Polishing That Final Draft

I am a copy editor. Like most people, when I’m not working, I read novels for enjoyment. When I come to a mistake in the writing, I grimace and then go on, hoping that this was one of the rare times an error has escaped the author’s notice. When I see another error, I grit my teeth and groan. I consider whether to continue reading or not. If the plot has got me hooked and I want to find out what happens, I hang in there. Then I come across another error, and on the very next page another one, and I am wishing I had never started this book. But I don’t like leaving things unfinished, so I carry on. The errors are frequent and I check the author’s name to be sure I never buy another of his or her books. In misery, I dutifully finish the book. It could have been a good story, but it was ruined for me by so many errors.

I don’t like to find fault with other authors. Having written some books, I know that we all make mistakes. But have these careless writers never thought to have a copy editor look at their work? Yes, it costs a bit to pay for this intensive scrutiny of our writing, but there is no point in publishing a work that will kill sales of any future books we might write. Why would anyone buy another of our books if we published something full of mistakes – something so obviously not ready to be put out there into the readers’ world?

Okay, so what’s my point? If you are a writer, here are some ways you can ensure that your book is the best it can be before publishing it.

1. Have someone you trust read your book, chapter by chapter, possibly as you are writing it. Listen to their “gut reaction” comments and consider making changes after you get another opinion on that comment. Have them draw your attention to any errors they may find.
2. When you finish writing your book, read it aloud to yourself, scene by scene. How does it sound? Does it flow? Does it sound clunky and improbable? Perhaps it’s the contrived dialogue. Would this character really talk like that?
3. Read it again, fixing any errors you have marked and rewriting any of the dull language.
4. Use the Find feature in Word to find overused words. Change these or leave them out – whatever works. Find is an excellent feature of Word for finding other instances of what may be a recurring error. If you see an error that you think you may have repeated later in the book, why not use Find to check it. You can also use Find to take out extra spaces if you have fallen into the old habit of putting two spaces between sentences. Just have Find look for two spaces, and then use Replace to put one space.
5. Have a friend read the manuscript asking him or her to make a note of any errors.
6. Hire a copy editor to go through the whole book, looking for anything you’ve missed (errors in word usage, punctuation, grammar, repeated words, spelling, sentence structure).
7. When you get the copy-edited work back, read it through carefully again. Even copy editors make the odd mistake.

Every writer has his or her own way of working through the writing process. The ideas I’ve offered here are only suggestions. If you have a method that works for you, by all means, use it. Just know that if you think it’s enough simply to have your Aunt Mary read the manuscript and say, “That’s nice, Dear,” you are in for disappointment.

All About Caps – Capitals, That Is

To use a cap or not depends on certain rules and none of them include the weather.

Like a cap on the most important part of your body, a capital letter is put on important words in our writing. But there are rules about which words are important enough to warrant a capital letter.

The beginning of every sentence gets a capital letter, and that is important to let the reader know that a new thought is about to begin. The capital letter works like a signpost in this case.

Names of people, names of special animals like pets, and names of particular places and unique geographic locations get capitals. These are called proper nouns as opposed to common nouns.

Titles are important, and when coupled with proper names, they are capitalized.

Examples:

The vote declared the president to be Joseph Welles. For the next four years, President Joseph Welles would be the leader of our country.

The premier of the province was Sidney Adams. He would have to get used to being called “Premier Sidney Adams.” Or you could say that Sidney Adams is the premier.

*****

Words like king and queen can be tricky, but generally, they are in lower case letters, unless coupled with the proper name of the person.

Examples:

The king sat in his counting house, counting out his money.

The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey.

BUT:

Our old King Cole was a merry old soul.

His fiddlers three were not very good and Queen Prudence gave them a condescending look before leaving the room.

The exception is when we are referring to the queen of our country, knowing that we mean our all important queen. It was indeed a very sad day when the Queen died. Now we will refer to the Charles as the English king, and he will be King Charles, or simply the King.

If you are referring to the king and queen of other countries, they are usually referred to with lower case letters unless their proper name is included.

Example:

The king of No-Man’s-Land is King Norbert. He has been the king for a long time. His queen is named Noreen, but she loves to be called Queen Noreen.

*****

Place names are capitalized when particular ones are meant. Rivers, lakes, streets, and parks are capitalized when they are part of the proper name.

