If They're Going There, They Need To Get Their Stories Straight

They sound alike... even look a little bit alike. But they're, their and there simply aren't interchangeable. It's an easy mistake, substituting one for the other. But if you don't catch the error, your readers will.

In proofreading your work, it's never a bad idea to slow down and give a little extra attention to these troublemakers.

They're: is a contraction used in place of 'they are.' 

The apostrophe denotes the place from which the 'a' in 'are' has been removed to form the contraction. 

Their: is possessive. 

It indicates ownership by them. 

There: generally refers to location (*). 

You can easily remember it because it contains the word 'here,' which also deals with location.

.(*) Of course, there are other uses for 'there.' See? There's another one! If you want to know more, check it out at dictionary.com.

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I Shudder When I See the Open Shutter

This one's pretty easy.

 Use 'shutter' for a thing on a window or camera that can open and close (the SHUT in SHUTTER).

 Use 'shudder' for trembling, shivering, shaking, etc.

This can be an easy typo to make--especially for those among us who write romance novels or scary stories, because there can be a lot of shuddering going on in those genres.

We get accustomed to typing 'shudder' and, the next thing we know, we've given windows and cameras the shakes.



 

OMG! My Story Is Soooooooooo Exciting!!!

Exclamation marks scream. If you're not careful, though, what they scream about your book is, "Amateur!"

Exclamation marks really have no place in the narrative of stories written for adults and should be used sparingly in dialogue. The hero you've described as Manly Man will lose major hero points if he goes around yelling all the time.

Save yells for when they're truly needed and, when possible, reveal a yell through a show of intensity or volume rather than hitting the reader over the head with it through use of exclamation marks. If an adult must yell with the aid of an exclamation mark, one ! is sufficient.

Exceptions?

1) Stories for little kids. They LOVE exclamation marks. And most parents will gladly read those exclaimed parts with extra volume and intensity.

2) Stories for tween and teen girls. Most girls in the 9-15 age group love exclamation marks, overusing them at every available opportunity. So if you're writing to appeal to this demographic, you'll probably want to throw in a few exclamation marks so as not to appear dull.

3) Throw a few exclamation marks in if you're trying to show realistic electronic communication, such as chat. People tend to use exclamation marks in interpersonal text-based exchanges to help compensate for the loss of visual cues such as facial expression and body language.

 Aside from those exceptions, the best advice for using exclamation points is: just don't.

I Lie Where I Lay Yesterday

A lot of writers have difficulty remembering the difference between lie and lay.

At its most basic, for the present tense:

lie: something one does with oneself, as in, "I lie here, thinking..."
lay: something one does to something else, as in, "I lay the pen on the desk..."

You know what's really tricky about this? Check out the past tense:

lie (now) becomes lay (past), as in, "I lay there, thinking..."
lay (now) becomes laid (past), as in, "I laid the pen on the desk..."

The past participle:

lie (now) becomes lain (past), as in "I have lain here, thinking..."
lay (now) becomes laid (past), as in "I have laid the pen on the desk..."

Sorry, there's no quick and easy way to learn these.

Lie - Lay - Lain
Lay - Laid - Laid

Grammar Girl gives some pointers you might find helpful here.

Between You and Me...

A lot of people get confused on I/me, he/him, she/her, they/them things.

It's really easy to do it correctly:

• I/We/He/She/They is used for the subject (the actor(s) in the statement). In English, the subject usually comes before the verb, as in, "I like him."
• me/us/him/her/them is for the object (the person being acted on, directly or indirectly, in the statement). In English, it usually comes after the verb and may follow a preposition. Examples are:
• "He likes me."
• "She gave me the bill." / "She gave the bill to me."

Everybody knows how to do that, right?

Here's where it gets weird. Some people get confused when the subject or object is a compound pronoun, consisting of more than one element, such as 'he and I,' or 'him and me.'

There's no reason for confusion. The same rules still apply.

You wouldn't say, "Me went to the store." So you wouldn't say, "Jim and me went to the store."
You wouldn't say, "She told I to go to the store." So you wouldn't say, "She told Jim and I to go to the store."
You wouldn't say, "Between we, she's crazy." So you wouldn't say, "Between you and I, she's crazy."

Isn't that cool? It's SOOOOO EASY!

If you want more details, you might enjoy reading this article by Dr. Goodwords.

If You Affect Something, the Effect Can Be Surprising

A lot of writers seem to have difficulty wrapping their heads around the whole affect/effect thing. Both can be verbs and both can be nouns, but they are not interchangeable. The uses for these words are many. I'm providing only the ones that seem to cause the most problems for fiction writers.

affect
verb - to alter; to act on something; to bring about change in something
         
effect
verb - to cause; to bring about something; to make something happen
noun - result; something that is produced by a cause

So...

I can effect an effect (bring it about).
I can affect an effect (change it).

There are subtle elements at play but, to keep it simple, it will help to remember:

• the 'A' word is about Altering something; and
• the 'E' word is all about an End Result and how you get there.

Grammar Girl ably takes on the affect/effect topic here.

Irregardless, I'd Use It Sparingly

Few words in the English language prompt as much debate as 'irregardless.'

An evident mash-up of  'irrespective' and 'regardless,' the word affects some readers like sandpaper on a sunburn. Because of these strong feelings, I'd recommend against using it. 'Regardless' will do the same work, without the stigma.

An exception: If you have a character you want the reader to view as pompous, you might want to slip an 'irregardless' or two into his dialogue.

Is it a word? Is it not a word?

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary includes it as a nonstandard variant for 'regardless.' You can see it in all its glory here.