directly addressing a person, set off their name with a comma.
Nora, look out! The Grammar Brigade is out to get you!
Don't worry, mom; it's not as bad as it looks. (Note: "Don't worry" is a complete clause. If you add anything else, you'll usually need a semi-colon. This is another common mistake.)
In all of these cases, the name is a way to identify to whom the sentence is addressed. "Luke walked to the store" does not need a comma, because you're not directly addressing Luke. "Cherry, Luke walked to the store" does need a comma - you're informing Cherry that Luke walked to the store; thus, you are directly addressing her (and she probably just asked where Luke was, at the same time that Sally asked where her shoes were.)
Any questions?
Monday, July 18, 2011
Funny Conference Stories
Best conference story goes to Lady Arite gune Akasa, for her Dragon*Con costume stories!
"I wear a Cortana costume at Dragon*Con and have gotten some interesting attention with it. I've been called everything from Blue Lady to Mystique to Lady of the Blue Lagoon to Na'vi to Tron. People seriously grasp at straws rather than just ask what you are.
My costume is a painted bodysuit, wig, makeup, and blue contacts. Once, a group of what, under normal circumstances, I would have assumed to be typical sorority girls came on the elevator with us. One rather brazen girl asked "Are you wearing a bra?" Her friends expressed shock and said you can't just ask people that! But it's a con, if you can't be weird and open, what can you be? I told her I was wearing nipple covers, but that only piqued her curiosity and she asked about underwear too. "Yes." "I can't see it!" "It's seamless microfiber so you can't see the lines under the body suit." Her friends were still chastising her and giggling when they stepped off.
A guy said something to me once- I couldn't hear, I assumed it was the usual "Can I take a picture with you?", so I said sure and found myself being swept off my feet and held in his arms. Oh. Okay...well I feel slightly awkward now, but I can laugh it off. Aaand my fiance is laughing at me now. His friend had gotten himself distracted by another costume and it took a while to get his attention, so I was in this random guy's arms for a couple minutes before he realized he was being asked to take pictures.
A drunk girl toddled up to me once and said "Can I have your picture? I need to take your picture 'cause you're really hot." I obliged and she said "Thank you, you're really hot." and toddled off.
Then there was the other drunk lady who wanted specific poses (standing back to back, facing away from the camera w/ arms over each others shoulder and looking back at the camera). One of the more unusual requests I've gotten, but I figured it was harmless. However, my friend and fiance were laughing heartily the entire time and I had no idea why. It was more laughter than warranted by mild amusement at the drunk lady. Turns out she had her tongue out in the most horrible porn star faces the entire time. One friend declared them blackmail pictures. I promptly posted them on the internet to thwart his plans. We saw her again the next day (still drunk). She complemented my outfit but obviously did not remember the day before."
Also worthy of note was the RWA flagpole rapper - apparently, a guy climbed one of the flagpoles and stopped traffic for a while as the police were trying to get him down. Turns out he was a rapper, trying to advertise his songs!
Any more con hijinks? I'd love to hear your stories!
"I wear a Cortana costume at Dragon*Con and have gotten some interesting attention with it. I've been called everything from Blue Lady to Mystique to Lady of the Blue Lagoon to Na'vi to Tron. People seriously grasp at straws rather than just ask what you are.
My costume is a painted bodysuit, wig, makeup, and blue contacts. Once, a group of what, under normal circumstances, I would have assumed to be typical sorority girls came on the elevator with us. One rather brazen girl asked "Are you wearing a bra?" Her friends expressed shock and said you can't just ask people that! But it's a con, if you can't be weird and open, what can you be? I told her I was wearing nipple covers, but that only piqued her curiosity and she asked about underwear too. "Yes." "I can't see it!" "It's seamless microfiber so you can't see the lines under the body suit." Her friends were still chastising her and giggling when they stepped off.
A guy said something to me once- I couldn't hear, I assumed it was the usual "Can I take a picture with you?", so I said sure and found myself being swept off my feet and held in his arms. Oh. Okay...well I feel slightly awkward now, but I can laugh it off. Aaand my fiance is laughing at me now. His friend had gotten himself distracted by another costume and it took a while to get his attention, so I was in this random guy's arms for a couple minutes before he realized he was being asked to take pictures.
A drunk girl toddled up to me once and said "Can I have your picture? I need to take your picture 'cause you're really hot." I obliged and she said "Thank you, you're really hot." and toddled off.
Then there was the other drunk lady who wanted specific poses (standing back to back, facing away from the camera w/ arms over each others shoulder and looking back at the camera). One of the more unusual requests I've gotten, but I figured it was harmless. However, my friend and fiance were laughing heartily the entire time and I had no idea why. It was more laughter than warranted by mild amusement at the drunk lady. Turns out she had her tongue out in the most horrible porn star faces the entire time. One friend declared them blackmail pictures. I promptly posted them on the internet to thwart his plans. We saw her again the next day (still drunk). She complemented my outfit but obviously did not remember the day before."
Also worthy of note was the RWA flagpole rapper - apparently, a guy climbed one of the flagpoles and stopped traffic for a while as the police were trying to get him down. Turns out he was a rapper, trying to advertise his songs!
Any more con hijinks? I'd love to hear your stories!
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