en-us Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:48:45 -0400 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:40:17 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar127_begs.mp3 1326507 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:12:03 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar126_thru.mp3 1319435 http://www.archive.org/download/David_Copperfield_0805_librivox2/davidcopperfield_16_dickens_64kb.mp3 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:40:31 -0400 1316002 http://www.archive.org/download/David_Copperfield_0805_librivox2/davidcopperfield_17_dickens_64kb.mp3 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:40:31 -0400 1317914 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:48:07 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar125_superlative.mp3 1317407 http://www.archive.org/download/David_Copperfield_0805_librivox2/davidcopperfield_14_dickens_64kb.mp3 Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:12:08 -0400 1311245 http://www.archive.org/download/David_Copperfield_0805_librivox2/davidcopperfield_15_dickens_64kb.mp3 Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:12:08 -0400 1311181 Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:32:14 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar124_moremost.mp3 1311380 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1292382 Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:12:07 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar120_dialogue.mp3 1290119 http://www.archive.org/download/David_Copperfield_0805_librivox2/davidcopperfield_07_dickens_64kb.mp3 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:12:11 -0400 1284333 http://www.archive.org/download/David_Copperfield_0805_librivox2/davidcopperfield_08_dickens_64kb.mp3 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:12:11 -0400 1284334 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:56:06 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar119_shall.mp3 1283206 http://www.archive.org/download/David_Copperfield_0805_librivox2/davidcopperfield_06_dickens_64kb.mp3 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:04:16 -0400 1278880 http://www.archive.org/download/David_Copperfield_0805_librivox2/davidcopperfield_05_dickens_64kb.mp3 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:52:09 -0400 1274266 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:28:16 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar118_dialect.mp3 1276646 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:20:11 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar117_biweekly.mp3 1274325 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http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar053-ieeg.mp3 1188394 Sat, 17 May 2008 00:04:06 -0400 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar107_graduated.mp3 1183105 http://www.archive.org/download/curiosities_of_the_sky_0802_librivox/curiositiesofthesky_11_serviss_64kb.mp3 Sat, 10 May 2008 12:29:07 -0400 1148584 http://www.archive.org/download/curiosities_of_the_sky_0802_librivox/curiositiesofthesky_12_serviss_64kb.mp3 Sat, 10 May 2008 12:29:07 -0400 1148585 http://www.archive.org/download/curiosities_of_the_sky_0802_librivox/curiositiesofthesky_13_serviss_64kb.mp3 Sat, 10 May 2008 12:29:07 -0400 1148586 http://www.archive.org/download/curiosities_of_the_sky_0802_librivox/curiositiesofthesky_14_serviss_64kb.mp3 Sat, 10 May 2008 12:29:07 -0400 1172349 http://www.archive.org/download/scarecrow_of_oz_0802_librivox/Scarecrow_00_Baum_64kb.mp3 Sat, 10 May 2008 12:29:07 -0400 1172350 http://www.archive.org/download/scarecrow_of_oz_0802_librivox/Scarecrow_01_Baum_64kb.mp3 Sat, 10 May 2008 12:29:07 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http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar104_long.mp3 1155863 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar104_long.mp3 Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is sentence length. This episode was written by guest writer, Bonnie Trenga, author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier. I was glad to hear from those of you who enjoyed Bonnie's writing last week. I'll be back as the writer next week, but Bonnie and other guest writers may continue to fill in for me on occasion as I start working on my next book and head out this summer for my book tour. GoToMyPC And before I go on, a big thank you to GoToMyPC, whose continued support helps make this show possible. Laptops and home computers are great, but sometimes you still need things that are only on your office computer. Your solution is simple. Use GoToMyPC to take your office with you wherever you go! GoToMyPC is the best way to access your office PC from anywhere you find yourself because all you need is an Internet connection. It's an easy solution because from any computer you simply log on to GoToMyPC and your office desktop instantly appears. It as if you’re sitting right in front of your office computer. You can access all your documents, network resources and programs, and even transfer files. I've used it and I love it, and you can try it today. For a free 30-day trial, visit GoToMyPC.com/podcast. That's GoToMyPC.com/podcast for your free trial. And now, on to long sentences. Long Sentences My dad has a memorable poster in his bathroom: a diagram of a ridiculously long sentence by Marcel Proust. It’s from his masterpiece, À la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past, also translated as In Search of Lost Time), and it starts thus: “Their honor precarious, their liberty provisional, lasting only until the discovery of their crime; their position unstable....” Blah, blah, blah. I’ve examined it numerous times over the last two decades, but I’ve yet to finish wading through all 958 words. At 150 words longer than this entire column, the sentence is just unreadable. Believe me, I’ve tried to stick with it till the end, but it’s impossible. Sentence Fragments I have to applaud Proust for being able to keep everything straight in that sentence�'because he sure used a lot of semicolons, commas, clauses, and other tricks to lengthen it. I suppose French literary geniuses didn’t take advantage of copy editors back then. Well, I’m going to suck it up and be the first to trim that monstrous sentence. Here we go. “Their honor precarious, their sentence too long.” [Period.] Oh no! Now my honor is precarious. My crime has been discovered: Those seven words are an incomplete sentence, also known as a sentence fragment. Do you think Proust ever wrote one of those? Nah. Bet not. All of this Proust talk is making me hungry for a madeleine, a small shell-shaped cake that had a starring role in In Search of Lost Time. I think we should go in search of the perfect length for a sentence. The long and the short of it is this: If you stuff in too many things, you’ve got an overly long sentence; if you leave out a subject, verb and/or object, you’re stuck with a fragment. Finding the Proper Length Proust’s enormous sentence is an anomaly, but long sentences certainly haven’t disappeared. These days, plenty