More from the Grammar Divas

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Kudzu Word #4: Strange

The word strange is not instantly wrong. But all too often, people abuse the word in order to hedge or avoid coming to the point. You already know that’s not good!

Kudzu: Looking into Josh’s baby blues gave her a strange, but pleasant, feeling. (Oh, come on. This is silly purple prose. Unless his eyes are emanating radiation in concentric circles at her, she’s not feeling strange.)

Much Better: Looking into Josh’s baby blues warmed her inside and out. Her soldier was home. Emily tossed him the smile she saved only for him. She laughed when Josh lifted her off her feet in the embrace she’d had to imagine for a year.

Kudzu: What’s that strange smell? (Really? You’re a writer and can’t come closer to describing the smell than that?)

Better: Do you smell that metallic, earthy odor?

From the Grammar Divas

I subscribe to their email newsletter and in this is their latest. Thought I'd spread the good-will grammar. And I highly recommend subscribing to their newsletter.

Misplaced Modifiers: How Not To Lose Your Reader

A misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is not placed close enough to the word it describes to be clear.

Confusing: The waitress served ice cream to everyone in bowls.

Wow! Everyone had to get in bowls in order to get their ice cream?

To fix, place the modifier as close to the words it modifies as possible.

Better: The waitress served ice cream in bowls to everyone.

Sentences like this are common in conversation. But they are imprecise. So they have no place in your fiction.

Note: misplaced modifiers can be hard to find in revision. Why? Because you, the writer, already know what you’re trying to say. Your mind “sees” what you intend to say. The reader, however, does not want to do your job.

English Language and all its idiosyncrasies

I love the blog, The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotations. It's amusing to see what people put in quotes. And what running commentary people will make up for those unnecessary quotations.

I have my own copy (I think this one was published in the 1960s) of Strunk & White's Elements of Style. I hadn't read through it, it's not one of those read from cover to cover books. But now that I'm published, I am about half-way through it. Just a refresher course, can't hurt.

At the ungodly hour of 7am on Sunday mornings on History International they run a program called Adventures in English where the host (I don't know his name) takes us through the many evolutions of the English language and why there are more than one name for different things. Like jail and gaol and prison. Saxon, Celtic, and Norman. (I may have that mixed up but did try to check the origins before posting this blog.)

I just started the new book, Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language. It's a great book on the origin of words in the English language. Like fiery: makes no sense since fire is spelled, well, f-i-r-e. Apparently, it's a hold over from the 13th century when fire was spelled f-i-e-r.

I never considered myself SUCH a grammar person until I realized how often I gravitated toward these shows/books. OK, not such a...I am a stickler, and I do judge when you use poor grammar, but not SUCH A stickler...