I glanced up from my laptop screen to look at one of the TV screens we keep on all the time in our External Affairs office to monitor news around the country. On the screen, the closed captioning underneath the … Continue reading
Who knew, but yes, there is a Proofreading Day that is observed on March 8th and has been since 2011. “In 2011, Judy Beaver created Proofreading Day in remembrance of her mother, Flo. On her website, Judy relates that her … Continue reading
Do you ever get confused about proper pronoun usage? Are you unsure about which pronoun form to use when a possessive 1st person plural is needed? Or when it’s a subject pronoun for a 3rd person plural usage? If so, … Continue reading
We’ve all done it, at one time or another. Like misheard lyrics of a song (‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy), a misheard phrase can and does easily work itself into our everyday speaking, sometimes to hilarious effect. Here … Continue reading
On National Grammar Day, we honor our language and its rules, which help us communicate clearly with each other. In turn, clear communication helps us understand each other—a critical component of peaceful relations. March 4th is observed as National Grammar … Continue reading
I’ve been a fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic since I first heard “I Love Rocky Road”, his parody song of “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in 1982 and, like many other fans, really, really … Continue reading
A lot of people, writers included, have difficulty with the proper usage of each of these words. I cringe when I see on TV or read in a book a character saying, “I don’t know what you’re trying to infer … Continue reading
Do you wince when someone uses poor grammar, whether writing or speaking? Does it make you cringe when someone writes “it’s” (a contraction of the two words “it is”) when they mean or are referring to “its” (the possessive form)? … Continue reading
I am still amazed every morning at the spelling and grammatical errors I read in news releases that cross my desk, supposedly written by professional journalists. Is this more evidence of the “dumbing down” of America? Is this the quality … Continue reading
Over on The Word Blog, Randy Ray has compiled a list of 50 Useful Blogs for Writers. He’s broken them down into 21 blogs of Writing Tips, 10 Word of the Day blogs, and 19 Grammar blogs. Plus, if you … Continue reading
It’s a sad situation when AP posts something like this; “The exciting and important thing about this prize is that it’s given too someone …” They have since corrected it, but it hit me like a slap in the face … Continue reading
This is a lesson. A lesson to me. A lesson about writing a post (or anything) late at night and submitting it with only a cursory eye toward editing. In spite of knowing better than to do the above AND … Continue reading
