Author: Hope Toler Dougherty-Grammar and Grace

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University as well as York Technical College. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime, she lives with her husband, Kevin, in North Carolina and chats with their two daughters and twin sons through ooVoo.

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Grammar and Grace

Apart or A Part. Which One?

Do you stay up at night wondering which one to choose–apart or a part? I don’t either, but when you’re editing your work, you need to know the difference. These words sound the same, but they have different jobs in a sentence.

Apart is an adverb that shows how two things are separate or in pieces, part of a larger thing.

Example: Apart from the sappy ending, the movie was mostly good.

It can also be used as an adjective to show that something is isolated from something else.

Example: An athlete apart, Michael Phelps has made history with his Olympic performances.

Apart can also be used as a preposition to mean with the exception of or besides and is usually used with from.

Example: We made a side trip apart from the rest of the touring group.

A part is comprised of an article and a noun.

Example: When Anna scored the goal, she felt a part of the team.

Apart is about being separate. A part is about being one piece of a bigger puzzle.

Happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons. Author of Rescued Hearts ,  Irish Encounter,  Mars…With Venus Rising.Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com

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Grammar and Grace

Probably, Not Prolly!

Do you cringe when someone scratches her fingernails down a blackboard or clicks her teeth against a metal utensil? Well, I have the same feeling when I read prolly in someone’s Facebook comment or blog post.

I was all ready to write, “Prolly isn’t a word! Please avoid using it! Go for the real word, probably, instead.” Before I began my post, however, I did some research. It turns out, prolly has entries in several dictionaries. (You don’t know how much it pained me to write that last sentence.” It’s accepted as a spoken colloquialism.

Spoken colloquialism.

There it is. Spoken. It’s accepted as a spoken word. If you use the word in your manuscripts, make sure you’re using it in dialog.

I also avoid using it in Facebook posts, too.

But that’s just me.

Happy New Year!

Happy Writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com

 

 

Categories
Grammar and Grace

Three Simple Rules for Pluralizing Names

The holiday season is approaching, and it’s time for a post about the correct way to make proper names plural.

Here are three simple rules to follow for writing names correctly and making sure your cards convey the happy messages you intend.

  1. Add an s to a proper noun that doesn’t end in s to make it plural.

Langston = Langstons
Paterline = Paterlines
Haddock = Haddocks

  1. Don’t change the spelling of a proper noun to make the plural.

Dougherty = Doughertys (not Dougherties)

  1.  Add es to a name that ends in s, x, z, ch, or sh to make it plural.

Capps = Cappses ( I know it looks strange, but trust me.)
Wellons=Wellonses
Edwards = Edwardses
Crews = Crewses
Rakiewicz = Rakiewiczes

Notice that at no time have I used an apostrophe. I haven’t used one because I’m making the names plural, not possessive.

Three rules.

That’s all you need to write your Christmas cards correctly. If you can’t bring yourself to add the es to someone’s name or you can’t bring yourself to leave off the apostrophe, there’s always an easy fallback…

Merry Christmas from the Dougherty Family!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels, Irish Encounter,  Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts, as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons. Visit her at hopetolerdougherty.com.

 

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Grammar and Grace

How to Write Big Money

I was recently polishing my latest manuscript. One of the subplots involves a grant payout with large sums of money. In the drafts, I wrote the amounts with numerals. I had written $50,000, $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000 twice–all in one paragraph. A beta reader pointed out the mega use of zeroes.

A check in the Chicago Manual of Style made me reel back all those zeroes. Here’s the rule:

Use words not numerals when expressing money unless it’s a ridiculous amount that would be hard to read.

So I rewrote the paragraph and all the other mentions of money throughout the manuscript. For example, $30,000 became thirty thousand dollars. I also rewrote the paragraph so that I wouldn’t have so many thousand and dollars in the same paragraph and tripping up the reader.

Happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
                 Irish Encounter
                Mars…With Venus Rising

Visit Hope at hopetolerdougherty.com

Categories
Grammar and Grace

What’s an Interjection

Last year, we explored seven of the eight parts of speech. Then I took a break to address compound words in several posts and the correct usage of its and it’s.

Now let’s look at the last part of speech–interjections.

Interjections are words that denote strong feelings like surprise, excitement, joy, fear. They’re usually found at the beginning of a sentence and are punctuated with an exclamation point but sometimes can be set off with a comma. They are not grammatically connected to the sentence. They function independently.

