Friday, February 26, 2010
Weary vs. Wary
weary = mentally or physically exhausted; wary = watchful; being on one's guard against danger. Please to be noting the difference. thx
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Boy love
I love this video, and I keep losing track of it, so I'm putting it here so I won't lose it again.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The use of Dashes
I've never given this a ton of thought, but a link about the use of dashes, specifically the en-dash and em-dash, was posted on Twitter today, and the article is useful and interesting, so I'm posting it.
Friday, February 12, 2010
My Pet Peeves
Yeah, I'm gonna go there.
This may start out being my little corner of the world for putting references to grammar and punctuation stuff. Call it a handy reference shelf for myself or for the authors I beta. My point is not to make anyone feel bad. I never want to do that. My point is to educate. Always. I have to look stuff up all the time. Everyone does. And if they don't, they're ignorant. Ignorant of the fact that they have to (or should) look things up. So let's get rid of the stigma that says, "I learned that in high school, I should know it, I shouldn't have to look it up." High school was a long time ago. (Longer ago for some of us than for others.) Get over it, and find good resources. Below are some that I like. I'm sure there are a gajillion more out there. If you have some you particularly like and would like to recommend, let me know.
Peeve #1
Ok, my first pet peeve: turning plurals into possessives. What I mean by that is putting an apostrophe before an "s" when you're making something plural. It's not needed, people! Just stick an s (or an "es" if the word ends with an "s") on the end. That's all. Simple.
The Oatmeal has a much more thorough, and humorous, explanation on How to Use an Apostrophe. Please go take a look, then come back.
Peeve #2
People, please. The phrase is "for all intents and purposes," not "for all intensive purposes." Well, maybe it is for intensive purposes, but that's not the same thing.
Peeve #3
There/Their/They're
Its/It's
You're/Your
Lose/Loose
Chose/Choose (choose is present tense; chose is past tense. "I choose to spit out this disgusting fruit beverage. I chose to drink something else last week.")
Again, The Oatmeal has a complete and fun explanation of these (except for chose/choose) in their 10 Words You Need to Stop Misspellingcartoon.
Peeve #4
Semicolons. They're lovely. They are not interchangeable with commas. Sometimes, but not always. Again, The Oatmeal has a fun poster on How to Use a Semicolon.
Ok, those are my peeves for now. You may be wondering what resources I use other than The Oatmeal. There really are other grammar resources out there. The one that I find I go to most often is GrammarBook.com. I've found answers there to every question I've had so far.
Of course, you shouldn't forget your local library reference desk, with its attendant librarian, who is more than happy to help you with your questions. If you're serious about this writing thing, you might want to buy yourself a grammar book and maybe a style guide or two. I'm sure there are writing forums out there where people would give you tips on what's good. Or, again, consult with your friendly local librarian.
Ok, all for now. Later, taters.
This may start out being my little corner of the world for putting references to grammar and punctuation stuff. Call it a handy reference shelf for myself or for the authors I beta. My point is not to make anyone feel bad. I never want to do that. My point is to educate. Always. I have to look stuff up all the time. Everyone does. And if they don't, they're ignorant. Ignorant of the fact that they have to (or should) look things up. So let's get rid of the stigma that says, "I learned that in high school, I should know it, I shouldn't have to look it up." High school was a long time ago. (Longer ago for some of us than for others.) Get over it, and find good resources. Below are some that I like. I'm sure there are a gajillion more out there. If you have some you particularly like and would like to recommend, let me know.
Peeve #1
Ok, my first pet peeve: turning plurals into possessives. What I mean by that is putting an apostrophe before an "s" when you're making something plural. It's not needed, people! Just stick an s (or an "es" if the word ends with an "s") on the end. That's all. Simple.
The Oatmeal has a much more thorough, and humorous, explanation on How to Use an Apostrophe. Please go take a look, then come back.
Peeve #2
People, please. The phrase is "for all intents and purposes," not "for all intensive purposes." Well, maybe it is for intensive purposes, but that's not the same thing.
Peeve #3
There/Their/They're
Its/It's
You're/Your
Lose/Loose
Chose/Choose (choose is present tense; chose is past tense. "I choose to spit out this disgusting fruit beverage. I chose to drink something else last week.")
Again, The Oatmeal has a complete and fun explanation of these (except for chose/choose) in their 10 Words You Need to Stop Misspellingcartoon.
Peeve #4
Semicolons. They're lovely. They are not interchangeable with commas. Sometimes, but not always. Again, The Oatmeal has a fun poster on How to Use a Semicolon.
Ok, those are my peeves for now. You may be wondering what resources I use other than The Oatmeal. There really are other grammar resources out there. The one that I find I go to most often is GrammarBook.com. I've found answers there to every question I've had so far.
Of course, you shouldn't forget your local library reference desk, with its attendant librarian, who is more than happy to help you with your questions. If you're serious about this writing thing, you might want to buy yourself a grammar book and maybe a style guide or two. I'm sure there are writing forums out there where people would give you tips on what's good. Or, again, consult with your friendly local librarian.
Ok, all for now. Later, taters.
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