Category: Grammar Repair Shop
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Problem: Moni Jackson, Toms River, N.J., takes minutes during a board of directors meeting. “At a recent session, the vice president stated that policies should be reviewed biannually,” Jackson told us. “I found out later that she actually meant once every two years. I believe the word should be ‘biennially.'”
Avoid gender bias with clever writing
Problem: Several readers have asked recently about whether to capitalize particular words, ranging from job titles to seasons.
Problem: Therese Sliwa, Waltham, Mass., wrote about our response in the July “Our Readers Write” column to someone who complained about people writing “could of” for “could’ve” and “should of” for “should’ve.”
Problem: Reader Judy Woodliff asked us whether “elders retreat” should carry an apostrophe after the “s” in “elders” to make it possessive.
Problem: Phyllis Nagy, Orlando, Fla., asked about the spelling of the possessive “boss’s.”
Problem: “When addressing a business letter, is it correct to put a comma or a colon after the addressee’s name?” (From Lynne Nelson, Princeton, N.J.)
Several readers recently asked us about the use of semicolons versus commas in a complex sentence.
Problem: When quoted material comes at the end of a sentence, the pileup of punctuation causes con-fusion. Lesson: American style calls for always placing periods inside the quotation marks. (In contrast, the placement under British style depends upon whether the punctuation applies to the sentence or the quoted material.) Example: Then, he said, “Please finish […]
Write it right, say it right, spell it right.
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