Use these words in dialog, but don’t use them in formal writing.

Here are some examples of using interjections:

Wow! Hurricane Florence is really huge.

Ouch! That pepperoni burned the top of my mouth.

Other examples include the following: hey, rats, shoot, whoa, dang, drat, cheers, yikes, yuck.

These are fun words to use, but I’d suggest using them sparingly. Remember to show emotion in your writing, not just with one word and an exclamation point.

Happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com
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Grammar and Grace

It’s or Its?

Almost three years ago, I wrote a post about using apostrophes. If you want to read it, go here.  The explanation was supposed to help eradicate the wrong placement of the apostrophe. Admittedly, the it’s/its bit is buried in the middle. Maybe that’s why I keep seeing wrong apostrophes everywhere, even on boxes of tea!

 

This is the whole back of a box of tea.

 

This picture shows the first line of copy with the wrong word.

I almost didn’t buy the tea in protest, but I wanted to try the licorice flavor.

Using the correct word will be forever easy if you remember, it’s is a contraction for it is. That’s it, people. That’s why the copy on the back of the box–A legend in it’s own right–is, well, stupid. Sorry. I’m dealing in facts here.

The line really reads, “A legend in it is own right.”

Unless a sentence makes sense with it is for it’s, NO APOSTROPHE IS NEEDED. ADDING AN APOSTROPHE IS WRONG.

Good luck and happy writing!

 

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com
Categories
Grammar and Grace

Empathy versus Sympathy

The words empathy and sympathy often cause confusion. I know first hand. I used empathy in another blog post this morning. I checked the definitions to be sure.

Both words sound similar and end the same. Both have definitions that deal with emotions.

In its most simple terms, sympathy means to feel pity for someone who is experiencing sadness or difficulties.

Empathy is used most often when a person imagines himself in the sad or difficult situations to the point of experiencing the emotions derived from the difficulty. We often hear, “Put yourself in her shoes,” to explain empathy.

Today I used empathy in my other post because I wanted to convey what one of my daughters experienced as she watched her sister navigate the grief of a mutual friend. Her own grief was compounded by the sadness of her sister.

We send sympathy cards when we want to express sadness over someone else’s grief. We feel empathy when we take that grief as our own.

I hope this post clears up the confusion over empathy and sympathy.

Happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com
Categories
Grammar and Grace

Compound Words (Part 3)

This post includes the remainder of compound words from U through Z. The list is intended to help during the editing process.

underachieve

underage

underarm

underbelly

underbid

undercharge

underclothes

undercover

undercurrent

undercut

underdeveloped

underdog

underestimate

underexpose

underfoot

underground

upbeat

upbringing

upcoming

update

upend

upgrade

upheaval

upheld

uphill

uphold

upkeep

upland

uplift

uplink

upload

upmarket

upon

uppercase

upperclassman

uppercut

uppermost

upright

uprising

uproar

uproot

upscale

upset

upshot

upside

upstage

upstairs

upstanding

upstart

upstate

upstream

upstroke

uptake

upthrust

uptight

uptime

uptown

upturn

upward

upwind

waistline

walkways

walleyed

wallpaper

wardroom

warehouse

warfare

warlike

warmblooded

warpath

washboard

washbowl

washcloth

washhouse

washout

washrag

washroom

washstand

washtub

wastebasket

wasteland

wastepaper

wastewater

watchband

watchdog

watchmaker

watchman

watchtower

watchword

watercolor

watercooler

watercraft

waterfall

waterfowl

waterfront

waterline

waterlog

watermark

watermelon

waterpower

waterproof

waterscape

watershed

waterside

waterspout

watertight

waterway

waterwheel

waterworks

wavelength

wavelike

waxwork

waybill

wayfarer

waylaid

wayside

wayward

weathercock

weatherman

weatherproof

weekday

weekend

weeknight

whatever

whatsoever

wheelbarrow

wheelbase

wheelchair

wheelhouse

whitecap

whitefish

whitewall

whitewash

widespread

wipeout

without

woodshop

Happy writing!

