Many well-meaning writers and editors condemn “the reason why” and “the reason is because” for the crime of redundancy. But that stance (or, at least, part of it) is shaky. “The reason is because” has no supporters, but “the reason why,” despite also being idiomatic, is ubiquitous even among highly respected writers. Yes, “the reason … Read more
Somewhere along the way, a very small group of English words, through dialectical divergence, acquired spelling and punctuation variants in the form of an odd appendage: the letters -st. Three of these terms are acceptable (but declining in use) in British English but deemed nonstandard in American English, while two others, strangely, have prevailed over … Read more
It is quite possible to spend the rest of your life reading about how to write and never get around to actually writing — especially with so many convenient collections of writers’ ruminations like the ones listed and described below. 1. Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave Twenty-six authors share confessions about their transgressions in this … Read more
Various words referring to pictorial representations of objects or ideas often have precise connotations. Here are many words conveying subtle shades of meaning about signs and symbols. 1. Attribute: an object, especially in representational art, signifying a person or place, or authority (also, a characteristic or quality or a word describing a quality) 2. Badge: … Read more
Here’s a photo gallery of directional signs that should give visitors pause. Enclosing one or more words in quotation marks when the marks are not used in the context of quoting another person is widely believed to represent emphasis, but among careful writers, this technique represents skepticism or distancing oneself from the term, as if … Read more
The question in the headline for this post is the heading of an online survey I came across recently. I’ve reproduced the survey questions below and answered them based on my own opinions. Complete the survey yourself, and then compare your responses with mine. 1. Do you judge other people based on their writing? Yes, … Read more
Perhaps you are confused by grammatical discussions of restrictive and nonrestrictive — or essential or nonessential — clauses. (I know I can never keep those terms straight.) Never mind the nomenclature; when you’re editing your own writing, or someone else’s, simply read the phrase that follows a which (or who) or a that and determine … Read more
If you, or the business or organization you work for, want people to visit your (or its) website, you should know the most important factor in search engine optimization. As you probably know, SEO is any set of strategies designed to improve your website’s ranking in an online search. Various sources ascribe varying values to … Read more
The syntax of the English language is fairly flexible, but one rigid rule is that a word or phrase that modifies a word or a phrase should be positioned so that its interrelationship with the target component is clear. These five sentences illustrate the importance of this rule. 1. “People watched a television broadcast reporting … Read more
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s likely to fall flat when extended to emulating a favorite author’s writing style. That said, studying one’s favorite writers for inspiration can be productive. I would never attempt to copy the writing style of Patrick O’Brian, whose gifts I discussed in this post. In his … Read more
Sentence construction is often compromised by simple errors involving a gratuitous comma or a missing conjunction, and often both. Here are five faultily constructed sentences shored up by correcting minor problems such as these. 1. “As a consequence, he said, he lost his job, his family, and has scraped by from one low-wage job to … Read more
When are designations for historically significant phenomena treated with initial capital letters, and when are the names rendered with lowercase letters? Exceptions, as always, are available to confound us, but the rules are fairly straightforward. Names of political and cultural periods or events are often capitalized in their original connotations, but when such nomenclature is … Read more