Hello Everyone.

This week’s assignments have been a nice refresher course to some degree.  Words I struggled with some time ago have been reintroduced to me as a reminder of what not to use, and when to use certain words for maximum effect. The use of a lot as two words was a difficult habit to break when I was younger, and the difference between affect and effect is a perfect example of situational use of the right word.  Mrs. Manning, my high school English teacher would be so proud!

This week I learned some things that I feel will help me edit other works as well as my own writing.  In particular, the active voice / passive voice comparisons were very helpful. Connecting them with the respective verb makes it so much easier to recognize and differentiate between them. 

I found the exercises regarding verbs to be very difficult and challenging.  I never knew there were so many different tenses for any given verb; it’s almost like learning a new language.  I always thought I was pretty good and forming sentences and choosing the right verb-subject agreement but these assignments really made me think about what one could be conveying to the reader. 

My editing mistake this week was in an email from a scout leader reminding all parents of a meeting being held soon. She wrote “It's important that all is there at this meeting.” What she should have written is “it’s important that all are at this meeting.”