I recently received an email with the following request, and I decided to answer it here: Please clarify this sentence for me:In emails between Sue and I…Or;In emails between Sue and me…Thanks,Adele Thanks for the email, Adele. The quick answer to your question is that you want the latter. One trick to remembering is switching… Continue reading Reader question: me or I?
Category: Grammar
Using “impact” as a verb
Have you ever seen a phrase like the following? “The changes will have an impact on the year-end results.” I was in a meeting recently, and we were discussing the wording of a document. A similar phrasing as this one appeared, and I proposed rewording it to what would be something like: “The changes will… Continue reading Using “impact” as a verb
Reader question: “My game arrived with a missing token.”
I recently received the following message on my Facebook page: Saw this posted in a board game group: “My game arrived with a missing token.” Someone responds, “don’t you mean without.” “Without a missing token”??? How would you tackle this sentence structure? I don’t really have much of an issue with the original construction. It’s… Continue reading Reader question: “My game arrived with a missing token.”
Difference between mischievous and mischievious
“Mischievous” and “mischievious” mean the same thing; however, the former is considered correct and the latter a misspelling. But not so fast.
Difference between ubiquitousness and ubiquity
I recently posted a video on LinkedIn, and in the caption, I used the word ubiquitousness. In one of the comments, someone questioned my usage, suggesting that ubiquity is a better choice.
Why you probably don’t need “whether or not”
While editing a client document yesterday, I came across the phrase whether or not. I realized that I’ve seen this plenty of times. In fact, the usage is so common, it comes up as a suggestion when you type whether into Google:
My 10 most popular grammar posts (2019)
About 5.5 years ago, I made a list of my 10 most popular grammar posts. I’ve written hundreds more posts since then, a few of which have displaced some of the older ones. It made sense to update the list.
Why “it’s important to note” is redundant
I was recently editing a large document for a client, and I encountered the phrase “it’s important to note”.
Why you should stop using “also”
One common writing issue I’ve encountered is the overuse of also.
4 ways to properly use a colon
In the past, I’ve talked about how to use commas and semicolons properly. A friend recently helped me realize that I hadn’t yet written about colons. Here are 4 instances when you should use colons and some examples for each. If you stick to these 4 circumstances, you may very well become an expert colon… Continue reading 4 ways to properly use a colon