January’s mail is full of messages pegged to the year ahead. In the event you’re about to send one yourself, take note of the correct way to refer to the new year. My apologies if this post is too late for you; if it is, you can file it away... (Read More)
Thank you so much for your email – we love hearing from you!
That’s the first line from an email I received the other day. The dash in the middle of the sentence should have been a period. (Actually, it looks like a hyphen, but we’ll leave... (Read More)
No, I’m not going anywhere. I simply wanted to show you a correct use of the word until, which can always be shortened to till, but not to ’till or til, neither of which is considered correct. Type til in Word and a red squiggly mark will let you know... (Read More)
I found myself listening to Ivanka Trump be interviewed at the 2015 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. She talked about how she organizes her time, what it’s like to be Donald Trump’s daughter, and her approach to building brands. The woman is cool, calm, and collected and has a... (Read More)
“Whenever I read something, I’m picturing it in my head like a movie,” a Disney animator remarked when asked about his reading habits. His statement hit on that thrill we all feel when we read—or hear—words that are so right they give us an image in an instant.
Do “word... (Read More)
“I will see you their.”
That message gave Jeff Cohen second thoughts about meeting his OkCupid date, according to a recent front-page article in The Wall Street Journal about the allure of good grammar. Mr. Cohen now uses an app that ranks the message quality of prospective partners.... (Read More)
“I can’t stand it when people say they’re going to reach out.”
I hear that all the time. The phrase seems to make people downright squirmy.
Reach out is tentative—maybe you’ll make the connection; maybe you won’t. I get an image of an outstretched arm that may or... (Read More)
“Come for Bloody Mary’s,” read the invitation to Sunday brunch.
“I’ll be there,” I responded. But what’s with the apostrophe? (I kept that question to myself.)
To make a plural out of many proper names, including ones that that end in y, you simply add s, so Bloody... (Read More)
A popular daily newsletter arrived with this bit of information about DreamWorks Studios: “It produced less films and less profits than expected.”
That didn’t sound right.
The rule of thumb is to use fewer for things you can count (the number of DreamWorks films) and less when referring to amounts... (Read More)
Humid air surging up into southern New England could help produce locally heavy rainfall and thunder. Farther west, drier air will move into the Middle Atlantic region.
So read a recent weather forecast that I paid extra attention to for its correct use of farther, which refers to physical distance.... (Read More)
