16 | The Writer • May 2020
kk Tip: Take sentences connected by
a comma apart to see whether each
clause stands on its own, i.e., do they
have their own subjects and verbs? If
so, you probably have a comma splice.
In our example, both “Editors rarely
respond to pitches on social media”
and “they are more likely to answer
emails” contain a set of subject and
verb (editors/respond and they/are).
4
Dangling modifiers
When editing magazines, I find
many dangling modifiers require
correction. Dangling modifiers occur
when you start a sentence with a
phrase whose subject should be the
very next word after the comma. The
meaning of the sentence changes when
that subject is out of place.
Imagine if I’d written instead,
“When editing magazines, many dan-
gling modifiers require correction.”
Now, “dangling modifiers” are editing
the magazines instead of me, since I
was the subject of the original
sentence.
kkTip: You can avoid danglers easily
by adding the subject into the intro-
ductory phrase. My example sentence
would become, “When I edit maga-
zines, I find many dangling modifiers
require correction,” and voila. No
more dangler.
5
Apostrophes
First, follow proper Christmas
card etiquette and never use an
apostrophe to make a plural. (That
card is from the Nelsons, not the Nel-
son’s.) Second, resist the urge to write
1960’s, unless you are writing about
“1960’s biggest hit song.” Use 1960s (or
1970s or ’80s or ’90s, etc.) when refer-
encing an entire decade.
Generally, you use an apostrophe to
form a conjunction (cannot becomes
can’t) or show possession (a cat
belonging to William becomes Wil-
liam’s cat). If a word ends in s, don’t
change the original word when you cre-
ate the possessive. Say you are writing
about a cat the Williams family owns.
The proper phrase would be “the Wil-
liams’ cat” and not “the William’s cat.” If
you notice the spelling of the original
word has changed in this instance, you
know you did something wrong.
Many style guides disagree on
whether to use ’s (the Williams’ cat) or
s’s (the Williams’s cat) for plurals that
end in s. The former is more com-
mon, but old school editors may use
the latter. Ask editors about their pref-
erence, and remain consistent above
all else. Consistency is the foundation
of grammar.
kkTip: If you aren’t sure if a word
that ends in s needs an apostrophe,
substitute another word that doesn’t
end in s into the sentence. For
instance, for “the boys basketball team”
or “the boys’ basketball team,” substi-
tute “children.” Your choice becomes
“the children basketball team” or “the
children’s basketball team.” In this case,
the possessive is necessary. Go with
boys’ basketball.6
Further vs. farther
Confession: I didn’t use “fur-
ther” and “farther” for years
because I couldn’t keep them straight.
While eliminating words from your
vocabulary ensures you won’t misuse
them, you also limit yourself. You’d be
wiser to learn the definitions and
deploy the words properly.
So now I know that “farther”
denotes a physical, measurable dis-
tance: “She moved farther from Vir-
ginia when she departed Pennsylvania
for Maine.” Further relates to figura-
tive, not literal, space: “She moved fur-
ther from the ideals of her adolescence
as she grew older.”WHEN IS IT OK TO BREAK
THE RULES?My general rule is: It’s OK to
break the rules once you
understand why the rules
exist. Don’t just break them to
break them. I’ve had editing
clients who think their charac-
ters would speak in a certain
voice that demands grammar
goof-ups, but often this is lazy
writing, not characterization. If
you just don’t want to put in
the time or effort to deter-
mine if it should be lay or lie,
affect or effect, then you’re
not going to do the work to
uncover your characters’ moti-
vations, either.