In my never-ending quest to uplift the forum, I've taken it on myself to improve the English language. Academics and professional grammarians will, understandably, be aghast. Or at least disappointed. Probably just bored.
Two examples: hyphenated words and punctuation.
Here's a sentence from a Winter Jennings story I'm currently butchering: 'I was barely aware of the lightly singed scallops.' To me, it's an easier read this way: lightly-singed.
Others: blue-ribbon; ink-on-paper; online-only.
A twist: 'love lotion' can be turned into a verb - 'the volunteer editors merely had to love-lotion a few automobile references in.'
To punctuation … do pay attention, this may well be on the midterms. Or mid-terms.
'Pilar said, "It's time for dinner." Note that the period is inside the quotes mark.
'I was listening to Levon's "Summertime Blues".' Here I placed the period outside - British style. My tortured logic is that the sentence ends not after the 's' but after the quotation mark.
Final example - stop cheering you ingrates - commas. I tend to over-comma because I imagine the practice adds tone and nuance that would ordinarily be conveyed by speech.
'Among the permanent guests, Nature Boy's sister, Edwina Rowbottom, had moved in, full-time, with shy little Wally Maypole.'
Bonus tip - you can also use dashes in place of commas. You're welcome.
Paige