hdraos@gmail.com's blog
Every Day; Everyday
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Sun, 08/10/2008 - 16:04Use everyday (one word) only when adjectival, as an everyday occurrence, our everyday life.
In all other cases, use two words: ‘He comes here every day.’ ‘Every day somebody dies.’
It's amazing how a little word that looks innocuous changes the entire meaning of a sentence.
Keep this difference in mind, and stop making this simple error an everyday occurrence.
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- 1 comment
- Email this Blog entry
- 2202 reads
Client; customer
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Sun, 08/10/2008 - 15:48The difference between a customer and a client can at first seem quite confusing. Some people say there is not much difference, while others say it depends on the industry as to whether the term customer or the term client is used for business patrons. The difference between a customer and a client can best be seen in terms of an ongoing business.
A client looks to follow the advice and professional knowledge of a business leader, while a customer may only purchase goods and services from a business
Simply put:
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- Read more
- 1911 reads
A Musing
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Sun, 08/10/2008 - 15:32Last night, I sat idly going through my jumble of jottings when this stopped me:
“What’s the rush?” Ask the cancer patient who has only a few months to live. Ask the AIDS patient whose body is shriveling. The ‘rush’ arises from our human compassion for our fellowman who needs help now.
—Professor French Anderson, Genetic Pioneer
I mused. Transitoriness of life and the impermanence of things made me philosophical. We all die, and with us our joys, successes, sorrows and regrets also die .
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- Read more
- 2166 reads
Split infinitive
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 12:57“Never split an infinitive”. This sixth-grade commandment is almost a myth.
To split or not to split? The debate continues between traditionalists and the modernists; yet, writers have been splitting infinitives for hundred of years. Even Shakespeare has done it.
Fowler, Strunk and White, and a long list of others advise us to avoid splitting if we can. They do, however, say that splitting is acceptable if it results in improved clarity.
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- Read more
- 1906 reads
and/or
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 11:281.A device, or shortcut, that damages a sentence and often leads to confusion or ambiguity.
--Strunk and White, The Elements of Style
2.This hybrid term has been referred to as “that befuddling, nameless thing, that Janus-faced monstrosity, neither word nor phrase, the child of a brain of someone too lazy or too dull to express his precise meaning, or too dull to know what he did mean.”
--Bryan A Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- Read more
- 1878 reads
Although; though
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 11:16The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style says:
"As conjunctions, the words are virtually interchangeable. The only distinction is that 'although' is more formal and dignified, 'though'
more usual in speech and familiar writing. In certain formal contexts,however,'though' reads better."
Although is felt to be stronger than though and is therefore more frequently used at the beginning of a sentence, and internally when emphasis is desired. ‘He insisted on doing it, although I warned him not to’.
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- Read more
- 2060 reads
Dates
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 11:09Dates usually contain parenthetic words or figures. Punctuate as follows:
April 6, 1956
Wednesday, November 13, 1929
Note that it is permissible to omit the comma in
6 April 1956
The last form is an excellent way to write a date, the figures are separated by a word and are, for that reason, quickly grasped.
--William Strunk, Jr., E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 2d ed.p3
One may unimpeachably write either May 26, 1984 or 26 May 1984. The latter—the primarily BrE method—is often better in prose, for it takes no commas.
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- Read more
- 1912 reads
Ampersand (&)
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Wed, 08/06/2008 - 00:03What's an ampersand?
The ampersand (&) is a symbolic abbreviation for the word 'and'. Historically, & was the 27th letter of the alphabet. The name comes from the words 'and, per se and'. The symbol is a stylised version of the French word 'et' (meaning 'and').
When is it proper to substitute an ampersand (&) for the word and? Dan Santow of Word Wise provides these rules:
[T]hough an ampersand is the symbol form of the word “and,” it is not a substitute for the written-out word except in these very specific cases:
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- Read more
- 1986 reads
Per
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 23:51Per is Latin. Per day; per month; per year; per hour are mongrels of Latin and English. They are inferior to ‘a day’ (twenty rupees a day), ‘a month’ (three thousand a month), ‘a year’ (one lakh a year), ‘an hour’ (fifty miles an hour).
Generally, it is well to confine per to its own language: per cent, per capita, per annum, per contra. A hundred pounds a year is more natural than a hundred pounds per annum.
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- 1770 reads
The Elements of Style (Strunk & White)
Submitted by hdraos@gmail.com on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 19:08“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”
– William Strunk Jr., in The Elements of Style
The Elements of Style ("Strunk & White") is one of the most influential and best-known prescriptive treatments of English grammar and usage. It includes a number of specific rules and dozens of commonly misused words.It offers excellent, practical advice on achieving a clear and graceful style.
Bookmark/Search this post with
»
- Email this Blog entry
- Read more
- 1648 reads










Recent comments
1 day 13 hours ago
6 days 8 hours ago
6 days 14 hours ago
1 week 7 hours ago
1 week 1 day ago
1 week 2 days ago
3 weeks 1 day ago
3 weeks 6 days ago
4 weeks 6 hours ago
4 weeks 9 hours ago