Vlog: Ask An Editor - Commas

Today I discuss the different ways you might employ commas in your writing.

Revising Punctuation Basics

For today’s post, I thought I would share a quick revision checklist for your punctuation basics. The infographic summarises the points for easy reference.

Full Stops
•    mark the end of a sentence (It is all over.)
•    show contracted words (Prof., cont.) (Some countries use them for every contraction. Others only do so if the last letter of the contraction is not the last letter of the word e.g Mr. (US) but Mr (UK))
•    are used in common abbreviations (e.g., i.e., etc.)

Apostrophes
•    indicate possession (the boy’s book)
•    indicate omitted letters or figures, including when showing accents (’tis, ’98, ’ere)
•    indicate time or quantity (one week’s worth of chocolate)
•    indicate plurals of letters or words (two F’s)

Commas
•    show lists (whether or not including the Oxford comma) (apples, oranges and pears)
•    join sentences with conjunctions (Harry went out, but it rained.)
•    fill gaps (Harry had blue eyes; Sally, brown.)
•    appear before/after direct speech (“It’s raining,” Harry said.)
•    off-set interjection (Well, it was true.)
•    bracket additional information (Harry wanted to go, regardless of the weather, but Sally said no.)

Colons
•    introduce an additional part of the sentence that exemplifies, explains, or undermines what came before (There was only one thing Harry hated: getting wet.)
•    start lists (usually these then have semi-colons instead of commas) (There were three things Harry hated about the winter: the rain; the cold; and the lack of sunlight.)
•    set off subtitles (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom)
•    precede dialogue in play/film scripts (Harry: Hang on a minute, Sally)

Semi-Colons
•    separate two complete but related sentences where there is no conjunction and where a comma would create a splice (Sally bought an ice cream; she loved eating them whatever the weather.)
•    separate list items introduced by a colon (see colon example above)

Understanding Archaic Language

Today I have decided to take a quick look at some aspects of archaic language. I see people mix these up all the time, and it comes down to a lack of understanding of the grammar.

Thou is nominative (subject form), thee is object form, and thy/thine is possessive form.

The use of thy/thine depends on the object of which you are speaking. A good general rule is that thine goes before words beginning with an h or a vowel. The same holds true if you are choosing between my and mine.

Here are some examples:
Thou art a fool.
All my foolishness I give to thee.
Thy foolishness offends me.
Thine eyes are full of mischief.

And here is a quick glossary of some other archaic terms you may come across in both historical works and historical fiction.

Henceforth: from now onwards
Hither: to/towards this place
Hitherto: until now
Thither: to that place
Wherefore: why
N.B. Many modern readers seem to misunderstand Juliet's balcony scene. When she asks 'Wherefore art thou Romeo?' she wants to know why he has to be Romeo, her enemy. She's not asking where he is. :)

Common Word Confusion Part 4/4

In today’s blog post I’m going to share a few editing tips regarding common mistakes linked to pronouns and possession. Perhaps these will seem obvious to some of you; however, you’d be surprised how many times I see them confused in fiction manuscripts.

Their/There/They're
Their = belonging to them
E.g. They opened their books.
There = a place/destination
E.g. Put the books over there.
They're = they are
E.g. They're eager to start reading the book

Your vs. You're
Your is possessive.
E.g. Your button is undone.
You're is a contraction of 'you are'.
E.g. You're always pointing out my faults.

Me vs. I
Lots of people have their own way of thinking about this. For me, it comes down to what makes sense without the 'you'. If deciding between 'you and me' or 'you and I', say the sentence aloud just with the 'me' or 'I' to see which makes sense.
E.g. You and me both like books.
Take a look without the 'you' and you'll have 'Me (both) like books'. Clearly this makes no sense; therefore, the sentence should be:
You and I both like books.

Who vs. Whom
This is another one that relies on verb form, but there is a quick way to decide which it should be.
The man who he loved.
Reverse the sentence and see which fits best: 'He loved he' or 'He loved him'. We can tell at once it should be him; therefore, the correct wording of the sentence would be:
The man whom he loved.
If you'd say 'him' rather than 'he' (or 'her'/'them' rather than 'she'/'they') then you know it will be whom.

Common Word Confusion Part 3/4

It’s time for a few more editing quick tips for fiction writers. Here are five pairs of words that authors tend to confuse.

Advice/Advise
This one is a simple case of noun vs. verb, as follows:
He asked his mother for advice. (noun)
His mother advised him to forget about it. (verb)

Enquiry/Inquiry
Enquiry is when you ask about something/request information
Inquiry is a formal investigation.
Thus....
He made an enquiry regarding the book he had ordered.
The inquiry into the missing funds continued for several weeks.

