You Can Write Poetry - Jeff Mock [22]
If you can use a refresher course, or even if you feel confident in your writing, check your library or bookstore for a good primer. You'll find many good ones, and any will suffice. I recommend two books by Karen Elizabeth Gordon: The Well-Tempered Sentence (on punctuation) and The Transitive Vampire (on grammar). They are the most educational and entertaining primers on grammar and punctuation I've come across. These funny and wise books will teach you well and make you laugh. (They have been expanded and revised and are now titled The New Well-Tempered Sentence and The Deluxe Transitive Vampire. Whichever editions you choose, they'll benefit your writing.) I've read and reread these invaluable resources, and I continue to consult them when I have doubts about proper usage.
Sometimes, in trying to achieve meter or in the blink of a line break, the poet loses track of a sentence. Always look to the sentence first, then take care of the formal aspects of the poem. For a quick study, here are common errors in poems I've recently read. This isn't by any means a comprehensive list, nor are the items listed in any particular order. By learning to avoid these errors, you'll be on your way to mastering the conventions of the English language, and that's part of writing good poems.
Wrong word. Mistaking one word for another is all too common, either because the words are homophones (such as there, they're and their) or because an important nuance distinguishes one from another. Lie and lay are examples of the latter: Lie means to rest in a horizontal position, while lay means to set down. After I lay a book on my bedside table, I lie down for a nap. When in doubt about the proper word, check your dictionary.
Plural and possessive. The plural of a word is formed by adding an s (or es in some instances) to the word; the possessive is formed by adding an 's, and the plural possessive is formed by adding an s. If you are to dine with Mr. and Mrs. Smith in their home, you are dining at the Smiths' (plural possessive), not at the Smith's (singular possessive). An exception is the possessive of it, which is its, not the contraction it's.
Misplaced modifiers. A modifier is a word or phrase that defines or describes a noun (or, in the case of an adverb, a verb). It must be placed properly to modify the right noun. If you have a man sweeping the floor with a long white beard, pity him his lack of a broom. Or place the modifier where it belongs: a man with a long white beard, sweeping the floor.
Dangling modifiers. When the noun a modifier should modify is absent, you have a dangling modifier: Waking at dawn, the sunrise was beautiful. The trouble here is that the sunrise does not wake; the modifier waking at dawn applies to the person who sees beauty in the sunrise. The sentence can be rewritten Waking at dawn, she saw a beautiful sunrise.
Subject-verb agreement. The subject and verb must agree. I write; you write; he writes; we write; they write. Beware of words that come between the subject and verb: A flock of sparrows feeds on the bread crumbs Joan scatters in our backyard. The subject is flock, not sparrows.
Pronoun agreement. A pronoun must agree in number with the noun it represents. The common error is the use of a plural pronoun where a singular pronoun is needed. In the sentence Everyone should say what they think, the plural pronoun they disagrees with the singular everyone. The sentence should read Everyone should say what he thinks, or Everyone should say what she thinks (also notice that the verb think becomes thinks to agree with the pronoun).
Comma splice. When a comma joins two sentences without a conjunction (and, but, or, etc.), you have a comma splice: They went downtown to see a movie, it started at eight. The comma after movie should