Kathryn A. Frazier
Your Story. Your voice. the best it can be.
Tag: grammar
Hidden Passive Verbs
There is a simple way to tell if a verb is passive or active: Find the subject of your sentence. Does the subject do the action of the verb? If so, the verb and the sentence is active. But if the subject receives the action, the verb and sentence is passive.
Easy-peasy lemon squeezy!
Self-driving Cars and Avocado Toast: Welcome to AP Stylebook 2017
These are the days that we grammar freaks live for!* The Associated Press Stylebook 2017 is shaking things up with 200 changes, some of them major changes. The internet (lowercase i) is buzzing with venom as traditional grammarists duke it out with progressive grammarists, using well-written and carefully punctuated insults, while trolls stoke the fire with deliberate misspellings. It’s a maaaaaad house!
When and When Not to Hyphenate
Do you know why high-heeled shoes get a hyphen, but running shoes do not? Why the president-elect gets a hyphen, but the vice president elect does not? What if I told you that the white-and-gold dress was also blue and black? Some people think hyphenating is random, that whatever looks right is right. Sorry, but no. We have rules. We can’t just let people hyphenate all over the place, willy-nilly. But I’ve got your back. I’ll walk you through this.
Avoiding Bias when Writing Descriptors
One of the biggest changes to American English in recent years is an emphasis on persons first. That is, we no longer define human beings by their descriptors. I’m not talking about Political Correctness. I’m talking about grammar.
Functional Shifting in Grammar: Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Hi Writer Peeps! Today’s blog is about words and phrases that usually identify as one part of speech, but step out and play another role from time to time. I like to think of these as “transgrammars.” Other grammarians–stuffy sorts–call them functional shifts. The… Continue Reading “Functional Shifting in Grammar: Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
FAQs on Punctuating Dialogue in Fiction
If you write fiction, you want to bookmark this blog for reference. And if you don’t find the answers you need here, feel free to ask your questions in the comment section, and I will answer.
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Kathryn A. Frazier 