I'm not very good with my hands, for the most part, but I do know how to knit. A few months ago I started a little project: a scarf for my husband, with a soft grey yarn and a cool parallelogram pattern. Though I don't work on it very often, it has been fun to see it grow inch by inch. I love having something to stash in my purse and occupy me at odd times, i.e. waiting at the chiropractor's office.As usual, I am growing something funky in my kitchen. Right now, it's mung bean sprouts (which I plan to use for dinner on Wednesday) and kefir (thank you Beejee). The mung beans I have done before, so I know they will sprout beautifully and taste wonderful. The kefir project is completely new, however, so we'll see how that goes. It will be an adventure, if nothing else.
And finally, I think I'm going to write that Grammar Guide for Adults I've been contemplating for so many years. Apostrophes, comma splices, "every day" versus "everyday" . . . all the compositional errors that make me bang my head on the nearest hard object and despair of our nation's future. :)
Any requests on issues to address? Those pesky semicolons, perhaps? Email me or leave a comment, and I promise to include a section on that topic.
{image credit: W.R.Miller on Flickr}
As you can attest I should be the very first (or is that very-first) to buy said publication... Will this be in printed or electronic format?
ReplyDeleteIf it is easy to look up and reference I predict a best seller!
daddus
i have two things i'd love to just have explained to me.......i know i never use these right!!! explain when to use well vs. good and affect vs. effect. help this grammar challenged accountant!! and the semi-colon thing....that too. :)
ReplyDeleteCould you please explain (and possibly demonstrate) how to use comma's correctly, especially in reference to quotations, comma-splices, run-on sentences, independent clauses, and the like. Those little guys mess me up every time I sit down to write.
ReplyDeleteGreat Idea, by the way!
I don't believe you need to include semicolons in this book. ;)
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of Grammar Girl? Google her--she has a podcast you might like. I do. =)
ReplyDeletePunctuation at the end of a sentence when using a quoted phrase or parenthesis at the end of a sentence. Inside or outside? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHow about a guide on when to use "that" and "which?" And all the other related words? I always get those mixed up. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd mmmmmm kefir! We make our own at home too and it's absolutely delicious.
-Gwen
Insert an occasional footnote or indented comment explaining how British English grammatical conventions differ from the American version under discussion. Give examples of exceptions to the usual rules, and discuss. Consider a section consisting of an essay on the relationship of convention and reason. Include a syntactical section on the differences between oft-confused complementary prepositional phrases such as 'consisting of/in' and 'different from/than'.
ReplyDeleteSo that's several things. I will consider your promise held if you include only one of them. Have fun!
I am looking forward to that publication! And I agree with the explanation of when to use "that" or "which". I just ran across this title - "Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing", and I would have said that was incorrect; seems like it should say "...that can help...". (Not sure why they weren't so consistent with capitalization either.) And how about whether it's correct to ever say "try and..." instead of "try to..." as in, "We are going to try TO go to the store today" instead of "We...to try AND go...". I thought it was supposed to be "try to" but I see "try and " in print all the time.
ReplyDelete