Arlene Miller's Blog, page 40

20 Interesting Facts About the History of Our Language

Here are 20 fascinating facts about the history of the English language. If you have heard me speak, you have probably already heard some of these (just a warning):

According to Global Language Monitor, the estimated number of words in the English language is 1,025,109.  There is some controversy over that exact figure, but it’s safe to say there are over a million.
There is actually something called the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. It was founded by Martha Brockenbrough,  who designated March 4 as National Grammar Day in 2008.
English is a hodgepodge of many languages: Latin, Greek, French, German, Dutch, and others.
 Chaucer was the first writer who chose to write in English, although it is an English that might sound pretty foreign to us.
Shakespeare is probably the most famous person to write in English.  He added many words and idioms to the language including these:  it’s Greek to me, salad days, vanished into thin air, refuse to budge an inch, green-eyed jealousy, tongue-tied, fast and loose, tower of strength, in a pickle, knitted your brows, slept not a wink, laughed yourself into stitches, the long and short of if, foul play, without rhyme or reason, dead as a door nail, and laughing stock.
Shakespeare had one of the largest vocabularies of any English writer at about 30,000 words. Estimates of an educated person’s vocabulary today is half that, or 15,000.
 The book generally regarded as the first English dictionary was published in 1604 with only 120 pages; it was called A Table Alphabetical, written by Robert Cawdray, a schoolmaster and clergyman containing “hard words for ladies or other unskillful persons.”
The first “real” dictionary was published in 1755 and was written by Samuel Johnson. A Dictionary of the English Language, sometimes published as Johnson’s Dictionary, is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language.
Webster published his first dictionary in 1806, having written some grammar and spelling books before that.
Gadsby, a book written by Ernest Vincent Wright, has over 50,000 words in it (about 250 pages), none of which contain the letter e! And you can get it on Amazon for about 7 bucks.
China has more English speakers than the United States.
A new word is added to the English language every two hours, and about 4000 new words are added to the dictionary every year.
Since 2001, English has been the official language of all international air travel, regardless of the nationality of the pilots.
In its earliest known written record, the English alphabet had 29 letters.
Samuel Johnson left the letter X out of his dictionary, claiming that X “begins no word in the English language.”
One-fourth of the world’s population speaks at least some English.
The United States doesn’t have an official language.
Engish  is the only major language that doesn’t have any organization guiding it. French has the Académie Française, Spanish has Real Academia Española, and German has Rat für Deutsche Rechtschreibung. These organizations are responsible for controlling the evolution of their respective language in terms of usage, vocabulary, and grammar.
English is the official language of 67 countries and the third most commonly spoken language in the world (the first and second are Mandarin Chinese and Spanish). The closest languages to English are Dutch and West Flemish.
Over 80% of the information stored on computers worldwide is in English.

 

Grammar Diva News

I will be a coach at the Redwood Writers Conference – Pen to Published –  on Saturday, April 21. M y areas of expertise are editing/grammar and self-publishing.

Girls of a Feather, my novel (republished this year under this new name) is available for free in installments on Wattpad. After I post some of the book, it will be available in its entirety on Kindle at a really low price. I will let you know when it is released, so you can add it to your beach-reading list.

I am currently working on my next book, To Comma or Not to Comma: The Best Little Seriously Funny Punctuation Book Ever! (or something like that)

Check out all my books on Amazon (or wherever else you like) and if you own one or two, reviews are always greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Redundancy: It Bears Repeating!

Being repetitious. We are all guilty of it. You know how someone might tell the same joke or the same story over and over again — and we listen without saying anything?  Or someone keeps repeating the same idea, and we just want him or her to get on with it? 

Yup. We lose patience with redundancy. And most of us are also guilty of it in our writing — and speaking — but not so blatantly. We aren’t talking about repeating jokes or stories or ideas, but just saying a word or phrase that isn’t necessary because the word next to it means the same thing. 

Unless we are getting extra credit for having more words, we really should try to avoid these redundancies. Here are some sentences with common redundancy issues:

The meeting is at 8 a.m. in the morning. Use a.m. OR morning. You don’t need both.
This dress I found on sale is completely unique. I guess it’s like being completely pregnant.
This car is particularly small in size. As opposed to small in color? weight?
I haven’t finished the first draft of my book as yet. Drop the as.
I live in close proximity to where I work.  As opposed to far proximity? I live close to where I work.
In my personal opinion, this idea will never work. If it’s yours, it is probably personal.
Each and every person in this room needs to fill out the forms. Pick one.
This past year we cut our costs by 25 percent less. You don’t need less. We know.
The smell of your perfume permeates through the room.  Per-  means through. Permeates the room.
It is an actual fact that many fruits are good for dogs. Well, this used to be a redundancy before we had alternative facts. Never mind.
I looked into her past history, and now I understand her behavior. Pick one.
I will love you forever and ever. Romantic, but . . .
We have been doing it this way forever and ever. There. That’s better. You don’t need the and ever.
We are going to postpone this meeting until later. Unless you add some details, you don’t need the later. But you could say We are going to postpone the meeting until later today or later this week.
Well, isn’t this an unexpected surprise? Surprises are rarely expected. That is why they are called surprises.
She made a few unintentional mistakes on her final exam. I don’t think she would be making intentional mistakes on her exam . . .would she?
If you buy one bottle of these vitamins, you will get a free gift. I don’t like gifts I have to pay for. Do you?
The end result of her cheating was that she was expelled from college. Just result will do.
The company is known for the number of new innovations it has come up with just this year. Are there old innovations?
He has reverted back to his old ways of coming in late and leaving early. Reverting is always back. Reverted to is enough.

