Wednesday Words of "Whiz"dom #3

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Published on Wednesday, 14 September 2011 04:01

 Wednesday Words of "Whiz"dom:
         Be sure to write right!

THE CASE OF THE DANGLING PARTICIPLE

What’s wrong with these pictures?
• Moaning in the distance, Henry heard the foghorn.
• Locked in the book cabinet, Mrs. Stevens found her keys.
• Sizzling and dripping with gravy, Mr. Jonas began to eat his steak.
• Screaming wildly, the court was stormed by the fans.
• Vacuuming the living room, the lost necklace was discovered under the couch.

You are probably saying to yourself, “These sentences don’t sound right, but I’m not sure why.” 

Well, you’re right.  The sentences don’t sound right because they are grammatically incorrect – for a variety of reasons.  All of these sentences have what is known as “dangling participles” or “misplaced modifiers.”  The first three sentences are easy to correct.  The last two have some additional complications!
 
Here’s the rule:  Each of the participial phrases like “moaning in the distance,” “sizzling and dripping with gravy,” and “locked in her book cabinet” must describe (or modify) the noun closest to it in the sentence. 

In these sentences, therefore, Henry is moaning in the distance, Mr. Jonas is extremely messy, and poor Mrs. Stevens is locked in the cabinet. That’s pretty funny, but an admissions officer may not laugh – or even giggle – if you write sentences like these.  

There are several ways to correct or edit these sentences.  The easiest way is to move the modifier so that it is closest to the word it is intended to describe. So we write:

• Henry heard the foghorn moaning in the distance.
• Mrs. Stevens found her keys locked in the book cabinet.

The best way to clean up Mr. Jonas would be to say:
• Mr. Jonas began to eat his steak, which was sizzling and dripping with gravy.

The basketball game is a bit more complicated because it also has the problem of “passive voice,” which we will discuss in a future blog. 
• Screaming wildly, the fans stormed the court.

In the last sentence, who is doing the vacuuming?  The necklace or the couch?  Obviously, neither.  The person who is doing the vacuuming needs to be inserted into the sentence. 
• Vacuuming the living room, Dahlia discovered the lost necklace under the couch.

Now test yourself:  How would you edit these sentences? 
• Ripped to shreds, Jason had to throw out his jeans.
• Flying around the kitchen, Fred chased his parakeet.
• A bowling ball was used by John weighing twelve pounds.
• These footprints were made wearing high heels.

The answers will be in next Wednesday’s “Words of ‘Whiz’dom.”

Wednesday Words of "Whiz"dom #2

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Published on Wednesday, 07 September 2011 04:01

Wednesday Words of "Whiz"dom:  
        Be sure to write right!

"COULDA, WOULDA, SHOULDA"

In the late 1970s, a popular Catskill Mountains resort touted:  “I shoulda gone to the Nevele” on billboards, in print and on TV and radio ads.  Then, thanks to the 2001 “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda” episode of “Sex and the City” and Celine Dion’s “Coulda Woulda Shoulda” in 2003 (still available as a ringtone), many people now have unwittingly expanded upon a typical usage error!

Too often you will see “could of” in a piece of writing.  Because the spoken version of “could’ve” – the contraction for “could have” – often sounds like “could of,” the error is easily made.

However, neither “coulda” nor “could of” is correct!  The same goes for “should of” or “would of.”  The proper verb forms are:  could have, should have, or would have.  If you want to emphasize the pronunciation, you may remove the “ha” from “have” and add “ve” to form contractions:  could've, should've, or would've.

In a formal piece of writing, it is advisable to avoid contractions altogether unless you are writing dialogue (or trying mightily to stay within the imposed limits of characters and spaces).   And although “coulda, woulda, shoulda” has found its way into our vernacular, meaning “I wish I had done things differently, but it's too late now,” it has no place in a college admissions essay!

Wednesday words of "Whiz"dom #1

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Published on Wednesday, 31 August 2011 04:01

Wednesday Words of “Whiz”dom: 
        Be sure to write right!

