Use this quick list of Writing Tools as a handy reference. Copy it and keep it in your wallet or journal, or near your desk or keyboard. Share it and add to it.

I. Nuts and Bolts

1. Begin sentences with subjects and verbs.
Make meaning early, then let weaker elements branch to the right.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

2. Order words for emphasis.
Place strong words at the beginning and at the end.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

3. Activate your verbs.
Strong verbs create action, save words, and reveal the players.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

4. Be passive-aggressive.
Use passive verbs to showcase the "victim" of action.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

5. Watch those adverbs.
Use them to change the meaning of the verb.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

6. Take it easy on the -ings.
Prefer the simple present or past.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

7. Fear not the long sentence.
Take the reader on a journey of language and meaning.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

8. Establish a pattern, then give it a twist.
Build parallel constructions, but cut across the grain.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

9. Let punctuation control pace and space.
Learn the rules, but realize you have more options than you think.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

10. Cut big, then small.
Prune the big limbs, then shake out the dead leaves.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

II. Special Effects

11. Prefer the simple over the technical.
Use shorter words, sentences and paragraphs at points of complexity.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

12. Give key words their space.
Do not repeat a distinctive word unless you intend a specific effect.
PODCAST: Listen| Download | Drag to iTunes

13. Play with words, even in serious stories.
Choose words the average writer avoids but the average reader understands.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

14. Get the name of the dog.
Dig for the concrete and specific, details that appeal to the senses.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

15. Pay attention to names.
Interesting names attract the writer � and the reader.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

16. Seek original images.
Reject clich�s and first-level creativity.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

17. Riff on the creative language of others.
Make word lists, free-associate, be surprised by language.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

18. Set the pace with sentence length.
Vary sentences to influence the reader's speed.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

19. Vary the lengths of paragraphs.
Go short or long -- or make a "turn"-- to match your intent.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

20. Choose the number of elements with a purpose in mind.
One, two, three, or four: Each sends a secret message to the reader.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

21. Know when to back off and when to show off.
When the topic is most serious, understate; when least serious, exaggerate.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

22. Climb up and down the ladder of abstraction.
Learn when to show, when to tell, and when to do both.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

23. Tune your voice.
Read drafts aloud.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

III. Blueprints

24. Work from a plan.
Index the big parts of your work.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes


25. Learn the difference between reports and stories.
Use one to render information, the other to render experience.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes


26. Use dialogue as a form of action.
Dialogue advances narrative; quotes delay it.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

27. Reveal traits of character.
Show characteristics through scenes, details, and dialogue.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

28. Put odd and interesting things next to each other.
Help the reader learn from contrast.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

29. Foreshadow dramatic events or powerful conclusions.
Plant important clues early.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

30. To generate suspense, use internal cliffhangers.
To propel readers, make them wait.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

31. Build your work around a key question.
Good stories need an engine, a question the action answers for the reader.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

32. Place gold coins along the path.
Reward the reader with high points, especially in the middle.
PODCAST: Listen | Download | Drag to iTunes

33. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Purposeful repetition links the parts.

34. Write from different cinematic angles.
Turn your notebook into a "camera."

35. Report and write for scenes.
Then align them in a meaningful sequence.

36. Mix narrative modes.
Combine story forms using the "broken line."

37. In short pieces of writing, don�t waste a syllable.
Shape shorter works with wit and polish.

38. Prefer archetypes to stereotypes.
Use subtle symbols, not crashing cymbals.

39. Write toward an ending.
Help readers close the circle of meaning.

IV. Useful Habits

40. Draft a mission statement for your work.
To sharpen your learning, write about your writing.

41. Turn procrastination into rehearsal.
Plan and write it first in your head.

42. Do your homework well in advance.
Prepare for the expected -- and unexpected.

43. Read for both form and content.
Examine the machinery beneath the text.

44. Save string.
For big projects, save scraps others would toss.

45. Break long projects into parts.
Then assemble the pieces into something whole.

46. Take interest in all crafts that support your work.
To do your best, help others do their best.

47. Recruit your own support group.
Create a corps of helpers for feedback.

48. Limit self-criticism in early drafts.
Turn it loose during revision.

49. Learn from your critics.
Tolerate even unreasonable criticism.

50. Own the tools of your craft.
Build a writing workbench to store your tools.

To purchase a copy of "Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer," visit your local or online bookstore or click here (as an Amazon affiliate, Poynter will receive a small cut of the profit). You can contact the author at: rclark@poynter.org.


