On the Word "And"

For the past couple of days, I was experiencing writer’s block on what I kind of subject I should speak about for this blog post. I almost thought about doing another life update – which I’m sure would have been entertaining – but I just did a life update blog post exactly a month ago.

Personally, various things have been frustratingly stalled for the past two weeks. I just started reading my leisure book again after having to take a three week break due to busyness, and I really want to get back to writing creatively – I haven’t done so since my Spring Writing Project – but I don’t exactly have time for that either. (It’s bizarre not to work on a July Writing Project; I’ve had one for the last 3-4 years.)

And just when I figured I might have to wing this blog post, because forcing yourself to write is really the only way to overcome writer’s block, a youtube video came to my rescue.

I’m referring to John Green’s video about prepositions. As an English writer and speaker, I found it so fascinating. I also never really thought much about the phrase “on the phone,” and how weird it actually is.

Mainly, I was relieved that I wasn’t the only crazy person who has put so much thought into certain seemingly ordinary words lately.

For me, though, I haven’t been pondering about prepositions. Instead, I’ve been focused on “and.”

My new obsession came about because of the last two manuscripts I had to read for my internship. In them, both of the authors loved stringing along lengthy sentences by incorporating multiple and’s within the sentence. Every time I came across this word, I had to pause and determine if a compound comma was needed in front of it.

In one manuscript I even had to suggest an edit to eliminate an “and,” because it was just too much. There were five and’s that had showed up, so I crossed the third one out and replaced it with a period. Boom! Two new complete sentences.

Maybe it’s just a writing style that some people have? Using many and’s to give it more of a poetic voice? There is a better way at writing lyrically or whimsically, right? (Not to say that it’s completely wrong to overload on and’s, though. I can see it being used to convey the panic or rambling of a character written in first person perspective.) Of course, this is coming from a girl who creatively writes in a more direct way. I prefer shorter sentences; they get to the point and if done well, packs a better punch. You know, trying to use my active voice rather than a passive one. Also, I was always taught if you can convey your sentence in less words than what your have, then go that route. Nobody likes to read a run-on sentence.

Basically, I wish people would rethink how often they use the word “and” in their writing. Also, I should probably find a better hobby. Or at least get outside more.



P.S. In case you were curious, I used the word “and” sixteen times within this blog post. However, seven of those times were me referencing the word “and.” (<---This last one wasn’t counted.)

Simple Writing Mistakes I'm Tired of Seeing

You know how, once you start looking for something or noticing it, you begin to see it everywhere? In the past, I’ve done this with shoes. I was interested in buying boots for the winter, but I didn’t know what kind was in style anymore. So every time I was out in public, I would glance at all the footwear of women who walked past me, noting what kind of boots they wore. Once I determined what sort of boots I should buy, I stopped paying attention to everyone else's shoes.

Lately, I find myself doing this with any sort of writing I come across. I’m mainly referring to non-polished work – pieces found on the internet or drafts of another’s work. With my current internship, I’ve somehow trained myself to pick out all the errors found in a writer’s sentences, even though my noticing of them is not going to make a difference.

There seems to be certain words and grammar mistakes that continue to pop up, which baffles me because I thought the correct way was pretty straightforward. I would like to give people the benefit of the doubt – like, perhaps they’re just typing too quickly? – but I’m pretty sure it’s because no one pointed it out to them. Or they’re relying too much on how the sentence sounds to their ears without realizing how it’s actually incorrect when it comes to writing.

But mainly, I think it’s just me being a stickler about grammar and writing in general.

Things I cringe whenever I see them in someone’s writing:

1.) toward/towards

“Towards” is considered slang, people. Unless you’re a writer living in the UK or Australia, I don’t want to see it spelled this way. It’s always “toward.”

2.) farther/further

If you’re speaking quickly, I can see why you might get these two words mixed up; they sound almost identical to our English ears. However, they do have slightly different meanings. “Farther” refers to a physical distance, whereas “further” refers to something figuratively.

Although, I will admit that sometimes there are certain contexts where it gets tricky figuring out which word to use. I’ve been told that if you’re unsure, it’s probably safer to employ “further.”

3.) etc./ect.

I’ve recently began noticing how people use “ect.” at the end of a list instead of “etc.” I had never seen this, and I started to wonder if this was some sort of shorthand that I wasn’t aware of. But, no, people are just switching the order of these words around because of how it sounds to our English ears again. The Latin version of “and the rest” is “et cetera,” so you really should be using “etc.”

4.) When to capitalize “mom” and “dad”

I get why people might have trouble figuring out when/if to capitalize these words (I used to be one of them, once upon a time), but it’s actually not that hard.

If you’re using the word in placement of someone’s name, then it needs to be capitalized.

     For example: Can you give this toy to Mom?

Any other time, it doesn’t need to be capped. If the word “my” precedes it, it’s a dead giveaway that you shouldn’t capitalize it.

     For example: This is my dad.

5.) Shouty caps

I never realized how much people like to use shouty caps for emphasis or when a character is yelling.

     For example: “I told you, I CAN’T GO!” (Extra cringe whenever I see an exclamation point thrown in there. It’s so redundant.)

In books, it’s usually frowned upon and will be changed to italics. However, this tactic might slide if the novel leans more experimental. Mainly, I just view it as a cheap way of creating emphasis or emotion for the reader. If you’re a skilled enough writer, you can find a way to describe the situation without capping everything.

6.) Ellipses

First off, this is another thing that I was always taught to avoid when it comes to fiction writing - either mention how the character’s voice has trailed off or end your sentence with a period to make it declarative. I have been surprised at how frequently ellipses have been used.

Second, I didn’t realize that people would actually mess up on how to properly use those three dots. There’s no need to include all those extra spaces, either between each period or before and after words.

     For example: What … what do you mean by that? (incorrect)

                           What . . . what do you mean by that? (incorrect)

                           What… what do you mean by that? (incorrect)

                           What…what do you mean by that? (correct)



Easy, right? There’s no need to make your writing appear weak with these silly mistakes. You’ve got more important things to worry about when it comes to polishing that piece. Like whether your sentence really needs a compound comma or not. (Kidding. Although they can be tricky buggers, many people won’t actually know if you’re using them correctly or not. Unless the reader is a proofreader of sorts.)