Macmillan Library Presents: Tips from Grammar Girl #2

Macmillan Library Presents: Tips from Grammar Girl #2

grammar girl cartoonGrammar goddess Mignon Fogarty (a.k.a. Grammar Girl) has agreed to teach us the proper way to talk to librarians about the books and genres we love. We'll be posting her monthly tips here on the blog. Take it away, Grammar Girl!

Ali, a sci-fi nerd from planet 645 asked, "I have trouble with verb tense in our present timeline, but when I time travel, I get especially confused. Can you help?"

Ah, the complexities of time travel. If you think the hazards of disrupting the space-time continuum are daunting, consider the grammar. Time travel requires some of the trickier tenses:

Simple Future

Tomorrow, I am going to be born. [going to + verb]

Future Progressive

The robots will already be waiting to kill me. [will be + present participle]

Past Perfect Progressive

Ali had been lying unconscious for three days before she was able to locate herself and surreptitiously attach the  beacon that would send her home. [had been + present participle]

Past Perfect

She had made this trip before, so she knew how it would work out. [had + past participle]

I hope that helps, Ali, and stay safe in the future. It can be a dangerous place.

Thank you, Grammar Girl! Unfortunately in my time traveling experience there's no such thing as a simple future or a perfect past, but one can always hope! 

See Grammar Girl's previous column in which she taught Talia how to talk about her favorite gory mysteries! Look for 101 TROUBLESOME WORDS YOU'LL MASTER IN NO TIME available now from St. Martin's Griffin. Visit her at Grammar.QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Also, we're giving away one full set of her latest Quick and Dirty Tips books (this set includes four signed(!) books and one unsigned audiobook). 

giveaway

UPDATE: This contest is now closed.
The winner is Ramona L. Grimsley of the Berkeley County Library System!

Enter to win these signed books by sending your name, your library, and your full mailing address to Library-at-MacmillanUSA.com (subject: Grammar Girl) by Monday, July 23rd.

This sweepstakes is open to librarians in the United States. More eligibility details below.

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Macmillan Library @ ALA Annual 2012 (booth 2544)

Macmillan Library @ ALA Annual 2012 (booth 2544)

exhibiting logoWe're getting geared up for ALA Annual in Anaheim and it's about time we shared all of our exciting plans with you!

See our full schedule below:

FRIDAY, JUNE 22nd 

5:30 PM 
Macmillan booth 2544

Mignon Fogarty (a.k.a. Grammar Girl) will be signing copies of her Quick & Dirty Tips books and Deb Coonts will be signing copies of SO DAMN LUCKY in our booth. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 23RD

10:30-12 PM 
Convention Center Rm 202A

Gail Tsukiyama, author of A HUNDRED FLOWERS, and Jeri Westerson, author of TROUBLED BONES, will be speaking on ALTAFF’s "Historical Fiction" panel. 

11:00 AM
Macmillan booth 2544

Kelli Stanley will be signing copies of CITY OF SECRETS in our booth. 

1:30 PM 
Exhibit Hall, Aisle 2200

Gail Tsukiyama, author of A HUNDRED FLOWERS, will be speaking at ALA’s LIVE! @ your library Reading Stage

1:30-3:30 pm 
Convention Center Rm 209A

Deb Coonts, author of SO DAMN LUCKY, will be speaking on ALTAFF’s “Isn’t It Romantic?” panel. 

ALL DAY 
Pop Top Stage

A number of excellent Macmillan authors will be speaking on the Popular Topics Stage for Mystery Day! Read all about the Macmillan authors hereAnd see the full Pop Top Stage schedule here.

ALL DAY
Unshelved Day @ ALA!

Our buddies over at Unshelved are celebrating TEN YEARS (say whaaaat?!) of comic strip goodness and they're encouraging you to show off your Unshelved pride on Saturday at ALA. Details on their blog

SUNDAY, JUNE 24th  

9:00-10:00 am 
Convention Center Rm 210A/B

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the event you've all been waiting for... #BOOKBATTLE2: The Sequel! In one corner we have Talia "The Tiger" Sherer. In the other corner we have Chris "The Cutie" Vaccari. These two champs will duke it out to claim the title of Best Book Buzzer Ever! They'll be buzzing about books for both adults and teens! There will be galleys! There will be prizes! There will be A BATTLE TO THE DEATH!!

book battle 2

9:00-10:00 am 
Hyatt, Royal Ballroom

YA Author Coffee Klatch with Alex Award-winner Rachel DeWoskin. 

