Category_MWW Blog>General

Starting a Sentence with "And," "But," "Or," "Nor"

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...
Category_MWW Blog>The Dash

The Dash 3

One of the places where there is a lot of push-back against using the dash is this: ...Q The car on the left -- what color was it? ...Q The restaurant where you were eating -- is that one ...
Category_MWW Blog>The Dash

More on the Dash -- Rule 2

The second rule for using a dash is for a complete sentence that is dropped into the middle of another complete sentence. ...I am looking at the article that -- it is the first one on the page -- ...
Category_MWW Blog>The Dash

The Dash

Bill and I are in Falmouth, MA, this morning on Cape Cod, enjoying a little down time. The Massachusetts reporting group had a great convention this weekend, and I was privileged to be a part of it...
Category_MWW Blog>Numbers

What If They Say "212"?

This question has popped up in seminars over the last several months. My answer is to put it into the transcript as "2012." I know. You are yelling, "But that is not verbatim!" First of all, we ar...
Category_MWW Blog>The Comma

The Word "So" -- Third Time Is a Charm?

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...
Category_MWW Blog>The Comma

The Compound Sentence

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...
Category_MWW Blog>General

I am back!!

It has been a rough couple of months. I think things have settled down. So my blogs are back. Stay tuned right here for information on "All Things English." Just a quick one here: When transcribin...
capitalization

Directions with "North," "South," "East," and "West"

The direction words -- "north," "south," "east," and "west" -- are capped when they refer to a recognized region and not capped when they simply indicate a direction.In CA, for example, we have "No...