Arlene Miller's Blog, page 42
December 1, 2017
11 Reasons Why Books Make Great Gifts!
The Best of The Grammar Divaoriginally published on December 11, 2014
The holidays are upon us, and once again you are stumped. What do you get someone who apparently has everything? Or at least has the money to buy everything? What do you buy someone you don’t know so well? Books, that’s what! Why? Here are some great reasons:
Books are easy to get. You can get them in a store or online and you can have them delivered anywhere. You can even mail them book rate and save some money.
Books are easy to wrap! No weird shapes! That helps people who wrap the way I do! They also fit nicely in gift bags.
Books come in a huge variety of prices from the very inexpensive on up.
You can buy books for any age recipient, from an infant to a senior — and you can generally tell, or find out, the ages the book was intended for.
You can buy books for any gender of recipient.
Everyone is interested in something, and there is always a book for that “something.” If you don’t know what that something is, there are always bestsellers that interest most everyone.
Books keep on giving. If you like a book, you can then share it with someone else, who can then share it with someone else. Then, you can donate it.
Books are entertaining. Books can take you into a new world — if even for just a little while.
Books are very portable. Especially ebooks. They travel well and fill time well.
Books are educational!
Shameless Promotion Section: Let’s focus on #10 for a minute. I’ll bet you can think of someone — a student, a teacher, a recent graduate, a job seeker, a professional, someone for whom English is a second language, someone who writes frequently for his or her job, someone interested in words and language — who might really appreciate a grammar book. Not a thick, boring tome that reminds you of English class decades ago. . . . but a small, easy-to-read, light-hearted book that concentrates only on the mistakes that most people make when writing and speaking. Could someone you know (or maybe even you) use a book like that? Let’s see grammar books fit our other 9 reasons:
(1) Yes, they are easy to get. Amazon has them, as well as all other online book retailers (and this website). (2) Nice rectangles, they will be easy to wrap and inexpensive to send. (3) None cost more than $20 (4) They are intended for anyone from about 10 to 110, (5)Any gender! (6) Everyone needs good grammar, and (7) shares a great grammar book or donates it to a lucky school! (8)— They are as entertaining as a grammar book can be, while still giving you good information. (9) They are easy to carry, either in paperback or on your favorite reader. (10) And of course, they’re educational!
You can find my books on Amazon right here! Fifty Shades of Grammar and Does Your Flamingo Flamenco! make particularly good gifts as they are light and humorous!
11. Oh, I almost forgot #11! You can make a really nice Christmas tree out of books!
Happy Holidays from bigwords101 and The Grammar Diva!
Some links you might enjoy:
Teaching Grammar Doesn’t Help Writing
Obama Says to Think Before You Tweet!
November 24, 2017
There Is Nothing to Fear
The Best of the Grammar DivaOriginally Published 2-11-2013
Veering just a little bit away from grammar this time to talk about words. After all, we are called bigwords101!
Phobias
Phobia means fear. It is both a word unto itself and a common suffix. Some of the more common phobia words are claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), arachnophobia (fear of spiders), and agoraphobia (fear of the marketplace, or the fear of leaving home). However, the types of phobia stretch into the thousands; it seems as if there is a phobia for almost everything. Here are some of the more interesting phobias:
Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions
Anablephobia- Fear of looking up
Apeirophobia- Fear of infinity
Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
Aulophobia- Fear of flutes
Bathophobia- Fear of depth
Bogyphobia- Fear of bogeys or the bogeyman
Chorophobia- Fear of dancing
Consecotaleophobia- Fear of chopsticks
Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news
Geniophobia- Fear of chins
Kathisophobia- Fear of sitting down
Levophobia- Fear of things to the left side of the body
Nomatophobia- Fear of names
Omphalophobia- Fear of belly buttons
Scriptophobia- Fear of writing in public
Syngenesophobia- Fear of relatives
Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat
and my favorite….
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words
To see a complete list of phobias, check out this website!
GRAMMAR DIVA NEWS
Hope everyone who lives in the U.S. had a nice Thanksgiving.
Excited to be speaking to the Fremont Writers on Saturday, November 25. Fremont Writers is a branch of the California Writing Club.
I have two books coming out in December or early January:
Preorder on Kindle!
Paperback coming in December, 2018
November 16, 2017
Thanksgiving Chuckles
Originally Published November 19, 2-15
I thought you might like a chuckle or two before Thanksgiving. I didn’t write these, and some may not be politically correct. Just saying . . . and we will get back to commas next week!
