Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

— William Strunk Jr.
in Elements of Style

Do you write for your company? Newsletters? Emails? Grants? Copy for collateral? If so, then everything you write reflects upon the company. Our words, both spoken and written, create images that either build or hurt our brand.

Good grammar can instill confidence in your customers and employees. We all make mistakes, but don't worry that the Grammar Police will arrest you or fire you. Just pay attention to what you write before you send it out.

Below are a dozen words that are commonly used incorrectly. Just a quick review of your writing can avoid embarassing mistakes. Feel free to print this out and keep it by your computer for future reference. 

1. The verb “accept” means “to receive” or “to believe”. The preposition except means other than. The conjunction means “unless” and the verb means “leave out.”

a. Tim accepted Jeff’s reason for being late for work.

b. Everyone – except Chris and his supervisor – had remembered to switch to daylight savings time.

c. Only in rare cases are employees excepted from the policy on punctuality.

2. Adverse means “hostile, unfavorable, or harmful.” Averse means “to have a definite feeling of distaste.”

a. Adverse weather conditions grounded all airplanes.

b. The tired staff was averse to the idea of working till midnight.

3. Advice is a noun that means “recommendation or information” and advise is a verb meaning “to counsel or recommend.”

a. Ralph advised me to value good advice.

4. Affect is a verb that means “to influence.” As a noun, effect means “the result”; as a verb it means “to bring about.”

a. Your performance in the coming year will directly affect the amount of your bonus.

b. The effect of the economy is hard to predict.

c. The new procedure will effect significant savings in time and cost.

5. Anxious indicates that one is worrying; eager, that one is gladly anticipating something.

a. Sarah has never been anxious about speaking in public, but she was eager to play the old hag in Snow White last month.

6. Beside is a preposition that means “next to.” Besides is an adverb that means “in addition to.”

a. Put the file cabinet beside the desk.

b. Besides the new cabinet, we need a new computer.

7. Complement means “to complete or go well with.” Compliment means “to give praise.” Both words can also be used as nouns. The adjective complementary means “serving to fill out or complete.” Complimentary means “given free as a favor.”

a. That was a nice compliment for a job well done.

b. A fine grape jelly is a complement to any peanut butter.

8. A conscience gives one the capacity to know right from wrong. Conscious means “awake or alert, not sleeping or comatose.”

a. Your conscience will guide you.

b. Earl needs two cups of coffee to be fully conscious at this hour.

9. Imply means “to suggest, hint, or communicate indirectly”; infer means to “deduce or conclude from.” (Writers and speakers imply. Readers and listeners infer.)

a. I thought she was implying that I would receive a raise; apparently I inferred incorrectly.

10. Lay means “to put or place something.” It must be followed by a direct object. (lay, laid, laid)

a. Please don’t lay that report there.

b. Jerri’s assistant laid down the new carpeting yesterday

Lie means “to rest or recline.” It does not take a direct object. (lie, lay, lain)

c. Tim likes to lie down for a nap after lunch.

d. He lay down Monday at 12:30, but often he has lain down by 12:15.

11. To precede means “to go or come before,” while proceed means “to move on or go ahead.”

a. A note that preceded today’s meeting told us to proceed with part two.

12. “Than” indicates a comparison and “then” refers to time.

a. Kevin didn’t know any more about this than I did.

b. First write your resume. Then look for a job.

b. The tired staff was averse to the idea of working till midnight.

 

 

Trina Boice
www.TrinaBoice.com

She Fought The System and Won

By Trina Boice
www.trinaboice.com

After a hard-fought battle to ensure the protection of American authors and publishers from extortionate foreign libel judgments, one New York-based scholar and researcher has secured the passage of the first law to achieve unanimous Congressional support this term.

Initated and promoted by Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act (SPEECH Act) protects Americans from the enforcement of foreign libel judgments that do not meet American standards of constitutional protection for freedom of speech.

Faced with an internationally-publicized suit against her by a notorious libel tourist in 2004, Dr. Ehrenfeld was the first author to stand up against the phenomenon of libel tourism, a practice by which foreign libel plaintiffs sue American authors and publishers abroad solely in the attempt to suppress free speech in the United States.

Dr. Ehrenfeld’s initial efforts resulted in the passage of protective legislation in New York and in six other states, and have now reached her ultimate goal of extending those protections nationally.  Thank you Dr. Ehrenfeld!

Copyright Infringement

By Christine Thackeray

This week I found myself eating my own words. On another group I belong to, a woman complained that she had joined a list called the Clever Homemaker. Each day the site owner would post articles about entrepenuer ideas and ways to save money. The woman that joined it was amazed at the consistant quality of writing until one day the words sounded familiar. They were hers.

Jaquelyn was a write and had published an article for a e-magazine. Can you imagine her surprise at finding her article lifted to increase this woman's platform, which was extensive. As she began searching previous posts, she found that this was common practice for her posts, very little of any of them were original.

When she asked about her options, I told her she could send a cease and desist letter and was entitled to have her not use the information and pay her up to 150% of the cost she would have gotten for an equivalent article. (Which financially wasn't that much.) BUT she was angry, offended and wanted more-- AND she got it.

Jaquelyn contacted Yahoo, along with her publisher and the list was closed down. When I heard that, I had to applaud both Jackie and Yahoo for their quick response. What the woman who owned the list was doing was stealing and reaping the benefit of other's work (esp. with 6,000 members). As writers we also need to act to inform and protect the writing of both ourselves and others. It's not just about the money but doing the right thing.

