10 Little Secrets, 10 Big Mistakes

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10 Little Secrets,10 Big Mistakes

• JOU 121
• When Words Collide, 2008

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RULES

• Rules underlay the game
• The game is writing well
• Knowing the rules wont automatically transform
  you into a great writer

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Secret 1 Read

• Find out about the world
• Find out about yourself
• Immersion in language
• Vocabulary
• Syntax
• How words are put together
• Can you imagine wanting to be a musician and
  not listening to music?

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Secret 2 Have something to say

• You cant write well if you are not in command of
  the material
  
• Friends may indulge usreaders wont

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Secret 3 Organize your thoughts

• Dont rush to write
• Take time to understand the material

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Secret 4 Consider your audience

• Who will read your story?
• Whats the best way to reach them?

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Secret 5 Know grammatical conventions and how
to use them

• Remember, this comes after you have something to
  say, know how to say it, and know to whom you are
  writing.
  
• A writer without a command of grammar is like a
  programmer who cant write code.

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Secret 6 Master a solid working vocabulary

• Words have shades of meaning
• Talk
• Chatter
• Mutter
• Mumble
• Gossip
• Schmooze

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Secret 7 Focus on precision and clarity

• Know how to rid your writing of
• Clutter
• Redundancies
• Euphemisms
• Jargon
• Misplaced modifiers
• Split constructions
• Run-on sentences

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Secret 8 Hear language

• Say your written sentences out loud
• Do your words collide?

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Secret 9 Revise

• Separates the amateurs from professionals
• Does it say what you intended it to say?
• Will readers/viewers learn what you intended for
  them to learn?
  
• Does the style fit the audience and purpose?

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Secret 10 Apply the seat of the pants to the
seat of the chair

• Put in the time.
• Like mastering a musical instrument, learning to
  write takes practice.
  
• A real writer is one who really writes.
• Poet, Marge Piercy

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What you dont know may hurt you!

• On to the 10 mistakes

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Mistake 1 Thinking you dont have to know
grammar to write well
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Mistake 2 Subjects and verbs that dont agree

• A box of books are on the table.
• A box of books is on the table.

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Mistake 3 Subjects and pronouns that dont agree

• The team made their way to the locker room.
• The team made its way to the locker room.

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Mistake 4 Lack of parallelism

• I came. I saw. I conquered.
• I came. I looked over everything. The enemy was
  conquered by the armies.

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Mistake 5 Confusing who and whom

• Who did the president name to his cabinet?
• Whom did the president name to his cabinet?

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Mistake 6 Confusing that and which

• The leadership poll, which the magazine
  commissioned, helped shape editorial policy.
  
• The leadership poll that the magazine
  commissioned helped shape editorial policy.

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Mistake 7 Confusing possessives and contractions

• Your/youre
• Its/its
• Whose/whos

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Mistake 8 Dangling and misplaced modifiers
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Mistake 9 Misusing commas

• Neglecting to separate two independent clauses
  linked by a coordinating conjunction
  
• Linking two independent clauses with only a comma

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Mistake 10 The dreaded passive voice

• John ate the bread.
• The bread was eaten by John.

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Questions?