Grammar Brigade: Commonly Confused Terms

Sometimes, the things we say mix up the things we write. Today, we'll be looking at some commonly misused words and phrases. Included in the lesson will be:

kind vs. kinds (what kind of fish do you have, what kinds of fish do you have)
should of vs. should have

further vs. farther
like vs. such as
toward vs. towards
number vs. amount

Kind vs. KindsQuiz! Which is a proper answer to this question:
"What kind of fish do you have in that aquarium?"
A) African Black Knife fish, Elephant Noses, and Baby Whales
B) Great white sharks
C) My cat, some angel fish, a couple of goldfish, and a guppy - wait, no more guppy.
D) A dolphin

If you answered B) Great white sharks, you are correct!

"Kind" refers to a single type. So, "What kind of fish" means you can only answer with a single type of fish.

Kinds, on the other hand, refers to multiple kinds of fish. So if I had asked, "What kinds of fish do you have?" you would have had to answer with A) African Black Knife fish, Elephant Noses, and Baby Whales.

Ex: What kind of pet do you have? A dog.
Ex: What kinds of pets do you have? A dog, a cat, and a fire-breathing mongoose. No snakes.

Should of vs. Should Have

Should have. "Should of" is a mistake - this common error comes from hearing the contraction "should've" and assuming the verbal 've transcribes to of. Always use should have, could have, may have, etc.


Further vs. farther

Farther refers to distances.

Further continues an idea or a process. It's metaphorical - no physical distance involved. It can also mean "in addition."

Ex) He moved farther away from the city than Electra did.
Ex) The asteroid continued to move farther from Earth over the rest of the week.
Ex) Further involvement by the FBI was unnecessary.
Ex) There was lots of evidence in his room. Further, the dead body of a guppy was found in the litterbox.

Personally, I prefer to use furthermore for the "in addition" definition. Furthermore, the dead body of a guppy was found in the litterbox.

Like vs. such as

Most people won't hunt you down for these. But, if you plan on writing for a grammar stickler, I'd use "such as" in inclusive lists:

I wear many cool accessories, such as red shoes, gold earrings, and dragon-scale purses.

To many people, like means "similar to" - a comparison that does not include. She looks like a dog (but is not a dog); it's like that time we shot the sheriff (but we didn't shoot the sheriff again).

Pop quiz: Which is correct?
1.
A) Xena hopes no more stalker-glorifying books like Twilight will be published.
B) Xena hopes no more stalker-glorifying books such as Twilight will be published.
2.
A) Amber loves stories such as Twilight, in which handsome boys obsess over clumsy girls.
B) Amber loves stories like Twilight, in which handsome boys obsess over clumsy girls.
3.
A) Luke likes to feed his cat strange things, like sparkly vampires, guppies, and blue gorillas.
B) Luke likes to feed his cat strange things such as sparkly vampires, guppies, and blue gorillas.

Answers: 1(A), 2(Either, depending on context. If Amber likes Twilight, then A. If she does not like Twilight, then B.) 3(B).

Toward vs. towards

No mistake. They're interchangeable. Grammar Girl suggests that towards is more British, and toward may be more American, but both are correct.


Number vs. amount

"Number" is used for things that can be physically counted. "The number of shoes in my closet," "the number of teaspoons of salt," etc.

"Amount" is used for money and for things that cannot be physically, individually counted. "The amount of water" is a common use, or "the amount of love."

Liquids are usually amounts, but not containers or measurements of liquids.

All of these are correct:

I want an amount of milk in my glass, or I want a number of milliliters in my glass.
Pay him some amount of money to make him go away.
The amount of time it would take to run to the store for sugar is too long. I'll just use this salt instead.
The number of minutes in an hour changed yesterday to forty.

Sources:

should have vs. should of
further vs. farther
like vs. such; like vs such
toward vs. towards
number vs. amount; number vs. amount

 Note: "What kinds of pet" would be incorrect. Since I used "kinds," my subject must be plural. Kinds has an -s, so add an -s to your subject. Unless you're talking fish, sheep, or another irregularly pluralized item.

Wednesday Writing Prompt: Character Clothes

Wednesday Writing Prompt: Choose a character from your WIP. What did that character put on 'this' morning? Where did he/she get these clothes? In <300 words, decide what significance this outfit has to your character.

