Quick and dirty tips for better writing - Mignon Fogarty 2008
Index
a versus an
a lot versus alot versus allot
abbreviations
i.e. versus e.g.
making them plural
redundancy and
in text messages
absolutes, modifying
acronyms
redundancy and
action verbs
list of
active links
removing hyperlinks
turning words into
active voice versus passive voice
adjectives
backward
bad
capitalization of
commas and
defined
female
predicate
woman
adverbs
backwards
badly
conjunctive
defined
however
sentence
well
affect versus effect
although versus while
a.m. and p.m., capitalization of
American Medical Association Manual of Style
American Psychological Association
among versus amongst
among versus between
and, starting a sentence with
apostrophes
compound possession and
greeting card grammar
misuse of
plural abbreviations
plural of a single letter
plural words that end with s
possession and
singular words that end with s
uses of
articles
as versus like
as if versus as though
asides
Associated Press Stylebook, The
assure versus ensure versus insure
asterisks
asterexasperation
defined
exasperisk
footnote symbols and
as a “Nathan Hale,”
negative connotations of
other punctuation marks and
pronunciation of
uses of
Austen, Jane
awkwardness
backward versus backwards
bad versus badly
band names, collective nouns
bare infinitives
Barney & Friends
Barratt, Leslie
BBC
because, starting a sentence with
reason is and, redundant
between versus among
between you and I
BiCapitals
blechyuckiness, business speak
Bonds, Barry
Borg, the
brang
bring versus take
British English
amongst and
assure and
backwards and
band-team names and
further and
irregular verbs and
lowercase a.m. and p.m.
period after abbreviations
pronunciation and
quotation marks and
serial commas and
towards and
brought
bullets
bureaucratise, business speak
Bush, George W.
business speak
communicate versus tell
facilitate versus help, plan, hold, etc.
use versus utilize
BusinessWeek
but, starting a sentence with
by accident versus on accident
Caen, Herb
CamelCase
can versus may
capital versus capitol
capitalization and
capitalization
a.m. and p.m.
of the Capitol
college degrees and departments
colons and
common nouns
of Congress
of the Constitution
days, months, and seasons
depression
directions
dog breeds
eras and time periods
family names
formatting vertical lists and
Ground Zero
of Internet
nicknames
planets
proper nouns
of questions
religious terms
between 1600 and 1800
titles
captions
CapWords
Carroll, Lewis
Cats & Dogs
Chicago Manual of Style, The,
children, making possessive
Clapton, Eric
clichés
Clinton, Hillary
collective nouns
college degrees and departments
colons
capitalization and
dashes versus
in lists
questions and
replacing, with the word namely
in salutations
semicolons versus
in sentences
come versus go
comma splice (comma fault)
commas
adjectives and
conditional sentences and
conjunctive adverbs and
contrast and
coordinating conjunctions and
e-mail salutations and
i.e. and e.g. and
interjections and
around nonessential elements
quotation marks and
“rules” for
sentence-joining
serial
two independent clauses and
uses of
common nouns, capitalization of
communicate versus tell
compliment versus complement
compound possession
compound words
concessive conjunctions
conditional sentences and commas
Congress, capitalization of
conjunctions
as
concessive
coordinating
internal
subordinating
conjunctive adverbs
list of
semicolons with
consonant sounds
Constitution, capitalization of
contests, writing
contractions
coordinating conjunctions
punctuation and
copula
copulative verbs
linking verbs
count nouns
couple of
cover-letter grammar rules
dangling modifiers
dashes
types of
days, months, and seasons, capitalization of
deadlines
dear, opening an e-mail message with
deceptively
definite article
dependent clauses
despite versus in spite of
, n
different from versus different than
direct address
direct questions
indirect questions mixed with
directions, capitalization of
distance, less versus fewer
dog breeds capitalization of
double the
drama
Dylan, Bob
each versus every
eBay
effect versus affect
e.g. versus i.e.
Elements of Style, The (Strunk and White)
ellipses
formatting
omission
three dot journalism
em dash
a.m. and p.m.
context
ellipses
formal or informal
formatting
plurals
P.S.
salutation
signatures
sign-offs
subject line
unsend
emotions
en dash
ensure versus insure versus assure
eras and time periods, capitalization of
every versus each
everyone versus everybody
exclamation points
quotation marks and
exclamatory sentences
facilitate versus help, plan, hold, etc.
