And by expletives, I don’t mean swear words. Expletives are words and phrases that contribute nothing meaningful to a sentence. As you know, I’ve talked at length about cutting down on wordiness. Expletives are one way—possibly the most prolific way—that we’re wordy in our writing. For example, I’ve talked about this in the past with… Continue reading Get rid of expletives in your writing
Category: Grammar
The opposite of vegetarian
[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.9″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”] I’m a functional vegetarian, and I was wondering recently if there’s a word that means the opposite of vegetarian. I decided to go on a bit of an exploration, and here’s what I found.
Difference between down the pike and down the pipe
Recently, I heard someone use the phrase “coming down the pipe”. Considering that this phrase is technically wrong, I thought I’d write about it.
Why we must start embracing ain’t
Ain’t isn’t in the dictionary. Ain’t isn’t a real word. Did you ever hear these growing up? Maybe spoken by a teacher or a parent? Today, I’m going to tell you why you need to forget that advice.
Introducing “nibling” and “nephling”
Okay, the title makes it seems as though I made these terms up, but I’ll show you that this, of course, isn’t the case. I’ve talked about gendered language in the past (using they as a third-person, singular pronoun; using Mx; avoiding using sexist pronouns; using woman or female as an adjective). Today, I want… Continue reading Introducing “nibling” and “nephling”
Good riddens
This past weekend, two right of centre provincial political parties agreed to merge into one. As I was reading articles online about the results, I came across a comment that piqued my interest. The author of this comment obviously supported the merger, as he used his comment as an opportunity to wish our current premier,… Continue reading Good riddens
Another thing coming or another think coming?
I’ll just start out by pointing out that the saying is “you have another think coming”. It’s not “another thing coming”. The saying goes something like, “If you think (such and such), then you have another think coming.” The idiom works because it connects the two thinks. However, because people aren’t used to seeing think used as… Continue reading Another thing coming or another think coming?
Difference between bear and bare
This is part of the difference between series. Recently, someone asked me to explain the difference between the words bear and bare. Here’s the difference between the two.
5 things you wanted to know about Mx
In the past, I’ve talked about my preference for Ms over Mrs and Miss. There’s another honorific I wanted to discuss today: Mx.
Difference between whole and entire
This is part of the difference between series. If you use the word whole in a sentence (such as, “I counted the whole crowd.”), chances are Microsoft Word will suggest that you change it for entire. There isn’t much difference between whole and entire. In fact, several dictionaries have whole and entire as synonyms of each other—that’s how close they are… Continue reading Difference between whole and entire