Enjoy coffee and meet with a number of great YA authors! Librarians will sit at a table and every 3 or 4 minutes, a new author will arrive at your table to chat.

10:30-12:00 pm
Convention Center Rm 204A

The Alex Award is given to the top 10 books that appeal to young adults, and is administered by YALSA and sponsored by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust. The 2012 Alex Award winning authors including Rachel DeWoskin, author of BIG GIRL SMALL, will speak about their books and the award on this panel. 

10:30-12:00 pm
Convention Center Rm 204C

The Great Non-Fiction Read-Alike: If You Like This, You’ll LOVE That! with Trivia!

As the popularity of non-fiction reading for pleasure continues to grow, librarians have a great opportunity to grow their reader’s advisory skills. All-star panelists Alene Moroni (Manager, Selection & Order, King County), Anna Mickelsen (Reference Librarian, Springfield City), Kaite Stover (Manager, Readers’ Services, Kansas City),  Robin Nesbitt (Technical Services Director, Columbus Metropolitan), and Stephanie Chase (Head, Reference, Adult Services, & Programming, Multnomah County) will cover major trends in popular non-fiction and recommend upcoming titles with pre-publication buzz as well as titles from your backlist will satisfy your patrons while the best-selling titles are on hold.

2:30 PM 
Macmillan booth 2544

Joel Engel will be signing copies of L.A. '56 in our booth. 

4:00 PM
Macmillan booth 2544

Francesca Lia Block will be signing copies of THE ELEMENTALS in our booth. 

MONDAY, JUNE 25th 

10:00 AM
Macmillan booth 2544

Eleanor Kuhns will be signing copies of A SIMPLE MURDER in our booth.

2:00 PM-4:00 PM 
Anaheim Marriott, Grand Salon E

Jane Green, author of ANOTHER PIECE OF MY HEART, will be speaking at the ALTAFF "Gala Author Tea." Tickets required.

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Macmillan Library Presents: Tips from Grammar Girl!

Macmillan Library Presents: Tips from Grammar Girl!

grammar girl cartoonClass act Mignon Fogarty (a.k.a. Grammar Girl) has kindly agreed to teach us how to talk and write about books the proper way and we'll be posting her monthly tips here on the blog! Take it away, Grammar Girl! 

Talia, the blood-queen of library marketing, is obsessed with murder but also wants some grammar tips. So many people to rub out, so little time, but you still need to do it with style and proper grammar.

Addictive Versus Addicting

That feeling your favorite detective gets when he finally gets the bad guy in his sights--it's addictive. That's right, dopamine-releasing addictive, but it's not addicting. 

Reserve addicting for something or someone who creates a dependency: "That darn Chelsea Cain is addicting me to Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell's twisted love story."

Between Versus Among

How could you possibly choose between DEAD SCARED, KILL YOU TWICE, and THE OTHER WOMAN? You shouldn't have to! Get them all. 

Further, you shouldn't be afraid to use between when you have more than two distinct items. That you shouldn't do so is just a nasty grammar myth. (What do we love? Mythology? Yes. Grammar myths? No.) 

Among is for groups of people (fear spread among the criminals when they learned that Detective Talia was on the case) and locations (they hid among the vagrants in Central Park).

Flaunt Versus Flout

Criminals flout the law. They're on the outs, just like the "out" in flout.

When you flaunt something, you're showing it off, perhaps throwing it in someone's face. My favorite TV almost-a-detective, Rick Castle, usually doesn't flaunt his wealth, except when he's upset with the real detective, Kate Beckett. Then he brings blondes to crime scenes in his Ferrari. Flaunting extraordinaire.

Find more about these 3 topics and 98 more in Grammar Girl's forthcoming book, 101 TROUBLESOME WORDS YOU'LL MASTER IN NO TIME (out July 3). 

Grammar Girl will be signing books at ALA Annual on Friday, June 22nd at 5:30pm in booth 2544!

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