tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89375352011-12-14T19:09:07.026-08:00Owl Editing, Canada. Writing, news articles, trivia, facts about literature, poetry, editing, and advice for writers.owledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616474462694663361noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937535.post-76016387095134562802011-10-04T18:11:00.000-07:002011-10-04T18:13:21.039-07:00

There are two schools of thought concerning the placement of a comma or a period when writing a quotation: American and British.For Americans, who like to do things the easy way, the rule for placement is that periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation mark.Some writers in the US follow the British style, which places the period on the outside of the closing quotation mark when it

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A paragraph is a basic unit of writing, which unites sentences into meaningful groups. Contrary to what many of us were taught in school about the five-sentence paragraphs, a paragraph can be anywhere from one sentence to half a page long as long as it presents ideas in a unified manner. A strong paragraph should be unified around a central or main idea.A new paragraph can begin * when the topic

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normal, natural, ordinary, regular, typicalAll of these words are applied to that which is usual or expected because it conforms to a standard or rule. Normal implies that a particular person or thing does not exceed certain limits, or does not deviate far from an average or a standard established for a group, class, or species. [Normal body temperature ranges between 96.80 and 98.60 Fahrenheit;

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Emphasis in text can be added through underlining, italicizing, or using quotation marks. Italics are preferred unless their use would not be sufficiently noticeable.Emphasis is typically added in the following cases:When identifying special words. The identified word is introduced with the phrase "the term" or "the word." Ex: The term "cougar" refers to older women dating younger men.When using

owledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616474462694663361noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937535.post-39325896501071348322009-12-19T22:22:00.001-08:002009-12-19T22:24:22.352-08:00

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Do not use extra prepositions when the meaning of the phrase is clear without them.For example, you can* meet someone, not meet up with someone* cut the meat, not cut it up* respond later, not respond later on* take something off the desk; not take it off of the deskQuizEliminate unnecessary prepositions from the following sentences:1. Where is the director at?2. Please take the report off of the

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US and British writing styles exhibit variations in the use of quotation marks.In the US style, periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks. In the British style, periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material.The Canadian style for quotation marks usually follows the US style for the placement of periods and commas. Some

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Avoid a Succession of Loose SentencesThis rule refers especially to loose sentences of a particular type, those consisting of two co-ordinate clauses, the second introduced by a conjunction or relative. Although single sentences of this type may be unexceptionable, a series soon becomes monotonous and tedious.An unskillful writer will sometimes construct a whole paragraph of sentences of this

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Tip: Make it easy for your email reader to respond with a "yes/no" answer or short response.For example:Original: "Let me know what your thoughts are on Harry's proposal."Better: "Should we adopt Harry's proposal?"Tip: Save time brainstorming via e-mail.When an important project needs brainstorming, but the key employees are at different locations, do this:1. The project leader e-mails an outline

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1. Value your ExperienceThink of the significant lessons you've learned since you were last in school. No doubt you've learned a great deal about human relationships through a broad range of interactions. You may have learned about health and medicine through the birth of a child or the illness or injury of someone dear to you.Perhaps you've acquired technical skills through employment or home

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When you are dealing with an abbreviation, the choice of "a" or "an" will depend on whether you pronounce the expression letter by letter or as a word. Abbreviations pronounced letter by letter are called "initialisms"; abbreviations pronounced as words are called "acronyms."An FBI agentA MADD fund-raising driveAn NBC news reportA SWAT teamfrom: http://www.basic-learning.com/

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As a rule, the prefix "re" (meaning "again") should not be followed by a hyphen. However, a few words require the hyphen to distinguish them from other words with the same spelling but different meaning.For example:A recreation program for employeesA re-creation of the original sketchesTo recover from an illnessTo re-cover a chairTo resign the positionTo re-sign the contractsWhich is the correct

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Is it correct to say "first annual" about an event (eg., first annual company picnic) or is it a contradiction of terms? Annual implies that the event has been taking place once every year. Therefore, at the time of the initial event, the implication would be false because nothing has happened yet.While beginning an annual tradition may be the intention, the event title or description should

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“cost you an arm and a leg”In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs they would be painting -

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To avoid sexist language that favors one gender, use words that are gender-neutral.According to Linda Elizabeth Alexander, biased language can alienate any potential reader. If you alienate your readers, you lose credibility. Without their faith in your words, you have lost your audience and cannot make your argument. Therefore, avoiding sexism in your writing benefits everyone. Here are some

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GRAMMARCHECK: Good question. Here are several suggestions:1. Read as many different kinds of writing as you can (e.g., newspapers, magazines, novels, short stories, and so forth). Reading other people's writing helps you to learn new ways of putting words and sentences together to make meaning.2. Write as often as you can. Keep a private journal. Commit to writing at least one letter a week and

owledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616474462694663361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937535.post-16315383269061526242008-09-14T17:17:00.000-07:002010-05-03T14:40:03.324-07:00

When words like northern, southern, eastern, and western precede a place name, they are not ordinarily capitalized because they merely indicate general location within a region. When these words are actually part of the place name, however, they must be capitalized.For example:Preceding a Place Name:northern New Jersey,western MassachusettsPart of a Place Name:Northern Ireland,Western

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