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...
One of our subscribers wrote to ask about starting sentences with and or but. She wondered whether it is considered grammatically correct to do so. The answer is yes. The operative word here, though, is sentences. Notice the difference between these two examples: Two...
I could sum up my advice on this word in a single sentence: avoid using irregardless, especially in professional contexts. Although you will often hear and read the word irregardless, it is considered substandard, largely because it is illogical: that is, regardless...
If you feel as though your most recent meal may soon make a re-appearance, would you say, “I feel nauseous”? If so, it might be helpful to know the “rest of the story” about nauseous, nauseated, and nauseating. Consider the use of nauseous or nauseated in each of...
The definition of the verb “to include” is not the same as the definition of the verb “to be.” By definition, if we use the word include or including before a list, we are telling the reader that the list is not exhaustive. What the Dictionaries Tell Us Reputable...
One subscriber wrote to ask how to determine whether to use a or an in front of a noun. Like many of us, he had been taught simply to put a in front of consonants and an in front of vowels, but he realized that this oversimplified rule didn’t work in every case....