Tomorrow, over on The Blood-Red Pencil, I’m blogging about contractions. After I’d already turned in the post, I realized there were a few things (okay, probably a ton of things) I forgot to mention. This slip of using “there’s” when it needed to be “there are” is one of those things that I have to catch myself on. It has become so common in everyday language that it slips into our writing. It’s good to ping on it when you’re editing, break it down into the two words “there is” and see if it still sounds right.
Another problem I catch in a lot of manuscripts is “its” when the author needed to use “it’s”. (Or vice-versa.) “Its” is possessive, as in: Its claws were sharp and long. “It’s” is a contraction of “it is,” as in: It is very likely that animal is a bear.
If you’re unsure, break down the contractions you use to see if they should or should not be contractions.
Please stop by The Blood-Red Pencil tomorrow (and give me some of your own slips when it comes to contractions).
Tell me, though, do you find these kinds of “simple” errors when you start editing your manuscript?
