Legal Writing

Try a Triangle Grammar Guide quiz

Posted on February 18, 2008
Today's quiz has the usual mix of word choice problems. Choose the correct (or better) of two words in parentheses in each sentence. When you finish the five sentences, you can move on to see which ones you answered correctly and read short explanations...

Weird word usage

Posted on February 17, 2008
This sentence in a CNN.com report sent me to the dictionary: Chelsea Clinton will spend three days there to strum up last-minute votes before the state's Tuesday caucuses, said a source from her mother's campaign. Did I miss something? Can someone "strum up," instead of "drum up," support? The dictionaries I checked don't give that meaning for "strum...

A new Triangle Grammar Guide quiz is up

Posted on February 11, 2008
Today's quiz has five sentences that illustrate two of the most common problems in grammar and usage: subject-verb agreement and homonym confusion. It's easy to overlook these in the rush to write on deadline; that's why everyone needs an editor. The problems can be missed in editing, too, and that's why anyone who is editing a piece of writing (a professional editor, a teacher or a parent checking homework) has to be focused and aware...

What is a battle royal?

Posted on February 10, 2008
The reference from page 1A last week might have puzzled some readers. Is it "battle royale" or "battle royal"? A "battle royal" is an all-out fight to the finish. The most famous reference to a "battle royal" is in Ralph Ellison's powerful novel "Invisible Man," one of the 100 best novels...

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Calling all diagramming experts

Posted on February 08, 2008
A reader asks: I have a sentence that I am trying to figure out how to diagram. Yes, we still diagram sentences. Here is the sentence: English King John signed the Magna Carta, limiting the king’s power. I have thought a couple of different things...

Hold the homophone

Posted on February 04, 2008
Today started with considerable embarrassment on our desk. Readers pointed out that in the Life, etc., display story today we fell victim to a homophone mistake. I was the copy editor on the story, and frankly, I was near mortification. The homophones were "dying" and "dyeing...

Why it's apiece, not a piece

Posted on February 01, 2008
A reader calls us to task for using "a piece" as two words. The word is apiece, an adverb that means "for each one." My colleagues and I know this, of course, but we overlooked it. The reader's note led me to think about a way to explain to people why it is apiece and not "a piece...

Sneaked or snuck

Posted on January 30, 2008
This is a line from the State of the Union address on Monday night: The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks — special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate...

More grammar-usage peeves from readers

Posted on January 22, 2008
I posted some comments Monday. Here are a few more: Why, oh why, do people use the word "first" to inappropriately modify verbs? For example: "When I first started …"; "When we first moved here, …"; "When I first met Jane, …"; or "When he first began working here, …...

Grammar-usage-pronunication problems that bug you

Posted on January 21, 2008
Here are a few peeves from readers: My personal language pet peeve is the expression "I could care less." If people thought about what they were actually saying they would realize that by saying they "could care less" means that they care quite a bit...

Grammar-usage-pronunciation problems that bug you

Posted on January 21, 2008
Here are a few peeves from readers: My personal language pet peeve is the expression "I could care less." If people thought about what they were actually saying they would realize that by saying they "could care less" means that they care quite a bit...

Try a Triangle Grammar Guide quiz

Posted on January 19, 2008
This quiz has 10 sentences, instead of the usual five. I hit the jackpot this week with several examples coming my way. My gratitude goes to a reader who spotted one sentence that shows up on this quiz. I truly enjoy hearing from any reader, even one who takes me to task...

A copy editing scandal?!?

Posted on January 16, 2008
I have watched the first couple of episodes of HBO's "The Wire" this season because the plot involves a newspaper, a fictional version of The Baltimore Sun. I can't make any sense of the rest of the story because I haven't watched during the other seasons, but I certainly understand the newsroom parts...

A new Triangle Grammar Guide quiz

Posted on January 14, 2008
At last, I have a new quiz. This one is hodgepodge (or, as a smart but crotchety copy editor once said, "It's not even hodgepodge; it's just podge.") I threw in a usage question that many people will disagree with. (Oy, I ended a sentence with a preposition! Horrors!) Please leave a comment if you wish...

