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Lay and Lie—When to Use Which?
Lay and lie are two of the most misused verbs in English. Or maybe not misused as much as they are confusing. They are irregular verbs, which means their conjugations don’t follow the same rules as...
View ArticleParticipial Phrases? C’mon, You Made that Up
I promise they’re real, these creatures called participial phrases. And I’m willing to bet you’ve used them many times in your writing and in your speaking. I wanted to talk about them now because I’ve...
View ArticleNarrative Tense—Right Now or Way Back Then
One of the first decisions for a writer beginning a new story is the choice of narrative tense—will the story be a look into past events or will it race through the present? That is, will the writer...
View ArticleSet Story into Motion—Use Meaningful Verbs
Verbs bring action—motion and movement—to our sentences. Without verbs, nothing happens. Verbs move story people, both literally and emotionally. Without verbs, characters and story go nowhere. Without...
View ArticleSmiling or Laughing Dialogue—A Reader’s Question
2015 Writing Advice Series Listen or Ignore (Part 1) Weighing the Advice (Part 2) Behind the Advice (Part 3) What About -ing Words (Part 4) Related Articles Smiling or Laughing Dialogue...
View ArticleGetting Specific—Addressing Readers’ Examples (Part 1)
A recent article (Answering Your Questions about Specifics) focused on resources where writers and editors can find answers for very specific punctuation and grammar questions. The article was actually...
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Revive A Scene With Verbs
As you read through your scenes and manuscripts, it’s likely that you find sections that feel dull or lifeless even if they contain the action and events you intended to include in them, action and...
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