Blog

There is a rule for commas called the "comma of omission." There are two parts to the rule.1. When two sentences are parallel and have no conjunction between them, they are joined by a semicolon. W...

There is no English rule that says a sentence cannot begin with and, but, or, nor. I truly believe the idea that this is a rule starts in elementary school, where we all hooked a bunch of sentences...

The word then is an adverb when it means "next" or "at that time." When it is an adverb, it does not take punctuation. ...We were then seen by a different doctor. ...I then noticed the spot it had...

So we had a discussion over on FB about "so" -- again! As you all know, I want us to punctuate according to the grammar that is going on in the sentence. I believe with my heart and soul that punc...

I am going to start this topic today and will keep coming back to it over the next weeks. The question is what to do with an element that begins a second sentence after an and or but (or, nor). On...

The English rule is that the year is surrounded by commas when it follows the date and that the state is surrounded by commas when it follows the city. ...happened on May 4, 2013, near Tulsa. ...l...

The term "lead-in words" is used to describe the words that introduce quotes. Traditionally they are ...I said... ...did he ask... ...she replied... ...did you state... Some of the "modern" innov...

We punctuate a fragment the same way that we punctuate the complete sentence it stands for. This is simply the way the language works. ...A With John. He had been ill. ...A I stayed with John....

A question came up on Facebook about a question mark inside the quote when the sentence goes on. ...When he asked, "Are you serious?" did you respond in... ...He said something like "Are you comin...