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Author Archives: Norm Friedman
Historical or Historic?
Today I heard a newscaster say, “So we really are going to have a woman on the ten-dollar bill. Which historical figure do you think it will be?” If you’re normal, you’re thinking Harriet Tubman? Betsy Ross? Rosa Parks? Meryl … Continue reading
A Solid Start
The use of participles (“-ing” verbs) to get sentences off to a lively start was recommended in one of my earliest posts, on October 10, 2014 (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/i-got-choppy-rhythm/). Here’s what I said at the end of that post about avoiding monotonous … Continue reading
Posted in Common Grammar Errors, Flair & Finesse
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Reach for That Red Pen
You don’t have to agree with me, but I think some aspects of editing are fun. There, I said it. When editing doesn’t require the unwieldy task of reorganizing, and mainly entails catching a typo here and a missing apostrophe … Continue reading
Posted in Brevity, Flair & Finesse
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More cloudy Issues
Let’s keep the quiz momentum going another week. Try your hand at identifying one or more errors in the following sentences. 1. If you’re wondering where my Dad is, Uncle Al saw him hop in the hotel bar. 2. Because … Continue reading
Triplets
On occasion we’ve looked at troublesome twins like “imply” and “infer,” but what about triplets? In a doctor’s office recently, I spotted a small gadget on the wall with a cautionary message: “Please assure proper disposal.” (The gadget lifted like … Continue reading
Posted in Commonly Confused Words
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Pop Quiz Theme: Summer Cookouts
I don’t get it. Back in school, having a teacher spring a quiz on us elicited groans and anxiety, but several readers have remarked that they particularly like the posts containing quizzes. So here you go. Each sentence below can … Continue reading
The “Eggs” Trick
Last week’s post needed to be a bit longer than most to take you through some editing steps. Because you stuck by me and read every word, I’ll even the scales with a much shorter post this time. Do you … Continue reading
Posted in Commonly Confused Words
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An Embarrassment of Glitches III
Here’s another example of how much good we can do ourselves by putting aside a rough draft and returning to it later with renewed energy and refreshed lenses. The brief paragraph, from an online newsletter, describes employees who merit supervisory … Continue reading
Common Comma Misunderstandings, Part 2
As promised, here is the follow-up to last week’s discussion and quiz (http://www.normfriedman.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=542&action=edit) related to comma errors. This time, decide which sentences need corrections and which are fine as is. Quiz time 1. I can’t figure out why the pie … Continue reading
Posted in Common Punctuation Errors
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Common Comma Misunderstandings
Sometimes comma use is arbitrary, but usually we have rules to guide us. So to brush up on the rules, let’s look at a few of the most common misunderstandings about when to hit the comma key or resist the … Continue reading
Posted in Common Punctuation Errors
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