Sci-Fi, fantasy and speculative Indie Authors Review discussion
Writing Technique
>
Grammar/Punctuation reference book?
date
newest »
newest »
Looking at this again, I'm not sure whether or not I should have put a comma after "For example". See why I need a rule book :)
Most people go with the Chicago manual of style. I still need to get my hands on one of these, but I have The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and love it. (Here is the link from Amazon but it can be found in any book stores.) http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-...
I owned a copy of The Elements of Style many years ago, but I can't find it now and don't remember what I did with it. On the other hand, I read through it so many times I've probably sub-consciously memorized it. It's a very good reference to have.
Mod
Thanks, Richard. I've bought that. It'll concentrate the mind when I'm editing.The Elements of Style book has attracted some criticism in the Times for being out of date, not softening the advice on split infinitives, dangling participles, and "whom." Following it might seem a bit stiff, these days?
I understand splitting infinitive for a bang, but doing it too often irritates most people. I know it irritates me. Dangling participles? In what world are they ok? Quite honestly, read them and think about them, they sound silly most of the time, so yeah, the rule shouldn't be broken, The Element of Style is right. As for whom or who, it's often hard to know which to use and that's probably the only reason some are 'softening' the rule.The element of style isn't perfect and in some cases a little outdated, true, but it's good for a writer to know the rules before breaking them. It helps to make a conscious choice instead of doing it blindly.
G.G. wrote: "The element of style isn't perfect and in some cases a little outdated, true, but it's good for a writer to know the rules before breaking them. It helps to make a conscious choice instead of doing it blindly..."
I tend to very often split infinitives, but only to improve the flow of a sentence. I second your point of knowing the rules before breaking them. The Elements of Style is a short treatise on the proper use of Standard English, and if every would-be writer would read just this one book, it would go a long way toward improving the quality of self-published works. But you don't have to stop with this one; go to other sources as well.
I tend to very often split infinitives, but only to improve the flow of a sentence. I second your point of knowing the rules before breaking them. The Elements of Style is a short treatise on the proper use of Standard English, and if every would-be writer would read just this one book, it would go a long way toward improving the quality of self-published works. But you don't have to stop with this one; go to other sources as well.
I'd love to put my hands on Chicago manual of styles, but there are so many versions by different authors, I really don't know which one to choose. :(Ken, you say you do it often for smoothness and clarity. You do it for a reason, so you do break the rule, but you do it knowingly.
Well I've bought both the penguin books, so expect vast improvements!
The classic example is "Who are you talking to?' which has both a dangling participle and an "ungrammatical" who. The corrected version is "To whom are you talking?" which nobody in their right mind would use, unless it was in the mouth of a Maggie Smith character.
I might be mistaking, but 'to' is a preposition, and thus this sentence is not an example of dangling participle.A dangling participle example would be:
Walking through the forest, the wind was cold on my feverish skin.
In this case 'I' am walking but the way it's written makes it sound as if the wind is.
As for the who or whom, in dialogue it doesn't matter which is used, as long as the character sticks with it through out the book, but in the narrative it should be avoided, UNLESS it's in first person POV and again is constant though out.. Otherwise, you should try to use the right form. People might damn your work for using it wrong, but if they do for using it right, something is definitely wrong. ;)
Looks like I need to read that grammar book, when it turns up!
For example I know the phrase "Hi Mom" should be "Hi, Mom" but I have no idea what rule I am following when I add the comma. I know there are resources online but in an example like the one above I wouldn't even know what to Google and it would be nice to just have my own reference book that I could mark up.
I'd prefer the book be a paper copy and not digital. Also, I'm looking for something with a lot of example sentences and straightforward explanations of the rules.
Thanks!