Example:

When naming more than one geographical feature (two lakes or several rivers) the geographical part of the name is in lower case.

The Peace River and the Red River are important waterways, and both the Peace and the Red rivers show up easily on a map.

Huron, Michigan, Superior, Erie, and Ontario lakes are very large. They are called the Great Lakes.

The falls are a huge landmark in our country. Niagara Falls is a popular tourist destination.

*****

Compass directions are not capitalized unless they refer to a specific area or are part of a proper name.

Example:

Specific Area

the Middle East

the East Coast

the Deep South

the Wild West

Part of a Proper Name

North Dakota

South Carolina

West Virginia

General directions are in lower case (east, north, south, west). The eastern United States and western Canada often have similar weather.

But, abbreviations for compass points are capitalized. (east northeast is ENE)

*****

Lastly, for today, some words that many feel are so important that they merit a capital letter, DO NOT.

Example:

heaven

hell

nature

season

spring

autumn

summer

winter

So next time you are wondering about putting on a cap, make sure it’s your thinking cap.

Commas and Adjectives

Do you ever wonder, Is a comma needed when you use two adjectives one after another? Well, the answer is, Sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t.

If you could join those adjectives with “and,” you should normally use a comma.

Her overgrown, weedy garden was like a jungle.

Overgrown and weedy are interchangeable and would still make sense if their order were reversed. (Her weedy, overgrown garden was like a jungle.)

However, if one or more of the adjectives is essential to the noun, no commas are used.

Example:

She bought a rusty Toyota pickup.

He has extensive backwoods training. (The adjectives could not be joined by “and.”)

 

If the adjectives are repeated, a comma is normally used between them.

Silly, silly me!

Sun, Moon, and Earth: Capitals or Not

These are important celestial objects, but do they need a capital letter?

In the case of Earth, I just capitalized it. That’s because I used it the way I would use a person’s name, without putting “the” in front of it. If I were speaking of the earth, I would not use a capital letter.

So:

I live on Earth, and I love the earth. 

There are a few oddities to note.

In an idiom, such as “move heaven and earth” or “down to earth” or “Where on earth have you been?” there is no capital. But when you use it as the proper name it is spelled with a capital.

The sun and the moon are not capitalized in non-technical usage. They are always in lower case when used in the plural.

How many moons does Jupiter have? 

Could any of the stars we see be suns with planets around them?

• While we are at it, here is a reminder that heaven and hell are not important enough to warrant capital letters.

 

More Confusing Words

Here are a few more troublesome words to add to your list.

who’s/whose

Who’s is a contraction for “who is.” If you want to say, “Who is  that man?” you will use “who’s” to say, “Who’s that man?”

If you want to know who owns that dog, you would say, “Whose dog is that?”

waiver/waver

You might sign a waiver to renounce your right to something.

If you’re not sure if you should sign the waiver, you might be undecided and you might waver about making that decision.

used to/ have to

If you were in the habit of doing something in the past, then you used to do it. Don’t be fooled by the sound of the words. It is not correct to say use to when you mean used to.

Another expression that has a similar hard sound is have to. Believe it or not, I have seen it spelled hafto. Shudders!

shear/sheer

Shear means to cut. Big scissors are sometimes called shears.

Sheer can mean vertical, as in the drop-off of a cliff. It can mean see-through, as in sheer (lacy or gauze) curtains. It can mean pure, as in “sheer nonsense.”

loath/loathe

Loath without the “e” means “reluctant” to do something.

I am loath to walk down that dark alley in the middle of the night.

Loathe with an “e” means you dislike something intensely.

I loathe the taste of bitter medicine.

breath/breathe

Again, it is a case of a final “e” or not.

If you can’t catch your breath, you can’t breathe properly.

sooth/soothe

Sooth is archaic for truth. Soothe with an “e” means to calm or comfort someone.

 

Ten Misused Expressions

There are a lot more than ten misused expressions, but we don’t want to be on overload, so here are some randomly picked misused words or expressions. You may notice that some are repeated from other posts, but that is only because I keep seeing those words misused and the reminder bears repeating.

Blah, blah, blah….

Like, you know….

