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
The Most Important Thing about Writing
I’ve talked about the importance of grammar and punctuation here, and believe me, I think they’re important, but they’re not the most important thing you need to know about writing. It’s all about YOU. A lot of people giving writing advice will tell you that you should think about your…
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…
Timely
Since this blog is called “Punctuality Rules!,” let’s talk about punctuality, shall we? To quote myself, “Punctuality is not just about making meetings on time, but about being exact. It’s about doing what needs to be done at exactly the time it should be done. To me, that’s an issue…
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…
Microcosm
I just spent the weekend immersed in the world of knit-bloggers at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. One of the highlights–other than access to a whole lot of beautiful yarn and spinning fibers–was meeting the other bloggers. Like any community, many of us read one another’s…
We’re All Travelling Together
I have a book called Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy by Stephen L. Carter. It talks about the collapse of basic manners, how they have “become a casualty of our postmodern culture.” You already know that this is one of my favorite themes, and, in fact, I…
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…