20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes I’ve edited a monthly magazine for more than six years, and it’s a job that’s come with more frustration than reward. If there’s one thing I am grateful for — and it sure isn’t the pay — it’s that my work has allowed endless time to hone my craft to Louis Skolnick levels of grammar geekery. As someone who slings red ink for a living, let me tell you: grammar is an ultra-micro component in the larger picture; it lies somewhere in the final steps of the editing trail; and as such it’s an overrated quasi-irrelevancy in the creative process, perpetuated into importance primarily by bitter nerds who accumulate tweed jackets and crippling inferiority complexes. Below are 20 common grammar mistakes I see routinely, not only in editorial queries and submissions, but in print: in HR manuals, blogs, magazines, newspapers, trade journals, and even best selling novels. Who and Whom This one opens a big can of worms. Which and That Lay and Lie This is the crown jewel of all grammatical errors. Moot Nor
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Odyssey Refreshed review of Outlinely — a new outliner for Mac [Due to the major hash I made of my previous review of Outlinely, I have decided to start over with a (mostly) new review.] Thanks to the eagle-eye of one of the folks over at outlinersoftware.com, I was recently made aware of a new outlining application for Mac known as Outlinely (requires OS 10.8 or higher). Aside from the name, there is a lot to like about this nifty little app. The introductory price of $5 makes it a real bargain. Outlinely is a new option for people who use outlines for writing, planning, thinking, tracking, note-taking and more. The application has a clean interface that does feel a lot like a word processor, which is one of the goals stated by the developer. OPMLPDFHTMLRTFDOCMarkdown (it adds the markdown code for you — see the screenshot at the end of this article for an example)Plain text With Outlinely you can focus in on one topic. You can toggle topics between “done” and not done using the keystrokes command-D. Like this: Like Loading...
How A Single Question Changed My Life Forever: My Ulysses Bucket List When I was 15 years old, I ran away from home because I was pissed off at my parents for a reason I cant remember. I didnt have much money, so I decided to hop onto the skytrain (public transport train in British Columbia) and ride it as far as it would go. I reached the end of the line in less then an hour, and decided I wanted to ride it all the way back again, while trying to formulate some kind of plan of how I wanted to live the rest of my life without my parents or anyone. At the last stop, or the first stop depending on your perspective of it, a girl came on and sat in the row right behind me. I didnt pay much attention to her at first, as I was busy writing my life plan on a napkin. It was a few minutes later that she got up and came sat next to me, curious as to what I was writing. Her name was Amanda, 17 years old, and absolutely wonderful. She told me she was getting off at the last stop, which was also the first stop, depending on how you look at it.
CriticMarkup The Legend of Helen of Troy – Part Two Read Part 1 The Iliad of Homer concerns the tenth and final year of the Trojan War. Throughout this tale, Helen regrets her part in causing the war and longs to return to her husband and daughter, Hermione. We cannot blame the Trojans or the well-grieved Achaians,For enduring pain all this time for the sake of such a woman,For she looks mightily like an immortal goddess in beauty.But even so, let her board one of their ships,So she is not left here, a punishment for us and our children. Exemplifying this point, in Vergil’s Aeneid, the protagonist Aeneas calls her “the nightmare of both Troy and her homeland” and he considers killing her (Vergil, Aeneid 2.567-88). The Trojan king Priam, however, treats Helen kindly. Since the war is rooted in the conflict between Paris and Menelaus, the two warriors agree to hand to hand combat. You’ve come back from battle, but you should have died there,Beaten by a stronger man, he who was my husband before you. Poor Troy! Primary Sources Hyginus, Fabulae
Famous Writers' Small Writing Sheds and Off-the-Grid Huts Previous image Next image Roald Dahl's writing hut, The Gipsy House When I hear the phrase "writing hut" or "backyard shed" my imagination practically squeals with delight. Roald Dahl "The whole of the inside was organised as a place for writing: so the old wing-back chair had part of the back burrowed out to make it more comfortable; he had a sleeping bag that he put his legs in when it was cold and a footstool to rest them on; he had a very characteristic Roald arrangement for a writing table with a bar across the arms of the chair and a cardboard tube that altered the angle of the board on which he wrote. Mark Twain "It is the loveliest study you ever saw...octagonal with a peaked roof, each face filled with a spacious window...perched in complete isolation on the top of an elevation that commands leagues of valley and city and retreating ranges of distant blue hills. George Bernard Shaw Dylan Thomas "Dylan Thomas’s writing shed began its life back in the 1920s. Henry David Thoreau
Search Engines for Serious Writers June 20th, 2010 Finding the information you need as a writer shouldn’t be a chore. Luckily, there are plenty of search engines out there that are designed to help you at any stage of the process, from coming up with great ideas to finding a publisher to get your work into print. Both writers still in college and those on their way to professional success will appreciate this list of useful search applications that are great from making writing a little easier and more efficient. Professional Find other writers, publishers and ways to market your work through these searchable databases and search engines. Writing These helpful tools will help you along in the writing process. Research Try out these tools to get your writing research done in a snap. Google Scholar: With this specialized search engine from Google, you’ll only get reliable, academic results for your searches.WorldCat: If you need a book from the library, try out this tool. Reference Need to look up a quote or a fact? Niche Writers