A sentence should contain a complete thought. Once you finish your thought, you can finish your sentence, usually with a period. That makes your sentence more readable too. Yes, it’s legal in English to use conjunctions to put several thoughts into one sentence. But it takes a special kind of mind to follow the train of thought in a sentence that has two or three thoughts.
In 1965, The Who told us “The Kids are Alright,” spawning generations of the use of alright in music.
I spend a great deal of time helping students write resumes designed to help them get entry-level jobs related to the career training program that they are enrolled in. One of the most challenging parts of resume writing is creating an objective.
Principle and principal are easily confused. It doesn’t help that they are homophones, which means they sound alike. Here’s a guide to what they mean and how you can tell them apart.
The United States has a government official called the Surgeon General who is the nation’s chief adviser in matters of health. One of the most famous to hold the job was Dr. C. Everett Koop, author of warning labels on cigarette packages.
Independent clauses can stand on their own, even if they are joined together in one sentence. Subordinate clauses, on the other hand, aren’t supposed to stand on their own. Because they depend on another clause in the sentence, an independent clause. That last sentence, beginning with because, was a subordinate clause that I forced to stand on its own. It would have fallen flat on its face if you hadn’t automatically connected it to the sentence before it.
Oblivion comes from Latim oblivio (to forget). It means the state of being completely forgotten. If something is in oblivion, people forgot about it, or are totally unaware of it.
When writing, it is important to keep your messages concise. What does concise mean? To the point. As a reader, I don’t need to have to wade through a four line sentence in order to figure out what you mean.
When I was a reporter for a small daily newspaper back in the late 90s, I had an editor whose biggest pet peeve was the misuse of the word “everyday.” His peeve has followed me into my professional life, and I cringe a little every time I see it being used improperly.
One of the most important things to keep in mind is that your writing must be appropriate for your audience. You have to use terminology that makes sense to your readers.
Many people think that they sound smarter when they use big words. The truth of the matter is that smart communicators use words that (a) they understand and (b) their readers are likely to understand.
