Articles Categorized The Art of Language

Grammar, spelling, usage, style—this section is all about the mechanics of language. Improve your writing and editing by reading on!

Dash It All

Hyphens and dashes are common pieces of punctuation that can really improve your writing—if you know how to use them.

Become a star punctuation user! Learn advanced apostrophe rules about showing possession, omission, and plurality.

You can join independent clauses in any number of ways. The use of commas is the most common method, but not the only one.

Brackets are those square parentheses next to the letter P on most keyboards: [ ]. Do you know how to use them properly?

A “bludgeon” is defined as “a heavy, short club that is thicker at one end or is weighted at one end.” It’s a good alternative for “club.”

If you’re writing for a client and are told to allow “that” to represent a person, breathe a sigh of relief: doing so doesn’t break any rules.

Language changes with use. Who’s capping “Black” and “White”? How can editors decide which style to follow? Read on to find out.

Learn to use the apostrophe for possession in a variety of forms with this handy blog post.

Adjectives can be a writer’s greatest friend, creating rich images and clear meaning. They can also be a writer’s worst enemy.

Though it can be conflated with “procrastinate,” the verb “prevaricate” means “to speak or act evasively; to avoid telling the truth; to lie.”