 

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com
Categories
Grammar and Grace

Compound Words? (Part 2)

Last time, I offered a list of compound words from A to H. This post continues with the remainder of the H words through T.

honeybee

honeycomb

honeydew

honeymoon

honeysuckle

hookup

hookworm

horseback

horsefly

horsehair

horseman

horseplay

horsepower

horseradish

houseboat

household

housekeeper

housetop

housework

however

intake

ironwork

itself

jackpot

jailbait

jellybean

jellyfish

jetliner

jetport

jumpshot

keyboard

keyhole

keynote

keypad

keypunch

keystroke

keyway

keyword

lifeblood

lifeboat

lifeguard

lifelike

lifeline

lifelong

lifesaver

lifetime

lifework

limelight

limestone

longhand

longhouse

lukewarm

mainland

mainline

matchbox

meantime

meanwhile

moonbeam

moonlight

moonlit

moonscape

moonshine

moonstruck

moonwalk

moreover

mothball

motherhood

motorcycle

nearby

nevermore

newborn

newfound

newsboy

newsbreak

newscaster

newsletter

newsman

newspaper

newsperson

newsprint

newsreel

newsroom

newsstand

newsworthy

nightfall

nobody

noisemaker

northeast

notebook

noteworthy

nowhere

nursemaid

nutcracker

oneself

onetime

overabundance

overboard

overcoat

overflow

overland

overshoes

pacemaker

pancake

passbook

passkey

Passover

passport

paycheck

peppermint

pickup

pinhole

pinstripe

pinup

pinwheel

playback

playboy

playhouse

playthings

ponytail

popcorn

postcard

racquetball

railroad

railway

rainbow

raincheck

raincoat

raindrop

rainstorm

rainwater

rattlesnake

rattletrap

repairman

riverbanks

rubberband

sailboat

salesclerk

sandlot

sandlot

sandlot

sandstone

saucepan

scapegoat

scarecrow

schoolbook

schoolboy

schoolhouse

schoolwork

seashore

setback

sharecropper

sharpshooter

sheepskin

shoelace

shoemaker

shortbread

showoff

showplace

sideburns

sidekick

sideshow

sidewalk

silversmith

sisterhood

skateboard

skintight

skylark

skylight

skyscraper

slapstick

slowdown

slumlord

snakeskin

snowball

snowbank

snowbird

snowdrift

softball

software

somebody

someday

somehow

someone

someplace

something

sometimes

somewhat

somewhere

soundproof

southeast

southwest

soybean

spacewalk

spearmint

spillway

spokesperson

stagehand

standby

standoff

standout

standpipe

standpoint

starfish

steamboat

steamship

stepson

stockroom

stonewall

stoplight

stopwatch

storerooms

stronghold

subway

sunbathe

sundial

sundown

sunfish

sunflower

sunglasses

sunlit

sunray

sunroof

sunup

supercargo

supercharge

supercool

superego

superfine

superfine

supergiant

superhero

superhighways

superhuman

superimpose

superman

supermarket

supermen

supernatural

superpower

superscript

supersensitive

supersonic

superstar

superstructure

supertanker

superwoman

sweetheart

sweetmeat

tablecloth

tablespoon

tabletop

tableware

tadpole

tagalong

tailbone

tailcoat

tailgate

taillight

tailpiece

tailspin

takeoff

takeout

takeout

takeover

talebearer

taleteller

tapeworm

taproom

taproot

target

taskmaster

 

taxicab

I hope these lists are helping with your editing efforts.

Happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com
Categories
Grammar and Grace

How Do You Write Compound Words? (Part 1)

A friend of mine edited my latest manuscript for me. She mentioned that I have a tendency toward not writing compound words correctly. I’m thinking I may not be the only person who struggles with compound words. I’ve begun a list of those pesky words. Here’s the first installment. Sorry the three columns of my original document shows up as one here!

