Search results for “dates”

The en dash and the em dash offer different functions for punctuation. They also have different ways they can be made using a keyboard. In this brief discussion, we’ll review common uses of the en dash and the em dash as well as methods for forming them with your keyboard. En Dash An en dash …

Those who write in American English may sometimes wonder when to abbreviate a word as well as how to abbreviate it. This review will help address those questions. An abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or a phrase (e.g., Mister to Mr.). If you're ever in doubt about when and how …

Have you ever finished writing a letter to someone—whether for personal, professional, or academic reasons—and found yourself stumped at the right way to finish it? If so, you certainly aren't alone. Selecting the right closure can sometimes be an uncertainty. That's because how you conclude a letter says something about yourself, your relationship to the …

Writers and speakers of English use the verb continue to communicate the idea of something's going or keeping on, as in "We hope the good weather continues." The concept of the English word continue comes from the Latin root continuāre, meaning "to join together or connect, to make all one." We further understand the idea …

Some people may see or hear the word palindrome and wonder what it is. A palindrome is a word, a phrase, or a sequence of words that read the same way in either direction, as with madam, don't nod, and Eva, can I see bees in a cave? A palindrome can include spaces and punctuation. …

Few components of English grammar have puzzled writers and editors more than the hyphen. When do we insert it? When don’t we? Why does it appear here but not there when last time it was there? Hyphen use remains in continual flux. The stylistic tug of war could be seen in 2019 updates to The …

We hope you’re enjoying our exploration of American and British English as much as we are. So far we've considered variations in spelling and vocabulary between the dialects. Our review continues with a closer look at American and Commonwealth grammar. Prepositions Different phrasing involving prepositions between American and British English may not be as pronounced …

"Nature abhors a vacuum," Aristotle once said, and the same holds true for language. If we detect an empty lexical space because we feel existing words no longer occupy it well, we will look to fill it, often with something that seems or sounds fresh within our current culture and era. For a time, we …

We're all aware of how vital marked and measured time is to guiding and structuring our days. How then do we treat it in precise and careful writing? We offered some guidelines in our updated April 2017 article Writing Dates and Times. We'll expand on those here by delving deeper into the most recent editions of …

American English is a rich, expressive language. At the same time, it includes words that sometimes appear to be alike but have slight distinctions. Without recognizing those subtleties, we might use one word when we mean another. As, because, and since are three conjunctions that introduce subordinate clauses (those that cannot stand alone in sentences) …