Hi, one of my articles was recently rejected. But I am having a little trouble spotting the errors. I believe some are there in the first part of the article itself which I am posting here. Only a few sentences. Could any authors successful here spot some errors for me? Is anybody willing to help me out by rereading the content. Thanks.
here's the content:
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A majority of people prefer to have rock-solid abs. Several workouts, such as crunches, bicycle crunches, leg raises, cable rotations, etc., can help you achieve great abs. But how many people know how to do these exercises properly? For a huge number of people, working out every day for several hours does not yield any results. Unlike the muscles of the other parts of your body, the muscle of your abs is visible only after reducing the extra fat around your stomach; many people do not know this. In this article are eight top myths in the realm of abdominal workout.
Myth 1: You have to do hundreds of reps of crunches
Many people believe that the abs have a collection of muscles with a corrugated pattern. This is not true. ‘Rectus abdominis’, the abs muscle, is a two-part muscle with a vertical, central line known as the ‘linea alba’. The muscle starts at the pubic area and runs up to the base of the ribcage. It is closely associated with a pair of muscles known as ‘obliques’. Hence, increasing the number of reps of the workout you do for your abs does not necessarily yield positive results. Hundreds of crunches a day will not give you any more benefit than doing twenty to thirty reps with an appropriate amount of resistance. You also do not need to exercise your abs every day.
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What mistakes can you help me find.
Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed
Re: What mistakes can you help me find.
Here are my two cents, but I am not an actual editor.
A majority of people prefer to have rock-solid abs.
Use "prefer having" or "would prefer to"
Several workouts, such as crunches, bicycle crunches, leg raises, cable rotations, etc., can help you achieve great abs.
This sentence is needlessly complex. Phrase differently: Many workouts can help you achieve great abs, such as crunches, bicycle crunches, leg raises and cable rotations. NEVER USE ETC
But how many people know how to do these exercises properly? For a huge number of people, working out every day for several hours does not yield any results. You don't need the comma after people Unlike the muscles of the other parts of your body, the muscle of your abs is visible only after reducing the extra fat around your stomach; many people do not know this.This sentence is also a little too complex. Just split into separate sentences. In this article are eight top myths in the realm of abdominal workout.
Myth 1: You have to do hundreds of reps of crunches
Many people believe that the abs have a collection of muscles with a corrugated pattern. 'consist of' or are 'made of' or 'is' not have This is not true. ‘Rectus abdominis’, the abs muscle, is a two-part muscle with a vertical, central line known as the ‘linea alba’. The muscle starts at the pubic area and runs up to the base of the ribcage. rib cage is two words It is closely associated with a pair of muscles known as ‘obliques’. only technical writing puts the period outside of the quotation marks. Hence, increasing the number of reps of the workout you do for your abs does not necessarily yield positive results. Hundreds of crunches a day will not give you any more benefit than doing twenty to thirty reps with an appropriate amount of resistance. You also do not need to exercise your abs every day.
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Overall I think you have great data and are on the right track. I'm guessing you are not an American or not familiar with AP. I would get an AP guidebook. You are not doing things that are grammatically wrong exactly, but you are doing things that are not commonly accepted in AP American English. You may want to reduce the complexity of your sentences overall, as most writing is for the web and web writing prizes concise and direct sentence structure. I think what hurt you the most was that first complex sentence, as the "etc." is a little too informal for this site.
A majority of people prefer to have rock-solid abs.
Use "prefer having" or "would prefer to"
Several workouts, such as crunches, bicycle crunches, leg raises, cable rotations, etc., can help you achieve great abs.
This sentence is needlessly complex. Phrase differently: Many workouts can help you achieve great abs, such as crunches, bicycle crunches, leg raises and cable rotations. NEVER USE ETC
But how many people know how to do these exercises properly? For a huge number of people, working out every day for several hours does not yield any results. You don't need the comma after people Unlike the muscles of the other parts of your body, the muscle of your abs is visible only after reducing the extra fat around your stomach; many people do not know this.This sentence is also a little too complex. Just split into separate sentences. In this article are eight top myths in the realm of abdominal workout.