Awhile/A while
Awhile is an adverb whereas a while is a noun. Here are some examples:
It has been a while since he last read a book.
Go read awhile
NB: If you have a 'for' in there, it will be a while e.g. Go read for a while.

Peel/Peal
For this one, just think two 'e's for oranges.
Peel is the rind/skin of a fruit.
Peal is the sound of laughter or bells.

Peak/Peek
For this one, just think two 'e's for two eyes!
Peek is when you look at something.
Peak is the top of a mountain or the utmost limits of something.

Vlog: Ask An Editor - Common Writing Mistakes

In today's vlog I discuss some common writing mistakes, and how to fix them.

Common Word Confusion Part 2/4

It’s time for a few more editing quick tips for fiction writers. These are words that authors tend to confuse.

Born vs. Borne
The only thing to remember here is that born is used for anything relating to birth and borne is for everything else.

He must think that I was born yesterday.
After all that he had borne, he was exhausted.

Farther vs. Further
The key point to remember here is distance. If any kind of travel or physical distance is involved, it is farther. If you are meaning something 'additional' it is further.

He travelled farther than he had intended.
He looked for further information on the forest walks. 

Lay vs. Lie
The trick here is to remember that lie is for reclining and lay is for setting something down. Once you have those straight, just follow the correct conjugations.

Lay
I lay the book on the table (Present)
I laid the book on the table (Past)
Laying the book on the table, I stand (Present Participle)
I have laid the book on the table (Past Participle)

Lie
I lie in the bed (Present)
I lay in the bed (Past)
Lying in bed, I fall asleep (Present Participle)
I have lain in bed for hours (Past Participle)

Author's Guide to Comma Splices

In today’s editing tip for fiction authors we'll take a quick look at the comma splice.

A comma splice occurs when you connect two separate main clauses with a comma, and they are occurring all the more frequently in literature these days with so many people (and publishers) shying away from other punctuation marks.

Here is an example to show what I mean by a comma splice.

Nicki sat down to read a new book, she had already finished the other one.

You might also see the same sentence written with no punctuation at all, which is known as a run-on sentence.

Nicki sat down to read a new book she had already finished the other one.

Luckily, there are several ways in which you can fix both of these grammatically incorrect sentences.

1) Add a full stop
Nicki sat down to read a new book. She had already finished the other one.

2) Add a conjunction
Nicki sat down to read a new book since she had already finished the other one.

3) Use a semi-colon
Nicki sat down to read a new book; she had already finished the other one.

Vlog: Conflicting Rules in Editing

In today's vlog I discuss some of the conflicting editing rules you may encounter, many of which stem from a difference in preferences between UK and US English.

Three-Point Guide to the Passive Tense

One area in which authors sometimes encounter problems is with the passive tense, using it too often and stripping 'punch' from their prose. You don't need to avoid the passive tense entirely, as at times it can be a useful tool; however, you need to learn when and where to employ it, so today I'll provide a three-point quick guide to the passive tense: when to use it, when to avoid it, and how to make a passive sentence active.

1) When to Use It
Times when you should use the passive tense include: 1) when the agent of the action is unknown; 2) when you wish to place focus on the object rather than the subject; or 3) to express a general truth.


2) When Not to Use It
If we know the agent of the action there is no need to emphasise the object over that agent.

For example, you would use the passive to say ‘The bag was stolen’ because we don’t know who stole it. However, if Bob stole the bag we would use the active. You can see this in the example below.


3) How to Make a Passive Sentence Active
To demonstrate this, let’s take an example.
(Passive) The bag was stolen by Bob.
(Active) Bob stole the bag.
Usually, all it takes to make a passive sentence active is to change the word order and omit the verb ‘to be’.

Top Five Self-Editing Tips for Authors

Today I'd like to share my top five self-editing tips. Although some of these pertain more to fiction writers, several are relevant in all written works.

1) Passive Voice
This construct has its place and uses, but you should avoid employing it too often as active language will give your prose more punch.

2) Repetition
Keep watch for a lack of variety in your prose. If you use the same word on a regular basis, particularly within a single paragraph, consider changing a few out with synonyms.

3) Filler Words
You can utilise the Find function in Word to locate filler words such as really, very and just. Then remove them in every instance where the sentence makes sense without them. Often changing the proceeding word will also help. E.g. If you've written very scared, amend to terrified.

4) Dialogue Tags
Remove dialogue tags wherever they aren’t needed to know who’s speaking. This way you can avoid a string of he said, she said.

5) Consistency
Check your manuscript for consistency in spelling, grammar, formatting and descriptions (e.g. a character should not have blond hair on one page and brown on the next).