These would be good pages for writers to bookmark for referencing.
I just bookmarked the second site too. Looks like I might be going back to school. I barely got through English in high school and college.
Nawty
Grammarly is the best source for learning I think. Try there.
It’s always good to find places to improve one’s writing.
I like Grammarly — for the most part. What irks me about it is its manic comma-insistence.
As an example, in Karen Elizabeth Gordon's book, The New Well-Tempered Sentence, she states:
". . . But the comma is often omitted after a short introductory adverbial phrase" (Such as the examples below).
At Dawn the sun began to rise.
At Vespers we usually raise our voices aloft.
At breakfast we consumed a reprehensible smorgasbord of assorted Nordic things.
In your pocket you are fumbling with the keys to a strange place.
"
In every one of the above examples, Grammarly prompts me to add a coma. When I disobey I feel like have been a very bad boy indeed.
Very often I see on people on Lush who have butchered their story with an over-use of commas. The chapter on commas in Eats, Shoots and Leaves
by Lynne Truss goes into the debate on comma use beautifully.
I am still a long way of being a confident comma user — in fact still feel myself a bit of a clot when it comes to punctuation in general. But I find the more I write the more I want to read, no longer just for the enjoyment but to see how different writers handle different situations.
My favourite writer of the moment is James Salter. Apart from the beauty of some of his sentences, very often I have to pull over and analyse what he has written, at first glance it not feeling correct. Careful thought soon reveals what he has done.
I suppose the beauty of being a published writer is that you have editors to correct your run-ons and comma splices.
The comma, my evil nemesis. I use grammarly, free version and Hemingway
"Illegitimis non carborundum." Vinger Joe Stllwell
What you learn in life is important; those you help learn are more.
Morgan Hawke's writing tips and advice in the Forum, everything anyone needs to know, with links to other useful pages. I thought I could write English, but after several returned stories, finally read the advice, and learned more than I ever did at school.
Is this correct? 6'1", or this 6'1,"
Tom
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
Herbert Spencer
After reading the great question posed by Sdsioux and also Robert1's reply, I started wondering about a slight variation to Sdsioux's question. If this was part of a dialogue, would the correct way be
"Which is correct 6'1" or 6'1"?", asked Tom.
If the above isn't correct, then:
A) Where should the question mark be placed?
B) Would a comma be used and if so, where should I insert it?
Thank you in advance for any advice.
If you're feeling bored during this Covid-19 epidemic I’d like to suggest
you take a peek at a story I collaborated with SueBrasil, a brilliant author.
It's about a mistake in judgment a lady makes concerning a friend, based
on the hurtful words of someone that only thinks of himself. Will that
conniving person succeed in ruining a beautiful friendship, or will she see
through his lies? It's gradually creeping up towards the 30,000 mark
and we’d love any votes or hearing whatever comments you may wish
to make. It is listed in my profile under ‘FAVOURITES’ as Apologize.
www.lushstories.com/stories/first-time/apologize.aspx Kind of like a riddle for me to decipher.
I think the technically correct way to write it would be: Tom asked, “Which is correct, 6'1" or 6'1,"?"
The problem is that the question can’t be properly reflected in a verbal statement (dialogue if you will) because the comma is unspoken. If Tom’s question was read out loud, it would sound like this, “Which is correct, six foot one inch or six foot one inch.”
I need to check, but I think the proper way to represent numbers in dialogue is to spell them out rather than using The Arabic numerals.
Thank you all the links. That was really helpful.