aboveboard

afterglow

afterimage

afterlife

afternoon

aircraft

airfield

airlift

airline

airmen

airplane

airport

airtime

allover

allspice

alongside

also

another

anybody

anyhow

anymore

anyone

anyone

anyplace

anytime

anyway

anywhere

around

ashtray

babysitter

backache

backache

backbite

backbite

backbone

backbone

backbreaker

backdrop

backfire

background

backhand

backlash

backlog

backpack

backside

backslap

backslide

backspace

backspin

backstage

backstroke

backtrack

backward

ballpark

ballroom

bankbook

bankroll

baseball

basketball

beachcomb

bedclothes

bedrock

bedroll

bedroom

bellbottom

bellboy

bellhop

below

blackball

blackberries

blackbird

blackboard

blackjack

blacklist

blackmail

blackout

blacksmith

blacktop

blowgun

bluebell

blueberry

bluebird

bluefish

bluegrass

blueprint

boardwalk

bodyguard

bodywork

boldface

bookcase

bookend

bookkeeper

bookmark

bookmobile

bookseller

bookshelf

bookstore

bookworm

bootstrap

bowlegs

bowtie

brainchild

brainwash

butterball

buttercup

butterfingers

butterflies

buttermilk

butternut

butterscotch

bypass

cabdriver

cancan

candlelight

candlestick

cannot

cardboard

cardsharp

cardstock

carefree

caretaker

careworn

carfare

cargo

carhop

carload

carpetbagger

carpool

carport

carrack

carryall

carsick

cartwheel

cattail

catwalk

caveman

cheeseburger

cheesecake

clockwise

coffeemaker

comeback

comeback

comedown

commonplace

commonwealth

cornmeal

courthouse

courtyard

crossbow

crossbreed

crosscut

crosswalk

dairymaid

daisywheel

daybed

daybook

daybreak

daydream

daylight

daytime

deadline

dishcloth

dishpan

dishwasher

dishwater

dogwood

doorstop

downbeat

drawbridge

driveway

duckbill

duckpin

duckweed

earache

eardrop

eardrum

earring

earthbound

earthquake

earthward

earthworm

egghead

eggshell

elsewhere

everything

eyeballs

eyeglasses

eyelash

eyelid

eyesight

eyesight

eyewitness

fatherland

firearm

fireball

fireboat

firebomb

firebreak

firecracker

firefighter

fireflies

firehouse

fireproof

firewater

fireworks

fishbowl

fisherman

fisheye

fishhook

fishlike

fishmonger

fishnet

fishpond

fishtail

football

foothill

footlights

footlocker

footnote

footprints

footrest

forbearer

forearm

forebear

forebrain

forecast

forecastle

foreclose

foreclosure

forefather

forefeet

forefinger

forefoot

forego

foregone

foreground

forehand

forehead

foreknowledge

foreleg

foreman

foremost

forepaws

foresee

foreshadow

foresight

forestall

forethought

foretold

forewarn

foreword

forklift

fortnight

friendship

gearshift

glassmaking

goodbye

goodnight

grandaunt

grandchild

grandchildren

granddaughter

grandfather

grandmaster

grandmother

grandnephew

grandnieces

grandparent

grandson

grandstand

granduncle

grasshopper

grassland

graveyard

gumball

haircut

hamburger

hammerhead

handbook

handcuff

handgun

handmade

handout

headache

headdress

headlight

headline

headquarters

hereafter

hereby

herein

hereupon

herself

highball

highchair

highland

highway

himself

homemade

hometown

I’ll add more next time.

Happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com
Categories
Grammar and Grace

Choose the Correct Pronoun by Hope Toler Dougherty

Please stop using pronouns wrong!

Between you and I, I’m sick of people using the wrong pronoun. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!

Don’t invite Kevin and I to a Super Bowl party this year.  Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!

Are you guilty of saying or writing sentences like the previous ones? You are not alone. I hear TV news anchors torture the language with the wrong pronoun. No, you’re not alone, but you are wrong.  You can, however, learn to use pronouns properly.

Here’s a post that explains correct usage:

http://www.almostanauthor.com/choose-correct-pronoun/.

And here’s one more post just in case you need more explanation about pronouns:

What are Pronouns?

You can learn the correct form. I’m sure of it.

Good luck and happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com
Categories
Grammar and Grace

How to Address Christmas Cards the Right Way

Today, people love to communicate with texts and private Facebook messages and emails and tweets, but around Christmas people still send real cards through the mail.

Unfortunately, people are still making mistakes when it comes to pluralizing proper names in the addresses.

Here are some simple rules to follow so that you can write names correctly and make sure your cards convey the happy messages you intend.

  1. Add an s to a proper noun that doesn’t end in s to make it plural.

Langston = Langstons
Paterline = Paterlines
Haddock = Haddocks

  1. Don’t change the spelling of a proper noun to make the plural.

Dougherty = Doughertys (not Dougherties)

  1.  Add esto a name that ends in s, x, z, ch, or sh to make it plural.

Capps = Cappses ( I know it looks strange, but trust me.)
Wellons=Wellonses
Edwards = Edwardses
Crews = Crewses
Rakiewicz = Rakiewiczes

Notice that at no time have I used an apostrophe. I haven’t used one because I’m making the names plural, not possessive.

Three rules.

