Search results for “od”

E-Newsletter reader Clifford A. recently wrote: My wife says she texted our daughter. I say, I sent her a text message. Is texted an accepted usage? English allows many nouns to become verbs. We can table a motion, salt our food, and water our plants. Particularly in the realm of developing technology, new usages are …

This is a Q & A with Wendy Burt-Thomas, a full-time freelance writer, editor, and copywriter with more than 1,000 published pieces. Her third book, The Writer's Digest Guide to Query Letters hit stores in December 2008. Q: Can you tell us about your book? The book was a great fit for me because I'd …

The Chicago Manual of Style lists the following holidays as singular possessives: Mother's Day, Father's Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day. Plural possessive is used for Presidents' Day. Your guess is as good as anyone's about Secretary's vs. Secretaries' vs. Secretaries Day and Boss's vs. Bosses' vs. Bosses Day. What would you do if …

Can you guess which word I see misspelled most often? Did you guess misspelled? You’re getting warm. Actually, it’s grammar. From my experience, I think it’s safe to estimate that 20 percent of the English-speaking world spells it with an -er ending. Before anyone points an accusing finger at anyone else, we might want to …

Using bi or semi in front of time periods can create tremendous confusion these days as definitions and style guidance continue to soften and blur. To illustrate this, we located the following definitions of words with the bi or semi prefix after researching both style books and dictionaries. Biweekly: once every two weeks or twice a …

In verb conjugation, a regular verb follows a simple, predictable pattern, such as print (present tense), printed (simple past), and printed (past particle): I print, you printed, and they have printed. An irregular verb is one that forms its simple past tense and past participle with a non-standard pattern. Ring is one such verb. Ring conjugates as …

Many nouns in English have a plural form either with an s/es ending or without. For example, when is it correct to use youth vs. youths, fish vs. fishes, or hair vs. hairs? Use youths and hairs when countable. Example: Three youths were given awards for community service. If youth is being used collectively, do …

Dictionaries don’t all agree on the definitions of these words and neither do style manuals. So we will attempt to shed more light on the distinctions. Abbreviations According to Dictionary.com, an abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, as Dr. for Doctor, U.S. for United …

Sometimes I receive a humorous e-mail that is an excellent example of the importance of good grammar and communication. Then I have to pass it along to you. I promise to write something more serious next week but hope you smile when you read these. Apparently, these are real notes written by parents. (Spellings have …

The three words, assure, ensure, and insure, are often confused. All three words share an element of "making an outcome sure." However, rather than using these words interchangeably, I'd like to point out the unique aspects of each word so that you can use them to communicate your intention clearly. Assure is to promise or …