I never liked new year resolutions. I have never kept one
nor even remembered them. So I am not making one now. I am getting on in age so
why start a bad habit now? Remember that saying that it is a woman’s
prerogative to change her mind? No I am not talking about resolutions.. er I am
really and it is not in the new year.. why don’t you let me finish my sentence?
Okay, I decided sometime back to come here rarely, because I felt I was not
getting anywhere.. well I got somewhere and seem to be dancing on one foot like
the masquerade in the market square after we all had gone to bed. I am sighing
because I am getting bored reading me so I can imagine you might have decided
to flip.. er if you happen to be still scratching your head wondering if I had
taken the wrong bottle of drink..okay… okay I am going to be maintaining my two
blogs from now on. Phew! Talk about rambling.
I would still post to my blogspot because I have the best
reasons to continue to do that. First I met some of my best friends here and I
feel bad that I took off elsewhere. I have made friends from this blogspot too
so I am remorseful that I seem to have left my favourite spots and .. I really
don’t need to make a confession do I?
I learnt about writing, being good at it and oh yes being
grammarly correct . Grammarly? It is a story I like to tell. Some of us have
the English language as a second language or even a third. Grammar becomes a
very important part of communication and you know, ability to write and speak
well does affect our economic standing.
So my first outing this month and year will be about
grammar or as I have said elsewhere, being grammarly correct.
I get teased a lot for
my grammar compulsion. Misplaced apostrophes distract me from the content of
written communication, and double negatives instantly downgrade my estimation
of the person speaking. I have tried, but these things bother me. It’s no secret:
I think grammar is important.
I participate in
two critique groups for writers. A new writer came to one of those
groups recently. His story featured a dystopian society with teenage
protagonists, and something significant was about to happen. Dystopias are
popular especially among young adult readers, and his premise was interesting,
but reading his submission with an eye critical to style was painful. It took
me nearly an hour to agonize my way though his ten double-spaced
pages. The biggest problem was not his story. It was his grammar.
He committed
the usual subject-verb agreement crimes. He butchered his sentences
with improper punctuation. Malapropisms peppered every page. Sentence
fragments. Ridiculous imagery completed the ghastly picture he painted with his
words. He probably has a good story to tell, but until he learns to tell it in
plain – and correct – language, he won’t be telling it to much of an
audience.
I suggested that he
use a grammar checker. Grammarly’s free
online grammar checker is a good one. It’s fun to play with, and it’s
educational to boot. Anyone who seriously wants to write well can benefit from
a grammar checker.
Plain, understandable
language lets us communicate succinctly and clearly. The better
people communicate, the more likely they are to get what
they want and to understand what others want from them. Skilled
communicators are more likely to persuade others. Good,
clear language reduces misunderstandings.
Why don’t you do
what I did? Check the fellows out at this link http://www.grammarly.
I will see you soon, okay
You will read from me soon
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