 

Grammar Diva News

If you don’t already subscribe to this weekly blog, subscribe and receive a free grammar book download.

Looking forward to being a  coach at the Redwood Writers Pen to Published conference on Saturday, April 21. My areas of expertise for coaching are grammar/editing and self-publishing.

Girls of a Feather: The Misadventures of Four College Girls is ready to go, but not yet available. I am deciding whether to do a little advance publicity before it goes on sale. But of course, I will let you know when it does.

SPECIAL PRICE!!! Where can you get the second (newest)  edition of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever? On Kindle, only for the month of April. The paperback retails for $15, and the e-book is usually $5.99.

 

More Mispronounced Words: Part 2 – F Through J

Several weeks ago I posted about ten words from A through E that are commonly mispronounced. This post continues with some words from F through J that are often mispronounced: 

foliage — The word has three syllables. Say FO-LI-UJ, not FOL-UJ. And certainly not FOIL-UJ.

forte — There are two words spelled this way. One comes from Italian and the other from French. The Italian word is a musical term meaning “loud”  and is pronounced with two syllables, FOR-TAY. The French word, an adjective meaning “strength” or “strong point,” is pronounced with one syllable: FORT.

federal — This word should really be pronounced with all its three syllables: FEDERAL, not FED-RAL.

frustrate — Yes, it is frustrating to hear people pronounce this word as if the R were silent. It is FRUSTRATE, not FUS-TRATE.

gala — This word is pronounced GAY-LUH, even if it might sound fancier to pronounce it GAH-LUH.

GIF  (graphics interchange format) — Those short social media videos are pronounced with a hard G, not JIF.

gyro– This one is not pronounced like gyroscope, This Greek treat is pronounced YEE-ROH and was added to the dictionary this year.

Halloween – This word derives from “Hallowed Evening,” or “holy evening.” It is not pronounced as HOLLO-WEEN, but rather HALLO-WEEN.

height – Not to be confused with width, which ends in a TH, height ends with only a T. It is HEIGHT, NOT HEIGHTH.

heinous — Meaning very bad, the word is pronounced HAY-NUS, not HEE-NUS or HEEN-I-US.

hummus — This yummy spread made out of chickpeas is pronounced HOOM-US. There is not HUMMING in it.

 jewelry – The word has three syllables and is pronounced the way it is spelled: JEW-EL-RY. It is not pronounced  JEW-EL-ER-Y, JEWL-RY, or JEW-LER-Y.

 

 

HAPPY EASTER, HAPPY PASSOVER, OR HAPPY WEEKEND TO ALL!
 
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Punctuation Talk: Explanations of Last Week’s Quiz Answers

Last week’s blog post was a punctuation quiz. The answers were given, but the longer explanations were not. They will be given in this post. If you are a new subscriber, just click here to see last week’s post and take the quiz (Quick! Before you look at the answers and explanations here).

OK…I will leave a little space here before the explanations — enough space to thank every one of you who was able to attend my book launch last Friday evening, March 16. Today, I saw in the local newspaper that The Best Little Grammar Collection Ever! was the #3  bestselling fiction/nonfiction book last week at Petaluma Copperfield’s Books!

But enough bragging. Here is a discussion of the quiz and the answers… 

1. I will be late for the meeting, please save me a seat. Not correct. Needs a semicolon or period instead of the comma; or you add a conjunction to the comma. 

One of the most common grammar issues is the comma splice — trying to separate two complete sentences with just a comma and no conjunction. Otherwise, known as a run-on sentence, it is incorrect! Sometimes novelists will do it to indicate speed of dialogue or narration, but it has no place in formal or business writing. In this particular example, you could add the conjunction so, or you could change the comma to a semicolon; the semicolon can separate two sentences. Of course, you could always just make it two sentences, using a period after meeting and starting please with a capital P.

2. This must be James’s book.

Many of us claim to have learned in school — way back — that if a singular ended in an s, we wouldn’t add apostrophe s for the possessive, but simply just an apostrophe.We do that with plurals that end in s (the girls’ bicycles are in the garage), but not for singular words ending in s, unless we don’t pronounce the ‘s syllable. You would pronounce it James’s, so you should write it that way. Sometimes you don’t pronounce the ‘s. Let’s say his name was Miles instead. You very well might not say Miles’s. You might just say Miles’ car is in the shop. So here you have a choice. Generally we do pronoun that ‘s: my boss’s desk, the princess’s slipper, Frederick Douglass’s quote.

 

3.  I am here, therefore, I am not there. Incorrect. Comma after here needs to be a semicolon. (Or you could put a period after here, and initial cap therefore.)

