WHEN Tuesday, March 18, 6:30-9:30 pm WHERE mediabistro.com, 494 Broadway (Spring & Broome), New York, NY 10012 DIRECTIONS subway directions, map PRICE $65 ($50 for ) more info

Course Details

Have you ever heard that your writing contains a dangling participle but then wondered what that really means? Do you spend minutes determining where to put a comma only to end up guessing? Do you use em-dashes and ellipsis and parentheses randomly, not knowing when or where to use them? Do you know what an en-dash is? Do you know what a comma splice is? Do you think the term parallel construction refers to construction sites?

Good writing is based on rules. In this seminar, we'll be looking meticulously at grammar and punctuation, paying close attention to the proverbial blind spots in writing. We'll have a lengthy discussion on the use of commas, focusing on restrictive/nonrestrictive sentences and appositives. We'll be discussing the use of semicolons, em-dashes, and parentheses. Compound adjectives and coordinate adjectives will be discussed as they pertain to hyphen and comma usage. We'll examine possessives, parallel construction, and antecedents. Then we'll talk about proper usage of whom/who, lie/lay, him/his, among others. By the end of the seminar, you'll have an understanding of all these terms and an awareness of how to use grammar/punctuation to support meaning in your writing.

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Instructor Bio

Mikola De Roo's Courses

Mikola De Roo has worked as an editor in both trade and college publishing for over 13 years. She is communications manager at EmcArts, an arts management consulting firm whose primary mission is to strengthen the capacities and effectiveness of non-profit arts and cultural organizations. Mikola has worked on books on such disparate subjects as grammar, mechanics, and style, British literature, film, censorship, fencing, and LSD. She has an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Michigan, and also does freelance writing, editing, copy editing, and proofreading. She and the serial comma are close friends, and she is fond of the em-dash when it is used correctly.

Testimonials

This course helped me get over that barrier to deliver clear, understandable and enjoyable copy. -- Melanie Halpern