If you frequent bookstores, you know how much a brand-new hardcover costs. You also know the profoundly awful feeling of cracking open a new purchase, reading a chapter or two, and realizing it’s a total stinker. (more…)
Greetings, writers! Today, we’re deciphering perhaps the most enigmatic, intimidating punctuation mark: the semicolon. This part-comma, part-colon freak of punctuational nature has gotten a bum rap by contemporary English speakers, and, as such, it has been largely relegated to use in winking emoticons. (more…)
Commas, colons, and parentheses—these are common tools of the scribe. In fact, we are so familiar with them that oftentimes we incorporate them in our writing without a single conscious thought. Unfortunately, however, the same can’t be said for em dashes—many of us writers just aren’t that familiar with them, so we balk at incorporating them into our work. (more…)
It’s cold outside, and, well, I’m in a bit of a mood—the subjunctive mood, that is.
You see, if it were July, we could take a stroll in the park without freezing our tails off. If I were a pilot, I’d fly us to the Bahamas for some fun in the sun. Better yet, I wish I were the Human Torch, so I could be nice and toasty year round . . . (more…)
Hi, fun nation! (See what I did there?) Today, we’re boldly going where no other punctuation mark dares to go, where lasting connections are forged or relentlessly torn asunder—to the jurisdiction of the mighty hyphen.
In modern English, the hyphen seems to pop up all over the place, so it can be hard to keep track of all the nuances of its use. Thus, for your convenience, I have compiled a list of the hyphen’s favorite hangouts, complete with examples and short explanations of why it hangs out there: (more…)