Oops! Wrong Word by Andy Scheer

My friend knew what word he meant to type. But when I checked the manuscript, it hadn't quite come out that way. Spell check doesn't know the difference. Worse, it sounds nearly the same as the word he meant.

But when something creepy happened, I don't think he wanted to say his character shuttered. Okay, maybe closing the blinds would block the sight of whatever was scarey. But I changed the word to shuddered.

Likewise the manuscript I was checking yesterday. Two letters hadn't gotten typed when he referred to a vintage aircraft, the Stratofreighter. Since the writer isn't an aircraft expert – and since he knew what he meant to type – he missed that his manuscript called it a Stratofighter.

A few paragraphs later, his spell check indicated nothing wrong when he typed that the craft was powered by four radical engines. While the 28-cylinder, 4,360-cubic-inch engines were the largest of their kind, they weren't really radical. Instead, the engine configuration was radial – with the cylinders arranged like the spokes of a wheel.

The novel I just started reading from a major New York house describes a scene in which a ship is floundering. The author comes from Arizona, which is short on ocean access. Still, an editor or proofreader should have known he meant to type foundering.

Having edited hundreds of writers, I've found that most have words that give them trouble. Much as they know what they're supposed to type, certain ones often come out wrong.

My pitfall is typing it's instead of its. I know the difference, but when I'm typing fast, the wrong one usually gets typed. Knowing this weakness, I check for it in anything I write.

But I'm safest if I ask someone else to check for me. It's a good way to insure/assure/ensure (check your dictionary if you don't know which is correct) you haven't used the wrong word.

Picking the right one isn't something you can always take for granite.

Beware of the Dangling Modifier!

            As conference season begins for me this weekend, we are often asked to provide a list of writing resources we recommend.

Proofreading Secrets of Bestselling Authors by Kathy Ide is on my list.

Kathy offers us a helpful tip here.

Beware of the Dangling Modifier! 

            As a writer, words and punctuation marks are the tools of your trade. Right? Actually … wrong! Grammatically, anyway.

            When you start a sentence with a modifying word or phrase, the subject of the sentence is what has to be modified by that word or phrase. An introductory phrase that doesn’t modify the appropriate word is called a “dangling modifier.”

            The opening phrase in the above sentence is “As a writer.” The subject of the sentence is “Words and punctuation marks.” Since words and punctuation marks are not “a writer,” we’d need to rewrite that to something like “Words and punctuation marks are a writer’s tools of the trade.”

            Now that you’ve been reminded of a rule you probably barely paid attention to in high school, let’s try a tricky example:

Six months after attending Mount Hermon, Kim’s article was accepted by a publisher.

            “Kim’s article” did not attend Mount Hermon. So you’d want to rewrite that too.

            Timing is crucial when it comes to modifiers. Any action in the introductory phrase must be accomplished at the same time as the action in the rest of the sentence. For example:

Hugging the postman, Delilah ripped open the box containing her new novel.

            Delilah cannot simultaneously hug the postman and rip open a box.

            Once you get a handle on these dangling dilly-dallies, you’ll be spotting them everywhere! Maybe even in your own writing.

            For more tips on proofreading for typos, inconsistencies, and errors in punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling, check out Kathy’s new book, Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors, which just released on January 31st from Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. Stop by and visit Kathy's website/blog at www.KathyIde.com.