grammar – Susan Uhlig

I was reading about a writer struggling with “was” and “were.” I’m guessing she wasn’t having trouble with simple singular and plural:
I was there.
He was there.
We were there.
They were there.

Of course, it gets tricky when we look at the exception of:
You were there.

These all would be the same when phrased as a question versus a statement. (Was I there?)

Perhaps her trouble was with the more complex versions, such as:
A flock of crows was on my lawn. (Ignore the “of crows,” notice the use of “a” before “flock” which implies singular.)
Crows were on my lawn. (If we cut flock.)

But it gets more complicated when we are speculating:
If I were rich, I’d buy you a car. (This is called the subjunctive mood.)

So where do we go when we need help with grammatical issues like this?

One of my go to sources is the book Errors in English and Ways to Correct Them by Harry Shaw. It has a great index to find what you need and is easy to understand. I remember catching one of my elementary age daughters simply reading sections of the book for fun.

But when my cat is in my lap and I can’t reach my bookshelf, I go to the Internet.

One of my favorite sites is Grammar Girl. Check out what Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, has to say about subjunctive verbs. She also has several books out: Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing and The Grammar Devotional: Daily Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl.

Colleges and universities often have writing help too. Here’s one I like from University of Minnesota.

This is an interesting post on how to improve your grammar: “Grammar Skills: 10 Tips to Improve” by Hannah Yang. She comments about using grammar checkers—just remember they are not 100% accurate.

I’ll end with a quote: “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.” – Dorothy Parker

What are your favorite grammar resources?

While tidying the house, I remembered a comment the buyer (male) said to my brother-in-law about their home, “How does she keep it so clean?” Like it’s only my sister’s (or the man’s wife’s) responsibility? Grrrr.

But writing is a bit different. Everything in my novel manuscript IS my responsibility. Yes, my critique group can help find mechanical errors or ask good questions such as “What’s the purpose of this chapter?” or “Why would your character do that?” However, I need to do my own homework first.

What does that include?

For me the first step is setting a new chapter aside for a week or more. That allows me to reread it with a fresh eye.

When rereading I check for big picture items first:

Does it make sense?
Do the characters actions feel realistic? Is their motivation clear?
Is there a good balance of action, thoughts, description, setting?
Does the chapter move the story forward?
Are the stakes clear? Or do I need to ramp them up?
Do secondary characters have lives of their own?
Is the ending a page turner?
What’s the emotional tone? Or how does it change?

What big picture questions or comments do you hear from your critique partners? Is it that there’s not enough sense of setting or character’s thoughts? Or too much telling? Recently, one for me was about emotions being all over the place, hence the latter set of questions.

Next, I tidy up line-by-line items:

Think about those things you often hear from your critique partners. Is it run-on sentences, or misplaced modifiers, or too many adverbs? Add those to your checklist and challenge yourself to find them yourself.*

After I fix any problem areas, I read it again. I may let it sit another week or more and repeat the above before presenting it to my critique group.

The Critique Process

During my verbal critique, I often find there are issues critique partners bring up that really resonate with me.

They may be easy fixes than can be changed immediately.
Others take more time and consideration. For example, I get what the person is saying, but either I’m not sure how to rewrite or it’s going to take time to make all the changes affected by this one change.

Some, I may disagree with. However, if more than one partner brings it up, I know I must do something about that issue.

Often, I make a few changes before I get the written feedback emailed to me. But more work happens when I open the critiques and consider each comment. This is usually a few days later.

I compare opinions and suggestions.
I rewrite and reread and ponder if the changes addressed the problems.
If I’m stuck on something, I set that suggestion aside and come back to it later.

If the chapter has major changes or additions, when it’s ready I probably have my group critique the rewrite before moving on to the next chapter. Which causes additional revision.

I reread and revise my material countless times. As author Michael Crichton said, “Books aren’t written, they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it…”

*If you have trouble finding grammar issues yourself, try some of these options: