MSI Press Blog

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.   #165 Commas You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try. ~Beverly Sills   Have you ever read a story written by your child (or anyone) where, within the entire first page, there is not a period or comma to be found? Correct use of punctuation, especially commas, is one element of writing that teachers try to impress upon their students. Improper use of commas can change the whole meaning of a sentence and sometimes of the story. Commas can even save a life! (Well, not really, but look at the following example). Imagine a child writing this: Let’s eat Grandpa. What he really meant to write was Let’s eat, Grandpa. In lower elementary school, children are taught to use a comma when there is a pause in the sentence. The most common uses of commas are below. ●    ...

  (photo by Frank Perez) Today is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is about errors typically found by copyeditors. Some of them will not be picked up by spellcheckers. Avoid these to impress acquisition editors. Word Choice. The words that you use portray a picture of you as an author. The most successful authors choose their words well. The verb to be i s not your best friend, but when you read the manuscripts of many authors who would like a publishing contract, you wonder if they know any other verbs at all. Linking verbs provide no action, no definition, no story. They just connect two nouns, making the sentence static. Replace all the link...