Search options (Page 83 of 171)

There will also be a cab driver named Leonardo. :-)

Mistake #5 - Dialogue Tags: I get it. Using “he said” and “she said” is boring. However, dialogue tags are meant to be functional and not descriptive.
Gee, how about trying tags that are functional and descriptive? If your going to put a word on the page, making it serve more than one purpose seems like common sense.

Or how about the way those tags distract the user? When one of my admirals snapped at one of her subordinates, I didn't hear any feedback from distracted reviewers.

Sure, they can be overused, but having to read a fancy dialogue tag doesn't distract me in the least. Why should I write a sentence showing how my admiral is pissed off when I'm in the middle of a fast-moving battle and short choppy sentences are best suited for the scene?

Technically, I could have written "As you were, Ensign!" the admiral said, and let the exclamation mark serve in lieu of a snapping dialogue tag, but I find that I scan over punctuation marks since they're so small. I use said for regular conversation and other tags to give them added weight.

Alan, I found examples online from a grammar blogger that say your examples are the opposite of what they should be. If you have one wife named Diana, then her name is nonessential to understanding the sentence and requires commas. If you have one son named Scott, that also requires commas. If you have multiple sons, then his name is essential to understanding the sentence, so no commas.

That means, in my case, that the name of the epithet is essential to understanding the sentence as there are many epithets, so no comma.

I'll probably forget these rules in a week and start doing it wrong again.

Thanks
Dirk

Comma question. Is the second comma (after epithet) required? I think it doesn't belong because the name of the epithet, Bastardus Minusculus, is mandatory for understanding which epithet is being referred to. Or am I applying the wrong comma rule?

Thanks
Dirk

I decided to take a break from investigative/CSI research and watch an action film recommended by Netflix. I've already forgotten the title, but it starred Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and James McAvoy. You'd think with that cast, I would be entertained, but no dice. I turned it off after an hour. I don't remember the last time I saw an action movie that I enjoyed. Maybe the early Terminator films. I binge watched 13 Reasons about bullying and teen suicide. They're out with a second season. Boy that is hard to watch. I had to watch episodes of Friends in between episodes of 13 Reasons because it's so dark. I would not recommend it for young teens, even though they would benefit from a lot of it. There are other ways to talk to kids about bullying and sex than that show.

That is really good, njc!

Never mind. I finally found it.

Well, I'll be damnare! Amazon Canada has finally added video and music to its prime membership. It includes the latest seasons of CSI. I was hoping for the early seasons with the original characters, but it's a start. I have 30 days to cancel, so we'll see what else they've got. No Law & Order or Big Bang Theory, so those are strikes.

But then we have this from a grammar website: A DEPENDENT CLAUSE ALSO HAS A SUBJECT AND A VERB, BUT
LACKS INFORMATION NECESSARY TO CONVEY A COMPLETE IDEA.
Note the comma and the word 'but' in the above sentence. The coordinating conjunction 'but' is used with a dependent clause, all preceded by a comma. This usage matches what Kdot did.