Headlines provide never-ending examples of incorrect grammar, whether in word choice, word order or punctuation.
Reminder: I define grammar as the words we choose, how we string them together, and how we use punctuation to give them meaning.
News stories and their headlines should be examples of excellent writing. They also should conform to Standard English, defined as the way educated people write and speak. Writing in haste is no excuse for careless errors. Continue
Like it? Share it!
What is grammar? It encompasses the words you choose, how you string them together, and how you punctuate them to give them meaning.
To recognize National Grammar Day, which this year falls on March 4, the following post examines 11 sentences that demonstrate why grammar matters. I point out the grammatical errors in each and offer a suggested rewrite.
Examples are the best teachers. Continue
Like it? Share it!
A former colleague sent me a link to Grammar Rules You Should Break in Business by Steve Yastrow. I agree with some of Yastrow’s suggestions and disagree with others.
What do you think?
Yastrow begins, “A language works according to a shared set of understood rules, which change over time as language evolves.” Continue
Like it? Share it!
When you have two complete sentences — also called independent clauses — and you connect them with a conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so, for example), you need to insert a comma before the conjunction.
But if the second clause that makes up the sentence is a dependent clause (lacks a subject), no comma is necessary.
These are complete sentences / independent clauses that can stand alone. Each has a subject and verb: Continue
Like it? Share it!
If you are a golfer or a fan, you probably know that the Presidents Cup was played in New Jersey from Sept. 26–Oct. 1. The United States team handily won the coveted cup.
You might wonder why there is no apostrophe in the event’s title. Why isn’t it President’s Cup or Presidents’ Cup?
Here’s the reason:
Some words that might appear to be possessive are simply descriptive. Neither the Presidents Cup as an event nor the cup as an award denotes that any president possesses or owns it. Continue
Like it? Share it!
Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, is National Punctuation Day.
How will you celebrate?
I’ve thought about spending the day as founder Jeff Rubin suggested:
Sleep late. Go out for coffee and a bagel. Read a newspaper and use a red pen to circle all the punctuation errors. Visit a grocery store and make a list of all the “grocer’s apostrophes” you see (apple’s anyone?).
But I’d rather devote my time and this space to something helpful and constructive for you, my valued readers. Continue
Like it? Share it!
When you start writing, whether an email, a blog, a report or the next chapter of your book, you don’t want to interrupt your flow by stopping to ponder punctuation. It makes sense to get out your words and thoughts first, postponing punctuation decisions until later.
As you begin to fine-tune your copy, you might get stuck trying to remember what goes inside and what goes outside quotation marks. These tips can help.
In American English, commas and periods always go inside quotation marks, even when quotation marks enclose a single word. Continue
Like it? Share it!
The two little dots that make up the colon seem pretty simple, but their grammatical use isn’t exactly straightforward.
The colon comes in handy when you want to provide an example or explanation, to cite a quotation, or to introduce a list. A colon implies that what follows it is related to what precedes it.
One of the most-asked questions I get about grammar rules that relate to the colon is whether to capitalize the first word that follows it. Style guides differ, but The Associated Press Stylebook, my preferred source, suggests: Continue
Like it? Share it!
Having just celebrated National Grammar Day, I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on a recent and widely reported court case about how lack of a comma will cost a company millions.
If you somehow missed it, here are three examples of coverage:
Like it? Share it!
Although it has been a couple of weeks since Warren Beatty’s February 26 Oscar flub, I’m still seeing advice about how he should have handled it. This hit my email box from a newsletter I subscribe to that offers tips and advice for speakers: Continue