Some Thanksgiving thoughts . . .
I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land. Jon Stewart
Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie. Jim Davis
Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often. Johnny Carson
Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for — annually, not oftener — if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Mark Twain
Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. Erma Bombeck
An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. Irv Kupcine
I love Thanksgiving turkey . . . it’s the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts. Arnold Schwarzenegger
The thing I’m most thankful for right now is elastic waistbands.Unknown Author
Most turkeys taste better the day after; my mother’s tasted better the day before. Rita Rudner
Here I am 5 o’clock in the morning stuffing bread crumbs up a dead bird’s butt. Roseanne Barr
Cooking Tip: Wrap turkey leftovers in aluminium foil and throw them out. Nicole Hollander
I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage. Erma Bombeck
Some one-liners . . .
Why can’t you take a turkey to church? They use FOWL language.
Why was the Thanksgiving soup so expensive? It had 24 carrots.
What happened when the turkey got into a fight? He got the stuffing knocked out of him!
What do you get when you cross a turkey with a banjo? A turkey that can pluck itself!
Who doesn’t eat on Thanksgiving? A turkey because it is always stuffed.
Dear Turkeys, don’t worry… they only love us for our breasts too. Sincerely, women.
If the Pilgrims were alive today, what would they be most famous for? Their AGE.
Why do pilgrims pants keep falling down? Because their belt buckles are on their hats!
Why did they let the turkey join the band? Because he had the drumsticks.
What did the mother turkey say to her disobedient children? “If your father could see you now, he’d turn over in his gravy!”
What did the turkeys sing on Thanksgiving Day? God save the kin.
Which side of the turkey has the most feathers? The outside.
Why did the turkey cross the road? It was the chicken’s day off!
What do you call a pilgrims vocabulary? Pilgrammar. (UGH!)
How do Rednecks celebrate Thanksgiving? Pump kin!(double UGH!)
What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter? Pumpkin pi.
And more chuckles . . .
My husband doesn’t think housework is a full-time job. So for Thanksgiving I served him a raw turkey because revenge is a dish best served cold.
If you didn’t want to sit at the kids’ table then you shouldn’t have seen the new Twilight movie.
I never understood why the Lions and Cowboys always get to play on Thanksgiving. Shouldn’t the Patriots play the Redskins, and then steal their stadium. (Ouch! I didn’t write these.)
If I was a turkey, I’d be doing everything I could to taste terrible right now.
On Thanksgiving Day, all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same moment . . . halftime. My aunt is bringing her homemade cranberry sauce to our Thanksgiving dinner, and my uncle is bringing his blatant racism!
Want to really freak someone out? Add 2 extra turkey legs to the turkey when it’s in the oven.
For the first time, we are going to have a HAPPY Thanksgiving. This year, I am stuffing the turkey with Prozac!
There is no sincerer love than the love of food. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Thanks to the following websites:
Happy Thanksgiving from The Grammar Diva to you and yours.
Grammar Diva News
My new e-book will be available (if it isn’t already) on Kindle for preorder in a day or two. Planned release date January 3, 2018. Preorder at pre-release price of $3.99 on Kindle.
November 9, 2017
Yes, Sometimes “Me” Is Correct, and “I” Is Wrong
Originally published May 3 2013
You probably remember someone once saying Me and my friend went… Or maybe it was even you who said that. And you probably remember being corrected: No, it’s “My friend and I went…”
And that is true. However, it seems that people have now overcorrected themselves by using I even when the correct pronoun is me.
So, how do we know which word to use? Well, let’s look at this sentence:
Him loves I.
Well, unless you are Tarzan perhaps, you would never talk this way. You would say He loves me.
The pronouns he, she, we, they, and I are the ones we usually use at the beginning of the sentence, or before the verb (action word). They are the subjective forms of the pronouns.
The pronouns him, her, us, them, and me are the ones we usually use if they appear after the verb and are not the doers of the action, but the receivers. These are the objective forms of the pronouns.
We usually know which pronoun to use. It’s when we add another subject or object that we get confused. l Here are some examples:
Jack and me went out last night. Well, you might say this. However, you certainly wouldn’t say Me went out last night.
To get your pronouns correct in this situation, just take out the other person, and see what makes sense. For example:
Jack gave the tickets to Sally and I. Take out Sally. Would you say Jack gave the tickets to I?? Of course, you wouldn’t. So you wouldn’t’ say Jack gave the tickets to Sally and I either!
