Hi! I’m Kathy Ide. In addition to being a published author, I’m a full-time professional freelance editor. For CAN, I’m blogging about “PUGS”–Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling…tips for writers based on the most common mistakes I see in the manuscripts I edit. Each blog post will have one tip for each of the four categories, as well as a reason it’s important for authors to “polish their PUGS.” (For more PUGS tips, check out my website, www.KathyIde.com, or get a copy of my book “Polishing the PUGS” (available through the website or at the conferences where I teach). If you’re interested in working with a freelance editor (or know someone who is), e-mail me at Kathy@KathyIde.com. Or go to www.ChristianEditor.com to get referrals to other established, professional editorial freelancers. If you’re a freelance editor yourself, or think you might be interested in that field, check out www.TheChristianPEN.com.

WHY POLISH YOUR PUGS?

Details are important.

How much time and effort have you put into the other aspects of your writing? Is your manuscript not worth polishing? If your craft was pottery, would you go to the effort of creating a beautiful pot and then not varnish it? If you made an afghan, would you not tie off the last row? If you sewed a garment, would you not finish the seams and hems?

And if you did create something without finishing it properly, would you put out your unfinished craft for sale to strangers, expecting people to pay you for it?

PUNCTUATION TIP:

Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation

1. Closing quotation marks always come after a comma or period. Example:

ACFW held workshops on “Characterization,” “Point of View,” and “Floating Body Parts.”

2. Placement depends on whether the punctuation is part of the sentence as a whole or part of the quotation in particular. Examples:
Candy asked, “Do you know the way?”
How can we motivate teenagers who continually say, “I don’t care”?
Tiffany shouted, “Fire!”
I can’t believe he said, “Your story is boring”!

USAGE TIP:

advice/advise

advice (noun) is a suggestion or recommendation. Example:
Cec gave me excellent advice about publishing my book.

advise (verb) means “to suggest or recommend.” Example:
Frani advised me to strengthen the conflict in my romance novel.

GRAMMAR TIP:

Misplaced Modifiers

The position of a modifier determines what thing or action is being modified.

Example #1: “Sharon sent out a proposal for her book on living with horses last week.”
Sharon’s proposal wasn’t for a book about “living with horses last week.” Reword:
“Last week Sharon sent out a proposal for her book on living with horses.”

Example #2: “The editor told me on Thursday I have a book signing.”
Did the editor say this on Thursday, or do you have a book signing on Thursday? Reword:
“On Thursday, the editor told me I have a book signing.” Or:
“The editor told me I have a book signing on Thursday.”

SPELLING TIP:

divorcé (a divorced man)
divorcée (a divorced woman)

fiancé (a man engaged to be married)
fiancée (a woman engaged to be married)

For Articles: The AP Stylebook does not use accent marks over the e’s in fiance and fiancee.