This was a proofreading week on the book front. For a while I've been aware of changes in grammar rules from when I was in school, specifically comma rules. Some would recommend a comma after the word while in the previous sentence. In my books I only put a comma after a leading prepositional phrase if it has five or more words or if it would be ambiguous not to use one, and I'm not changing it. Commas after a prepositional phrase is just one of the new rules.
Not too long ago I did some proofreading and light editing for someone and had to look up a comma rule to make sure I was using the modern rule. I patted myself on the back and went on. This week I ended up looking up comma rules more in depth. It's so discouraging. I had to email the person I did the proofreading for and tell her about the modern rules and how I didn't know all the changes.
So and nor are considered to be coordinating conjunctions now. So I could see. I've been using it as one for a long time despite knowing the rule against it. I don't see how nor could be one. I've never in my life used nor as a conjunction between independent clauses nor ever seen it done. It doen't make sense to me in standard or informal English. Anyway, I spent way too much time this week searching for and reading about modern comma rules. It doesn't help when I find conflicting information. It also doesn't help when a grammar book I own tells me some of it is a matter of personal taste. As long as it's easy for the reader, I can make it up as I go along.
My next book coming out, AoE, is for a young adult audience that sees modern grammar in school every day. I think it's important to use rules that won't distract them from the text. I also like the idea of not having to look up comma rules again. I'm going to have to learn all the new rules and go back and apply them to all my books. The struggle continues.
French Stuff
For a while I've been using a page count for my French reading, instead of using whatever extra time I have. I've been seeing better progress that way. Some of the books I'm reading are modern, and some are translations of things I read when I was younger. I'm almost finished with 2001: A Space Odyssey. Unfortunately, the French version I got was based on the movie and not the book, which was very different. I've been flying through it. It's so much easier to read than the Asimov and Heinlein books I've been reading. I was feeling good about myself until it occurred to me that the book has to be dumbed down for a mass audience the way newspapers are written at a lower grade level. It's still nice to be going through it more quickly.
A while back I got the French version of Heidi for free on my Kindle. Between having to look up words and not enough excitement in the story, I set it aside for the moment. I read a little more of it recently. It's a lot easier to read now, and I can read it faster than before. Unlike 2001, I know the improvement is real. I can imagine finishing it in the near term. It doesn't have car crashes or plane crashes. No one has been murdered. The goatherd boy isn't going to turn out to be a Soviet spy. Heidi isn't going to rebel and try to overthrow the natural order of things. Her grandfather won't turn out to be a retired MI5 agent who needs Heidi's help to stop an international assassin. Nevertheless, it's a classic. I'll at least have read one of the classics.
I've been thinking more about doing a language exchange. There are multiple sites where people can sign up to talk to a native speaker. So, if I want to learn French, a site would connect me with a native French speaker who wants to learn English. Part of the time we talked would be in French and the other part in English. It's all free. I could spend as much or as little time as I wanted. I could talk to a different person every night, if I wanted to. I'm not quite where I want to be with my vocabulary yet, but I'm getting close.
Have a great weekend.
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