I’m just finishing up an online editing course, and let me tell you, talking about editing is talking about grammar. As writers, it’s important to pay attention to things like voice, tone, style, character development, and plot; but none of your message gets across if it’s hidden behind poor grammar; i.e. when the reader realizes you broke one of the conventions of grammar but thinks you didn’t. There are absolutely reasons to break the rules, but the reader has to be there along with you. If you’re trying to play the game, here are a few things to pay attention that will elevate your writing:
Parallel structure: [Incorrect] I told her I was getting on the train to drink my coffee and reading a book. All the verbs should be in the same tense: getting, drinking, reading.
Don’t end your sentences with an article. [Incorrect] She told him she was going to. Finish the sentence with the missing noun.
Use the right homonyn. [Incorrect] She wanted to go their, but the tennis club was farther than she had gas for and she preferred to lay in her bed. Most writing programs, like Word, will catch the improper homonyms, but you still need a careful eye (and understanding) of what you’re trying to convey (the most common: there/their/they’re, affect/effect, further/farther, lay/lie, etc.).
Improperly used colons, semi-colons, commas, hyphens, and em dashes. The goal of punctuation is to make it easy for the reader to absorb the information and its subtext. That’s it. The problem with punctuation is that it often gets in the way. I’d highly suggest having at least a basic understanding of how to use each of the punctuation types above. Be careful though, because even with the right punctuation, sentences can be too long, and seem unwiledly. This one is a little bit more subjective, but in general, you don’t want your sentences running longer than 20 words.
In the following two examples, which version do you like better? As I walked in the door, trench coat whipping about my legs from the ferocity of the rain, I noticed two things right away: The first, that Peanut Butter—my adorable Blue-Nosed Pitbull—had not moved from the couch since I had left the house three hours ago. The second, that I had left the window open and thus my entire bookshelf was now drenched in water, and those had been some of my favorite books.
OR
I hurried quickly through the door, doing my best to leave the sideways rain and gales of wind behind me. I stopped abruptly on the door matt and looked with anguish at the window I had left open, drenching the bookshelf next to it. I ran to the window and slammed it shut. ”Oh, Peanut Butter,” I said to my adorable Blue-Nosed Pitbull. She was exactly where I had left her three hours ago—on the couch.
Which grammar convention is the toughest for you to follow? How about to find when editing? Let’s chat!
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