Adverbs are sometimes overused but are they essential? Some people say that adverbs are redundant and that they weaken the verbs impact. Some say adverbs lead to messy prose and indicate lazy and cluttered writing. Is this true? To a degree, it is, but adverbs still have their place in my opinion. What is an…
Category: Grammar and Punctuation
Posts covering grammar rules and punctuation.
Respect the Humble Comma
The Comma is Important Commas are important punctuation marks. If nothing else, they let you breathe! Commas are a short pause in a sentence, compared to a full stop or period. The comma is essential in writing but often misused. So let’s look at some of the rules about comma usage. Lists and the ‘Oxford…
Punctuating and Formatting Dialogue
How To Format Dialogue You’ll remember that before we talked about breaking the rules of grammar within dialogue. That’s totally okay to do but when it comes to how we format and punctuate the dialogue itself within the text, there are important rules that must be followed. This is essential for making sure your dialogue…
Essentials of Writing Dialogue
When you’re writing fiction, dialogue is an essential part of it. It is also an area that a lot of writers will struggle with. Often the dialogue is written too correctly, or there’s just simply too much of it. Writers can be prone to excessive adjectives, trying to avoid using ‘said’ too much and overcompensating….
Understanding Verbs Part 3
Part 3 Of Understanding Verbs In the first part we discussed verbs, what they are and the different kinds of verbs you might come across. In part 2 we covered the different tenses and forms of verbs., In this part we are going to cover the use of verbs within the sentence. Subject-verb agreement is…
Understanding Verbs Part 2: The Irregular, Helper and Reflexive Verbs
Part 2 of Understanding Verbs Welcome back to understanding verbs. This is part two, where we will be covering irregular verbs, reflexive verbs, linking verbs and helping verbs. There are a lot of different kinds of verbs. So hopefully I can make this more straightforward to understand. Last time, we covered what verbs are, how…
How to Understand Verb Tenses
Verb Tenses – Conjugation How to understand verb tenses and verb conjugation. I know, I know. The word ‘conjugation’ brings up memories from school, especially if you ever studied a language other than your native language. I remember memorising verb conjugations in French in high school. I don’t remember any of the verb conjugations from…
Apostrophes and how to use them properly!
Apostrophes – an easy guide to using them properly! Ah, the apostrophe, the bane of many a writer’s life. An elevated comma? Or an important punctuation mark that is chronically misused? It is definitely the second one. Apostrophes are commonly used where they shouldn’t be and not used when they should be. So welcome the…
Let’s talk about pronouns
Pronouns are important, so let’s talk about how to use them properly in all situations. Oh boy, is this a hot topic right now! As I have made it my mission to use language correctly and help other people do the same, I thought I would weigh in on the discussions around pronouns and what…