Separated Words = Different Meanings

Happy Thursday, everyone! Here's hoping you've had an awesome week so far. Today, we're going into a couple of words that mean different things when separated or put together. Yeah, it's Thursday and time for a writing tip! *grin* Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First up:

awhile vs a while

The first one is an adverb meaning for a while; the second is a noun.

Quick check: If you can replace the segment with the phrase for a while and it still make sense, it's correct.

Second on the list:

everyday vs every day

Everyday is an adjective that means something occurs every day or is ordinary. In the second part, every is an adjective modifying the noun day.

Quick check: If you can replace the segment with the phrase each day and it still makes sense, it's correct.

Next:

anymore vs any more

Anymore is an adverb; any more is an adjective.

Quick check: If you can replace the segment with the phrase nowadays, and it still makes sense, it's correct.

Lastly:

everyone vs every one

The first is an infinite pronoun, the second is a possessive pronoun.

Quick check: Replace the segment with the phrase everybody; if it still makes sense, it's correct.

Do you have any that drive you batty? Share!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Excuse Me, is Your Caps Lock on?

Happy Thursday, everyone! Book review tomorrow! I know you're all excited as can be. Today, I'm bringing you a little information on when to use a capital letter. Seems like a no-brainer kind of thing, huh? Well, it's something many, many people confuse, so I'm gonna touch on it. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!
 

DON'T YOU HATE IT WHEN FOLKS DO THIS?

Yeah, I do, too.

But caps lock isn't what we're talking about here. This is all concerning those horrible things called proper nouns.

What's the difference between:
Our sergeant told us we need to fall in.
and
Hey, Sergeant said we need to fall in.

?

Are you confused?

Because, in the first, you aren't using the term as a proper noun. Terms like doctor, sweetheart, sir, madam, etc... aren't proper nouns and shouldn't get a capital letter. These are terms of endearment, not names or titles (even with titles, there's a caveat, as you can see above).

When you're talking about a thing, a word that might be capitalized in a different use might get a capital letter. Examples:

I was going to make life hell for her.
I thought I was living in Hell.

Second one is the place, Hell. First one is referring to the state of living, not the place.

I dug at the earth with my hands.
I'm from Earth.

Same situation. Lowercase earth is referring to the dirt, uppercase to the planet.

Given names get caps.
States get caps.
Your Majesty gets caps.
Our King or our Queen gets caps, but not when saying something like: He's the king of all he sees. Only when you're referring to the actual monarch should you capitalize the title.

I hope this helps you avoid a little bit of confusion.

What have you put a capital letter on only to go back and smack your head over it later?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

A Tiny Comma Trick for Thursday

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, I'm bringing you a little trick that'll help you keep your commas straight. I'm not talking about the format; this is about where to put those little boogers in your sentences. So grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Commas are a major problem for a lot of authors. Where the heck do they go? Why do they go there?

Here are three common comma issues and how to keep them straight.

A comma to separate two independent clauses joined by and, but, or, so, etc...

If the first part of the segment is a complete sentence, and the second part of the segment is a complete sentence, use a comma. An easy way to check:

Gail went to the store, and she bought everything she needed for dinner.

Separate it:

Gail went to the store. She bought everything she needed for dinner.

Correct.

Gail went to the store, and bought everything she needed for dinner.

Separate it:

Gail went to the store. Bought everything she needed for dinner.

Incorrect.

See how easy that was to check? Now you know.

A comma used to offset a clause.

If you can take the piece out of the sentence and everything still makes sense, surround it with comma love. Example:

I strolled down the boardwalk, my shoelaces slapping at the wood, until I got to the candy shop.

Take out what's inside the commas and see if it makes sense.

I strolled down the boardwalk until I got to the candy shop.

Correct.

I strolled down the boardwalk, to meet Adam, who'd invited me to dinner.

Take out the commas.

I strolled down the boardwalk who'd invited me to dinner.

Incorrect.

Last, but not least, commas for introductory or unneeded words.

If you can remove the word and the sentence still make sense, it gets commas. Last, First, then, too, okay, etc... Example:

Today, I'm bringing you a little trick that'll help you keep your commas straight.

Remove the introductory word.

I'm bringing you a little trick that'll help you keep your commas straight.

Correct.

I wanted to go to the store, too!

Remove the unneeded word.

I wanted to go to the store!

Correct.

I hope that helps.

Did you know these quick tips? Do you struggle with commas?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Grammar Quiz for Thursday

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, we're gonna do a little grammar quiz. I hope you enjoy it.



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Did you get them all right?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Further vs Farther and Apostrophes with Dates

Yup, it's still Thursday! Here's your second post for the day (because I'm playing a bit of catchup). It's short, sweet, and to the point. We're going over further and farther--two words that get confused more often than I like to admit. To my point: I have a post-it over my desk to remind me which one is which. *holds fingers in L to forehead* Another post-it I have up is about dates. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

To put it simply:

Further is figurative distance, or something intangible that can't be measured by standard means.
Farther is physical distance, or something you can apply a tape measure to, resulting in a concrete number.

Examples:
She didn't want to speak further on the topic.
If he'd pried into my mother's illness any further, I would've smacked him.

I walked farther into the woods.
Because my arms are longer, I can reach farther than you.

I hope this little tip helps you keep them straight, too. My post-it looks like this:

I have others, but that's one I need to reference often.

On to dates!

When you're writing dates, remember not to use an apostrophe with the S.

It should look like this:
1990s
or
2940s
not
1990's

Examples:
I used my time-travel machine to go back and visit the 1800s for a week.
In my research, I found that time-travel might become possible by the 2900s.

Get it? No apostrophes with dates! *grin*

If you want a tip on lay and lie, go visit my cohort, Tia Silverthorne Bach. She's got a cute image to help you keep them straight.

Did these tips help at all? What do you confuse?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

A Video We Need to See

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope your weekend went well. Today, I'm sharing this cute video from YouTube I think you'll all enjoy. So sit back, grab a cup of Jo (ha!), and watch. Hopefully, this will clear some things up grammatically.

Literally.



Any questions?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Gerunds

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're back to our regularly scheduled program: All things writerly and good books! One of the things I hated in school was diagramming sentences. It made English class boring. I just wanted to read books and write stories, ya know? But, alas, knowing the difference in a preposition, verb, adjective, and noun matters. Do you know what a gerund is? If you paid attention in English, you do. If you didn't, read on!

First, a definition:
ger·und  /ˈjerənd/ Noun - A form that is derived from a verb but that functions as a noun, in English ending in -ing.

Now, some examples:
Asking a question is easy.
Baking is her favorite past-time.
We went swimming in the ocean.
No matter which way we looked, the trees prevented us from seeing the car.

Grammar girl goes into a deeper definition, even giving examples of nouny gerunds, verby gerunds, and, the thing many gerunds are confused with, present participles.

But, for now, just know that gerunds end in -ing.

Pop over to the IBGW blog to hear about the latest book we've worked on and see inside!

I hope this gave you a little refresher course.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo