In the last couple of weeks the concept of good grammar has been showing up all around me. The first incident came in the form of a colleague wanting to use more active verbs in one of his articles. When I read the example he sent of a passive and active verb, it didn’t look right to me. To verify my suspicions I went to my references and yes, indeed, his example of an active verb was incorrect. It was as much a lesson for me as it was for him.
The second occasion was when I attended a tele-class entitled “Tightening Your Text Like a Pro” with Arielle Ford and Linda Sivertsen (it was fabulous). What a great reminder of how many filler words we use (really, actually, that, etc.) I took a look at some of my recent writing and realized I had fallen off the concise-writing wagon. I went back to my exercise of cutting my word count in half whenever possible.
Then I read this article, “Many English Speakers Cannot Understand Basic Grammar”. Yikes. Here was another reminder that we have not mastered the basic elements of English grammar.
All this was a wake-up call for me to revisit some of my trusted resources. A thorough reference guide with easily skim-able content is Edit Yourself: A Manual for Everyone Who Works with Words by Bruce Ross-Larson. If you don’t have a copy, check it out!
For instance, when was the last time you looked at your writing and thought, “Do I have any overweight prepositions?” Or have you wondered, “Do I use premature pronouns?”
Overweight Prepositions:
…with reference to Substitute: of, on, for, about
…in relation to Substitute: on, about
Premature Pronouns:
If he scores a goal, Mario will be named MVP Change to: If Mario scores a goal, he will be named MVP
Digest a few sections of this book at a time otherwise you will question your choice to be a writer at all! My advice is to always look at your word count and find areas to delete. Set a goal of cutting at least 30% on your first edit. You will be surprised at how many extra words you have that take away from the potency of your text.
Thank you Christine! I am forwarding your post to all of my writer and blogger friends. I am sure they will appreciate it eventually…..
JoAnne
Great content! Thanks! Editing on my 50,000 second book begins. Cutting 30% will add a few more chapters of quality content. how timely!
This is an excellent, badly needed article. It is very timely for me, as I wrestle my novel down to 15% fewer words. (I expect that sentence flunked me as far as Grammar is concerned.
) Onward, upward, however. I aim for 15% fewer words at this point, because this is the second round of cutting. It’s as difficult for me to part with favorite words as to part with a much-loved purse.
I am more aware of what I am writting. Thanks