Punctuation and Spacing with Abbreviations (from simple to not-so-simple)
Split infinitives have often been the source of much debate among teachers, grammarians, and those who wish to use the most proper of speech. It has been said that an infinitive should never be split.
Topics: split infinitive, infinitives
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.
Topics: punctuation
Our client documents often have names of famous places incorrectly presented. This week's post covers how to properly punctuate names of places and structures. Names of buildings, architecturally or historically significant houses, thoroughfares, monuments, and the like are capitalized. An introductory the, even if part of the name, is not capitalized in running text.
Topics: capitalization
Going out of your way to avoid using a word you have already used a few words earlier was useful advice when you were writing school papers and one of your goals was to impress your English teachers with the size and range of your vocabulary. It is also a good principle to follow when it comes to certain types of words and expressions-phrases such as "on the other hand," "to make a long story short," "of course" - and, in particular, "like" and "you know."
Topics: synonyms, repeating words, writing myth, myth
A common question we've received is about when to use "lay/lie/laid/laying". In this post we cover the differences. Hope it helps to answer your questions.
Good - well. Good is an adjective. Well is typically used as an adverb but may be used as an adjective to refer to the state of someone's health.
Topics: adverbs, adjectives
Many of our blog article topics are inspired by common mistakes we see in documents. Today's post is all about adverbs and participles.
Topics: hyphenation, participles, adverbs
In 2011 Merriam-Webster added more than 150 new words to the dictionary, including social media and bromance. And the Oxford English Dictionary added such phrases as light-bulb moment and environmentally unfriendly.
Topics: vocabulary, dictionary, trends in language
Most readers know that superscript figures (usually numbers or asterisks) in text tell the reader to refer to a footnote or an endnote for a comment or a source reference. So informative writers of white papers and such will want to use superscript characters here and there to build up their credibility.
Topics: superscript, footnotes, punctuation
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