Confusing words

Confusing wordsGrammar

Compound word nightmares: open, closed, or hyphenated?

From Rick: I don’t know about you, but as a writer and an editor, I’m constantly beset with problems when dealing with compound words: should it be one word, two words, or a hyphenated word? We all know that “bedroom”

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Basics of writingConfusing words

Grammar and style tips for authors: Part 2b—More problem prepositions + “different from/than”

From Rick: I’m running a little late this week, but here’s the second part in the series on prepositions attached to various words. CENTER on, upon (not “around”) (v): [a primary issue] —The discussion centered on the critical issue of

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Basics of writingConfusing words

English is hard–PART 2: Thesaurus evils

From Rick: Last time we talked about the confusion arising from look-alike and sound-alike words in English, along with identical-appearing words whose meaning varies with their pronunciation. ENGLISH IS HARD–PART 1 This time, I’m going to talk about the pitfalls

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Basics of writingConfusing words

English is hard–PART 1: Homonyms and their homo-cousins

subtitled with the quote by Dr. Smith in the original TV series Lost in Space: “Oh, the pain, the pain.” From Rick: In the past, we’ve done several posts on the topic of confusing words, and I frequently see other

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