That’s all you need to write your Christmas cards correctly. If you can’t bring yourself to add the es to someone’s name or you can’t bring yourself to leave off the apostrophe, there’s always an easy fallback…Merry Christmas from The Dougherty Family.

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include two novels, Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons. Visit her at hopetolerdougherty.com.

 

Categories
Editing Grammar and Grace

What’s a Conjunction?

This time let’s focus on conjunctions. Conjunctions are words that join other words, clauses, or phrases. Grammar consists of three kinds of conjunctions: coordinating, correlative, and subordinating.

A coordinating conjunction joins words, clauses, or phrases that are equal either in weight or function. Here’s a list of common coordinating conjunctions:

And
But
Or
Nor
For
Yet
So

Punctuating a coordinating conjunction depends on what the conjunction is joining.

*The movie was long and boring.  And is the conjunction joining two adjectives. No punctuation is needed.

*The cupcake was delicious but fattening.

*We meandered down a steep, curvy, and overgrown path.  And joins a series in this sentence. The comma here is the controversial Oxford comma. Some people delete it now. I don’t.

When a coordinating conjunction joins two sentences, punctuate with a comma before the conjunction.

*The Girl Scouts may sell cookies in front of the grocery store, or they may choose to sell at the ballgame.  The previous sentence has a subject and verb on both sides of the conjunction or.  The two smaller sentences are joined by a comma and a conjunction.

*The Girl Scouts may sell cookies in front of the grocery store or at the ballgame. In this sentence, or joins the two prepositional phrases in front of the grocery store and at the ballgame. No comma is needed because or is joining two phrases, not two sentences.

To punctuate sentences correctly, a writer should know which words are subjects and verbs and prepositions–exactly why we’re studying the parts of speech!

Questions?

Happy writing!

Categories
Grammar and Grace

Ready for Another Serving of Prepositions?

Have you memorized the list of prepositions yet? Trust me, quickly recognizing prepositions will help you in the long run because we’ll be layering more grammar knowledge based on the use of prepositions.

In the last post, we studied prepositions and prepositional phrases. Remember, a phrase is a group of connected words that doesn’t contain a subject or a verb.

This time we’ll discuss subordinate clauses that begin with prepositions.

Continue reading “Ready for Another Serving of Prepositions?”
Categories
Grammar and Grace

Prepositions?

We’re continuing with the parts of speech with a discussion about prepositions. These words never change their form. They link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other words in a sentence. You may remember a hint from elementary school: a preposition is anything a squirrel can do to a log, or a plane can do to a cloud. It can go over, under, around, toward…

Here are some common prepositions:

about        behind        during            like            under
above        below          except            near           up
across       beneath      excluding       of               upon
after          beside         following        on              via
along         between     from               over            with
among      beyond       in                     since           within
as               by                including       through      without
at                despite       inside             to
before        down          into                 toward

(I wrote most of those prepositions by heart because my sixth grade teacher made her students memorize them.)

Some prepositions combine more than one word:

according to     except for              instead of               because of           in place of
along with         in addition to       on account of         by means of       in regard to
apart from         in case of              up to                         by way of           in spite of
as to                    in front of             with regard to        in place of          with reference to

A preposition along with its object and any modifiers become a prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases act as adjectives and adverbs.

We went swimming after the party.  In the previous sentence, after the party is the prepositional phrase that tells when. In this sentence, phrase is acting like an adverb.

The baby with the pink bow is Mary Wade. In the previous sentence, with the pink bow is the prepositional phrase that tells which baby. It’s acting like an adjective.

This post simply introduces prepositions. Spend some time learning them. Next time, we’ll uncover more layers of the preposition.

Happy writing!

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Grammar and Grace

Adverbs–How Do We Know?

 

Adverbs are words commonly used to describe or modify a verb, and adjective, or another adverb. To test whether or not a word is an adverb, ask these questions: “How? How often? To what degree? Where?”.

The following sentence shows four adverbs in Italics.

Earlier, Elsie had waited        there                very                             impatiently.

When?                                     Where?            To what degree?         How?

Earlier, there, and impatiently described the verb had waited. Very describes impatiently, another adverb.

Another common indicator of adverbs is the addition of  -ly at the end of a word.

             quietly, roughly, gingerly, softly, worldly

Many words that may function as adverbs do not end in –ly.  

often, sometimes, then, when, anywhere, anyplace, somewhere, somehow, somewhat
yesterday, Sunday, before, behind, ahead, seldom, never, not  

Also many adjectives do end in –ly.

womanly, manly, comely, costly

Confused yet?

