Arlene Miller's Blog, page 20

10 Reasons to Use Quotation Marks

Welcome to the third post in the series about italics and quotation marks. T0day we will talk about ten ways to use quotation marks, and a few quotation mark DON’Ts.

I am writing this post on March 4, which is

NATIONAL GRAMMAR DAY!!!!

1. Use quotation marks to enclose direct quotes, or the exact words someone says: Mayor Jones said,”The ribbon-cutting for the new park will take place net Saturday at 9 a.m.” Direct quotes can of course be longer than once sentence, so the quotation marks go at only the beginning and end of the quote. For multi-paragraph quotes, use quotation marks at the beginning of each quoted paragraph, but only at the end of the final paragraph. 

2. Use quotation marks in dialog. 

“I am not eating the vegetables,” said Nan.

“Well,” said Mom, you won’t be getting dessert.”

A few authors have stopped using quotation marks for dialog. Most of them use hyphens to indicate dialog instead. A few of them use nothing at all.

3. Use quotation marks around words or phrases that come directly from another person or source: The advertisement said that if I use this cream, I will have “ageless skin forever.”

4, Use quotation marks to indicate sarcasm or irony: My brother claims that he is tall for his age. Ha! He is so “tall” that he can fit into kids’ pants!

5. Use quotation marks around slang  or intentional grammar or spelling mistakes:  She said she had gotten my book from the “liberry.”  She told me she just didn’t have enough “bandwidth”  to discuss the project at this time. 

6. As we said in a previous post in this series,  quotation marks are used for titles when they are parts of longer things, for example, titles of short stories, poems, songs, newspaper and magazine articles, episodes of television series, etc. Complete works, such as books, magazines, newspapers, and TV series names, are in italics: I just read “The Road Not Taken” in The Complete Poems of Robert Frost.

7. Use quotation marks around a word or phrase that has an unusual or “abnormal” use or placement in a sentence: We didn’t like her “I-am-better-than-you” attitude.

8. Use quotation marks if you define a word in a sentence: Did any of the students know that caffoy means “a type of silk from the 16th century”?

9. Use quotation marks around jargon if the audience you are writing to might be unfamiliar with it:  The instructor told the students in the beginning computer class about the “cloud.”

10. Use quotation marks around words that follow labeled or marked:  I almost dropped the box marked “fragile.”

DO NOT use quotation marks in these situations:

1.Indirect quotations:  She said that it might rain tomorrow for our picnic.

2. Around yes or no unless they are part of a direct quote: Please answer yes if you  know the answer to my question. She said, “Yes, I was out last night.”

3. You do not need quotation marks around well-known sayings:  It was raining cats and dogs this morning, so we couldn’t go for our walk.

4. Be careful with single quotation marks. There is only one use for them — for something that needs to be quoted that is already in quotes: She said, “I love that old song ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles.” Do not use single quotes for any of the above reasons to use quotation marks. Use double quotes. 

 

 

 

A Place of Love: Guest Post by Author A.L. Whyte

A.L. Whyte lives in Northern California. He is a performer who set aside his acting career around 2010 to make more time for his family. Prior to that he had performed for Nickelodeon, Universal Studios, Image Films, Toyota, Apple, and ILM, as well as semi-professional companies around Orlando, Florida, and the Bay Area. He has written and published poetry as well as  rewrites for Universal Studios stage productions. His derivative of Harry Nilsson’s “Land of Point” is registered in the Library of Congress. After six and a half years, in his spare time, he finished his science fiction novel, The Children of the Stars, Book One, SAIQA. He is currently finishing the second book in the series.    

Here is more information about The Children of the Stars.  

 

A Place of Love

 I had this dream about a chick. You know –  the tiny, yellow furry, kind. We were on the outside of a building on the patio. She was running about my feet and then scene change – as it happens in dreams – she was on the other side of the patio pecking around the bottom of the building. Suddenly, another bird with a long, sharp beak appeared. The bird started chasing the chick. She ran in fear; running in circles at the far end of the patio. I kept calling her to me. Finally she bolted my way. At that moment the bird struck the side of the chick with such a force she slammed into the building wall. She screamed in pain as she crawled to me. Somehow I managed to get between the deadly bird and the tiny chick. The baby chick stopped at my feet and cried and cried and cried. The deadly bird was behind me trying to get at her from between my legs. I picked up the mortally wounded youngling and held her in both of my hands. As I held her, she stopped crying and looked into my eyes, my very soul. I looked into hers and she settled into my hands and seemed to be filled with a sense of trust and love. I could feel it. Then she closed her eyes and died. At that moment I woke up.

