Grammar Clinic

As a book editor, I’m sensitive to trending grammar and punctuation mistakes. I say “trending,” because they seem to emerge as trends, creeping into people’s writing like shadows, until pretty soon, everyone is doing it. Have you noticed how lately you’re seeing a lot of semi-colons being used – instead of the humble comma – to separate items in a ... Read More

As you write your book, you probably sometimes wonder what’s the best way to emphasize important words. Your first instinct may be to place them in all capital letters (called “all caps” by book editors and publishers—IT LOOKS LIKE THIS). But that is rarely the best way to go. As you type your Word document, all caps look pretty good ... Read More

Remember “dangling participles” from back in grade-school English class? Probably not, but chances are you create them every day. They’re a major grammatical error, and once you know how to spot them, you’ll find these little nasties everywhere… probably even in your own writing …

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If you found this blog page, chances are good you’re struggling right now with how to spell the possessive form of somebody’s name. The problem is, the name ends in ‘s,’ and it looks weird to add apostrophe ‘s’ after that. Besides, you’re pretty sure you’ve seen it both ways, but can’t remember for sure. So here we are: just ... Read More

Syntax only appears to be dead. It’s actually hiding out, living a limited, muted existence inside university linguistic departments. As far as the world is concerned, it might as well be dead, though. When did you last hear the term used? Sixth-grade English class? As an author, should you be concerned about syntax? Well, not really. Syntax is essentially the ... Read More