Punctuate the Point with Proper Punctuation!

Posted on October 12, 2022 by mestengobooks

Source: Google Images/grammarly.com

Clothes may make the man but proper punctuation makes a good writer. I’ve posted often of the grammatical irks that raise my ire. Yet the folks who regularly annoy me are exactly the folks (including nightly newscasters who shall remain unnamed) who don’t read my blog or any other grammar-focused posts. It appears they are content with being perceived as unintelligent, unprofessional and/or uncredible (yes, incredibly, it’s a word, I looked it up).

So here are a few pointers I do hope you’ll pass along to someone in dire need of a good grammatical lesson (hmmm, almost everyone online…):

Please STOP using apostrophes to make a word, abbreviation or date/time plural. It’s 1950s not 1950’s. It’s MDs not MD’s. Inserting an inappropriate apostrophe makes the word possessive (i.e., ownership). Another correct use is for shortening certain words: have not becomes haven’t; is not becomes isn’t; will not becomes won’t. Get it? Do the ayes (not aye’s) have it? Good.
Speaking of which – STOP using the apostrophe version of its (it’s) when needing a neutral pronoun: The book fell over on its side. I’ve read too many online articles where the writer has not edited the work for errors and this careless mistake is one I see often.
Some writers sprinkle too many commas into their words, like shaking salt on a pizza until it’s covered.
1. There are seven appropriate way to use a comma:
  1. 1) in dates, addresses, titles, and numbers;
  2. 2) between two clauses;
  3. 3) following an introductory clause;
  4. 4) before and after a clause not essential to the sentence;
  5. 5) before and after a nonessential description;
  6. 6) follows a name of someone you address directly; and
  7. 7) after each item in a sentence (list).
Using semicolons like commas – I’m definitely guilty of this one. They, too, have their appropriate place in a sentence:
1. 1) to join two separate but closely related sentences, especially when the second sentence begins with words like “furthermore,” “besides,” “however,” “therefore,” or “for instance.”
2. 2) in place of a comma in a long list of items, especially if the comma has been used in the sentence prior to the list.
Dash or hyphen? A hyphen joins two words together while a dash (see use in #4) separates words in parenthetical statements. No space around a hyphen but space on either side of a dash.

Have I just “dashed” your grammatical skills? Oops…

“Do not use semicolons … All they do is show you’ve been to college.” – Kurt Vonnegut

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A Bone to Pick

Posted on October 2, 2018 by mestengobooks

Source: Pinterest

I Just Can’t Help Myself…

I can’t help it. I honestly can’t. No matter what I read, whether it’s a blog, an article in a magazine or newspaper, or a book, I can’t help but edit as I read. I instinctively pick out the grammatical errors, found online and in print all too frequently these days: run-on sentences; sentences ending with a proposition (which seems to be more acceptable but it still bugs me); incorrect words, mainly homonyms (for example: their, they’re, and there) and misused possessive pronouns (its versus it’s); not knowing when to use a (precedes a word beginning with a consonant) versus an (precedes a word beginning with a verb); and placement of commas or their overuse. They stick out like sore thumbs for me.

I’m sure it harkens back to my private Catholic grammar school days (pun intended) where Catholic nuns with metal-sided rulers were quick to whip knuckles for the slightest error in English composition. Before the typewriter found its way into our home, I wrote and rewrote every paper I ever had to write, all the way up to and through eighth grade and my early high school years.

All This, From So-Called Professionals…

This morning was no different when I opened an email from a writer’s blog I follow. His specialty is advice on finding paid work as a freelance writer. Today’s blog was so full of blatant errors I couldn’t take his advice seriously. Immediately I thought does he write like this for clients? The article overflowed with grammatical errors: excessive/incorrect word use (using most when best is appropriate, the overuse of very and just, and redundancy, to name a few); misuse of homonyms (verses instead of versus when talking about writing a comparison article); and past/present tenses and singular/plural nouns all in the same sentence. I gave up in disgust before I was halfway through the blog.

