capitalization

What Do I Do with...?

Q Do you know whether there were any left? A No. And the attorney tries to clean up the mess he has created: Q So "No," you don't know? Or, "No," there weren't any left?Since he is f...
Category_MWW Blog>General

Punctuation and Parentheses

When using a blurb inside of parentheses, there is a capital letter and the punctuation inside when the blurb contains the whole thought and a lowercase letter and the punctuation outside when the ...
Category_MWW Blog>General

A What? A Nominative Absolute

A nominative absolute is a noun or pronoun followed by a participle. ...the affront forgotten... ...that being said... The nominative absolute does not have any real function in the sentence. .....
Category_MWW Blog>General

Repeating for Clarification

When the same word is repeated with the same meaning, the rule is that there is a comma between the words. ...It was really hard, hard to let her go. ...All he does is work, work, work. ...She fee...
Category_MWW Blog>General

"If" versus "Whether"

When the grammar in a sentence calls for a noun clause -- e.g., direct object, object of the infinitive, object of the preposition -- the clause has to begin with whether, not if. ...I don't know ...
apostrophe

Abbreviations and the Past Tense

When you have an abbreviation that is used as a verb in the past tense, add just apostrophe d. ...He was ID'd immediately. ...The report showed that he had OD'd. For the -ing ending, use the full...
apostrophe

Singular Possessive

Add apostrophe "s" to the singular form of the word to make it possessive -- without regard to pronunciation or spelling. This is the simplest and most consistent way to deal with these forms. ......
Category_MWW Blog>General

The Hyphen for an Incomplete Number

Formal English rules say that an incomplete number should be written out in words. ...I think you said you made four or five hundred dollars. Combined with the consistency rule, this presents som...
Category_MWW Blog>The Question Mark

The Leading Question

When the attorney asks a question and then suggests an answer, put a question mark for both. ...What time did he arrive? 10:00? ...Who completed the final report? Tom Hindry? ...What color was the...