I’ve written about common mistakes before, in several posts. But the more I read different writings posted all over the internet, the more I feel the need to point out the errors. It’s like the internet has devoured our ability to write.

Now, communication is not a problem. Anyone who has been talking in forums, chat rooms, or sending instant messages for any significant amount of time will be able to decipher the following conversation:

Girl #1: Btw, r u n T gtg gf

Girl #2: DEGT

Girl #1: ?

Girl #2: ihnc

Girl #1: brb

Girl #2: hb

Girl #1: muah

OK, that might be a little exaggerated. But, that is how bad it gets. Anyone coming in on that conversation who is not familiar with the language is lost unless they have the pocket-size internet slang handbook.

But see, that’s the thing. Communication is not in jeopardy. As humans, we will always know how to communicate. But, writing is different. Writing has rules and internet slang is starting to impose itself onto the written word.

So, I thought I would revisit the topic and make a few things clear. These are common mistakes so don’t feel alone. But, they are so common that they need highlighted…more than once…all over the place.

It’s and Its

This is actually a confusing rule that I don’t blame anyone for getting wrong. It’s the reverse of what you would think. So to make it easier for you to remember, just make a note to yourself that this is the rule opposite to all others.

When “It” owns something, the word to use is “Its.” There is no apostrophe even though there is ownership. In anything else, an apostrophe “s” would belong in an expression of ownership. While Bob’s ownership is proper with an apostrophe “s,” its ownership is not.

The contraction of “it” and “is” is written with an apostrophe “s.” That’s why this rule is so weird. But, ownership and contractions both have an apostrophe “s” when it comes to anything else like “that’s interesting” and “what’s the problem.” It would be very confusing if “it” and “is” were written the same as if “it” owned something. So, it’s easier this way.

Know and No

This is so common that it makes a person’s head spin. Sometimes people use “no” in place of “know” just to simplify things. That’s ok online in informal communication situations. But, this is one of those errors that bleed over into homework and work papers.

“Know” is having the knowledge of something. I know you know that.

“No” is the negative. There is no way the two should ever be confused again.

To, Two and Too

These three homonyms are often switched. It mainly comes from the substitution of “2” for any of these three words. I’d like it 2 stop.

“To” is actually a preposition that begins a prepositional phrase. So if you’ve heard the rule, you can’t end a sentence with a preposition. That’s because if it’s supposed to begin a phrase, how can it do that at the end of a sentence? Therefore, “to” is basically a connector from one part of a sentence to another that adds more meaning.

Remember the cloud analogy? A preposition is anything you can do to a cloud. You can go “under” a cloud, “over” a cloud, “around” a cloud and “through” a cloud. Technically, you can also go “to” a cloud. So, these words give you a general understanding of the purpose of a preposition. There are other prepositions like the word “of,” but you can’t “of” a cloud. So, our cloud analogy only gives you a general rule that helps you learn the basics. It’s a starting point and you build from it.

It’s probably easier to understand the word “to” if you learn the other two. “Two” is the spelling of the number. We’re going over three homonyms, but we’ve only covered “two” so far.

“Too” is an adjective. It comes before a noun or an adverb. I’ve written way too much about these three homonyms.

Once you start to see how your informal communication practices are bleeding into your actual work, you’ll look at your papers a little closer. Supa proofreaders already know these common errors and many others. We’re geared to pick them up instantly.

But, it’s not hard to catch them yourself if you put your work up for a few days and then come back to it just before the due date. You’ll see your errors much clearer and I’ve said that over and over. I think I’ll keep saying it just to keep reminding you guys.

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I’m a fan of Sir Winston Churchill and his acidic quips. I was delighted to find a new Churchillianism as I was perusing The Cassell Guide to Common Errors in English by Harry Blamires. I wasn’t looking for Churchill but engaging in some grammatical self-improvement to pass the two extra hours spent at gymnastics on a Friday evening. My eldest daughter has developed “talent” requiring extra coaching. Only one word to describe that - “Bugger”!

Prepositions are are words such as “of”, “for”, “by”, “with”, “before”, and “after” and are used with nouns and pronouns to provide some grammatical context. These are the most common words in the English language and without them we would sound something akin to Tarzan leaping through the grammatical jungle in search of Jane.

Blamires outlines the prepositional anarchy that appears to reign in the written and spoken world and though I find him very hard going, he does make some good points. Take this example:

“Accustomed to saying “tired of”, someone presumes to say “bored of”.

I think it should be “bored with”, and he goes on to make several more examples which I won’t bother with here. What has struck me from this is there appears to be far more trendy posing with our language than any real substance. Perhaps the rules governing prepositions have only themselves to blame?

Take this example regarding the rule that a sentence should not end with a prepositiion.

Here is something that provoked Churchill’s ire:

“This is the sort of English up with which I shall not put.”

A more natural way of writing this sentence would be:

“This is the sort of English I will not put up with.”

Churchill was taking the Schmeichel here as the latter, more usual way of writing this sentiment has not one, but two prepositions at the end of the sentence. Perhaps the prepositional rule was to blame to begin with and it only needed Churchill to pronounce upon it?

