Back to editing... such fun lol

 

 In writing for publication, the reader has to be taken into account-- whether it's a blog, story, or book. The author desires to write their story and that's the most powerful part of the initial draft-- at least in my case. I try to get the grammar right at the same time, but not at the point of losing my flow. 

Then, comes editing... Although writers could send their manuscripts off to a professional editor right away, most go through many edits before doing that. After all, they are the main ones to know the theme they are trying to portray. 

When editing, it's not just about possible typos or misspelled words, missing commas, etc., but also what readers will find disrupting to their experience with their own flow of reading.

Here's where trouble starts with words we typically misuse when speaking; but when written down, they become more obnoxious to a future reader-- especially readers of the anal sort, who know all about the English language as it should be. Catching those things before that reader does might avoid a review that says-- needs more editing. Well, for the writer, those who read reviews (many choose not to do so), the question has to be what did they find that annoyed them? Maybe a split infinitive that we might often have in our speaking but woe unto the book where it's found by those distracted by that exact detail.

There are words that I often will try to find a different word to avoid because I don't want to have to look up and figure out which version is right for that sentence. There are words that I pretty much always know the correct version, but know very well that when I am talking to a friend, I might use the word wrong. They don't care and neither do I as it's not written down.

The program Grammarly is useful for some of this but with books not so much. It can only go over so much text, certainly not a book where the writer intends it to go to say 100,000 words. That requires breaking writing into sections, which is disruptive for me in terms of creative flow.

The English language is full of words that can be taken two ways but spelled the same. Working a crossword puzzle is a good reminder of that. 

So, I thought I'd mention one word that often makes me stop and think when I am using it--- and feel I must use it. Lie or Lay, present tense, and all their past tense and .future/past perfect tenses. That's where lie and lay get more complicated for which version to use. 

Add to it that lie has another meaning-- to not tell the truth. That though is easier to make into past/perfect tenses and past tense. He lied to me. I have lied. I will have lied if I go on with  this. You are lying to me. Adding an -ing makes it past simple. Confused yet? No wonder a writer sometimes chooses a different word.

In the previous paragraph I purposely used a split infinitive-- to not tell the truth... To satisfy a purist, that should be not to tell the truth. I personally don't see a difference in understandability, but I am no purist. I did also look split infinitives up, and it's not the rigid rule for grammar that some believe. That doesn't mean writers do not need to watch out for what might ruin another reader's enjoyment or even for them to lose the theme, which matters to the writer. Sometimes, to avoid that is not a minor change, and it would work against the writer's intent, but when it is minor, why not change it?

Now, let's get to the other meaning of lie and lay-- to recline or to put something down. Here is where how we talk often goes against how we need to write. I could easily say, "I am going to lay down, but would that be correct? I came across this in Thesaurus.

"Lay means “to place or put” (Lay that here). The word lay is also the past tense form of the sense of lie that means “to recline,” as in I lay in bed yesterday. Lay down can mean “to place down” (Lay down your bags), but it can also be the past tense of lie down, as in I lay down for a few hours. A nonstandard but common use of lay is to mean the same thing as the present tense of lie, as in I just want to lay in bed for a few more minutes or I laid down for a few hours. It’s best to avoid this use (and the confusion it can cause) in formal contexts." quote from Lay vs. Lie How to use correctly.

For anyone wanting more about correct usage of these words, go to that link. I've had enough going through it to last until the next time I face the issue *s*.

The app for Grammarly can be a big help, when used in editing-- not so much the first draft, in my opinion. It can really break a flow. It is also only free for the simplest version. To catch more errors of all kinds, it costs but not that much for the help it offers.