Remember to ask questions about what the word is describing. If it describes a noun but ends in
-ly, it’s an adjective.

The comely cashier gave the crying toddler a lollypop. (Comely describes cashier, a noun.)

When writing fiction, relying on adverbs to show action is considered weak writing. Avoid using them. Replace with descriptive verbs instead.

The teenaged quarterback ran quickly up the front steps.    Weak

The teenaged quarterback bounded up the front steps.        Better

Happy writing!

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Grammar and Grace

Adjectives are Cool!

This month at Grammar and Grace we’re studying adjectives. Adjectives are words that tell something about a noun or a pronoun.

An easy point to remember about adjectives is that they normally come right before or right after the noun or pronoun.

*The red wheelbarrow rests beside the path.

*The donkey–tired and stubborn–refused to finish plowing the field.

Adjectives that come after a verb (usually linking verbs) modify or describe the subject. These adjectives are called predicate adjectives.

*The pesto is yummy.

Adjectives can tell something about appearance–spectacular, nubby; color–black, gold; condition–bashful, intelligent; personality–victorious, ditzy; quantity–empty, packed; shape–snake-like, plump; time–early, retro; taste–sour, bland; touch–sizzling, velvety. (Yes, I agree. Some of these adjectives fit in more than one category.)

Do you notice anything about the adjectives? They don’t end with similar letters that shout, “Hey, I’m an adjective.” Just remember, if a word gives more information about a noun–how many fingers? Five–or if it makes a noun distinct from another noun–the red car, not the blue one–it’s an adjective.

Happy writing!

 

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Grammar and Grace

What are Pronouns?

 

A pronoun is a word that can take the place of a noun in a sentence which means pronouns can work as subjects, objects, and complements. Pronouns come in different forms and are used for different purposes.

Pronouns can be personal, indefinite, reflexive and intensive, demonstrative, relative, possessive, and interrogative. For this post, we’ll focus on personal pronouns.

Compared to nouns that can be descriptive on their own and especially with an added adjective, pronouns might seem bland. Without them, however, sentences would be boring, awkward, and maybe a tad silly. Take a look at the following sentences.

With pronouns: Anna designed the pattern, cut it out, fitted it to her mom, and sewed it.

Without pronouns: Anna designed the pattern, cut out the pattern, fitted the pattern to Anna’s mom, and sewed the pattern.

Personal pronouns refer to one or more people and are classified according to case: subjective, objective, or possessive.

Subjective Case                     Objective Case                       Possessive Case
I                       We                       Me                   Us                          My, Mine                    Ours
You                 You                      You                 You                         Your, Yours                Your, Yours
He, She, It     They                   Him, Her, It   Them                    His, Her, Hers, Its    Their, Theirs

*Remember that subjective case pronouns are used as subjects or subject complements. Objective case pronouns are used as indirect objects, direct objects, and objects of prepositions. (They can also be subjects or objects of infinitives, but that’s a subject for a future post.)

*Remember to make certain that pronouns refer clearly to their antecedents, the word they’re replacing. Keep them as close as possible to the antecedent.

*Remember to make pronouns agree in number with the antecedents.

Check out this earlier post for more information about pronoun usage and agreement http://www.almostanauthor.com/choose-correct-pronoun/.

Do you have questions about pronouns?

Happy writing!

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Grammar and Grace

What are Nouns?

This time we’ll discuss nouns. Nouns can be common or proper. A common noun is a person, place, or thing. A noun also includes a quality, an idea, or an action. A proper noun is a specific person, place, or thing.

  1. A church sits at the curve of the road. We have three common nouns in that sentence—church, curve, and road.
  2. Love Memorial Church sits on the curve of Rains Mill Road. Notice the changes in this sentence. Church has become specific by being named. When it is specific, it’s capitalized. The same thing happens to road. Curve is still common and doesn’t take a capital letter.

Nouns are typically used in a sentence as the subject, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. In the first sentence, church is the subject. Curve and road are objects of the prepositions at and of.

  1. We ate the chocolate mousse before dinner. In this sentence, mousse is the object of ate.

An important thing to remember is to capitalize proper nouns.

  1. I took a math class. Math or class isn’t capitalized because it’s not specific.
  2. Breanna almost failed Calculus III in high school. Calculus is capitalized because it’s the specific name of a class.

