Dr. D’s Helpful Hints on your writing
Dr. D's Helpful Hints on your writing -- No.1
1.Go easy on adverbs and adjectives. Concentrate on improving your nouns and verbs instead.
2.Shun empty adjectives such as incredible, beautiful, interesting, worthwhile. These words have lost their meaning through overuse. Show us why something is incredible, beautiful or interesting. Let us figure it out.
3.Use your spell checker to get rid of "there is" and "there are" in your writing. Use real verbs instead.
4.Quality is not an adjective. It is a noun. Things can be of high quality or low quality or some other quality. A "quality program" is incorrect.
5.Avoid straining to avoid repeating a word. Don't call snow "white stuff" the second time you mention it. Just use snow again.
6.Quotes are great, but save them for something notable. Avoid quoting someone as saying, "The sun will rise again tomorrow."
7.Facts and opinions are different. It's polite and useful to preface opinions with a brief signal--"In my opinion, AIDS is on the decline in the United States."
8.Avoid "no brainer" stories. A personality profile of your sister is unlikely to interest many people, unless your sister is Madonna.
9.Rewriting helps. Let your story "cool off" for a couple of hours. Then read it again before you send it on its way.
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10.Every story should have a premise, a reason for existing. Make sure you know what the premise of your story is. If you don't know, we won't know.
Dr. D's Helpful Hints on Your Writing -- No. 2
1.The library is that big building downtown with all the books in it. Go there. It is filled with ideas for stories.
2.Avoid "whichcraft." If your story is full of "whiches," you probably need to rewrite it.
3.All writing stems from speech. To improve your sentences, read them aloud. If you have to take a breath in the middle of your sentences, shorten them.
4.Quotations are sacred -- never make them up, unless you are writing fiction.
5.Display quotations -- give them a paragraph of their own. They are important.
6.Foreshadowing is fine -- but if you are writing a narrative, save the climax until the end.
7.Try to write using only three punctuation marks -- period, comma and question mark. The others tend to make your work seem stuffy, old-fashioned, disorganized or gushy.
8.Every story deserves a strong ending.
9.Spell out percent. Save % for tables.
10.Pronouns are useful, but make sure you have a clear referent for each one you use.
Dr. D's helpful hints on your writing -- No. 3
1.Leave out very and other intensifiers. I'll guarantee you won't miss them.
2.Myself is not the same as I. "Sue and myself are going" is incorrect.
3.Do not use hopefully. Just don't.
4.Refer to people and named animals as who not that. The man that followed me is wrong. The dog that followed me is right.
5.Hyphens and dashes are different. Hyphens are short - . Dashes are long — .
6.Avoid inventing words using wise — naturewise, qualitywise. It's unpleasant, grammarwise.
7.In the media it's summer, winter, fall and spring. No caps.
8.If it's a direction, it's lowercase. If it's a part of the country — the North — it's uppercase.
9.Everything you write should have a premise — one main reason for being. If you don't know what your story's premise is, your reader won't know either. In journalistic writing, the premise usually appears near the beginning of the story in a short paragraph known as the nut graph.
10.Does your story celebrate the obvious? "Christmas comes on Dec. 25 this year!" (Avoid doing this to your readers).
11.A cheap laugh obtained by publishing something in poor taste may be expensive in the long run. Avoid harming your reputation in this way.
12.Honest emotion is good, but fake sentimentality is not. Just tell us what happened, and let us decide whether to cry or laugh.
Dr. D's Helpful Hints on Your Writing -- No. 4
1.Avoid mixing unrelated thoughts in the same sentence as in the following: "Born in Athens, Ga., he became an architect and celebrated his 85th birthday in Seattle."
2.Shun journalese: He authored the book. She hosted the party. The parade featured elephants and donkeys. The alleged killer ran into the woods. According to Jones ....
3.Unnecessary warmups can be left out. Asked what he thought about labor unions, he said, "American society can no longer function without its labor unions."
4.Germans tend to let their subjects and verbs drift apart. Americans try to keep their subjects and verbs close together. Be patriotic.
5.Occurred and accommodate and separate are correct. Occured and accomodate and seperate are incorrect.
6.Loan is the noun. Lend is the verb. "She loaned him her car" is both a bad idea and an incorrect expression.
7.Farther and further. Farther has to do with physical distance. Further has to do with time or degree. Correct: "The farther I drove with him, the more I realized I wanted nothing further to do with him."
8.Adjectives often use hyphens, verbs don't. Example: I make up the paper. I am the make-up editor.
9.Canceled. Meetings often make more news when they are canceled (not cancelled) than when they are held.
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10.Vice. Avoid using with a hyphen. It's vice president, not vice-president.
