GrammarPhile Blog

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.

There's a LinkedIn poll that's been active for the last few days asking people to vote on writing mistakes that make them crazy. Thought you might like to get in on the poll.

• 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.

You’re probably thinking “What does that title mean and what does it have to do with grammar and punctuation and writing?” Well, today, I thought I’d take a little break from our standard posts. I don’t know about you, but with summer almost here I know I’m starting to look forward to long hot summer days and some vacation time. So, here’s a post from a lighter side.

True or False: Never Use Two Negatives in the Same Sentence
The logic behind this rule is that two negatives in the same construction cancel each other out. When we say, "We never did nothing," what we are saying, in effect, is that "At no time did we ever do nothing," which means that at all times we did something. Something like that, anyway.

The zookeeper wanted to order four buffaloes for his new display, but he didn't know how to pluralize buffalo.

Our mailbag has been full this past week. Here are more questions from readers and answers from our Grammar Experts!