Sometimes we “like” something that is not correct just because so many people say it incorrectly that we have become used to it. The who/whom question comes to mind. Many do not use these correctly because there are so few modeling them correctly. The “possessive in front of the gerund” is one such thing. The gerund is the “-ing” form …
What About Philly? Was It Terrific?
Oh, yes, it was. The many hugs were the best part. Great to see old friends; great to meet new people. Thanks for your hard work, Doug. Tami, you are going to have a great year! We are behind you. CCR people, I have missed you — fun to see you and get to chat at least a little. Pizza …
Philly, Here We Come!
Leaving in the morning for Philadelphia! If you are going to be there, I hope you will come by Booth 307 and say hi — or catch my workshop on Friday. It will be great fun to see/meet you all. Don’t forget that I am doing two seminars here in Los Angeles: August 18 and August 25, 6700 West 83rd …
“Handicap Parking” and Other Errors
Drove about 12 miles today to my stepdaughter’s house for a family get-together. “Handicap Parking” at a church: Nope. It is handicapped parking. “Oversize Load” on the back of a truck: Nope. It is oversized load. These are both participles. Participles end in “-ed” or “-ing” for these regular verbs. “Less Than Ten Items” at the market: Nope. Less is …
Counting Those Words in Prepositional Phrases
Lots of people have the idea that a prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence needs a comma depending on how many words it has in it. (First, let’s be clear that we are talking here about prepositional phrases that just modify. We are NOT talking about “in my opinion” or “by the way” and phrases like those because …
“Is That Fair?”
I was recently asked whether I would recommend a semicolon before “Is that fair?” just as it is before “Is that right?” The answer is that right, true, and correct in any of their various forms are in a category by themselves. The three — right, true, and correct, — are called “tag clauses.” A tag clause turns a statement …
Prepositional Phrases at the Beginning
When two prepositional phrases come at the beginning of a sentence, without regard to how long or short each is, there is usually a comma after the second one. …At the beginning of the night, we were… …After all of that, we were… …Before dark on the 19th, we were… …On Saturday after lunch, we were… In each of these …
Interesting Construction with Dashes and Questions
This is a sentence I was asked about on Facebook. And I have it correctly punctuated here. Have there been any major stressful events in the last year that you can think of — divorce? someone, a family member, dying? a major change in your work? — that has caused additional stress? There are dashes around the suggested answers for …
The Word “The” in Front of a Surname
We so often see the apostrophe used in the wrong place. Here I want to talk about just one of those instances. When the word the is used in front of a surname, the name HAS to be plural. We do not say “the Nelson” or “the Lawson.” The name has to be plural: “the Nelsons” and “the Lawsons.” We …
Beware of the Dependent Clause That Tries to Deceive You!
This is an issue that is VERY misunderstood. I am copying here the section from my book, beginning on page 401 in the chapter on “Where NOT to Put Punctuation.” Normally, I do not copy an entire section, but this one bears reading in its entirety. 27.9: No Punctuation: In Compound Dependent Construction Definition Compound Construction: Compound construction is two …