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From The Handbook of Good English by Edward D. Johnson.
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While many people may not know what an appositive is, clients use them often in the documents we see on our server. This week's post is on the appositive and how to use it. We use as our guide the venerable Chicago Manual of Style.
This week, I thought I'd share answers to some questions our grammar experts have received and answered.
If I had only one day left to live, I would live it in my tenth-grade math class, because it would seem like infinity. If numbers do the same to you, fear not: you can master them by knowing the rules.
Our editors often find the need to edit between two meanings. They try to make the right assumption after examining the context. What is left when they are done is clearer and more precise. It is often amazing how punctuation can make all the difference.
It is not uncommon to see commas, semicolons, and periods confused when it comes to joining two independent clauses for forceful and effective writing. Make your writing more powerful by understanding the proper use of the semicolon.
The world of proofreading is not immune to the sugar-cookie siren song of the holidays, and at this time of year (yes, I really do this) I like to take a moment to re-read a favorite essay about punctuation.
It’s no secret that proofreaders have their pet peeves. For this proofreader, the error that leaps off the page of nearly every written communication—from emails, to letters, to newspaper articles, to business documents, to her children’s compositions (a painful admission)—is the often undiagnosed comma splice. So prevalent has this mistake become that it fails to catch the attention of even the most prolific writers and copyeditors, and is considered normal and acceptable punctuation.
Have you ever felt like Oscar Wilde? If so, this article can help.
We recently received the following grammar question from one of our customers. I thought this question and answer might be useful to other grammarians and maybe even spark a little discussion.