            Had I been alive during the ancient Roman Empire, I would have been running scared at all the potential portents of such a visual dream. Instead I look to the past. I know as a parent I’ve made mistakes, as all parents do. But I remember that with every parental decision –  discipline, patience, education, everything –  I tried to always let my two girls know that they were loved. Both my girls are now strong, confident, and loving. I feel blessed for that alone. My younger girl is now over six months a new mom. This, of course, makes me a grandfather, a title I never thought would apply to me. When Tera had her baby shower, she set a jar aside for her guests to offer any parental suggestions. I wrote, “Always come from a place of love.” I know she initially scoffed at my suggestion, but now when I see her, I can see she has taken it to heart.

            There’s a lot of good and sometimes not good information and opinions offered to new parents through the internet as well as through hearsay. Yet there is one thing that to me seems universal: If you want good, strong, and confident children – children who will someday be the adults –  always try to come from a place of love.

 

Four Reasons to Use Italics in Your Writing

A couple of posts ago, we talked about the distinction between quotation marks and italics. Italics are used when referring to  complete works  in text: movie titles, book titles, TV series titles, names of magazines and newspapers, works of art, and operas, Quotation marks are used for parts of those works, such as chapter titles, TV series episodes, magazine and newspaper articles, and short stories.

But there are other uses of italics as well.

1. Use italics when referring in text to words, letters, numbers, and symbols used as themselves.

I spelled accommodate incorrectly on my essay.I always forget that there are two ms in accommodate.I put a 6 instead of an 8 in your address. Please use the word and, not &, in your formal letters.

2. Use italics for uncommon foreign words and phrases in your writing. Many of these words and phrases have become common and do not require italics. Consult a style guide or dictionary.  These words and phrases are considered common: a la carte, alma mater, bona fide, chutzpah, en route, et al., etc., non sequitur, per annum, per diem, magnum opus, rendezvous, savoir faire, status quo, summa cum laude, vice versa. (This is not a complete list of common foreign words.) 

3. Italics are generally used by authors (usually in fiction or memoir) for a character’s thoughts — or internal dialogue —  versus quotation marks for actual dialogue.

After I hung up the phone, I thought to myself, Does he really think I am that stupid? 

4. Use italics (sparingly) for emphasis. Do not use bold, all caps, or quotations marks around words or phrases you want to emphasize.

I asked you to use the good forks, not these bent, tarnished ones!

 

 

“Virtual Reality” and “Three Little Words”: A Guest Post by Linda Jay

I am pleased to present two humorous anecdotes from Linda Jay, a copyeditor and copywriter in Sonoma County, California. Linda has decades of experience editing book manuscripts as well as blogs, website text, magazine articles, and PR material of all types. She has edited books from business to zombies. She also writes PR and marketing copy for book jackets, websites, blogs, bios, magazine profiles and feature stories, email blasts, and brochures. Linda’s parents wrote radio scripts for programs including The Shadow. For more information about Linda Jay, see her website.

 

Three Little Words

It’s the early 1980s, and my (late) husband and I are attending a computer conference at the now-Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Apple Computer has one of the marketing tables outside the auditorium, so I’m browsing through their material. Yowza!  All interesting stuff … except the content of the Apple internal newsletter, Five Star News, leaves a lot to be desired.  I pick up my sample copy, take my ever-present red pen (editors ALWAYS carry one), and start circling corrections that should be made on the pages.

Do they have a copyeditor? Not listed on the masthead.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm. And I want a freelance copyediting job. I wonder………….. I think about what one word would sum up the Apple culture. Of course. “BRASH” comes to mind.  I myself am not, by nature, brash. But I want to see if the Five Star News editor would hire me to proofread/edit the paper every month, AND put my name on the masthead each month.  

