Here’s a tricky question for you: Do you demand perfection? Of yourself? Of others? It’s a hard one, isn’t it? Personally, I feel that I’m about one, short step away from being a perfectionist–I know that perfection is impossible to achieve, and yet my standards of behavior are quite high.…
MM: Comma, Comma, Comma Chameleon…
Remember commas? Is it just me, or does there seem to be widespread confusion about when and where to use these handy little punctuation marks? Originally, they started out indicating where to take a breath when reading aloud, but now are used for so much more. Ultimately, though, they indicate…
Aside From That…
If you’ve been coming here for a while, you will have noticed that I like asides. You know, those tangents off from the main sentence that are so very convenient when writing. As a rule, though, they’re signs of lazy writing. Usually because the author neglected to take the time…
Not Quite So Holy
This has always been a word that intrigued me. Its root comes from “Holy Day,” of course, but it’s come to mean so much more. It’s used for a day off work or for a religious holy day. The Brits (“We’re going on holiday to the Brighton”) use it the…
MM: Labor Pains
Ouch! There go those contractions again! We’ve covered it’s and its. We’ve covered there/their/they’re. We’ve even talked about the uses of the apostrophe. But still, everywhere I go on the internet, contractions are being misused and causing pain to those of us who know better. (I swear, you’d think that…
Connecting Words
Okay, Joanna and Brad are asking about “connecting words,” and they don’t mean conjunctions like “and” or “but.” No, what they’re looking for are unique, or treasured words that we’ve found out and about in our daily travels, words that might not be common usage, or often heard, but which…
Writing, in Short
Maybe it’s my own, personal quirk, but I am not a big fan of abbreviations. I can’t really say why. Perhaps there is an affection for formality somewhere in my bone marrow, along with the parts of me that appreciate decent manners and a respect for punctuation. Mind you, I’m…
MM: Emphasis
Have you noticed that so many punctuation points are working overtime these days? Not just the apostrophe, but also Quotation marks, which are being used not only for dialogue or for the occasional title, but for emphasis. As in when somebody writes something like: Well, I don’t really “believe” in ghosts,…
We Look Alike, We Talk Alike….
You may remember this from grade school, but let’s review anyway, because English words do not always play fair. Homonyms are words that sound alike (and sometimes, but not always, spelled alike), but have completely different meanings. Bald/Balled/Bawled Basis/Bases Idle/Idol/Idyl Pare/Pear/Pare Heteronyms are words that are spelled alike (and sometimes,…
Respect
Let’s be clear: Civility and Civilization do not depend on knowing when to shake someone’s hand, or which fork to use at dinner. Decisions about whether the short version of “electronic mail” should be spelled with or without a hyphen are not earth-shaking. You don’t have to look down your…
Annually
birth[noun]1. The act or instance of being born <biology class will be showing a movie of the birth of kittens> Synonyms: nativity Related Words: creation, genesis, origination, rise; bearing, childbearing, labor, parturition; begetting, breeding, fathering, generation, mothering, reproduction, siring, spawning; fatherhood, maternity, motherhood, parenthood, paternity Yep, it’s my birthday. And,…
MM: Their, They’re, Now…
Okay, a show of hands . . . how many people have seen the word “there,” “their,” or “they’re” misused in the last 24 hours? All of you, right? Let’s review: There: A specific place. (“You can put that book over there.”) Also used as an interjection. (“There! It’s done!”)…
Link Fest
There are lot of other great writing sites out there, you know. Here are just a few for you to look at, in alphabetical order…. Confident Writing E-mail Etiquette Matters! Kate Blogs About Writing Clear and Simple Writing Thoughts