Category Archives: Common Punctuation Errors

Sports News

Even the most casual sports fan knows that tonight the two teams with the longest championship droughts in baseball will be facing off in the opening game of the 2016 World Series. But did you know we are making a … Continue reading

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Words Matter

Ironically, although an HR firm’s online article was titled “Words Matter,” it contained this sentence in need of editing. How would you improve it? As the economy has improved there are less active candidates in the marketplace. The two errors … Continue reading

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Bridget Jones’s Baby

Is the punctuation in the title of the current movie correct? Yep. Would Jones’ also be correct? Yep. Sounds complicated, so let’s approach this in baby steps. We’ll start with a name not ending in “s” or “z,” such as … Continue reading

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Bringing Your “A” Game

On occasion, I’ve referred to the “alarm system” each of us should continually expand to catch writing errors. Or if you prefer a different metaphor, you may want to make sure your “antennae” are properly tuned. Here are a few … Continue reading

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Quiz Time

Correct weaknesses in each of these sentences. 1. We both went to the same high school for a period of time until Jack won a scholarship to a private school. 2. The meeting is set for 8:30 am tomorrow morning, … Continue reading

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Hyphen Errors

Branding is everything these days, and the hyphen just hasn’t kept up. In fact, its identity is so weak, it is often mistakenly called a dash. Let’s review the key points we should know about this poorly understood punctuation mark. … Continue reading

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Setting Alarms

As we grow more proficient in any pursuit – be it bowling, baking, or barbecuing – we are continually setting new alarms to avoid problems. This is particularly true in writing and editing. Once we realize we’re prone to mistakenly … Continue reading

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Eye on the Arts

With the Academy Awards ceremony set for Sunday, let’s continue our refinement of newspaper excerpts with a look at two arts pieces – a movie review and book review. Each excerpt was chosen, in part, because it’s unwieldy, but I … Continue reading

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In the News III

Continuing our February theme, this week’s post again gives you an opportunity to play copy editor. Examine the following three excerpts from recent newspaper articles and consider what you might change. 1. While many Clevelanders were excited about and pleased … Continue reading

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In the News

We all make errors when we write – even the pros who report the news. Play copy editor and decide how you’d refine these passages from the past week. 1. The middle-of-the-road shopper, neither low-end nor high-end, who in recent years … Continue reading

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