“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...
Hyphenated Adjectives
We talk about hyphens in several different articles on this site. One article distinguishes hyphens from en and em dashes. Another talks about open, closed,...
Punctuating with Quotation Marks: Inside or Outside?
With the possible exception of the Oxford/Harvard/serial comma, very few usage issues elicit responses as passionate as the topic of punctuating with quotation marks. American...
The Oxford (or Serial) Comma: Using a Comma before “and” in a List
Writers frequently wonder whether a comma should go before the conjunction and in a list of three or more items. Despite the fact that not all...