Pretty, simple, huh? Here is another, slightly different, example:
Us students are holding a fundraiser. You wouldn’t say Us are holding a fundraiser. So, the correct way to say this is We students are holding a fundraiser, because you would say We are holding a fundraiser.
Another common misuse of I is in the expression between you and I. Just remember that it is between you and me. Always. Likewise, it is between him and her, between him and me, and between them and me (the objective forms on the pronouns).
For more helpful grammar information, see my books on Amazon!
Some links you may enjoy!
Somebody Call The Grammar Police!
The Americanization of the English Language
November 2, 2017
The Alien in Your Future
Originally Published March 7, 2014
I now believe that aliens exist. And I believe that these shriveled-looking, green/gray, big-eyed, long-fingered creatures are a more advanced life form than we are. So, how do I know this? Read on….
I have been in the education field for 10 years. Many of my colleagues have been there much longer than I have and have seen many more changes than I. Generally, they say, the pendulum seems to swing back and forth, with this year’s “new idea” being something that they saw 15 or 20 years ago.
Progress is a given. Well, I guess it is usually progress. Let’s say that change is a given. We see our world speeding toward ever more technology. We have smartphones, smart TVs, computers that recognize our fingerprints and our voices, and technology that does everything for us—and therefore must be smarter than we are.
There have been many changes in education lately. Many. Now, I went to school quite a while ago. And while I live and teach in California, I was educated in Massachusetts. I feel that I got a good education. I think we might call the educations we got back then “classical educations,” which was a good thing—back then. We knew things: facts, formulas. We could recite the Gettysburg Address and maybe a poem or two. We read classics. We were graded on our handwriting. And our spelling. And our grammar. And we knew about the explorers and the parts of the United States Government.
Enough reminiscing….let’s talk about what is happening now. Please note that I am not commenting on whether or not I like what is happening. I think some of the changes are good. Perhaps what I dislike most is what is being dropped, not what is being added. And, contrary to the intention, which is to make curriculum more rigorous, I think it is actually being dumbed down. And I guess, why not? Computers will be doing almost everything for us. So, our job is only to create the technology that can do these things for us. Who needs the Gettysburg Address?
So, let’s see…what is changing in the schools?
1. Cursive is out. Although seven or eight states have voted to keep it in the curriculum, cursive writing is not mentioned in the new standards. It is not a “21st century skill.” And where it is left in the curriculum, it is taught in elementary school for a year or two, and then left. Cursive really needs to be practiced. SO? Well, research indicates that the process of cursive writing is good for brain development—better than either printing or typing. Cursive is also faster than printing, should your computer (God forbid) run out of steam or crash. Cursive is also a beautiful art. Back in the day, we learned printing, typing, and cursive. Now, students apparently cannot handle all three. Dumbing down?
2. Memorization is out. Math teachers agree that it is crucial for students to memorize the multiplication tables, although there has been talk of getting rid of that skill too. We have calculators! Forget memorizing any poems or historical documents—or the spelling of words. Facts? Who needs them? The standards concentrate on critical thinking. I personally think you need some background information to think critically, not to mention the writing and speaking skills (that seem to be currently lacking) to express those thoughts. SO: I hope that my surgeon has memorized which bone is which, and which medications are for which diseases, and what other medications they interact with. I hope my dentist knows which tooth is which. I don’t want to watch a Shakespearean play in which the characters have trouble memorizing their lines. I don’t want to see a lawyer who hasn’t memorized some aspects of the law. And it is nice to be able to recite a famous poem or quote—just to feel educated. I asked my students to memorize something. Many of them were overwhelmed. They didn’t even bother to try. Dumbing down?
3. Grammar is out. Diagramming sentences? Too difficult and who needs it, anyway? Parts of speech? Phooey! The standards say that students should know how to write using complex sentences and that they should know how to use clauses and correct punctuation. However, it doesn’t really say how and when they should learn any of these things. At least in the grade I teach. SO: People who actually grew up diagramming sentences know their grammar. Today’s students don’t. Both colleges and companies complain that writing well is a huge issue. I taught a group of accountants who said that about 90 percent of their jobs consist of writing! Diagramming sentences? Spelling correctly? Too difficult. Dumbing down.
4. STEM. This acronym stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. No, there is no A for art, and the E doesn’t stand for English. This is the push in education today because this is where the jobs are: creating technology that can do the other stuff for us. SO: All the great ideas in the world are meaningless if you can’t express them understandably in writing and speaking. Besides, someone has to know spelling and grammar to program all these technological devices that are going to do it all for us. Writing? Too difficult. Dumbing down.
