Category Archives: Common Grammar Errors

In recent posts we’ve been identifying “alarms” we can set on commonly confused words, poorly understood punctuation rules, and other potential stumbling blocks. Today let’s look at a place in our writing that often contains errors: the title line. Because … Continue reading →

Steel yourself. We’re going to revisit a fuzzy topic from English class: the “dangling modifier.” Oh, yeah. Now what was that all about? The principle – simpler than you might think – is merely that we need to correct any … Continue reading →

I often emphasize a particular metaphor in my writing workshops for employee groups: that if we’re at all accomplished in any area – whether it’s writing or rappelling or retrofitting – we surely have a highly developed “alarm system” that … Continue reading →

I recently came across an amusing subhead in a promotional flyer: “Learn from Incredible Speakers.” Then the piece promoting an all-day conference said, in smaller print, “Listen to expert speakers from around the country.” Ah, “expert.” Nice recovery, but, unfortunately, … Continue reading →

Last week we looked at how frequently bullets are not composed in a parallel fashion and how easily we can fix that oversight. To review: I hope to cover three items at Friday’s meeting: • Setting a theme for our … Continue reading →