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Tag Archives: punctuation
Say no to exclamation points
“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald “Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.” —Terry Pratchett ALERT: This post contains a rant. I have a … Continue reading
Posted in copy editing, punctuation
Tagged copy editing, exclamation point, grammar pet peeves, humor, punctuation
7 Comments
Ouch! That comma splices!
Lesson: how to correctly join independent clauses Take a look at this sentence. The Martians want to look their best, they wear their green jumpsuits. There is something wrong here. (And it’s not that the Martians think jumpsuits are high … Continue reading
Posted in copy editing, grammar, punctuation
Tagged comma, comma splice, coordinating conjunction, grammar, punctuation, semicolon, sentence structure
5 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
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Happy National Punctuation Day!
Today is September 24, which means . . . drum roll . . . it’s National Punctuation Day. In honor of this very special day, I am bringing to you a collection of archive Grammar Party posts that teach about … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged A.L.I.C.E., apostrophe, chat bot, copy editing, em dash, en dash, hyphen, National Punctuation Day, punctuation
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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
Word Nerd Wednesday
Here are some fun language-related links I scoured from the interwebs. Enjoy! Rap in 30 languages (including Esperanto and, my personal fave, Klingon), from How Stuff Works: http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2011/08/15/rap-in-other-languages/ Wondering whether that word is actually one word or two? (Think already … 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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Military titles and AP Style
Since today is Memorial Day, a U.S. holiday commemorating soldiers who died in the line of duty, we’ll be discussing military titles and their abbreviations. The Associated Press Stylebook lists rules to follow when referring to military titles. 1. Capitalize … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, in the news, punctuation, style issues
Tagged AP Style, military, punctuation
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Emails and hyphens and little snails? Oh my!
Lesson: Recent AP style changes This is going to be a tough change for me. Since I took high school typing class, every time I go to type the word email, my finger automatically treks to the hyphen key. But … Continue reading
Posted in etymology, in the news, punctuation, style issues
Tagged AP Style, foreign language, punctuation, slang
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