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…
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,…
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!”)…
MM: Confusing Words
Which of these words confuse you? Assure/Insure/Ensure: Assure: To inform or tell positively. (“There, there, everything will turn out all right in the end, I assure you.”) Insure: To take out a policy to guarantee from loss or harm. (“Congratulations, your car is now insured against accidents, just sign here.”)…
My Two Cents
I’m more a word-person than a number-person, but there are a couple little rules to remember: A percentage is written in hundredths. That is, .25 is the same as 25%. This means that you should never write .25% unless you actually mean to describe .0025 (which is really very, very…
MM: Sign’s of the Time’s
Today’s installment of Mangled Monday: A minor rant on the topic of “When Did Apostrophes Become the Sign of All Things Plural?” Apostrophes are just wonderful punctuation marks. They truly are. In her “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves,” Lynne Truss refers to the apostrophe as the “frantically multi-tasking female, dotting hither…
Non-Professional Copy-Editing
Dear Bloomsbury USA, I’m just writing to tell you how disappointed I am in your copyediting and cover-design departments. I picked up a copy of your “How I Learned to Cook” by Kimberly Witherspoon and Peter Meehan at the bookstore the other day. The book itself looks interesting, though I…
MM: Would I lie to you?
Today’s installment of Mangled Monday: The words lie and lay: how to tell them apart, and when (not) to use them. Frankly–and I hope you won’t think less of me for admitting this–this pair of words is one that I always have trouble telling apart. So, let’s recap for the…
Strunk and White
I doubt I’m the only person who has a collection of books on grammar and word usage, and I certainly hope I’m not the only one who reads them for pleasure. There are a huge number out there and, of course, some are better than others. Some are more accessible,…
It’s Just Another Mangled Monday
Welcome to the first installment of the weekly category, “Mangled Monday.” Here, each week, we will address some kind of commonly misused rule–spelling, punctuation, basic courtesy–whatever, as the whim strikes. Today, it’s all about “its.” A simple little word that seems to cause lots of confusion. Really, it’s very simple.…