Sarah was born in 1975 and had an unusual childhood, as her father’s job required the family to move at least once a year. He made good money, and Sarah had all the opportunities that come with the chance to travel and see new places. But she wasn’t happy with the lack of stability. She… Read more »
National Grammar Day is around the corner. But before you dust off your Elements of Style, post your pet peeves (there/their, anyone?), and get your red Sharpie ready to apply to error-ridden grocery store signs, consider this: you may not be celebrating the right thing. Grammatical Point On March 4 you’re sure to find an… Read more »
Writing is personal. Sometimes It’s personal in content, like a journal or memoir?or sometimes there are personal aspects, like a character who goes through a painful experience similar to something in your own history. Then there’s the catharsis that can come from getting confused or angry or sad thoughts onto paper, and the vindication you… Read more »
The man: a tall, broad-shouldered god with a chiseled face and strong, capable hands. The woman: a gorgeous, black-haired beauty, slim and toned, with gentle features and a heart-shaped face. The plot: They meet and fall in love. Sound familiar? That’s because you’ve seen it before?over and over and over. we’re visual people, and the… Read more »
We’ve spent the first few weeks of the new year sweating the small stuff?abbreviations, initialisms, and other short forms. We’ve looked at Canadian usage and examined when to use capital letters and periods. This week we’ll wrap up our quick survey on short forms and sort out some more basics: plurals, possessives, and more. Double… Read more »
Sweating the (very) small stuff? If you’re stumped over how to punctuate abbreviations, you’re not alone. This is one area where usage has changed over time; couple that with the different practices followed by Canadian, US, and UK English, and you’ve got a recipe for confusion. Periods? Spaces? And what about initials in names? In… Read more »
Happy New Year! Let’s kick off 2015 by starting out small. Very small, that is?we’ll spend a few weeks sorting through the world of acronyms, initialisms, and other small but tricky abbreviations. This week we’ll look at how to label them and when to use the long form. In later installments we’ll get into issues… Read more »
What’s in a name?or a word? Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? To what extent does language influence our perception, and vice versa? The answer can be found in etymology, the study of the history and origin of words. ?Language is fossil poetry,? wrote Emerson, but etymology’s more than just a… Read more »
On the first day of Christmas, my editor said to me I don’t think you quite meant literally. On the second day of Christmas, my editor said to me It’s “too much”?use the adverb And I don’t think you quite meant literally. On the third day of Christmas, my editor said to me Put commas… Read more »
You cringe at incorrect capitalization. You mock misplaced modifiers. You figuratively die every time someone uses the word “literally” incorrectly. And confusion of “your” and “you’re” makes you want to tear your hair out and resign from the human race. That means you’re desperate to promote good grammar, right? Wrong?because none of the above are… Read more »