GrammarPhile Blog

Are you the reigning politico among the political junkies around your office water cooler this week? Or have you sworn to watch nothing but movie channels, ESPN Classic, and (is it this bad?) those cable sales channels? If the former, read on and test your savviness. If the latter, well, put that "Donald Trump is MY President" bumper sticker on your car, and reach for your clicker right now.

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.

Garth Brooks said, "You aren't rich until you have something money can't buy." Well, you're on your way to rich, because you have today's GrammarPhile blog post, and it can't be bought with money!

Okay, you're in a multi-person conversation, and somebody presents a provocative conjecture. A back-and-forth ensues in which facts are presented and arguments are made. A conclusion is drawn. Someone speaks the letters "Q-E-D." People nod and disperse.

Did you know that it is Mark Twain who gets credit for saying that everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it? He also wrote that thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but it's lightning that does the work.

In the United States, one of our major holidays is Independence Day, also referred to as the Fourth of July. In neighboring Canada, as anywhere else outside America, the same day is noted simply the fourth of July, of course. (Yes, they have a fourth of July in Canada.) What about capitalizing (or capitalising) other calendar and time designations? Here is a list we hope you find useful.

In punctuation-speak, a point is a period. Here's a tip on using points.

We're often asked by our customers to tidy up their writing and enhance their style. One client put it this way: "Will you please make this letter sing?" His document was actually a proposal in letter form. Well, our editors made it 'sing,' and the client got the deal! Editing is not simply a matter of correcting spelling errors. Indeed, there are wordings that to the casual observer and author may seem fine, but to the critical-minded addressee can seem outlandish, verbose, or just plain wrong. These errors convey subtle, yet important, messages, and quietly leave the impression of sloppiness or inexperience. Not everyone will notice, but those who do are probably the people you are trying to reach and influence. They are people who can make or break your proposal.

For example, when we see the phrase the reason is because, our alarms sound. We take action. Here's why:

Anyone answering the question For what reason? would naturally say For the reason that . . ., not For the reason because . . . But when reason is the subject of a declaration, with or without a verb wedged between reason and what follows, there is a strong temptation to substitute because for that. The substitution, besides being a breach of idiom, is an obvious redundancy: because = for the reason that. Therefore The reason is because means The reason is for the reason that. Typical instances:

• The reason for nominating him is because (that) he commands the pacifist vote.
• The reason for this return is not because of feeding problems. (omit because of)
• A psychiatrist suggested that the reason Hamlet could not kill his uncle was because he himself had wanted to kill his father. (omit the reason and was)
• One of the reasons the Simplestix party is in trouble today is because ... we have allowed people to criticize our policies and we have not stood up and answered effectively. (replace because with that)

Substituting that for because will generally restore grammar; but, as some of the examples show, it may result in a wordiness that requires attention. He was nominated because and He was nominated for the reason that are correct equivalents, but the second is labored.

Source: Modern American Usage, edited by Jacques Barzun, 1966. (Despite the book's title, our tip applies to UK and Canadian English as well as American English.)

 

By this time in June, many people have left their schools for good, after years of study. Did people at Yale, for example, "graduate Yale" or did they "graduate from Yale"? Or did Yale "graduate them"? And if one is attending a "commencement" ceremony, why is it called that? Isn't the ceremony all about the end of their college careers? What are they commencing, anyway? Take our test, and see if you graduate with highest honors.