When Should We Hyphenate Compound Words?
When two words come together to create a single new idea that expresses meaning different from that of either of the individual words, the result...
When to Use a Comma before “And” (and Other Coordinating Conjunctions) in a Sentence
Two specific situations call for the use of a comma before “and.” The first is created when we have three or more items in a...
When to Use Commas between Adjectives Or How to Recognize “Coordinate” Adjectives
Which sentences use commas appropriately between adjectives when more than one modify the same noun? We were prepared for a long, tedious, planning session. Allen...
“The Reason Is Because” vs. “The Reason Is That”
One of our newsletter subscribers wrote to ask us which of the following constructions is correct: The reason we were late is because there was...
Distinguish between “Effect” and “Affect”
We deal with many confusing word pairs on this site, including lay and lie, I and me, and bad and badly. This article helps us distinguish between...
