Short Story Competition: First Batch is Open for Voting!

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In the Last Throes

An amusing egg-corn that has just appeared on my radar is that of writing in the throes of as "in the throws of."

2 2024-12-03 08:51 查看原文

“Penpointing” and Other Near-Misses in the Media

I had a hard time penpointing the problem. (automotive site)

2 2024-11-29 01:25 查看原文

CAUTION: Merging Words

The lines between some word pairs like suit and suite, motive and motif, are beginning to blur. Here are six such pairs that may be worth your attention.

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The Art of Storytelling and Captivating Readers through Effective Writing Techniques

Storytelling is an art form as old as language itself. Every culture, every civilization, has its unique approaches to narrating stories and engaging the

2 2024-11-30 15:47 查看原文

Ever and Never

Ever and never are adverbs employed in strictly defined ways. Here are the parameters of usage for the two terms.

1 2024-11-28 19:18 查看原文

3 Types of Erroneous Use of Dashes

Dashes, like semicolons, are basically commas with superpowers. However, while semicolons take the place of commas to set off independent clauses or separate

1 2024-11-29 21:19 查看原文

5 Cases of Insufficient Punctuation

In each of the sentences below, the omission of one comma (two commas, in one case) obscures the intended meaning. Discussion and revision following each

1 2024-11-29 14:18 查看原文

3 Examples of How a Comma Can Change Meaning

Omission of a lowly comma often alters the intent of a sentence, as demonstrated in the following examples, each followed by discussion and a revision.

1 2024-11-29 02:14 查看原文

The Dash Family's Roles

The en dash is the oft-neglected middle sibling of the horizontal-line family of symbols that serve to connect words and numbers for various reasons.

1 2024-11-28 19:17 查看原文

3 Cases of Missing Parenthetical Punctuation

In each of the following examples, a complementary comma that provides closure for a parenthetical phrase is missing. Discussion after each sentence explains

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3 Sentences with Hyphenation Problems

In each of the following sentences, one or more hyphens is missing from a phrasal adjective, but another solution is available: A relaxation of the syntax is

1 2024-11-28 19:17 查看原文

Not Nice At All

My high school English teacher banned the use of the word nice. She said it was a lazy adjective. Although she was a bit harsh, there was some truth in what

2 2024-12-24 10:59 查看原文

Rifle vs. Riffle

A reader has a question about the verbs rifle and riffle in relation to papers:

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3 Strategies for Combining Sentences

One approach to making prose more concise is to stitch together two related sentences by revising one so that it serves as a subordinate clause to the other

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Finding, Founding, and Funding

Find, found, and fund could conceivably be related on the basis of the notion of obtaining something, but the words (except in the case of the link between

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The Language Police

Lovers of language and literature, especially those with children or grandchildren still in Grades K-12, will find The Language Police by education historian

2 2024-12-24 04:55 查看原文

Useful Stock Phrases for Your Business Emails

When I wrote a post on email etiquette, one reader, Juan, left a comment to ask for some advice (I’ve changed his punctuation a bit for clarity’s sake):

2 2024-11-29 02:12 查看原文

Five Reasons Why Blogging Leads to Writing Jobs

Daily Writing Tips has already covered Five reasons why blogging improves your writing. But once you’ve polished up your skills, and grown used to writing

1 2024-11-29 09:54 查看原文

Prevaricate vs Procrastinate

Two commonly confused words are prevaricate and procrastinate. They are similar in being quite formal, Latinate, words but have different meanings.

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Verb Review #1 Run and Drink

Native English speakers frequently make mistakes with the irregular verbs run and drink, even in contexts that call for standard usage:

2 2024-12-13 04:55 查看原文