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Diagramming Sentences

7/28/2018

When I was in elementary school I learned how to diagram sentences. I thought it was fun, a sort of puzzle that appealed to my sense of order. I was positive no one did such things now and the art would be lost. Just to be sure, I googled it and discovered in 0.47 seconds about 343,000 results. There are plenty of examples online to remind one of those glorious days of parts of speech. I examined them and wondered how on earth I was able to create such diagrams, especially at that tender age.

I found several good examples on wikiHow at https://www.wikihow.com/Diagram-Sentences. They were preceded by an introduction to some of the parts of speech, you know, nouns like “dog,” pronouns like “you,” verbs like “swim,” adjectives like “big,” adverbs like “smoothly,” participles like “flying,’ conjunctions like “and,” prepositions like “on,” and articles like “an.” At one time I could spot these and assign them the correct part of speech with confidence. Today not so sure.

I probably didn’t realize it at the time of study, but I’m now positive that the big takeaway from all the diagramming we did was an understanding of the parts of speech and the various jobs each type is given in the written word. I hope diagramming is still taught. If anyone knows, I’d be interested in hearing.

Here’s an example taken from the aforementioned website. I can’t draw it properly with the blogging tools available to me (at least the ones I understand) so I’ll do my best to describe it. Maybe it will bring back memories. The sentence we’ll diagram is:

The green vegetables are always disgusting, and I hate them.

This should not be interpreted as an indication of my personal dining preferences. Notice the conjunction “and.” In this case it’s separating what are two distinct sentences. For each we have to find the subject, the verb, and the object of the verb if any. Those three words are “I,” “hate,” and “them,” respectively, for the second sentence. The subject and verb for the first sentence are “vegetables” and “are,” and there is no object. But there is something about the vegetables that tells more. They are “disgusting,” and that word is known as a predicate adjective. I know, it’s confusing and I wouldn’t sound so smart if I didn’t have that website. So you put these three words for each sentence on a straight line with a vertical line separating the subject and verb and either a vertical (for an object) or a slanted (for a predicate adjective) line separating the verb and the third word. It would look something like this:

Vegetables | are \ disgusting

and

I | hate | them

Unfortunately the rest of it is undrawable so here’s hoping this description is clear. There’s a dotted line snaking from “are” to “hate” that takes a horizontal jag so “and” is sitting on top of it. Now what about those other words? Well, “The” and “green” modify “vegetables” and “always” modifies “disgusting.” That’s indicated by two lines slanted left to right under “vegetables” with “The” on the first one and “green” on the second. A third such line under “disgusting” contains “always” on it. And there you have it. Of course, the process can be much more complicated, but this is the basic idea.

So was my diagramming experience a plus or a minus for my writing attempts? As always, nothing is clear cut. Certainly, understanding parts of speech and their usage is valuable. The danger is the establishment of rules for a well-constructed sentence. People don’t speak according to these rules, so I’ve had to learn to ignore them when it suits my purpose, either when it comes to conversation or the establishment of some image I want readers to “see.”

Good. Bad. It doesn’t matter. At the risk of incurring derision, I have to say diagramming sentences is fun!

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Independent Book Stores

7/21/2018

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Main Street in East Orange, New Jersey, circa 1940s, boasted a host of shops. A grocer. A butcher. A baker. No candlestick maker, but a combined candy, soda, cigarette, magazine store that, most importantly, sold comic books. And a gift shop that did offer candles.

More than a gift shop, actually. Also a private lending library. For a pittance per day you could “rent” a book. I was too young, but my mother wasn’t, and I would accompany her as she perused the stock. It was my introduction to independent book stores.

I hated going to that shop. The books weren’t for kids and the gift portion of the shop was boring. What did I care about a tiny porcelain figurine I’d probably break anyway? It was the last time I eschewed independent book stores.

Because I came to love them. A little like libraries, except when you check a book out you get to keep it.

I’ve frequented huge ones in New York and stalls along the Seine. In Boston there was one devoted exclusively to mysteries. I bought a signed copy there of one of Robert Parker’s works. The proprietor was interested in my expressed desire to write mysteries; told me to contact her when I had one ready and she might be able to help.

Some independents are crowded with aisle after aisle of overstuffed unordered shelves in which finding a specific work is difficult if not impossible. Except the owner somehow knows the name and location of every book there.

Others offer less variety but provide niches for reading, and, more recently, Wi-Fi use.

All offer the joy of browsing. Many strive to stock books outside the norms of popular demand.

It has been a tough time for independent book stores. The first blow was the big box versions that included Borders and Barnes & Noble. Their massive networks of stores undercut pricing of the independents and many of the latter fell by the wayside. Then the second jolt came. Online sales where price cuts went even further. It must be hard to survive when potential customers can purchase virtually any book at a great price while sitting comfortably at home. I find it ironic that Borders, which contributed to the first wave, in turn fell to the second. Barnes & Noble still survives, but it’s not the same. The music selection is depleted, and large areas make me think of Toys R Us, itself a victim of the times.

My first book signing was at an independent store. The store eventually failed, but I don’t think its demise can be 100% attributed to the pressure of the mighty. It had a loyal clientele from the gay community, stocked interesting books, and provided a lovely setting for their perusal. Then it was bought by someone who wanted to change both the content and clientele. Not surprisingly, the store was no more after a couple of years.

I placed books in three independents.

One was dedicated largely but not exclusively to new age messages. While When Your Lover Dies in no way fits this designation, I felt it might appeal to the store’s customers. The proprietor seemed delighted to get a couple of copies. I never heard from her and eventually the store went out of business.

