 |
| Image via Flickr / Sharon Drummond |
Every author and every editor has at least one pet peeve when it comes to how a collection of words should be set down upon any given page, and those of us contributing to the Blood-Red Pencil are no exception.
Things that Drive an Editor Crazy
Maryann Miller's post regarding her pet peeves ruffled quite a few feathers...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Things That Drive An Editor Crazy
I’ve been editing for a long time and am still amazed at how often I see common mistakes repeated over and over again. For instance:
Fred walked out, taking the file with him. You don’t need ‘with him’. If he took the file, it’s with him, DUH!! [Read more]
May I Say a Word in My Defense?
... and prompted a follow-up post.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
May I say a Word in my Defense?
In looking for some old posts to link to in a new blog post, I discovered that my post about what drives this editor crazy had 43 responses. Some of them made good points that encouraged me to rethink some of my editing pet peeves, a few were personal attacks -- but okay, I'm a big girl, I can take that -- and several defended the use of ordinary, common word usage. [Read more]
Jo Klemm
Friday, September 10, 2010
Pet Peeves
I assume anyone taking time to read this blog has some sort of vested interest in language. We write, teach, or edit. For that reason, I also assume we each probably have our personal grammatical pet peeves. You know what I mean, those words or phrases that, when used incorrectly, run chills up your spine.
Craig Lancaster
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Release Your Peeves
I pay the bills as a newspaper copy editor. This is an altogether different creature from a book editor. Those of us who punch daily deadlines are the short-order cooks of the publishing world; we read and edit reams of copy in a compressed window of time.
In many ways, the pressure-cooker aspects of the job lend themselves to the cultivation of pet peeves -- little word burrs under our saddle that we automatically change to something more palatable (to us, if to no one else). [Read more]
Whom is the Person Which I Know?
Elle Carter Neal
Monday, August 30, 2010
Whom is the Person Which I Know?
Recently Craig Lancaster wrote about pet peeves and whether we really should be holding onto them so tightly. I’m guilty of dozens of peeves and have bitten my tongue blue trying to be polite to my family who are equally guilty of misusing my peeves; sometimes deliberately. Craig’s post reminded me that we had some Ask the Editor questions about the proper use of who, whom, which, and that. [Read more]
Ah, yes, the pet peeves. Whether or not we admit it, we all have them. They may range from slight and subtle to glaring and in our face. When confronted with a particularly potent pet peeve that should not be ignored, I've mellowed somewhat in my approach to the writer. It has evolved into acceptance if the sentence or paragraph flows seamlessly into the narrative or scene and contributes to a powerful mental motion picture for the reader. When necessary, however, gentle suggestions, mostly via examples designed to trigger the writer's thought processes rather than defense mechanisms, have often been effective in spurring positive rewrites. Thank you for the reminders, Elle.
ReplyDelete