I’ve covered many of the other punctuation marks, but not yet the Colon, otherwise known as the pair of eyes (:) in a classic emoticon smiley<:)>. Other than looking at you, though, it has other uses: Primarily, it alerts the reader to the fact that a list or explanation is…
MM: Period
It seems like such a simple thing. When writing a basic sentence, you end it with a period (also known as a full-stop). Obviously, when asking a question you use a question mark (?), and you follow up an exclamation with an exclamation point (!). You might be leading into…
MM: Simply Capital!
So, Brad was wondering what words in titles need to be capitalized. This is actually one of the topics I keep meaning to write about, so I’m glad he asked. Here’s a quick overview for you: You capitalize the first and last words, all the nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs,…
MM: Alot
Seen in the wild: This sign so incensed my sister, she went back and took a picture just for us. See it? It asks, “Have alot of square footage?” This is a simple one, folks. “Alot” is not a word, unless you are referring to that little town in India.…
MM: Jargon
Jargon is everywhere. You know–the special, “inside” language that is used by specific industries or groups of people but is completely obscure to Joe Public. (Have you ever tried to read a legal brief? Or a medical journal?) Referring to an addressed envelope as a SASE. Calling the newsperson in…
MM: Confusing Travel Terminology
Since I’m travelling today, I thought I’d address some of those travel-related words that can get confusing. So please, make sure your safety belts are securely fastened and that your hands are safely on your keyboards, and let’s begin! Plane vs Plain: Plane, of course, is short for “Airplane” and…
MM: Simple Sentence Structure
I am. Simple, isn’t it? Serenely self-confident and self-contained, it embodies a simple statement of fact, unburdened by any distractions. No, no. I’m not talking about the philosophical statement (though, that’s true, too). I’m talking about the sentence, because it simply doesn’t get any more, well, simple than that. A…
MM: Hyphenation
Back in February (yes, I’m late), Peter asked: I would like to know when you are allowed to use the hyphen (”-”). I tend to use it pretty often – like now – and I’m wondering if it is proper use. I also get confused when two words are joined…
MM: Dangling
There’s an AT&T Wireless commercial, showing a father knocking on steamy car windows at a make-out spot, looking for his daughter because he hadn’t gotten her text message about spending a night at a friend’s house. The voice-over has him saying something to the effect that, “Come Monday, you’ll be…
MM: Slang
What do you think about using slang in your writing? The official Rule is that you should avoid colloquialisms when you write. I can give you two good reasons for this. 1. They date your writing, just like any other popular reference. You can refer to some popular television show…
MM: Emoting
Sure, emoticons are handy little things to toss into an e-mail to a friend. But when they come en masse, they become obnoxious. One bee buzzing around your picnic is atmosphere, but a swarm can get, er, difficult. Similarly, an e-mail with one little smiley face is cute. One that has one after every other sentence? Gag (as they said in my high school days).
National Grammar Day
Well, I wish I’d known this yesterday…. Not only was March Fourth the only day on the calendar that is a complete sentence, but it was also National Grammar Day. Who knew? (I mean, other than Sharon at Daily Writing Tips, which is where I saw it.)
MM: Exclamation
Too many exclamation points make you sound like an overly-excited teenager, jabbering on the telephone to her BFF. (Like, OMG!) Now, obviously, there are times when you need to use them. Nobody calmly says, “Stop,” to a toddler running toward a busy road. If there’s a fire, you shout, “Fire!” I mean, the punctuation exists for a reason.
MM:
Out of so many grammatical stumbling points, I can’t choose one on which to focus today . . . So, let me ask you. Do you have any specific questions you’d like to see addressed? Topics I have not covered yet? Tips you’d like to you share? Honestly, I’m at…
MM: May I Quote You?
Let’s just do a quick run-down on how you use quotation marks, shall we? (American-style, that is–I know some of these rules are different with British usage, but can only speak for American-English.) Simply put–and it should be redundant–quotation marks are used for quotations. If you are quoting some of…
MM: Brighten Up
Short but sweet today. My sister (glaring at me because I dare to like Strunk & White, which she and my niece are studying) asked me today what I thought about whether the preposition “up” should be used when writing a sentence such as: You brighten up my day Or…
MM: Titles
Do you remember, from grade school English, how to properly annotate a title? Titles of books, newspapers, magazines, movies, poems, journals, TV shows, works of art, musical compositions, ships, and airplanes should all be underlined. Or, italicized. They are more or less interchangeable so far as typing goes. This is…
MM: Negating Negativity
I almost touched on this the other day when I was talking about a kinder, gentler form of writing, and then realized that it was perfect for today’s Mangled Monday. Double-Negatives make a positive. (Raise your hand if you learned this in 7th grade math class.) Let’s do the grammatical…
MM: Splitting Hairs
So, let’s think … So many writing misconceptions abound, which one should I address today? How about split infinitives? That one’s always fun. In grammatical-speak, an infinitive is the most basic form of a verb. To be. To run. To cry. To write. The traditional idea is that they should…
Typo? Or Not a Typo? That is the Question
We’re all human. We all make mistakes from time to time, typing “tot he” instead of “to the,” missing the Shift key when typing “I,” stuff like that. It happens. And those kind of errors are what make things like automatic spell-checks useful, instead of detrimental. These kinds of errors,…
MM: Compound Adjectives
Most of you should know what an adjective is, but what about a Compound-Adjective? This is an adjective created when two or more adjectives modify the same noun. Blue-gray paint Absent-minded professor Semi-solid food Sweet-and-Sour pork The idea is that the hyphen will help to avoid confusion. Otherwise, that tasty…
MM: You’re Kidding
Sadly, it’s true. There are still people who get confused about when to use “your” and when to use “you’re.” This one is really simple. If you want to say, “You are,” you write “you’re.” It’s a contraction of the two words. If you mean to denote possession, you want…
Independent Thinking
This picture pretty much says everything all by itself, but let’s be clear and explain it any way. My father was writing an e-mail this morning and this window popped up in his automatic “Spelling and Grammar Checker.” The program objected to the phrase,”This site will explain” because it felt…
MM: Confusing Words, Part 2
Which of these words confuse you? Bath/Bathe: Bath: To soak in water. (“After a long day, all I want is a nice, hot bath.”) Bathe: The verb used when bathing. (“The dog was so filthy, it took me an hour to bathe him.” Discreet/Discrete: Discreet: Tactfully unobtrusive. (“The doctor was…
MM: See, the Object is…
Last week, we discussed the Nominitive case for pronouns (I, he, they, etc.), so this week, naturally, we’re going to discuss the Objective Case: me, you, him, her, us, them, it, whom. Objective pronouns are used for direct objects of a sentence. Give her the key. Harry told them no.…
MM: Just Between You and Me, er, I, er, Us….
Gillian left a comment on yesterday’s post asking for help knowing when to use the nominative case in a sentence. If the jargon is already making you say, “What?” it’s knowing the difference between saying, “You and I” and “You and me.” In fact, the sentence that caught her eye…
A Little Modification
Let’s have a brief discussion of Adjectives and Adverbs, shall we? Adjectives, you may remember from school, are words (or phrases) that modify or describe nouns and pronouns. The yellow school bus The red apple. He is so tall. The bag was yellow. When using two or more adjectives in a…
MM: Conjunctivitis
Remember, back in school, when your teacher taught you never to start a sentence with a conjunction (and, but, or)? You’ll be pleased to know that, while it’s true that this is something you should avoid, it’s no longer a mandatory hard-and-fast rule. The important thing is that you not…
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…