Exceptions to capitalizing courses are language classes. Always capitalize language classes like English, Chinese, and Arabic.

Nouns are pretty easy to understand, but they’re also very important in a sentence. Having a handle on what nouns do will help you understand more complex grammar points later.

Happy writing!

 

 

 

 

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Grammar and Grace

Let’s Talk About Verbs

Last time, I introduced the eight parts of speech. This time, we’ll focus on verbs.

I’m beginning with the verb because to be a complete sentence and not just a phrase or a fragment, a group of words has to have a verb. A verb is the action part of the sentence or the part that talks about being.

I am. That’s a sentence.

Steelers won. That’s a sentence, too. Of course, a better, more descriptive sentence might be something like—The fantastic Pittsburgh Steelers shut out the stinkin’ New England Patriots and won the Super Bowl.

To understand verbs, we must understand more than just the definition that a verb is a word that describes a state of action or being.

Agreement—A verb must agree with its subject. We’ll discuss this idea more in later posts once I introduce nouns.

Tenses—A verb tense tells the time of the action. To keep things simple, we’ll discuss past, present, and future tenses.

Present—I enjoy avocado on toast.

Past—I enjoyed avocado on toast yesterday.

Future—I will eat avocado on toast tomorrow.

Notice that the spelling of the verb changes for the past tense. Usually, adding the suffix -ed to a verb makes it past tense. For the future tense, I added a helping verb will.

Linking verbs—These verbs join a subject to its complement. Common linking verbs are be, am, is, are, was, were, been, being—forms of the verb to be. Verbs of the senses are also linking verbs—feel, smell, sound, look, seem, and taste.

Her voice sounded shrill. (Sounded links voice to shrill.)

She is the Olympic swimmer. (Is links she to swimmer.)

Helping verbs—These verbs are also called auxiliary verbs. They help form proper tenses. Common helping verses include the linking verbs as well as have, has, had, shall, will, may might, can, would, should, could, must, and ought.

Beth has invited several people to the Parade of Tables, but only two have accepted.

Irregular verbs—These verbs do not take an addition of the suffix -ed to form the simple past tense. Some irregular verbs include the following: eat/ate/eaten, see/saw/seen, come/came/come, drink/drank/drunk, drive/drove/driven.

This post is an attempt to remind readers about the function of verbs. Understanding the function will help make your writing clear, correct, and concise.

Do you have questions about verbs?

Happy writing!

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Grammar and Grace

Introducing the Eight Parts of Speech

For 2017, let’s understand the basics of English grammar by learning the eight parts of speech. They are the following:

Verb

Noun

Pronoun

Adjective

Adverb

Preposition

Conjunction

Interjection

All words are classified by the role they play in a sentence, or the work they do. Some words may be classified as two or three different parts of speech, but no word can be all eight. Some words will be classified as only one.

Here’s an example of one word in three different parts of speech. Brown can be an adjective, a noun, and a verb.

*The brown four-wheeler slid into the snow-covered ditch. (adjective)

*The brown in the painting overwhelmed the mood of the composition. (noun)

*Before placing the roast in the crock pot, brown the meat on all sides. (verb)

The word brown is used differently in all three sentences.

In the upcoming posts, we’ll learn about all the different parts of speech. Understanding the parts of speech will help in understanding future grammar and punctuation problems.

Happy writing!

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Grammar and Grace

Presents for the Writer

For this post, I’m suggesting some books that you may want on your bookshelves or your may want to give as gifts to the other writers in your life.

William Strunk’s, The Elements of Style, has been a classic for almost a hundred years. Read it.

THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE (UPDATED 2011 EDITION) by [Strunk, William, Strunk Junior, William, William Strunk, The Elements of Style by]

Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King is a must-have for writers. Read it, make notes, then read it again.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss shows grammar is necessary, but it can be fun. My copy came with a punctuation repair kit.

And just for fun, Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey is a quirky history of the lost art of diagramming sentences. I always thought diagramming sentences was fun. After reading this book, I know other people like it, too.

Happy writing!

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Grammar and Grace

How to Pluralize Names for Christmas Cards–Re-Mix

We’re still a few days away from Thanksgiving, but we sometimes receive Christmas cards a few days after celebrating with turkey and dressing. For all the super organized people who like to get things done early, I’m re-posting  the following blog from last year–and because I’m still seeing names with apostrophes in all the wrong places.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas. I especially love sending and receiving Christmas cards. We send out a lot from our house, and we receive a lot in return. We always include a picture of the whole family. The pictures we receive from our friends find a place on our refrigerator and adorn it all year.

