Actually, make that a lot of time writing.
While reviewing two articles this week, I referred back to a list of writing helps. I keep this list handy for moments when I feel that proof-reading one more sentence might drive me mad.
In the spirit of good writing and less proof-reading for me, I thought I'd share these tips and tricks with you.
- Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
- Don't use no double negatives.
- Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its not needed.
- Do not put statements in the negative form.
- No sentence fragments.
- Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
- Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
- If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
- A writer must not shift your point of view.
- And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
- Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!
- "Avoid overuse of 'quotation' "marks."'"
- Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
- Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
- It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms.
- If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
- Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language.
- Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
- Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
- Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
- Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
- Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
- If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole.
- Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
- Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
- The adverb always follows the verb.
- Don't verb nouns.
- Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
- Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.
LOVE it! lol
ReplyDeleteI transferred your writing tips to a Word document and ran the spelling and grammar tool. It found only four mistakes. I did not accept any of the suggested changes. Then I tried to run the spelling and grammar tool again. I received the message: "Spelling and grammar check complete."
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many people depend on that tool?
I think more people rely on that tool than we'd like to believe. I've found that I've became a sloppy typist with the autocorrect feature enabled in Word.
ReplyDeleteI can't use that tool. It irritates me. I do use spell check because I type so fast I usually transpose letters here and there. My problem is that I am not great in the English department so my grammer is not the best. I am trying to get better though.
ReplyDelete