I Once Was Blind

The eye doctor asked me if an image was clearer and I said, "Yes," but I was thinking to myself that I always say "more clear." Then I started to wonder which one of us was right. It seemed a doctor who studies eyes would know

I Recommend

If you like it here, I have just the blog for you! I love El's Editing because she explains even complicated writing and editing topics in a way that are interesting and easy to understand. I see many similarities between El's Editing and A Little Writing

Comma Chameleon Post 2

I wrote the first post in this series a few weeks ago. I discussed some of the comma rules that are more reliable (meaning they don't have a lot of exceptions). I talked in detail about the rule that says it is usually necessary to use a comma

Sense in Verb Tense

I have been trying to learn Finnish for more than a quarter of a century. It is a difficult language for English speakers to learn, so I haven't made much progress, but I'm still trying. One thing I have found very interesting is that while Finnish

Sit a Spell

Have a seat and let's talk about spelling for a few minutes. Every once in a while, I hear people talking about spelling, and I have to eavesdrop because spelling was my favorite subject in elementary school. I liked it because it came naturally to me. I didn&

Comma Chameleon, Post 1

There are lessons from elementary school about the comma that I have always been able rely on. I feel triumphant in those moments when I can confidently use the comma. I wish I could say all my interactions with this powerful punctuation mark have been pleasant, but if I'

To Re-Envision

This blog's purpose is to be helpful to someone. There are a million things it wants to tell you and ways it hopes to encourage you in your writing and editing endeavors, and today's subject is revisions. I sense an inward groaning at the sound of

Passive Gets a Bad Rap

One time, hoping to win a scholarship, I wrote a short story about a forklift. I didn't win. I asked someone to proofread it for me and she said I had written a sentence in the passive voice. I wish I could say I knew what that meant

An Agreement

I was reading a news article recently and came across these words: "The Russians isn't ready to make a peace deal." I had to read it again because my mind wanted me to get rid of the "s" after Russians, but I immediately knew

Emailing Strangers

I feel uncomfortable whenever I need to send an email to someone I don't know. I think the opening is the hardest part. Not really, I think closing the email is even harder. But let's start at the beginning (the salutation). I looked through my "

Old Word, New Meaning

English is my first language. I think learning English any other way would be very difficult. There are countless inconsistencies in the rules of spelling, and the meanings of many of the words keep changing. I recently heard a phrase that was new to me, yet I knew exactly what

The First Priority in Editing

Until recently, I thought that the first step in editing was to look for errors. The perfectionist in me wants to fix those things first, but I have come to realize that this can be a waste of time. This does not mean proofreading for errors is not important (it

I Stand Corrected

For as long as I can remember, I have been writing "Mothers' Day" and "Fathers' Day" because I just assumed everyone else was writing it wrong. In my defense, I wasn't paying close attention to how often other sources were placing the