So I make an appointment with the editor, I take my marked-up newsletter, and I march confidently into his office, throw the paper onto his desk, and declare, “You need me!”  He is stunned at my bold approach. Within a few minutes, he hires me as a freelancer who will have her name on the masthead. Mission accomplished!  The gig lasted a year, although I was never asked to meet the others on staff, who were all bona fide Apple employees.  

 

 Virtual Reality — Sound Effects for The Shadow  in My Parents’ New York Kitchen

When I was a kindergartner in Manhattan, sometimes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons my parents, Verne and Helen Jay, would rehearse sound effects in our kitchen. They were writing freelance radio scripts broadcast nationwide on NBC, and several shows  — such as “Flames of Death” and “Death in the Tomb” for The Shadow — involved sound effects.

Whether it was sirens, screams, bodies falling onto cement, or vault doors slamming, my parents were pretty proficient at producing the authentic sounds. I thought this was just a normal part of what parents did.

But when several neighbors with worried faces knocked at the front door on a Tuesday afternoon, asking what was going on inside, I thought differently. My mother, an aspiring actress as well as a writer, would draw herself up to her full 4 feet 5 3/4 inches and walk slowly to the door, with a haughty attitude.  As she slowly opened the door, she would gaze at each neighbor. “Yes? Is something wrong?”  They responded, “What on earth is going on in there?”

“Oh, that,” she would say nonchalantly. “Think nothing of it. We’re just rehearsing.” And then, her voice rising and her manner changing to almost-glee, she would add, “FOR THE SHADOW!!,” while she v-e-r-y slowly closed the door. 

With the perspective I have now on the entire scene, I can see that truly my parents did not realize that their virtual reality was everyday work to  them, although somewhat bizarre to the neighbors. And yes…this was my reality as a somewhat puzzled kindergartner in Manhattan.

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Quotation Marks? Italics? Bold? All Caps?

What to do? What to do? Should I put this in quotation marks or italics?

Today begins a five-part series on quotation marks and italics (interspersed with some guest posts for your edutainment). 

Quotes Versus ItalicsOther Uses for ItalicsOther Uses for Quotation MarksQuotation Marks with Other PunctuationQuiz on Quotation Marks and Italics

First of all, to simplify, you can pretty much forget about all caps and bold. They aren’t punctuation marks (well, okay, neither are italics), and they are more decorative. You might use bold or all caps for titles or headings of chapters, or sections of something you are writing, or possibly promotional writing or other graphics-related items (like book covers, social media banners, etc.). But if you are writing text, there is really no place for all caps or bold in more formal writing. Of course, in texts or social media posts, be my guest!

However, there is often confusion about when to put something in italics versus when to put it in quotation marks, and there is a distinction. Before we go any further, I know that sometimes italics aren’t available, for example, on Facebook or Twitter. In these cases, just use quotation marks instead. 

Here is the general rule:

Complete things are put in italicsParts of things are in quotation marks,

Here are some examples:

1.If you are writing something and need to refer to a book title, the title goes in italics; a chapter title in the book would be in quotation marks. A short story would also be in quotation marks.

Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird?We need to read chapter two, “Birds of Africa,” for homework.The story “Frankie Tells a Lie,” is my favorite in that anthology.

2. Albums or CDs (what are those these days??) are in italics. Song titles are quoted.

I still have my copy of Abbey Road by the Beatles!“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is my favorite song on that album.

3. Names of magazines and newspapers are in italics; title of articles within them are in quotation marks.

 I still subscribe to Vogue.I read a great article called “Things Not to Do in a Pandemic.”

3. TV series are in italics; episode names are in quotes.

Star Trek is one of my favorite shows of all times (it isn’t).I remember watching “The Enemy Within” episode when I was a kid. 

Here are some other “complete” things that are in italics:

Movie titlesPieces of art (The Mona Lisa)Titles of playsTitles of operasPoems long enough to fill a book (Howl by Allen Ginsburg)Planes, boats, and spacecraft if they are given names other than their brand or model (Titanic)

Here are some parts of things that would be in quotation marks:

Short poemsNames of acts or scenes in a movie or playNewspaper articles

It goes without saying that we are talking here only about when you are referring to these things in text. Obviously, the titles of books that are on the covers are not in italics necessarily. (That is when we use all caps and bold!)

So Very Busy . . .

