Tag: writing
When to Use Into or In Using in or into is easy to master. When you use the word in, position is indicated. His pen was in his shirt pocket. Into, however, points to movement—of something or someone. He put the thermos into his briefcase. Here are a few example sentences of when to use […]
The Best Apps for Writing One of the many questions that pops up in writing groups is which apps are the best for writing. I did a comparison of pure writing apps here, but there is more to writing than just writing. What? What else is there? Plenty Besides writing, there are apps that help […]
Do You Need an Editor? Writing a book is easy. Writing a good book is much more difficult. And no matter how good a story you tell, in order for it to be made into a good book, it needs to be edited, and not self-edited. I have seen a few people who were able […]
Dilemma or Catch-22 What is a dilemma? Dilemma is one of the rare words that is so specific that it denotes the precise meaning—at least the original definition does. Let’s take a look. Many of the dictionaries did a good job of defining the true meaning of this, and most without waffling. Vocabulary.com had a […]
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 […]
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 […]
Lie, Lay, Laid, and Lain Every day I see many instances of poor grammar, words being misused, punctuation used improperly, and more. Does it bother me? Not really. But the problem is there’s no need for it. Unless you’re in a profession where grammar is important, people soon forget the grammatical explanations they learned when […]
When to Refer to Animals by Gender I’m writing this post in response to an email question I received regarding how to refer to animals when writing. Should I refer to the dog as it or he? They asked. The answer to when to refer to animals by gender is both simple and not so […]
Mike Landis
Giacomo Giammatteo
Mona Curington
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