What's wrong with this sentence?

"Fluent in four languages, her skills are impeccable."

If you've been following this blog, you know we're dealing here with a misplaced modifier. The sentence says that her skills are fluent in four languages. It's possible that the woman herself is fluent in none. Let's try, "Fluent in four languages, she also has impeccable skills."

Always put modifiers as close as possible to the words they modify. In the original sentence, the pronoun the modifier refers is missing altogether. No wonder the whole thing sounds peculiar.

A new blog

I've added another blog and will continue to focus this one on business English and the like. The new one, http://gretchen-hirsch.blogspot.com will concern itself more with fiction and nonfiction writing and the publication process of my new book. Just thought I'd let you know.

It's all downhill from here

It's about a month until the launch of my new book, Back Again to Me. Because some people are interested in how this is all going to come together, I'll burn some blog posting time. In the next four weeks, I have to rewrite the trailer script, set up the new Web site, have a new headshot taken, do the video interview, figure out the twitter strategy, and start setting up readings here and there. Then I notify every person in every social network to invite their friends to the online party as well. I'm so excited that the launch period (48 hours, or maybe more if it goes well) will be benefiting Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption http://www.davethomasfoundation.org. The book is about adoption, and it seemed like a perfect fit. I've also made the decision that at every reading, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a specific charity or to the work of the organization itself. In these tough times, that seems to be a reasonable thing to do.

Onward!

Beware that modifier

As we head into a long weekend, it's good just to have fun. My son-in-law shared this interesting radio commercial with me after his most recent trip to CA. I don't have it verbatim, but it asks the fascinating question, "Why is it so hard to find a plumber who will fix your sink over the phone?" My guess is that the plumber would have to come to the sink and bring tools to get the job done. It's hard to accomplish a repair like that over the phone.

Someone wrote that ad, but worse, someone paid for it. Pity.