Apostrophes: everything you ever wanted to know, just about.
Yesterday, 16 August, was International Apostrophe Day, and the cue for lots of apostrophe articles and Twitter posts. The following quick guide to when and
Tag: grammar
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How good is your grammar?
Primary-school pupils in England have been sitting a new grammar, spelling and punctuation test (check out the specimen questions) as part of their final year
Ge tem, mona mour…(?) Punctuation (and spelling) botheration, Italian style
It seems that Italy too has got problems with spelling and punctuation, though in this case at graffiti rather than local authority level. The text
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered – and true glamour
The title of my post on “bamboozled” comes from the wonderful song “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered“, from the Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey. From
Dot-dot-dot (2): when to type an ellipsis
My post on Tuesday (26 October) was about how to type an ellipsis; this one goes into a wee bit more detail about when you
Commas: fascinating facts (and a Stop Press)
Fascinating comma fact 1 A comma is not just a punctuation mark, it’s also a type of butterfly, so-named because of the white comma-shaped marking
The Oxford Comma dilemma: a solution?
To those of you still fretting over the Oxford Comma dilemma (and who don’t read the Comments – tsk, tsk!), the “august journal” Speculative Grammarian offers
Oxford commas (2): Live dangerously – take our poll!
Do you use the Oxford (serial) comma? Here’s a sentence with the Oxford comma: My favourite foods are Greek yoghurt, salted almonds, cheese, and dark
Oxford commas (1)
I was puzzled last week to see references on Twitter to the exotic-sounding “Oxford comma”, a new term to me. It turns out (thank you,