Help me understand
Moderator: Official Reviewer Representatives
- Jack King
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 390
- Joined: 29 Dec 2022, 10:57
- Favorite Book: Specter of the Past
- Currently Reading: The Great Migration
- Bookshelf Size: 24
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-jack-king.html
- Latest Review: Doctoroo & the Case of the Picnic Pirates by Dr. Rachel B. Wellner
Help me understand
I’m trying my best to improve my grammar but need some help understanding. For the below errors what makes them wrong?
1. The book is a wonderful and fun entry in the series(, )(;) on the surface, it appears there will be little at stake but as the book progresses there is the matter of reconciling families and entire countries!
2. A pleasant and surprising addition to a children’s book. (Sentence fragment)
3. As well as this the book is exceptionally well-edited. (Sentence fragment)
4. The book is full of positives(,)(;) however, whilst the book is compelling and easy to read I find it difficult to decide who it is aimed at.
5. The story is a little short on character building(,)(;) however, I have chosen not to mark it down because of this.
And bought our pretty crowns, but never paid the price
Find me in the river, find me there
Find me on my knees with my soul laid bare
- Emily Meadows
- In It Together VIP
- Posts: 571
- Joined: 29 Sep 2022, 15:15
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 78
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-emily-meadows.html
- Latest Review: Forever Young by Karma Wiederrick
I don't know what you do to help proof your work, but I use the following grammar checkers. Over time, repeatedly correcting my commas using these tools - I'm learning. Commas are a "b."
1) https://quillbot.com/grammar-check
2) https://www.scribens.com/
3) https://prowritingaid.com/grammar-checker
4) https://www.grammarcheck.net/editor/
Yes - I use them all and run all of my reviews through *all of them*. By the time I have done that, I have made several significant changes to my review. I still need to use my brain/logic because these online checkers often suggest crazy stuff that doesn't make sense.
Here are resources I have gotten from people on this site that are also helpful...
1) https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ (punctuation help)
2) https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp (capitalization rules)
3) Pinned in this forum - Scott's guide is also helpful viewtopic.php?f=72&t=130072
If you take your first sentence and put it in Quillbot (first link above) you'll see it rips the sentence apart - literally.
Hope that helps.
Emily
- MsH2k
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 4723
- Joined: 31 Jul 2019, 11:11
- Favorite Book: Crushing
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 366
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-msh2k.html
- Latest Review: Lilleah by eelonqa K harris
Hi Jack,Jack King wrote: ↑17 Mar 2023, 10:45 Hello,
I’m trying my best to improve my grammar but need some help understanding. For the below errors what makes them wrong?
1. The book is a wonderful and fun entry in the series(, )(;) on the surface, it appears there will be little at stake but as the book progresses there is the matter of reconciling families and entire countries!
2. A pleasant and surprising addition to a children’s book. (Sentence fragment)
3. As well as this the book is exceptionally well-edited. (Sentence fragment)
4. The book is full of positives(,)(;) however, whilst the book is compelling and easy to read I find it difficult to decide who it is aimed at.
5. The story is a little short on character building(,)(;) however, I have chosen not to mark it down because of this.
Emily has given some great sources. I use four grammar checkers, Natural Reader, read it aloud myself, and let it sit for a day somewhere in the process before I consider my review ready to submit. I did not discover Natural Reader until later, and it saved me many times when the word was spelled correctly (and grammar checkers missed it), but it was not the correct word for the context. And, as Emily said, do not take the suggestions from grammar checkers blindly.
Examples 1, 4, and 5 are comma splices. This occurs when you combine two independent clauses with only a comma. A stronger punctuation mark (such as a semicolon) or a conjunction is required. There is a simple definition with examples in this link: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/comma-splice
Specifically, in examples 4 and 5, “however” is used as a conjunctive adverb and requires a semicolon instead of a comma preceding it. See the “SEMICOLON” section in this Purdue OWL link: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writ ... unctuation
Example 2 is not a complete sentence because there is no verb. I’m assuming this was a continuing thought from the prior sentence. If so, consider connecting it to the previous sentence with an emdash or even a comma if the phrase is describing the last word in the prior sentence.
I’m not sure example 3 is a sentence fragment; there may have been a disconnect in parsing it. Perhaps a comma is needed after “this” to distinguish it as an introductory adverbial phrase. The rest of the sentence is complete.
I hope these additional explanations have been helpful.
Rosa Parks
- Jack King
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 390
- Joined: 29 Dec 2022, 10:57
- Favorite Book: Specter of the Past
- Currently Reading: The Great Migration
- Bookshelf Size: 24
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-jack-king.html
- Latest Review: Doctoroo & the Case of the Picnic Pirates by Dr. Rachel B. Wellner
And bought our pretty crowns, but never paid the price
Find me in the river, find me there
Find me on my knees with my soul laid bare
- Emily Meadows
- In It Together VIP
- Posts: 571
- Joined: 29 Sep 2022, 15:15
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 78
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-emily-meadows.html
- Latest Review: Forever Young by Karma Wiederrick
- Jack King
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 390
- Joined: 29 Dec 2022, 10:57
- Favorite Book: Specter of the Past
- Currently Reading: The Great Migration
- Bookshelf Size: 24
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-jack-king.html
- Latest Review: Doctoroo & the Case of the Picnic Pirates by Dr. Rachel B. Wellner
I have now submitted 2 reviews with the advice above, across 4 scorecards I have had 100% twice, 90% and one 80%. Definitely a winning formula, thank you so much guys!
And bought our pretty crowns, but never paid the price
Find me in the river, find me there
Find me on my knees with my soul laid bare
- Emily Meadows
- In It Together VIP
- Posts: 571
- Joined: 29 Sep 2022, 15:15
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 78
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-emily-meadows.html
- Latest Review: Forever Young by Karma Wiederrick
Woo hoo!
- MsH2k
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 4723
- Joined: 31 Jul 2019, 11:11
- Favorite Book: Crushing
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 366
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-msh2k.html
- Latest Review: Lilleah by eelonqa K harris
That is great news. Keep on winning!
Rosa Parks