In last week’s post I explained the difference between recommend and refer, which people sometimes confuse. This week, I want to discuss imply and infer, which people OFTEN confuse. In fact, I hear these two words used incorrectly at least once a week and sometimes more than that. Imply means to indicate or suggest. You imply […]
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I watched a movie the other night in which a revered contagious disease specialist facing a lethal epidemic delivered a line to a nervous patient that made my own skin crawl. It was something along the lines of: “That’s not my area of expertise, but I’ll refer a doctor.” Ugh. Apparently no one is immune […]
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A while back, I wrote a fun blog post called The Plural of Book Is Not Book’s, and since then, readers from all over have been sending me their own grammar pet peeves. I love reading them because they prove I’m not alone in my quest to make the world a better place by eliminating […]
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I just finished reading a novel in which the author used a lot of exclamation marks in her dialogue. In fact, she employed them so often that I FELT LIKE THE CHARACTERS WERE SHOUTING AT ME THE WHOLE TIME I WAS READING! (As you can see, using all caps also has that same effect.) Here […]
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The other day, a friend who shares my passion for good grammar posted the following picture on Facebook: While this example may be a bit extreme (yet hilarious), it shows that punctuation is important! Too often writers are lazy about using commas correctly, but as demonstrated above, one or more missing ones can completely change […]
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In my last post, I discussed the importance of using pronouns. This week, I’d like to address the importance of using the correct pronouns. One particular – and extremely common – pronoun error that drives me crazy is the misuse of I. At some point, most children get chastised for using the pronoun “me” instead […]
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Imagine you’re having coffee with a friend (we’ll call her Julie), and she says “Oh my gosh, I have the funniest story to tell you about that guy John I’ve been seeing!” You smile and sip your pumpkin spice latte, ready to listen. Then imagine that Julie begins her story like this (read aloud for […]
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In previous posts, I addressed random capitalization and the incorrect use of a possessive apostrophe to denote a plural. (See below for a recent example on the apostrophe overload– even Pepsi got it wrong the other night!) I enjoyed the fun reaction I got to those posts, so here I go again with the grammar thing. I […]
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I blogged a couple weeks ago about a particular grammar pet peeve of mine, and today I have a new one: capitalizing words that shouldn’t be capitalized! Unfortunately, I see this a lot. Here are some typical examples of mistakes authors often make, both in their books and their marketing communications: He’s the Vice President […]
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I have a new grammar pet peeve: the use of a possessive apostrophe to denote a plural. In just the past few weeks, I’ve seen the following on signs, menus and posters around New York City: Great gift idea for teacher’s Open Sunday’s and Monday’s We print on tank top’s! Banana’s and mango’s on sale […]
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