Colons, Commas, and Dashes 2022 – Copy
Pity the Poor Semicolon!
Do you wonder why I titled this article “Pity the Poor Semicolon?” Have you noticed how many times semicolons get dragged into the wrong place in a sentence? Too often, one is used instead of a comma or colon, either of…
Kick Those Old Grammar Rules Away Part 1
Why kick those old grammar rules away? Because in the modern era of the 2020s, they’re no longer considered correct by most writers and style guides. So with apologies to stricter grammarians than I am, today, we’re going to get…
Uncover Your Smothered Verbs!
Uncover your smothered verbs! Why? Because you’ll shorten and sharpen your writing, and your readers will get more out of the experience. So what’s a smothered verb, you ask? It’s a verb that we changed into a noun, a word…
No Apostrophes in Plurals!
No apostrophes in plurals! I am certain this will be someone’s pet peeve. Probably provoke some shivers. A lot of writers are using an apostrophe to form plurals of nouns, which is simply wrong. The information below shows how to…
Could’ve — Should’ve — Would’ve
I think it’s due to the sound here, but a lot of writers are making a real error when they write out could’ve, should’ve, or would’ve. Yes, the letter f can have the sound of v, as in the word…
Using A and An Correctly!
Is there anyone out there using a and an correctly? Sad to say, many of us learned this incomplete version of using a and an when we were kids: “Use a before words beginning with a consonant, and use an…
Affect & Effect
For most of us writers, affect will be a verb and effect will be a noun. Each can be used differently, but it’s far less common. If you can see how to use effect correctly, you’ll know whether affect or…
Alot / Allot / A Lot
The non-word “alot” has an amazingly strong hold on many writers, even with spellcheckers separating the two parts of it. I will bet that some writers override their spellchecker, pulling those four letters back together, muttering something like “Stupid program!…
Using Too Many Adverbs?
Curious: Would you even know if you’re using too many adverbs? Do you know exactly what an adverb is or what other parts of speech it modifies / describes? All parts of speech have their uses; together they allow us…