Here’s an interesting sentence that came my way recently, and it poses an opportunity to see how even one unnecessary word can direct a reader’s attention away from the point one wants to make. The writer is addressing a co-worker about issuing a credit to a customer: For invoice #123, the total should have been …
Author Archives: rultimo
More Revising By Grammar
In an earlier post, Revising By Grammar, we looked at the construction of the opening and closing sentences of a short descriptive paragraph. The writer, a student of mine, succeeded in capturing some fine images from her memory of a trip years ago to Thailand. As is ever the case with first drafts though, discoveries …
Revising By Grammar
It’s all well and good to claim that a little knowledge of grammar can help in revising a draft, but how about a demonstration? Here is a first draft from a student who is envisioning a short piece about her travels to northern Thailand a number of years ago: Three Hill Tribe men and a …
Keeping It Simple
There is usually more than one way to organize a complex subject, and this is as true for English grammar as for any other challenging study. Verbs especially have many moving parts, and without a consistent terminology, this particular department of English grammar can become unnecessarily confusing, especially when we are trying to understand verb …
Being Critical
Let’s imagine that someone has asked you for a paragraph about yourself. Perhaps you’re applying to a program of some sort, and the application requires you to introduce yourself in a few sentences before you list your schooling or employment or accomplishments. This self-description is a notoriously difficult project, and a first attempt can often …