1. all right – This is the correct spelling. “Alright” is a variant and not generally accepted as correct. Please try to avoid using “alright.”
2. everyday/every day – “Everyday” (spelled as one word) means ordinary, or usual.  “Every day” (spelled as two separate words) means each day.
3. as to whether – This is just wordy. You don’t need “as to.” Simply say “whether.”
4. data, strata, phenomena, media – These are plurals of “datum, stratum, phenomenon, medium.” So the data “are”; not the data “is.”
5. hopefully – In most cases, this is misused. It means to do something in a hopeful frame of mind. Most likely what you mean to say is “I hope,” or “it is to be hoped.” Be careful with “hopefully.” In most cases it is better left out.
6. inside of/outside of – When you are referring to a location, leave out “of.” If you mean a time frame (inside of two minutes), it is okay to leave the “of” in place.
7. like – Do not use “like” in place of “as.” Usually if it is before a phrase or clause, you should be using “as.” (“She ran like her life depended on it,” should be “She ran as if her life depended on it.”) Also, do not insert this word as a meaningless introduction to an adjective  (She was like devastated to hear the way I speak, throwing “like” into my podcast over 400 times). By the way, in a one-hour podcast filled with many uses of “like,” I began counting  and was horrified to find that the person had used 400+ likes an hour. Isn’t that well over the speed limit?
8. nice – Avoid this tired, vague word.
9. most – do not use this word instead of “almost.” “Most everyone” should be “almost everyone.”
10. the foreseeable future – Avoid using this expression. The future is NOT foreseeable; at least not yet.

So blah, blah, blah … Now, you know….

(👍 ͡❛ ͜ʖ ͡❛)👍

Clear Writing

I love flowers, but not in my reading and writing. Some would-be writers use flowery language thinking that this impresses the reader.

You know the feeling you get when someone flatters you too much and you know it’s mostly b.s. because it is so over the top. You just want to roll your eyes, turn around, and stick your fingers down your throat.

Too many unnecessary descriptors are part of the problem with this kind of language. Too many big words chosen to impress rather than to convey a message. Too much verbiage.

Here are some examples of padded language and how it could be written instead.

Flowery

Joe and I are preparing an elaborate springtime barbecue with delicious nibblies for all our wonderful friends. We would be thrilled to have your scintillating company and that  of your lovely partner when you come and enjoy a happy afternoon with the rest of our honoured guests.

Direct

We would be pleased to have you and Mary attend an afternoon barbecue with friends at our home.

Flowery

I am convinced that you will have a wonderful afternoon while the red robins and the chatty finches keep us company with their trilling melodies, a sure sign that spring is truly arriving in our little corner of the world.

Direct

We can enjoy listening to the spring birds in the afternoon.

Flowery

I can visualize the bustling scene, as animated, vociferous guests demand more bubbling refreshments.

Direct

I can imagine the busy party guests shouting for more champagne.

*****

Using flowery words and too many of them becomes a turnoff for the reader. A related problem is using too many long words when a shorter one would do. If you are trying to convey a clear message, use shorter sentences, and words that are familiar to the reader. Write the way you would talk, unless you are writing a business letter or a report. But even then, keeping the language clear and concise is important. Flowery words have no place in serious writing. The aim is to express yourself clearly, not to show how many adjectives and adverbs you can cram into one sentence.

In Robert Gunning’s book, The Technique of Clear Writing, he has a long list of words that could easily be replaced by more familiar words. Here are some:

abandon         give up, desert

abatement      decrease

abbreviate      shorten

abhorrent       hateful

venturous      bold

voluminous    bulky

Often you can substitute a more familiar word for one that sounds as if it were chosen merely to impress.

If you tend to get too wordy when something simple would suffice, consider this limerick about using too many words.

There was a young man from Japan
Whose limericks never would scan.
When asked why that was,
He replied “It’s because
I always try to fit as many words into the last line as ever I possibly can.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Irky Things

Some expressions are so commonly used that we have come to accept them as correct, when they really are not.

“Different than” is one of those. I see it used all the time, but the correct form is “different from.” If you are comparing things and one differs from another, it is different from the other. It doesn’t differ than. It differs from.

*****

Now we have one that is so commonly used that many people are accepting it as correct, but it is NOT.

 “You better” should be “you had better” or “you’d better.”

Better is not a verb unless you mean “to improve,” as in to better yourself. So rather than saying, “You better be careful,” what you should be saying is, “You’d better be careful,” or “You had better be careful.”

