“I love rules precisely because they make transgression possible.” ~François Camoin (“The Texture of Fiction”) A Stickler for Punctuation Rules? Many people have noted the contradictory nature of the two main aspects of my professional life. I am, on the one hand, a diligent technical/academic editor and proofreader who is Read more
When to Use a Hyphen Have you seen the meme touting irony, the one with the juxtaposed words hyphenated and non-hyphenated? I’ve seen it shared dozens of times on social media, and I’ve probably even smiled at it. The problem with that meme? Non-hyphenated does not require a hyphen. Nonhyphenated Read more
Commas: Small but Potent I’ve previously written about the semicolon and its misuse. The comma is yet another punctuation mark that begs for understanding. From my experiences as a workshop facilitator, a teacher, and as a proofreader and editor, I’ve concluded that the comma gets overused and underused at about Read more
What’s Wrong with Adverbs? You can say it. Everyone in my writing group does. I am an adverb Nazi, and I’m not ashamed of it in the least. Don’t get me wrong. When I started writing my first novel, I used them. I used them heavily, one who isn’t writing Read more
Strong Opinions About Semicolons I’m a grammar nerd. A word nerd. A nerd. All of the above and more. I often think about punctuation. I analyze the way it’s used in the different books or articles I read. I think, hmm, would I use a comma there? Or I wonder: Read more