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grammar

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Grammar Matters

August 25, 2020 | Filed under: Gael Spivak

Antecedents and gerunds. En dashes and ellipses. Gripping topics for editors, right? Well, it turns out they’re not gripping for all of us. As one of the admins for the Editors’ Association of Earth groups on Facebook, I read almost every post and comment (one group alone had 310 posts …

Senior editor mentors a junior

Mentors

October 8, 2019 | Filed under: Rosemary Shipton

Throughout my career, I’ve been influenced by many mentors. When I was first hired right out of graduate school, Meredith, the experienced editor I was replacing, spent six weeks working alongside me introducing me to the principles, techniques and subtleties of editing both a scholarly journal and my first book …

Google as the Editor

January 22, 2019 | Filed under: Marianne Grier

If you’re a Gmail user, you may have adopted its new Smart Compose feature. This perplexing time-saver has made me question the future of communications since it appeared in my inbox. Smart Compose uses machine learning to help users write faster, clearer emails by anticipating what they’re trying to say …

Revisiting Karen Virag: I Are Confused

January 8, 2019 | Filed under: Karen Virag

In memory of Karen Virag, who passed away on Jan. 11, 2014, we are pleased to republish one of her popular blog posts from February 2013. I are confused, aren’t I? Have you ever wondered why we say, “He is, isn’t he?” and “She is, isn’t she?” but we don’t …

Does Verbing Impact the Language?

February 20, 2018 | Filed under: James Harbeck

A favourite crank for language cranks to crank is the demon of verbing. It wrecks our language, they protest! They target such usages as impacted and referenced in business-speak and medalled in broadcasting. While liberal-minded linguists may see these words as just more of the odd flowers that bloom in …

Revisiting Verbal Boobery

January 9, 2018 | Filed under: Karen Virag

In memory of Karen Virag, who passed away Jan. 11, 2014, we are pleased to republish one of her popular blog posts from November 2013. Verbal whatery? Not long ago in the Air Canada Lounge at Toronto Pearson Airport I noticed a small sign beside a tray of freshly baked …

Wasted Words: Verbal Abuse

September 19, 2017 | Filed under: Wilf Popoff

There are many writers and, apparently, more than a few editors who think that to be and some of its conjugations are not actual verbs. I regularly encounter headings like this: Blabworth is Picked to be Next Publisher. This grammatical confusion is exposed in titles using the conventional upper and …

The Hardest Language

April 11, 2017 | Filed under: James Harbeck

What language is the hardest to learn? The hardest for whom to learn? The world has many languages of many different kinds, but one thing they all have in common is that kids grow up speaking them fluently and think of them as the natural way to say things. Some …

Perilous Punctuation: The Email Salutation

May 31, 2016 | Filed under: Frances Peck

An old friend from Ottawa recently visited me in Vancouver. We hadn’t seen each other in years. “One thing I’ll never forget about you,” said Ann (who is not an editor), “is that you taught me the right way to begin an email. Every time I write ‘Hi comma So-and-So …

Facts and Fiction: Grammar Vampires and True Crime

June 30, 2015 | Filed under: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter

The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed By Karen Elizabeth Gordon. Pantheon Books, 1984, 1993.  Wild, wacky, inventive grammar guide continues to educate and amuse The opportunity to review the new edition (1993) of Karen Elizabeth Gordon’s The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: …

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