Estate sales are often the places where I buy interesting vintage pieces, but sometimes I find not-so-old stuff that could use a new home. This past weekend the estate sale pickings were pretty slim, but I did find one item that I could put to use immediately.
I know, most of you probably believe, based on my impeccable mastery of the English language and the rules of grammar that dictate its proper usage, that I would have no need for such a book. Then again, if you managed to read that last mangled sentence you realize that no one on earth needs the book more than I do.
Even if I didn’t need it, I’d still have wanted it. Words are the building blocks of life, right? Forget all that cellular level stuff, words are what make the world go ’round. One can never know enough about words.
From the very first two pages of content I could tell that this would be a valuable book.
Just look at “a while” and “awhile.” How many times have I used the incorrect word? I shudder just thinking of all the awhiles I’ve substituted for a while, and vice verse. Oddly enough, vice versa isn’t in the book, even though I’ve often seen it spelled “visa versa”.
And how about this duo: nauseated and nauseous? I know I’m guilty of using them incorrectly ad nauseam.
Plus, there’s the pesky “nip it in the bud” versus the butt. It’s always bud, by the way. No one wants to deal with butt nipping. Well, they likely won’t admit to it anyway. That could be construed as being sensual. Or is it sensuous?
Surely I have the ability to internalize this information.
I might be in love with this book. Or at least I feel affection (not an affectation) for it.
As a bonus, this newspaper clipping was tucked inside the book. I think I’d have really liked the person to whom this book once belonged.
Also, who knew there was a Grammar Man?
This purchase just gets better and better.
Peace, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 
The English language is actually very very difficult xxxxxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
And amusing. Or is it A musing? š
LikeLike
I know that there are words that I use incorrectly on a consistent basis, however having a rule book would cause me to have a great amount of stress. I think that I would be paralyzed with fear and have anxiety over every word that appeared on my screen!
I’ve found that I write in the same way that I speak much of the time. I suppose that means that I need some work in that area as well š
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do exactly the same thing, and I agonize very little about it. Can my audience understand what I mean? Sometimes….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Spelling issues are the frustrating things for me when reading a blog post…although I’m likely guilty of that problem as well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Iāve always been a really good speller. However, I canāt count the number of times Iāve encountered a misspelled or misused word when looking back at my old posts. I do all of my blogging on my iPhone, and sometimes my proofreading is hurried. Thatās my excuse, anyway.
LikeLiked by 3 people
This happens to me. I spend a lot of time at the rink especially typing comments into my phone and I really do try to keep the spelling/typos under control but omg sometimes I cringe. š Or, the autocorrect….lordy. We all know what that does… ;p
LikeLiked by 1 person
Autocorrect is my worst enema. š
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was a surprised when going through my editing process the amount of things I got correct that I thought were wrong and the number of things I thought I had correct were actually wrong. Overall, I didn’t do too bad because I spent way more time paying attention to the words I was writing than I would if I were just putting together a blog post or a comment. Those? Those are always a mess. I tend to avoid going back and reading them again unless I’m looking to cringe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I finish my book Iām going to step away and let someone I trust make editing suggestions. I realized the other day that I changed my main characterās last name mid-story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You absolutely have to be able to step away and let someone else get eyes on it. Even some of the mistakes I made that I knew were mistakes, I had a hard time with because some of them were intentional because they were style or character based, but I had to learn when those were okay to leave in and when they didn’t do anything for the story. It was hard and I probably still have mistakes in there, but hopefully not many.
I kept a “cast” list in a document I kept up on my second screen when I was writing to help make sure some of those kinds of mistakes like name change didn’t happen. Granted, I also thought I had put in a secondary character’s description because it was in that “cast” document, but didn’t actually notice that it wasn’t in the actual story until I started working with my editor. Mistakes WILL happen, hence the need for a really good editor to help keep them few and far between.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a notebook with charactersā names and relationships to one another, along with their profiles. Itās kind of fun getting to know them more intimately as I write.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I WANT this book! What a fantastic find! š
LikeLiked by 1 person
Itās new enough Iāll bet you can find it on amazon.
LikeLike
I worked with someone once who consistently got “anecdote” and “antidote” wrong. I never laughed or poked fun because I struggled enough with “effect” and “affect” – Marty
LikeLiked by 1 person
š youāre a good man.
LikeLike
Fascinating. Do you know this one about punctuation? https://youtu.be/SdrkCvPmhfQ
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I have seen the āEats Shoots and Leavesā book. It would come in handy, as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
š
LikeLiked by 1 person
A good book to have.
LikeLike