Fun with Conan the Grammarian

Use Amazon.com and the Best-Seller List to Resolve Style Issues

Conan — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:44:02 +0000

At my critique group meeting the other night, we were going over some pages from a member we’ll call the Divine Miss M. She’s writing an urban fantasy about a straight-up avenging angel, and it is going to be amazing. But as I was critiquing the pages, I found that she was using uppercase for epithets like “Honey” and “Sweetie” and “Babe.” This bugged me, but I couldn’t find any expert resource that addressed this issue. I went to the Chicago Manual of Style and first of all wasn’t sure how to search for such information. I did a Google search and found forums discussing the issue, but again, no definitive answers (mostly a lot of “I think it should be X” and even worse, “I feel it should be Y.”)

So I hit the Amazon bestseller lists and went through the books that have the “Look inside” option.

Searched for “honey” and “sweetie.” In the search box, case doesn’t matter.

Here are the results from Stephen King’s 11/22/63.

So when you can’t find a definitive answer as to whether to use the serial comma or “all right” vs. “alright,” search the bestsellers and/or books produced by your publisher of choice and follow their style rules.

Happy New Year!

Conan — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:33:59 +0000

Happy New Year!

To toast the old and ring in the new, below are the top ten posts of 2011. Enjoy!

Spelling Therapy

Conan — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:44:36 +0000

At least the sign painter didn’t add an apostrophe to “walk-ins.”

Lips Makin’

Conan — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:46:01 +0000

So let me get this straight…lips are makin’ the grub? Those are some talented lips!

Lips makin’, a photo by ConanTheGrammarian on Flickr.

Scrivener: My New Best Writing Buddy

Conan — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:52:11 +0000

Out of the mouths of Carnegie Mellon University freshmen come great wisdom. My daughter, the lovely and talented Chloe, turned me on to this amazing tool. I’ve got a behemoth of a manuscript that desperately needed reorganization, but because it was so large, I’d all but given up.

Then came Scrivener.

The brainchild of UK-based Literature and Latte, it’s primarily a Mac app, but there’s also a version in beta for PC. I’ve installed it on my Mac laptop and my PC desktop, and the .scriv files move easily between the two thanks to Dropbox. While it’s not for everyone (the tutorial is long, but it’s worth it), you can download the trial version before you give up the very reasonable $45.

By organizing scenes and chapters into notecards on a virtual corkboard, Scrivener allows me to move them around at will, get a look at the over-arching structure and color code each scene to denote point of view. I am weeping with relief and getting more writing done more efficiently than ever before.

I just might get this thing finished yet.

New Motto for Conan

Conan — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:11:32 +0000

Recover or Re-cover?

Conan — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:09:06 +0000

Should we re-cover this or use it to recover?

Dear Conan,

Long time no gripe!

I’ve been reviewing a company document…I’m sure I’m right about the first word I questioned: “recover.”

The statement was that the roofing material, if uncovered, must be recovered. I say it needs to be re-covered, and I’m on pretty solid ground with that. Recover has a totally different meaning than re-cover.

However, in another paragraph, the statement is

“All loose sheets should be restacked on the Styrofoam runners.”

I’m not as sure about re-stacked. What say you? Is this splitting hairs?

~Jodi

Hi, Jodi! So glad to hear from you!

To answer your question, I agree with your assessment wholeheartedly, in the name of consistency and because “restack” is not actually a word.

Is splitting hairs wrong? Absolutely not! If not for that, there’d be no need for Conan, and we’d have all-out anarchy.

Your ally in correctness,

Conan

Reciprocals or Receptacles?

Conan — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:48:04 +0000

It’s so sensitive, in fact, that it demands a reciprocal relationship.

Your or You?

Conan — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:04:55 +0000

Dear Conan:

If I want to express gratitude for someone copying me on an email or such, should I say “I really appreciate your keeping me informed” or “I really appreciate you keeping me informed,” or something else? I suppose I could avoid the problem by saying “Thanks for keeping me informed,” but that would mean I don’t need to consult the grammar guru.

~Mark

Dear Mark,

As it turns out, either would be correct, although your substitutionary sentence is more succinct and offers the bonus feature of preventing you from using the Valley-Girl-esque word “really.”

Your ally in correctness,

Conan

Closer to Heaven=Farther from a Dictionary

Conan — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:03:08 +0000