Author: Mignon Fogarty

People sometimes ask me about the difference between a colon and a dash since they can both be used to introduce the next part of a sentence. So today we’re going to talk about how a dash is different from a colon, and also when you can use a comma in their place. Dashes and Drama Although they also have other uses, dashes and colons can both be used to introduce the next part of a sentence, and the difference between the two marks is subtle. A dash is a stronger and more informal mark than a colon. Think of…

Patrick C. asked,”When discussing a Constitutional Amendment, is it instead a ‘constitutional amendment’?” “Constitutional” is lowercase because it is an adjective, but sometimes “constitution” should be capitalized. When you’re using “constitution” descriptively, it’s also lowercase: The chess club needed a new constitution. We should look that up in our constitution. In the U.S., when you’re referring to the specific founding document we refer to as the Constitution, it is capitalized: George Washington’s name is the first signature on the Constitution. We can’t wait to see the original Constitution when we visit the National Archives. To directly answer Patrick’s question, he should write…

Barbara wants to know how to deal with “you” when it’s part of a compound subject or the compound object of a preposition. Should she say, “You and John are invited to the party” or “John and you are invited to the party”? Barbara should say, “You and John are invited” because all pronouns (except “I” and “me”) normally come before the noun in compounds: Compound subject: You and Squiggly should give up chocolate. Compound subject: She and Bob worked out on the treadmill. Compound object: Aardvark sent you and Juan two broccoli recipes. Compound object: Geoff gave him and Lisa a…

Ron M. wrote, “The phenomenon of using the word ‘verse’ instead of ‘versus’ seems relatively recent, but to this 56 year old’s ears, it’s driving me nuts. I first started hearing this about 15 years ago when my sons were interested in Wrestlemania. They and their friends would be talking about who was wrestling who and would use the word ‘verse.’ I would gently correct them and tell them the correct word is ‘versus’ … Latin for ‘against.’ It seems like suddenly this mis-usage is rampant. I’m actually hearing professional sportscaster making this error!” Jackie also provided an example. She…

When you end a sentence with an abbreviation, you don’t need an extra period. Apple Computer, Inc. became Apple, Inc.. (wrong) Apple Computer, Inc. became Apple, Inc. (right) The period that ends the abbreviation also ends the sentence. Think of it as an environmentally friendly rule—one dot of ink serves two purposes. Even though such sentences are correct, they can confuse readers who may not realize you’ve ended the sentence. It’s best to write out the abbreviated word if it falls at the end of a sentence or to rewrite the sentence so the abbreviation doesn’t come at the end. The story…

Today’s topic is sentence fragments. I often imagine that listeners are writing long things such as articles, essays, and books; but I was recently reminded that some people make their living writing shorter things like headlines and ad copy, and that keeping things short is hard work. “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead,” is a famous quotation—attributed to many people including Mark Twain and Blaise Pascal—that resonates with many people who write for a living. Unfortunately, when writers focus too much on brevity, sometimes they leave out important words and…

The Churches, the Foxes, and the Marshes I was deluged with questions after last week’s newsletter about making names plural. As requested, here are more examples: Add “es” to make names that end in “ch,” “sh,” “x,” “s,” and “z” plural: The Churches hope to see you this year. The Ashes have a wonderful tree. The Foxes are bringing a ham. The Joneses invite you to dinner. Season’s greetings from the Alvarezes. I couldn’t find a reference that covered making names that end in “i” plural. The best I could find is that you usually add “s” to make foreign…

“Razorwife” wrote, “I just heard for the first time in my life that you can’t use ‘because’ at the beginning of a sentence. True or false?” False. It’s OK to start a sentence with “because”; you just have to make sure you’re writing complete sentences and not sentence fragments. “Because” heads up subordinate clauses, which means if you have a clause that starts with “because,” you must also have a main clause in your sentence. A main clause is something that could be a complete sentence by itself. The main clause can come first or last; if it comes last,…

Marlene asked whether she should write “one year’s time” or “one-years’ time.” The correct way to give possession to time and money is with an apostrophe: One year’s time Two weeks’ notice Ten dollars’ worth Don’t get confused by the 2002 movie Two Weeks Notice. They got it wrong. Still wondering why? See our article “Possessives: Oddly, they aren’t just for possession.”

Chandra asked, “Is it ‘each other’ or ‘eachother’? I never know whether it’s one word or two.” In standard English, “each other” is always two words. Sometimes people who are learning English find this confusing because the pair can sound like one word in spoken English. Get more tips like this in The Grammar Devotional: Print: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s E-book: Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple iBook