Yvonne DiVita, co-founder of BlogPaws, shared her Writing Essentials Cheat Sheet at the BlogPaws 2010 West pet blogging and social media conference in Denver on September 9-11, 2010.

1. Denver, CO • September 9-11, 2010
Yvonne DiVita
WRITING ESSENTIALS CHEAT SHEET
References:
Strunk and White, The Elements of Style
Chicago Manual of Style
APA Style Manual
http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/u/RhetoricStyle.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tony1/Beginners%27_guide_to_the_Manual_of_Style#Quotations.2A
Good opening to a blog post:
“On Twitter, Moms Want Marketers to Interact, Inform, and Make Them Laugh”
http://blog.lucidmarketing.com/2010/06/on-twitter-moms-want-marketers-to-interact-inform-and-make-them-laugh/
“Companies wanting to connect with moms should start brushing up on their pithy one-liners –
moms are hooked on Twitter. More than half (54%) of moms who use Twitter check their feeds
10 or more times daily; only 13% check once a day or less, according to a study by Lucid
Marketing and Lisa Finn.”
Good use of bulleted points and short paragraphs:
http://she-conomy.com/2010/08/25/attention-male-marketers-women-can-be-bought/
Strunk and White – Example: Keep complete thoughts together:
http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk5.html
Wrong: A dog, if you fail to discipline him, becomes a household pest.
Right: Unless disciplined, a dog becomes a household pest.
Wrong: Cast iron, when treated in a Bessemer converter, is changed into steel.
Right: By treatment in a Bessemer converter, cast iron is changed into steel.
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2. Denver, CO • September 9-11, 2010
Yvonne DiVita
WORDS THAT OFTEN CAUSE CONFUSION
Accept … Except
Accept: to receive: Yes, I’ll accept the mail today.
Except: to take or leave out: Everyone is attending, except Paul.
Complement… compliment
Complement: noun: something that completes; verb – to complete: The color of that
skirt complements the color of the jacket; together they make a very nice outfit.
Compliment: noun: praise; verb – to praise: The clerk complimented Mary on her
well-behaved dog.
Its … it’s
Its: of or belonging to; The weather changes its mind every fifteen minutes, around here!
It’s: contraction for it is; I don’t know if it’s me or if it’s you, but someone isn’t listening!
Lie… lay
LIE-to lie down (a person or animal. hint: people can tell lies); ex: I have a headache, so I'm going
to lie down for a while. (also lying, lay, has/have lain--The dog has lain in the shade all day;
yesterday, the dog lay there for twelve hours).
LAY-to lay an object down. ex: "Lay down that shotgun, Pappy!" The sheriff demanded of the
crazed moonshiner. ex: The town lay at the foot of the mountain.
(also laying, laid, has/have laid – At that point, Pappy laid the shotgun on the ground).
Above example taken from: http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/conford.html
Passed… past
Passed: verb, past tense of “to pass,” to have moved; The day passed slowly.
Past: belonging to an earlier time or place; It’s all in the past now. Don’t bring up past issues,
stay on point.
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3. Denver, CO • September 9-11, 2010
Yvonne DiVita
Stationary… stationery
Stationary: standing still, not moving; Ramona remained stationary, despite hearing Mother call
her to dinner.
Stationery: writing paper; The stationery was blue and purple, Mary’s favorite colors.
Than … then
Than: comparison; She is taller than her sister.
Then: at that time, or next; Go to the corner, first, and then turn left.
Their…they’re…there
Their: possessive of “they”; It was their belief that dogs and cats do dream.
They’re: contraction – they are; They’re all in this together!
There: a place; I’m going there, are you?
Through…threw…thorough…though…thru
Through: into or out of; She went through the door on the left. – Thru: slang for Through
Threw: past tense of throw; Peggy threw the watermelon at Susan, right passed her head!
Thorough: Complete; The Dr. was thorough in his approach.
Though: however, nonetheless; Though small, the puppy could pack a wallop!
To...too..two
To: toward; She went to the park.
Too: also or excessively; Edward said the test was too hard. Elisabeth works in HR.
Penny does, too.
Two: the number after one before three; If you’re going to the store, can you get me
two candy bars?
Who…which
Who: pronoun, refers to a person or persons; Who said that? Tell me who.
Which: pronoun, not used to refer to persons; Which one is it – the blue one or the red one?
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4. Denver, CO • September 9-11, 2010
Yvonne DiVita
Who…whom
Who: see above
Whom: used as an object; “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” John
Donne (this one is pretty tricky; I usually just recreate the sentence to make sense without using
‘whom’ or ‘who’ – it’s the lazy person’s way.)
Like and As
Like: is a preposition; it shows similar characteristics, or relationships; It’s not like him to miss a
board meeting.
As: primarily used in “as though” or “such as” or “as if”; The boy behaved as if he’d never been
to an ice cream parlor before! (many people use ‘like’ instead of ‘as if’… though the word like is
fast becoming the standard, I prefer the ‘as if’ usage when when used as a comparison; like is
more palatable in sentences such as, “Looks like it’s getting ready to snow.” Or, “Smells like
spring, doesn’t it?”
The BEST site to find all of your grammar and spelling answers is here:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
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5. Denver, CO • September 9-11, 2010
Yvonne DiVita
PUNCTUATION RULES AND QUOTATION MARKS
A sentence may end with a period (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamation point (!).
http://grammar.about.com/od/punctuationandmechanics/tp/quotemarks.htm
Double quotation marks enclose a direct quotation. Dialogue should be in double quotes.
“No good deed,” wrote Clare Booth Luce, “will go unpunished.” The period goes INSIDE the quotation
marks. A semicolon or colon that appears at the end of a quotation goes outside of the quotation marks.
Use double quotation marks for titles of songs, essays, stories, poems and articles. See below.
Use italics for book titles, record albums, “big things that stand on their own.” Do not underline. Do not
add two spaces after sentences.
Titles and Names to Italicize Titles to Put Into Quotation Marks
• A novel • Poem
• A ship • Short story
• A play • A skit
• A film
• A commercial
• A painting
• An individual episode in a TV series (like "The
• A sculpture or statue Soup Nazi" on Seinfeld)
• A drawing • A cartoon episode, like "Trouble With Dogs"
• A CD • A chapter
• A TV Series • An article
• A cartoon series
• A newspaper story
• An encyclopedia
• A newspaper
• A pamphlet
• A magazine
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