Category Archives: editing
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Playing Tag: 3 attribution alternatives for cleaner dialogue
Leave a commentFebruary 23, 2018 by bradcharlesbeals
Attributing quotation to the right speaker is essential for clarity, but the traditional tag (he said…she said…said the butler) is …
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Oddball Grammar
Leave a commentSeptember 17, 2014 by bradcharlesbeals
Grammar gems from the oddball category: 1. Compound possession… Mike’s and Pam’s phones were stolen. (Each owned a phone; both …
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Value props or zero-content filler?
Leave a commentMay 21, 2013 by bradcharlesbeals
When we write about ourselves–our businesses, our companies, our communities–we can’t help but write from our own affections. But there’s …
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LESS or FEWER?
Leave a commentApril 12, 2013 by bradcharlesbeals
Similar to the more/most error, this one is fixed by being mindful of number. WRONG: The less mistakes we make, …
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You are NOT special…you can do better than special
Leave a commentJanuary 31, 2013 by bradcharlesbeals
As I wander the writer/author social-media world, I’m bombarded by messages that I’m wonderful. And I don’t mean personal, direct …
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The good sentence is a well-secured load
Leave a commentJanuary 11, 2013 by bradcharlesbeals
A sentence carries its meaning as a truck its load. The good driver secures it carefully. He cuts weight: innocuous …
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You Are What You Read: A Sedimentary Approach
Leave a commentJanuary 8, 2013 by bradcharlesbeals
Our writing (and all that comprises it) is always moving toward our own internal standard. And the standard itself is …
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God and Pronoun Case Form
Leave a commentJanuary 4, 2013 by bradcharlesbeals
Much of grammar involves putting things into categories. Case forms of pronouns are one group of categories, and I spend …
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Don’t Fear the Static Character
1December 31, 2012 by bradcharlesbeals
The word static, when describing a character, does not have to be dirty. Think of the static character as a …
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The Writer’s Habitat
Leave a commentDecember 11, 2012 by bradcharlesbeals
British Lit is a survey course, so we jump from one period to the next. Usually the periods are divided …
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