The best non-fiction I’ve read this year: ‘Dialogue’ by Robert McKee
Ah, this was much harder to decide. But here’s my top NON-FICTION read of the year. (Though I’m not enamoured with your cover, Mr McKee.) I’ve also read McKee’s popular ‘Story’, but I found this one better. It’s less pretentious. More actionable. And thoroughly entertaining. It seems I love learning from non-fiction books with aโฆ
The best way to learn is through stories. A review of The Glamour of Grammar by Roy Peter Clark
The best way to learn is through stories. The Glamour of Grammar is not a textbook. It’s a story of language from one who loves its bones. You will remember so much more about language because the lessons here are attached to tidbits, anecdotes and analogies. I wholeheartedly recommend the audiobook. Clark narrates his ownโฆ
Is it OK to end a sentence with a preposition?
Where are you from? ๐ From where are you? ๐ฌ People get themselves in knots trying to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition. Roy Peter Clark comes up with three magic words you can add to avoid this. So that you don’t have to face the horror ๐ฑ of ‘from’ being the last word ofโฆ
Is it who’s or whose?
For everyone who gets who’s and whose confused… If it’s not who is/who has, it’s whose.
Is it lay or lie?
๐ Stop the press. At some point I shared my advice on the lie/lay confusable. I thought I did a fairly decent job explaining the difference. BUT! Proper dues to Roy Peter Clark who offers this tip: ๐ก Use the vowel sound to remind you. Lay as in place. And Lie as in recline. That’llโฆ
Is it farmers’ market or farmers market? Assassins’ guild or assassins guild?
What does a farmers market have in common with an assassins guild? Well, I consulted this MW article about the former’s apostrophe (or lack thereof) and wondered whether I could apply the principle to the latter…https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/is-there-an-apostrophe-in-farmers-market-punctuation-possessive “Style guides try to make a distinction between possessive phrases and those that are merely descriptive. Since a farmersโฆ
Is it shrunk or shrank? (Did Honey, I Shrunk The Kids get it wrong?)
Did you know some people consider there to be an error in this film title? The argument goes that it should be called: Honey, I SHRANK the kids. Shrank is the past tense of shrink.* Shrunk is the past participle. If he’d wanted to be all passive and wash his hands of responsibility, Rick Moranisโฆ
Is it phase or faze?
It didn’t phase me. โIt didn’t faze me. โ๏ธ F-A-Z-E is the spelling you want. Isn’t it interesting how we always use it in the negative. People always say they weren’t fazed. They rarely say they were. We seem to prefer discombobulated for this scenario. Maybe because it’s such a silly word. It takes theโฆ
Mistakes Were Made. Use this zombie hack to identify the passive voice.
Do you know this zombie hack? ๐งโโ๏ธ๐ช๐งโโ๏ธ๐ช๐ง๐ช I don’t know when tips became hacksโฆ Or whether this one should be a trick. Let’s go with zombie hack. That sounds seasonalโฆ ๐ Speaking of seasonal, Britain has a new Prime Minister. Wow, that jibe veers into political commentary. That’s not like me at all. So I’llโฆ
Is it it’s or its?
๐๐’๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐. I don’t mind admitting it took me far longer than it should have to learn this rule. I don’t remember anyone ever saying it to me as bluntly as this. ‘It’ (apostrophe) ‘s’ is only ever short for ‘it is’. And it confused me because it seemsโฆ
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