Category: Grammar

BATTLE IS LOST: Welcome to “Singular They”!

A sad day for grammar purists: The Washington Post will allow “singular they”!

Puzzled writer
Can I use “they”?

NEW AT JUST CAN’T HELP WRITING! How Much Grammar Do You Need? Part V: Rules Erudite People Break (and other erudite people notice)

Four rules I’ve seen broken in some rather surprising places. But these are the kinds of rules agents and editors are likely to notice.  Do you have candidates for this list? http://wp.me/p1KFmw-6H

At Just Can’t Help Writing: Grammar Rules You DON’T Need!

Check out my latest installment of “How Much Grammar Do You Need?” I argue that these three rules can safely be ignored. They aren’t even real “rules”! http://wp.me/p1KFmw-6g

New Posts on Just Can’t Help Writing: More “Grammar” and How to Protect Your Ebook Rights

How much “Grammar” Do You Really Need, Part III: I summarize Joe Williams’ categories of errors (those we notice, those we don’t notice, those we notice when they’re actually correct, and those that we ought not to bother with. . .  .). My own categories (upcoming): those you can ignore, those you can’t ignore, those you should gamble on.

Questions to Ask Agents, specifically about how to retain your ebook rights: I’m investigating the claims of Dean Wesley Smith that “life-of-copyright” is the new industry standard, meaning that we can never recover our rights regardless of the publisher’s intentions for our books. This article sheds some light on pro-active steps to take if you manage to acquire an agent.

New Post at Just Can’t Help Writing

In which I continue to make my case that we may not need as much “grammar” as we think. This post: I introduce Joseph M. Williams’s article, “The Phenomenology of Error,” in which he takes apart some of the “language mavens” for committing the very errors they warn us against. Fun! http://wp.me/1KFmw