Dr. D’s Helpful Hints for Hum 305 -- No. 5
Oct. 22, 1996
1. Good is usually an adjective. It modifies nouns. He is a good boy. Well is an adverb. It modifies verbs. She does her work well.
2. Some people believe that “talking dumb” is smart. It isn’t. It strengthens bad habits that are difficult to ditch when you need to. When you accept the Pulitzer Prize with your pal, you don’t want to catch yourself saying, “Him and me done it together.”
3. Verbs of feeling and being take predicate adjectives. How do you feel? The answer is “I feel good” or “I feel bad.” When people say “I feel badly,” it indicates that they have lost their sense of touch.
4. Unfortunate expressions — “with regards to,” “towards” and “afterwards.” Try “with regard to,” “toward” and “afterward” instead.
5. A really unfortunate expression — “Being as I am a college student, naturally I write good.” Try “since” or “because” instead. I won’t even mention that “good” is incorrect.
A college graduate already knows that.
6. Providing vs. provided. Usually “provided” is better in the expression — “Provided that you prepare the dessert, I will grill the shrimp.”
7. Avoid “feel like” in expressions such as “I feel like you need to wash the car.” Try “feel that” instead, or just forget the whole thing and start over.
8. Apostrophes are coming out of nowhere these days to mess up perfectly good words. The guy’s are coming to the Christmas party. The right word is guys.
9. Is that book your’s? No apostrophe is needed in “yours.” Who’s book is it? It should be “whose.” “Who’s” means “who is.”
10. Audrey and Laney’s dresses came from the same rack. It should be “Audrey’s and Laney’s.” Their dresses are similar, not simular.
11. The past tense of the verb “to lead” is led, not lead.
12. Don’t listen to people who say “between you and I.” “Between you and me” is correct.
Dr. D’s Helpful Hints for Hum305 -- No. 6
Wayne Danielson
Nov. 26, 1996
1. Try to avoid writing empty sentences, ones that simply tell us what we already know. Examples: The future lies ahead. Christmas comes around every December.
2. Commas and periods increasingly go inside closing quotation marks, not inside sometimes and outside sometimes. I like this new style.
3. Farther goes with distance. He could kick the football farther (not further) than anyone in the fourth grade.
4. In regards to is irritating. With regard to is both soothing and correct.
5. Completely absurd is overkill. Absurd is enough.
6. Continued on is redundant. Continued is sufficient.
7. Intensifiers such as very, extremely and incredibly rarely arouse our interest. Usually they arouse our suspicion instead. “Oh yeah?” we tend to think.
8. I went to the beach with my Uncle John and my Uncle Jim. He let me swim out to the raft. Who did what? This common error is called indefinite pronoun reference. Always check your pronouns to see that their referents are clear.
9. Writing and reading go together. Most good writers are voracious readers. Try to read at least one book a week just for fun. Branch out. Read in areas you haven’t considered before. Your writing will improve as your knowledge increases, and you will have something to talk (and write) about.
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10.People who work out at least three times a week lead healthier lives. People who write as much as they exercise become better at expressing themselves. Try writing on the days you don’t work out. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your writing improves.
Dr. D’s Helpful Hints for Hum 305 -- No. 7
Oct. 22, 1996
1. Good is usually an adjective. It modifies nouns. He is a good boy. Well is an adverb. It modifies verbs. She does her work well.
2. Some people believe that “talking dumb” is smart. It isn’t. It strengthens bad habits that are difficult to ditch when you need to. When you accept the Pulitzer Prize with your pal, you don’t want to catch yourself saying, “Him and me done it together.”
3. Verbs of feeling and being take predicate adjectives. How do you feel? The answer is “I feel good” or “I feel bad.” When people say “I feel badly,” it indicates that they have lost their sense of touch.
4. Unfortunate expressions — “with regards to,” “towards” and “afterwards.” Try “with regard to,” “toward” and “afterward” instead.
5. A really unfortunate expression — “Being as I am a college student, naturally I write good.” Try “since” or “because” instead. I won’t even mention that “good” is incorrect.
A college graduate already knows that.
6. Providing vs. provided. Usually “provided” is better in the expression — “Provided that you prepare the dessert, I will grill the shrimp.”
7. Avoid “feel like” in expressions such as “I feel like you need to wash the car.” Try “feel that” instead, or just forget the whole thing and start over.
8. Apostrophes are coming out of nowhere these days to mess up perfectly good words. The guy’s are coming to the Christmas party. The right word is guys.
9. Is that book your’s? No apostrophe is needed in “yours.” Who’s book is it? It should be “whose.” “Who’s” means “who is.”
10. Audrey and Laney’s dresses came from the same rack. It should be “Audrey’s and Laney’s.” Their dresses are similar, not simular.