Another "word of the year" list

Posted on January 08, 2008
The American Dialect Society chose subprime as its word of the year. Subprime refers to those risky loans to people who do not qualify for the best rate. The society chose Googleganger as the most creative word of the year. A Googleganger is a person who shows up when you Google yourself...

An old grammar problem lies there

Posted on January 03, 2008
Just in case anyone has any doubts, this head from Monday (Dec. 31) uses the wrong verb. To lay low is an idiom for knocking someone down or overpowering someone. (The big boxer will lay low his opponent.) To lie low is an idiom that means to conceal oneself or to do nothing while waiting for the right moment to act...

A list of overused words

Posted on January 02, 2008
Some people at Lake Superior State University have compiled their 33rd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness. Included on the list are four of my least favorites overworked phrases: "perfect storm," "give back," "it is what it is" and "back in the day...

A matter of writing style: redundancy

Posted on December 31, 2007
A reader calls our attention to this sentence from Saturday's (Dec. 29, 2007) page 2A: There may be biological reasons why. To this reader and others, the phrase "reason(s) why" is an example of redundancy. The sentence would work just fine and sound better without "why...

The year in words

Posted on December 24, 2007
This is the time for word of the year lists. The New York Times Week in Review has an article about the buzzwords of 2007. We in the Southeast who are living in areas of exceptional drought will recognize Navy shower, a water-saving way of getting clean...

Was Hansbrough on the ground or the floor?

Posted on December 17, 2007
A reader takes us to task for this sentence in a sports story: With 5:47 left at Louis Brown Athletic Center, UNC's leading scorer and rebounder was trying to take a charge when he banged his head on a cameraman's knee under the basket, and lay flat on the ground for several moments...

How to make a word geek happy

Posted on December 15, 2007
I have now in my possession the Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, on CD-ROM, Version 3.1. When it landed in my hands Friday, I was giddy with anticipation. The CD only works on a PC, so I couldn't try it out on my Mac at work. I finally got it installed on my PC at home this morning...

The errors writers and editors make

Posted on December 13, 2007
Do you know what's wrong in this sentence? Growing up in Minnesota, one of my favorite things was going to the state fair each summer and watching the guy who would guess your weight within 5 pounds. -- "Losing Weight in the Gulf," Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, Dec...

Triangle Grammar Guide's gift guide

Posted on December 05, 2007
Having edited several gift guides in the past week or so (and facing another when I go in this morning -- let me tell you, I am running out of headline ideas), I decided to issue my own gift guide. Here are three ideas for anyone who cares about writing...

Today's word choice tip: Uncharted

Posted on December 03, 2007
A familiar phrase in news stories refers to uncertainty. Here is an example: After coming out as a gay man eight years ago, Brett Webb-Mitchell left his wife, his Carrboro home, and his job to start a new and uncharted course at the age of 44. "Uncharted" means unmapped, so an "uncharted course" means that someone is on a journey without the benefit of a map...

A copy editor's hero

Posted on December 01, 2007
Today's New York Times carries the obituary of Evan Jenkins, a longtime editor at the Times and the author of Language Corner at the Columbia Journalism Review. The Times calls him "an authority on the linguistic bugbears ... that keep reporters, editors and many others awake at night...

Those holiday cliches

Posted on November 30, 2007
An editor recently sent around a note in our office reminding writers and editors to avoid certain cliches that appear in copy and headlines during the holiday season. The list comes from John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun. Among the offending cliches are: 'Tis the season 'Twas the night before Christmas The Grinch steals ...

Changing usage: Fun as an adjective

Posted on November 19, 2007
A reader sent this note: On page 5C of the Monday, October 30, 2007 N&O, under "FINALS", the blurb begins "How fun would it be....". I'm wondering who could have written this. I'm under the impression that whoever writes for a newspaper is a professional communicator and should really know basic English...

Grammar Guide: A rule on forming plurals

Posted on November 07, 2007
A headline that was briefly displayed on CNN.com illustrates the violation of a rule on forming plurals. To form the plural of a noun that ends in y preceded by a vowel, add an s. So journey becomes journeys. To form the plural of a noun that ends in y preceded by a consonant, change the y to i and add es...

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