TheWritersBag.com

One of the following sentences is very informal. One is informal. One is formal. Can you guess which is which?

1. You had better get this right!
2. You should get this right!
3. You better get this right!

Here’s how they play out on the scale from very informal to formal:

• VERY INFORMAL: You better get this right!
• INFORMAL: You had better get this right!
• FORMAL: You should get this right!

Being the astute reader and writer that you are, I’m sure you noticed that the two informal versions of the statement have something the formal version lacks: a threatening tone. If someone were to say to me, “You better get this right,” or even, “You had better get this right,” I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to have my shirt collar twisted up in his fists as he says it. Nor would I be shocked if his next words were something along the lines of, “Or I’ll rip your head off your body and use it for a hockey puck.”

It would be a far kinder, gentler soul who would say, “You should get this right.” That’s the kind of person I’d rather be dealing with.

In other words, two things are going on here: (1) the level of formality, and (2) the level of civility.

All this goes to show, once again, that English is a language with many subtle undertones.

It’s quiz time again. Which of the following sentences are correct?

1. We are already to go.
2. We are all ready to go.
3. He already arrived.
4. He all ready arrived.

Sentences 2 and 3 are correct. Sentences 1 and 4 are as flawed as wooden nickels. But why?

RULE: “Already” is an adverb meaning that something has already happened, has happened in the past or before a particular time.

“All ready” means that everyone or everything is ready.

The “already/all ready” issue is a common bugaboo for writers. But like so many other grammatical annoyances, you can easily make friends with it by being aware of the simple rules surrounding it and exercising a modicum of care.

Have you ever played the “what if …” game? Is it to the creative imagination what crossword puzzles and Sudoku games are to the logical brain. Playing “what if …” is a wonderful, mind-toning exercise – exactly what writers need.

Every so often I’m going to throw a “what if …” exercise at you. When I do, please think about it, let your right brain play with it, and share whatever you come up with the rest of us in a comment.

The same rules apply to these exercises as apply to the Word Shots: Any length of response is welcome – from a single word to a full-blown story. Just keep it clean and non-toxic. And of course, weird is perfectly fine.

So here we go – the first ever “what if …” exercise from TheWritersBag.com:

What if men – not women – had babies and breast-fed them?

Have at it! And please leave your comment.