As is no big surprise when it comes to the English language, the question of how to use ‘however’ is complicated by the fact that the word has two different meanings: ‘in whatever way’ and ‘by contrast’. ‘However’ meaning ‘in…
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However should I use ‘however’? – Punctuation and word order with conjunctive adverbs
Tagged with: adverb, comma, commas, conjunction, conjunctions, furthermore, however, indeed, moreover, nevertheless, nonetheless, semicolon, therefore
Posted in Grammar, Punctuation
Posted in Grammar, Punctuation
Go easy on the exclamation marks!
A December blog post seems the perfect opportunity to wish you ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Holidays!’ (depending on your beliefs or lack of), and also to reflect on the use and overuse of the exclamation mark. According to some sources1,…
Tagged with: bang, exclamation mark, exclamation point
Posted in Proofreading/copy-editing, Punctuation
Posted in Proofreading/copy-editing, Punctuation
Writing it with style
One of the things we proofreaders constantly seek to achieve is consistency. And one of the ways we achieve this is through using a house style. Publishing companies, magazines, journals and newspapers, among others, frequently have their own. So, in…
Confusing commas
Here’s a quick question to exercise your brain: is the following statement true or false? Politicians, such as Donald Trump, are keen to dispense with conventional politics. Congratulations to those of you who said it was false. The above sentence…
Got to dash? Hyphens, en dashes and em dashes
These little lines cause more than a little confusion. Here’s a quick-fire introduction to how to use them. Hyphens Let’s start with hyphens, as they’re the easiest (at least in theory!). Hyphens are used exclusively to join parts of words,…
Tagged with: compound words, dash, dashes, em dash, em rule, en dash, en rule, hyphen, hyphenation, hyphens, modifier, modifiers
Posted in Proofreading/copy-editing, Punctuation
Posted in Proofreading/copy-editing, Punctuation