If you take out the word that is set off in commas, you see that you have two sentences, or a run on. I am here, I am not there. Since therefore is not used to connect two sentences, you need to do something. You need a period or a semicolon after the first sentence: I am here. Capitalize therefore if you used a period, leave everything else the same, and you are done. In some sentences therefore is fine set off with commas. How do you know? Take out the therefore (or however). If the sentence is okay, you can leave the commas. If the sentence is a run on, you need a semicolon.

 

4.  Did he ask, “Are we there yet?”

You were asked to punctuate this sentence. Here is the correct punctuation. Of course, there is a comma after ask, separating the quotation from the other part of the sentence. Are we there yet is the quote, so there are quotation marks around each side. The big question is where to put the question mark. Question marks can go either inside or outside quotation marks. In this case the entire sentence is a question, and the quoted part is also a question. But we don’t use two question marks. Here is the rule:

If the entire sentence is a question, but the quoted part isn’t, the question  mark goes outside the quotation marks.

If the entire sentence is a statement, but the quoted part is a question, the question mark goes inside the quotation marks.

If they are both questions, as they are in this example, the default is to put the question mark inside the quotation marks.

 

5. He said, “I heard the song ‘Forget You.”’ Correct as is.

This punctuation is correct, although the quotation marks might display funny on your computer. We have the comma after said, as usual. Then, what we have here is a quote within a quote, since song titles are quoted, not italicized. And we use single quotes for quotes within quotes.  Periods always, always, always go inside quotes in American English, so the period is inside the single quote that goes with the song title and the double quote that goes with the end of the spoken part of the sentence.

 

6. “The Hobbit” is my favorite book. No. The Hobbit should be italicized rather than in quotation marks.

Book titles are italicized. The rule of thumb is that whole things are italicized and parts of those things are in quotation marks:

Italicized: book titles, movie titles, TV series titles, magazine titles, newspaper titles, paintings, titles of plays and operas, CDs

In quotes: chapter titles, title of an act in a play, newspaper or magazine article, episode of a TV series, songs.

 

7.  This book is from the 1940s.

No apostrophe needed. Basically it is a plural. Plurals don’t have apostrophes except on rare occasion (a‘s, i‘s u‘s because of confusion ).

 

8.  Please bring two shirts; blue, black, and brown pants; and black and blue socks. Or you could rewrite it somehow.

 This series is unclear with just commas. Semicolons can be used to separate larger items in a series when there are already commas used. So two shirts is one item. The next item is three colors of pants, so commas separate the colors, and then a semicolon is once again used to separate the entire pants item. If you use semicolons in a list that already has commas, you need to make sure you separate each big item with a semicolon, even the items without commas in them. If you can think of a way to rewrite the sentence or separate it into more than one sentence, that is another way around it. Clarity is king! Or queen!!

 

9. She said, “I can’t go because I have to stay home to read Romeo and Juliet.”

Comma after said to separate the quoted part of the sentence, quotation marks around the quoted part, and Romeo and Juliet in italics because it is the name of a whole play. Period always inside the quotation marks.

 

10. My sister and her friends are coming to visit. Correct as is.

Some would be tempted to put a comma after sister or friends, but why???? 

 

11.  Bob was usually a quiet man; however, he screamed upon entering the room. You could also put a period after man and capitalize however.

If you take out however, you see that you have two sentences — a run on– since however cannot be used to separate two complete sentences. Use a semicolon or a period after man. However, takes a comma after it. I you use a period, capitalize However.

 

12. To whom it may concern:

There is a colon after the salutation of a business letter. Use a comma for friendly letters. Sometimes with e-mail, there is probably a gray area!

 

13.  It is a cold, rainy day. No. You need a comma between cold and rainy.

Sometimes you need a comma between two adjectives. Generally the rule is that if both adjectives are describing the noun, you use a comma between them, but if one adjective is actually describing the other adjective, and the second adjective is describing the noun, there is no comma. The best way to figure it out is to say it with and between the two adjectives. If it makes sense to put an and in when you say it, you probably need a comma. Look at this example of no comma needed: I looked at the bright blue sky.

 

14. This book, which is written by William Golding, is my favorite. No. The clause beginning with which needs to be set off with commas.

We are setting off the clause with beginning with which with commas because is it nonessential and could be left out without making the meaning unclear. The clause which is written by William Golding is a “by-the-way,” or added information. Because you refer to this book, it is probably clear which book you are talking about. It is nice to know who wrote the book, but the meaning is that the book you are showing to the listening is your favorite.

 

15.  The book that is on top of the coffee table is next on my reading list. Correct as is. 

On the other hand, the clause beginning with that is not set off with commas because it is essential. It identifies which book you are talking about: the book that is on top of the table. Take it out and the sentence is unclear.

 

16. I decided not to cook dinner and went to the movies instead. Correct as is.

No comma after dinner because this is not a compound sentence. A compound sentence is two complete sentences joined by a conjunction (or a semicolon). Went to the movies instead is not a complete sentence because the subject is missing. If the subject were there, we would use a comma: I decided not to cooke dinner, and I went to the movies instead.

