Writing Help
Finally, the colon…
photo credit: Song_sing
A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
–Thomas Mann
Two weeks ago, when I posted about the dash, I had intended to include the colon as well since the function of the two marks of punctuation can be related. However, the lovely dash deserved its [...]
9 Reasons the Hyphen Is Important
photo credit: martinalanotte
What a writer wants to do is not what he does — Jorge Borges
Well, I stand corrected… After a comment on last week’s post on the dash from Mrs. S asking “So when do I use a hyphen? Is that just for joining words together?“, I did a little research and realized [...]
The Dash
photo credit: apesara
Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there. — Thomas Berger
Two weeks ago, we happily found that the semicolon is a simple, yet powerful mark of punctuation. Well, the dash is even more powerful… Originally I was going to post on both the dash and the colon, but then quickly realized the [...]
The Power of Semicolons!
photo credit: Paul Worthington
The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe. — David Hare
For many years, my favorite word has been “ambivalence” – experiencing simultaneous conflicting emotions. And this week’s mark of punctuation is the perfect complement to this word: the semicolon!
The semicolon is so simple, yet powerful. If you have [...]
Comma Pairs
photo credit: Lincolnian
To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make. — Truman Capote
Before we wrap up our series on comma usage, let’s review what we’ve already covered. First we tackled the role of the comma in lists… then we wrangled with commas and clauses… [...]
Comma Loose Ends…
photo credit: procsilas
Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers. — T. S. Eliot
Two weeks ago we tackled the role of the comma in lists… then we wrangled with commas and clauses… now we move on to the first of two weeks that address the loose ends of commas…
First, the use of commas [...]
Tuesday Tips: Commas!
photo credit: Lee Carson
What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. ~Logan Pearsall Smith, “All Trivia,” Afterthoughts, 1931
Now that we’ve mastered the wily apostrophe, let’s move on to the accomodating comma…
First, remember the example from my introductory post?
Woman without her man is nothing.
This is one of the [...]
Tuesday Tips: Easy Apostrophe Wrap-Up!
photo credit: sergis blogSo far we have tackled
Before we wrap-up our discussion of apostrophe use, here’s a review of what we’ve already covered:
using apostrophes with contractions (they’re, who’s, we’re)
using apostrophes with possessives
using apostrophes with plurals (letters = t’s, numbers = 2’s, or time = 4 week’s notice)
Today we trip through the remaining, very easy [...]
Tuesday Tips: Plural Apostrophes
photo credit: ByJane
In case this is your first visit to Tuesday Tips, here’s what we’ve covered so far:
using apostrophes with contractions (they’re, who’s, we’re)
using apostrophes with possessives (Bob’s dog, Jess’s poetry)
Week Three and we are nearing the end of our apostrophe party! This week is fairly straight-forward: plurals!
Apostrophes are used to express plural letters:
How many t’s [...]
Tuesday Tips: Using Possessive Apostrophes
photo credit: Darren Hester
Welcome Back to the world of apostrophes… This week we will be tackling possessives.
The possessive apostrophe indicates “possession.” Sound simple? It is… mostly!
Singular nouns:
Dog’s bowl
Woman’s book
Shoe’s laces (only one shoe)
Plural nouns that do NOT end in “s:”
Children’s hour
Men’s hats
Women’s movement
Plural nouns that DO end in “s” get a bit trickier. Notice [...]
