Just when I thought it was safe to do some bellyaching yesterday about all the stuff I had to do, even more requests arrived! And no, I'm not referring to the gnome-home building, the house painting or the Bermuda-book blurbage comments on that post (thanks guys). These were entirely new "off the radar" requests for my time, including one that made me miss watching the Biggest Loser last night:

I helped a friend study for an English test that's part of his high school equivalency program. Oh. Mah. Gawd. Did you know that all of the verb tenses we use have names? Like past perfect and present progressive? Why don't I remember any of this? This must have been a class I missed because of really bad cramps or a zit the size of Texas.

And yes, admitting that I can't name verb tenses on a blog where I claim to be a professional writer probably isn't wise. Especially with query letters flying their way around the Internet. ;) But I completely forgot how cruel the English language is. And how many verbs out there defy logic. Like swim. How the heck did it turn into swam or, for heaven's sake, swum?

That's a rhetorical question; you can put your hand down now. ;)

Looking over my friend's textbook made me shudder with all of the terms that I've long-since forgotten. Sure, I know my dangling modifiers (snicker) and all the other things that Schoolhouse Rock taught me, but there are a lot of things that I do automatically without knowing specifically why.

And that makes me kind of nervous...because I could be under some kind of grammar-mind-control spell or something. Hey, you never know. ;)

If you haven't experienced Schoolhouse Rock, please do yourself a favour and head over to YouTube. While Conjunction Junction is a top pick for most, I'm a sucker for adverbs. I think this is why I ended up getting into advertising:

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