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To live inside the English language, I need the help of my two favorite dictionaries: The Oxford English Dictionary (or OED) and the American Heritage Dictionary (or AHD). For me, these two lexicons offer the history of our language at my fingertips, with the OED showing me where English has been and the AHD where it's headed.

It was from the OED that I first learned, to my shock and delight, that the words "grammar" and "glamour" were related. It was 1971 when a professor sent us on a language scavenger hunt so we could get our hands on that 12-volume dictionary based upon historical principles. (I own a two-volume microprint edition; the four volume Supplement to the OED brings it up to date; and a digital version is available online by subscription.)

Here's what is meant by "a dictionary based on historical principles": Along with spelling, definitions,  pronunciations, and parts of speech, the OED -- thanks to the work of thousands upon thousands of volunteers collecting millions upon millions of literary citations -- provides the word hunter with examples of how and when a word came to be used in the English language.

So what? So let's say the president of the United States uses the word "crusade" to build support for an American war against fanatics in the Middle East. You have a gut feeling this is not a wise word for the president to use, but you are not sure why. You decide to write about it, but first things first. As my mentor Don Fry would command: "Look it up in the OED!"

Here's what you would find: The earliest known use of the word "crusade" in English appears in a historical chronicle dated 1577 and refers to the holy wars waged by European Christians in the Middle Ages "to recover the Holy Land from the Mohammedans." Thirty years later, the word expands to define "any war instigated and blessed by the Church." By 1786 the word is being used even more broadly to describe any "aggressive movement or enterprise against some public evil." As luck would have it, the first known use is expressed by a President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who in 1786 encouraged a correspondent to "Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance."

Move forward in history to 2001 when President George W. Bush promises a "crusade" against fanatics who attacked the United States on 9/11. Those terrorists happened to be Islamic extremists waging their own jihad or holy war against American and European forces they call "the crusaders." Perhaps you will justify the president's use of "crusade" by citing Jefferson's secular example. Or perhaps you will cite the dangers of unintentionally evoking a dangerous historical precedent marked with a cross, the symbol of the crusaders.

Ten minutes of such language research lays a foundation upon which to build an argument.

So what about glamour and grammar? One of the most famous of the OED's volunteer word explorers was J.R.R. Tolkien, the great medieval scholar and author of "Lord of the Rings." In a song that appears in the Ring Trilogy, Tolkien wrote "Of glamoury he tidings heard" (He heard news of magic). In a study of Tolkien's language, "Ring of Words," the authors reveal the influence of OED learning upon all of Tolkien's scholarly and imaginative writing:

"Glamoury ('occult knowledge, magic, necromancy') ... is a relatively modern word (the first example in the OED files is from a Scots poem of 1811), adapted from glamour ... which the OED suggests may be due to the influence of a related word, gramarye. The connection between magic and grammar is perhaps not instantly obvious to the modern reader."

Not obvious, indeed. Evan Morris, editor and publisher of "The Word Detective," leads us through the maze:

"'Glamour' and 'grammar' are essentially the same word. In classical Greek and Latin, 'grammar'... covered the whole of arts and letters, i.e. higher knowledge in general. In the Middle Ages, 'grammar' was generally used to mean 'learning,' which at the time included, at least in the popular imagination, a knowledge of magic.

"The narrowing of 'grammar' to mean the rules of language was a much later development ... Meanwhile, 'grammar' had percolated into Scottish English ... where an 'l' was substituted for an 'r' and the word eventually became 'glamour,' used to mean ... knowledge of magic and spells."

