Tuesday, October 26, 2010
It's a Balancing Act
Humans like balance, matching pieces, orderly sets, and identifiable patterns. When it comes to the subject of parallelism, the same holds true. Words flow smoothly together in lists, compound verbs, compound subjects, etc., when they are parallel.
For example, “running, jumping, and sitting” all end with “ing” and might describe favorite sports…well, maybe not the last one. If there is an oddity - running, jumping, and sit – the lack of parallelism actually does jump out at the reader because there is discordance in the pattern.
“Kindness and mercy” might be used as a parallel compound subject of a sentence since both words are nouns. However, “kindness and merciful” would jar the senses as a compound subject because they are not parallel. “Kindness” is a noun. “Merciful” is an adjective.
A memory device that is useful to remember parallelism is the following: “He came, he saw, he conquered.”
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Happy National Day on Writing!
October 20th is National Day on Writing!
To celebrate this occasion, we at the Stone Writing Center asked students and faculty to share with us why they write. We turned the responses into a slideshow; enjoy, as you reflect upon why you write.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwomKwqkU3w
To celebrate this occasion, we at the Stone Writing Center asked students and faculty to share with us why they write. We turned the responses into a slideshow; enjoy, as you reflect upon why you write.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwomKwqkU3w
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Another Bit of Punctuation: the Apostrophe
The difference between a simple plural and a possessive is an apostrophe. The main question to ask if there is indecision about whether or not to use the possessive form is whether or not any ownership is indicated. Once that part is established, the next question is how many own what it is that is owned.
“The shark’s passage” means one shark has the right of way and is moving through the water.
“The sharks’ passage” means more than one shark is involved.
Either way, it‘s a good time to sit out a wave or two.
Apostrophes are also used to form contractions. An apostrophe goes where the missing letter would have been. For informal writing, using contractions seems a bit less stilted, more casual. I do not, however, recommend using contractions for formal, academic essays. It’s OK, though, to use contractions in other writing.
There is often confusion about using an apostrophe when writing years. If I want to write about the 1800s and the 1900s, I don’t need to use an apostrophe; but if I did, I’d be consistent about it. Writers often do place an apostrophe in years.
Unlike the breakable rule for writing years, an apostrophe is correct when referring to words as words – “she had too many the’s in her sentence” - or when naming letters of the alphabet – “how many e’s are in this sentence?”
Like commas, the best guide is to have a real reason for adding an apostrophe. A quick look at a dictionary or grammar book can always clarify the rule and answer questions.
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
“The shark’s passage” means one shark has the right of way and is moving through the water.
“The sharks’ passage” means more than one shark is involved.
Either way, it‘s a good time to sit out a wave or two.
Apostrophes are also used to form contractions. An apostrophe goes where the missing letter would have been. For informal writing, using contractions seems a bit less stilted, more casual. I do not, however, recommend using contractions for formal, academic essays. It’s OK, though, to use contractions in other writing.
There is often confusion about using an apostrophe when writing years. If I want to write about the 1800s and the 1900s, I don’t need to use an apostrophe; but if I did, I’d be consistent about it. Writers often do place an apostrophe in years.
Unlike the breakable rule for writing years, an apostrophe is correct when referring to words as words – “she had too many the’s in her sentence” - or when naming letters of the alphabet – “how many e’s are in this sentence?”
Like commas, the best guide is to have a real reason for adding an apostrophe. A quick look at a dictionary or grammar book can always clarify the rule and answer questions.
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Dangling or Misplaced Modifiers
Some mistakes can be a bit funny. Dangling modifiers in particular can invoke some weird, odd, or strange images. Making the reader laugh is most likely not the usual goal of a writer whose assignment is a formal essay on a serious topic, so recognizing a dangling or misplaced modifier might help avoid unintentional humor.
When words that modify (describe) other words are placed far from the words modified or when what or who they modify is not clear, offbeat images may come to mind.
If I say “Walking along the beach, the clouds cooled the air,” the reader might find it hard to imagine clouds with legs and feet engaged in walking along the beach or anywhere else.
If I rephrase the sentence to “As I was walking along the beach, the clouds cooled the air” the reader doesn’t have to try to picture clouds walking. I have used the description -Walking along the beach - to modify the pronoun - I.
It is best to place all modifiers - adverbs, adjectives, phrases or clauses - as close to what they modify as possible in order to avoid both confusion and unwanted, curiously awry images.
Were those clouds going barefoot or wearing flip flops or sandals?
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
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