drupagliassotti @ February 15, 2009 # No Comment Yet
Turnaround is a noun or an adjective, not a verb, so its use in the phrase “plan to turnaround their troubled companies” is incorrect. Turn around, with a space between the words, is correct when seeking to use the verb form of the phrase. The sentence should read, “plan to turn around their troubled companies….” [...]
drupagliassotti @ December 7, 2008 # No Comment Yet
CNN’s usage of “begging the question” in this paragraph is incorrect. “Begging the question” is not a fancy way of saying “raising the question.” To beg the question is to put forward an argument that uses faulty premises and/or circular reasoning as “support.” For example, let’s take this argument: Because about two-thirds of the U.S. [...]
drupagliassotti @ December 4, 2008 # No Comment Yet
On Tuesday, in my copyediting class, we were running through a workbook exercise from the Gospel of Grammar, Working with Words: A Handbook for Media Writers and Editors (6th Ed.), and came across the rule that one adopts a resolution but passes an ordinance. My students all groaned and demanded to know the difference. I [...]
drupagliassotti @ November 3, 2008 # No Comment Yet
“The winner’s immediate priority should be to try and unify the nation. The signals the president-elect sends in the first few days could go a long way toward reminding Americans, no mater how they may have voted, that we’re all apart of something larger than ourselves.” (Time Magazine) I ran across these two sentences on [...]
drupagliassotti @ October 25, 2008 # No Comment Yet
A cliché is a phrase or concept that has been overused. According to most* English-language dictionaries, clichéd is the adjectival form of cliché. Therefore, a noun must be described by the adjective clichéd, not by cliché. For example: That storyline is so clichéd. (The noun plot is being modified by the adjective clichéd). That storyline [...]
drupagliassotti @ October 15, 2008 # No Comment Yet
A hyphen does not mean “this-word-goes-with-that-word” any more than an apostrophe mean’s “Oh ‘shit, here come’s an ‘s.” — Sister Coyote
drupagliassotti @ August 22, 2008 # No Comment Yet
Today’s grammar lesson: The past tense of to lead is led, not lead. I know “led” and “lead” (as in pencil lead) sound the same, but they are not spelled the same. If somebody is asking a question, do not use said or says as your dialog tag. “What are you doing?” she said is [...]
drupagliassotti @ March 28, 2008 # 2 Comments
One disagreement I occasionally face with my writers is how to capitalize and punctuate nouns of direct address. Here’s everything you need to know about these nouns in a few easy paragraphs: “Now, wait a minute, Son. You don’t want to fly off the handle like that.” “Say, Professor, when’s our assignment due?” “Aw, Dad! [...]
drupagliassotti @ March 17, 2008 # No Comment Yet
The other day I was driving behind a big SUV with a “Proud to be an American” sticker on the back. The phrase offended me, but not because I’m anti-American. Now, setting aside the question of whether pride is a desirable emotion in any context, I admit to being proud of a few things in [...]
drupagliassotti @ March 10, 2008 # One Comment
I despair at all the advice out there to “eat healthy.” No, I don’t have any problem with promoting the consumption of nutritional food. But I do have a problem with using an adjective in the place of an adverb. Now, I know words like “adjective” and “adverb” make you tremble because you were traumatized [...]