Jean Reynolds's Blog, page 62

What Do Quotation Marks Mean?

You don’t see many news stories about punctuation marks! But the Huffington Post just published an article about the unconventional ways that President Trump uses quotation marks (“”) in his Tweets.

Questions about quotation marks started flying when a recent Presidential Tweet alleged that the Obama White House was “wire tapping” the Trump campaign. When reporters pressed for evidence, the White House pointed to the quotation marks and explained that the Tweet wasn’t really about wiretapping – it was about surveillance.

[image error]

But that only created more confusion, because other Presidential Tweets frequently used quotation marks for emphasis – when discussing “big stuff” or a “bad” situation, for example. And a linguistics expert who studied a series of recent Tweets noticed that sometimes the President seemed to be trying to tag words and expressions that he doesn’t use very often. For example, “carnage” had quotation marks in one recent Tweet.

I’m not a political insider, so I’m not going to try to offer any interpretations about what the Tweets might mean – or not mean. What I want to do here is plead for clarity.

Clear communication should always be a writer’s top priority. That means you shouldn’t use unconventional punctuation (such as ?!) that might confuse readers.

And you shouldn’t use words loosely or ironically. Let me give you a common-sense example. Young children sometimes don’t understand figurative language. So if your five-year-old is helping you put glassware onto the dinner table, don’t say “Drop what you’re doing and look at this, Susie!”

Crash. Tinkle. Shattered glass everywhere.

Quotation marks properly mean that you’re quoting someone’s exact words, and they’re used for titles of poems and short stories – and that’s about it. But – alas – many writers think quotation marks are cute – or a handy way to call attention to a word – or a signal that a word is being used in an unusual way.

Serious writers never use quotation marks in those ways, and you shouldn’t either.

I hope you’ll bear with me while I give you a non-political example that makes the same point. Some of you know that I often help police officers with their paperwork. Here’s a problem I gripe about all the time – officers who use advise when they mean said:

Jones advised me that he arrived home at 6:20 PM.

I once did an editing job for a former cop who was working on a doctorate. I had to explain to him that his doctoral committee was going to have a big problem when they reviewed his dissertation: how did he manage to complete years of graduate work without learning that advise means “counsel” or “suggest”?

Professionalism – that’s the bottom line. If you’re not aiming for professionalism in everything you write, when do you plan to start?

[image error]

____________________________________________________________

Instant Quiz ANSWER

[image error]

Whose is an ownership word: I don’t know whose jacket that is. In this sentence you need who’s – a contraction of who is.

I often heard my father sing “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now.” CORRECT

(Here are two other points that might have tripped you up. There’s no capital letter on father because in this sentence it’s a role, not a name. And periods always go inside quotation marks in American punctuation – no exceptions.)

Jean Reynolds’ book What Your English Teacher Didn’t Tell You can be purchased from Amazon.com and other online booksellers. Jean Reynolds’ book What Your English Teacher Didn’t Tell You can be purchased from Amazon.com and other online booksellers.

[image error]

“A useful resource for both students and professionals” – Jena L. Hawk, Ph.D., Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

“Personable and readable…Jean knows her subject forwards and backwards.” – Adair Lara, author of Hold Me Close, Let Me Go

Instant Quiz

[image error]Instant Quiz 

Can you spot the error in the sentence below? Scroll to the bottom of today’s post for the answer.

The restaurant was busy, we had to wait.

Some Writing Advice Isn’t Useful

I started teaching English in 1969, and I’m still at it. Although I’m officially retired, I facilitate a local writing group (and have a lot of fun doing it).

That means I’ve spent a huge part of my life thinking about writing, talking about writing, and critiquing what other people have written. Sometimes I wonder if I should have tried to make a detour somewhere.

Well, actually I did. I taught basic skills in a prison for three years. I was a vet’s assistant for a while. I taught in a police academy.

But most of my career has focused on one narrow groove – helping people with their writing. Not only did I have a wonderful time: I learned a lot. And I kept learning.

What I’ve discovered is that writing is bottomless. It’s a topic you just can’t use up. There’s always something new to learn…if you can find resources that know what they’re talking about. (Here’s a good one: Naked, Drunk, and Writing, by Lara Adair.)

Unfortunately I’ve found that much advice about writing isn’t very helpful. This morning I came across yet another article that promises more than it delivers: “8 Things We Can All Learn from Elizabeth Kolbert.” 

