While there are certainly some hard-and-fast grammar rules (verbs must agree in number with their subjects, for example), many of the guidelines that people regard as “rules” are, in fact, matters of style and not necessarily consistent from one style guide to...
In this article we examine four common verb errors. Can you spot the problem phrase in each of these sentences? We can’t hardly wait for the judge to hand down her decision about the case. I was suppose to finish the project on Friday, but I failed to make the...
If the dearth of apostrophes in text messages, emails, and social media posts is any indication, we may be witnessing their demise. But since such changes in usage happen slowly, for now we need to understand the difference between the possessive case and the...
Using transitions to improve clarity and logical flow is essential, whether we are meticulously drafting a legal brief or lengthy proposal or dashing off a short email or tweet. In either case, transitions enable a reader to follow the writer’s train of thought as...
The hyphen, the em dash, and the en dash are all horizontal marks of varying lengths. Each functions differently from the others. Below we define each mark, explain when to use them, and provide instructions for typing them on both PCs and Macs. (View our new...
