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- Funny Spanish idioms
- Military titles and AP Style
- Confusing Plurals: Data, Criteria, and Media
- Business jargon to avoid (so you don’t sound like a douche)
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Tag Archives: Chicago Manual of Style
When to italicize foreign words and phrases
Every once in a while, it feels good to add a snooty foreign word or phrase to your writing. I mean, what would the writing world be without a little je ne sais quoi? However, there are rules about how … Continue reading
Posted in copy editing, style issues
Tagged Chicago Manual of Style, copy editing, foreign language, French, German, italicize foreign words, Latin, style issues, word usage
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Titles of works: italics or quotation marks
Today we’re going to talk about titles of works (movies, books, articles, and more) and whether they should be in italics or quotation marks. You’ll learn the rules in The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the style guide people … Continue reading
Posted in copy editing, style issues
Tagged Chicago Manual of Style, copy editing, italics, literature, pop culture, quotation marks, titles of works
8 Comments
Making a list. Checking it twice (for colons, commas, and semicolons).
Lesson: Using colons, commas, and semicolons in lists It’s December. ‘Tis the season for list making. Kids are making lists of presents they want to receive. Cooking aficionados are making lists of ingredients they need to bake their amazing cookies. … Continue reading
Posted in copy editing, punctuation
Tagged Chicago Manual of Style, colon, copy editing, punctuation, semicolon
5 Comments
Simply dashing part three: the hyphen
Welcome back for our final installment from the horizontal language department. Previously we discussed the em dash and the en dash. Today we will learn about the shortest in the dash-like family, the hyphen. Hyphen basics Hyphens link: a prefix … Continue reading
Posted in copy editing, punctuation
Tagged Chicago Manual of Style, copy editing, hyphen, prefix, style issues, suffix, word usage
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Simply dashing part two: the en dash
In part two of this series, we have reached the middle of our longest to shortest dash/hyphen set. The en dash: not quite an em dash, not quite a hyphen, and not quite as useful as either. I’m really selling … Continue reading
Posted in copy editing, punctuation, style issues
Tagged Chicago Manual of Style, copy editing, dates, en dash, punctuation, style issues
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Simply dashing part one: the em dash
Welcome to part one of a three-part series about horizontal fun in the punctuation department: the em dash, the en dash, and the hyphen. Through this series, you’ll learn the difference between these marks and when to use which one. … Continue reading
One little endian, two little endians: Formatting dates across the globe
The proper way to format dates in America is to write month, day, comma, year. Like this: May 27, 1950 However, as you are no doubt aware, this is the proper way to format a date in America. Different countries … Continue reading
Posted in punctuation, story time
Tagged Chicago Manual of Style, comma, dates, punctuation
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Editorial Brain Dump #1
Here are ten things I’ve learned in my editorial adventures over the last week. 1. Foolhardy is one word. 2. Matter-of-factly is hyphenated. 3. Weeble is a product name, not just a fun word to say. 4. Scot-free, is spelled … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, punctuation
Tagged abbreviations, Chicago Manual of Style, confusing words, vocabulary
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