Myths about Copyright

By Christine Thackeray

I'm still preparing for that conference where I'm talking about copyright so I wanted to dispell three copyright myths.

Myth #1- When I write something, it's mine and no one can use it without my permission.

Myth #2- Getting copyright permission to use quotes in a manuscript is so time-consuming and expensive that it's just not worth it

Myth #3- Once an author dies I can use their material without permission

Answer #1- Copyright law only protects someone from publishing and selling your material. Under Fair Use people may still critique, newreport, create parody or use your material for teaching and research even if you don't want them to.

Answer #2- Most major publishers have fair use guidelines posted that may make using a quote free if you check. If you use the CCC, an online service that specializes in helping authors get permission(www.copyright.com), you will usually have a completed contract within three days from almost anyone.(Although it can be just as fast and a little cheaper to do it yourself.

Answer #3- Recently Hollywood got into the copyright scene and a law passed that extended copyrights for the authors life plus seventy years. Yup. Your children, you grandchildren and even some of your great-grandchildren may have the joy of completing random permission forms. Whee!

What do you know about Copyright Law?

By Christine Thackeray

As writer's there are a few things we should be aware of. Basic grammar is pretty important. How to write a smoking querie letter can prove very useful, and coping techniques for dealing with rejection are essential. But one thing a lot of authors overlook is a basic understanding of copyright law.

In preparation for the upcoming LDStorymakers conference I've been doing a lot of research and have been surprised by so many misconceptions held by my writing friends and my own family.

Just to give you a little taste, can you answer the following question:

Which of the following is most protected by copyright law:
1. An autobiography
2. A newspaper article
3. A poem consisting of only two lines
4. A proposal for an original concept for a new TV series.

The reality is that only the tiny poem is really covered. Copyright only protects original expression, not facts or ideas. So the autobiography, newspaper article and proposal could be used conceptually. You couldn't quote from them without permission but you could openly paraphrase any concept you wanted. On the other hand, the poem is made unique by expression and would be totally covered.

More to come.

Inspiration or Plagiarism

By Christine Thackeray

A few days ago I was driving around in the convertible with my youngest. I LOVE summer and was feeling the freedom of no school, open afternoons and general abandon. As we passed the police station sipping soda's and not really in the mood to go home just yet, we noticed the little old community thrift shop. It's run by volunteers and only open from noon to four so I've never walked in the door, but Will and I decided to hop out of the car and give it a try.

The store was once a pre-WWII home. Its front door is made of plywood. We pulled it open, not sure what to expect inside when a smile exploded across my face. The front hall was overflowing with books, floor to ceiling, literally. My nine year old continued into the main store and found a pair of shorts, a cool t-shirt and a bag of bendable dinosaurs, but I didn't make it past the racks and racks of thick, juicy volumes of every genre. I left with an armful of historicals- most published in the seventies and eighties. I wanted to add more color to my writing and was hoping to pick up some brilliant phrases.

In one book it said that a red cloud of dust clung to the horses' hooves and trailed behind like a dragging scarf. Another spoke of the wide plains around them with little mounds of basalt cresting about the flat terrain like fish at sea. The last spoke of two stallions fighting in South Africa, partly in anger and partly in play. The horseman didn't break them up because they were stallions that knew when to stop. Mares, he thought, were a whole different matter. When they fight, they often injure or even kill each other. (Aren't people the same way?)

Later that night I told my husband how delighted I was with each find. I've been struggling with that first scene in my Herod book and I think having stallions fighting and using the mare line would be a brilliant way to begin, symbolically foreshadowing the issues with Salome, Herod's wives and mother-in-law all leading to various executions. As I spoke, my husband turned to me and asked how I could do that without breaking copyright. Wasn't it plagiarism? I laughed and told him that it was far closer to inspiration. But the line is important to understand and not to cross.

About ten years ago Nora Roberts accused bestselling romance author Janet Daley of plagiarism. She said, "In none of the known cases was the copying one or two phrases. It was, particularly in the case of Notorious, several entire scenes and passages. It was not an isolated case, but a chronic one, spanning years and involving thirteen books." Sadly, cases like this are not uncommon. Many of the accused claim the stress of deadlines and personal problems as the cause but it is clearly stealing.

One the other hand, there are a number of phrase books on the market that give you various descriptive phrases of body parts, facial expressions, landscapes, clothing, etc from different works. They are a great resource and often when writing they simply encourage you to think of textures or the shape of teeth- things outside the realm of your average modifiers to brighten your writing.

Lately, I've chosen to create my own phrase book. I added "One Note" to my computer, an awesome MS application which allows you to categorize information. As I read rich descriptors or original verb/noun combinations, I've begun copying them down and categorizing them for later use as the examples above. My hope is not to merely repeat them but to become more adept at mimicking their depth and beauty like painting the classics and then using similar brushstrokes to create your own masterpiece.

Of course, the concern is losing your own voice and becoming instead a patchwork quilt of other writers- that would be just ugly. Sort of like the disconnected historian who simply quotes source after source without ever tying it together. Michael Evquen de Montaigne put it this way, "The bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they make honey of them which is all their own." It's my hope that through pausing and appreciating writing, I'll be able to make my own more sweet.

Do you do this too?