 

17. I was born on August 10, 1980, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

These are just some comma standards: There is a comma after the month and day (but no comma if just the month is mentioned and not the day). There is always a comma after the year in a sentence. There is a comma between the city and state and a period at the end.

 

18.  The only four ingredients in this recipe are sugar, vanilla, eggs, and flour. The comma after eggs (the Oxford comma) is optional, but I recommend using it. 

Some people want to put a colon after are. This is not correct. Why interrupt a perfectly good sentence? In a list don’t use a comma after a verb. In this case you would use a colon: The only four ingredients in this recipe are as follows: sugar, vanilla, eggs, and flour. 

 

19.  I did not do very well on the test, however, so I failed the course.

Yes, you can set the however off with commas. There is no semicolon needed here. Take out the however. You are left wth a perfectly good sentence, not a run on because you have a conjunction (so). Commas are correct here. 

20. Yes, Elaine, the party is at my house.

More comma standards. There is a comma after Yes and No at the beginning of a sentence. There is also a comma after Elaine, which is called direct address, or addressing someone by their name. 

21.  My address is 1487 Markham Place, Boston, Massachusetts 01987; please send my mail there, not to my old address. You could also put a period after the zip code and initial cap please.

More comma standards. When writing an address in text (as opposed as to on an envelope), put a comma between the street address and the city. Always put a comma between the city and the state. Never put a comma between the state and the zip code. You need a period or a semicolon before please because it begins a new sentence. The comma between there and not is one of “contrary information.”

 

22.  I want to see that movie, I heard it’s great, but I haven’t had the time. Not correct. You can use dashes or parentheses, but not commas to set off I heard it’s great.

The main problem here is that the section set off in commas (I heard it’s great) is a complete sentence, and we can’t do that. You can use dashes, you can use parentheses. You can also put a semicolon or a period after movie and make it two sentences. It is kind of a double comma splice with the commas. 

 

23. Not correct. The ellipsis(…) is used for trailing off. The em dash(long dash) is used for interruption.

She screamed, “I have had enough of this—”

“Calm down,” he interrupted.

This is rather new to me — not one to enjoy reading about ellipses. However, in the case of an interruption, a dash is used, not an ellipsis. Ellipses are used to indicate missing information or a trailing off. This dialog indicates an interruption rather than a trailing off.

 

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I apologize for any typos you might find in this post. I know it is inexcusable, especially for a grammarian. But my eyes cannot take looking at this screen for one more minute!

A Punctuation Quiz—Just Because

My next book will be a “little” (of course!) punctuation book, which I am hoping will be out in June or so . . .

To warm up, here is a “little” punctuation quiz.  Actually, I planned a punctuation quiz for a couple of weeks ago because I thought it was National Punctuation Day. I was a “little” confused; it was National Grammar Day. National Punctuation Day is in September.

Answers to this quiz will be at the end . . . after you scroll down a bit. Explanations will be provided next week.

 

1. Is this sentence correctly punctuated? I will be late for the meeting, please save me a seat.

 

2. This must be (James’/ James’s) book.

 

3. Is this sentence correctly punctuated? I am here, therefore, I am not there.

 

4. Punctuate this sentence: Did he ask, Are we there yet

 

5. Is this sentence correct? He said, “I heard the song ‘Forget You.”’

 

6. Is this sentence correct? Why or why not? “The Hobbit” is my favorite book.

7.  This book is from the (1940’s/ 1940s).

 

8. Punctuate this sentence: Please bring two shirts, blue, black, and brown pants, and black and blue socks.

 

9. Punctuate this sentence: She said I can’t go because I have to stay in to read Romeo and Juliet.

 

10. Is this sentence correctly punctuated? My sister and her friends are coming to visit.

 

11.  Punctuate this sentence: Bob was usually a quiet man however he screamed upon entering the room.

 

12. Punctuate this letter salutation: To whom it may concern

 

13. Is this sentence correctly punctuated?  It is a cold rainy day.

 

14. Is this sentence correctly punctuated? This book which is written by William Golding is my favorite.

 

15. Is this sentence correctly punctuated?  The book that is on top of the coffee table is next on my reading list.

 

16. Is this sentence correctly punctuated?   I decided not to cook dinner and went to the movies instead.

 

17. Punctuate this sentence: I was born on August 10 1980 in Lincoln Nebraska.

 

18. Punctuate this sentence: The only four ingredients in this recipe are sugar vanilla eggs and flour.

 

19. Punctuate this sentence: I did not do very well on the test however so I failed the course.

 

20. Punctuate this sentence: Yes Elaine the party is at my house.

 

21. Punctuate this sentence: My address is 1487 Markham Place Boston Massachusetts 01987 please send my mail there not to my old address.

 

22. Is this sentence correctly punctuated? I want to see that movie, I heard it’s great, but I haven’t had the time.

 

23. Is this dialog correctly punctuated?

She screamed, “I have had enough of this . . .”

“Calm down,” he interrupted.

 

Please scroll down for the answers.

 

Keep scrolling . . . 

 

Coming next week to Amazon and Kindle (and all other online book and e-book sellers) . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep scrolling . . .

