Personal Shifts

Sadly, this is my last post for Say What? I’ve run this section on Live Write Thrive for four years now, and next year will see a new Friday feature. All 208 or so posts are compiled in the second edition of Say What? The Fiction Writer’s Handy Guide to Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage. Be sure to get a copy here!

Making pronouns agree with antecedents (the subject that the pronoun is referring to) is usually easily done without thought, but if we writers aren’t careful, we’ll mix them up incorrectly.

I often see this problem in manuscripts I edit. A writer will begin a paragraph with a particular subject, but will use inappropriate pronouns to refer back to that subject. Or will switch partway through the paragraph.

Take a careful look at this and see if you can catch the problems:

If a person wants to succeed in writing, you have to write at least two hours a day. He can’t think he’ll make a great writer if he only writes on occasion. One has to be diligent. We can’t become great writers without putting in long hard hours. Those of us who write daily know it takes dedication, honing one’s style, and doing all you can to improve your grammar.

I hope that paragraph was as messy to you as it was to me. Point being: when you begin a paragraph and establish your subject, be sure you stay consistent and correct with your related pronouns. You have different choices here, but consistency is the ticket:

If you want to succeed in writing, you have to write at least two hours a day. You can’t think you’ll become a great writer if you only write on occasion. You have to be diligent. You can’t become great without putting in long hard hours.

Those of us who write daily know it takes dedication, honing our style, and doing all we can to improve our grammar. You can too.

You’ll notice how I created a new paragraph when I switched from “you” to “us.”  And honestly, using “one’s” is often a bit stilted. “Keep one’s hands to oneself” surely sounds better rewritten to “keep your hands to yourself.”

Wishing you all a wonderful and productive New Year, and I hope my blog has greatly helped your writing.

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