Writing

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 following.

“We need from the store: milk, [...]

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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 a list of items and need [...]

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I’ve talked about not over-using the same, tired words, which ties into other, earlier posts that stressed the importance of a good vocabulary. Having a healthy variety of words to play with can only help the quality of your writing, right?
Well, yes, but here’s the Catch-22. I’m sure that you folks would all recognize A+ [...]

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I’ve got an object lesson for you today, so let’s start with a story:
I recently bought a new camera (a Nikon D40 DSLR, which I love, thank you), but I’m irritated with Adorama camera. Even though we’re in different states, they charged me sales tax. I sent an e-mail to amazon.com who agreed that it [...]

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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.
When talking or writing about a “considerable quantity [...]

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I mentioned that I was having trouble coming up with bad-grammar examples to Melissa the other day, and she said something that made me think.
@Deb, probably because whenever we try to come up with examples, they evade us. It happens to me all the time. That is one reason to rough draft several days before [...]

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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 front of the camera the [...]

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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 describes those nifty machines that fly through [...]

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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 noun: I
A verb: am
Punctuation to finish the thought: [...]

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