Month: July 2012

Your Writing Reflects Your Thinking

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When reading an important manuscript, every discerning editor should always take note of the usual errors and problems that may be spread throughout the entire composition. Some editors instantly return the copies for revising after discovering screaming grammar errors and content distortions in the initial pages. Most writers get too occupied that they overlook poor grammar and usage, misspellings, typographical errors, improper punctuation, and other problems. These are what stick out to editors.

Most copies and manuscripts are not approved for publishing after submission. Editors require revisions to make sure the compositions are impeccable. Many writers strive to lessen possible problems for revisions. The best approach is to eliminate all potential problems.

Poor grammar is the top problem writers and editors face. Every sentence should be grammatically correct so that the message would be conveyed most effectively. Most editors are strict when it comes to grammar because they assume that all writers are already adept and careful when it comes to such. No editor would ever let poor grammar go without correction. There is an exception to this. If the improper grammar is within a character dialogue or within exact words of genuine quotations, then it should be written as it is.

Here are some others of the most usual problems editors note that prompt them to seek revisions or worse, totally reject a copy:

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How Many People You Know Who Are Guilty of ‘Mumpsimus’?

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The word mumpsimus refers to the tendency to misuse words even if one is corrected as to their meaning, spelling, pronunciation, or whatever else embodies the mistaken use.

Allegedly, the word comes from the story about an illiterate priest who continued to mispronounce the liturgy even after corrected. When the priest was corrected for reading quod in ore mumpsimus, he replied, "I will not change my old mumpsimus for your new sumpsimus" (from the Eucharist, "which we have taken into the mouth," sumpsimus="we have taken").

Mumpsimus is also now used to denigrate people whom the observer believes are adhering to ideas or beliefs that are erroneous, i.e., a pejorative term.

Categories: Grammar Notes

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