Astute readers caught a mistake in last week’s post—since corrected.
The short dash—the one that goes between numbers to indicate a range (and that’s pretty much it)—is called the en dash; the long one—I’m using them in this sentence to bracket extra information—is the em dash. It makes sense: n... (Read More)
The other day I walked past a construction site where a pair of posh buildings is going up. The sign on the chain link fence said, “Luxury Residences From $2M – $5M.”
The multi-million-dollar price tag didn’t give me pause (only because I’m not buying) but the word from did.... (Read More)
A disgruntled real estate agent in Australia is in big trouble. His former employer is suing him for defamation over a Facebook post. Here’s what he wrote:
Oh Stuart Gan!! Selling multi million $ homes in Pearl Beach but can’t pay his employees superannuation. Shame on you Stuart!!! 2 yrs... (Read More)
I recently eavesdropped on someone talking about her upcoming nuptials.
“Zack and I’s wedding is in three weeks!” she exclaimed.
Congratulations!
But the woman’s all-too-common erroneous turn of phrase—Zack and I’s wedding—made me cringe. Zack’s and my wedding is in three weeks would have been the correct thing to say.
... (Read More)A friend recently resigned from her job and received a message from a colleague that said, “Hi … Just spoke with Tom and heard you’re leaving… call soon…”
My friend was confused. Was she supposed to call her colleague or was the colleague going to call her? And were those... (Read More)
The panty will be open.
That sounds vaguely pornographic, but there it was in an email alerting me to some upcoming construction work in a building I frequent. Clearly the person who wrote it meant to say pantry instead.
Typos are one of many things you’re looking for when you... (Read More)
Please check-in at the front desk, read the sign in the building lobby.
I didn’t take issue with giving my name to the gentleman seated outside the elevator bank, but I did have a problem with the hyphenated rendition of check-in. The sign should have said to check in at... (Read More)
Commas have lots of uses, but there’s one in particular that confuses a lot of people, including me. I always have to look up the rule, so I hope that by writing this post, I can remember it once and for all.
I have two daughters. If I refer to... (Read More)
I’m pretty sure when I need a comma; I’m not so sure about a semicolon.
I hear that a lot.
The semicolon is easy to explain because it does two specific things (unlike the comma whose use is wide and varied and can sometimes be subjective). The first thing the... (Read More)
I received an email from Citibank the other day that started like this: We’re working as quickly as possible to reopen the branches that remain closed – you can find the latest information about the branch nearest you at Citibank.com/locations.
The dash is incorrect. It should be a period or... (Read More)
