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)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)
All three statements use myself incorrectly. Here’s what the speakers should have said—and why:
Our legacy is built on finding and knowing the essential.
That’s what a leading financial company says on its website. Expertise or reputation would be more accurate than legacy, which is what you’re remembered for after you’re gone.
Or take the magazine executive who said he wanted to be sure... (Read More)
This edition of Say It Better Say It Right comes from a news article about the fashion brand Kate Spade.
I’ve written many bulletins about dashes—America’s favorite punctuation mark—but today’s edition focuses on the overlap between a pair of dashes (like the ones I just used), commas, and parentheses. All three punctuation marks can be used to give readers extra information.
Let’s take that opening sentence. I could replace the... (Read More)
“Communication doesn’t take place because you tell somebody something. It takes place when you observe them closely and track their ability to follow you.”
Alan Alda wrote that in his charming book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on Face? My Adventures in the Art and Science... (Read More)
The stakes just got higher.
On the heels of last week’s post about the missing comma that cost a dairy company $5 million in back pay comes more vindication for grammar geeks. Slate, in an article about the indictments against 13 Russian nationals for meddling in the 2016 election,... (Read More)
To market my writing workshops, I’ve produced a video. I was taped giving a one-hour lunch-and-learn session—new in my lineup of offerings—and then interviewed by my producer. How did you get started? she asked. What can companies expect when they hire you? And why should they choose you? Be yourself,... (Read More)
When Hervé Pierre, sometime stylist to First Lady Melania Trump, sits down to sketch, he asks himself, “Where is this woman going?”
“If you don’t have a purpose,” he told Vanessa Friedman, fashion director at The New York Times, “it’s just an idea on paper and the dress means nothing.”
... (Read More)
