DailyWritingTips

Should You Use Footnotes or Endnotes?

One of our readers, Billy Green, wrote to ask: Could you enlighten some of us old folks about the proper use of footnotes? Below is what I wrote to the publisher: I am a firm believer in footnotes printed on the same page where the asterisk is printed. Nowadays in many books which are published, … Read more

Praises to the Correct Use of The Semicolon

Lana, one of our readers, pointed me to a very interesting article over the NY Times. Titled Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location, the article describes how the reporter was pleasantly surprised by finding an erudite and correct use of the semicolon on a subway sign. “Please put it in a trash can,” … Read more

Punctuation Errors: American and British Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are used to set off speech or quoted sentences and words. Despite its simple role, people tend to get confused about the position of other punctuation in relation to the quotation marks. Should it go inside or outside the quotation marks? It depends. If you are writing in American English, other punctuation should … Read more

Punctuation Errors: Multiple Punctuation Marks

Sometime ago Maeve wrote a brilliant post titled “Let the Word do the Work.” On the article she was manifesting hes despair towards the common use of redundancies like “return back” or “speeding too fast.” The conclusion is straight forward: it’s as if people don’t trust a word to mean what it means. The same … Read more

Punctuation Errors: Apostrophe for Plurals

The apostrophe has a wide range of uses within the English language. Forming plurals, however, is not one of them. Many people, especially those that speak English as a foreign language, tend to make this blatant mistake. Here are some examples illustrating this punctuation error: According to the rule’s we should follow him. The waiter … Read more

Punctuation Errors: The Comma Splice

We have already covered the basics of this punctuation mark on the article Introducing the Comma. Basically, commas are used after introductory elements on sentences (e.g., introductory words, phrases,clauses). Commas are also used to separate dependent clauses, like this: As it was raining, we decided to stay home. The comma can also be used to … Read more

Pesky Colons and Semicolons

These two forms of punctuation are often used incorrectly for one another. Colons can be used to direct a reader to examples or significant words: His main flaw is his downfall: egotism. Also, they direct a reader to a list of things: A lot of vegetables are the same color: lettuce, peppers, snow peas, and … Read more

Multiple Thoughts in One Sentence

The rule of putting a period at the end of every thought would be simpler, except that in English, we’re allowed to include more than one thought in the same sentence. These thoughts are expressed in clauses, and clauses can be independent or subordinate. For example, that last sentence has two independent clauses, separated by … Read more

Punctuation Errors: Quotation Marks for Emphasis

Last month, Daniel covered some of the basic rules for using quotation marks. I’d like to point out one of the most common misuses of this piece of punctuation: the quotation mark for emphasis. As Daniel’s post pointed out, quotation marks can be used to express irony, as in the sentence: Uncle Joe was really … Read more

Use the Right Number of Periods

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After the word itself, the sentence is the most basic unit of communication. So it’s the sentence that your readers will notice first. They may not see your mistakes in spelling, and may not notice your mistakes in grammar, but they are likely to notice when you end your sentences too early or too late.

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Introducing the Comma

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Commas are a tricky little piece of punctuation, and they give many people headaches. In my students’ essays, I frequently see commas where they don’t belong, and I see necessary commas left out. I make it one of my goals to help demystify the comma for my students.

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