Common Grammar Mistakes

Part 3 of 5

Instant Messenger and Texting Language in Writing

As you continue to write your Great American novel and you are so excited about this work, that often you slip into the common IM and texting language while you are writing. I have seen so many people who write novels and stories do this.

I have done it myself. Each week I email the parents of the my girl scout troop. I have started the emails like this: “Hi. Hope ur doing well this wk. R next meetng is on Mon. @ 7”. Holy crackers! That is horrible. I am so used to typing in an IM in an informal way, that it slips into my every day use. This happens to a lot of people. My college professors used to cringe when certain students would hand in their work because they knew that it was full of what I can IM shorthand. I have been resistant to using it in the pass because I think that it reflects laziness in the writer.

When this IM language starts to make it into your every day writing you are need to assess what you are truly trying to say and find a way to get yourself out of that mode while you are doing some writing that you hope to have published. If there is a valid point with having LOL, BRB, L8R in your writing the IM language will be fine. For instance you are writing a novel about teenagers and you are trying to show the IM conversation between them. If you are writing a novel like Pride and Prejudice then the IM language needs to take a vacation.

To help get yourself into mode of not using IM shorthand, you need to first remind yourself that if you would not use it in a business setting, then it probably should not be used in your novel unless it meets certain criteria in terms of fitting into the story. Also be sure that you are not using shortened sentences. For instance when I am IM-ing with my cousin, I tend to leave off the “I” at the beginning of any sentence when I am talking about myself.

Example:

Cousin: So what did you do today?

Me: Baked a cake and folded clothes. You?

That is an incomplete sentence, but since I am so used to writing in this style, I have found that it tends to slip into my writing without warning. I have to make an effort to stop myself from doing the same thing when I writing a business letter or professional email. I have seen several emails where I tend to roll my eyes because I see a lot of people slip into this.

Remember that the use of this language tends to reflect laziness as a writer and when you are truly passionate about writing, you need to stay away from IM-ease as much as possible. It will make your writing smoother and your editor happier. 🙂

Grammatical Mistakes in Writing

Part 2 of 5: More Homonyms

Last week we explored some homonyms and talked about how easy it is confuse them. We are going to explore some more homonyms today. Remember homonyms are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

Wear vs. Where and We’re vs. Were

Wear commonly refers to clothing or something that is on the body.

Wear is also used to indicate show deterioration or change.

Example A: I think that you should wear the shield to protect yourself from the dragon.

Example B: The presence of a dragon will wear on the nerves of the villagers.

Where is used to question a place or show location of an object

Example C: Where is the dragon that you were talking about last week?

We’re is the contraction for we are.

Example D: We’re looking for the dragon but he has disappeared.

Were is the past tense of the 2 person past subject for be.

Example E: We were at the cave and did not see the dragon.

Whether and Weather:

Whether is used as a conjunction and can also be used to indicate a choice.

Example F: Whether the dragon has left or whether dragon has stayed, we don’t know if he is alive.

Example G: I doubt whether the knight actually slayed the dragon.

Affect and Effect:

Affect is often used to show how an action provoked an emotion.

Example H: The presence of a dragon affected most of the villagers, who now live their life is fear.

Effect often refers to something that is brought on by a cause.

Example I: The dragon was terrorizing the villagers and in effect a knight was sent to slay the dragon.

Then and Than

Then is commonly used an adverb to indicate a sequence of events or a point in time.

Example J: First we found the sword and then we saw the body of the dragon.

Than is often used as a conjunction to compare to subjects.

Example K: The knight was so much smaller than the dragon. He was being squished by the bulk of the dragon.

Sources:

http://www.dictionary.com

Kleinedler, Steve, et al. 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses and Misuses.

Boston, MA. HoughtonMifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 2004.