11. The past tense of the verb “to lead” is led, not lead.
12. Don’t listen to people who say “between you and I.” “Between you and me” is correct.
Dr. D’s Helpful Hints for Hum305 -- No. 7
Wayne Danielson
Nov. 26, 1996
1. Try to avoid writing empty sentences, ones that simply tell us what we already know. Examples: The future lies ahead. Christmas comes around every December.
2. Commas and periods increasingly go inside closing quotation marks, not inside sometimes and outside sometimes. I like this new style.
3. Farther goes with distance. He could kick the football farther (not further) than anyone in the fourth grade.
4. In regards to is irritating. With regard to is both soothing and correct.
5. Completely absurd is overkill. Absurd is enough.
6. Continued on is redundant. Continued is sufficient.
7. Intensifiers such as very, extremely and incredibly rarely arouse our interest. Usually they arouse our suspicion instead. “Oh yeah?” we tend to think.
8. I went to the beach with my Uncle John and my Uncle Jim. He let me swim out to the raft. Who did what? This common error is called indefinite pronoun reference. Always check your pronouns to see that their referents are clear.
9. Writing and reading go together. Most good writers are voracious readers. Try to read at least one book a week just for fun. Branch out. Read in areas you haven’t considered before. Your writing will improve as your knowledge increases, and you will have something to talk (and write) about.
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10.People who work out at least three times a week lead healthier lives. People who write as much as they exercise become better at expressing themselves. Try writing on the days you don’t work out. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your writing improves.
Dr. D’s Helpful Hints for Hum305 -- No. 8
Wayne Danielson
Nov. 12, 1996
1. Every university student should know how to spell received.
2. Can you sum up your story in 30 seconds or less? In Hollywood, this is called “pitching your story.” Try it. You’ll find that it helps concentrate your thought.
3. Stuck in the middle of a bad sentence? Don’t try to rescue it. Just start over. Take it from someone who has been stranded many times, “rescued” sentences are losers.
4. Learn to write around your problems. Not sure whether the verb is to lie or to lay? Write around this problem. Not sure what a long word means? Use a shorter one you know the meaning of.
5. Use key words to help carry the reader through your story. Use a key word from sentence 1 to help get sentence 2 started. Uses a key word from sentence 2 in sentence 3, and so on. Writers call this “stitching,” and it’s a good technique. Return to the main key word of the story often.
6. Avoid reading people’s minds. Just write down what people say and do. Don’t try to guess what they “felt” or “believed” or “understood.” (By the way, this is a good rule for living as well as for writing.) Read some Steinbeck to understand the power of this approach.
7. Good writing is always the result of rewriting. Even Abe Lincoln did it when he wrote The Gettysburg Address.
8. Are you writing too fast? Get off that word processor. Write your first draft with a pencil. Imagine that you are a poet writing a sonnet to your lover. Take your time. Get it just right.
9. Don’t gush. A good story tells itself. It does not need a fine frosting of adjectives and adverbs.
10. Avoid long introductions. Get into the story as quickly as you can. If you are writing a story about a bear attack, bring on the bear right away. Don’t begin with, “It was a dark and stormy night.”
11. Mixed metaphors confuse readers. Avoid saying, “Let’s run the idea up the flag pole and see whether it sinks or swims.”
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12. A little mystery or suspense never hurt a story. Don’t telegraph your punchline.
Dr. D’s Helpful Hints for Hum 305--9
Sept. 19, 1995
1. Quotations are sacred -- never make them up, unless you are writing fiction.
2. Display quotations -- give them a paragraph of their own. They are important.
3. Foreshadowing is fine -- but if you are writing a narrative, save the climax until the end.
4. Try to write using only three punctuation marks -- period, comma and question mark.
The others tend to make your work seem stuffy, old-fashioned, disorganized
or gushy.
5. Every story deserves a strong ending.
6. Spell out percent. Save % for tables.
7. Pronouns are useful, but make sure you have a clear referent for each one you use.
8. Leave out very and other intensifiers. I’ll guarantee you wont miss them.
9. Myself is not the same as I. “Sue and myself are going” is incorrect.
10. Do not use hopefully. Just don’t.
11. Refer to people and named animals as who not that. The man that followed me
is wrong.
12. Hyphens and dashes are different. Hyphens are short - . Dashes are long. –
13. Quality is not an adjective. Make it a high quality program, not a quality program.
14. Avoid made up words using wise -- naturewise, qualitywise. They make us feel sickwise.
15. Unique does not take qualifiers. Totally unique is wrong. It’s like totally destroyed.
16. In the media it’s summer, winter, fall and spring. No caps.
17. If it’s a direction, it’s lowercase. If it’s a part of the country – the North – it’s uppercase.
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