 

 

Keep scrolling . . . 

 

 

Answers:

1. I will be late for the meeting, please save me a seat. Not correct. Needs a semicolon or period instead of the comma; or you add a conjunction to the comma.

2. This must be James’s book.

 

3.  I am here, therefore, I am not there. Incorrect. Comma after here needs to be a semicolon. (Or you could put a period after here, and initial cap therefore.)

 

4.  Did he ask, “Are we there yet?”

 

5. He said, “I heard the song ‘Forget You.”’ Correct as is.

 

6. “The Hobbit” is my favorite book. No. The Hobbit should be italicized rather than in quotation marks.

 

7.  This book is from the 1940s.

 

8.  Please bring two shirts; blue, black, and brown pants; and black and blue socks. Or you could rewrite it somehow.

 

9. She said, “I can’t go because I have to stay home to read Romeo and Juliet.”

 

10. My sister and her friends are coming to visit. Correct as is.

 

11.  Bob was usually a quiet man; however, he screamed upon entering the room. You could also put a period after man and capitalize however.

 

12. To whom it may concern:

 

13.  It is a cold, rainy day. No. You need a comma between cold and rainy.

 

14. This book, which is written by William Golding, is my favorite. No. The clause beginning with which needs to be set off with commas.

 

15.  The book that is on top of the coffee table is next on my reading list. Correct as is. 

 

16. I decided not to cook dinner and went to the movies instead. Correct as is.

 

17. I was born on August 10, 1980, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

 

18.  The only four ingredients in this recipe are sugar, vanilla, eggs, and flour. The comma after eggs (the Oxford comma) is optional, but I recommend using it. 

 

19.  I did not do very well on the test, however, so I failed the course.

 

20. Yes, Elaine, the party is at my house.

 

21.  My address is 1487 Markham Place, Boston, Massachusetts 01987; please send my mail there, not to my old address. You could also put a period after the zip code and initial cap please.

 

22.  I want to see that movie, I heard it’s great, but I haven’t had the time. Not correct. You can use dashes or parentheses, but not commas to set off I heard it’s great.

 

23. Not correct. The ellipsis(…) is used for trailing off. The em dash(long dash) is used for interruption.

She screamed, “I have had enough of this—”

“Calm down,” he interrupted.

 

Explanations next week . . . 
 

 

 

You Are Invited to My Book Launch

 
  I know many of you live far away, even in other countries. But I thought I would send out this final reminder for my book launch this coming Friday evening — in case you live locally enough to attend.

 

What? Book launch of The Best Little Grammar Collection Ever!
Where: Copperfield’s Bookstore, 140 Kentucky Street, Petaluma, California
When: Friday March 16 at 7 p.m.
Why? Support of your local independent bookstore; cupcakes; prizes; and an interesting talk about grammar, words, and language
Here is the link.

 

 

A Little Bit About Voice

Verbs are probably the most exciting  part of speech because they have various qualities that other parts of speech wouldn’t dare to dream about having. Verbs have tense, verbs have mood, verbs can be either transitive or intransitive — and verbs have voice.

There are two verb voices: active and passive. And it all depends on how you use the verb in a sentence.

If the subject of the verb is actually performing the action of the verb, we call it active voice:

Jane drove the car to school.
He threw the ball.
The thief ran off with a bag of jewelry.

If the subject of the verb is not performing the action of the verb, we call it passive voice:

Jane was driven to school. Jane is still the subject, but she didn’t do the driving, so we have passive voice. Sometimes the doer is mentioned in the sentence: Jane was driven to school by her brother. Brother still isn’t the subject; it is the object of the preposition by. Jane’s brother drove her to school is  in the active voice.
The ball was thrown. Ball is the subject, but the ball didn’t do anything, so this is also an example of passive voice.
The jewelry store was robbed. The store didn’t do anything, so this is another example of passive voice.

The general rule is to write using active voice most of the time. It is — well — more active, and that is a good thing. 

However, there are times when you either want or need to write in the passive voice:

You don’t know who did it.
You don’t care who did it.
You neither know nor care who did it. 

The school was built in 1970. Passive voice because you probably don’t really care who built it. You may not know either.

She was awarded the title of Miss Apple Blossom. The important thing is that she was given the title. We probably don’t care who gave it to her. 

That song was first released in 1995. In this case we might really care who first sang that hit song, but we can’t remember. Of course, nowadays, you can find anything out by just “googling it.”

I remember once when I was a newspaper reporter (way back before the internet) that I once did not get the name of the perpetrator of some story. The only solution — if I really could not have found out with my tight deadline — was to write the lead in the passive voice.

We tend to speak and write in the passive voice when we are not emphasizing who did it — when the important thing is that it was done. Here are sentences that fare well in the passive, whether or not we know who did it.

I was given an award for my math skills in 6th grade. (It is important that I got the award, not who gave it to me.)
The cake was decorated incorrectly when I picked it up from the bakery. (We don’t really care who decorated it.)
He was elected President in 1990. (It is obvious who elected the President, so we don’t need to say it.