5. The SAT is being changed. In 2006 the Scholastic Aptitude Test, generally a requirement for applying to colleges and thought to be a predictor of college success, added a writing test to the math and English language bubble sections. Now, it is 2014 and the writing section is being “optional.” The scoring of the test is back to 1600 (800 for math and 800 for verbal) and the writing, if done, will be graded separately. Why is the writing not required? Who knows? I guess we don’t need writing. Bubbling is so much easier. This is a bit unusual because in the public schools K-12, bubbling is being removed in favor of short answers and essays on the standardized tests. Of course, a computer is going to score these essays. How? Who knows? In some of this writing, spelling and grammar won’t count, anyway. In addition, guessing on the SAT used to be penalized. No more. Guess all those bubbles and you might just get a good score—perhaps the answer is always C, after all! Oh, and the vocabulary is being simplified….no more of those big words you never use. Actually, I see those words used all the times in books. Oh, what’s a book? Dumbed down.
Oddly enough, I also read yesterday that the ACT, another college entrance exam, is becoming more popular than the SAT, which strikes me as odd, since two weeks ago I read that the ACT was being discontinued.
Now what does this all have to do with aliens? I thought you would never ask!
Look at the picture of the alien:
Gigantic eyes: We will be needing those eyes to stare at the computer screen all day doing our 21st century jobs, which will consist of developing newer and better technology to do everything else for us, giving us time to continue creating new technology. These big eyes will not get eyestrain from staring at a screen all day.
Long fingers: We don’t need them to write, so we don’t need five of them, with fingers that can grasp a pencil. These long fingers fit well around a mouse and can really work a keyboard!
Big head: I am not sure it is a big head so much as a small and shrunken body. Muscle wasting from no activity. Sitting in a chair all day in front of a screen won’t do much for your physique. You won’t really need anything more than eyes and fingers, anyway.
Greenish/gray color: Sun? What sun? You’d look greenish gray if you never got outside in the sun either! Your shrunken legs and body wouldn’t have the strength to get you outside, anyway. And there’s always Facebook if you need to see your friends.
So…that is the alien in your future!
The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite. — Thomas Sowel
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A couple of links that might interest you:
Resistance to Changes in Grammar Is Futile?
Smartphones Ushering in a New Language
October 26, 2017
Trick or Treat? The Origin of Halloween Words
Trick or Treating
The practice of trick or treating began with the Celtic tradition of celebrating the end of the year by dressing up as evil spirits. The Celts believed that, as we moved from one year to the next, the dead and the living would overlap, and demons would roam the earth again. So dressing up as demons was a defense mechanism. If you encountered a real demon roaming the Earth, they would think you were one of them.
The Catholic Church turned the demon dress-up party into “All Hallows Eve,” “All Soul’s Day,” and “All Saints Day” and had people dress up as saints, angels, and even demons.
Beginning in the Middle Ages children (and sometimes poor adults) would dress up in costumes and go around door to door begging for food or money in exchange for songs and prayers. This was called “souling.”
But trick or treating did not migrate along with Europeans to the United States. It didn’t re-emerge until the 1920s and 1930s. Then, it paused for a bit during World War II because of sugar rations.
The term “trick or treat” dates back to 1927.
The British apparently hate Halloween. In 2006, a survey found that over half of British homeowners turn off their lights and pretend not to be home on Halloween.
Halloween
Halloween also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows’ Eve, or All Saints’ Eve, begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead.
It is believed that many Halloween traditions originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals and that such festivals may have had pagan roots. Some believe, however, that Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, separate from ancient festivals.
In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows’ Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular, although elsewhere it is a more commercial and secular celebration. Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows’ Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this day, including apples and potato pancakes.
The word “Hallowe’en” means “hallowed evening” or “holy evening.” It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows’ Eve (the evening before All Hallows’ Day).
Jack-O-Lantern
The original jack-o’-lanterns were carved from turnips, potatoes or beets.
People have been making jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.
Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”
In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o’lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack-o’-lanterns.
Pumpkin
The large round fruit of the creeping cucurbitaceous plants of the genus Cucurbit. They have a thick orange rind, pulpy flesh, and numerous seeds. The word is from the Middle French pompon, Latin peponem (melon), from the Greek pepon (melon), meaning “cooked” (by the sun) or “ripe.”
In American English, the word is also colloquial for a person with hair cut short all around., recorded from 1781.
Witch
In mythology and fiction, a woman believed to practice magic or sorcery, especially black magic. From Old English wicca.
In a c.1250 translation of “Exodus,” witches is used to describe the Egyptian midwives who save the newborn sons of the Hebrews.
Witch doctor is from 1718
Goblin
In folklore a small grotesque supernatural creature, regarded as malevolent towards human beings.
From the early 14th century, “a devil, incubus, fairy”; from Old French gobelin.
Thank you to the following websites:
https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com
Grammar Diva News – Please Read
The Grammar Diva is tired. I have been writing this blog every single week for about five years. Haven’t missed a single week. I am going to take a break! During this November and December, you will be receiving weekly posts as usual, but they will be reposts – “The Best of the Grammar Diva.” In addition I will add some links to interesting word- and grammar-related articles I have seen during the previous week. So please do not unsubscribe! I hope you will be filling my inbox with wonderful ideas for new posts to begin the first weekend of 2018. In the meantime, here is what I will be doing:
Nov. 4 – Redwood Writers Anthology Workshop Grammar Session (open to Redwood Writers only)
Nov. 11 – Featured speaker at Mt. Diablo Writers monthly meeting – Members and guests
Nov. 13 – Reader at Dining with the Authors at Gaia’s Garden reading stories about Sonoma County and stores about the fires. Everyone Welcome! LAD November 2017
Nov. 25 – Featured speaker at Fremont Writers monthly meeting – Members and guests
I am working on my new book: I Wrote a Book: Now What? The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Self Publishing
I am working on my other new book, a set of three of my books: The Best Little Grammar Book Ever, The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever, and Does Your Flamingo Flamenco? I have a very rough cover that I have designed, and I would love your comments and suggestions on anything: title, design, whatever!
Happy Holidays from The Grammar Diva!
October 19, 2017
How to Capitalize Titles
Capitalizing titles can be a little confusing because there are actually many ways to do it, depending on what 
style you are following. By “titles,” we mean book titles, movie titles, book chapter titles, chapter headings, newspaper headlines, and other such things. Unless you need to follow a specific style, you can do it any way you choose, but — as in all things grammarish — be consistent within the same book or piece of writing.
Most Common Way
1. Here is the most common way of capitalizing titles — and the one you probably learned in school. It is still a safe bet.
Capitalize the first and last words of a heading or title no matter what they are.
Do not capitalize a, an, and the.
Do not capitalize the conjunctions and, but, for, nor, or, so, or yet. (If so or yet is being used as an adverb, capitalize it.)
Do not capitalize prepositions such as up, down, in, out, across, between, with, by, along, and the other zillion.
Capitalize everything else, which includes nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and interjections. Prepositions used as adverbs are capitalized.
Here are some examples of that style:
The Red Fox and the Brown Bear Are Here
The Little Dog Is So Tired, so He Will Take a Nap (first so is an adverb)
The Cat Looked Up As the Dog Raced down the Stairs (first up is an adverb)
Common and Very Similar to the First Way
A very similar style, and the one I learned, is that any word more than four letters long is capitalized, even if it is a preposition. That would mean words like Between, Across, Along, and Under would be capitalized. This is the way I always do it.
And Also Very Similar to the First Way
It is the Chicago Manual of Style method and is exactly like the first way except Yet and So would be capitalized, probably because sometimes they are adverbs and sometimes they are conjunctions, and the “powers that be” probably thought people would get confused, so they decided to capitalize them either way.
Confused yet? I think you will safe if you follow this. To sum it up:
Capitalize the first and last words of any title or heading.
Capitalize all the nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Don’t capitalize a, an, or the unless it is the first or last word of the title.
Don’t capitalize the conjunctions and, or, nor, for, yet, so, but.
Don’t capitalize prepositions unless they are longer than four letters. Then you decide.
If you aren’t real up to snuff on which parts of speech are which, capitalize all the important words and all the words longer than four letters.
HINT!!!!! PLEASE remember that the the following words are verbs and are capitalized in titles: Is, Am, Are, Was, Were, Have Been, Be, Will Be, Has Been.
Other Styles
Other styles that are easier have come into use. They are not as commonly accepted, so I might stick with the above suggestions for something formal. But here are some other title styles:
Sentence Style: Used by the Associated Press and some newspapers and online newspapers. Just like in a sentence, you capitalize the first word and any other words that would ordinarily be capitalized, in other words, proper nouns and proper adjectives.
