Using Ellipses
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...
“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...
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,...
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...
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...