family names, capitalization of
FANBOYS, starting a sentence with the
farther versus further
feelings
female versus woman
fewer versus less
fiction story ideas
Fiddler on the Roof
footnotes
for, starting a sentence with
foreign words and phrases
formal writing versus informal writing
formatting
citing a Web site
vertical lists, vertical lists, formatting
Fowler’s Modern English Usage (Burchfield)
fragments
full infinitives
further versus farther
further versus furthermore
fused sentences
Garner, Bryan, n
Garner’s Modern American Usage (Garner)
gender neutral pronouns
go versus come
God, capitalization of
good versus well
graduated versus graduated from
grammar
by committee
defined
idioms
irregular verbs
modifiers, modifiers
prepositions
sentence fragments
split infinitives
subject-verb agreement
subjunctive verbs
they, as a singular pronoun
Grammar Girl audiobook
Grammar Girl podcast
Grammar Girl website,
ground zero, capitalization of
groups, collective nouns
hanged versus hung
he, as a generic singular pronoun
Health on the Net Foundation
hi, opening an e-mail message with
historic, a versus an
hopefully, starting a sentence with
however, starting a sentence with
Huddleston, R., n
humpbacking
hung versus hanged
hyphens
capitalization oftitle words with
compound words and
phrased verbs and
pronunciation and
rules for use
suspensive
idioms
i.e. versus e.g.
if clause
impact versus affect
imperative mood
imperative sentences
in line versus on line
in spite of versus despite
indefinite articles
Indiana State University
indicative mood
indirect questions
mixed with direct questions
infinitive
bare
full
split
inflammable
initialisms
insure versus assure versus ensure
intensifiers
intensive pronouns
intercaps
interjections and commas
internal conjunctions
Internet
CamelCase
capitalization and
described
e-mail, e-mail
log in versus log on
names starting with a lowercase letter
on line versus online
text messaging, text messaging
URLs and, uniform resource locators (URLs)
Web sites and, Web sites
Internet Archive
interrobang
interviewing tips
into versus in to
iPod
irregular verbs
list of
it is I
italics
it’s versus its
iTunes
Jesus, making possessive
Kansas v. Marsh
King, Larry
Kosko, Bart
Latin
lay versus lie
conjugating
leading questions
less versus fewer
letters, making plural
lie versus lay
like versus as
linking verbs
list of
lists
colons in
vertical, vertical lists, formatting
literally
log in versus log on
lowercase names
main clauses
joining two
sentence fragments and
subordinating conjunctions and
malapropisms
mass nouns
may versus can
may versus might
me and myself
medial capitals
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage
Middle English
might versus may
misplaced modifiers
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
Modern Language Association
Modern Manners Guy
modifiers
of absolutes
dangling
misplaced
simple
squinting
modifying phrase
money, less versus fewer
moods
Mr., Mrs., and Ms., plurals of
myself
“Nathan Hale,”
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
nationwide media
nauseous versus nauseated
New York Times, The,
newspapers
serial commas in
three-dot journalism
nicknames, capitalization of
Noise (Kosko)
nonbreaking space
nonfiction story ideas
curious mind-set
identify target publications
stay current
talk to people
nonrestrictive element
nor, starting a sentence with
nouns
affect
capitalization of
collective
common
count
defined
effect
mass
ordering, in a sentence
proper
singular
woman
numbers
formatting vertical lists and
hyphens for writing
starting sentences with
objects
subject versus, subject versus object
obscene words, and asterisks
of, overusing
Office Space
officialese, business speak
on accident versus by accident
on line versus in line
one-word sentences
100-word Stories
online versus on line
only, as a misplaced modifier
Oprah Winfrey Show
or, starting a sentence with
OutKast
Oxford English Dictionary
PageMaker
parallelism and lists
parentheses
asides
other punctuation marks and
parenthetical elements
Partridge, Eric
passed versus past
passive voice
active voice versus
Pelosi, Nancy
people versus persons
periods
abbreviations
acronyms or initials
parentheses and
quotation marks and
spaces after
photo captions
phrasal verbs
planets, capitalization of
pled versus pleaded
plurals
compound possession
making abbreviations
pronouns
in salutations
of a single letter
subject-verb agreement
words that end with s
podcast
politeness
possessive pronouns
apostrophes
predicate adjectives
prepositional phrases
prepositions
defined
ending a sentence with
like
of
unnecessary
pronouns
between you and me
defined
generic
intensive
it is I
linking verbs and
me and myself
ordering, in a sentence
plural
possessive
reflexive
singular
subject, object and
they
you and I
pronunciation
hyphens and
proofreading tips
auto-correct feature
force yourself to view each word
give yourself some time
make your computer read to you
printed version of your work
read your work backward
read your work out loud
spell checkers
typos
Web copy
proper nouns, capitalization of
P.S.
