Twitter is fascinating in many ways, but for me, two things stand out. (If you don’t know what Twitter is, click here.) If you google “evolution of language on Twitter,” you’ll find some great posts that describe the social science at work within Twitter. They imply that Twitter is one giant grooming site where the gift of language allows Homo sapiens to broadcast from a distance, increasing the likelihood of attracting mates while preserving survival by leaving the rest of o

Special approvals are required for the release of information to be presented in public forums, such as conferences or published in trade journals and the like, so that appropriate consideration may be given to whether information may be patentable and … intellectual property may be properly protected. Wow. This is the Atlantis of passive sentences, the meaning obscured beneath an ocean of “are”s, “to”s, “may”s, and “be”s. Plus, it’s not really easy to fix, unless you know wh

On Twitter, @GrammarGirl tweeted a link to a CollegeHumor video about a punctuation recession. It was a cute idea for a satire, but I found it a bit self-indulgent, and too far removed from reality. Believe me, there’s plenty of actual stuff happening in this economy worth satirizing. Still, it reminded me of my favorite punctuation-related idea (besides National Punctuation Day or anything on Etsy featuring punctuation). I’d love to attempt this improv/Whose Line is it Anywa

As a high-tech editor, I usually adhere to Associated Press style, despite the fact that the AP Stylebook is a poor fit for technical language. I alluded to this two posts back, so I thought I’d elaborate. I’m following many journalists on Twitter who are lamenting the continuing demise of the newspaper industry. There’s a lot of talk about how newspapers were slow to react to the Internet, digging their heels in and resisting change. And this is how I feel about AP. It’s as

Am I missing out on a primo opportunity to be pitching my services as an editor for spam? Because, really, take a gander at this hot mess: Attention, I wish to bring to your knowledge that your previous Won prize has been cancelled and you are now re-awarded sum of Seven Hundred and Eighty Thousand Dollars ($780,000.00USD) only on facts below : A. Your Fiduciary Agent was discovered to be corrupt. B.The Organisation want all Winners to claim their Won prize through Bank only

I’ve noticed that WordPress is automatically converting double hyphens in my posts to em dashes, and I’m not happy. At my last job (shoutout to all TIers), we had a quarterly meeting of the Writers Guild, where we took up just such controversies. Nothing makes me more riled up (think crazed football fan) than the opportunity to debate a style issue. When “en or em” appeared on our agenda, we perused a very wide range of consumer and trade magazines to see if we could determin

Ah, the geekiest of holidays has arrived. It’s a time to remember that grammatically correct sentences do not just write themselves. If, however, you aren’t quite able to discern when to use “these” and when to use “those,” or when an “all” needs an “of,” or why “no longer” really belongs after the “is,” never fear — I am here. Lest you think I’ve imagined this holiday, here’s the Web site for National Grammar Day, brought to you by the Society for the Promotion of Good Gramm

Every issue of Entertainment Weekly has a what’s hot/what’s not sidebar, and I’m loving this week’s reference: In: I/Me Five Minutes Ago: Their/There/They’re Out: Its/It’s Perhaps I’m misreading the author’s intent, but my thoughts instantly went to pronoun usage. I’m a big proponent of the first person “I/me” in all communications, even the drollest white papers and technical articles. “I” is an instant dollop of life, of power, of humanity. “I” has within it vulnerability