How to Write Plainly Not too long ago, writing was the primary means of communicating so writing plainly was more than just important, it was imperitave. People sent letters to family, friends, lovers, and others. Writing was also used to conduct business, from initial introductions to finalizing a deal. How to write plainly was taught…
Meaning of Cognizant and Meaning of Prophylactic In my continuing quest to make note of words that have jumped to the forefront during this pandemic, I’ve identified two more offenders—cognizant and prophylactic. Don’t get me wrong; the words aren’t at fault, they’re fine words. I blame the people using them. The reporters, doctors, and analysts…
Is “Safe Haven” Redundant? A lot has been written regarding “safe haven.” Some of it even by me in my grammar books. What draws the ire is the phrase’s built-in redundancy. But is safe haven redundant, and does it matter? Let’s look further. Is “Safe Haven” Redundant? The problem with words is that they’re subject…
Plethora—It’s Not What You May Think If you listen to people speak, you’re bound to hear the word plethora used sooner or later. And when you do, it will probably be used erroneously. Last year, I decided to do an informal self-conducted poll, and, in a thirty-day span, I heard the word used eleven times….
When to Use Mitigate You might recall I mentioned that during any time of crisis, the not-so-often-heard words come out of the woodwork. We discussed the prevalence of proximity or should I say the misuse of close proximity earlier, but it’s long past time to delve into when to use mitigate and mitigation. Nowadays it…
Many people say your sentences shouldn’t contain a split infinitive. In my early years of school, teachers drummed this rule into students’ heads—usually right after ensuring they wouldn’t end sentences with prepositions. Let’s first look at the issue of spit infinitives, and then we’ll show why it isn’t an issue. I realize I said I…
Grammar Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult Grammar is difficult for a lot of people, but it doesn’t need to be. The biggest hurdle to learning grammar is the terminology. Most books, and most teachers, use grammatical terms when they’re not necessary. While researching my book, I ran across the following terms on more than a…
Eg/Ie/Ergo/Et Al/Etc. There are some people, especially those in the legal and insurance professions (as well as writers), who love to use Latin abbreviations or Latin expressions. There’s nothing wrong with that, but, far too often, I have seen them used improperly. The problem with using Latin expressions is if you’re going to use them—many…
People who write for a living, such as writers and journalists, have usually had more than a few years of training by the time they become professionals. With that in mind, you’d think they would find it easy to determine whether a word should be capitalized or left lowercased. But capitalization rules don’t tell you…
DOUBLE NEGATIVES Children learn this so-called double-negatives rule right after their “ABCs” or it seems that way. When I was a kid, if a teacher heard you say “I don’t got no . . .” or anything resembling that phrase, you were bent over the desk and rewarded with a beating (usually with a fiberglass yardstick). I realize teachers…