Grammar
Hopefully when used to mean “it is hoped” is a member of a class of adverbs known as disjuncts. Disjuncts serve as a means by which the author or speaker can comment directly to the reader or hearer usually on the content of the sentence to which they are attached.
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago
Bryan A. Garner’s Garner’s Modern English Usage, also known to many in the editing world as the bible
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago
the word OK was “born as a lame joke perpetrated by a newspaper editor in 1839.” In short, it’s an abbreviation for “all correct,” and a cool trend at the time—because what else was there to do for fun in 1839?—was to base abbreviations on misspellings or alternate spellings; in this instance we’re talking about “oll korrect.”
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago
Bill Walsh (who I’ve described exclusively as my personal hero since first picking up a copy of his essential text The Elephants of Style: A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago
A collective noun, to be clear, is a noun that refers to something comprising a number of people or things—like the words family, group, duo, and team. Typically the verb that follows can be either singular or plural in form, depending on whether the individuals who make up the collective noun are acting together or separately.
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago
two pretty straightforward examples: The duo is recording an album (they’re recording it as a unit), but The duo are going their separate ways (both members, as individual people, are planning to embark on different journeys;
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago
the “well,” or the middle section of the magazine,
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago
•Use “s” for all singular possessive nouns, e.g., Chris’s, Katniss’s.
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago
Exceptions to this: •Corporation or brand names that are pluralized, e.g., General Motors’
from A World Without "Whom" by Emmy J. Favilla
Donna Lowe added 6mo ago