Writers often struggle over the gnarly question of whether to put a comma before the conjunction and and its fellow conjunctions. And is one of seven coordinating conjunctions which are punctuated similarly. These conjunctions spell out FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. DO Use a Comma Put a comma before and when connecting independent clauses. Remember, an independent clause has a subject and […]
When to Use a Comma Before “And” Read More »
Apostrophes are scattered like snowflakes across the landscape of today’s writing. People who are not quite sure how to use this little punctuation mark simply drop it in at random intervals. Possessives, plurals, contractions… some get apostrophes and some do not. Within the same document, some words have proper apostrophes and others do not. What
Apostrophe’s ‘R Us Read More »
What is missing from these sentences? I will not revise the draft at this point so the final should look the same.If not, we will send the final report by itself and you could send the original to accounting.We would like to purchase the product but we do not have the budget right now. Right!
FANBOYS conjunctions and their commas Read More »
Can a comma — or the lack of a comma — trigger a lawsuit? Consider: William Johnson writes a will in which he states, “I leave my estate to my children, Paul, Henry, Susan and Sally,” William lives out his years, and when the will is read, the children are confused. Do Susan and Sally
How do you use the comma correctly. Read More »
Driving by a bank one day, I saw a sign that read, “No Point Home Equity Loans”. No point. Pointless. Just borrow a ton of money and spend it on video games. But that is not what the bank meant. They meant “No-Point Home Equity Loans”. Sound financial thinking. Good loan terms. What a difference
How do Hyphens work? Read More »
