Chicago Style Workout 46: Verbs, Part 2
Ready for more action? This workout, “Verbs, Part 2,” focuses on paragraphs 5.121–48 of CMOS 18, which cover mood, tense, number, and other useful concepts.
Black and White: A Matter of Capitalization
In light of recent announcements elsewhere in publishing, many of our readers have been asking us whether we continue to recommend lowercase for terms such as black and white to refer to a person’s race or ethnicity, “unless a particular author or publisher prefers otherwise.”
Chicago Style Workout 45: Verbs, Part 1
Verbs are famous for their ability to show action, but they can also express a condition or a state of being. You might even say (an action) that verbs are (a state of being) the most important part of speech.
“Had had”? Flashbacks and the Past Perfect
What exactly is the past perfect? And what’s wrong with using it?
Chicago Style Workout 40: Grammar, Part 4
This workout focuses on paragraphs 5.42–55 of CMOS 18, which cover personal pronouns, including their possessive and reflexive forms. There’s also one question about demonstrative pronouns (CMOS 5.56).
Do You Overstep When Editing Fiction? Three Easy Cures
The other day, I ran across this line in a recent novel by a best-selling American writer (key words are disguised): “His disposition warmed faster than did the gradually dawning day.”
Chicago Style Workout 39: Word Usage, Part 9
This workout finishes our run through the “Glossary of Problematic Words and Phrases” in paragraph 5.254 of CMOS 18. For our usage finale, we’re focusing on words beginning with the letters t as in “that” through w as in “whomever.”
Chicago Style Workout 38: Word Usage, Part 8
This workout returns to our “Glossary of Problematic Words and Phrases” in paragraph 5.254 of CMOS 18. This time we’re focusing on words beginning with the letters r as in “rack” through s as in “straight.”
When Characters Speak: Formatting Dialogue
In novels and stories and other creative works, words spoken by a character are normally set off from the narrative with quotation marks, and the speaker is identified in the run of text by tags like “she said.”
“Hazel and I’s puppy”? When Fiction Meets Bad Grammar
In editing formal prose, we fix nonstandard English without hesitation. But in editing creative works, we often need to throw out the stylebook so a narrator or character in a novel or play can abuse grammar to good effect. . . .