Some of my other books went to a store run by a lovely lover of books. A couple of mine actually sold from there. Her establishment also sponsored book signings at least once a year at which approximately 30 authors exhibited their wares. The store took no cut of sales and charged only a small fee to reserve a space. The goal was to encourage the authors. And I sold several at each of these events. Unfortunately, her store too went out of business. Unlike the previous case, this owner was diligent in returning unsold books to authors.

I have some books at another local store. Haven’t heard a word from the folks there but at least it’s still around. In fact, it recently sponsored an evening with Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child which drew a couple of hundred.

What about that mystery store in Boston? When I completed my first book I attempted to make contact. Alas, the store had gone out of business.

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Adverbs

7/14/2018

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As I happily assume my writing position and easily slip into my chair before the computer screen, I’m very glad finally to have an idea of what I can cleverly say.

Even an inexperienced writer would cringe at the previous sentence. All those “…ly” words along with the overused “very” appear all too frequently (notice the “…ly” word?) here and elsewhere. At a very minimum the sentence could have been rewritten as “I slip into my chair, hands on the keyboard, and dash off my clever words.” May not be great, but at least an improvement.

The words “happily,” “easily,” “very,” “finally,” and “cleverly” are examples of adverbs, words that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Sometimes I’m not sure I can tell when a word is an adverb. I’m not even sure my list given here is correct. I don’t feel too bad about that since the online reference Dictionary.com describes adverbs as a “grammatical wastebasket—the part of speech into which you toss anything you can’t otherwise categorize.”

No wonder Stephen King warns of the dangers of adverbs, admonishing prospective writers to avoid them at all cost. When I read that advice in his book on writing, my first reaction was “Uh oh!” I was guilty as charged, although I like to believe I would never have written the first paragraph of this blog (until, of course, I did write it).

Most of us have had it drummed into our heads that “very” is a weak word, a very weak word if you will. That seems to be true. Almost every time I employ it a residual alarm from my education sounds and I wonder if I actually need it. I almost never do. For example, suppose I’m tempted to say, “I have a very bad headache.” The “very” tells the reader it is more than a run-of-the-mill bad headache. But it does seem blah, not all that informative. Seems to me you get a better picture with “My head is exploding in pain.”

Being me, once I read King’s admonition, I started to eliminate adverbs from my writing. I was shocked to discover that this can be done more often than I expected, and I keep the rule in mind in my writing. I started to say I “definitely” keep it in mind in my writing. But then I would have been employing an adverb.

From the moment of “King’s educational message” I started reading with an eye to uncovering offenders, never expecting to see much. But what did I learn? Even the most successful writers spew adverbs all over the place. Stephen King himself employs them more than I would have expected.

Now I’m in a quandary. Are adverbs villains to be avoided at all costs, or are they friends to help emphasize key points in a narrative?

I’ve decided the answer is like so many answers when it comes to writing. No rule is inviolate. But rules usually exist for reasons. So, it seems prudent to question every adverb that pours from the keyboard, rejecting those where simple rewording increases the effectiveness of the writing and keeping the rest. That’s what I now try to do.

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Proofreading

7/7/2018

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I hate to proofread.

After all, what’s the fun in that? The creative process is over, or at least mostly over. All that’s left is making sure there are no spelling errors, no required words are missing, singular and plural alignments properly match, punctuation is right, the correct word is used, awkward wording is improved, and a host of other potential sins are averted.

Yes, I hate it, but it’s essential. I’m reminded of that every day when I read the local newspaper. I believe there was a time when newspapers employed folks to proofread all that was printed. Maybe they actually enjoyed the task because rarely did a blunder occur. Alas, the internet, abetted by such popular “news” sources as FaceBook and Twitter, has dampened enthusiasm for the printed word, forcing staff cutbacks.

It’s all too noticeable. Those rare instances of errors have been replaced by daily occurrences. And much of it is shocking. I have observed misspellings, adjacent repeats of the same word, and words missing to name but a few. There also has been the same story appearing twice in the same edition, and even twice on different days. I don’t blame the folks at the newspaper. They’re doing the best they can with the limited resources available. But I worry that we are establishing a new standard of sloppiness that bodes ill for the future.

I’m a mathematician, and before then I was an electrical engineer. Both (in fact any branch of science) require precision—in the work itself and the written words describing it in professional reports and journals. It’s essential that the proofreading of such articles be meticulous. Often I co-author papers and the two of us read them many times. I’m always amazed what my partner finds that I’ve missed, and vice versa.

Reading a 10-page research paper is different from reading a 400-page novel. Proofreading dangers exist in either.

With the paper the problem is I know the material so well that I tend to read what I think is on the page rather than what is really on the page. This is partially offset by the shortness of the document which makes it realistic to peruse it a multitude of times.

With the novel I don’t see how I can proofread it without actually going through the entire document. And that requires a large time commitment. I find I can’t skim or I will miss errors. I must read it slowly, concentrating on the task, else I get caught up in the story and again miss problems. So, for me, it’s unrealistic to go through the book more than three or four times, and once I’ve done that I can’t stand the thought of doing it again.

I do have wonderful people who agree to edit my books and they add additional levels of proofreading as part of their job. And they find plenty of errors.

I envy established authors published by regular houses, as I’m sure they have professional proofreaders.

In spite of great care, errors slip by even the most rigorous inspections. I’m finding more and more instances in professionally published works. And in my own, in spite of my diligent efforts, problems slip through.

My research area of mathematics is graph theory, a subdiscipline of a branch called discrete mathematics. The word “discrete” is emblazed in my mind from decades of involvement. The problem arose from one of my characters who was being “discreet.” You guessed it. Turns out he was being “discrete!” Poor guy, broken into pieces!

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