contributorMerrill Perlman Word CountWriters Talk About WritingLetter Perfect: Why English is So Hard  June 18, 2013
The cashier at the fancy foods store was from Bosnia. "I have so much hard time with English," she said. "Why when you add one letter does whole word change?" She had asked the customer if she had a "dim," and the customer was flummoxed.
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Word CountWriters Talk About WritingParticipial Con-Fusion: When Possession is the Law May 22, 2013WARNING: Grammar lesson ahead. If you ever knew what a "participle" was, you may have forgotten. Same with the word "gerund." And if you ever heard the term "fused participle," you probably zoned out completely. Continue reading...Word CountWriters Talk About WritingUnpalatable: A Plateful of Similar Words May 16, 2013 By Merrill Perlman
The artists were being praised for their technique in which, the article said, they "use only pallet knives, not brushes." The conference attendees were told that "it's not too early to start whetting your palette for" the food expected to be served. And the article talked about a shipment of "wooden palates infested with the Asian long-horned beetle." Possibly wrong, wrong, and ouch.
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Article Topics:Word CountWriters Talk About WritingWriting Tics: The Optics of Metrics May 9, 2013
The mayor's op-ed piece urged action on a regional 911 system, which, among other things, would "provide consistent and transparent performance metrics countywide." Alas, the program has not been put into effect, "as a result of the political optics." Jargon and more jargon.
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Article Topics:Word CountWriters Talk About WritingBlame Excuses: Where to Point the Finger April 30, 2013
"Deer Creek blames fire on science experiment," read one headline. "Arsonist blames fire on living conditions," said another. Some people would take umbrage with both of those sentences, asserting that the finger of blame was pointing in the wrong direction.
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Word CountWriters Talk About WritingSeason Openers: Baseball Terms and Myths April 23, 2013
It's April, which means that the major league baseball season is once again under way. Time to celebrate America's favorite pastime with a look at the origins of words from the baseball diamond.
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Article Topics:Word CountWriters Talk About WritingIts Time: That Ol' Apostrophe Again April 18, 2013
Of the many small errors that bedevil many writers — and enrage their teachers and editors — there is perhaps none so simple to understand, and explain, than the use of "it's" when "its" is meant.
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