The Difference Adding an –e Makes
Not only does adding an e at the end of a word change the pronunciation in many cases, it also changes the meaning of the word entirely. This is an all-too-common mistake that we thought was worth bringing...
Who vs. Whom & Who’s vs. Whose
Has reading the title confused you yet? That’s ok. We’re here to give you the who’s who on all the whos — complete with examples. Let’s start with the singulars and move on to the plurals later....
To Hyphenate, or Not to Hyphenate?
What’s the difference between state-of-the-art technology and technology being state of the art? Compound modifiers are two or more words expressing a single concept, as in the previous example. Hyphenating...
The Breakdown on Brackets
Brackets are components of punctuation that are often misunderstood. People either use them too much when they get so caught up in side notes that the entire sentence loses direction, or they’re not...
Waste vs. Waist: Know Which to Throw Away and Which to Put a Belt Around
Having come across this mistake on more than one occasion recently, we thought it was worth bringing some attention to. This is an example where autocorrect won’t catch your mistake. So, here are these...
The Importance of Reading for Writers
Just like visiting art galleries helps artists hone their craft, the same goes for reading for writers. Of all languages ever spoken, English contains the most words (over 250,000). That leaves us with...
Incorrectness: When It’s OK To Be Intentionally Wrong
Sometimes it’s OK to use words that aren’t real words or be grammatically wrong on purpose. Whether for stylistic reasons of for comedic effect, there are times when you can get away with being deliberately...
Conjunction, What’s Your Function?
Conjunctions are a quintessential part of our everyday language. Being one of the nine parts of speech (along with nouns, verbs, articles and such) their job is to connect. Unfortunately, conjunctions...
Beware the Buzzword
We’re all guilty of throwing a buzzword in here and there. And with their prevalence in everyday language nowadays, it’s hard not to use them. So what are they? Buzzwords are industry terms that sound...
Wave vs. Waive and Waver vs. Waiver
You’ve got to love those crafty homophones. For this month’s vs. post, we thought we would offer up a two-for-one. Wave, waive, waver and waiver all sound similar, and it’ll help to keep you on your...
Tips for Dealing with Tight Writing Deadlines
The dreaded deadline: it’s a writer’s worst enemy. And the best plug to stop the flow of creative juices. Whether you write professionally or as a student, you’re faced with deadlines; and the anxiety,...
5 Examples of How the English Language Makes No Sense At All
When you sit back and really take a look at the English language — at least our North American version of it — it almost seems unbelievable how we ever learn to communicate. With words that sound the...