Sentence Design: Parallel Construction Tuesday, February 9 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. CT Could this sentence be improved: My new apartment is bright, sunny, and transportation is just around the corner? Probably so, because its construction is not parallel: three elements follow the verb, but only two, bright and sunny, are adjectives. The next Writing Smartly …
Author Archives: rultimo
So
Beware the advice of those who are too ready to say it doesn’t matter, particularly in matters of language. Take, for example, this unassuming sentence: My brother called the tenant so I didn’t have to. What does this actually mean? Did my brother realize how busy I was and decide to call the tenant to …
Skill
We forget sometimes, I think, that writing is an art. Perhaps we don’t remember that often enough because we believe we’re not artists, thinking of artists first as people who can draw or paint or sing. But to be an artist means to be artful, which means to be skilled, to do something well or …
Upcoming Seminar
More on Commas and Semicolons Tuesday, February 2 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. CT What is the difference between an old, wooden chair and an old wooden chair? Would you write the doctor had the results, however, they weren’t conclusive or the doctor had the results; however, they weren’t conclusive or the doctor had the results; …
Apposition, Once Again
Here’s a question one can ask at the border of grammar and logic: Reading the sentence Paul’s sister Maureen is a physician, can we know whether Paul has more than one sister? The question involves how the sentence is punctuated, and is part of a department of grammar called apposition. Some earlier posts here (Apposition, …