Do you wonder about the word anytime at any time? Anytime I stop to think about a word before I write it, wondering whether it is one word or two, it seems like a good topic to write about. If it takes me any time to… continue reading
We recently had a reader write with a question about the commonly used phrase “please see attached.” The reader goes on to answer his own question: Today I was looking for an answer to my question about the correctness of the term “please see attached,”… continue reading
UPDATED IN OCTOBER 2022 A reader wrote to me today asking about a sentence with the phrase “well known.” Is he “well known for his philanthropy” or “well-known for his philanthropy”? These days I can give a quick answer: He is well-known for his philanthropy. The… continue reading
The other day a client forwarded one of my emails to everyone on his team. He changed my original from this: I look forward to meeting you on June 8. To this: I look forward to meeting you on June 8th. Was my original rendering of the… continue reading
Since Tuesday, November 4, commentators throughout the world have been speaking and writing about Barack Obama's election as President of the United States. I have been reading about what "an historic occasion" and "an historic event" his election is. I agree about the historic nature of… continue reading
This morning before my second cup of caffeine, I stumbled over a subject-verb agreement issue in instructions I was writing. Here is the sentence: If there is an odd number of participants, pair up with one of them. If there is an odd number? If there… continue reading
An error I am seeing constantly is the incorrect rendering of too as to. Just yesterday in an Email Intelligence class someone wrote this phrase to describe what slows down her reading of email: "to many words." That’s wrong. People occasionally let me know they… continue reading
I was driving west on State Route 520 in Seattle yesterday, when I passed a sign that always drives me nuts. It says "University Of Washington." I have nothing against the UW. In fact, I am looking forward to teaching a class in the MBA… continue reading
There’s a quiet war between the over/more than camps, and I took part in it last week. I was updating my bio on my web site when an associate cautioned me to replace my overs with more thans. Describing myself, I had written: In her corporate… continue reading
The web-hosting company I use just emailed me to let me know my contract is being renewed. They used the wrong verb. Do you recognize it? We certainly hope doing business with us was a pleasing experience. Because of their choice of verb, I thought… continue reading
