Grammar Girl: You get to choose how to format internal dialogue

Posted on 10/23/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The rules for formatting external dialogue are fairly straightforward — sure, they vary in different countries, but at least each...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl, Language

“Whoa” or “woah”? The answer might surprise you

Posted on 10/12/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

A frustrated reader wrote to Grammar Girl to complain about seeing a particular exclamation of emotion spelled “woah” and not...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl, Language

Add humor to your book with these four techniques

Posted on 10/08/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

If there’s one thing that the majority of us can agree on, it’s that more levity would be good for...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl relents on "although" versus "while"

Posted on 10/04/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Perhaps you’ve been using “while” and “although” interchangeably, or perhaps you’re like Mignon Fogarty and have cringed at such usage...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl, Language

Grammar Girl clarifies three sets of easily confused words

Posted on 09/04/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

It’s easy to guess why Grammar Girl has chosen three recent word-choice topics to expound upon. “Gantlet” versus “gauntlet” and...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl, Language

Grammar Girl's primer on diacritical marks

Posted on 07/31/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Grammar Girl’s recent discussion of whether to use “re-enter” or “reenter” left at least one reader unsatisfied. Specifically, he wondered...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl: Writers should use "Black," not "black"

Posted on 07/26/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

In the past few months, you’ve probably noticed a dramatic uptick in the use of "Black" versus "black" when referring...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl, Language

Start with strong characters for a powerful action scene

Posted on 07/21/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

What’s the secret to an adrenaline-spiking action scene? Well-rounded characters! Okay, so we’re oversimplifying Joshua Essoe’s interview on the fine...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl, Writing advice

Grammar Girl's opinion on "reenter" versus "re-enter"

Posted on 07/07/2020 at 11:15 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

We shared controversial language news on our reader blog yesterday (and made sure it was seen by posting it on...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Editing, Grammar Girl, Language

Should you capitalize dog breeds?

Posted on 02/20/2020 at 04:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Today is National Love Your Pet Day, so it makes perfect sense that we’d share a dog-related editing tip. Grammar...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Grammar Girl, Language