You know those people who wear their “busyness” like a badge of honor? “I don’t know when I can do that. I am so booked up!” Well, I am one of those people.

You might be old enough to remember when we didn’t have cell phones — when we didn’t make advance plans on when we were going to call someone. We called and someone answered the phone.  And they could usually talk to us no matter when we called. If they were on another call, we would get a busy signal, and we would try again later. That was even before you could leave a message. And remember when you didn’t even know who was calling you, and you answered the phone anyway?? And back then, they probably weren’t trying to get you to buy an auto warranty!

Now, we need an appointment for a phone call. It seems as if everyone is busy, not just me. What are we all doing? Well, I can only answer for myself. . .

First of all, I am busier since the pandemic began because I go to a lot of virtual things I wouldn’t go to if it required me to buy a ticket and drive somewhere. It is so easy to sign up for something virtual. I have gone to (free) symphony concerts where I used to live — across the country — that I would not be able to attend from where I live now if they hadn’t been doing virtual concerts for a time. I have always attended author signings and book talks at my local bookstores, but I can still attend them on either coast because many are now virtual. I have attended, I think, three writing conferences that I wouldn’t have attended if I had to get on a plane and go somewhere. And because some comedians and other performers have not been able to make a living lately doing live performances, they have begun podcasts or YouTube programs — so I watch/listen to some of those. And now I can meet virtually with friends who are in California. I mean, I always could, but before the pandemic, they would meet in California and I could no longer join them, but I can now. 

I am a type A personality and like to overwhelm myself with things to do. Fortunately, I do not know the meaning of the word bored. And although there is certainly nothing wrong with retiring and playing tennis or golf — or biking or traveling — it’s not for me. 

When I think of all the things we have to do, I am not surprised that I am so busy. After all, there are only so many hours in the day — and I “waste” quite a few of them on social media (which I say is “work,” and some of it truly is), playing games on my phone, and now — Wordle. Thank goodness there is only one Wordle a day. Oh, and I do enjoy computer Ma Jongg.

I bet if you listed all the things you do, you would know why you are so busy. I have done that.

When you are older, there is medical maintenance – dermatology, ophthalmology, etc.Then there is the other kind of maintenance: manicures, pedicures, hair cuts and color.Of course there is the daily maintenance of shower, makeup (maybe), teeth, dressing.Everyone has to  spend time grocery shopping, doing laundry, and cleaning the house.There is home maintenance, car maintenance.I have a dog, so I have to feed her twice a day, take her out several times a day, and make sure I have food, poop bags, etc., and then there are shots and vet appointments, baths, flea treatment, etc.Even if you aren’t a gourmet (and I am not), we need to eat, so there is food preparation involved.Let’ s not forget about those virtual events.I am not a joiner, but I belong to at least six organizations and am on the board of two of them. Two are political, four are author/publisher related. They have meetings, board meetings, webinars, conferences. We need some time to socialize with friends and family.We have to make sure we have enough “stuff”: toiletries, clothes, detergent, etc.I have a business. I write books. I get tons of e-mails to sift through and delete (or reply, or save until they are out of date!).  I write a weekly blog post (right?). I need to keep my money straight. And my sales. We need to pay bills and taxes.We need to make calls to take care of annoying things like banks’ mistakes, etc.We need to watch TV because now there is Netflix, Hulu, Discovery, Disney, HBO, Prime, Paramount, etc. So much to watch, so little time. We need to exercise. Between exercise and stretching, that takes up nearly an hour of my time most days of the week.And we need to read, right? I try to read a couple of hours a day.I am exhausted. Look at all we have to do. No wonder we have no time to answer the phone!Oh, and I guess we need to sleep too.

In addition to being busy, I am a Virgo, and therefore regimented — much too regimented these days. It’s a little me, a little Covid, and a little because of all I have to do, but I have developed quite a rigid schedule! And I am one of those people who always knows what time it is!

I get up around 7:30 and make coffee, go back to bed to read, but I usually end up spending some of the time playing games on my phone, looking at Facebook and Twitter, and checking the weather.

I take the dog out around 8:30 for a really short walk or a sort of short walk.

I chase the dog around the house (she likes that), feed her, and am at my desk by 9. I then check my sales, my banks and credit card, my three e-mail accounts and then post on social media, while I am watching my favorite political show on my phone. 

