Since Quora likes to collapse my answers in an effort to keep me quiet, I’m copying and pasting some of the Quora Q and A’s in which I’ve participated. Here’s a question from Quora.

This time, I’ll be showing a few questions with some short answers. All of the questions revolve around some facet of editing, but if you find that you have some questions about the editing process, please ask right here or leave a comment.

Question 1: If I can omit the comma after “today,” can I do the same in “Fortunetly I don’t have work tomorrow.”?
Addendum: I’m able to omit the comma after “today” in the sentence, “Today I went to school,” but am I able to omit the comma after “fortunety” in the sentence, “Fortunetly I don’t have work tomorrow.”

Answer: You do not need the comma after fortunately. In this case, using the comma is optional, but make sure that you are consistent in your writing and punctuation. Also, be sure to correct spelling mistakes.

To expound a bit, the reason a comma may be placed after today, yesterday, at this time, fortunately, etc., is due to the fact that those kinds of words at the beginning of a sentence set up a sort of restriction.

For example: Today, the heat was excruciating.

The reader knows right away that the frame of reference is “today”, but there is no need for the comma because the frame of reference still exists without the comma.

Remember, commas do NOT indicate a pause in speech; they are used to clarify information, and if they are not clarifying the information they do not need to be there, but if they are used in such a manner, they must be used consistently.

Read more about commas here.

Question 2: I do not come to school. It’s passive voice?

Answer: No. It is active.

You are the subject and not coming to school is what you are doing. However, I do not go to school, or I did not make it to school, or I have not been to school, are more appropriate ways of phrasing such an idea in the English language.

One does not generally come to a place; they go.

Now, an example of passive voice is the following: The milk was spilled by the cat.

There is nothing wrong the sentence. It makes perfect sense, but the main noun, the cat, the thing that actually did the verb, has taken a secondary role in the sentence, thus making it passive.

The active version of that sentence is the following: The cat spilled the milk.

There is a time and place to use either passive or active voice, but that is up to the writer/editor, and what they wish to provide the audience. Generally, an active voice in the narrative forces the audience to accept at face value to events of the story, whereas the passive voice is a bit more suggestive in nature, perhaps even surreptitious. Both have their roles.

Question 3: Why do shorter paragraphs in a novel create the feeling of a faster pace?

Answer: First, it is imperative to understand that each paragraph should contain a single idea. A short paragraph means the idea is explained in fewer sentences, so numerous paragraphs of fewer sentences provides a barrage of ideas, which gives the pace speed, so long as each paragraph and their supporting sentences are structured properly.

If they aren’t, instead of a quick pace, the reader feels a jumbled confusion. Long paragraphs are still a single idea, but due to more sentences of a more complex nature being presented, the pace is slowed because less information is thoroughly explained.

So that’s three, little questions from Quora, and as you can see, editing is really a great deal more than correcting misspelled words, bad grammar, and incorrect punctuation.

Please visit my editing services tab for more information.

Also be sure to read through all my posts if you intend to become a better writer. Thanks, everyone, and stay tuned for more info.