How Other Languages Affect Ours If you’ve ever wondered how other languages affect ours—wonder no more. All you have to do is look at a calendar, or think about it when you wonder “Where do the months of the year names come from?” Did you ever wonder where we got the names for the months…
Communication or Communications Hardly a day goes by that I don’t see the following listed as requirements on a job description: candidate must possess good oral and written communications skills. But is it communication or communications. What’s wrong with that? Nothing is wrong with the requested requirement, but it should have read, candidate must possess…
The Importance of Punctuation Parentheses ( ) — and when to use them. I’m guessing most of you know the way to use parentheses, but you might be surprised at some of the rules, especially the ones about how to punctuate them. Let’s take a look. The importance of punctuation is…well, important. I know what…
Wordiness Communication is so important in today’s world, that I’m always puzzled by the terrible misuse of the language. Many people seem to go out of their way to make things sound complicated; in fact, the legal and insurance businesses do it on purpose, I’m sure. They fill their documents and contracts with wordiness so…
Grammar Doesn’t Matter—or Does It? 17 Time-Consuming Words/Phrases That Make You Look Like An Ass (And, waste your time) There are a lot of people who like to sound intelligent, but at the same time the speak as if grammar doesn’t matter. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to sound intelligent, but they go about it…
Absolutes: Absolutes are everywhere. Many of you remember The Princess Bride and the Spaniard uttering his now-famous line””You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. How can we ever forget Vizzini’s (Wallace Shawn) use of the word, inconceivable or Mad Max (Billy Crystal) pronouncing the Spaniard’s friend,…