'this': Either the day your character is currently living at your point in writing, or the first day of your story.

My example:
This morning, Carol put on a pair of jeans and a form-fitting black T-shirt. The jeans were the obvious choice: the Greek islands tend to be a little more conservative than America, and so it's those or a skirt. Carol doesn't wear skirts. These jeans, on the other hand, she just recently bought. She wanted something that would be decent enough to wear to work (dress casual), but comfortable.
Since she's on her friend's engagement party, she decided she'd pack some dressier shirts. It comes down over her hips, sleeveless for the warm Greek weather, and has a swirling abstract design on the back in silver. She's had this one for about two years. Again, something she picked up for work, but attractive and functional enough to be pretty much all-purpose. Great for a day of touring an island; good enough for a semi-nice dinner in the evening.

Standing While you Work?

It's about 2pm, an hour or so after lunch. My eyes start to flutter. My head starts to fill with cotton. Yep, circadian rhythm strikes again, trying to make me take a nap. Only, my workplace doesn't particularly advocate naps on the desk, so I do what I can to avoid it - namely, plug in my iPod and stand up.

Turns out, standing up at work is good for you. There's evidence* that it can help prevent diabetes, lead to weight loss, and improve general health. (links at the bottom!)

Writing can be a sedentary business. Can be? Okay, it typically involves untold hours of sitting. But here's an alternative: try standing. You'll still need to keep your keyboard at elbow level and monitor at eye level, but a little jury-rigging can put you at more or less the perfect height.

One of the articles recommends that you go to a coffee shop and confiscate one of the tall tables (for that author, the tables were the perfect height to act as a standing desk.) Countertops and even professionally crafted standing desks are other options. And the fourth article tells how one worker made herself a standing desk for $20, with a bakers' rack and no-slip paper.

No, I don't do this all day. I sit for most of it, because I get tired after about two hours of standing. When my feet need a break, I put everything back and return to sitting. I also have the (slightly embarrassing) tendency to dance a little as I work. Static standing can be as bad as sitting, though, so perhaps it's just as well that my dignity can take a hit or two.

I've found that even a couple of hours of standing really rejuvenate me, so I've started keeping a nice little stack of textbooks in bookshelves at work. My CPU happens to be the perfect height for my monitor, too, which makes the process easier for me.

If you're worried about gaining weight while writing, try switching to a standing desk for a couple of hours a day. See if it works for you. And if it does, let me know.


*Articles to support this claim:

Those with a desk job, please stand up

Standing at Work (contains a nice list of resources with which to sway your boss to your strange new habit)

Standing up for work can improve your health and productivity

She built her own standing desk for $20.

Publishing News

In publishing news for the past two weeks, the major news is all about Penguin: e-lending and BookCountry, that is. News first, then a nice little run-around of links for keeping motivated and improving your writing. Apparently agents have been chatting about queries, because we've got three blogs on those.

Major News

Jane Friedman has a post on recent Penguin news. This blog's a little hard to follow, but she talks about Penguin's decision to pull their books from e-libraries. She provides links to other articles and quotes from bloggers. In summary: Penguin originally decided to support e-lending, but is now pulling their books from library e-lending 'shelves.' You can expect to see Penguin books pulled from the 'shelves' as of the end of the year. And no new titles will be added. Explanations from this (not official) range from the fact that the e-lending site looks like an Amazon shopping page on Kindle and requires being logged into Kindle, that Penguin is afraid people will borrow books and not buy them, or that Penguin is worried people will check books out from non-local libraries. Another point of note is that Random House is now reviewing their e-lending policy: and Random House originally embraced e-lending.

If you want a look at what Penguin's saying about this, The Digital Shift gives you Penguin's official statements.

And PaidContent notes that self-published authors are harshly criticizing Penguin's BookCountry, now that it's started charging fees, referring to it as "vanity publishing" and "preying on inexperienced authors." I also recommend reading Writer Beware's take on the issue.