We can trace these interesting associations in reverse chronology, beginning with our common understanding that a "glamourous" celebrity, say Marilyn Monroe, was considered charming and enchanting, as if a magical aura surrounded her. Physical beauty connects back to the language of magic. As we travel back in time, we see that the understanding of magical knowledge is not distinguished from other forms of scholarly learning. The Latin scholar knows the secrets of turning words and sounds into meaning. The necromancer must learn the hocus pocus that creates powerful effects that we now call magic.

Here's how the AHD handles the word "glamour" in the modern context:

glamour also glamor: 1. n. an air of compelling charm, romance, and excitement, especially when delusively alluring. 2. Archaic. a magic spell; enchantment. [Scots, magic spell, alteration of Grammar (from the association of learning with magic).]

The AHD contributes this bit of practical advice: "Many words, such as honor, vapor, and labor, are usually spelled with an --or ending in American English but with an --our ending in British English. The preferred spelling of glamour, however, is --our, making it an exception to the American practice.  The adjective is more often spelled glamorous in both American and British usage."

Exercise: When Don Fry and I wrote a book called "Coaching Writers," we were puzzled by this question: Is there a relationship between the word "coach," meaning an old-time vehicle of transportation, and the word "coach," meaning an athletic trainer, teacher, or tutor? Look it up in the OED!

Next time: Hey, kids, got a grammar or usage problem? Let's take a vote!

[Do you have any examples to share of the value of using the Oxford English Dictionary?]
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In our common culture, grammar has taken on at least three sets of meanings and associations. It still refers to the etiquette of writing and reading, the conventions that allow us to create a standard written English, the technical term for which, according to critic John Simon, is "grapholect."

This view of grammar is sometimes called "prescriptive," which is how I came to understand in 1959 (at the age of 11) that, when the Big Bopper sang "... but baby I ain't go no money, honey," he was using language in a way that would have gotten his ass kicked by Sister Catherine William.

Lest you think reference to the Big Bopper, who died in the plane crash with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens, is too old school, I refer you "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas: "What you gon' do with all that junk? All that junk inside your trunk? I'ma get, get, get, get you drunk, get you love drunk off my hump..."

Then, of course, along came "descriptive grammar," a movement that had the unmitigated gall (why is gall always unmitigated?) to sneak "ain't" in the dictionary, a discipline of language that could take into account the Big Bopper's nonstandard usage, including that surely double negative.

Underpinning this rebellion against Emily Post conformity was something called "transformational" or "generative" grammar, described by scholars such as Noam Chomsky, before he became a political critic and darling of the left. In this view of language, grammar was a limited set of rules -- the deep structure existing in all languages -- that could be learned even by young children to generate an infinite number of sentences.

Missing from all of this is what I would describe as "practical grammar," the elements of language as tools of making meaning. A field of study called "rhetorical grammar" comes close, and I continue to learn from it, but too many of the texts I have seen from this school are dense and impractical.

As opposed to all of these, "The Glamour of Grammar" presents to readers, not a comprehensive grammar, but an essential grammar: those elements of language that the reader and writer can use today and every day. Readers of "The Glamour of Grammar" will not only learn the parts of speech, they will learn why powerful writers prefer concrete nouns and active verbs; they will learn not only the difference between transitive and instransitive verbs, but how to use that difference to emphasize your point; they will not only learn how to make subjects and verbs agree, but how to position them in a sentence with a purpose; they will not only learn to distinguish active, passive, and copulative verbs (I love verbs that copulate!), but also come to understand that writers choose one over the others to create a specific effect on the readers.

I have been most influenced by the model of thinking found in the first 21 pages of the original edition of "The Elements of Style." I own an edition from 1934, before E.B. White revised and expanded it. The first chapter has what William Strunk describes as the "prerequisites" of writing: basic spelling, grammar, syntax and punctuation. I think Strunk is wrong to call them prerequisites because even kindergarten children can compose interesting stories. But he's on target by trying to teach the mechanics of language within the context of making meaning.

