We (Edith Hope Fine and Judith Josephson) are the Grammar Patrol. Both of us taught for years and are now writers, with thirty plus books between us, including our two popular grammar guides, Nitty-Gritty Grammar and More Nitty-Gritty Grammar. For close to twenty years, we taught writing and grammar basics and now we blog about grammar for writers.

Dangling Participial Phrases!?

Isn’t dangling for earrings, bungee jumpers, or grapes on the vine?

Alas, no. Participial phrases can also dangle, like this:

   Rounding the bend, the medieval church loomed in the distance.

That ancient church is on the move!

English runneth over with modifiers: adjectives, adverbs, clauses, phrases, and participial phrases. Participles and other modifiers are easily (and often humorously) misplaced. In addition, they distract your readers. Today we’ll concentrate on dangling participial phrases.

What is a participle anyway?

You’ll recognize these verb forms. With regular verbs, participles end in ing (present tense), and d, ed, or t (past tense).

giggling           cleaning          dreaming

giggled            cleaned           dreamt

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We (Edith Hope Fine and Judith Josephson) are the Grammar Patrol. Both of us taught for years and are now writers, with thirty plus books between us, including our two popular grammar guides, Nitty-Gritty Grammar and More Nitty-Gritty Grammar. For close to twenty years, we taught writing and grammar basics and now we blog about grammar for writers.

Whooooooo or Whom?

“Who is it?” “To whom shall I RSVP?” “Who may I ask is calling?

Who and whom can confuse even wise old owls.

Yes, these three examples are correct. In the third, vacuum out the words “may I ask” to get the simplified “Who is calling?”

Who and whom belong to that merry band of interrogative pronouns (along with cousins what, which, and whose) that ask questions. But who and whom are the ones that cause confusion. So whooooo can use who/whom tips? Everyone!

* “Who” is always a subject, either of a sentence or a clause.

Wait a sec. What’s a clause again? A clause is a group of words with both a subject and predicate. A clause can be a complete sentence or an incomplete sentence:

People notice   what you wear.
(independent clause)  (dependent clause)
(complete sentence)   (incomplete sentence)

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We (Edith Hope Fine and Judith Josephson) are the Grammar Patrol. Both of us taught for years and are now writers, with thirty plus books between us, including our two popular grammar guides, Nitty-Gritty Grammar and More Nitty-Gritty Grammar (Ten Speed Press/Random House). Both books are available as ebooks. For close to twenty years, we taught writing and grammar basics and now we blog about grammar for writers.

You need to pack a clear understanding of adverbs in your writer’s toolkit. Don’t use an adverb when a powerful verb can do the job. Bag adverbs completely? They do have their useful purpose, as in “The bobcat crept soundlessly toward the plump rabbit.”

Verbs are the engines that power your sentences. Strong verbs create images in your mind and tighten your writing. In these two sentence pairs, which of the two sentences creates the stronger image?

The couple walked slowly.

The couple strolled. [“strolled” is a strong verb]

Angrily Terry left the room.

Terry stomped from the room. [“stomped” is a strong verb]

This doesn’t mean you’ll never use adverbs again—but treat them like gold, used in the perfect spot. (As for “suddenly,” some writers put that on their forbidden list along with the vague “very,” “little,” and “beautiful.”)

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LC, founder of eFrog Press, hosts the Take the Leap blog and regularly blogs about all things ebook! This week she reflects on her new tai chi practice and how it influences her writing.

After years of teaching writing, writing articles, editing, working with authors, and meeting in writing groups; I get it. Writing is a process. My former high school students would toss off one draft and be ready to turn it in. “I’m done!” they would announce.

“But you need to revise,” I would remind them.

“You mean you want me to copy it over?” they would whine.

“No, read it aloud to your group, listen to their suggestions, and then revise. Revision is the key. Break the word into two: re and vision. See your writing again with new eyes (my favorite definition for revision courtesy of Frank Barone, retired teacher and active poet).”

To be honest, I have struggled with the concept of revision myself. After reading my sixth draft of my doctoral dissertation, my chair said to me, “I think you left some of this in your head. You need to make the connections for your reader. Get the rest down on paper.” (more…)