Oct 14, 2011

Reading Novels

Does it ever rankle you to pick up a novel by a best selling author who has at least seventy-five novels under her belt and discover she doesn't know the difference between farther and further, and she uses it incorrectly at least two hundred times throughout the story? When she has the hero say, "It's not much further up the road," are we to assume the hero is not very intelligent? Would she have him say, "How fur is it?" instead of "How far is it?" But when other characters also speak this way, we can only conclude that the author is lacking in simple grammatical skills.

And one would also conclude that the editor who handled the book did not feel the need to read the book because Best Selling Author is so famous no one cares if she says "She jumped off of the wagon" instead of the correct "She jumped off the wagon."

As a writer or reader, what are some of your pet peeves when it comes to reading a novel?

2 comments:

Deborah M. said...

With all the scrutiny that published material undergoes - from the daily newspaper to a hard-bound book - I am amazed when misspellings and grammatical errors appear in print. Weren't all writers English majors somewhere along the line? How can editors (and assistant editors) miss some things? Yes, I know I'm picky. Occasional substandard English from tv announcers grates on my ear, too. This is the standard for many listeners. Let's keep the bar literate.

Anonymous said...


Guess what is sitting at my desk to the left of me?

Action: is affect (verb)
End Result: effect (noun)

I keep this on a little sheet of paper and I STILL am sure I don't get it right! I wish I could sort this once and for all!