The article is exhilarating, well written, and fun to read. But (and this is a big but) I’m wondering how I could to turn the advice into something practical and useful.

For example, advice #1 is “Leave Home. Talk to Strangers.” Elizabeth Kolbert is a journalist who’s traveled to far-flung and fascinating places to write lively pieces about the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon. Applause, applause!

But what am I supposed to do with that advice? Travel – where? Talk to – whom? Write about – what? I can’t just pack up and head for Greenland, as Kolbert did. Is there a way to apply this rousing advice close to home? Instead of digging in to the “Leave Home” idea, the article rushes on to #2: “Show – and Also Tell.”

Applause again! But how do I do that? The article says that Kolbert put on a wet suit and explained ocean acidification by writing about scuba diving. Good for her! But what about people like me who don’t write about the ocean and have never gone scuba diving? (Does snorkeling count? I love snorkeling.)

But before I can figure out how to integrate “Show – and Also Tell” into my writing, we’ve raced on to #3 (“Be Adaptable”). And so it goes. 

The article is fun to read, and it might motivate a writer who’s feeling sluggish and bored. But let’s get real. Writing usually doesn’t feel like an exhilarating dash around the world. It’s a slow, careful process requiring a lot of thinking, experimenting, and craft.

Yes, writing can be exciting and, more often than you’d think, it’s great fun. When one of my writing tasks is heating up, I can’t wait to put my fingers on the keyboard and start tapping.

But how do you get ideas, and how do you organize them? And how do you make readers care about them? There are very few resources to tell you how to do those things, and the article about Elizabeth Kolbert – alas – isn’t one of them.

Here’s a piece of writing advice that doesn’t get much coverage in articles and books about writing: Don’t get ahead of your reader. It’s not as exciting as a trip through the Amazon, but it’s an important concept – as I realized this week while I was editing a book for a friend.

He’s an expert on his subject (keeping tropical fish). The people who will buy his book are not. Yet he kept using terms that a newbie would find puzzling. What are “community fish”? What does “substrate” mean? And he keeps urging readers to control the lighting, temperature, and water chemistry – but he doesn’t explain how to do these things.

After I started editing, I called him to talk about the book. Chagrined, he admitted that he hadn’t tried to picture his readers while he was writing. Keeping tropical fish is such a familiar topic to him that he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that other people don’t have the slightest idea of what’s involved. (Right now, while I’m typing this, he’s going back over what he’d written and filling in the details. At least I hope he is.)

Let’s not get sidetracked here. Yes, you need to keep your readers in mind when you’re writing. But the takeaway I’m hoping for today is bigger than that. Here it is: Don’t confuse a pep talk with genuine writing advice. They’re not the same thing!

If you sit down to write and find that you keep hitting your delete key, and you’re struggling to find the words you want, and your piece sometimes feels like a dog pulling on a leash – congratulations! Now you’re in the realm of real writing. No, it’s not always fun. But the reward – a finished piece that others find worth reading – is worth it.

[image error]

____________________________________________________________

[image error]

Instant Quiz ANSWER

Many writers mistakenly think that it’s ok to use a comma if you’re joining sentences that are short. Your writing will look more professional if you use a period or semicolon.

The restaurant was busy. We had to wait.  CORRECT

OR

The restaurant was busy; we had to wait.  CORRECT

What Your English Teacher Didn’t Tell You is available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon.com and other online booksellers.

[image error]

“A useful resource for both students and professionals” – Jena L. Hawk, Ph.D., Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

“Personable and readable…Jean knows her subject forwards and backwards.” – Adair Lara, author of Hold Me Close, Let Me Go

Instant Quiz

[image error]Instant Quiz 

Can you spot the error in the sentence below? Scroll to the bottom of today’s post for the answer.

Our landscape designer came up with a very unique design for our front yard.

Alexander Hamilton

Every week I spend several hours driving back and forth to ballroom lessons. For the past month I’ve been using that time to listen to the Hamilton cast album from the hit Broadway show.

I’ve spent most of the time listening to Disc 1, which tells the story of Alexander Hamilton’s role in the fight for American independence. (I didn’t like Disc 2 as much because Hamilton went through some bad times after the Revolution.) The show is upbeat and exhilarating. (I had quite a shock when I found myself enjoying rap!).

