Sherri Good

Flips

Round vs. Around
dailywritingtips.com - By Maeve Maddox - 2 minute read
One of the differences between American and British English is the usage of the words round and around. Americans use around in contexts in which most …
One Word Can Mar Your Meaning
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Each of the three sentences shown below contains a minor error that nevertheless muddles the intended meaning. The discussion following each example …
Take Nothing for Granted
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Just when you think you know everything, you’re reminded that subtlety and nuance are part of even the most mundane information. It’s been said that …
20 Strategies for Writing in Plain Language
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 3 minute read
The increasing popularity of plain language, the concept of writing clear, simple prose, is making it easier for people to understand legal documents …
7 Proofreading Steps
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Proofreading is the last line of defense for quality control in print and online publishing. Be sure to conduct a thorough proofread of all documents …
Fight the Good Fight Against Creeping Errors
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Jan Tallenton September 03, 2013 11:52 am I really love your tips and articles and have them all filed on my computer for future referrals. I find …
5 Funny Figures of Speech
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Wordplay is a fertile field for study in English. Although the following forms of humor should be used sparingly if at all, writers should be …
Ignorance or Sincerity?
dailywritingtips.com - Maeve Maddox
Grammar consultants are in great demand these days by employers who fear that the inability of their employees to speak and write grammatically gives …
3 Tips for Careful Writers
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 1 minute read
1. Know the Rules This doesn’t mean to simply remember what you learned — or what you think you learned — five or fifty years ago. Careful writers …
Lazy Word Choice
dailywritingtips.com - By Maeve Maddox - 1 minute read
Thanks to today’s instant communication, words used by one blogger or celebrity catch on at an astounding rate, spilling over into advertising, …
Answers to Questions About Punctuation
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Here are a few questions from readers about the use of various forms of punctuation, followed by my responses. 1. In the following sentence, how do …
More Answers to Questions About Punctuation
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Here are my responses to three recent queries from readers about various punctuation matters. 1. In the sentence “I went to school, although I was …
How to Punctuate Descriptions of Colors
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Use of hyphens and commas in phrases that include names of colors is the cause of some confusion among writers. Here’s a discussion of when to insert …
5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Phrasal adjectives that consist of more than two words are often flawed in construction, perhaps because writers are hesitant to complicate a phrase …
5 More Examples of Extraneous Hyphens
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
John Wilcockon August 29, 2013 8:10 am Is “a training” really acceptable English usage? To me it sounds like translatorese (the French refer to “une …
3 Functions of the Comma
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
The general purpose of a comma is to separate closely related but distinct elements in a sentence. Discussion of three specific functions of the …
How to Punctuate with “However”
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
However are you going to keep this information straight? The usage of punctuation with however may seem confusing; however, the distinctions are …
Answers to Questions About Commas #4
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Here are several questions about punctuation from DailyWritingTips.com readers, including two about too, and my responses. 1. I was taught to always …
Punctuation with Conjunctions
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
The rules for punctuating in proximity to simple coordinating conjunctions (and, but, and or) are straightforward, but writers can become confused …
Answers to Questions About Semicolons
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 2 minute read
Here are several questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about use of prepositions, and my responses. 1. This sentence showcases my burning …
Answers to Questions About Punctuation #3
dailywritingtips.com - By Mark Nichol - 1 minute read
Here are a few questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about various punctuation issues, followed by my responses. 1. A lawyer asks a witness …
When a Comma Means “And”
dailywritingtips.com - By Maeve Maddox - 2 minute read
Chuck Hustmyreon November 07, 2013 10:22 am I love serial commas. Elysia Brenneron November 07, 2013 10:34 am NoooooOOOOOooooOOOOOooo!!! Please let the …
Quotation Marks and Punctuation
dailywritingtips.com - By Maeve Maddox - 2 minute read
Several readers have asked about punctuation at the end of a sentence that contains quotation marks. The first question asks me to choose which of the …
Inconsistent Hyphenation
dailywritingtips.com - By Maeve Maddox - 2 minute read
I have a bad habit (for an American) of looking things up in the OED first and not checking to see if Merriam-Webster agrees. Sometimes this habit …
Answers to Questions About Commas #5
dailywritingtips.com - By Maeve Maddox - 2 minute read
Several readers have sent in questions regarding comma use. I’ll take them in turn. 1. Does a comma always go before the word too? No. Whether or not a …
Mood vs. Tense
dailywritingtips.com - By Maeve Maddox - 2 minute read
Judging by comments I’ve read on this and other language sites, many people are not quite clear as to the difference between the grammatical terms …