Myth 1: You have to do hundreds of reps of crunches
Many people believe that the abs have a collection of muscles with a corrugated pattern. 'consist of' or are 'made of' or 'is' not have This is not true. ‘Rectus abdominis’, the abs muscle, is a two-part muscle with a vertical, central line known as the ‘linea alba’. The muscle starts at the pubic area and runs up to the base of the ribcage. rib cage is two words It is closely associated with a pair of muscles known as ‘obliques’. only technical writing puts the period outside of the quotation marks. Hence, increasing the number of reps of the workout you do for your abs does not necessarily yield positive results. Hundreds of crunches a day will not give you any more benefit than doing twenty to thirty reps with an appropriate amount of resistance. You also do not need to exercise your abs every day.
**********
Overall I think you have great data and are on the right track. I'm guessing you are not an American or not familiar with AP. I would get an AP guidebook. You are not doing things that are grammatically wrong exactly, but you are doing things that are not commonly accepted in AP American English. You may want to reduce the complexity of your sentences overall, as most writing is for the web and web writing prizes concise and direct sentence structure. I think what hurt you the most was that first complex sentence, as the "etc." is a little too informal for this site.
Re: What mistakes can you help me find.
"prefer having" I think that is something I can change, although I think I have submitted articles with that kind of phrase before.
Never use ETC: I have used etc on almost all my articles and got them accepted. In that case, I have to use etc, The sentence would not be quite correct with the list at the end. Also, the list is set off properly with commas as the 'such as' part is unrestrictive.
abs have: I think you may be right. Abs is the exact meaning of abdominal muscles, and that may be the reason why we can't write "abdominal muscles have one muscle"
rib cage: My mistake although word did not find it.
Comma & quote: It's an apostrophe isn't it? Also, a small word, who puts periods inside that.
Never use ETC: I have used etc on almost all my articles and got them accepted. In that case, I have to use etc, The sentence would not be quite correct with the list at the end. Also, the list is set off properly with commas as the 'such as' part is unrestrictive.
abs have: I think you may be right. Abs is the exact meaning of abdominal muscles, and that may be the reason why we can't write "abdominal muscles have one muscle"
rib cage: My mistake although word did not find it.
Comma & quote: It's an apostrophe isn't it? Also, a small word, who puts periods inside that.
Re: What mistakes can you help me find.
Period should always go within quotes, and so should the comma. Unless you're doing something like telling people what to type on a computer and the period would make it inaccurate. That's the only time I put periods outside of quotes.
I would avoid semicolons altogether at CC. So so so many people get nailed for using it wrong, and you can just put a period and make two separate sentences to avoid the issue.
Also, it's very common knowledge to avoid etc. Pretty much every professor, teacher, etc (
) will tell you not to use it. I'm really surprised they haven't made you take it out!
I would avoid semicolons altogether at CC. So so so many people get nailed for using it wrong, and you can just put a period and make two separate sentences to avoid the issue.
Also, it's very common knowledge to avoid etc. Pretty much every professor, teacher, etc (
) will tell you not to use it. I'm really surprised they haven't made you take it out!-
Isabelnewth
- Posts: 304
- Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:15 am
Re: What mistakes can you help me find.
I just wanted to say that commas, full stops, etc are generally put after the final quotation mark in UK English, as opposed to US English, so it depends which you are using.
I agree strongly about keeping sentences short and active, and eliminating semi-colons and colons where possible.
I have got a lot of rejections recently so what I say is maybe not 100% gospel, but one thing that stuck out for me in the extract was what I thought was illogicality in the last para. You give some facts about the muscle formation then you say 'hence' (ie therefore) a lot of exercise may not be effective. The causal connection isn't at all clear to me as a reader.
I agree strongly about keeping sentences short and active, and eliminating semi-colons and colons where possible.
