Commonly Confused Words of the Month: Emigrated To

November 26, 2016 by Marcy Kennedy • Grammar and Punctuation • Tags: grammar and punctuation, Grammar for Fiction Writers, Marcy Kennedy • 2 Comments

By Chris Saylor

Welcome back to my Commonly Confused Words of the Month feature. It’s the spot where I go over words and phrases that you might want to use in dialogue to show something about your character, but you never want to use elsewhere.

This month I’ll be looking at the phrase emigrated to.

The correct phrase to use is actually emigrated from. This is because emigrated is an intransitive verb that means “to leave one’s place of residence or country to live elsewhere.” So to be correct, you would pair emigrated with from.

Chris emigrated from the United States.

Immigrated to, on the other hand, is what you do when you go to another country. Immigrate is an intransitive verb that means “to enter and usually become established; to come into a country of which one is not a native for permanent residence.” So to be correct, you would pair immigrate with to.

Chris immigrated to Canada.

Now to apply this to your fiction writing.

If you have a character that is educated or savvy with the English language, you could have them talking about emigrating from the United States to Canada or immigrating to Canada from the United States.

If you want to show that a character is less sophisticated or less knowledgeable about the language, you could have them talking about emigrating to Canada or immigrating from the United States.

Is there a word or phrase that you often hear that bothers you? Share it in the comments below and I’ll be sure to address it.

Every Saturday for the foreseeable future, I’ll be here in the Editor’s Corner, simplifying some of these grammar concepts for you and showing you how they specifically apply to your fiction. Coming up next week is Using Ellipses and Dashes in Fiction.

Want to hire Chris for a proofread or copy edit? You can find out more about him at https://saylorediting.wordpress.com, or you can email him to talk about rates and availability at christopher.saylor21 [at] gmail.com. You might also want to check out the book he co-wrote with Marcy, Grammar for Fiction Writers, available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, or Apple iBooks.

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Vocative Commas and the Vocative Case

November 19, 2016 by Marcy Kennedy • Grammar and Punctuation • Tags: grammar and punctuation, Grammar for Fiction Writers, Marcy Kennedy • 1 Comment

By Chris Saylor

Today’s topic, vocative commas (and, by extension, the vocative case), comes from a request from Marilynn Byerly.

Let’s start with a definition of what a vocative comma is and what the vocative case is.

The vocative case sounds like something made up, but it’s actually a real thing—and it’s pretty straightforward, too. Basically, when you’re addressing a person by name, you’re using the vocative case:

Marcy, have you seen my pen?

What time is dinner tonight, Mom?

Those are pretty straightforward. Most people get tripped up when the name comes in the middle of the sentence:

As you know, Bob… (sorry, a little writer humor there)

Here’s the real example:

 You need to stop, Frank, because you’re going to ruin your liver if you keep drinking like this.

You need to separate something in the vocative case from the rest of the sentence, using a comma. This is known as a vocative comma.

But how do you know when something is NOT in the vocative case and therefore doesn’t need a vocative comma?

Again, this is pretty simple.

I went to the Brigden Fair with Marcy and her mom.

Notice that I’m not addressing Marcy or her mom. I’m saying something about them. Here’s one more example for you:

Mom and I went to the Redskins game on Sunday. We had a blast.

I’m saying something about Mom. I’m not speaking to her.

Have any other grammar questions for me? Just leave a response in the comments, and I’ll be sure to address them in a future post.

Every Saturday for the foreseeable future, I’ll be here in the Editor’s Corner, simplifying some of these grammar concepts for you and showing you how they specifically apply to your fiction. Coming up next week is Commonly Confused Words of the Month (Emigrated To).

Want to hire Chris for a proofread or copy edit? You can find out more about him at https://saylorediting.wordpress.com, or you can email him to talk about rates and availability at christopher.saylor21 [at] gmail.com. You might also want to check out the book he co-wrote with Marcy, Grammar for Fiction Writers, available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, or Apple iBooks.