Every Word: Some online publications simply capitalize the first letter of every word in the title.
If you have a short title, and not many titles on a page, you could try capitalizing every letter in the title, especially perhaps on a website.
Or, taking a little different route than the previous one, you could capitalize nothing at all in the title. If you have all the say and this is your creation, be my guest.
ABOVE ALL, BE CONSISTENT!
GRAMMAR DIVA NEWS
Upcoming events and such:
Saturday, November 4, Redwood Writers Anthology Workshop – I will be doing a grammar session.
Saturday, November 11. Mt. Diablo Writers in Pleasanton – I will be the featured speaker talking about “What’s Up with Grammar?”
Saturday, November 25. Fremont Writers – I will be the featured speaker talking about – guess what????
I am currently writing “I Wrote a Book: Now What???? The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing.” It will begin as an e-book only on Kindle. Print book? Maybe. Hopefully, the book will be available before the end of November.
My next project, out in November or December will be the book set: The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! (second edition), The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever, and Does Your Flamingo Flamenco? They will still, of course, be sold separately, but they will also be packaged into one book — one-stop shopping for grammar books!
Please follow me on Twitter where I am posting a Word of the Day each weekday morning.
October 13, 2017
Sonoma County Proud
This post is not about grammar. It is, however, a little bit connected to writing.
I know that some of my readers live in Northern California, but I know many of you live elsewhere around the world.
This past Sunday evening, as I was just trying to get to bed, a friend texted to ask if I had plans to go anywhere on Monday. I texted back that I had lunch plans in Petaluma. She said there was a fire in Napa. I didn’t know why this would affect my having lunch in Petaluma. I then, of all things, tried out a meditation app on my phone. I thought that the quiet roaring was part of the meditation.
Even with the meditation, I, as usual, couldn’t get to sleep. I don’t remember quite when it was or how I find out, but shortly thereafter I realized what was happening. I couldn’t smell anything at all from my bedroom. But I could hear the wind, and from Facebook or the radio, I figured out something big was going on. I went out to the living room where I could smell the smoke. I eventually packed a bad in case I had to evacuate. I didn’t.
High winds made a small fire in the hills roar at breakneck speed before anyone was ready for it. Of course, there were no extra forces; this was not expected. We are now on Day 5 of this massive fire. I should say fires. There are fires everywhere in Sonoma County, Napa County, Solano County, Mendocino County, Yuba County, Nevada County…
I live in Sonoma County, where Santa Rosa is the largest city. It is wine country. It is beautiful. Santa Rosa is about 8 or so miles north of Petaluma, where I live. Santa Rosa is home to Safari West, a tourist attraction with wild animals. Thank goodness, all the animals were rescued. Santa Rosa is also the home of cartoonist Charles Schulz’s ice rink, Snoopy’s Home Ice. It lost power and for the first time in its history since it was built in 1969, the ice melted. They called out for a generator, and because the people in Sonoma County are beyond kind, generous, and helpful, a big generator was delivered. Unfortunately, his house (he passed away, but his widow lived there) was burned to the ground with all the memorabilia. Fortunately, most of the memorabilia is in the museum, located near the rink, and so far, they are still OK. Thank goodness, his widow, a local philanthropist, escaped unharmed. We have lost many of our wineries and restaurants. Santa Rosa has lost nearly 5% of its houses! 3924 houses at last count, and 410,000 square feet of business space.
And fires are still raging. Help has been enlisted from as far away as the Carolinas and Australia. This included a Boeing 747 dropping flame retardant. Winds started the spreading. Winds were predicted for the last two nights. They didn’t materialize. Winds are again predicted for tonight and the weekend. We pray they don’t materialize. I am still on watch for evacuation. My car is packed and has been for days.
So far . . . I am one of the lucky ones. I am connected to two large communities, of which most of the people live in Santa Rosa: my writing club and the ice rink (my daughter is a professional skater, and I spent many, many, many hours at that rink). So many of my writer friends and skating friends and acquaintances have lost homes, or have friends or relatives who have. It is terrible. My heart breaks for them.
The community has come together as I have never seen. People have stepped up to volunteer and donate. Restaurants are giving free food. Gyms are open for free showers. Hair salons are giving shampoos and blow dries. Comcast is giving free cable. Our local bookstore is a place for evacuated people to come to charge their phones, and hang out with their dogs. A local bar has laptops for use. I could go on and on.
