After a lifetime of being wishy-washy about the serial comma, I’ve reached a decision: I’m going to use it all the time. Such a momentous decision is, of course, a deeply personal matter. The pros and cons are widely, frequently, and hotly debated. Here is some information that may enable you to make the decision … Read more
The word Scotch has several meanings, but it should never be used as an adjective to refer to a person or object from Scotland. The only exception is that the word is acceptable as part of certain compound names, such as Scotch whisky, Scotch mist or Scotch broth. Words such as Scotchman or Scotchwoman are … Read more
Hustle means to work energetically, to push, or to be aggressive in certain endeavors (e.g., playing a sport or conducting business). When used with a subject it means to urge, coerce, push or force to move (e.g., hustle something out of the way). They had a second, stand-by offense ready to rush to the line … Read more
Steve Campbell asks for a post on “the choice between due to and owing to. There was a time that I felt very strongly about the difference between due to and owing to, zealously correcting misuse in student papers. After all, one of my most esteemed authorities, H.W. Fowler, has this to say in Modern … Read more
Last week we looked at antiques: quill pens, fountain pens, and typewriters. And so we come to word processors and computers. The word processor brings obvious advantages to writers. The ease with which you can write and revise, having typing and spelling mistakes corrected as you go, leads to…carelessness. I’m not simply referring to over-reliance … Read more
Ecclesiastic is a person inside a religious order. The adjective, on other other hand, is ecclesiastical. Two centuries after Olaus Magnus, another ecclesiastic, the Danish missionary Hans Egede (who eventually became the bishop of Greenland), visited that icy island early in the eighteenth century, in hope of converting the natives to Christianity. (NY Times) Rome’s … Read more
A phrasal verb is one that’s followed by an adverb or a preposition, and together they behave as a semantic unit. (The adverb or preposition following the verb is called a particle.) A phrasal verb functions the same way as a simple verb, but its meaning is idiomatic: The numbers don’t add up. That’s an … Read more
Writer is one of those words used with a variety of meanings. The five year old learning to form her letters can be said to be a writer. The OED entry for writer gives ten different meanings, including: an attorney or law-agent, one who is writing a composer of music one who typewrites; a typist … Read more
This is a guest post by Laura Hamby. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. Everyone has their methods. I’ve read revision checklists all over the Internet, but still that didn’t stop me from coming up with my very own checklist. Why? Why not? Who knows better than I … Read more
A frequent injury among athletes is that of the hamstring: Dixon suffers hamstring injury Stewart suffers Hamstring injury Brandon Johnson suffers hamstring injury According to the orthopedics article at About.com, The hamstring muscle is a group of large, powerful muscles that span the back of the thigh, from the lower pelvis to the back of … Read more
Secular is an adjective used to describe things or people that are not religious. When Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, spoke out a week ago, calling for full national elections instead of the caucus-style balloting envisioned in the American plan for self-rule, most secular politicians concluded that he hoped … Read more
Recently, I wrote about the Royal Order of Adjectives. Not surprisingly, there’s also a Royal Order of Adverbs. When you write a sentence that has more than one adverb, there is a loose order in which you should arrange them: Manner Place Frequency Time Purpose In a sentence with five (yikes!) such adverbs, it would … Read more