Avoid repeating yourself by watching out for the following tautologies: phrases that—put simply—say the same thing twice. 1. advanced ahead 2. at this point in time 3. basic fundamentals 4. brief in duration 5. both together 6. cooperate together 7. enclosed herein 8. free gift 9. important essentials 10. just exactly 11. merge together 12. […]
Which is correct: “E-Mail” or “e-mail”? “Red, white and blue” or “red, white, and blue”? “A.M.” or “a.m.”? Would everyone in your office answer the same way? If not, you could probably use an internal style guide.
End with a preposition only when it keeps you from sounding hopelessly stilted.
Reader Sharon Wentzell sent us this question: “When you use parentheses at the end of a sentence, where does the period go: inside or outside the last parenthesis?” Answer: When you have a full sentence inside parentheses, and it isn’t positioned inside another sentence, it should begin with a capital letter and end with a […]
Reader Kelly Merritt sent us the following note recently: “Most people write ‘I am writing with regards to,’ or ‘in regards to,’ and I have even been corrected when using ‘in regard to’ … when everything I have read says that ‘regard’ and not ‘regards’ is the proper term. Which is the proper word?”Please also […]
Rule 1. Use effect as a noun when you mean “result.” Example: “The new budget exerted a chilling effect on our business.” Tip: Use effect when one of these words precedes it: “an,” “any,” “the,” “take,” “into,” “no.” Examples: “Before the new budget takes effect … ” “Out-of-date computers became an unintended effect of the […]
You’ve finished a key document draft. Now, it’s time to edit for clarity, conciseness, accuracy, visual design and tone. Use this guide to refine and polish your draft.
Most problems with possessives occur in these two situations
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Grammar Repair Shop
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