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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

  • A CASE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
  • MY EVER-CHANGING FAMILY
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grammar geeks

In the Garden With the Grammar Geek: Is It Ever OK to Use the Passive Voice?

June 19, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Garden Artisan Jillian Steinberger prunes the camellias in Barbara Falconer Newhall's yard. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Passive sentences can be wordy and vague — or useful. For me, a passive sentence is one that, like it or not, obscures the doer of the action. Read more.

The Writing Room: Splitting the Infinitive — How to Boldy Go There

June 1, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

“To boldly go where no man has gone before.” Nitpickers and pedants take exception to that stirring old Star Trek slogan. I don’t.

Writing Room: The Punch Line Always Goes Last

April 17, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Everyone knows that the punch line goes at the end of a joke, not the beginning. A mystery writer knows to set the story up and get all the necessary events and clues in place before revealing that the pizza delivery guy did it. The same is true of a paragraph and a sentence.

Writing Room: Ending Paragraphs and Sentences with a Bang

March 20, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A stack of books on getting published in the library of author Barbara Falconer Newhall. Photo by Barbara Newhall

The most powerful place in a paragraph is its last sentence. More precisely, the most powerful place in a paragraph is the last few words of that sentence. Read more.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

My Killer Shoes — Brought Down to Size by Those Four-and-a-Half-Inch Heels

Barbara Falconer Newhall tries on a pair of Glint pave shoes with 4 1/2-inch high heels. BF Newhall photo

Dress shoes for women right now, as you may have noticed, sport heels that go on forever. Wedge heels, spike heels, stack heels – everywhere I look I see nothing but heels of skyscraper proportions built to lift their wearers four or even four-and-a-half inches off the ground. Read More.

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TO MY READERS

Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.

My Oakland Tribune columns, btw, are reprinted by permission of the Trib. With the exception of review copies of books, I do not accept ads or freebies of any kind. Click on the "Contact" button if you have questions. Enjoy!

 

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