AFFECT vs. EFFECT

When you fill out your applications, you want to make every effort to write with correct grammar, usage, punctuation and capitalization.  Be sure to proofread everything, including the fill-ins and short answers!

Over the course of the next few months, the College Essay Whiz will give you tips on avoiding common pitfalls in these areas.  We are going to start with two words that are often confused with each other:  affect and effect.

Generally speaking, affect is a verb and effect is a noun.  Usually, the verb "affect" means "to influence." "Effect" is the noun form meaning "the influence" or "the result of an action." 

Examples:  
           The economic crisis may affect (verb) the outcome of the election.
           The effect (noun) is being felt nationwide.
           My personal trainer is trying to affect (verb) my attitude toward exercise.
           His efforts are having a positive effect (noun) on my exercise regimen.

So when you affect a situation, you have an effect on it!

There are a few other meanings of the word "effect."
• As a verb, "effect" means "to accomplish" or "to produce a result."
It is often used with the words "change" or "solution."

Example:
         Our principal was determined to effect a change in policy regarding student use of cell phones in the school building."

• Personal "effects" are your belongings; films often have special "effects."

An unusual meaning of the verb form of "affect" is "to cultivate or make a display of." A person might affect the manners and accents of British royalty, for instance.   

As a noun, "affect" is a psychological term referring to emotions as elements of the thinking process or behavior.  This word is pronounced AFF-ect (with emphasis on the first syllable).
                
 For more details and examples, go to:                  
http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/affect.html
http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/affect-effect-grammar.html

To truncate

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Published on Sunday, 24 July 2011 01:55

The College Essay Whiz says:

Truncation is the soul of wit

Truncate: transitive verb; 1) to shorten by or as if by cutting off; 2) to abbreviate, abridge, curtail, or cut back.

When I was in high school, I lived by the essay-writing philosophy that “More was better.” If a teacher asked for a five-page paper, I wrote ten, proving that my interest in the subject was deep and thorough. A paper that was to be “ten pages or more” became a 15 to 20 page tome. “Be sure to document with five or more sources:” I provided a full page of references to books and articles (No URLS in those days, either). It always worked.

However, things change. In my freshman year of college, I took a course called “The Comic and Satiric Tradition.” My professor assigned the first paper with what I assumed was a suggested length of three pages. Three pages? I had written introductions that were longer. I lovingly crafted a seven-page paper, worried that I hadn’t covered the topic as thoroughly as I should have.

And then, the truncation.

The professor collected the papers. He took the first one in his hands, counted the pages aloud: “One, two, three…,” ripped the remaining pages from their staples, and threw them into the trash can.

Faces pale, stomachs churning, my classmates and I watched in horror as he truncated every paper in the pile. And when he finished, he said, in an appropriately satirical voice, “When I say three pages, I mean three pages.”

We learned quickly that, at least in his class, we would adhere to the page limit.

The college application process has undergone incredible transformations over the decades, moving from handwritten to typewritten statements, emailed Word documents, and now, in an effort to avoid the waste of paper and to streamline the process, applicants upload their essays directly onto an online application. There are word counts and character counts – with and without spaces. Some questions require you to fill in blanks with no more than 20 words. And if you don’t, your words are…truncated.

For many years, the directions for the personal statement on the Common Application suggested “250 words or more.” More could mean 275, 500, 800, or 1000 words. Applicants gloried in the stories of their lives, ethical dilemmas, role models, fictional characters, the importance of diversity, and of course, the “topic of your choice.” One student recently emailed me a document that was 25 pages long.

This year, although the topics have not changed, the word length has. The personal statement is expected to be 250 to 500 words. If you upload a lovely 700-word essay, it will be truncated in the middle of a word in the fifth paragraph. No mercy. RIP to the rest.

So now that brevity truly is required to be the "soul of wit," you'll need to adhere to those word and character limits!