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“A reversal is a total 180.*10 If you do a total 360, you’re facing the same direction as when you began.”
― Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
― Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
“If you can append ‘by zombies’ to the end of a sentence (or, yes, ‘by the clown’), you’ve indeed written a sentence in the passive voice.”
― Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style: The UK Edition
― Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style: The UK Edition
“I know that back when you were in seventh-grade typing class and pecking away at your Smith Corona Coronet Automatic 12, Mrs. Tegnell taught you to type a double space after a sentence-ending period, but you are no longer in the seventh grade, you are no longer typing on a typewriter, and Mrs. Tegnell is no longer looking over your shoulder.”
― Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
― Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
“All this said, there’s nothing wrong with sentences constructed in the passive voice – you’re simply choosing where you want to put the sentence’s emphasis – and I see nothing objectionable in, say, The floors were swept, the beds made, the rooms aired out. Since the point of interest is the cleanness of the house and not the identity of the cleaner. But many a sentence can be improved by putting its true protagonist at the beginning, so that’s something to be considered.fn10”
― Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style: The UK Edition
― Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style: The UK Edition
“Beyond this [checking for spelling, punctuation, and grammar] is where copyediting can elevate itself from what sounds like something a passably sophisticated piece of software should be able to accomplish--it can't, not for style, not for grammar (even if it thinks it can), and not even for spelling (more on spelling, much more on spelling, later)--to true craft. On a good day, it achieves something between a really thorough teeth cleaning--as a writer once described it to me--and a whiz-bang magic act.”
― Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
― Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
Gary’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Gary’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
1,438 books
|
17 friends
2,191 books
|
84 friends
323 books
|
42 friends
105 books
|
157 friends
452 books
|
4 friends
7 books
|
79 friends
121 books
|
2,355 friends
41 books
|
4,959 friends
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