Wednesday Writing

What grammar issue–simple or complex–always seems to trip you up? What does your editor always point out as a mistake, but you don’t understand why?

What grammar issue would you like to understand better?

Tuesday Two

Write a story with only two sentences. Use the photo for inspiration if you wish.

Photo by Jorgen Hendriksen on Unsplash.

A residential area where all the homes have the same terracotta roofs and rectangular, turquoise pools.

Monday Muddle: letdown, let down

Monday Muddle: letdown (noun) disappointment; frustration; disillusionment; anticlimax; setback let down: (verb phrase) disappoint; lower; begin landing an aircraft; lengthen; give bad news Examples in caption.

Examples: 

His last book was a letdown. (Noun=disappointment)

I let down my friends when I cancelled at the last minute. (Verb phrase=disappointed)

I let down the rope ladder so she could join us in the tree house. (Verb phrase=lowered)

I was still a good distance from the airport when I started to let down. (Verb phrase=to descend before landing an airplane)

I let down the hem of his pants because he has grown two inches this month. (Verb phrase=to lengthen)

We let down the participants as gently as we could when we cancelled the festival for the second year. (Verb phrase=give bad news)

The object of the verb can also be placed between “let” and “down”. If that is the case, then you know it needs a space.

Wednesday Writing

I have a long list of words that I could choose from, but if there is a word that you often see confused with another, I’m happy to take requests too. The most common muddle in your circles may not be the same as the most common in mine. I want to share what will help you most.

What word mix-ups would you like explained in a Monday Muddle?

Tuesday Two

Write a story with only two sentences. Use the photo for inspiration if you wish.

Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash.

An ivory coloured horse with a dark sandy coloured mane hanging down over its eyes.

Monday Muddle: barely, barley

“It’s barely there” does not mean the same as “it’s barley there”. The former means that something scarcely exists. The latter is pointing out a plant or grain.

Monday Muddle: barely, barley barely: (adverb) hardly; scarcely; by a very little; sparsely; almost inconceivably; only just barley: (noun) a grain used for food and in the making of beer; the plant from which the grain is harvested