Letter-for-Letter Spelling

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral 5 Comments

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

Margie Wakeman WellsGeneral, The Apostrophe 3 Comments

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 …

The Story of “Whereas” and “Although”

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Comma 2 Comments

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

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Comma, Uncategorized 2 Comments

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 …

More on the Prepositional Phrase at the Beginning of the Sentence

Margie Wakeman WellsThe Comma 8 Comments

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 …