of meandering sentences roam through manuscripts. These behemoths suffer from too many “which,” “that” and “who” clauses; an overabundance of commas and semicolons; at least a few cases of “and” or “but”; and several sets of em dashes. When your readers try to wade through such a sentence, they become lost amidst clauses and commas, and they give up before the sentence is finished. Your readers are following a path you’ve laid out for them. Don’t try to be a turbo guide and make them traipse along too many side streets. They’ll become exhausted and collapse. On the other hand, you don’t want to whisk readers along too quickly with too many incomplete sentences. They’ll feel as if they’ve missed something. Fragments call attention to themselves; if you overdo them, you’ll annoy your readers. Your tour group doesn’t like feeling fatigued and frustrated, so you must morph into a better tour guide. Plan your excursion carefully and plot out a manageable route. Your trip’s core should consist mostly of medium-sized sentences. Budget for a few windy detours that point out some fascinating facts, and make a couple quick stops in the sentence fragment department to keep participants alert. Whatever you do, don’t fall into a monotonous medium-sized rhythm that anesthetizes your readers. “Medium-sized” means minuscule by Proust’s standards. Most sentences should contain no more than 30 or 40 words. Your readers just don’t have a very long attention span, and their feet tire easily. Back in Proust’s day, e-mail and TV didn’t exist to distract the public, so I guess readers were a hardier bunch. They probably perambulated around town a bit more, too. Finding and Fixing Long Sentences If you've resolved to tame your inner Proust, I have a couple of suggestions. First, although Microsoft Word's Grammar Checker isn't known for its helpfulness, it does notice long sentences and sentence fragments. If Grammar Checker has filled your screen with squiggly lines, pay attention. It won’t fix your sentences, but it will help you identify them. Second, if you read your sentence but can’t remember what happened at the beginning, the sentence is too long. Have a madeleine while you rest and refresh your memory. After your tummy is full, you can chop up your sentence into manageable bits. The best way to cut down a super-long sentence is to figure out your main points. (You’ve probably crammed two or three main points into your long sentence.) Once you remember what they are, highlight each one with its own medium-sized sentence. Then deal with your leftover crumbs. Once you’ve allotted everything to its proper location on your tour, make sure everything fits together seamlessly. Then you can rest. Administrative This piece originally appeared in Writer's Digest, and was written by Bonnie Trenga. So it's her father who has the poster of the long Proust sentence. You can find more of her work at http://sentencesleuth.blogspot.com. Bonnie is the the author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, which takes similarly fun approach to grammar and which you can buy from a link on quickanddirtytips.com. While you're at Quick and Dirty Tips, you can also get your 30-day free trial of GoToMyPC by clicking on the ad or the link to GoToMyPC.com/podcast. That's GoToMyPC.com/podcast. Questions and comments for me go to feedback@quickanddirtytips.com or the voicemail line at 206-338-GIRL. You can also read the full transcript of this podcast at quickanddirtytips.com, where you can leave comments and check out the other great podcasts. This week The Mighty Mommy is talking about what to do when your children are angels at home and monsters away from home. That's all. Thanks for listening. Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:32:10 -0400 df5ef3ee87a91b60e283acd223a1c11e 1150393 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar087_usedto.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar087_usedto.mp3 1140339 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar088_sitvsset.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar088_sitvsset.mp3 1140340 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar089_dates.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar089_dates.mp3 1140341 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar090_wentmissing.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar090_wentmissing.mp3 1140342 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar091_yo.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar091_yo.mp3 1140343 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar092_writersgroup.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar092_writersgroup.mp3 1140344 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar093_hyphen.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar093_hyphen.mp3 1140345 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar094_irregardless.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar094_irregardless.mp3 1140346 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar095_xeriscape.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar095_xeriscape.mp3 1140347 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar096_may_might.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar096_may_might.mp3 1140348 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar097_topten.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar097_topten.mp3 1140349 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar098_who_whom_advanced.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar098_who_whom_advanced.mp3 1140350 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar099_tense.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar099_tense.mp3 1140351 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar007_which_improved.mp3 Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar007_which_improved.mp3 1140352 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar100_numbers.mp3 There are about a gazillion exceptions to the rules I cover in this episode about how to write numbers. The rules I cover will help point you in the right direction, but if you're serious about understanding all the rules about writing numbers, you'll need to get a style guide. Also, contrary to what many of you believe, "I've got your number," is acceptable English. Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 http://media.libsyn.com/media/absolutescience/grammar100_numbers.mp3 1140353 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar102_citation.mp3 Citing Podcasts and Websites. Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 874b83ccf2df4aa58f7f927037d66bfa 1140354 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar101_numbersII.mp3 How to write percents and decimals. (Numbers, Part II) Preorder the Grammar Girl print book now and save an extra 5%! http://tinyurl.com/2pkej7 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:04:40 -0400 5f2e42cc46c41152a3f8d460afa762e2 1140355 http://traffic.libsyn.com/grammar/grammar103_subject-verb.mp3 Subject-Verb agreement. 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