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Rule – Use a comma to separate the city from the state, and always put one after the state, also. Example: I lived in Denver, Colorado, for 20 years. NOTE: The U.S. Postal Service's two-letter capitalized abbreviations (e.g., CO for Colorado, IL for Illinois) are not recommended in formal writing. However, when writing an address …

This election year’s political dialogue has divided the country into the obscenely ultra-rich one percent and the ninety-nine percent who comprise the poor, the shrinking middle class and the, I guess you could say, tastefully affluent. Compare that with the literary one-percenters, a mulish minority of nitpickers who believe “proper” speaking and writing preserve English’s …

In this lesson, we'll examine a more advanced concept for using the comma. Rule: Use a comma to separate two adjectives when the adjectives are interchangeable. Examples: He is a strong, healthy man. We could also say a healthy, strong man. We stayed at an expensive summer resort. We would not say summer expensive resort, …

I know many avid readers, and I wish I read as much as they do. But to my surprise, very few of them read with a dictionary on hand. When I ask why, the answer is some variation on “It ruins the mood” or “I want to relax, not study” or the most self-deluded one: …

Last week’s grammar tip focused on the rules for using who vs. that. This week, we will learn the rules to guide us on when to use that vs. which. NOTE: We feel that maintaining the distinction between that and which in essential and nonessential phrases and clauses is useful, even though the principle is sometimes disregarded by experienced writers. …

In a recent newsletter, I corrected myself after some readers wrote in saying the word that should have been who in the sentence "There's not one mother I know that would allow her child to cross that street alone." However, it got me thinking more about this topic, so I dug a little deeper into …

There are many uses for the comma in English grammar. Let’s look at a couple of them. Rule 1: To avoid confusion, use commas to separate words and word groups with a series of three or more. Examples: John likes to eat a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage, toast, and chocolate! (Omitting the comma after …

Have you ever wondered how to use these words correctly? Have you ever thought, “Oh, either of these words will do”? Let’s have a closer look. Rule 1 - If an event is unique or its date or time is known, use when. Examples: The game will begin Friday evening when the clock strikes seven. …

We sometimes receive inquiries from readers regarding the proper way to pronounce blessed. The word blessed can be pronounced in two different ways according to its part of speech in the sentence. Rule 1. When blessed is used as a verb, it is pronounced with one syllable (blest). Example: Before we ate, our uncle Tony blessed [blest] the …

Research shows that written communications full of typos, misspellings, and usage errors leave readers with a poor impression of the writer and the organization. But proofreading well is challenging. Before you begin proofreading, make sure your document is reader-focused—with a clearly stated main point, clear organization, easy-to-read formatting, and concise language. Then follow these guidelines …