additional layers of
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
Pullman, G. K., n
Punctuate It Right (Shaw)
punctuation
apostrophes, apostrophes
appropriate terminal
asterisks, asterisks
colons, colons
commas, commas
dashes
ellipses, ellipses
exclamation points
hyphens, hyphens
interrobang
parentheses
periods, periods
question marks, question marks
quotation marks, quotation marks
semicolons, semicolons
suspensive hyphens
URLs and
vertical lists, vertical lists, formatting
question marks
add-on questions and
capitalization and
direct questions and
indirect questions and
interrobang
several questions bunched together and
surprising questions and
tag questions and
quick and dirty grammar at a glance
Quick and Dirty Tips Network
quotation marks
commas, periods and
common uses of
confusion over
exclamation points and
“scare,”
single
“sneer,”
quotation versus quote
Random House Dictionary
Reagan, Ronald
reason and because, redundant
reflexive pronouns
religious terms, capitalization of
repetitive redundancy
restrictive clause
Ritteriser, Cathleen
Rivals, The (Sheridan)
Rogers Communications
run-on sentences
salutations
colons in
San Francisco Chronicle
scare quotes
schadenfreude
Schoolhouse Rock!
Scientist, The
semicolons
colons versus
with conjunctive adverbs
with coordinating conjunctions
joining two main clauses
as sentence splicers
sensing verbs
sentence adverbs
list of
sentence fragments
captions as
colons and
subordinating conjunctions and
sentences
colons and
conditional
run-on
simple
splicers
sentences, starting
conjunctive adverbs and
coordinating conjunctions and
idiot manager alert
with a number
sentence adverbs and
subordinating conjunctions and
there are/there is
Sesame Street
set versus sit
sexism
Shakespeare, William
shared possession, compound possession
Sheridan, Richard
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
sic
simple sentences
Simpson, Jessica
singular nouns
singular pronouns
singular verbs
sit versus set
sneer quotes
so
misusing
starting a sentence with
Souter, Justice David
spaces after periods
split infinitives
squinting modifiers
Star Trek
starting a sentence with
because
conjunctions
hopefully
lowercase names
there is and there are
Stefani, Gwen
Strunk & Twite
Student’s Introduction to English Grammar, The (Huddleston and Pullman), n
style
active voice versus passive voice
awkwardness
business speak, business speak
clichés
double the
foreign words and phrases
individual
misusing so
overusing of
overusing very
repetitive redundancy
that problem
twisting conventional phrases
wordiness
style guides
subject-verb agreement
subject versus object
lay versus lie
pronouns and
sit versus set
who versus whom
subjects
multiple
subjunctive verbs
subordinating conjunctions
list of
starting a sentence with
surnames beginning with lowercase letters
suspensive hyphens
tag questions
take versus bring
team names, collective nouns
tell versus communicate
text messaging
abbreviations in
formal or informal
that
as redundant
which versus
who versus
the
double
pronunciation of
then versus than
there is versus there are
starting a sentence with
they, as a singular pronoun
thin space
Thomas, Justice Clarence
thought versus although
time
a.m. and p.m.
less versus fewer
titles, capitalization of
Tomasi, Chuck
toward versus towards
try and versus try to
tween
story ideas from
style guide
two-way modifiers
typewriters
typos
proofreading tips
uniform resource locators (URLs)
active links
full versus abbreviated
http://www and
long
terminal punctuation and
unique
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
unnecessary prepositions
USA Today
usage
Usage and Abusage (Partridge)
use versus utilize
verb-subject agreement
verbs
action
affect
copulative
linking
defined
effect
irregular
linking,
phrasal
regular
sensing
singular
split infinitives and
subjunctive
vertical lists, formatting
bullets and
capitalization and
letters and
numbers and
parallelisms and
punctuation and
style and
very, overusing
vowel sounds
Wall Street Journal, The
Wayback Machine
Web
web addresses
uniform resource locators (URLs)
Web sites
citing
formatting
proofreading
well versus good
were, for subjunctive mood
What Speakers Don’t Notice: Language Changes Can Sneak In (Barratt), n
which versus that
while versus although
while versus whilst
whiplash grammar
White, E. B.
who versus that
who versus whom
whoever versus whomever
who’s versus whose
whose
Wired
wishful languages, subjunctive verbs
woman versus female
wordiness
repetitive redundancy
World Trade Center
writer’s block
change location
contests
free writing
procrastination
real deadlines
skip around
Writer’s Digest
Writers Weekly, The
writing
fiction story ideas
go for it
interviewing tips
nonfiction, nonfiction story ideas
proofreading tips, proofreading tips
style guides
yet, starting a sentence with
you and I
your versus you’re
Zune Marketplace
About the author
MIGNON FOGARTY is the creator of Grammar Girl and founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips Network. A technical writer and entrepreneur, she has served as an editor and producer at a number of health and science websites. She has a B.A. in English from the University of Washington in Seattle and an M.S. in biology from Stanford University. She lives in Reno, Nevada, with her husband, Patrick. Visit her website at http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/.