Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing - Why some sentences have double subjects. The story behind the old F-like letter S. Schwen schwen on dill.

Why some sentences have double subjects. The story behind the old F-like letter S. Schwen schwen on dill.

05/21/24 • 16 min

2 Listeners

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

987. This week, we look at why people sometimes double their subjects, writing sentences such as "John, he bought a car," and when it's OK (and not OK) to do so. Plus, we talk about the medial S, a strange F-like letter that makes an S-sound and shows up in old documents. We look at how it came to be, its role in English typography, and what made it finally go away.

| Edited transcript with links: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/left-dislocation/transcript

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| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

Audio Engineer: Nathan Semes
Director of Podcast: Brannan Goetschius
Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
Marketing and Publicity Assistant: Davina Tomlin
Digital Operations Specialist: Holly Hutchings

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

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| Edited transcript with links: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/left-dislocation/transcript

| Please take our advertising survey. It helps! https://podsurvey.com/GRAMMAR

| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.

| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.

| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.

| Peeve Wars card game.

| Grammar Girl books.

| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

Audio Engineer: Nathan Semes
Director of Podcast: Brannan Goetschius
Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
Marketing and Publicity Assistant: Davina Tomlin
Digital Operations Specialist: Holly Hutchings

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.

Previous Episode

Efficiency hacks for writers and editors with Erin Brenner

986. Erin Brenner, author of "The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors," shares time-saving tips including the best practices for using Word, creating macros, and using automation tools like Zapier. You'll also learn about starting and growing a freelance business, including how to figure out what to charge, how to make ends meet at the beginning, and how to handle time management once your business starts to succeed.

| Resources mentioned in the podcast:

Erin Brenner, Right Touch Editing: https://www.righttouchediting.com/

"The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors" by Erin Brenner: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo213434367.html

Adrienne Montgomerie's book, "Editing in Word 365" https://www.lulu.com/shop/adrienne-montgomerie/editing-in-word-365/ebook/product-p855r4.html

Rhonda Bracey, CyberText Consulting: https://www.cybertext.com.au/

Hilary Cadman, Cadman Editing Services: https://www.cadmanediting.com/

Erin Servais, AI for Editors: https://www.aiforeditors.com/

Jack Lyon, Editor's Toolkit (Word macros): https://www.editorium.com/index.htm

Paul Beverley, Archive Publications (Word macros): https://www.archivepub.co.uk/

Phrase Expander: https://www.phraseexpander.com/

Raycast: https://www.raycast.com/

Zapier: https://zapier.com/

Intelligent Editing: https://intelligentediting.com/

| Edited transcript with links: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/brenner/transcript

| Please take our advertising survey. It helps! https://podsurvey.com/GRAMMAR

| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.

| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.

| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.

| Peeve Wars card game.

| Grammar Girl books.

| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

Audio Engineer: Nathan Semes
Director of Podcast: Brannan Goetschius
Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
Marketing and Publicity Assistant: Davina Tomlin
Digital Operations Specialist: Holly Hutchings

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.

Next Episode

How a special dictionary kept soldiers connected during WWII, with Peter Sokolowski

1 Recommendations

988. Peter Sokolowski, an editor at Merriam-Webster, goes through the fascinating history of the Armed Services Editions, a series of books published during World War II for distribution among the troops. We look at the special problems of wartime publishing, the collaborative efforts among publishers, and the lasting influence of these books on the publishing landscape.

| Edited transcript with links: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/sokolowski-wwii/transcript

| Please take our advertising survey. It helps! https://podsurvey.com/GRAMMAR

| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.

| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.

| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.

| Peeve Wars card game.

| Grammar Girl books.

| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.