Of course I’ve watched (twice) the PBS documentary about the making of Hamilton. I was particularly struck by some advice that Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim had for Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton.

The amount of biographical detail that Miranda had to deal with was overwhelming – Hamilton led an extraordinary life packed with adventures. Sondheim’s advice was to look for events that lent themselves to musical treatment.

I have no idea how you would do that. But what intrigued me was that I wouldn’t have approached the creative process that way. I would have made a list of the important events in Hamilton’s life and turned each of them into a song.

Sondheim’s advice is (not surprisingly – he’s Broadway royalty!) much better. And there’s a lesson here that all writers can learn: Finding a focal point for a writing task should always be a priority.

That probably sounds obvious, but I don’t think it is. Many writers (including me!) think they’re finished when their content fills a piece of paper or a computer screen. That’s only the first step, folks. You have to decide what your purpose is and then shape your material to serve that purpose.

If you’re a lively and interesting person with lots of ideas and stories, your first draft is probably going to wander all over the place. (If your name is Jean Reynolds, you may have many drafts that behave the same way.)

No problem. In fact “the more, the merrier” is a great principle for writers. You want a rich storehouse of content to work from.

But at some point you have to find a focus – and be ruthless about it. You may have to cut, cut, cut. Perhaps you’ll have to turn your piece into two pieces. You’ll almost certainly need to do some reorganizing.

A good way to start the reshaping process is by asking yourself some questions. Do you want your piece to be brisk and informative? Tender and touching? Funny? Brilliant? Startling? Every sentence must match that purpose. Anything that starts to go off the rails has to be reshaped or removed.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s purpose was to create a musical play about the life of Alexander Hamilton. That meant Miranda could never stray from the idea of music. Every incident in the play needed a musical setting. If an incident from Hamilton’s life didn’t lend itself to music, it had to go.

And what did Miranda end up with? One of the biggest hits that Broadway has ever seen. Let’s all make a resolution to be just as smart when we sit down to write!

 

____________________________________________________________

[image error]

Instant Quiz ANSWER

The correct word is unusual. Don’t use unique, which means “one of a kind.” Unique is not a synonym for unusual. A thing is either unique or it’s not; there’s no “very.”

For example, my fingerprints are unique, but they’re not unusual. When you use both words to mean the same thing, you lose a useful distinction.

Our landscape designer came up with a very unusual design for our front yard.  CORRECT

What Your English Teacher Didn’t Tell You is available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon.com and other online booksellers.

[image error]

“A useful resource for both students and professionals” – Jena L. Hawk, Ph.D., Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

“Personable and readable…Jean knows her subject forwards and backwards.” – Adair Lara, author of Hold Me Close, Let Me Go

Good Writing Habits

My husband no longer watches as much football as he used to. One thing that turned him off was the endless celebrating – high-fives and dancing not just after a touchdown, but after every successful pass, catch, and tackle. My husband likes to quote football legend Vince Lombardi: “When you go into the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.”

The same principle applies to writing. Act like you’ve been there before! Adopt writing habits that make you look like a pro, even if you’re not.

Today I’m going to discuss some common writing practices that might label you as an amateur:

1.  Using British writing practices even though you’re an American.

British writers use single quotation marks (often called ‘inverted commas’) for quoting someone’s exact words. But double quotation marks, “like this,” are standard practice in the US. American writers use single quotation marks only for quotes-within-quotes and for named plant varieties.

If you’re a British writer who’s publishing in the UK, go ahead and use single quotes. But if you’re an American publishing (or hoping to publish) in the US, use double quotation marks and other American practices.

And don’t fool yourself into thinking that British writing habits will make your writing sound elegant. You’ll just seem confused.

2.  Using quotation marks for emphasis, cuteness, or an inexact word choice.

Quotation marks are properly used when you record someone’s exact words. They’re also used for titles of short works of art (songs, poems, short stories).

Many amateur writers have the unfortunate habit of using quotation marks to signify that a word or phrase doesn’t quite mean what it says:

My “job” pays me so little that after I buy gas and uniforms, almost nothing is left. [Message: It’s not much of a job.]

Why don’t you come over for a “cup of tea” this afternoon? [Message: I’ll be serving something else besides tea.]

Our “hostess” treated us like we were an unwelcome nuisance instead of cherished guests. [Message: She was a terrible hostess.]

