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As many of you can see, I've been a pretty terrible blogger lately! What can I say...Life.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Correct My Grammar

This blog is mostly devoted to grammar, stylistic choices, improving the writer and not just the writing. No one is perfect and everyone needs an editor and readers at times. On that note, please correct my grammar. If you find a mistake, call me out on it! I’ve probably missed it or, perhaps, I didn’t know it was wrong. However, be prepared to back your statement up. If I don’t understand why it is wrong then I will ask you to teach me. :)

12 comments:

  1. Hi Aubrie! I really like the way you've organized your blog. Looking forward to reading more of your post. I was just wondering--have you ever completed one of your manuscripts before?

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  2. God, no. I wish though. Pretty much everything I have worked on has been for a long piece or an entire novel so it's been slow and I get stuck sometimes because I can really only write when I'm in the mood and have a lot of time on my hands. (The two things have not been coinciding AT ALL lately.)

    However, I'm taking an Advanced Creative Writing course again this coming semester and I hope it really kicks me back into gear. Maybe I'll complete a short story. (I've been really stingy when it comes to short stories. I don't neccessarily love to read them so I don't usually write them, but maybe I can fall in love with my own.)

    Anyway, have you ever completed a manuscript?

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  3. I saw a few in the last one. Let me see if you've fixed them...

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  4. In "Jewelry Line..."
    "My original costs were for sterling silver beads, wire, clasps, crimps, and chain (the most expensive part.)"

    Period comes after closing parenthesis b/c the parenthetical statement comes within the surrounding statement, and is not independent.

    "After my first trip to Nawbin (a local bead store,)"

    Again, comma after parenthesis.

    "25 pairs of earring later"

    *earrings

    "Ever one an original piece and made entirely of sterling silver."

    *Every one

    In "Welcome to WYE?"

    "This is the main feature of WYE?."

    I'm not really sure about the period after a question mark rule. Strikes me as odd. I've only known interrobangs (?!) to be acceptable.

    "Each of these posts will focus on a book I have noted particular grammatical and stylistic choices the author or editor has made."

    Perhaps include the words "in which" after "on a book" so that it seems less awkward.

    "guidlines"

    *guidelines

    Also, I noticed the line "books you'd like me to read."

    That can't be right and must be a slip. :P

    In "Book Review #1"

    "(unless I’m really stuck on the fence with no signs of falling either way.)"

    See above.

    "I may even give you ratings on certain aspects at the end. J"

    What's the "J" for? Giving props to Jesus?

    "Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's"

    Aren't ages usually hyphenated (seventeen-year-old)? If it was printed as such on the cover, then I suppose there's no argument.

    "summer with him. resentful"

    Capitalize.

    "I decided to give the book a try (regardless of Miley Cyrus needing a serious acting lesson in anger.)"

    Be mindful of the inside/outside parentheses rules. Thanks to you, I've learned how to properly punctuate tags of dialogue, so I'm returning the favor. I won't point these out from here on, so you can go back and look for them, if you so choose.

    "Marcus’ heads"

    You can say "Marcus's" here. In fact, it flows better.

    "I must commend Sparks on is his dialogue."

    Suggest "I must commend Sparks on his dialogue" or "One thing I must commend Sparks on is his dialogue."

    "Yes, I cried, but it wasn’t the rousing music building in the background or special effects that cause me to do so."

    Should read "caused me to do so."

    "(Case and point,"

    Case -in- point, though I can see the case you would make for the point of inserting "and."

    "wondering how on earth he’d been lucky enough to find her,”

    I know this is a quote from the text, but "Earth" is always capitalized unless it follows the word "the."

    In "How to Write a Nicholas Sparks Movie"

    "I think anyone that has ever read a Nicholas Sparks book"

    Personally, I think it should be "anyone who has ever..." Might be a thing to bring up in "??? vs. ???"

    I suppose that's it for now. I guess sorry for the length? (Not really.)

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  5. Good lord! And I thought I was being careful! Well, I'll go through and correct everything when I get a chance. I've just been so excited about all this and whipping out the product. I guess that's what I get. Thanks, Matt!

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  6. @Aubrie-I have, but I consider the majority of them practice novels. I'm still waiting to write a book that I could be proud enough of to start querying with. Hopefully I'll have one after Nanowrimo this year.

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  7. That sounds like a good plan. The fact that you have completed SOMETHING is awesome. It says something about you as a writer as well, I think. Your mind works well from A to B. So many of us get stuck in the middle. (Not to say we won't figure it out...someday.) :)

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  8. Oh, and Matt, I just went though and revised. Should be looking pretty spiffy now. :) Thanks again for your notes.

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  9. I'll be keeping an eye on your progress. :)

    Also, there's a "J" hanging off the end of this entry. Is it supposed to mean something?

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  10. No, it's a formatting error. When I do a smiley face in Word (which I am now realizing I do a lot of)it doesn't translate over into the blog. Instead, it turns into a "J" for some forsaken reason. I've been going through and removing all of them. Thanks for pointing this one out.

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  11. That's an odd occurence. I feel kind of naggy.

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  12. Don't worry about it. I thought it was strange as well, like I was unconsciously typing "J"s everywhere.

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