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...
Using a Comma before “And” (and Other Coordinating Conjunctions) in a Sentence
If the number of page visits is a reliable indicator, this topic—using a comma before and—is on the minds of many people. The third most...
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...
Capitalizing Words: Proper vs. Common Nouns
The rules governing the capitalization of words in sentences (as opposed to capitalizing words in titles or headings or capitalizing people’s titles or positions) seem...
“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...
