Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she takes an extended look at the troublesome issue of when to hyphenate compounds.
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Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she takes an extended look at the troublesome issue of when to hyphenate compounds.
Continue reading...
Teachers at Work
A column about teaching
Probing Questions to "Right" Your Students' Writing (and Your Own) 
February 8, 2010
By Shannon Reed
Shannon Reed offers tips for how to encourage students to edit and revise their written work.
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Article Topics:
On OUPblog, the official blog of Oxford University Press, sociolinguist Alexandra D'Arcy has kicked off a new column by penning an ode to her grandmother, "a firm advocate of correctness" who "in the proud tradition of language purists... found anything other than 'the standard' objectionable."
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Article Topics:
Word Routes
Exploring the pathways of our lexicon
The Legend of Cary Grant's Telegram
February 4, 2010
By Ben Zimmer
A witty telegram that might be too witty to be true.
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Article Topics:
Automatically create lists of vocabulary from any text
using the Visual Thesaurus VocabGrabber.
The passing of the great J.D. Salinger has been met with an outpouring of online memorials.
Newsweek: The Gospel According to Holden
Combine sweet tooth with tooth fairy and you get sweet tooth fairy. That's the premise for The Illustrated Sweet Tooth Fairy, a website that seeks to collect such whimsical fusions as magnetic personality disorder, periodic table manners, and emotional baggage carousel. Erin McKean describes the project in the Boston Globe here.
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Crash Blossoms Keep on Blossoming
February 2, 2010
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January 22, 2010
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"Sleeping Beauties" in English and Dutch
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January 19, 2010
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"Team Conan": The Latest Pop-Culture Posse
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Knowing Write from Wrong: How I Get My Classes to Write
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January 11, 2010
- 6 Comments
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RECENT COMMENTS FROM OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Right Back Atcha, Mr. Hyphenator
catwalker
said,
"Before reading this, I thought my personal rule was to use the hyphen when the modifiers consisted of two nouns (seven-step) but not if one was an..."
- Today, 10:03 PM
David D.
said,
"Dictionaries do not all agree but what is worse are the built-in dictionaries usually called "spell checkers" in word processing programs. My program..."
- Today, 12:53 PM
Don H.
said,
"That was great! Clarified some things that I've been wondering about for years (decades)."
- Today, 10:55 AM
Frank C.
said,
"I always enjoy reading this "writers talk" column. I recognize my own writing defects while reading it.
If I write an email to someone, and reread..."
- Today, 10:53 AM
Richard A.
said,
"Enjoyed the lucid discussion. My watchword "in the service of clarity on behalf of the reader" seems well served here.
Thanks."
- Today, 10:03 AM
Probing Questions to "Right" Your Students' Writing (and Your Own)
JOHN E.
said,
"Shannon,
Regarding editing -- some good suggestions in your article that I intend to use in my work in the techno-management-marketing world.
Most..."
- Today, 12:36 AM
WordMasters: Grade 5 Gold Division Jan-Feb '10
Teresa G.
said,
"My kids have been doing Word Masters for years, I have a hard time helping them study though and we set out all of the index cards they have worked on..."
- Yesterday, 9:07 PM
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For the past few years, the Visual Thesaurus has been a proud partner of The New York Times Learning Network, helping students boost their reading, writing and communications skills. We've been working together to develop innovative lesson plans that integrate the Visual Thesaurus with engaging articles from the pages of The New York Times. Now, as the Learning Network gets a new look, re-launched as a Times blog, we're working even more closely to provide new resources for teaching and learning.
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