A tip a day to keep the rejections away
Welcome to my marathon of writing tips—one tip a day to make
you a better writer.
What are my qualifications? For several years, I’ve written
the Pet Vet column for the Post Bulletin newspaper. I’ve had
articles published in RunMinnesota, DVM360 journal, and The Wagazine. I’m in a wonderful critique group that meets weekly
to tell me everything I’ve done wrong.
Save yourself some time by learning from my mistakes.
Abbreviations as follows:
MS = manuscript
CP = critique partner
WIP = work in progress
MILE FIVE = TRICKY WORDS
These words are really not that confusing, if you pause to
think them over. But sometimes we’re writing way too fast to pay close
attention. When editing, watch out for the following:
1) alright vs. all right –
- One of my CPs has a favorite saying: “alright
is not all right”.
- Get it? “All right” is the correct spelling.
2) OK/okay/O.K./Okay –
- Everybody sure seems to have a different
opinion on this one. Some say all four are fine. Others find only the first two
acceptable.
- To be safe, I’d recommend only using “OK” or
“okay”, and then stay consistent throughout your MS.
3) your/you’re –
- “Your” is possessive: “That is your booger-brained brother.”
- “You’re” means “you are”: “You’re a booger-brain.”
- Try your best to keep them straight. I find
these two misused everywhere—magazines, newspapers, and WIPs.
4) their/they’re/there -
- “their” is possessive: “That is their problem.”
- “they’re” means “they are”: “They’re the problem.”
- “there” is a location or place: “Over there lies the problem.”
5) whose/who’s -
- “whose” is possessive: “Whose awesome car is that?”
- “who’s” means “who is”: "Who’s going to drive that awesome car?"
6) its/it’s -
- “its” is possessive: “That dog likes its bone.”
- “it’s” means “it is”: “It’s a nice dog.”
7) t-shirt/tee shirt/T-shirt/tee-shirt -
- Although T-shirt and t-shirt are the most
commonly accepted spellings, if you look long and hard enough you
can find people who accept any of these options.
- To be safe, I’d recommend using T-shirt or t-shirt, and
then remain consistent throughout your MS.
8) affect/effect -
- “Affect” is a verb meaning to influence.
- Used as a noun, “effect” means the end result.
Used as a verb, “effect” means to bring about.
9) than/then -
- "than" compares items, things, or people: “High
school friends are better than grade
school friends.”
- "then" denotes time: “Once you get to high
school, then you have fun.”
10) two/too/to -
- “two” is a number: “I’ll have two scoops of ice cream.”
- “too” means “also” or “excessive”: “I want to
eat ice cream, too.” or “I ate too much ice cream.”
- “to” is used for everything else, basically: “I went to the ice cream shop.”
11) who/which/that -
- use “who” to refer to a person
- use “that” to refer to things or a group of
people
- use “which” to refer to things
12) I’ll link this group together -
- “supposed to” NOT “suppose to”
- “used to” NOT “use to”
- “toward” NOT “towards”
- “anyway” NOT “anyways”
- Although I avoid writing “anyways”, I’m very
naughty about using it when I speak. While I’m at it, I’ll also confess to using
the terms “totally awesome” and “gag me with a spoon” on special occasions.
13) desert/dessert -
- A very long time ago (when cavemen dragged
cavewomen around by their hair until they discovered the Pixie hairstyle and
started kicking butt), I attended grade school with a wise English teacher.
- She explained the difference between these two
words in a way I’ll never forget: “Deserts are hot and horrible. Desserts are
tasty and wonderful. Desserts has two s’s in it because everyone wants seconds
of birthday cake, and no one wants seconds of crossing a desert.”
14) all together/altogether -
- “all together” groups people or things
together: “We went to the movie all
together as a group.
- “altogether” means “entirely”: I am altogether pleased with the recent superhero
movies. Robert Downey, Jr. is the bomb. For example...
See what I mean?
Once you're done ogling, it's back to our regular scheduled programming...only one
more to go!
15) Accept/except-
- “accept” means “to receive”: “I accepted the package.”
- “except” means “to exclude”: “I want everything
except that package.”
And, finally, an example I found highly amusing:
Use “all walks of life” not “all WOKS of life” when you’re
not talking about oriental cooking.
See you tomorrow for Mile 6!
This blog on tricky words was BY FAR the "trickiest" one for me to write. Please tell me if I messed something up, and I'll be MORE than happy to fix it! Thanks!
ReplyDelete