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• Tangled Passages

  775 readersThere's no formula to determine when a sentence is overloaded or threatening to run off the rails. But there are warning signs. Sentences of 40, 50 or 60 words are awfully hard to make readable. When you get up to four or five commas, think again. A half-dozen verbs usually mean trouble. And when a

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  Comma Before Too?

  673 readersMost of us were taught to place a comma before a sentence-ending "too." But is that comma really necessary? Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

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  You We Are

  384 readersMy friend Kurt sent me this sign that he found in a restaurant in Knoxville.We've got missing commas, periods instead of commas, and an apostrophe catastrophe in were. This sign is a mess. And the tone is so angry that I might not necessarily trust their food...Thanks, Kurt!

• How to Use Dashes

  557 readersWriters have three different dashes at their disposal: the hyphen, the en dash, and the em dash. Like this article? Then you'll love our book: 100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid. It lists 100 common spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage mistakes. You can buy it today with a 50% discount! Original Post: How to Use Dashes Your

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  The Glenlivit Syntax Tree

  415 readersInstead of the traditional Christmas tree for the holidays, it looks to me like Glenlivit is giving away syntax trees in their new ad campaign.While it is not an accurate syntax tree, can you see why this ad immediately brought to mind syntax trees?

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  5 Ways to Improve Your Writing

  470 readersGuest Post by Heather HollemanIf I'm going to live with flair, I have to think about communicating with flair. Most of us will have thousands of occasions for writing in the next year: emails, text messages, resumes, blog entries, cover letters, articl...

• Restrictive Appositives

  312 readersNouns are said to be "in apposition" when a noun or noun phrase is used to identify, define, or tell more about a preceding noun. Like this article? Then you'll love our book: 100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid. It lists 100 common spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage mistakes. You can buy it today with a

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  Word Inflation, or Unnatural Syntax?

  945 readers"The Deputy requested me to send this letter to all staff." What makes this sentence sound odd? Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook. Original Post: Word Inflation, or Unnatural Syntax?

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  Do You Recall This Egg Catastrophe?

  223 readersThis cartoon woman in the Fresh Pond (Cambridge) Trader Joe's should cross eggs off her shopping list. Or at least remove the offending apostrophe.Maybe one symptom of salmonella is the inability to use proper punctuation. I still love you, Trader Joe's.

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  We’ve Got Letters: Quotation Marks, Revisited

  997 readersA British-born reader and copyeditor recently wrote to our fearless leader (Deb Ng, in case you missed it) regarding my post about quotations and punctuation. He’s given us permission to share his letter, which I’m happy to do here: Dear Deb, I hope you don’t mind me writing to you about this – I didn’t want to