Partly Sunny – Or Partly Cloudy?
Weather fascinates in both its variety and vocabulary. A still night can morph into a …
The Wonder of Frankenfood
Monsters aren’t always scary, especially not in cartoons that decorate packages of fun foods, such …
10 Tips to Tidy Up Your Holiday Messages
A Nitpicker’s Guide to Fixing Common Writing Gaffes Before you write another batch of holiday …
Virtually Unnecessary Words
There’s nothing virtual about superfluous words, even if they do seem to creep into our …
A Double Take on “Doppelgänger”
“She looks just like you.” Or, “You could play his double in a movie.” If …
Editing: The Last Mile of Effective Writing
Ask children to describe their dream job and the response will be clear: a firefighter …
Get Ripping
Physically ripping a page to eliminate needless words is admittedly a drastic measure. Instead, we …
How Many Are “A Number Of”?
A number of people, a number of cities, a number of times … if you’re …
Be Gobsmacked By Wonderful Words
What’s a “gobsmacking” news conference like? That unusual word was chosen by The New York …
The Good, the Bad and the Sublime
Pundits claim that despite its label of being a simple sport, there’s much more to …