'Get It Right' - Part 1 - Spelling

Beginner writers are often hung up about spelling, grammar and punctuation.

'I've got loads of stories in my mind,' they say. 'It's how to get them onto paper that worries me. I didn't go to university and my grammar and punctuation aren't up to much.'

What they don't realise is that they're lucky. Good stories are hard to come by. But anyone can sort out their spelling, grammar and punctuation, with a little help. Here's a little help from me - today I'm going to deal with spelling. Log in tomorrow to find out how to solve your grammar problems.

Spelling
Now that most aspiring writers have computers, spelling isn't nearly the problem it used to be. Spellcheckers sort out an awful lot of potential mistakes. They can even correct your typos for you before you get onto the next word. How clever is that!

What they're not so clever at is spotting whether you've used a word that is a real word, spelt correctly, but it's not the right word in that context. I'm talking about homonyms, words that sound the same but have different meanings and different spellings.

Homonyms - Different Words - Same Sound
Let's take a simple example: the word 'there'. Or it could be 'their'....Or even 'they're'. It's astonishing how often I see these three versions confused in my students' work. Even highly educated people with very responsible jobs can get in a mess with these.

Here's how to tell them apart.

* There means 'in that place'.

The paper clips are over there.

* Their means 'belonging to them'.

The students fixed their essays together with paperclips.

* They're is a shortened version of 'they are'. An apostrophe marks where the missing letter 'a' would have been.

They're getting ready to leave now.

Your spell checker won't be able to tell if you've chosen the wrong homonym, but an editor will, so it's worth investing a bit of time to brush up on any that you aren't sure of. There are plenty of books which explain grammatical points like these very clearly and simply. My favourite one is Collins Good Grammar (£8.99). Or you can use an online grammar website like this one : http://edufind.com/English/grammar/INDEX.cfm.

Little and Often
Grammar books aren't the sort of thing you'd want to sit and read from cover to cover in one sitting. Little and often is the best way to learn this sort of thing. You could read a short section while you're waiting for the kettle to boil or your bus to arrive. The next day, re-read that section and begin a new one.

Gale's Guide
I'll cover more cases like these in my blog, so keep on logging in. Tomorrow I'll deal with a thorny punctuation problem.

Meanwhile, if you have any queries about grammar, punctuation and spelling that you'd like me to deal with, e-mail me on gale.barker@tesco.net.