When you are doing letter-for-letter spelling, there are some basic things to keep in mind: 1. The hyphen goes with the letter AFTER it. …I believe it is -f-f-e? …Jasmine, J-a-s, as in “Sam,” -m-i-n-e. SECOND EXAMPLE: –There is no hyphen after the s in the spelling. –Notice the pattern for a word that is used as an example. It …
Greetings from Florida
Just checking in from Sarasota, Florida. Off to Clearwater this afternoon for the Florida Court Reporters Association convention this weekend. Hope to meet some of you there. Just wondering what you are all thinking about “Bachelor’s degree” and the rest in the category. It has to be apostrophe s, but what about the cap? I think it should be there …
A Comma Before a Quote?
A question from a reporter today is in regard to placing a comma before a quote when the quote surrounds a word that is being defined. So let’s look at the rule for quoting and the rule for the comma: When a word or words are being defined, they are quoted in reporting. (By the way, in formal English they …
The Story of “Whereas” and “Although”
So often we see whereas and although incorrectly punctuated with a semicolon in front and a comma after as in …was seen with him; although, she did not… …was seen with him; whereas, she did not…. This punctuation implies that these words are conjunctions (conjunctive adverbs) that start a new sentence. Instead, whereas and although are conjunctions (subordinate conjunctions) that …
About that Intro Prepositional Phrase
Here is one of the questions asked about the intro prepositional phrase and the comma, and here is my answer. We were talking about a short prepositional phrase at the beginning of the sentence that is a simple modifier. That prepositional phrase does not need a comma. What about those instances where a short prepositional [phrase] at the beginning of …
The Dilemma of “Affect” and “Effect”?
Here is the explanation right out of my new book on word pairs, which will be out this fall. Email me if you want practice exercises. We don’t need to worry about the word affect, when it is pronounced with the short a. First, there is no problem “hearing” the a and therefore getting the right word. It is the …
More on the Prepositional Phrase at the Beginning of the Sentence
We said earlier that a short prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence that is just a simple modifier does NOT take a comma. Let’s look at what prepositional phrases do take a comma. RULE: Put a comma after a “long” prepositional phrase. (Though there is no set number of words to necessarily count, the dividing line is somewhere …
The Day for Dads
Why is it “father’s day” and not “fathers’ day”? Happy Father’s Day??? There is more than one father that we are celebrating.
What Do I Do with “My question is where are you going?”
When there are two parts to the sentence, one that makes a statement (…my question is…) and one that asks a question (…where are you going…), it is the one at the end that determines the terminal punctuation. So there is an interrog at the end of this sentence. We have question word order. It is a question. I would …
“Into/in to” and “Onto/on to”
These words cause us problems. Let’s see whether we can clear some of those up. The words in and on suggest a location. We are “in” the room. It is “on” the table. When followed by the word to, the word to is part of a prepositional phrase or an infinitive. …went in to cash my check… …moved on to …
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