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Homophone of the Month: Fair vs. Fare

November 12, 2016 by Marcy Kennedy • Grammar and Punctuation • Tags: grammar and punctuation, Grammar for Fiction Writers, Marcy Kennedy • 0 Comment

By Chris Saylor

For one of my monthly features, I will be covering homophones. I’m going to explain the different meanings, and whenever I can, I’ll give you little tricks to help you remember the difference between them. If nothing else, you’ll at least realize going forward that these two words might be confused, and you’ll know when to look up the correct meaning.

(If you missed the first installment, homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things.)

Today we’ll look at fair vs. fare.

Fair has a number of meanings. Below are some examples of the word:

My wife is a very fair young woman (pleasing to the eye).

After the devastation of Hurricane Matthew, the Carolinas are now experiencing fair weather (not stormy or foul).

Judge Thompson has a reputation for handing down fair judgements (marked by impartiality and honesty, free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism).

I have a fair complexion and burn easily (not dark).

I went with my wife and her mom to the Brigden Fair (an exhibition with rides, competitions, and handmade items for sale).

On the other hand, fare means something entirely different. For example:

The restaurant’s fare was delicious (food).

We got an excellent deal on round-trip airfare to Australia for our honeymoon (the price of a leg of commercial travel).

This is one of those times when the important thing is to know that two options exist, and that you should look up what the words mean. There are too many meanings for the words to have a simple mnemonic device.

What words do you have trouble telling apart? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll make sure to feature them later.

Every Saturday for the foreseeable future, I’ll be here in the Editor’s Corner, simplifying some of these grammar concepts for you and showing you how they specifically apply to your fiction. Coming up next week is Vocative Commas.

Want to hire Chris for a proofread or copy edit? You can find out more about him at https://saylorediting.wordpress.com, or you can email him to talk about rates and availability at christopher.saylor21 [at] gmail.com. You might also want to check out the book he co-wrote with Marcy, Grammar for Fiction Writers, available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, or Apple iBooks.

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Using Contractions in Fiction

November 5, 2016 by Marcy Kennedy • Grammar and Punctuation • Tags: grammar and punctuation, Grammar for Fiction Writers, Marcy Kennedy • 0 Comment

By Chris Saylor

When you were in school and writing research papers, essays, etc., you were probably taught, like I was, that you shouldn’t use contractions in your writing. We were supposed to avoid them at all costs, as they make our writing too intimate to the reader. Our teachers instead wanted us to create a professional distance.

But when we’re writing a novel, we’re not writing a research paper. This is one of those “rules” that fiction writers should be ready, able, and willing to break.

What you write should mirror real life. People in real life who avoid contractions sound stiff and formal, and you don’t want your characters—who you want your reader to “bond” with—to feel stiff and formal.

You can go the route of avoiding contractions for effect. If you’re trying to create a stiff, formal character, for example, then you can leave contractions out of their dialogue.

You have to be careful about the effect you’re going for, though. I once edited a manuscript where the bad guy was differentiated by speaking normally during the first part of the book and very formally in the latter part of the book. I was confused by the difference, and the author didn’t reveal to me until after the fact that they had made the change on purpose. If you want to avoid using contractions for effect, you need to make sure you’re consistent in avoiding contractions, or you risk your reader being confused and possibly turned off the book.

The moral of this story is: Use contractions for more lifelike dialogue, and avoid contractions for effect.

Do you have any rules you would like to see discussed? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be sure to address them.

Every Saturday for the foreseeable future, I’ll be here in the Editor’s Corner, simplifying some of these grammar concepts for you and showing you how they specifically apply to your fiction. Coming up next week is my Homophone of the Month (fair vs. fare).

Want to hire Chris for a proofread or copy edit? You can find out more about him at https://saylorediting.wordpress.com, or you can email him to talk about rates and availability at christopher.saylor21 [at] gmail.com. You might also want to check out the book he co-wrote with Marcy, Grammar for Fiction Writers, available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, or Apple iBooks.

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