I have got a lot of rejections recently so what I say is maybe not 100% gospel, but one thing that stuck out for me in the extract was what I thought was illogicality in the last para. You give some facts about the muscle formation then you say 'hence' (ie therefore) a lot of exercise may not be effective. The causal connection isn't at all clear to me as a reader.
Re: What mistakes can you help me find.
Thanks for the suggestions. Also one thing I missed: The comma after "for a huge number of people" : The rule that applies is that of prepositional phrases of more than three or four words. That requires a comma.
About semicolons and colons and ETC :I use it in my writing. It is no rule that one should not. If the sentence requires it, it has to be used, and I know the correct way of using it. I don't create comma splices or run on sentences, so it's fine. I don't really see any other real problem within the article. I guess it's the editor's quirk that rejected the article. Two or three points that jkcki mentioned earlier that I acknowledged are what I can change. I would like to see the article approved if there is no violation of rules. I have my own style as a writer and in my writing, I want to use certain elements, such as semicolons, colons, dashes, and the oxford commas. Also, I want to put the commas and periods after the quotes if the quote is too tiny. This is no violation of rule, but just my writing style. I suppose it should be taken like that and be approved.
About semicolons and colons and ETC :I use it in my writing. It is no rule that one should not. If the sentence requires it, it has to be used, and I know the correct way of using it. I don't create comma splices or run on sentences, so it's fine. I don't really see any other real problem within the article. I guess it's the editor's quirk that rejected the article. Two or three points that jkcki mentioned earlier that I acknowledged are what I can change. I would like to see the article approved if there is no violation of rules. I have my own style as a writer and in my writing, I want to use certain elements, such as semicolons, colons, dashes, and the oxford commas. Also, I want to put the commas and periods after the quotes if the quote is too tiny. This is no violation of rule, but just my writing style. I suppose it should be taken like that and be approved.
Re: What mistakes can you help me find.
Hi vjlenin,
Nice to have you here at CC. From my point of view, your article doesn't sound like either US or UK English, and this site is very particular about getting the rules right and being very correct. That means writing in the conventional UK or US style. That's what buyers are looking for - wording that sounds natural in those countries, not unusual. Having a personal writing style is ok, but first the grammar and usage has to be just right. If it's more common to put the punctuation in the speech marks, then I am surprised if you say that you just don't want it that way because "the quote is too tiny." Following the rules means a rationale like this doesn't really work.
I wish you good luck, but I recommend writing in the style that this site accepts, otherwise you will find it frustrating if you're asked to change things. I have to write in a slightly different way according to the CC rules, but it has worked well for me.
All the best.
Nice to have you here at CC. From my point of view, your article doesn't sound like either US or UK English, and this site is very particular about getting the rules right and being very correct. That means writing in the conventional UK or US style. That's what buyers are looking for - wording that sounds natural in those countries, not unusual. Having a personal writing style is ok, but first the grammar and usage has to be just right. If it's more common to put the punctuation in the speech marks, then I am surprised if you say that you just don't want it that way because "the quote is too tiny." Following the rules means a rationale like this doesn't really work.
I wish you good luck, but I recommend writing in the style that this site accepts, otherwise you will find it frustrating if you're asked to change things. I have to write in a slightly different way according to the CC rules, but it has worked well for me.
All the best.
Re: What mistakes can you help me find.
Well, i don't know if you read the full topic or not. I accept the rule about the quotes. I should have put all periods and commas inside the quotes. I normally do that, except when it is too short. Another thing. I don't know about you, but I am a regular writer here, and I have had content accepted here since 2007. I follow the rules of grammar and punctuation and have been correct at most times whether or not I sound like an American. So, I think I would like the editors to take a second look and tell me some real changes that they want to see, not "suggestions" or "generally-accepted rules." Also, I do not like to be rejected just because an editor's style is different from another's or mine. Whatever the case, can a real editor look it over and tell me? Thanks.