Finally, I get dressed.

I have all those meetings and zooms I already talked about. I zoom weekly with some writing friends in California. Two Thursdays, one Friday, and one Saturday per month I have regular meetings.

I like to have a reading hour mid afternoon. It is sacred time (popcorn time too).

I will stop there lest you think I am toooo rigid. Okay, you can call it set in my ways. I have been alone for a long time, so I have had to learn not to depend on someone else for entertainment. However, I now live near my daughter and son-in-law, so I am where I should be — I miss my son, though, who is on the other side of the country

So next time you are overwhelmed with things to do, realize it is because — we all have a lot of things to do!

I will end this now, so I can go relax. (Wrong! Time to exercise.)

NEXT WEEK: Back to Grammar – Quotation Marks and Italics

 

How Well Do You Spel???

Remember spelling tests? Do we even need to know how to spell anymore? Autocorrect and other grammar/spelling checkers have eliminated the need. Or have they? Sometimes autocorrect goes haywire and gives you a word far from your intended one. And most grammar checkers cannot tell if you have used the right word as long as you have used a real word. 

But still, spelling seems less important than it used to be.  And some people are just better spellers than others, and it has nothing to do with one’s intelligence. The talent of good spelling seems to be somewhat hereditary. And some learning disabilities that get in the way of spelling. Those who read a lot probably may have better spelling because they see words on the written page and remember how they look. 

In any case, certain words give most people trouble. Here is a spelling quiz for you. Some of the words are spelled correct, and others are not. If you think a word is not spelled correctly, put in the correct spelling:

(Answers below)

harrass _______________________judgement_____________________acheive ________________________occurrence_______________________inoculate________________________relavant________________________mispelled________________________accommodate_____________________canceled_______________________millenium______________________accidently _______________________preseverance ___________________Carribbean ______________________ existance ________________________definitely_______________________embarrass_______________________minuscule_______________________flourescent ______________________seperate________________________copyright (the one in the book) _______________________expresso ______________________liaison________________________mischevious ____________________hors d’oerves ___________________license_________________________

 

Scroll down for the answers

 

 

Scroll down for the answers

 

 

One more time

 

 

harrass ____harass______judgement_correct_______acheive __achieve________occurrence_correct_______inoculate___correct______relavant ____relevant____mispelled _____misspelled_accommodate   correct__canceled____correct (cancelled is also correct, but one L is preferred)_millenium__correct_______accidently __accidentally__preseverance ___perseverance_Carribbean ___Caribbean___ existance  _____existence___definitely__correct________embarrass___correct______minuscule_____miniscule_flourescent __fluorescent____seperate _____separate___copyright (the one in the book) ___correct___expresso _espresso_____liaison_____ correct____mischevious _______mischievous___hors d’oerves _hors d’oeuvres____license_______correct______

 

Looking for Guest Posters? Have something to say that readers of this blog might be interested in? Seen a good movie or read a good book? Review it. Please e-mail me at info@bigwords101.comI had fun this week talking to my second Chilliwack British Columbia, Canada, Rotary Club.  (Virtually, of course). The man who asked me to speak told me he hasn’t seen the group so engaged in a long time. Made my week!

Words of the Year: 2021

Last week I attended the annual Word of the Year competition sponsored by the American Dialect Society. It was my second year participating. I am not sure how I got invited, and I think it might generally be in-person rather than on Zoom, in which case I wouldn’t be able to go. I really enjoy it. The American Dialect Society has been choosing a Word of the Year since the 1990s. 

Some dictionaries also name a word of the year. The word of the year is generally the word that has had the most impact that year. A word that signifies the year. It is not necessarily a new word. The American Dialect Society has ten categories for Word of the Year– sort of like the Academy Awards. 

When you get the invitation to attend, you are also invited to submit some words you think should be considered. Then, I believe, a small committee of word people gets together to get each category down to four to six entries. At the Zoom event, the words in each category are presented. The audience members can then raise their hands to give an opinion on why or why not a word should be selected. Then a poll is put up on the screen with the four to six entries, and we vote. There were nearly 400 people present this time. If no one word (or phrase) gets a majority, there is a runoff between the top two.

