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“If I Were (Was) a Rich Man …”

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by Barbara McNichol

The play Fiddler on the Roof recently came through my city, and my friend kept singing her dad’s favorite song from that hit: “If I Were a Rich Man.” My comment? “I’m glad the lyricist got the grammar right!”

Why is the use of “were” (not “was”) correct in this song title and similar phrases? Consider the conditional meaning associated with using an “if” clause. In this case, the lyrics “if I were a rich man” reflect a wishful condition, not a true statement.

You may recall how Tevye, the character in Fiddler on the Roof who sang this song, lamented his lowly position as a milkman and wondered what wealth would bring to his life.

If at one time he had been rich, he could factually say, “When I was a rich man.” But in the context of Fiddler on the Roof, he could only hope to be rich.

What about the song “If I Were a Carpenter”? Here, the lyricist correctly uses “were” to depict a hope or dream, not a current fact.

When It’s Correct to Use “Was”

So when would you use “was” (not “were”) in an “if” clause? When it introduces an indirect question or statement of fact. Examples:

  • The boss asked if I was (not “were”) finished with the report. This factual statement is based on what’s true or possible, not something hypothetical.
  • If he was (not “were”) guilty, he would have remained silent. This states a fact that’s likely true, not something conditional.

In the statements you write, remember to use “were” when the situation calls for being conditional, hypothetical, or wishful. And like Tevye, that’s how you can make a plea for the wealth you wish for!

***

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Be a Better Writer–STOP Using “Start” So Much

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by Barbara McNichol

Pop Quiz

To be a better writer, when should you stop using the word start?

Answer

Now. Good writing includes the ability to craft strong, clear statements. Extraneous words and phrases water down communications. An outstanding example of this is the overuse of the words “start” and “begin.”

Look at these examples of creating stronger statements by going straight to the key action verb rather than “beginning” to go for it.

Example 1: Slowly begin to approach your teammate with your idea.

Better: Slowly approach your teammate with your idea.

Example 2: Start making an agenda for the meeting.

Better: Make an agenda for the meeting.

True confession time: Do you ever overuse “start” and “begin”? Please don’t start!

I hope this tiny Pop Quiz gave you a BIG idea for tightening your writing. If that was helpful, there is more.

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Even if you’re doing well in your job, you can have more within your reach.

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From tennis nut to word nerd and successful book editor, Barbara McNichol has built a career around her love of the English language. She can show you how great writing skills can help you get hired … win promotions … and build better working relationships. Reach her at editor@barbaramcnichol.com

Word Clutter Makes Me Feel like I’m Swimming in Jell-O

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by Barbara McNichol

Reading through a book or report or email with lots of word clutter makes me feel like I’m swimming in Jell-O. My mind goes into slow motion. I lose attention. I start thinking about picking dead leaves off plants.

I’m sure you know what I mean by “word clutter.” It’s those long-winded phrases that the writer didn’t take the time to pare down.

Well, I have a magic trick for cutting out dead words and leaving my plants for another day.

Word Clutter Pop Quiz

What is the #1 way to make sentences less verbose and more direct?

Answer: Change long noun phrases to short verbs.

Consider the differences in these 3 examples:

  1. “They remain in contradiction with themselves” vs. “They contradict themselves.” (“Contradiction” is the noun; “contradict” is the verb.)
  2. “He made an acknowledgement of her success” vs. “He acknowledged her success.” (“Acknowledgement” is the noun; “acknowledged” is the verb.)
  3. “She initiated an implementation of the plan.” vs. “She implemented the plan.” (“Implementation” is the noun; “implemented” is the verb.)

See how less wordy and more direct the second version is in each sentence?

And Here’s Another Cagey Trick

If you’re not sure whether you can turn a long-winded noun into an active, lively verb, a dead giveaway is nouns ending in “ion” and “ment.” Notice in these examples the words contradiction, acknowledgement, and implementation. All those nouns have been successfully turned into shorter, more action-oriented verbs.

So the next time you edit your own work, use this magic trick and add more BAM! to your writing.

Even More BAM! for Your Buck

A few years ago, I launched my Word Trippers Tips ADVANTAGE Program. It took off and customers reported better writing skills almost immediately.

This past year I created three options, which make it even easier to use and more AFFORDABLE.

Not a course … but a source … Word Trippers Tips ADVANTAGE Program is an interactive resource that takes almost no time every week to absorb.

Curious to know more? Go to www.WordTrippers.com for full details.

What writing tricks do you use to reduce word clutter?

Why Care About Your Writing Voice and How Can You Improve It?

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By Barbara McNichol

short verbsI agonize over how to help authors, business professionals, and WordShop students use their writing voice in interesting, meaningful ways.

Good writing requires more than just grammar and spelling. It’s style, catching someone’s attention, and making readers understand the conviction behind the words.

In my experience, one writing technique stands above all others…it adds power and memorability, and it makes writing good reading. Read on!

Pop Quiz

You’ve likely heard that people prefer the active voice over the passive. But do you know why?