Back in June, I posted a blog titled Graphic Un-Design, where I moaned about a new book cover that did not materialize as I’d hoped. What bothered me was the quality of the final product. I wrote: “…how devalued graphic design work has become with the advent of the Internet” and that so much of the work lacked “style and originality.”

I believe this to also be true of English grammar and writing in general, what with the advent of the Internet and the plethora of so-called (read: self-labeled) “online experts.” Far too often, I read articles and blogs where people are writing as they talk instead of editing for flow and clarity (and, ugh, spelling). A lax attitude has superseded the ability to accurately convey information or communicate one’s thoughts in general.

Writing, a once proud field where it was as important to be grammatically correct as it was to inform and entertain, is now chock full of lazy copy, lackluster prose and poorly presented information, regardless of the topic. This younger generation concerns themselves less with the details because they’re more focused on having their say, regardless of how they say it, no matter how ambiguous the message (or grammatically incorrect).

We cannot give up the good fight to maintain our writing integrity if we want our work to be taken seriously. Take advice from people who write as well as they speak (and vice versa) because it raises the bar – and demands more of us and our work.

That is my bone to pick.

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Grammar, It Ain’t That Hard, Right?

Posted on March 21, 2017 by mestengobooks

Is Grammar Dead?

Read any number of internet articles, including those written by journalists and professional writers, and you just might think so. In a previous article, I criticized the overuse of the word thing. It is supplemented far too often as a noun where a more respectable and appropriate noun would do.

Grammar clarifies both our writing and our thinking. They are forever joined together; the more clear and precise our thinking, the more clear and precise our writing. Hence, a better story or article is the result of that positive relationship. The lazier our thinking is, logic dictates, then the more muddled our writing is. As writers, we want to inform and/or entertain our readers, so doesn’t it make sense to keep our words as precise and concise as possible?

Memories…

I was (un)fortunate enough to have been sent to a private Catholic grammar school for eight (long) years. I have vivid memories of nuns with their rulers and clackers, kept at the ready for any expression of unacceptable behavior, including mistakes in grammar when called upon to read (yes, out loud) or conjugate (yes, out loud).

The following is an excerpt from a funny and informative grammar book, Who’s (…Oops!) Whose Grammar Book Is This Anyway? by C. Edward Good. The scene is eerily familiar to me (my comments are in parentheses):

“Up front, under the watchful eye of Miss Hamrick – our no-nonsense English teacher – Billy Wombie tries to diagram a sentence on the chalkboard. Momentarily uncertain where to put the prepositional phrase, he regains his composure and finishes with a flourish, smirking at Damron, the troublemaker in back taking aim with spit was in cafeteria straw.

Miss Hamrick spots him. “Up front with you, Damron. On your feet. In front of the class.” (I have similar embarrassing memories.)

“All right, Damron. Now perhaps you can help the class with verb conjugation.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Damron dutifully responds.

“Good. Now conjugate the verb to ride in the third person.” (How many of you have done this or can do this now?)

“Third person?” Damron groans. He knows what will come. (I’m groaning, too, I’ve been here.)

“Third person. That’s right, Damron. No go ahead.”

“He rides, he rode, he will ride…”

“Damron, be fair. Include all third persons.” (Still following?)

“He/she rides…”

“No, Damron. Don’t forget to include it.” (Sheesh. You getting this?)

Beads of sweat forming on his troubled brow, Damron begins, “He/she/it rides, he/she/it rode….”

The class erupts, delighting in Damron’s pronunciational discomfort.

“He/she/it rides, he/she/it rode, he/she/it will ride, he/she/it has ridden, he/she/it had ridden, he/she/it will have ridden.” (I still don’t know how to use all but the first three; better read more of the book.)

“Very good, Damron. Now the progressive tenses.” (Huh? Don’t remember those…)

“He/she/it is riding, he/she/it was riding, he/she/it will be riding, he/she/it has been riding, he/she/it had been riding, he/she/it will have been riding.” (I give up.)

Grammar, a forgotten relic of the past? Nowadays, schools aren’t offering it in their English classes. Why not? As you can see above, it’s vital to understand the tenses and which one to use. I, for one, will be reading more of this delightful book so I can be more like Miss Hamrick.

Sheesh.

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