P.S. I felt really old because many of the words I had never heard of!

Here are the categories and winners (and what I voted for):

Political Word of the Year:

The Big LieCritical Race Theory (CRT)insurrectionmandate

I voted for insurrection. Insurrection won. The Big Lie came in second. 

Digital Word of the Year

bones day/no bones day (from Noodles the dog on Tik Tok)#FreeBritneyhorny jailparasocialgirl boss

I voted for bones day/no bones day. #Free Britney won. Para social came in second.

Pandemic Word of the Year

boostedbreakthroughDelta/Omriconlong Covidvariantvax/vaxxflurona (added by one of the facilitators last minute)

I voted for variant. Boosted won. Variant came in second.

Financial/Economic Word of the Year

The Great ResignationNFT (non-fungible token)SPA (special-purpose acquisition companies)stimmy (short for stimulus)stonk (deliberate misspelling of stock)supply chain

I voted for supply chain. Supply chain won. The Great Resignation came in second. 

Informal Word of the Year

cheugy (used by Gen Z to poke fun at millennials)down bad (desperate for sex)flop era (unsuccessful period for a pop star)yassify (putting filters to a photo to make it into a cartoon)

I voted for yassify. Yassify won. Cheugy came in second.

Euphemism of the Year

Election integrity (voter suppression)glizzyLet’s Go Brandon (F*** Biden)TFG (The Former Guy, used by those who don’t want to say trump’s name, including Biden)unalive (suicide, or sometimes just death)

I voted for Let’s Go Brandon. Unalive won. Elation integrity came in second.

Most Creative Word of the Year

chin diaper (masks worn below the nose)copium (combination of cope and opium)core (??? Beats me) Fauci ouchie

I voted for chin diaper. Fauci ouchie won. Chin diaper came in second.

Most Likely to Succeed

endemic mid (Gen Z slang for average)NFTsigma male (not alpha, but almost)shrinkflationantiworkThe Great Resignation

I voted for endemic. Antiwork won. The Great Resignation came in second. 

Most Useful Word of the Year

bussin’ (extremely good, such as food)hard pants (work clothes, as opposed to working at home clothes with elastic waists – soft pants)tone indicator (emojs that help illustrate the tone of a text)vibe (means the same as it always did)

I voted for hard pants. Hard pants won. Vibe came in second.

All Around Word of the Year – The Big One!

The Big LieThe Great ResignationInsurrectionantiworklong CovidOmicronvariantvax/vaxx

I voted for insurrection. Insurrection won. Vax/Vaxx came in second.

I think when I suggested words on my invitation, I suggested insurrection, variant…and one or two more that I don’t remember. 

Webster’s Word of the Year: Vaccine

Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year: Vax

More information about the American Dialect Society

 

 

It’s Tense Out Here

Have you ever listened to someone tell a story about something that happened in the past, and they (singular they)  relate it in the present tense? “So I go into the store, and I run into my friend. He says he is having a party, and he invites me.” Sounds awful, huh?

Tense in writing is time. The English language has six main tenses and six related tenses. Then there are some other tenses (conditional tenses), but we don’t need to talk about those. 

Six main tenses:

Simple present: I walk – I walk for an hour every day.Simple past: I walked – I walked to the beach yesterday.Future: I will walk – I will walk to your house tomorrow.Present perfect: I have walked – I have walked a mile every day this week. (repetitive or still continuing)Past perfect: I had walked – I had walked about a mile when I ran into Jill. (happened in the past before anther past event)Future Perfect: I will have walked – I will have walked 10,000 steps before this day is over. (in the future before another future event)

The related six tenses, which are called continuous or progressive:

Present continuous: I am walking – I am walking the dog, so I will have to call you back.Past continuous: I was walking – I was waking along this path when I got stung by a bee.Future continuous: I will be walking – I will be walking to class until my car is fixed.Present perfect continuous: I have been walking – I have been walking to work for years. Past perfect continuous: I had been walking – I had been walking for an hour before my shoe broke. Future perfect continuous: I will have been walking – I will have been walking for four hours before I reach the end of the trail.

In speaking, it seems we actually use the continuous tenses more than the plain tenses. And we tend to avoid the perfect tenses. But each tense does have a different meaning, although sometimes slight.