Answer

Writing in the active writing voice is powerful and dynamic. It catches and holds the reader’s attention far better than passive statements. The passive writing voice is a little “weasley.” It hides responsibility for action, and it can be ambiguous, confusing, and boring.

Furthermore,

  • The active voice conveys ideas quickly and directly.
  • The active voice clearly spells out the action and who is doing it.
  • The active voice frequently requires fewer words than passive sentences—helpful when space is limited.

Which is Which?

In a sentence written in the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. In a sentence written in the passive voice, the subject receives the action.

Examples:

  • Active – I created Word Trippers Tips ADVANTAGE Program and I guarantee it will make you a better writer.
  • Passive – The Word Trippers Tips ADVANTAGE Program was created to make you a better writer.

It’s True. My Word Trippers Tips ADVANTAGE Program will absolutely make you a better writer.

You’ll find nothing else like this program. It’s easy. Fun. And available for less than the price of a new outfit. (And think how many new outfits you can buy with a higher-paying job because you wrote a powerful résumé and cover letter.)

Not a book … not a course … this program takes almost no time every week to absorb.

LEARN MORE HERE.

More Puns for April Fools Day

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punsWith April Fools Day approaching, tickle your funny bone with these puns to share with friends. These came from Todd Hunt:

1) Acupuncture is a jab well done.

2) If a clock is hungry does it go back four seconds?

3) Without geometry, life is pointless.

4) Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

5) I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words. (Barbara’s favorite)

These came from a faithful reader of Add Power to Your Pen:

  • No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.
  • Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
  • Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
  • A backward poet writes inverse.
  • If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you’d be in Seine.

OK – your turn. Write your best/worst puns in the comments!

Do You Have Reading Envy?

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By Abby Marks Beale

Don’t you just envy people who always keep up with their reading? You may be surprised to know that a quick reading speed is not the only way to get caught up. It’s those who devote an adequate amount of TIME to it are also the ones who are not haunted by their “to-read stack.”

Being Intentional with Your Reading

That makes sense, you say, BUT you’re feeling time-starved? It’s really as simple as being intentional about wanting to make more time to read.

Review these common-sense suggestions. Which ones do you already do? Which ones you can start doing to relieve your reading guilt and get more reading done?

Capitalize on free moments by always having something with you from your reading pile – be it digital or on paper – and kept in your car, in your purse or briefcase, etc.  An unexpected delay in an appointment is now viewed as a gift of time.

Watch less (or no) TV! If you watch an hour or more of television a day, just think how much reading you could get done if you swapped some TV time with reading just a few days a week!

Only read things that are of value to you so you don’t waste your precious reading time on useless material.

Plan it! Make an appointment with yourself during work hours (this may mean moving to a conference room to get peace and quiet), on weekends (you can read while kids are watching cartoons) or during your commute (if you have one where you’re not driving!)

Try to read more at your peak time(s) of day – your most mentally awake and alert times. If you are a morning person, then make some time then. If you are a night owl, carve out time after dark.

Upgrade your reading skills so however much time you do spend, you get a lot more accomplished! You can take our interactive reading course online OR if you prefer to learn auditorily, you can start by listening to the 10 Days to Faster Reading audiobook available on Audible.com.

March is National Reading Month. Here’s to getting more time to read!

Abby Marks Beale makes a difference in the world through her speed reading programs, which I highly recommend. Details at https://revitupreading.com

How will you celebrate National Reading Month? Please comment here.

When to Use an Apostrophe with Numbers, Dates

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By Kathleen Watson (used with permission)

Frigid winter temperatures have punished much of the United States this winter. For grammar enthusiasts, weather reports have drawn attention to when to use an apostrophe with numbers. These guidelines will prevent you from making mistakes.

When you add an s to numbers to make them plural, do not add an apostrophe:

  • Temperatures will drop into the 30s tonight.
  • There were four 747s waiting on the tarmac.
  • She said both size 8s were too loose.

When writing about years as decades, do not add an apostrophe:

  • He teaches a class on rock bands of the 1960s and ’70s.
  • They worked together to refurbish a car from the 1940s.
  • Her résumé describes her accomplishments in the 1980s.

When the year is specific and designates possession, add an apostrophe:

  • During 1936’s Olympic Games in Berlin, Jesse Owens won four gold medals.
  • Funds raised in 2018 surpassed 2017’s efforts.
  • The Chicago White Socks were 2005’s World Series champions.

Avoid using numbers to start a sentence unless the numbers express a year:

  • 1929’s stock market crash marked the beginning of the Great Depression.
  • 2018 was the best sales year we’ve had in a decade.
    Not: 70 percent of my day is consumed by responding to emails.
    Better: Seventy percent of my day is consumed by responding to emails.
    Best: I spend 70% (or 70 percent) of my day responding to emails.

To summarize:

  • Do not use an apostrophe with numbers when you are making them plural: a fleet of 747s
  • Do not use an apostrophe with numbers that indicate a decade: the 1960s or the ’60s
  • Do use an apostrophe with numbers of a year to designate possession: funds surpassed 2017’s efforts

What examples would you add to these?