Professional writers don’t use quotation marks this way, and you shouldn’t either. Your choices are to use the word without apology or to find the exact words you want.

3.  Using slashes, which should be reserved for business writing.

You can have cake and/or ice cream.

You can have cake, ice cream, or both.  BETTER

She’s a cook/housekeeper.

She works as a cook and a housekeeper.  BETTER

He’s majoring in biology/chemistry.

He’s doing a double major in biology and chemistry. BETTER

4.  Overusing would.

I’ve had many students who repeatedly used would for actions that happened in the past. Of course it’s correct to use would this way! But overdoing it looks amateurish. You’ll sound more professional if you use past-tense verbs most of the time.

Kay would get up early every morning to study a College Boards review book. She would work the sample problems over and over until she got each one right. Sometimes she would ask friends who were good at English or math to help her with difficult questions. Her hard work paid off: She was offered generous scholarships to three colleges.  OVERUSE OF WOULD



Kay got up early every morning to study a College Boards review book. She worked the sample problems over and over until she got each one right. Sometimes she asked friends who were good at English or math to help her with difficult questions. Her hard work paid off: She was offered generous scholarships to three colleges.  BETTER

[image error]

     Vince Lombardi

 

Having Fun with Jerome Kern

I’ve finished the paper I was writing about Bernard Shaw’s play Major Barbara. The next step will be submitting it to an editorial committee for possible publication.

I’ll be especially interested in the committee’s reaction to something unconventional I tried with this paper. Here’s some background: Major Barbara is an officer in the Salvation Army. Her father and her fiancé have just met, and they quickly hit it off. When Barbara experiences a spiritual crisis in the middle of the play, the two men go off together, leaving a weeping Barbara behind. Here’s the subheading I chose for this part of the play: “A Fine Bromance.”

Oops! “Bromance” (defined as a close but nonsexual relationship between two men) is a nonstandard word. When my paper is reviewed for publication, the powers-that-be may change “bromance” to something more conventional. I will, of course, accept their decision.

So why did I decide to try using “bromance”? Wouldn’t it have been better to just behave myself?

Maybe…maybe not. Your point of view depends on your philosophy about writing. Mine has taken a sharp swerve to the left in recent years. I used to believe that writing was a serious – even solemn – intellectual undertaking. But there’s another point of view that I think was best expressed by poet Robert Frost in a Paris Review article:

What do I want to communicate but what a hell of a good time I had writing it? The whole thing is performance and prowess and feats of association. Why don’t critics talk about those things—what a feat it was to turn that that way, and what a feat it was to remember that, to be reminded of that by this? Why don’t they talk about that? Scoring. You’ve got to score.

In recent years I’ve often found myself thinking about scoring when I write. It feels great to come up with a phrase or allusion that will surprise and delight my readers. (My husband sometimes interrupts a hockey game to ask what I’m chuckling about.)

I think “a fine bromance” – despite the nonstandard word – perfectly describes the relationship between the two men in Major Barbara’s life. It’s also a nod to the Jerome Kern song “A Fine Romance” from the 1936 Astaire and Rogers film Swing Time.

Having fun with your writing is tricky. Most of the time you can’t suddenly introduce a zinger into a serious writing task. (As I said, I won’t be at all surprised if the review committee nixes “bromance” when my paper is reviewed.)

But there’s a flip side. Writers should be taking delight in their work. We should be thrilled with a well-developed point, a smooth bit of phrasing, a clever transition. Our writing classes might be much more enjoyable – and the results might be better – if we encouraged students to celebrate their successes.

Do you celebrate? I don’t mean just having a glass of wine when you get something published. I mean standing up to cheer when you’ve pulled off an elegant sentence or a powerful paragraph.

Every writer needs a writing group – or at least an upbeat friend who’s willing to read what you’ve written. The first priority for that cheering section should be finding something to praise. Of course you want feedback about details that need changing. But the celebration should come first.

If you’re not having fun writing, why do it?

 

Bryce Harper

Yesterday I did some griping about the apostrophes in The Washington Post. Today – in fairness – I’m going to compliment the newspaper for its careful handling of quotation marks.

Let’s look at a sentence from a recent article about Bryce Harper, a right fielder for the Washington Nationals who’s a force to be reckoned with in baseball.

Here’s the sentence that impressed me:

“There were certain times when I hit a ball to the track last year, and I think back and I’m like, ‘That should have been like three rows deep,’ ” Harper said.

