Tag Archives: language

Colons cause problems. In 101 English Tips, I wrote: a) a colon “shouts out that an example or summary is about to follow.” b) “Another colon tip: when continuing to write after a colon in your sentence, it is often … Continue reading →

Two short and simple ones this week: 1) 1970s. Not: a) 1970ies (wrong) b) 1970’s (wrong; what can a decade own?) c) in the 70s of the previous decade (too long) d) 70s (fine if the WHEN is clear. In … Continue reading →

“Just” is a useful and slippery term. It can be an intensifier (“Just stop it!”) or a synonym for “fair-minded” (“He’s a just man, but a pain to deal with”). “Just” can often sound dismissive – as in “It was … Continue reading →

The first sentence is crucial for setting the tone (see “Reminder” at http://www2.arnes.si/~bjason/LNW.pdf). Consider the tone set by these first sentences from real (but slightly changed) motivation letters: 1) “I would like take a chance and participate in study program … Continue reading →

Two short ones: 1) “This is because the 13th-century Italy was unusual.” Nope. “This is because 13th-century Italy was unusual.” Drop the definite article when you use AS A NOUN PHRASE “13th-century Italy” or “19th-century France” or “x-th-century whatever.” 2) … Continue reading →

1) You may blithely pile up adverbs when describing an action: “My sister scampered slowly, clumsily, hungrily, ridiculously towards the cookie jar.” That example is clear, fine and mean. Here, the two -ly adverbs are dissonant and mildly confusing: “Hemingway’s … Continue reading →

Some sneaky adjectives look like they should be adverbs because they end in -ly. “We piled our dishes DISORDERLY” is wrong. “She passed him a cup of tea MOTHERLY” is equally wrong. There are a few solutions here: 1) opt … Continue reading →

How’s this for a non-informative (and real!) newspaper headline? “Billionaire investor was keen on investing, fraud trial told” No kidding. And avid dancers like to dance. Avoid such repetition in your writing. Admittedly, I have never received such a banal … Continue reading →

Some typographical niceties today: 1) Don’t use two apostrophes (‘’…’’) instead of quotation marks (“…”). 2) Make sure your quotations marks face in the right direction – i.e. that they are looking at the quoted text. This is wrong: ”quoted … Continue reading →