Here’s how to remember the difference between "home in" and "hone": A person, bird or aircraft homes in on a target, but a person hones his or her skills. Most style guides tell us to steer clear of "hone in." Examples: Daenerys Targaryen's dragons home in on their targets before they light them afire [...]
This is a tricky one that makes us want to check and double-check to make sure we're using the right adjective. "Historic" and "historical" are adjectives that have very similar meanings: Historic describes something momentous or important in history. Historical simply describes something that belongs to an earlier period of history. Correct: The historic inauguration [...]
This is a question that always pops into the heads of those who learned Associated Press style before 2014. Even when we see someone use the word "over" in copy today, our brains often raise a red flag. However, AP now allows us to use these terms interchangeably when talking about quantities. For example, both [...]
"What's the big deal? They mean the same thing." True. "Less" and "fewer" have similar meanings, but they frequently are misused. When that happens, it's a grammar mistake that can leave your audience with less than they bargained for. Luckily, there's a quick and easy way to remember when to use these two similar words. [...]
The ellipsis and em dash are two fun tools are a writer's dream — like those special powers you pick up in a video game and use at just the right moment. They can add or subtract things that words can't, inject feeling and emotion and serve as a way to further your story or [...]
How should you write Mother's Day and Father's Day? Well, the title of this post should have tipped you off, but we won't take any chances. Here's how you can make sure that you don't ruin a parent's special day with a misplaced apostrophe. It's a simple rule to remember: Both of these holidays are [...]
Adjectives, adverbs and verbs, oh my! There are so many ways to use these two words, it's no wonder we often misuse them or choose one that works but is a little less correct. That's because historically, these words have been somewhat interchangeable; even Merriam-Webster says so. Let's break them down into some simple usage [...]
Do you use an apostrophe at the end of a word that ends in the letter "s"? We see this rule applied differently because different styles vary. For making the possessive form of singular common nouns that end in "s," AP and Chicago styles call for an apostrophe followed by another "s." But if the [...]
As humans, we often talk about the impossible or unreal, and to do that, we use a tiny but important word: "if." But when we talk about something that is unreal, hypothetical or improbable, we switch it up. Usually, a conditional sentence includes a past-tense verb and a modal verb and looks something like this: [...]
The school principal's principal principle is to pay off the principal. "Huh?" you might be thinking. But yes, the above sentence is grammatically correct. You can easily decipher this and use the words "principal" and "principle" correctly by simply reviewing some definitions: Let's start with principal. We've all dreaded this word at one point or [...]