Wow.

Did you notice that there’s a quotation inside Harper’s quotation? (Think of those Russian nesting dolls – it will help.) Harper quoted himself saying, “That should have been like three rows deep.” So we have a quotation nested inside another quotation.

[image error]

When you’re quoting someone’s exact words, you use double quotation marks, “like this.” If there’s another quotation inside – what Harper did – you use single quotation marks, ‘like this.’ (The British call them “inverted commas.”)

Here’s Harper’s statement again. Take a look at the quotation marks to see how they’re done. (Did you notice that the comma is placed inside the quotation marks? Thank you, Washington Post!)

“There were certain times when I hit a ball to the track last year, and I think back and I’m like, ‘That should have been like three rows deep,’ ” Harper said.

You can learn more about quotation marks here. (It’s easy! Please, please – if you’re an American writing for other Americans, the commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks. No exceptions. None.)

[image error]

                  Bryce Harper

 

Apostrophes, Please!

I have three reasons for loving The Washington Post:

 In 1889 the newspaper commissioned John Philip Sousa to write the “Washington Post March.”
Carolyn Hax writes the advice column.
I can read articles online free, thanks to a complimentary subscription from my local newspaper.

But The Washington Post also drives me crazy. Would someone please, please teach them how to do apostrophes? And while you’re at it, would you teach teachers how to teach them?

Here’s how apostrophes are usually taught: “Before the s if it’s singular, after the s if it’s plural – and don’t forget about special plurals and proper names ending in s, which are before the s.” Which, of course, almost everyone promptly forgets.

Here’s how apostrophes are properly taught: “Spell the word or name. Find the last letter. Put the apostrophe after that last letter. Add an s if you need it.”

Let’s look at two recent examples from The Washington Post.

Yesterday’s edition discusses the belief that the government should be in charge of virtually everything in peoples’ lives.

OK, here we go. What’s the last letter of people? E. Put the apostrophe after the E: people’s. (It’s different if you’re an anthropologist, but let’s not go there today.)  

Now let’s go back a week to an article about Melania Trump: The first lady will focus on womens’ difficulties, President Trump says.

Let’s spell women. It ends with N, right? So here’s how you do it: women’s.

Not difficult, folks!

[image error]

 

More Advice for Writers

Two days ago I posted a link to an advice column for writers from the Washington Post. Today I want to start offering some advice of my own.

Here’s my first suggestion: Google everything. I do!

Google is so much a part of my writing process that I’m sometimes surprised when I discover that other writers don’t use it. I just finished editing a manuscript for a friend, and of course I Googled spelling, capital letters, and facts.

Of course I did.

And then it hit me: How come he hadn’t checked all that stuff before he sent me the manuscript? Isn’t that an essential part of a writer’s job?

I came across an example of the importance of fact-checking (and Google!) just this morning. Or – more accurately – my husband did. He is a maniac hockey fan. (That’s an understatement.) So he was shocked by the first panel in today’s For Better or for Worse comic strip (below).

Here’s what’s wrong: Both kids are holding their hockey sticks incorrectly. (My husband is also an avid fisherman, and he goes nuts when he sees glossy ads in magazines featuring an upside-down spinning reel.)

Charlie (my husband) came running into the kitchen with the comics page, and of course I expressed an appropriate level of horror. (Please don’t tell him that I don’t know how to hold a hockey stick.)

After he calmed down, he made a terrific point. Hank Ketcham (creator of Dennis the Menace) used to talk about how hard it was to draw ordinary household items for his comic strips. How did he know that his vacuum cleaner was typical? He didn’t want anything in his comic strip to distract readers from what was really important – Dennis and his antics.

So I’m going to leave you with two pieces of advice.

#1 – Google everything. Build a reputation for getting facts and details right.

#2 – Even if you’re sure something is right, ask yourself whether it’s unusual or odd enough to distract your readers from what you’re trying to do. Choose examples and details that are familiar to readers (unless, of course, you’re trying to make a point).

So – if you have a bunch of kids sitting around a campfire, have them sing a familiar song – not Verdi’s “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.”

Make life easy for your readers – unless, of course, you have a good reason for challenging or surprising them. To put it another way: Know your purpose, and plan accordingly. It sounds like common sense, but – believe me – it isn’t!