Are you ready now?

Or are you now ready?

This was a pretty interesting exercise in how to use your writing skills, and it includes an example that might be particularly useful to someone who is interested in the various journalism skills and qualities, because it includes an example how to write a newspaper article.

It also explains why it isn’t always necessary to check your grammar by using grammar checking software, although they can be very useful.

It involves the use of the word ‘now,’ more specifically where to place it in a sentence.

I encountered the problem when I was writing a page of text for a promotional video that I’m shooting for my novel ‘Rebel Liar.’

At first I wrote this.

‘The American Civil War has been raging for four years now, and the Confederacy seems to be defeated.’

But on second thoughts I preferred this.

‘The American Civil War has now been raging for four years, and the Confederacy seems to be defeated.’

In the first version, the word ‘now’ seems to be out of place, almost lost.

But in the second version it fits neatly into place.

Obviously, we wouldn’t usually discuss the civil war in normal everyday conversation.

This being the case, let’s look at another example, one that is in a different context, that is relevant to journalism writing skills.

Would we write this.

‘The conflict in the middle east has been raging for several years now, and there doesn’t seem to be a solution.’

Or would we write this.

‘The conflict in the middle east has now been raging for several years, and there doesn’t seem to be a solution.’

Again, the second version, with the ‘now’ neatly in its correct place, seems to be the better option.

Let’s keep in mind that none of the above constitutes a grammatical rule, none of it justifies a grammar check.

English is a very flexible language, and where you place your ‘now’  might be entirely a matter of personal preference.

Or it might be entirely a matter of someone else’s personal preference.

I’ll explain what I mean by this in another article.

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Author: Paul Gresham

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