Kathy Watson loves words and the punctuation that helps them make sense, yet she hates those pesky rules. Her reference guide Grammar for People Who Hate Rules helps you get over the hump with ease.

Beware of Misinformation and Especially Disinformation

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by Barbara McNichol

Dictionary.com’s 2018 Word of the Year—misinformation—is more than a word; it’s a call to action.

Dictionary.com defines “misinformation” as “false information that is spread” and goes on to say its rampant spread poses new challenges for navigating our communications today.

Not Interchangeable

The meaning of “misinformation” is often confused with “disinformation,” but the two aren’t interchangeable. “Disinformation” means “deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda.” The difference between “misinformation” and “disinformation” is marked by intent.

That means when people spread “misinformation,” they believe the information they are sharing. In contrast, “disinformation” is crafted and sent out with the intent to mislead others. A piece of “disinformation” can ultimately become “misinformation” depending on who’s sharing it and why.

For example, if politicians strategically spread articles, photos, etc. they know to be false, that’s “disinformation.” When a recipient sees the information, believes it, and shares it, that’s spreading “misinformation.”

Misinformation vs Disinformation – Know the Difference

The point is to learn the difference between them, then heighten your sensitivity to their nuances—and don’t knowingly spread either.

What can you do to fight misinformation at work and outside of your job?

Armed with awareness, you can:

  • improve your own media literacy by carefully considering your sources of information
  • fact-check stories you read on social media before believing them
  • commit to reading entire articles, and not just headlines, before sharing them
  • point others to fact-checking resources when you see misinformation spreading
  • learn to recognize misinformation and wrk toward stopping its spread

I encourage you to read more on this hot issue by doing an online search. Share your thoughts here.

Chiasmus: When Words Mirror Each Other in a Sentence

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by Barbara McNichol

Using figures of speech in our writing make it fun. Truly my favorite figure of speech is the chiasmus­ (ky-AZ-mus). That’s when words in a sentence mirror each other.

Politicians have made them famous (e.g., Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. – John F. Kennedy). Experts have made them accessible and even fun (e.g., Dr. Mardy Grothe’s book: Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You: Chiasmus and a World of Quotations That Say What They Mean and Mean What They Say)

My contribution to the joy of words is a 4-page Chiasmus Collection I’d like to share. Simply email me with Chiasmus Collection in the subject line.

The ones I’ve included come from years of gleaning them from authors, clients, and subscribers in my daily editing work.

A few choice examples:

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old; they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams. – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Write only what you love, and love what you write. – Ray Bradbury

New York is the perfect model of a city, not the model of a perfect city. – Sir Lewis Mumford

What is your favorite chiasmus? Share it here!

Request my 4-page Chiasmus Collection.

 

How to Talk About Your Book at Holiday Parties – and Get Invited Back

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By Mary Walewski, guest blogger

It’s time for holiday parties—a season when you attend parties where you only know a few people. There you are, chatting away with total strangers when someone asks you what you do for a living.

“I write books. I just published my latest one,” you say.

“Wow, you wrote a book? What’s it about?”

Before you start on a blow-by-blow description of your subject or plot that leaves them looking around the room for somebody—anybody—to interrupt you, STOP.

You’ve just received an invitation to practice your Very Short Description of What Your Book Is About. Its purpose is to keep the conversation going. Most authors feel they need to relay a lot when they’re asked, “What’s your book about?” But that’s not what people really want. They want a one- or two-sentence answer to respond to and generate a conversation.

What is Your Very Short Description?

Before you go to your next party, practice a 10- to 20-second description that will encourage others to respond with questions, not leave them looking for an escape. It’s natural for you to want to tell them all about your book. But, please remember, this is a conversation, not a sales call.

What happens when you begin to describe everything in your book? You shut down the conversation and the other person becomes a hostage to your narrative. Instead, reply with something like, “It’s a mystery novel set in a hospital.” This is short and concise, while encouraging the other person to say something like, “Wow, I’ve always wanted to write a book. How did you get started?”

Then the conversation can continue to a natural conclusion—and that person isn’t suddenly seeing someone across the room to speak to.

Ideas for What to Say at Holiday Parties

Examples of your Very Short Description of What Your Book Is About:

  • If it’s nonfiction, what problem does it solve? Who is it for?
    • “It’s a self-help book for single fathers on how to start dating after divorce.”
    • “It’s a diet book for people who don’t want to give up carbs.”
  • If it’s fiction, state the genre (Is it mystery, detective, romance, etc.) and where it takes place.
    • “It’s a historical novel set during the California Gold Rush.”
  • Who’s your main character and what happens to him/her?
    • “It’s set during the California Gold Rush. It’s about a sheriff who falls for the local madam in a mining camp.”

May all of your conversations at  holiday parties end with “Where can I buy your book?”

Enjoy the season!

Mary Walewski is a book marketing consultant who works with indie authors and publishers. Request her online report The 5 Marketing Habits of Successful Authors at Buy The Book Marketing.com.

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