In any event, this is a blog post up with you no longer shall put

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There is a process to everything we do. When carpenters are ready to frame a house, they’ve already gone through important preparations. When a cook is in the kitchen, she’s already done her homework. Writing is the same as everything else.

Even though great writers might seem to skip a few steps or rearrange the order of steps when they are writing their masterpieces, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t done the preparations. Great writers are just so used to the steps that they’ve probably done a few of them in their heads.

When a writer begins to write a book without an outline, the organization of his book is in his head. I often do that when I know what I’m writing and I just want to get to it. Especially in this day and age where I have a computer and a word processor, the writing process is made so much easier.

Prewriting

Prewriting is the first step in any writing where the writer is trying to come up with ideas for what to write about. A good writer who is already familiar with the writing process might sit down in front of the computer and just start writing. I think of ideas all the time and when I’m ready to write, I’m ready to just roll with it.

But if you need to come up with ideas, there are plenty of ways. Do a little freewriting I wrote about in an earlier piece. Stimulate your brain with news or music. Look through your journals and pull something out that you’re interested in doing.

There is a great strategy that you can use: R.A.F.T. It stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. If you think through these things, you’ll likely have your thoughts together by the time you’re finished. What is the role of your writing or what are you trying to accomplish with it? Audience is who are going to be reading it? Format is whether your writing is going to be an article, an essay, a book or whatever. Finally, you get to the Topic of your writing and you are ready to roll.

Writing

Of course, this is where the writing actually happens. But, a good writer might simply get started and work all the way through. Other writers might need to write an outline to organize their writing first. That’s actually not a bad idea.

Getting your thoughts organized helps actually save time. If you know exactly where you are going to go next with your thoughts, you can get there already. Sometimes after I’ve already started and I’ve had all my thoughts organized in my head, I can forget where I’m supposed to go with it. It takes a few minutes or even longer to get back on track. If I had an outline, I would know instantly.

When you are writing, it’s fine to make corrections. I do it all the time. But, there is an actual step in the process where you correct your grammar and spelling errors. I like to correct myself as I’m going so that there are fewer errors later to correct. But, you can simply write and then correct it all later.

Revising

There are two steps in the writing process where you make changes. Revision is when you look at your writing and try to make it better. It has nothing to do with spelling and grammar. Although, you might catch a few errors in this step.

Revising takes place after you’ve put your writing up for a few days or even weeks. It’s directly proportionate to the size of the document. If you’ve written an article, you can put it up for a few days and then come back to it. If you’ve written a novel, you should probably put it up for a few weeks at the very least.

When you look through it, read it out loud and rearrange any parts that were awkward to read. Then, look for parts of your writing that need to be more informative. Look for places where you can add descriptors and bring your writing more to life. Then, move on to the next step.

Editing

Editing is the step where you correct your grammar mistakes. A computer word processor attempts to make this step easier. When you see red lines under words, you know they are spelled wrong. But, it’s limited. There are words that exist that aren’t in your word processor’s dictionary. Simply go to the Merriam and Webster online dictionary to get ideas of how to spell.

Also, homonyms are technically spelling errors. Homonyms are words that are pronounced the same, but have different meanings. Like the three words they’re, there and their, these are three different words that people get confused from time to time. They won’t come up as spelling errors. So, you have to pay attention to little details like this.

Grammar errors are a little more difficult to find. The green lines in a word processor attempt to help you see your own grammar errors. But, this is limited as well. In fact, sometimes it’s just wrong. It might tell you that you have a fragment when you have a noun and a verb in the sentence. A word processor is also not good at picking out such things as misplaced modifiers, misplaced words that change the entire meaning of a sentence.

“I served hamburgers to the men on paper plates.”

Where the men on paper plates?

I served the men hamburgers on paper plates.”

Now, it makes sense.

There are resources online that you can refer to get help on correcting your grammar errors. Most colleges have a resource of common grammar errors like the Capital Community College.

Publishing

The final step is actually getting your work out there. If your project was an assignment, this part is easy. Just give it to your teacher or your boss. If your project was something you came up with yourself, publishing can get a little more difficult. Find the magazine that wants your article or the publisher that wants your book. Finding an agent to help is actually advisable. Sometimes finding an agent is just as difficult as finding a publisher. But once you have one, your days of finding a publisher that fits your work and presenting your material are over. That’s what the agent is supposed to be doing.

The writing process isn’t very difficult and a good writer can move through the steps smoothly without a second thought. Out of habit, we just get better and better. The steps come naturally just like cooking is to a cook. But, a novice should get familiar with the steps and follow through with each one until writing becomes second nature.

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I read The Fight by Norman Mailer in 1993, and quickly followed up with The Naked and the Dead and Deer Park.

I was hooked on his work from there on and moved on to other works of his and his peers, particularly Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe.

It was announced a little over an hour ago that Norman Mailer had died, aged 84.

I don’t feel anything personal for Norman, I never met him and never knew him so a feeling of loss is not something I can claim. However, as a practical example of how writing can reach out and touch someone, I can say I feel saddened that someone who wrote so eloquently and passionately on real topics of interest has indeed passed on.

