Writers who get too hyphen happy end up with cluttered copy, despite the apparently skewed vision of some who think they look so dashing. On the other hand, hypo-hyphenation can cause confusion, or at least slowed reading. Sometimes a phrase can look lonely without a hyphen. If there’s no reason for a hyphen connecting two […]
Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. Including from, including on, including in, including at … . Enough already. What I wanna know is: including what? Spare the word and spoil the sentence Even otherwise top-notch writers resort to the thoroughly awkward combination of including followed by a preposition. Here’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Leonard Pitts Jr., syndicated columnist […]
disjointed Give me an and, the grammar cheerleader in me wants to shout. You’d think people had an allergy to and. These days, this conjunction is used too sparingly in compound sentences, where it is required to join nouns or adjectives if the sentence is not to seem – well, disjointed. “And” then what? […]
Mitt Romney The fulminator Mitt Romney is at it again, condemning the man who bested him in the 2012 presidential election. How nice it must be to have the luxury of sitting on the sideline and booing the star player who relegated you to that spot. Actually, not so nice. More like sour grapes, […]
President Obama With the primaries over here in Florida, the midterm elections loom a little more than two months away. A poll shows Democratic and Republican candidates in a dead heat for elections to the Republican-dominated House. The Senate, now controlled by the Democrats, is in grave danger of falling to the Republicans, which […]
American workers Since 1894, Labor Day has been officially celebrated as a day to honor workers. It’s a time to reflect on the contributions of working men and women across America. But the Republicans in Congress likely will pay little or no heed to the people most responsible for making the wheels turn in […]
Walgreens store Let’s see … I need some cashews and pistachios. Where shall I go get them at a good price, Walgreen’s or CVS? Used to be, I’d go to Walgreens, but I’m having second thoughts. Two recent events have made me wonder if I shouldn’t change my shopping choice: Choosing a drugstore 1. News […]
We have addressed the issue of redundancy in this column by pointing to the ubiquitous use of “help improve,” a phrase that usually would mean the same thing if only one of those words were used. “Editing will help improve your writing” means the same as “Editing will improve your writing.” Redundant use of “well” […]
Q. What are the best food sources of vitamin B12? A. Eggs, meat, dairy and fish. Meat up It follows that, unless vegans and strict vegetarians take a B12 supplement, they are getting insufficient amounts of the vitamin. Is that important? Vitamin B12 is a significant contributor to the conversion of food to energy, […]
Human intestines Nineteen years ago, I had my first colonoscopy. My then-wife and I had returned from a trip to California, during which I experienced an upset stomach that wouldn’t go away – the upsetness, not the stomach (actually, it remained intact, too, though I would have been happy to lose a few pounds). […]