October 22, 2024
I’m not the only person who has favorite and least-favorite grammatical rules, right? For example, the Oxford comma is definitely up there as one of my favorites. Unfortunately, the rule we’re talking about right now—the suspended hyphen—is one of my Read more…
October 21, 2024
It might sometimes seem like people just toss hyphens randomly into their writing. And with so many different rules and various situations when you do or don’t need a hyphen (even for the same word!), it’s very possible that some Read more…
Babysit or baby-sit? Common sense or common-sense? First aid, first-aid, or firstaid? There are three different kinds of compound words—open, closed, and hyphenated—and it can be tricky to keep them all straight! Overview: What Is a Compound Word? A compound Read more…
October 7, 2024
Parentheses are a great tool you can use to add extra information or commentary to your text. If you want to toss in some examples or clarifications, they’re super handy. Little jokes and sarcastic comments love to be nested inside Read more…
October 3, 2024
Parentheses have all kinds of different functions: In academic papers, you’ll see them used for citations and maybe even in a few mathematical equations. In more casual writing, they’re used to insert extra information or relevant commentary. They’re handy if Read more…
October 1, 2024
Let’s take it back to the basics and talk about what the heck an apostrophe is and how to use it in your writing. Where Does It Come From? Oh, yeah. I said we’re taking it back, so we’re taking Read more…
September 28, 2024
It’s back! That pesky apostrophe is once again confusing people with two words that sound exactly the same but actually mean COMPLETELY different things. “Your” and “You’re” sound like the same word when we say them out loud, which is Read more…
September 17, 2024
“It’s” and “its” mean two COMPLETELY different things. These two little words get mixed up all. the. time. In fact, I’d say it’s one of the most common errors that I come across while copyediting. About this error, Lynne Truss Read more…
September 6, 2024
You’ve probably figured out by now that commas have a LOT of different jobs. You might call them the jack-of-all-trades of the punctuation world. They separate items in a list, set off nonrestrictive clauses, follow introductory phrases, and so much Read more…
September 4, 2024
If I had to use just one word to describe the most common mistake that writers make with commas, I’d say “overuse.” Sins of omission with commas are rare; sins of commission are plentiful. Part of the trouble is that Read more…