On the other hand, it is possible that the doer in those sentences matters a lot — so much that you want to use active voice:

President Clinton gave me an award for my math skills in 6th grade. (emphasizes who gave the award as the important thing)
My cousin, who is the chief baker at the grocery store, put the wrong names on the wedding cake! (emphasizes who made the mistake)
The new Liberty Party elected him President in 1990.(emphasizes that it was a new party that was instrumental in electing the President — we aren’t talking about the United States, of course!)

We do tend to instinctively use the voices in the best way. However, sometimes a writer will overuse the possessive, which usually makes the writing wordy:

TOO MUCH PASSIVE – She was given a huge birthday cake by her mother, who had spent all day baking and decorating. Then when the cake was gone she moved over to open the mountain of gifts that were given to her by her big family. A fun time was had by all! 

REWRITE – Her mother gave her a huge birthday cake after spending all day baking and decorating. After everyone was done eating cake, she opened the mountain of gifts her huge family had given her. A fun time was had by all OR Everyone had a fun time.

 

Save The Date! Friday, March 16 at 7 p.m. – Petaluma Copperfield’s Books

 

The Book Launch: There will be cake and friends and fun – an entertaining talk about the English language. Be there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Novel: Coming out March 17 (of thereabouts) to Amazon, Kindle, as well as all other online print book and e-book retailers. An entertaining beach (or pre-beach) read!

“A fun, quirky read, strictly for entertainment, it tells the often crazy-sounding year of four freshmen college girls through the eyes of the protagonist, Kate. How could a story turn out any more bizarre?”

— R. Moore, YA author

“Girls of a Feather is a thoroughly entertaining read, with an unexpected twist at the end! I stayed up way too late reading each night because ‘just one more chapter’ wasn’t enough. A great way to escape from the boredom of everyday life!”

— D. Miller, happy reader

 

 

 

March 4 Is National Grammar Day! Let’s Celebrate!

March 4 is National Grammar Day. It was designated in 2008 by Martha Brockenbrough, founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar.

According to Global Language Monitor, the estimated number of words in the English language is over a million — 1,025,109, to be exact, but there is some controversy over that exact figure.  However, it’s safe to say it is over a million. Language is something to celebrate.  Some people think that grammar is just a boring set of rules for language, but it is more than that: it is a system for understanding language. And understanding this system and structure helps us to communicate better and even learn new languages more easily.

So….to celebrate National Grammar Day 2018, here is a fun quiz, the answers to which are grammar terms — so it’s not a quiz about the rules. The answer to each of the following 20 questions is something you might find in a glossary of grammar terms (so, hint, hint, don’t look at the glossary that is at the back of some of my books). You will find the answers if you scroll way, way down.

Here we go….

 A pronoun takes the place of a noun or another pronoun somewhere in the sentence. What is that noun or other pronoun called in relationship to the pronoun?
  A, an, and the are called what?
 There are two of them when referring to a quality of verbs: active and passive. What is this quality that verbs possess?
 A group of words that contains a subject and a verb (and might or might not be a complete sentence) is called what?
There is a special term for nouns like these: bunch, group, team, herd, class. What is that term?
There are five of them in Latin and even more in German and other languages. English has three. They are nominative, objective, possessive. What are they?
A verb that is being used as an adjective (and usually ends in -ing or -ed) is called a what?
What are these called? in a box, out the door, above the tree, under the table
I like pizza. Pizza is a noun. What function does it have in that sentence?
Which tense is the verb in this sentence an example of? I have read that book twice.
I am going to the movies  is a simple sentence. What is this one called? I am going to the movies, and I am meeting my friends afterwards.
If you want to connect two sentences that are closely related, and you don’t want to use a period or a conjunction, what punctuation might you use?
What is this called? I think you will like that movie, I certainly did.
The little line that is used for the minus sign and to indicate a range of numbers in an index is called what?
A verb with an -ing ending is sometimes used as a noun. What is that called?
I am smarter than you  contains a comparative adjective. What does this sentence contain? I am the smartest person in the room.
 I don’t have barely enough money to pay my bills. What grammar mistake does that sentence contain?
Mary, my partner in crime, is my second cousin.  What is my partner in crime called in that sentence?
What part of speech are these words?  Oh my! Gee! Darn!
Most verbs form the past tense by adding –ed ( played, walked ), but many don’t. What are the ones that don’t called? (for example, ran, swam, threw , etc.)

That might have been fairly difficult unless you are a real grammar lover or an English teacher! Scroll down for the answers.

 

Don’t forget about the big event on March 16 at 7 p.m. at Copperfield’s books! The launch you don’t want to miss. Why?
There will be cake, your friends will be there, Copperfield’s is a great bookstore, and it’s FREE!

(Keep scrolling for the answers.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
My novel will be coming out very soon with a new title and my real name! Great beach read! Or bedtime read! (If you read Trashy Novel, you’ve already read it!)

(Keep scrolling for the answers.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY NATIONAL GRAMMAR DAY!!!!