That method applies, I hope, to every word in "The Glamour of Grammar." This book will help you:

1. Identify the elements of language and learn distinctions you can use in your writing.
2. Learn the key elements of syntax that help in the construction of purposeful sentences.
3. Learn the most common mistakes in grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling and how to avoid them.
4. Grow in confidence that you can, on occasion, break the rules with a purpose.
5. Learn to adjust your language to serve the needs of all the discourse communities to which you belong.

Each of the essays in this book will fall into one of four categories of language: words; words that join together; words that join together to make meaning; words that join together to make meaning for a purpose.

"You're writing a book about grammar?" asked a friend.

"Not just grammar."

"So what else?"

"All the language knowledge inside my head."

"You're writing a book about the inside of your head?"

"Precisely."

You have a right to ask about what is inside my head and how it got there. This is the first book ever about the inside of my head, and it draws upon many language experiences over five decades, more than can be described in a single text. But here are the sources of some of this knowledge:

• Growing up in a family of talkers.
• Growing up in a bi-lingual family, where nursery rhymes were often recited in Italian.
• Having a mother and grandmother who read to me.
• Going to a Catholic school where I learned to read through phonics.
• Studying formal grammar and syntax through methods such as the diagramming of sentences.
• Reading avidly as a child, mostly adventure books for boys. 
• Studying liturgical Latin to become an altar boy.
• Taking two years of Latin in high school. (I won a silver medal in a national contest.)
• Taking three years of Spanish in high school and another year in college.
• Taking two years of French in college.
• Studying poetry and literature in college and graduate school.
• Studying practical approaches to the teaching of writing, which included ideas from composition, rhetoric and semantics.
• Studying Old English and Middle English in graduate school.
• Writing a dissertation on language issues in the work of Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry.
• Studying and teaching a course in the history of the English language.
• Moving from New York to Alabama, which led me to the study of dialect and language prejudice.
• Becoming a writing coach and working with professional writers, especially journalists.
• Working as editor or author of 15 books.
• Writing hundreds of essays for a journalism Web site, and getting feedback from around the world.
• Being an active player in countless discourse communities (or language clubs), mastering the specialized languages of a rich variety of groups.
• Falling in love with the English language.

Consider this book a fervent love letter to the language. I want you to love it too. So maybe I should change the metaphor from a love note to a kind of Kama Sutra of the word: 50 ways to love your language. Each of the experiences described above has left a permanent mark on my intellect and spirit. Together those marks form a mosaic of the inside of my head. I wish I could send from the wand of my pencil a magic spell through the air to imprint this knowledge and love in your heads and hearts as well. Until I can figure out that bit of enchantment, "The Glamour of Grammar" will have to do.

Next: How could glamour and grammar possibly be the same word?

[What formative experiences created for you a love of the English language?]
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Today I begin the online publication of a new unwritten book titled "The Glamour of Grammar." Depending on your point of view, "Glamour" will be a prequel or sequel to "Writing Tools" and will be blessed with the same publisher, Little, Brown. Many of you will remember that the essays that grew into the book "Writing Tools" first appeared on the Poynter Web site. It will be the same with these new essays, which I hope to deliver to you on Tuesday and Thursday of each week for the rest of the year.

There are several ways you can help me write "The Glamour of Grammar":

1.) Please offer any feedback you think might help me improve the work.
2.) If you find any mistakes in these drafts, please call them to my attention.
3.) If you have some grammar and language issues you'd like me to address, you can pose them on the blog or to me privately at rclark@poynter.org.

Writing a book in front of your readers is a little like trying on your brand new bathing suit for the first time on a public beach: folks will see a little more than you desired and a little less than you hoped.

So here it comes, ta da, for the first time ever:

The Glamour of Grammar
A Painless and Practical Guide to the Elements of English

Introduction (Part I)

English is your language. It does not belong just to book authors, poets, copy editors or grammar teachers. It belongs to you.

