5 Quick Fix Grammar Resources

Happy Friday!

It’s time again for another Fast Five. This week I decided on a topic that keeps many of us up late at night, causes haunting nightmares for newbie writers, and strikes fear in the hearts of small children and adults everywhere. What am I blathering about? Grammar. Horrid stuff, I  know.

Maaaybe I’m exaggerating a bit on the fear in small children part. But it’s definitely there for some adults. At least, it is for me. It’s been a long time since I hit the books in middle school (no, I’m not telling you how long!) and studied prepositions, conjunctions, and appropriate comma usage. When I was ready to write my first book, I dove in and just wrote. I didn’t pay much attention to grammar. Six months later, I handed the horrible, grammar abused mess to my editor. I still send her frequent packages of chocolates as an apology.

I’m just starting my writing journey, and it’s a work in progress. Hopefully, one day my grammar will be gloriously error free. For now, I have to work at it. Listed below are five great resources for grammar tips.

1. The Elements of Style Fourth Edition by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White:  Ok, Ok. Most of you will know this one and have at least one edition. It’s the grammar bible for all new writers. At just under a hundred pages, this little nugget of grammar goodness offers chapters on correct comma usage, using active voice, words and expressions commonly misused, and avoiding the use of qualifiers. It gives easy to understand definitions and examples. The first edition is FREE on Amazon if you want to take a look: http://amzn.com/B005IT0V8O. And since I promised some cat pics from time to time, I included one above with my edition. The little gray cutie is Freya.

2. Grammar Girl- Quick and Dirty Tips:  A website that offers quick grammar tips (PG rated, of course). At the top of the web page you’ll find a search box where you can plug in your question. Let’s say you want to know about semicolon usage. I typed semicolon in the search box and got a handful of posts. I picked the one that explained how to use semicolons. It gave simple explanations and examples. If I wanted to learn more, I could have kept clicking. Who knew there was so much to learn about semicolons? http://www.quickanddirtytips.com

3. Chomp Chomp (Grammar Bytes!):  A recent discovery and new fave. A website that, again, offers quick grammar tips. But, it also has some fun interactive games to test your grammar skills. To enter the site, you have to click on the shark. Once inside, you’ll find categories like the Daily Grammar Workout where you can hop on twitter and test your super-duper grammar skills. Today’s sentence: Shawana found the empty doughnut box__on the floor and her dog farting on the sofa. Your choices are laying or lying. Click on your choice to see the correct answer. Did you get it right? Another snazzy exercise involves answering questions by choosing whats behind door number one or two. Today I won a “cool cyber car” for a question about comma splices. Pure awesomenss. http://www.chompchomp.com

4. Grammar Monster: Another cool website that will help you with your grammar woes. Instead of a shark mascot you’ll find a Homer Simpson lookalike with… horns? Anyhoo, it’s a quick and easy site to look up grammar rules and find examples of do’s and dont’s. http://www.grammar-monster.com

5. Writing Class:  You’ve heard me say this before: Get thee to a writing class ASAP! Well, maybe not exactly like that. In a previous post about local resources for authors, I mentioned the benefits of joining a writing class. Not only will you become a better writer, you will learn how to polish your manuscript. The class I attended had several sessions devoted to editing that focused on grammar and punctuation. We received extensive notes to help get our manuscripts shipshape.I kept everything and still pull out the handouts from time to time.

BONUS:  Grammar Software for your PC:  I  know I’m only supposed to mention five resources, but I couldn’t resist adding a bonus today. Although I’ve heard about a few of these programs, I don’t have much experience with them. I believe you can do a free trial for most, which is a good thing. They  will cost you a pretty penny after the free trial. The ones I found are Grammarly, Ginger, and After the Deadline. Basically, they are grammar checkers that focus on finding text errors. Some offer synonym suggestions and even claim to check for plagiarism. Feel free to drop me a comment if you’ve used any of these. http://www.grammarly.com, http://www.gingersoftware.com, http://www.afterthedeadline

And in keeping with the bonus goodies, I’ve added an extra cat pic. Because there aren’t enough cat pictures on the internet : )

 

Thanks for stopping by! Check back next week for another Fast Five writing tips.