General Writing

Rachelle Gardner hosts a guest-post from Katie Ganshert, who talks about how her life has changed now that she's gotten a contract. It's not all dandelions and roses; life after-contract has its own set of worries. Of course, she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Also from Rachelle: Have you started having doubts about your writing? Is it not fun some days? Do you hate it sometimes? Look at it like a good marriage: It's not fun all the time. You won't be enamoured with it every day. But it's worth it. Don't give up.

In QueryTracker, it's believability or bust. Decide what the rules of your world are, and keep to them. Don't lose your reader because you broke the rules of your own world.  We're also reminded about the importance of thanking our beta readers. Even if their feedback isn't easy to swallow, they make us a better writer - and not thanking them is a quick way to lose them.

And QueryTracker also posts that it's a numbers game: Essentially, a long list of links to tips to improve your writing and your business. If you've got a little time, check it out. Otherwise, bookmark it and come back later. Some of these tips are really helpful: How to grow your blog, 10 things all writers need to know (like figuring out who their audiences are), 10 steps to match your query to your agent, and 10 things Hollywood producers look for in books.

Also drop by for their Publishing Pulse: links to a lexicon of publishing terms, the life cycle of book (a view of the process of publishing), Patricia C. Wrede's advice on writing the middle of a book and making your scenes have an emotional impact, the "inside scoop" of three editors on publishing, Icy Sedgewick's posts on writing beginnings, middles, and ends, and Rachel Aaron's advice on increasing word count.

Jessica Faust answers the question of what women's fiction is: "Women's fiction is not simply a book whose target audience is women. It's also a book about a woman's personal growth and change and it tends to be strongly emotional." She begins the LLC Bookmas, so if you want a free book, hop by and read the rules. And she also mentions that sometimes, she breaks the rules - like when she reads a query so interesting she requests for it - despite not being open to submissions at the time.

Janet Reid talks about the purpose of queries, and that's being to get the agent to ask for more. Not to tell the story. Not to sell yourself. It's just to sell the book! (I wonder if she and Jessica have been talking?)
If they have, they've also been hanging out with Suzie Townsend, because she also posted advice on queries: "Your query has to grab an agent. Which means you have to show them how your book will stand out in a tough marketplace and sometimes an overcrowded genre."

Writer Unboxed espouses the importance of a skill known as copywriting: that is, selling your book. It's a different skill than writing your book. Don't forget to learn to sell!

Nathan Bransford asks us if we're suffering from common writing maladies: go take a look. If you're suffering from one, get help now.

What recent interesting blogs and articles have you encountered these past two weeks?

Quote of the Week: Montesquieu, on Happiness

"If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are."
-Montesquieu

Wednesday Writing Exercise
Write a short scene (<300 words) in which a character exhibits this type of jealousy.

Post-Thanksgiving

Welcome back from Tryptophan land.

There's just a couple of days left in November, so if you're doing a NaNoWriMo, it's crunch time. And I'm not talking about the Snap-Crackle-Pop kind of crunch, either.

If you're not doing NaNoWriMo, you're preparing for December holidays, and possibly trying to figure out how to fit writing between all those holiday parties. Here's a hint or two:

*Vary your writing time. There's nothing wrong with waking up and writing to the sunrise. An extra 30 minutes in the morning has the added bonus of having that "deadline" feel - I have to go to work in 30 minutes, so I'd better get my writing done now. And if you can't get up in the mornings, don't be afraid to squish a little writing in mid-afternoon, or over lunch hour.

*Schedule yourself a day to write. It's okay not to accept every invitation - the brain needs downtime, and if you're always pushing yourself, you'll be tired. If you're like me, writing is rejuvenating, so make time for it.

*Take advantage of the minutes. Got a few minutes before meeting a client? Instead of FB, jot down a sentence or two.

*Don't be afraid to vacation - but make plans for coming back. It's okay to take a day or two off writing, as long as you make plans to start writing again. Not good intentions, not promises. Plans. If you're serious about writing, then writing is your second job (or first, if you're lucky.) You can't just not go back to work. So treat writing the same. Schedule your vacations ahead of time, on days you specifically know you won't be able to make time to write. And just like going back to work after a vacation, go back to writing when the scheduled days off are over.

Hope you enjoy your leftovers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll be in a tryptophan overload this coming Friday, so

please accept this picture instead of any further blogging for the week:





If you close your eyes, you can pretend you were here.