Here are some tips for using tenses correctly when writing:

Use one tense consistently. Your main tense clearly establishes the time of action. Switching for no reason is confusing to the reader. You don’t want the same time period being described by two different tenses – I saw the writing on the wall and then I pick up my things and leave.The main tense we use is generally either simple past or simple present (or continuous past or present).Use one tense for the main discourse and then indicate changes in time by changing tense relative to the primary tense – I know you students are confused. I know you think you will never understand this, but you will. I thought this was difficult when I was a student too. Stories are usually told using past tense. Dialog is often in present tense with a past tense tag (“I am coming with you,” she said.) Dialog will then revert to past or future to change the timeframe of events.Past tense works well in novels because it indicates that the narrator is telling the story from a distance. On the other hand, present tense creates a sense of immediacy, as if the events are happening in real time. A thriller might be effective written in present tense. Essays are usually written with present tense as the primary tense. And it goes without saying to watch out for those irregular past tense forms! Have eaten, not have ate. Have swum, not have swam. Have drunk, not have drank. And so on.

This short passage is confusing because it switches from present tense to past tense for no reason:

My favorite pastime is reading. I read for hours every day, and love to sit outside when I am reading. While I read, I drank a mocha. 

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An InvitationThis blog has been running since the beginning of 2013. Fifty posts a year. Nine years. That’s 450 posts. I could use some guest posts. I know you have something interesting  to say — about writing or books or language or grammar or anything you think might fit in this blog. Of course, I will the the final judge of that! I reserve the right to edit, and you can link to your website or social media or nothing at all. If you are interested please contact me here.Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s All About New Year Resolutions

Do you still make New Year Resolutions? 

If you want to know more about the history of New Year Resolutions, check out this blog post from 2017.

Here are some of the most popular resolutions. You might be a little surprised at #1:

Exercise moreLose weight. (I would have put that at #1 – maybe in some lists, it is.) – Always one of mine!Get organized. YupLearn a new skill. My piano is still sitting there waiting.Live life to the fullest. Covid limits that one.Save more money. I have been doing pretty well at that one.Quit smoking. Thankfully not an issue for me. Or probably most of you at this point.Spend more time with family and friends.Travel more. Covid affects this one too.Read more. How much more can I possibly read???

I looked up suggestions for fun and funny resolutions. I stopped at the first one because I loved it so much:

Order every drink on the Starbucks menu. I might try that one.

How about resolutions for book lovers?

Never be without a book to read. Done!Return library books on time. (There are no overdue fees any longer in lots of places, but I still try to return my books on time. This can be tricky because I might have ten books out with different due dates. I keep track on the library website and read them in order of due dates, renewing the ones I can if I need to.Join a book club. Still haven’t done this one.Read outdoors.  I live in Florida, so I do this every afternoon. Best part of my day except for my morning coffee.Learn your librarians’ names. Haven’t done this one.Finish books you start unless you don’t like them. Yup. Life is too short to read books you don’t like.Explore more genres.  I need to work harder on this one.Read the book before you see the movie.Have your next book ready to read. Always.Declutter your bookshelves. It’s on my list.Write to authors you like – if they are alive. I do this occasionally.Save favorite passages and quotes in a Reading Journal.Patronize your local bookstores. I live in Florida. What local bookstore?  I did when I was in California.Keep a record of all books you finish. Thank you, Goodreads.Give more books as gifts. Why books make great gifts.Visit all the libraries in your county or library system.Don’t look ahead or read the last  page before you get there.Read with others. Have a reading party. Read aloud with others, or to others.

And resolutions for coffee lovers (that’s me!)

Try a new roast.Start a coffee club.Drink as much water as you do coffee, so you don’t become hydrated. I try.Make your coffee at home. Saves money. Oh, but Starbucks…..Drink it straight – no cream or sugar or syrups. Not quite ready for that.Stop using disposable cups.

No, we didn’t forget you tea lovers:

Invest in a proper tea set.Add new teas to your repertoire.Patronize a tearoom.Try new teatime recipes – sandwiches, sweets, etc. – and see what pairs well.Create a tea escape in your house – or outside.Whatever your resolutions are, or even if you have none – HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE GRAMMAR DIVA BLOG!