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Whether you are called to write in the line of work or want to make writing your career, you should know the basic rules of English usage. These rules are the foundation – the bedrock – of writing. People who want to write (or need to write to get ahead) and who don’t know the rules of writing are like fine artists who don’t know how to use a brush.

Would-be writers occasionally come to me and tell me how desperately they want to be writers. But when samples of their work show they don’t have even a basic grasp of the rules of writing, I have to question how desperately they want it. 

I’m not saying you have to be a dusty grammarian to be a good writer, but you need a good, basic understanding of the way the rules work.

How do you rate in this area? Take the following quiz and see. Something is wrong with each of the following 10 sentences. Print this out and edit each sentence. Then (don’t cheat) check out the explanations that follow.

10 Flawed Sentences

1. I get depressed when its raining and cold.
2. I was so nice to his mother, I think he could of given me a discount. 
3. I’m so tired I just want to set down.
4. Peggy is one of the employees which works in the Pittsburgh office.
5. Before we bought a car, I use to walk back and forth to the grocery store.
6. As CEO, she has a huge affect on the year’s net profits.
7. All I could do was hold her and tell her everything would be alright.
8. Between the three new receptionists, who is the best with the public?
9. He was around seven feet tall, which is big even for an NBA star.
10. Thanks to the new rules, we had less accidents this year than ever.

And the Answers, Please ….

1. I get depressed when it’s raining and cold. (When the meaning is “it is,” always use the contraction form of “it’s.”)
2. I was so nice to his mother, I think he could have given me a discount. (“Could of” is more than just informal. It’s wrong. Use “could have,” “would have,” “should have” and so on.)
3. I’m so tired I just want to sit down. (You set a book down on the desk, but you sit down on a chair.)
4. Peggy is one of the employees who works in the Pittsburgh office. (When you’re referring to a person, it’s “who.” “Which” is used with things. For example: The Prius is one of the new cars which uses hybrid technology.)
5. Before we bought a car, I used to walk back and forth to the grocery store. (It’s the past “used to” – not the present “use to.” They sound virtually the same, which is why so many people get this wrong.)
6. As CEO, she had a huge effect on the year’s net profits. (In order to use “affect” correctly, it has to mean “to influence or change” and must be a verb. In this sentence, it’s a noun.)
7. All I could do was hold her and tell her everything would be all right. (“Alright” is not a word. You wouldn’t write “alwrong” would you? A few dictionaries have admitted “alright” to their list of acceptable words, but in most circles it is still not correct.)
8. Among the three new receptionists, who is the best with the public? (Why is it correct to write “among” and incorrect to write “between” in this context? As your parents used to say: Just because that’s the way it is!)
9. He was about seven feet tall, which is big even for an NBA star. (For an explanation about why “around” is wrong and “about” is correct in this sentence, refer to sentence #8.)
10. Thanks to the new rules, we had fewer accidents this year than ever. (We’ve talked about this before. If it’s a plural noun – things you can count – use “fewer” – not “less.” Use “less” when the noun is singular. For example: “We had less trouble this year.”)

How Did You Do?

If you correctly edited at least seven of the 10 sentences, you’re doing pretty well. If you missed half of them, you have some work to do. If you got all of them right, or even nine of the 10, pat yourself on the back.

Being a good writer in terms of complying with the rules is not a question of being smart – it’s just a matter of learning them. Yes, it’s boring stuff. Yes, it’s complicated and often illogical. But (again as your parents used to say), that’s the way it is!

Want to hear downtown Istanbul as it really is – as if you were walking along a crowded street in a bazaar at this very minute?

Click here: Instanbul’s Spice Bazaar

Did you hear the prayers being sung from the minarets, the customers haggling, the cars honking as they pushed through the narrow lanes? I made that recording with a little Olympus voice recorder during a trip to Turkey not long ago. My wife and I were walking through the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul – where locals shop – and I held the recorder inconspicuously in one hand as we strolled along because I wanted to capture the market’s wonderfully exotic sounds.

For a writer, that sort of thing can be a valuable resource. That’s why I rarely travel without my handy little voice recorder. Nor do I do interviews without it. And when I’m out walking or hiking with a project or story bouncing around in my mind, that’s why I take it with me. I can’t count the number of times I’ve recorded words and sounds that I’ve used later for articles, books and other writing projects, including my own journal.

