As in "what her past self had done."

WTAF Word. NO. You're an idiot.

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Eyes glazed over yet?

Transitive verbs take a direct object. Like: He hit the ball. "Hit" is a transitive verb, and "ball" is the direct object (the thing that got hit).

Intransitive verbs don't take an object. Like: The star shone brightly. "Shone" is the past tense of the intransitive verb "to shine," which looks exactly like the transitive verb "to shine." The difference is in meaning. Are you shining a thing? Or is the thing itself shining?

The standard usage tells us that "shined" is for the transitive form: He shined his shoes. (The shoes are being acted upon. They're the direct object.)

"Shone" is for the intransitive form: The silver shone after the maid's hard work with the polish. (The silver is shining all by itself.)

If you're worried about this, don't be. A copyeditor worth their salt will know the difference and will help you fix it. (Well, likely they'll fix it for you and leave you a comment about why the change. It's a defensible edit.)

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"The book was from another life and she set it down."

The guideline says we should use a comma before that "and," because there are two independent clauses (grammatically complete thoughts) there. However, using a semicolon makes a stronger connection.

"The book was from another life, and she set it down." (That's good, and it follows the guideline, but . . . I think it can be better.)

"The book was from another life; she set it down." {That little change makes all the difference.)

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Editing Error Rates: Why did the editor miss errors in your book? - Lisa Poisso, Book Coach & Editor

Is there an acceptable editing error rate for professional editing? Here's why your mom thinks she's found fifteen errors in your professionally edited debut novel.

Lisa Poisso, Book Coach & Editor (www.lisapoisso.com)

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