I’ve been an editor for over thirty years, and some things drive me crazy. This may not interest you at all. That’s fine, but today my skin crawls from the sound of fingernails raking across the chalkboard.
I wish some of the copy editors out there in publishing land would stop imagining that adverbs are a writer’s enemy, the newest dirty word that must be excised at all costs. Why do they assume one should shuffle along with an adjective stuck in the wrong place, pretending to be something it isn’t? (Too many instances of the emperor’s new clothes, and tailors will go out of business.) I know that’s how some folks speak, but how will anyone learn if we don’t at least clean up our writing?
I read voraciously and eclectically. Today, the day of the fingernails and squeals, I’m reading an action novel written by a fellow who knows how to tell a good yarn. It a great bad-guys-versus-good-guys tale that’s so much fun, I can’t get mad at the author for his grammatical gaffes. But his copy editor? His proof reader? Please, tell me they know the difference.
“…I need to do it quick.” And, “He walks slow.”
You see what I mean? Ly is a grand suffix. It would fix those words right up, wouldn’t it?
And then there’s: “I’m done.” What? You’re cooked? No, you have finished. “I got done with the turkey.” You were cooked with the turkey? No, you finished roasting/cleaning/cutting/basting the turkey. You didn’t get done with anything. You finished it. Done is the past participle of to do. He does it. He did it. He has done it. I do it. I did it. I have done it. (I will do it. I should do it.)
If you want to use the verb “to do” then use it. “I did it,” not “I’m done.” If you mean you have finished the project, then say so.
Please.
In the last chapter of the book I found a “for him and I.” Now surely editors (if not college-educated authors) know about nominative and objective cases. They must. For him works. But for I? Nope. Not a chance. It’s for me, guys. Please.
Pretty please?
Now that I’ve whined, I’ll wish you a very happy Thanksgiving Day.