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The English Language On Word Order Depends
While I’m hiking The Long Trail, I’m reposting old favorites. This one originally published October 22, 2013. The English language on word order depends. If that sentence doesn’t convince you, try...
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Grammar-ease: Those Words That Are Spelled the Same, Sound the Same…
It’s been a while since I’ve done a grammar post. As I’ve been writing lately, my fingers have been coming up with their own spellings of words that pass spellcheck but aren’t correct. And, voila,...
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Coordination and Subordination
Coordination and Subordination In graduate school, I had a professor who said, “The hardest word in the English language to use properly is the conjunction ‘and’,” and “The key to success is...
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Punctuation Changes Meaning
Punctuation Changes Meaning. Without punctuation, words strung together lack meaning. dear john i want a man who knows what love is all about you are generous kind thoughtful people who are not like...
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Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper
Word By Word by Kory Stamper “Language is one of the few common experiences humanity has.” So begins the Preface to Kory Stamper’s wonderful memoir, Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries....
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When To Use A Semi-Colon
USE THE SEMI-COLON TO ACHIEVE CLARITY General Rule The semi-colon joins and separates equal parts. The semi-colon is stronger than a comma and not as final as a period. When used to join separate...
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A Review of Clauses and Conjunctions
It’s clear from the many comments I received after my last post about semi-colons, that a review of clauses and conjunctions would be helpful. CLAUSES Clauses are a group of words that do a writer’s...
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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: There are three general ways to use a colon: to introduce a list; to separate numerals in references and time; and to separate a...
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The Power of Verbs
Verbs are the engines that power your sentences. Here’s an exercise that will help you learn the power of verbs. See if you can make the following paragraph more interesting by changing the verbs....
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Reposting: The Singular They
Language changes with the times, even grammar. I attended college during the second wave of feminism, when incorporating non-sexist terms into every day usage was an important demonstration of...
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