Norman Kingsley Mailer, was born in New Jersey on 31 January, 1923 to Jewish parents. His father was a South African accountant and his mother ran a nursing agency and through the depths of The Depression, Norman had instilled within him a need to excel.

At 16, Norman was accepted to Harvard to study the then embryonic subject of aeronautics. He became interested in writing while at Harvard and this was intended as his path until World war 2 intervened and he was drafted , serving in the Phillippines.

After the war he enrolled at the Sorbonne and in 1948 published The Naked and the Dead, a book that described his war experiences and was to make him famous and establish him as a writer.

Norman Mailer is recognised as the principal proponent of the genre known as New Journalism and was an innovator of creative non-fiction. Much of modern reportage has its origins in New Journalism.

Mailer examined many facets of American life and politics including the Vietnam War, sex, politics, the McCarthyism hysteria, and violence. Mailer also was an activist who was not afraid to step onto platforms that were deeply unpopular, including running for Mayor of New York on a seccessionist platform (Rudy Guiliani take note) as well as campaigning (successfully) for parole for a convicted murderer.

Mailer also demonstrates that a writer need not confine themselves to lofty matters requiring weighty consideration in an Ivory Tower. Readers of my age group will remember Starsky and Hutch in the 1970’s and Mailer also produced a camp classic, Tough Guys Don’t Dance with Ryan O’Neal in the lead and based upon Mailer’s novel of the same name.

Mailer had six wives, and eight children from them plus an adopted child and resided for most of his life on Cape Cod, Massachussetts.

He died today, Saturday 10th November 2007 in New York City as a result of kidney failure following lung surgery complications.

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Writers struggle with wording.  It’s a science that haunts us when we are working on major projects like novels and screenplays.  But we’ve learned what’s important, what’s exciting, what keeps a reader reading and we know how to cut the fat.

“Cutting the fat” means taking everything out of your writing that isn’t necessary.  It’s actually pretty hard to do for someone who isn’t really that familiar with writing.  You might think that you’ve written the cleverest sentence and yet, it doesn’t fit in your writing.

It’s the hardest thing to convince a novice writer that a certain sentence doesn’t belong.  I remember when I was just beginning and desperately trying hard to learn the craft.  My teachers would always put red marks all over my favorite sentences.  It was frustrating.  But looking back on it now, I can certainly understand why.

Good writing needs to be focused and tight.  Even in the cleverest writings, where the writer seems to be smooth and flexible.  I would be willing to bet that the writer struggled and suffered over every paragraph and sentence.

Don’t take this to mean that good writing is a matter of being stiff and not enjoyable.  Writing can be great fun if you let it.  It’s a matter of making sure you don’t ramble on with senseless sentences that add no more meaning to your writing.

Empty

Empty sentences have plenty of words, but no meaning.  Vague and pointless sentences can be taken out of your writing right off the bat.  You might think it’s a clever sentence, but a good editor would show you how it adds nothing to your writing at all.

For example, imagine a mental picture of someone engaged in the intellectual activity of trying to learn in a situation in which it is crucial that they consider the facts when trying to be inquisitive.

That is practically a sentence about nothing.  “Imagine” and “mental picture” are the same.  So, that part of the sentence can be reduced to simply, “imagine.”

“Intellectual activity” and “trying to learn” are also the same just as much as “consider the facts” and “trying to be inquisitive.”  Basically, this sentence is someone’s attempt to say, “Imagine someone trying to learn when it is crucial to be inquisitive.”  The sentence is nice, but it has little meaning.

The sentence “imagine someone trying to learn to be inquisitive” might actually carry some weight.  In other words, it is important to be inquisitive and that’s how people learn.  But, trying to learn when it is crucial to be inquisitive has redundant meaning that gets the sentence nowhere.  It’s as if the writer is saying that it’s more important to be inquisitive than it is trying to learn.  Now, that’s just plain ridiculous.

Wordy

In business, people tend to use more words than necessary to express a certain meaning.  They act as if it is against policy to be clear and concise.  To some extent, business writing has its own form and there are certain ways to write that should be followed.  But, not every sentence has to be wordy.

For instance, word combinations such as “as you know,” “in time,” “it is regrettable” and the like are used over and over.  These word combinations add nothing important to the overall meaning of the sentence and can often simply be cut.

“So, it is regrettable as you know that in time we must conduct layoffs.”  This kind of writing comes across as a writer who is unsure and very weasel like.

Just say it, “So, we must conduct layoffs.”  That’s to the point.  Clear and concise writing will earn the respect of the writer often in spite of the message.

If you give yourself a few days away from your writing, you’ll be better suited to come back and edit it later.  You’ll see wording that adds absolutely no meaning to your sentences.  You’ll also be better capable of correcting your own mistakes. 

Cut the fat.  Take entire sentences out and reduce redundancy.  Being a great writer isn’t hard.  It just takes saying what you only mean to say and paying attention to detail.  Then, you can start build your own style and start having fun with it.

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