Here are the answers:

 Antecedent
 Articles (they are also adjectives)
 Voice
 Clause
 Collective Nouns
 Cases
 Participle
 Prepositional Phrases
 Direct Object
 Present Perfect
Compound Sentence
 Semicolon (in some cases, you could use a Colon)
 Run-on Sentence
 En Dash (The hyphen is the short one in compound words, and the long one is the em dash, used to indicate interruption in thought in a sentence.)
 Gerund
 Superlative adjective
  Double Negative
Appositive, or Appositive Phrase
Interjections
Irregular Verbs

 

My Writing Life, Part 2

As I said in the blog post “My Writing Life” a few weeks ago, a reader once asked me to write a post about how I got into writing (and writing about grammar, I suspect) and publishing. In that first post, I talked about my life as a writer, from when I wrote a “musical” when I was about seven to when I decided to write a grammar book . . . at, well, a lot older than seven.

Years as a teacher, writer, editor, and long-time grammar lover (Latin was my favorite class in high school) paved the way for writing the books I now write. So, as I said in the previous post, I remember that I was at the gym when I told the woman at the front desk, a novelist herself, that I was going to write a grammar book with all the major problems I saw again and again as an editor and as a teacher.

But where to begin? Do I write? Do I look for a publisher? I honestly cannot remember what I did first, but I do remember looking for a publisher. It was a daunting task. I had a book listing publishers, and there were much too many! And then, I had to locate the ones that would even be interested in a grammar book. As I began to give up that search, I thought about how long it would take  traditional publisher to get the book out—maybe a couple of years—and I didn’t want to wait.

I really didn’t know what self-publishing was, but I had heard of it. I had also long heard of vanity publishers, who had been around forever, publishing any book for the right price for any “author” who just wanted to see a book with his or her name on the cover. 

I started researching self-publishing with an internet search, of course. It was around 2008 or 2009. I found many companies who called themselves self-publishers. For a certain price—and often a choice of prices depending on what “package” you wanted—these self-publishers would print your book.  I began to gather information on a few of them who appeared to be legitimate and not vanity publishers. 

My internet search for self-publishers also led me to the Yahoo Self-Publishing Group, now a Facebook group. That group saved my life. I asked them which self-publishing company I should use, and they said, “None!” They recommended publishing the book myself: hiring a cover designer and a page designer and an editor. And I found my first cover designer and my page designer (who is still my page designer to this day) in that group. They also recommended to me a book that separated the legit self-publishing companies (of which there were some) from the vanity presses in disguise. 

Yes, there was a learning curve, but things went pretty smoothly. There were some excellent books that took me step by step through everything (and frankly more than everything) I needed to know to self-publish my book. My designers were great! I found out about BAIPA, the Bay Area Independent Publishing Association, which I joined and still belong to. It has been of immeasurable help to me throughout the seven or eight years I have belonged. It is an organization under the umbrella of IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association. So if you are interested in self-publishing, you can find out from the IBPA website if there is a similar group to BAIPA in your geographic area. There are many such publishing groups across the country.

So, on May 1, 2010 (or was it May 5?), I launched my first book at my local independent bookstore, Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma,, CA. I still maintain a close relationship with that store and launch all my books there. “Launching” a book is presenting it to the world in an official way. Sometimes a launch consists of a book signing, or maybe signings at several stores. Other times, the launch consists of the author actually talking and making a presentation about the book—and then signing and selling books.

For most independent (self) publishers, bookstores are not the main sales avenue. You can get your books into bookstores, but it can be tough. But it isn’t tough to make your book available for anyone to order at any bookstore. And then there is Amazon and Kindle—along with other online sellers of print books and e-books. It i easy to get your self-published book online.

My first book, The Best Little Grammar Book Ever!, in all its bright yellow splendor, sold quite well for a first book by an independent publisher. I believe the Kindle version made it to about number 5 in rank in grammar books for a while. I was done. I had a book. I mean, how many grammar books can a person write?

It would be a few years after my first book that I would start this blog. But I wasn’t just sitting around. A Facebook friend posted that she had a dream I wrote a book called Correct Me If I’m Wrong. So how could I not? Another grammar book on the way. While similar in content to my first book, I added more comma rules and word usage information, took out the quizzes, and arranged all the issues in alphabetical order. It was quite a different book—and this one was bright green, starting me on the branding idea of a different bright color for each book. And although I  switched cover designers at this point, I still maintain a similar cover design for all my books.  I have used yellow, orange, green, aqua, white, red, and bright blue now……as well as a second yellow book, a multicolor book (50 Shades of Grammar), and a book with a dark purple background. 

How can anyone write so many grammar books? Let me tell you what happened after the first two.

I was teaching 7th grade English until 2015, and after I wrote the first book—and maybe even the second—I was mentoring a student teacher. She thought my grammar lessons were really good and that I should put some of them in a book. Yup! I took yet another suggestion to put out a book. The book became Beyond Worksheets and is an ebook, not a print book.  Although it hasn’t done much on Kindle, I have it on a teacher site and it has done quite well, with many really positive responses from teachers who use it. 

Soon after, I figured out that people really like workbooks, and I should write a grammar workbook. The big orange Best Grammar Workbook Ever! came out in around 2014. It remains my biggest seller. Schools have discovered it—and the yellow reference book as well.

