by Nancy Tuten | Feb 29, 2020
An ellipsis consists of either three or four periods, or dots. A single dot is called an ellipsis point. The definition is pretty straightforward, but using ellipses can be tricky. Writers use ellipses for various reasons. An ellipsis can indicate the omission of...
by Nancy Tuten | Nov 6, 2019
Our word processing software and enhanced keyboards can work magic, especially in regard to inserting characters and symbols that aren’t on our Roman alphabet keyboards. Lawyers and legal secretaries must type a section symbol in legal citations, whereas bankers...
by Ron Cooper | Jul 3, 2019
One of my favorite pastimes is to look for continuity errors in movies and television shows. I take great pleasure (rather embarrassingly) in noticing that a character’s wine glass shifts positions as shots change or that a medieval knight is wearing a wristwatch....
by Nancy Tuten | Jun 14, 2019
This article focuses on abbreviations for two Latin phrases. We often see i.e. and e.g. used incorrectly (and illogically), so it’s easy to get them mixed up. (Elsewhere on this site, we have articles on many confusing word pairs, such as effect and affect, lay...
by Mark E. Roberts | Apr 26, 2019
We can improve our writing by focusing on any unit of style—from choosing the just-right word to sculpting clauses, sustaining longer sentences with grace, and arranging them in effective paragraphs. Here we will focus on the humble sentence, with an emphasis on...
by Ron Cooper | Mar 21, 2019
Pardon Me—May I Beg Your Question? Often I hear newscasters say something like this: “Which begs the question—why was the senator naked in the first place?” Do they understand what “begging the question” really means? Nearly as common as the impropriety of...