It is a great language with a dramatic history and an impressive future. Born on a soggy island in the North Atlantic, it has changed so much that if you heard the earliest poems in what we now call Old English, they would sound like gibberish. In the thousand years or so since the Angles and Saxons got us going, English has changed in incalculable ways. It has evolved as a result of invading and being invaded, of technological changes from the printing press to the cell phone, from mysterious shifts in sound and meaning (one of which has the epic name The Great Vowel Shift, which we derided in graduate school as The Great Bowel Shift). Most of all, it has changed from use.

Before his death in 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote that the "form of speech is change." From Chaucer to Elvis, from Shakespeare to Run DMC, from poets to pornographers, from doo wop to hip hop, the English language has served more and more users in the task of making meaning, to the point where it has spread across the world and is, arguably, the most common and practical language in the history of human kind.

In my travels to Singapore, Denmark and South Africa, English was the only language I needed to connect with others and work through the challenges of the day. Even in Spain and Brazil, I could piece together words in English, Spanish and Portuguese well enough to get by. (Pointing and smiling helped a lot.)

So consider yourself a member of one of the largest "discourse communities" or language associations in the world: speakers, readers and writers of English. There are some people who would lead you to think that you are unworthy of membership in this English language tribe. I think of them as language bullies. They may think of their tyranny as benevolent, concerned as it is with proper grammar, usage, spelling, punctuation and other elements of language. They see a sign misspelled or mispunctuated in a store window and declare that the apocalypse is upon us. Their standards are so unnaturally high that they have the opposite of their intended effect: They persuade us that, when it comes to language usage, we suck. (On your behalf, I've used that last verb intransitively.)

I'm writing this book so you can feel included, rather than excluded, from what scholar Frank Smith once called the "literacy club." It will help you live inside your language so that one day you will feel your language living inside of you. I can't really describe for you what living a life of language feels like, but I'll try to show you, instead. It requires some technical terms, but not as many as you think. It means occasional field trips to such language meadows as grammar, syntax, usage, spelling, punctuation, lexicography, history, semantics, rhetoric, literature, diction, etymology, poetics, language geography and foreign languages. Words and definitions that now seem strange to you will become second nature.


One of the most surprising and delightful connections in the history of the English language is the relationship between the words "grammar" and "glamour." The second, says the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), is an altered version of the first, citing an ancient association between learning and enchantment. In other words, back in the day it was thought that if you were smart enough to know grammar, the basic elements of language, you might be clever enough to convert that power to allure, amaze, even seduce. Grammarian as word wizard.

Wow. Grammar has taken a bit of a nosedive since then. Today grammar connotes everything that is unglamorous: absent-minded professors; fussy schoolmarms; British grammazons with binding names like Lynne Truss; nagging perfectionists; pedantic correctionists; high school students asleep at their desks, stalactites of drool hanging from their lips. Long lost from grammar are the associations with power, magic and enchantment.

Which is another reason I'm writing "The Glamour of Grammar." A little grammar, you'll learn, can go a long way. A little grammar will lead you to a lot of grammar. Who knows? A splash of grammar behind the ear -- or the knee -- might even be, dare I say, sexy. (I confess a bit of a crush on Mignon Fogarty, the author known worldwide as "Grammar Girl.")

Many old timers, dreaming of a Golden Age of learning that never existed, wonder: "Why don't we teach grammar any more? But we do, in school after school, classroom after classroom. A better question might be: "If we teach grammar, why don't people learn grammar?" The answer, I would argue, is simple: Because we teach grammar, syntax, punctuation, spelling -- all the elements of language -- out of context, outside of making meaning as a reader, a writer or a speaker. By doing so, we make grammar forgettable.

"The Glamour of Grammar" will offer another way. Every little lesson in this book will point you to a practical application. I'll carry my argument one step farther: There is no need to learn grammar if you're not going to use it. Good spelling is useless except to represent proper words and avoid distraction of the reader. Punctuation has no value except to point the reader toward pace, emphasis and meaning. Subjects and verbs are dusty academic terms unless you can join them together with a purpose.

Next time:  Introduction (Part II): What the Big Bopper taught me about grammar.

[How am I doing so far? What advice do you have for me? What kinds of language problems or issues would you like to see me address?]  

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