Time for another Grammar Post

I collect errors that I see often on blogs. Not because I think I'm better than you (I'm sure you can find some errors on this blog--and I admit I have trouble with commas) but because I want to contribute to the professionalism of bloggers in general. Here's my last post, published in February: Spell Check Isn't Enough, if you are interested.

So, I'd like to mention a few things that I've noticed since the last post.

"piqued" vs. "peaked" -- Something "piqued" your interest -- the "peak" version is for mountains.... I'm always impressed when I see this used correctly, because I see it used incorrectly far more....

myriad -- another one that is almost always used incorrectly. This word never goes with "of."
     I had myriad problems with this book. (this is correct; do not say "myriad of")

"prose" vs. "verse" -- novels written in verse are the opposite of novels written in prose. Prose is the "normal" way of writing -- verse is when you write in lines like poetry. I even saw an author interview where she used the term "prose" for her style of writing in verse. It made me think I was mistaken about this -- but I looked it up!

And now a few things that aren't wrong, but they just bother me and I think they look unprofessional.

Writing your review in one big long paragraph. To me, the shorter the paragraphs, the easier a review is to read. I must admit, sometimes I skim, and if I can find the paragraphs about setting, characters, etc. I'm more likely to read your review. If it's one big block of text, I'm probably going to skip it. (This is my opinion -- how do you feel about this one? I'd be interested to hear if this bothers you, or am I being overly sensitive?)

Centering your review text. Do professional reviews do that? Magazines? Newspapers? Do you send these reviews to publishers like that? I find it makes the text difficult to read.  Why would you not format using traditional left-margin text? I don't get this one and would, once again, be interested in your opinions.

And I cannot recommend enough that you read your own reviews in Google Reader. Font colors and hi-lighting sometimes make the posts impossible to read. If you really want a lot of people to read what you write, why not make it as easy as possible for them?

OK. I'll take off my English teacher hat, and get back to reading!

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Spell Check Isn't Enough

 

I recently read a few blog posts about grammar and spelling. The Social Frog posted “Write, Read, & Edit” where she asks: “If you are reading a news story, blog, or book and you come across many issues including grammar, spelling or punctuation, do you stop reading it, do you ignore it, or just suffer through it all?”

 I also follow The Grammarian’s Reviews, and I enjoy her Grammar Bits.

So, I know I’m not the only one that notices this. I’m a firm believer that if you want what you write to be taken seriously, you need to be careful about proofreading. Notice I didn’t say spell checking – you need to proofread too. So, here’s a little “mini grammar lesson” and a list of common mistakes, for what it’s worth.

I’m not talking about slang – I think that’s totally (or should I say “totes”) fine--that shows personality and makes a post interesting and current. I’m talking about spelling and grammar mistakes that make people think, “Should I believe anything this person writes?” I’m not trying to be critical, I’m trying to help the image of the blogging community as a whole. Let’s show people we really can write more than grocery lists!

I’ve been keeping a list for a while of mistakes I’ve seen on blogs that spell check WILL NOT CATCH. (No, I didn’t keep track of which blogs these came from, so don’t ask!) I know I’ve made these mistakes myself because sometimes it’s the third or fourth time I proofread before I find them.  (So now that I’ve posted this, have at it. Let me know what you find.) Here’s a sample of the mistakes I’ve seen:

seem/seemed

of/on/or

do/to

he/she (one person even called the author a “he” when she was a “she.”)

weak/week

complain/complaint

defiantly/definitely

perceptive/perspective

that/than

knew/new

from/form

affect/effect. This is a biggie.  YourDictionary explains this proper usage much better than I can.

A couple of other mistakes I see often:

There is no such word as “alright” (it’s “all right” – would you use “alwrong?”)

There is no such word as “anyways.” This is never used. “Anyway” is always proper. I know, young people say this all the time (I’m old.) My son says I’ve warped him because this sounds wrong to him, but everyone says it!

Misuse of apostrophes. Learn the difference between books, book’s, and books’.

There are a couple of other things that don’t have to do with spelling that I think make what you write more professional. Define acronyms. Don’t assume people know what they mean. You only need to define it the first time you use it. Also, if you are discussing the second (or third…) book in a series, name the other books in the series.

There are many things about blog design and posts that are debatable. Should you give a rating? Should you include a summary written by someone else? How should your review be formatted or presented? These can be left to the discretion of the blog author. But proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar should not be optional.

What are your pet peeves about grammar and spelling? How do you go about making sure your blogs are error free? Do you have any grammar tips or things that you use to remember all those rules?

  

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