So is that enough grammar books for one person to write?? Apparently not. I wanted to make an even smaller book than The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! so I came up with The Great Grammar Cheat Sheet, available as an e-book only. It distills only the most common grammar, punctuation, and word usage issues. It is bright red, for those of you keeping  track of color.

Is she done yet? Nope! Someone in my writing group (yet another suggestion I took) told me she always printed out my blog posts to keep, and that I should think about putting them in a book. Done, with the clever title Fifty Shades of Grammar. That book came out in 2015 (I think). Just today I was talking with another writer about that book, and I thought, Hey, it might be time for a part 2 of that one. I have lots more posts!

A couple of years ago, I redid my first book, since there was some evolution in grammar, and there is now a second edition of The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! I still had colors yet unused, so I wrote a small workbook to accompany that book—with an aqua cover. I wanted the two sold as a set, but the Print on Demand method that most self-publishers use makes it impossible to sell sets. However, you can combine books under one cover and call it a set. That is what I just did with the second edition of the grammar book and its workbook. But there is also a third book in that collection: Does Your Flamingo Flamenco? So many word pairs are confused that I thought I would write a dictionary-type book with those often confused words: affect/effect, lay/lie, principle/principal . . . . you get the idea. So that book came out on its own, and just recently as the third part of my latest book, The Best Little Grammar Collection Ever!

I recently also wrote an e-book about self-publishing, since I have done it so many times now! And in 2011 I wrote a novel, which has been hanging around on Amazon and Kindle under a pseudonym. I am currently changing the title, changing the author to my real name, and republishing it. I will let you know when it is out (you know I will!)

And we are now at the present! So what are my plans? Well, I have learned that I really like speaking about grammar and words and that I am not at all bad at it (for someone as shy as I have always been). So I speak when I can. I have spoken to many writing groups and community groups. And I do have plans for some books this year:

The next book will likely be a small punctuation-only book.
I plan to write a business writing book this year too (someone’s suggestion).
And I would love to write an English as a Second Language workbook as well. That will take some research!

Then, I may start concentrating on novels!

You can see all my books on the website www.bigwords101.com, also reachable at www.TheGrammarDiva.com. And of course, on Amazon.

SAVE THE DATE!
Friday, March 16 at 7 p.m. Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma, CA. The launch of The Best Little Grammar Collection Ever! There will be cake!

A Celebration of Love for Valentine’s Day!

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, that most loved (by some women) and hated (by some men) and wonderful (sometimes) and disappointing (many times) holiday….definitely loved by greeting card makers, florists, jewelers, and candy shops.

Here are some quotation celebrating love…all kinds of love!

“I love mankind … it’s people I can’t stand!!” 

― Charles M. Schulz

“I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky.” 

― Audrey Hepburn

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” 

― Josh Billings

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” 

― Dr. Seuss

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” 

― Elbert Hubbard

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” 

― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.” 

― John Green, An Abundance of Katherines

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” 

― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.” 

― Oscar Wilde

“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?” 

― Ernest Hemingway

“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” 

― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”

― Oscar Wilde

“If he’s not calling you, it’s because you are not on his mind. If he creates expectations for you, and then doesn’t follow through on little things, he will do same for big things. Be aware of this and realize that he’s okay with disappointing you. Don’t be with someone who doesn’t do what they say they’re going to do. If he’s choosing not to make a simple effort that would put you at ease and bring harmony to a recurring fight, then he doesn’t respect your feelings and needs. “Busy” is another word for “asshole.” “Asshole” is another word for the guy you’re dating. You deserve a fcking phone call.” 

― Greg Behrendt

“I don’t trust people who don’t love themselves and tell me, ‘I love you.’ … There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.” 

― Maya Angelou

“It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them. ” 

― Agatha Christie, An Autobiography

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” 

― G.K. Chesterton

“Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.” 

― Chuck Klosterman, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” 

― Mother Teresa

“Where there is love, there is often also hate. They can exist side by side.” 

― Cassandra Clare, City of Bones

“She had always wanted words, she loved them; grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape.” 

― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

“It is easy to love people in memory; the hard thing is to love them when they are there in front of you.” 

― John Updike, My Father’s Tears and Other Stories

“The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants.” 

― Johnny Depp

“The more one judges, the less one loves.” 

― Honoré de Balzac, Physiologie Du Mariage

“Writing is like sex. First you do it for love, then you do it for your friends, and then you do it for money.” 

― Virginia Woolf

“Women want love to be a novel. Men, a short story.” 

― Daphne du Maurier

“What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it.” 

― C.S. Lewis

“Forget love — I’d rather fall in chocolate!”

–Sandra J. Dykes

“A baby is born with a need to be loved — and never outgrows it.”

–Frank A. Clark

“People who are sensible about love are incapable of it.”

–Douglas Yates

‘Love means nothing in tennis, but it’s everything in life.’

–Author Unknown

“Give the children love, more love and still more love – and the common sense will come by itself.” 

― Astrid Lindgren

“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.” 

 Mahatma Gandhi

 

Thank you to the following websites:

Brainy Quotes

The Quote Garden

Goodreads.com

 

Happy Valentine’s Day from The Grammar Diva