Category: Editing

Another problem area I often see while reading and editing is related to commas and periods. There seems to be confusion as to how to use them with dialogue tags and action beats. Below I've attached a great video based on the Chicago Manual of Style as well as one of the best explanations I've … Continue reading Comma Versus Period

I had to weight in here because this literally drives me nuts: said is used for a statement while asked is used when posing a question. Pease stop using said with a question mark as it is NOT proper no matter what the new trends are. Question marks are punctuation used to indicated interrogative clauses … Continue reading Said Versus Asked

There are a few trends I notice both as a reader and editor. One is the misuse of that in place of who in narrative text or formal scripts. Before you argue - note what I actually said: in narrative text or formal scripts. This means areas of your book that is not dialogue (internal … Continue reading Who Versus That

It is easy to misuse words, and slang doesn't help. Colloquialisms aside, when you are writing or editing, it is important to understand the rules, even when you intend to break them. So, what's the proper way to use ASSUME versus PRESUME? Let's find out... The simplest answer is this: ASSUME (a verb meaning "to … Continue reading Assume Versus Presume

Often, people confuse either and neither. Since these are connected to or and nor, I decided to include these with this post, as well. My husband and I had a recent conversation where this came up. The simplest way to put this is that either is always used with or and neither with nor. Either … Continue reading Either / Or versus Neither / Nor