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The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

The Wicked Of

Posted on Monday, March 31, 2014, at 5:03 pm

What would prompt H.W. Fowler to pick on the word of? Fowler (1858-1933), whom many regard as the dean of English-language scholars, ascribed to of “the evil glory of being accessary to more crimes against grammar than any other.” Do not be fooled by looks. Weighing in at a svelte two letters, this petite preposition …

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(All About) Parentheses

Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2014, at 9:25 pm

The singular form is parenthesis, but the plural parentheses is the word you’re more likely to see. Both words have a wide range of related meanings, and what some people identify as a parenthesis, others call parentheses. So let’s keep it simple. For our purposes, a parenthesis is one of a pair of curved marks …

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The Case of the Missing Hyphen, Part 2

Posted on Monday, March 17, 2014, at 8:08 pm

We thank all of you who took the time to respond to the question we posed two weeks ago: Should it be e-mail or email? There were eloquent arguments for both sides, but email won decisively. “Time to join the 21st century,” wrote one gentleman, who added, “and I’m 61 years old.” Many of you …

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Cheap Talk Can Cost You

Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, at 6:50 pm

A word nerd’s burden: someone said to me, “I guess I can’t say anything around you.” It was a lighthearted remark … I hope. Saying is far different from writing, and the spoken word deserves a lot more leniency. I don’t want people to think I go around rating everyone’s conversational acumen, waiting to pounce. …

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E-mail vs. Email: Hyphen Help Us

Posted on Monday, March 3, 2014, at 6:17 pm

Nobody writes “electronic mail,” but how do you write the abbreviation—is it e-mail with a hyphen or its successor,

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Simple Words, Fancy Label

Posted on Tuesday, February 25, 2014, at 6:56 pm

Whether you realize it or not, you’re well acquainted with correlative conjunctions. It’s a lofty term for phrases people say every day. The most common correlative conjunctions include either … or, neither … nor, not only … but also, and both … and. Here is a list of other familiar ones: • whether … or • rather … than • as many … as • …

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An Unparalleled Letdown

Posted on Tuesday, February 18, 2014, at 2:05 pm

Bad grammar weakens good writing, but some bad writing is grammatically flawless. Today we’ll discuss parallel structure and show how faulty parallelism can ruin a sentence without breaking any rules of grammar. Self-editing is part of writing. We could write I wrote the letter. I signed the letter. I sent the letter. But we discover …

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Media Watch: Proofreading, Effective Writing

Posted on Tuesday, February 11, 2014, at 5:41 pm

Recent cringe-inducers from the print media … An upscale music venue ran ads for “An Evening With Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.” The second line said, “Formally of the 5th Dimension.” It was only after several weeks that someone caught the silly gaffe and sheepishly changed “Formally” to “Formerly.” From an article about a …

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Feb-roo-ary vs. Feb-yoo-ary

Posted on Tuesday, February 4, 2014, at 4:56 pm

We all know that February is the only month of variable length, and the only month with fewer than 30 days. But of greater concern here: it’s the only month that most Americans can’t pronounce. That includes radio and TV commentators, whose job it is to say things right. There are a few meticulous media …

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Sic for Sick Sentences

Posted on Monday, January 27, 2014, at 2:01 pm

[Note that our discussion of sic also has been updated as it applies to use in 2024.] We have noticed a dismal new trend: not capitalizing words that need it. Flouting the rules of capitalization is yet another indignity visited upon our beleaguered language by self-appointed visionaries who seem hellbent on transforming standard English, even …

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