In song lyrics, we hear “you better” used often (you better watch out, you better not cry), but I’m willing to bet that originally the words were “You’d better watch out, You’d better not cry.” Regardless, in song lyrics we allow a lot of grammatical horrors. Country music is full of double negatives and misused words but that’s what gives the music its flavour. (Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone.)

Flavour up your music if you like, but if you’re doing formal writing, you had better use the correct forms of the language.

*****

Finally, I find that I need to make one more plea to the news anchors to stop misusing “regard/regards.”

Regards are what you send to a friend or relative when you want to send them a greeting. “Please give my regards to my Aunt Mary.”

One news anchor uses it so much that you can almost count on it popping up at least once in each news item. When she’s interviewing someone, she often uses it to segue to the next question.

“With regards to the president, how to you think he will handle this situation?”  Why does she have to send the president greetings before she asks about him? Maybe they know each other well?

What she meant to say was, “With regard to the president … blahblahblahblah.”

I’m so glad I got that out of my system again. I find it awful to have to listen to people in jobs way above my paygrade misusing the most common expressions.

 

 

 

More Trouble Words

Troublesome words are everywhere.

Two words that give me a big headache are discreet and discrete.

Discreet is used for people not liable to gossip. You rely on someone to be discreet (careful about what they say or do).

Discrete means more something closer to distinct, or separate. (The plan will progress in a number of discrete stages.)

I think  this is one of those sets of words that I have to put on my trouble list until I can think of a gimmick for remembering which is which.

 

Here is an easier one.

Current/currant

An electric current has an “e” in it. The current news and the current in the river, all have “e” in them.

The currant that looks like a small raisin is something an ant might eat. This currant has an ant in it.

Isn’t it fun?

A Few Irky Things

With so many books being self-published these days, one vital step is often left out because it is a way to save money. Why spend money on a copy-editor when your best friend or your Aunt Mary has already read your book and said it was wonderful?

I can tell you why. It’s to save your reputation as a writer. Your best friend and your Aunt Mary will always tell you, “That’s a lovely book, dear,” but your copy-editor will tell you the truth and so spare you the humiliation of making countless small mistakes and maybe even some big ones.

I’ve frequently heard authors say, “I had my friend read it and she said it was great. She’s a teacher so she knows all about grammar and punctuation.”

Well, surprise, surprise, a lot of teachers make mistakes too. If you have a good copy-editor go through your manuscript, I can almost guarantee you’ll be shocked by the number of errors they find.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately; more than usual because of having a new Kindle. I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve groaned over finding errors in the writing. One book I read recently had run-on sentences all over. It drove me crazy! Luckily the plot was interesting so I hung in there, even in spite of the many other mistakes I found, but you can be sure I won’t be reading a second book by that author.

If you’re a writer, this is exactly the reaction you want to avoid.

One of the common mistakes I’ve been finding is in the use of the past tense of certain words.

Here are some examples:

Today I lead my horse to water. Yesterday I lead my horse to water.

Unless the author meant the heavy metal, as in a lead pipe, the past tense of “lead” (leeeeeed) is “led,” not “lead.”

 

He sung a song as he hiked along. No. He sang a song.

He swum across the river. No. He swam across the river.

 

Another mistake I hear almost daily, especially in TV news reports and interviews, is “with regards to.”

This literally means that the person is sending his regards, his greetings, to someone.

The correct way is to say “with regard to,” or “as it regards” something.

 

Lately one of my pet peeves is the misuse of “amount.” This word is used when you are referring to something that is a mass, possibly something that could be weighed in a lump, or, at least, something that can’t be counted individually.

For example, you can have an amount of rain (tons of it coming down in rivers), or if you are referring to individual drops, you would say the number of drops (never the number of rain or the amount of drops). In last summer’s drought I remember saying, “We had about ten drops of rain, but no amount of rain would save my garden at this point.”

You could refer to the amount of garbage that has piled up in the alley, or the number of styrofoam cups in that garbage, but never the number of garbage or the amount of styrofoam cups.

In a crowd you can count the number of people, but not the amount of people, unless you are measuring them by poundage. I can imagine them on all a giant weighing platform.

These are just a few of the irky things I see in unedited or poorly edited books, and they all serve to lower the author in my esteem.

I have been copy-editing for a long time. If I have convinced you that you need me, just leave me a comment. If you don’t need a copy-editor just now, I’d still be happy to hear from you.