This post was first published here on September 12, 2008. ~~~~~~~ 1. Mark repetitive words and phrases for rewrites or substitutions. As is a particularly overused phrase beginning. 2. Mark all lazy verbs such as were, was, had, and substitute active verbs or restructure sentence. In most cases take out just, now, very, only. There is no now in the past tense except within the dialogue or thoughts of the character. An editor once told me that tiny is the most overused word in manuscripts. 3. Once those basic mistakes are corrected, read aloud and listen for: A. Hard to read passages that make you stumble. Fix them. B. If you stop to breathe in the middle of a sentence, it’s probably too long. C. Unpleasant cadence, too many sentences with the same rhythm, too many long or too many short sentences within a scene. As a general rule, short sentences are used for fast paced action, longer are to calm down a scene. D. Sibilance (repetition of S or SH sounds) or iteration (r...

The comma is the most common punctuation mark inside sentences. Although they seem to be thrown by the wayside more and more these days, a simple comma can change the meaning of a sentence entirely as in: The July 2nd Thursday meeting will be held … Is it on July 2 or the second Thursday? Commas are used to separate complete sentences connected by a coordinating conjunction: and, but, for, because . The bat is a nocturnal animal, and it sleeps during the day . I thought I could stay up all night, but I fell asleep about 4 a.m. The comma should not follow the and or but (such as T he bat is a nocturnal animal and, it sleeps during the day .) The only time I let that one slide is occasionally in dialogue if the speaker is pausing for effect: “He is a completely self-centered man, and, he is a jerk.” However, there are better ways to show this. Use a comma to set off most introductory phrases. A simple definition of a Phrase: A word group that lacks either a subject or a predicate or b...