November 20, 2023

John and I vs. John and me

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As kids, we're taught that "me" is usually wrong, as in "John and me went to the park." But "I" is often wrong, too. Use it only when it's the subject of a verb, for example when you both went (verb) to the park. When it's the object, use me: "Come to the park with John and me."

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November 13, 2023

Stay Neutral in the Serial Comma Wars

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A comma before the conjunction in a list of three or more things — red, white, and blue — is called a serial comma or an Oxford comma. And despite what serial comma partisans will tell you, it's optional. Red, white and blue is equally correct.

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November 6, 2023

Run-ons, Comma Splices and Sentence Fragments

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When your sentences go on too long, or when they're not structured well, your reader suffers.

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October 30, 2023

A Crash Course in Apostrophes

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To write smart, avoid these common apostrophe errors.

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October 23, 2023

Perfect Hyphenation? No Such Thing

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Hyphenation rules are all over the place. So you don't have to worry about hyphenating perfectly. But you can aspire to hyphenate well. Here's how.

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October 16, 2023

Grammar Jargon Squared

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Is a participle the same as a particle? Is a dependent clause the same as a subordinate clause? How about an essential clause? Is that the same as a restrictive clause? The short answer is for all these questions is yes. The long answer is: Don't get intimidated when you hear unfamiliar grammar terms. You may already know the concepts by a different name.

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October 9, 2023

Is 'Alright' All Right?

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In casual writing, "alright" is OK. But in professional publishing, the rules are clear: use "all right."

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October 2, 2023

Thru?

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In casual contexts, it's not wrong to use "thru" as a shortened form of "through." But when in doubt, spell it out.

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September 25, 2023

'Founder' and 'Flounder'

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To founder means to sink. To flounder means to struggle or move about clumsily. A ship can do both, technically, but if you're writing about a sea vessel, you probably want "founder."

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September 18, 2023

Existential 'There'

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When you say, "There is a man walking down the street," you're flipping around a simpler sentence like "A man is walking down the street." That's the power of existential "there."

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