Possession: A Time I broke the rules
If you haven't heard about Elena Johnson's Possession, you either don't read book blogs, or you've been dead.
It's only the hottest book just out. So I joined a blog hop to share in the possession love here. The theme of the hop? A time you broke the rules.
To be completely honest, I'm not really a rule breaker. I've always been a 'keep your head down and follow the instructions' kind of gal. But I have broken oh, so, many writing rules, I'm probably even breaking a few right now, this run on sentence for example.
So I'm going to go over a few common grammar rules I've struggled with myself.
1. Commas - I still don't have them quite figured out, but there is one thing I can tell you. If your writing a list of things (i.e. hairbrush, comb, and deodorant) there should always be a comma before the 'and'. It's a common misconception to leave it off. DON'T.
2. A LOT - a lot of people spell a lot like this -alot. This is not a word, it's furry animal from someone's imagination -
To read the incredibly funny article about this click here.
3. Capitalization - when should it be used? At the beginning of a sentence - that's a no brainier. When else? The general rule is for a proper noun. Some examples of words you should always capitalize are words like 'Wednesday', 'English', and 'Spain'. Some examples of things you should not capitalize are words like 'him' unless that is the person's title. Also, words that you want to emphasize such as 'cancer'. You should only emphasize with italics.
Sound good? Good. What a common grammar rule do you break?
It's only the hottest book just out. So I joined a blog hop to share in the possession love here. The theme of the hop? A time you broke the rules.
To be completely honest, I'm not really a rule breaker. I've always been a 'keep your head down and follow the instructions' kind of gal. But I have broken oh, so, many writing rules, I'm probably even breaking a few right now, this run on sentence for example.
So I'm going to go over a few common grammar rules I've struggled with myself.
1. Commas - I still don't have them quite figured out, but there is one thing I can tell you. If your writing a list of things (i.e. hairbrush, comb, and deodorant) there should always be a comma before the 'and'. It's a common misconception to leave it off. DON'T.
2. A LOT - a lot of people spell a lot like this -alot. This is not a word, it's furry animal from someone's imagination -
To read the incredibly funny article about this click here.
3. Capitalization - when should it be used? At the beginning of a sentence - that's a no brainier. When else? The general rule is for a proper noun. Some examples of words you should always capitalize are words like 'Wednesday', 'English', and 'Spain'. Some examples of things you should not capitalize are words like 'him' unless that is the person's title. Also, words that you want to emphasize such as 'cancer'. You should only emphasize with italics.
Sound good? Good. What a common grammar rule do you break?
Comments
Omg, and you caught me again! I emphasize in all kinds of ways mainly because I use italics for quotes. Pfft. You're good.
Ooh, I hate netspeak. Yet I use it. Sigh.
I break... wow, I break a lot of rules, but NEVER spelling rules. I hate typos, though I make them when I'm tired and I don't care about editing comments. I overuse commas, basically. And paragraphs. Those two are the bane of my existence. (Obviously, cliched phrases also.)
Ok, that's enough. If I have to think of any more, I'd probably decide I'm no good at writing at all. :P
Thanks Jen. Sweet and short, perfect before bed. :)
I've never been good with the semi-colon, but the thing I've gotten lazy on as I've aged is using "But" and "And" to start a sentence...I cringe everytime I do it.
Michelle - I do that too! I just think, I'll change it later. we'll see if that ever happens.
Pink Fibro - From everything I've read, you're an A+ writer. I could some tips from you! :)
Robin - On man! I've done that too, telling someone there wrong only to find out I was, not fun. Although I will be guaranteed to never make that mistake again!
Kelly Polark
My grammar is atrocious. In fact if you ever read my blog you are probably going to want to tear your hair out.
I never put a comma after the word before the and- I have seen it done but I honestly thought this was a personal choice thing. I use alot and a lot - a lot.
Also like Melanie above, I overuse exlamation marks and "..."
I am terrible.