20151025_174741

I don’t, however, love the envelopes addressed to The Dougherty’s or closings that read, Love from the Jones’. Ack!! I’m happy to hear from old friends, but I can’t stop my toes from curling when I see those errant apostrophes.

Here are some simple rules to follow so that you can write names correctly and make sure your cards convey the happy messages you intend.

  1. Add an s to a proper noun that doesn’t end in s to make it plural.

Langston = Langstons
Maurer = Maurers
Tate = Tates

  1. Don’t change the spelling of a proper noun to make the plural.

Dougherty = Doughertys (not Dougherties)

3.  Add es to a name that ends in s, x, z, ch, or sh to make it plural.

Capps = Cappses ( I know it looks strange, but trust me.)
Edwards = Edwardses
Fox = Foxes
Rakiewicz = Rakiewiczes

Notice that at no time have I used an apostrophe. I haven’t used one because I’m making the names plural, not possessive.

Three rules.

That’s all you need to write your Christmas cards correctly. If you can’t bring yourself to add the es to someone’s name or you can’t bring yourself to leave off the apostrophe, there’s always an easy fallback…Love from The Dougherty Family.

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Grammar and Grace

Compliment or Complement?

Earlier this week I wrote a post for my own blog and was reminded about two things: the difference between compliment and complement and the definition of a subjective complement.

Compliment and complement sound exactly alike. They’re homophones. They are spelled differently and have different meanings, however.

A compliment is a flattering statement. Your dinner guest might say, “This pesto is delicious. I’d love your recipe.” He’s complimented your cooking.

A complement is a thing that completes something else or brings it to perfection. A nice complement to angel hair pasta with pesto is a ripe tomato.

The tricky thing is remembering how to spell the correct form. Try this mnemonic device. I like compliments ( because don’t we love compliments?). The I in the previous statement can remind you to use the word with the i in it.

A subjective complement is one of those phrases you learned about in grade school. It’s a word or phrase that follows a linking verb (be, am, is, are, was, were,…) and renames or describes the subject.

My high school English teacher was a monster.  (Not true, by the way.) Monster is the subjective complement because it renames teacher.

I have another example of a subjective complement, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate for this blog. I used it in the post I mentioned in the first paragraph. If you want to read it, go here. Read all the way to the end.

Now, go give someone a compliment!

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Grammar and Grace

Misheard, Misused, Misspelled Words

This month’s post is all about words you might be hearing and saying and, consequently, writing improperly. We’re not talking about homophones this time. We’re talking about misheard, misused, and misspelled words.

The idea occurred to me when I received a message from whom—before this ill-typed group of sentences appeared in my inbox—I considered an educated, real adult.

Here’s the problem. She used prolly instead of probably. This construction is not a typo. It’s a made up, wrong word. Maybe that’s how she pronounces it, but it’s still wrong, wrong, wrong. And the little red squiggly line that shows up underneath—even in Facebook messages—indicates a warning people—especially writers—should heed. (I apologize if my old English teacher, persnickety self is shining through here.) (A little bit.)

What about should of? NO! The correct use is should have. The problem probably stems from the contraction, should’ve. I agree. It sounds like should of when we speak. When writing, however, use should have or should’ve. Have is a helping verb: I should have paid attention in English class.

Suppose/supposed has a couple of problems. Here are the correct usages:
I suppose I can cook dinner tonight if you wash the dishes.

I am supposed to cook dinner tonight if I have time. (Don’t forget the d on the end.)

Supposedly, I am a good cook. Not, not, not supposably. Supposably is not correct—even if you hear everyone you know say it this way.

All of a sudden is correct. Years ago when I was teaching, a student wrote, “all of the sudden.” I stopped reading. I shook my head. I’d never heard that phrase before. I marked it as wrong. The student was irritated. A wiser colleague mentioned that all of the sudden was a colloquialism. At its worst, it’s wrong. At its best, it’s informal. Use the accepted all of a sudden in your writing.

Finally, here’s one just for fun. One of my students wrote chester drawers in an essay. I don’t believe she capitalized the C either. Again, even if in quick, slurred speech, the words sound like chester, they really should be written chest of drawers.

Now that I’m thinking about it, chester drawers could make for some interesting dialog in my next work in progress.

Happy writing!