A Perfect Traveling Companion

I often use a voice recorder when I travel to capture my own spoken notes when it’s not convenient or possible to take out a notebook and write. I can make audio notes as fast as I want and transcribe them later. I’ve caught important information that way – facts, ideas, thoughts, interesting phrases that are being said or that I’ve heard – valuable tidbits that likely would have slipped away otherwise.

I also like to record the ambient sounds of a place. I have recordings of downpours in the ruins of Tikal, street sounds in the chaos of downtown Cairo, conversations with taxi drivers in Peru and more. I often find these recordings to be even more valuable than photographs.

Interviews and Information Gathering

In the movies, you always see reporters interviewing people for information, a small notebook in one hand and a pen in another, scribbling furiously. I’ve always wondered how they can capture all the facts they need, and do it accurately. (My own experience with “notebook reporters” is that they have gotten things wrong or missed important information.)

These days, you’re more likely to see reporters with voice recorders. Follow their example. Writing in a notebook is a wonderful experience, but unless you have a Dickens-like ability to write shorthand, you’re going to miss important information when it’s coming at you fast and furious and you’re armed with only a pen.

The Stealth Factor

A small voice recorder has another thing going for it: stealth. You can hold one inconspicuously in your hand and it is far less obtrusive than a camera. In fact, it typically goes unnoticed.

If you’re really worried about being noticed, slide it into a pocket with the microphone end of it out. If even that won’t do, you can get a lapel-type microphone and keep the recorder completely hidden. Be careful, though. This starts getting into the cloak-and-dagger realm. Someone might mistake you for an exotic international spy.

My Personal Choice

Numerous voice recorders are available. Like cameras and other electronics, they have gone digital. Several brands are excellent, but my personal preference in terms of a brand of voice recorders has always been Olympus. I use the DS-2200. That model has been discontinued.

Apparently, the newer version is the Olympus DS-50. It has earned even better reviews than the one I have.

There are other recorders in the line that cost less, and I’m sure they’re perfectly acceptable. I chose a more expensive model for its features and recording quality (which is fabulous). For me, it was a business expense, so I could easily justify it.

It has been one of the best investments I’ve made in my writing career.

PS. In case you missed it, my personal choice of audio recorders is the Olympus DS-50. That’s what I’d get if I were buying one today. However, please don’t take my word for it. Research it. Go online and read the reviews. Make comparisons. But whatever you decide, get some sort of voice recorder and use it!

After decades of writing professionally, some issues still make me want to kick holes in my office wall. Maybe you can help me with one of them. Read the following sentence, which I pulled directly out of last Friday’s post.

… when writers should quit writing for the day and what they should do when they put down their pen or take their fingers off the keyboard.

I underlined “pen” and “keyboard” because that is where the problem rears its ugly head. When I first wrote that post, I wrote it like this:

… when writers should quit writing for the day and what they should do when they put down their pens or take their fingers off the keyboards.

But I revised what I wrote and made the two words singular: “pen” and “keyboard.”

Was I right? Should I be praised? Or should I be tied to the back of a truck and dragged through sagebrush?

The quandary, as you may have guessed, is that from a strictly technical standpoint, I should have used the plural “pens” and “keyboards,” because I was talking about writers – not a single writer – and a bunch of writers aren’t going to be sharing a single pen or keyboard.

But then again, when I used the plural form of those words, it made me envision a single writer putting down several pens and taking his or her fingers off multiple keyboards. Do you see what I’m saying?

Sure, I could have solved the problem by changing the plural “writers” to a singular “writer.” Here’s how that would have looked:

… when a writer should quit writing for the day and what he or she should do when he or she puts down his or her pen or takes his or her fingers off the keyboard.

But that would have created another issue – namely, the drudgery of reading so many he-and-she’s and his-and-her’s would have driven you crazy, which is something I try to avoid.

I like to offer sound, conclusive advice on writing in this blog, but this time I’m stumped and I’m asking for your advice. What do you think? Which way would you have taken this, and why?

Help!