seen from Germany
seen from Denmark
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from Bulgaria
seen from United States
seen from Italy
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from France
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Maldives
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
The garden-path sentence #amwriting
The garden-path sentence #amwriting
As NaNoWriMo winds down, I am preparing to face a manuscript full of wandering, garbled sentences. These are the products of my fingers not being able to keep up with my brain. I might know what that sentence means, but my editor won’t. My job in December is to be alert and watch for ambiguous phrasings. About garden-path sentences, via Wikipedia, the fount of all knowledge: (The term) garden…
View On WordPress
Her first year of university cost thousands of dollars and her sanity.
#amwriting: The Garden Path
#amwriting: The Garden Path
Plum Trees in Blossom, Pissaro 1894 via Wikimedia Commons
Today we are looking at the second of two creatively named structural errors that can introduce ambiguity to our work. On Monday we looked closely at “squinting modifiers” and today we are walking the “garden path sentence.”
Most of us are aware that many times a sentence is made stronger by the elimination of relative pronouns, such as th…
View On WordPress
#amwriting: squinting modifiers
This week we are going to look at two structural errors that introduce ambiguity into our narrative.
First up is the hilariously named squinting modifier. Who thinks up these things? The first time I came across that expression, I thought it was a joke. However, in the world of writing, a “squinting modifier” is simply a type of misplaced modifier. According to Neal at Literal Minded, the term…
View On WordPress
GARDEN PATHS, OR, WHY WE NEED COMMAS
A "garden -path sentence" is so called, in the formal discipline of linguistics, because it leads the reader down the garden path. A classic example begins like this:
Before the king rides his beautiful white horse...
And ends like this:
...is groomed.
Here are some examples that I've collected, first the beginnings and then the endings.
Beginnings:
When summoned to bed the toddler... [I find this one very creepy]
Everyone was soaked but Jesse and Doug...
She held out her hand for Max and the four of them...
It was an unpleasant drive to the hospital with Owen...
The sign illuminated the windows and the front of the building...
Endings:
...began to cry.
...didn't...
...went...
...gripping...
...had...
It's easy to overuse commas. But then again, sometimes they are needed to avoid confusing (and irritating, or creeping out) the reader.