My writing club puts out an anthology every year with short pieces. There is always a theme. This year it was Sonoma County. The anthology just came out, and it is so poignant that these stories honor this county, now in such a sad place. In fact, I wrote a piece about the ice rink. E-mail me if you would like a copy of my piece. The anthology is available on Amazon if you want to read about our beautiful county.
The Santa Rosa fire is now 25% contained, which is actually good news for us. The air is smoky, and we are advised to wear masks, which are tough to find, of course! School has been out all week – some schools have burned. But we are Sonoma County Proud. Pray for us.
October 5, 2017
I’m Possessed!
Although Halloween is coming, this post is not about that kind of possession (sorry). It is about possessives. I have written about possessives before, but when I write about something again, I like to look it from a different perspective than previously, or add new information, or present the information in a different way. So here you go: Everything you have wanted to know—or need to know—about possessives.
Obviously, possessives imply ownership; they are not to be confused with plurals. Plurals are just more than one, and you don’t usually use an apostrophe in them. Possessives usually have an apostrophe.
When we talk about possessives, we are talking about only nouns (things or people) and pronouns (words that stand in for things and people). Nothing else has a possessive. Possessive nouns all have apostrophes. Possessive pronouns do not ever have apostrophes.
To make the possessive of a singular noun, all you do is add an apostrophe and an s : the cat’s toy, the girl’s hair; Joe’s book. Things, not just animals and people, can also be made possessive: the book’s title, the school’s auditorium.
To make the possessive of plural nouns that do not end in s, you also add an apostrophe and an s : the men’s team, the children’s jackets. One issue is men’s room. We usually say ladies room or ladies’ room or even lady’s room. The first isn’t possessive at all. The second is a plural possessive, meaning it belongs to all the ladies. The third is a singular possessive, I guess meaning it belongs to each lady separately. All are OK. However, you can’t really do the same with men. It is the men’s room. The equivalent of saying ladies room (no possessive) is men room. That doesn’t sound quite right. But mens isn’t a word (double plural????). The equivalent of saying ladies’ room is men’s room (plural possessive). The equivalent of saying lady’s room (singular possessive) is saying man’s room, which again sounds bizarre. So I would stick with men’s room. Oh, the same goes for women’s room. Womens room is wrong, as is woman’s room.
Plural nouns, which usually end in s , are made possessive by simply adding an apostrophe at the end: the boys’ toys (belonging to more than one boy), the highways’ tolls (more than one highway), the neighbors’ phone numbers (more than one neighbor).
Singular nouns that end in s already, whether they are common nouns or proper nouns, generally add apostrophe s . Many of us learned in school that you just add s , but it appears that the accepted way to write them is to add both the apostrophe and the s , usually the way they are pronounced: the bus’s schedule, my boss’s desk, Thomas’s train, Frederick Douglass’s biography, the princess’s shoe. The plural possessive of those: the buses’ schedule, my bosses’ desks, the princesses’ shoes. Sometimes you’ll have a name, for example, Miles, where you might just add the apostrophe because you don’t pronounce it Miles’s. Or maybe you do, so you can also write it that way.
Exceptions to that last rule include Jesus. (Jesus’). And I would then assume, Moses (Moses’). Also, words or names ending in an es that sounds like ez get just an apostrophe for the possessive: Socrates’, Hippocrates’.
Possessive pronouns, on the other hand, have no apostrophes: ours, hers, his, yours, theirs . . . and of course its.
Be careful with last names. You can make them plural. You can make them possessive. You can make them plural possessive. Let’s take Green as a last name. Make it plural: The Greens live next door. Make it singular possessive: Mike Green’s car is in the driveway. Make it plural possessive: We are going to the Greens’ house for dinner. How about Jones? Here come all the Joneses. Earl Jones’s car was hit. The Joneses’ basement flooded. Sometimes you just have to figure out how to make a last name plural. How about Fernandez? Fernandezes? In this case, I might just say the Fernandez family. So, when you have a sign made for your porch, it is best to say The Garcias. . . . not The Garcia’s. The Joneses . . . not The Jones’ or The Joneses’.
What about “double possessives”? Shirley and Ed’s car? Yes, if it belongs to both of them jointly, use just one possessive. But Shirley’s and Ed’s cars, meaning you are talking about the car that belongs to Shirley and the car that belongs to Ed.
Nuff said about that.
Grammar Diva News:
Do you follow me on Twitter? I have started a new daily post (Monday through Friday) called Word of Today. Check it out.
My next book is an e-book on self-publishing. No cover yet. I am hoping to have it out by the end of November. I know . . . there are lots of self-publishing books, but like my other books, this one will be pretty simple and friendly. I have been through the process nine or ten times now, so . . . Tentative Title: I Wrote a Book – Now What? The Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing
November will be a busy month for me:
November 4 – Conducting a grammar workshop for Redwood Writers Anthology Class.
November 11 – Presenting a grammar talk to the Mt. Diablo Writers.
November 25 – Presenting a grammar talk to the Fremont Writers.
Oh, and October 16, I am scheduled to read my contribution to the 2017 Redwood Writers Anthology at Dining with Local Authors in Santa Rosa.
Contact me for more info.
September 28, 2017
Some “Lost” Words and a Newspaper “Mess”
Originally, this post was going to be about 30 “lost” words from the English language that academics have uncovered and think you might want to use. This post is still about that. However, a friend of mine (thank you, Robin) “uncovered” a blurb from the Washington Post (yup) online this morning that can only be described as YUCK! To their credit it took them only about 15 minutes to fix it. So please do get to the end of the post where you can look at that blurb. That is why I always tell my audience, the Internet is forever. Once it is posted up there . . .
Dominic Watt, senior linguistics lecturer at the University of York (England, that is), hopes that people will embrace these rediscovered words. They are all words about either deception, emotions, or personality/behavior.
Ambodexter – (not to be confused with ambidextrous!) One who takes bribes from both sides
Awhape – To amaze, stupefy with fear, utterly confound
Betrump – (Seriously????!!!! Hey, I didn’t make this up!) To deceive, cheat, elude, slip from
Coney-catch – To swindle, cheat, trick, dupe, deceive
Dowsabel – A sweetheart, lady-love
Ear-rent – The figurative cost to a person of listening to trivial or incessant talk
Fumish – Hot-tempered, irascible, passionate
Hugge – To shudder, shrink, shiver, or shake with fear or cold
Hugger-mugger – Concealment, secrecy
Losenger – (Not a cough drop) A false flatterer, a lying rascal, a deceiver
Man-millinery – Suggestive of male vanity or pomposity
Merry-go-sorry – A mixture of joy and sorrow
Momist – (Well, we can see where this one comes from!) A person who habitually finds fault; a harsh critic
Nickum – A cheating or dishonest person
Parget – To daub or plaster (the face or body) with powder or paint
Peacockize – To behave like a peacock, to pose or strut ostentatiously
Percher – A person who aspires to a higher rank or status; an ambitious or self-assertive person
Quacksalver – A person who dishonestly claims knowledge of or skill in medicine; a pedlar of false cures
Rouker – A person who whispers or murmurs; one who spreads tales or rumors
Rouzy-bouzy – Boisterously drunk
Ruff – To swagger, bluster, domineer; to brag or boast
Sillytonian – A silly or gullible person, one considered as belonging to a notional sect of such people
Slug-a-bed – One who lies long in bed through laziness
Snout-fair – Having a fair countenance; fair-faced, comely, handsome – Proud, haughty, rich, splendid, fine, magnificent
Stomaching – Full of malignity, given to cherish anger or resentment
Swerk – (Not to be confused with twerk) To be or become dark, gloomy, troubled, or sad
Teen – (Does this come from what it seems to?) To vex, irritate, annoy, anger, enrage, to inflict suffering upon
Tremblable – Causing dread or horror
Wasteheart – Used to express grief, pity, regret, disappointment, or concern
Thanks to this website (click) for all the definitions. Only the comments in parentheses are my own!
AND NOW: How many mistakes can you find in this, from the Washington Post?
U.S. to slash embassy staff in Cuba, warn travelers of hotel attacks There move comes after several diplomats stationed in Havana were stricken with a mysterious illness, and it marks a blow to already-fragile relations between the United States and Cuba. The embassy will lose more than half of its U.S. staff and will stop processing visas in Cuba indefinitely, U.S. officials said.
I see six mistakes:
United States should be spelled out when it is used as a noun, as it is at the beginning of the first sentence.
I don’t think the travelers of hotel attacks (which makes no sense anyway) are doing the warning. So there should probably be a period or semicolon after Cuba, and warning should probably have a subject.
Where is the period after attacks?
There??????
The antecedent of it is a little unclear, but I suppose it is move.
Already-fragile? I don’t think we need the hyphen.
Have I missed anything?
