Reader Bella Parola points out several problems with a small article (we call it a “factbox” in the newsroom) titled… Read more »
Posts By: Pam Nelson
Word choice: adopted and adoptive
A colleague in another department pointed out this word choice to Ted Vaden, the public editor. Under the Dome [print… Read more »
A Triangle Grammar Guide quiz
Today’s quiz has five sentences involving either verb agreement or pronoun choice. Choose the answer from the two choices given… Read more »
What is a klieg light?
This reference in Barry Saunders’ column today (“Truth told in words, deaths”): “Gen. David Petraeus betrayed no hint of irony… Read more »
A new quiz at the Triangle Grammar Guide
This quiz offers five sentences with common mistakes in word choice or grammar. Click here to begin. A teacher told… Read more »
Grammar Girl and her tips
The audiobook version of “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing” came across my desk recently…. Read more »
Punctuation helps us understand
Read this sentence: After ten years of training my long time partner, Paula Smith a painter and sculptor, and I… Read more »
Adverbs that modify a whole sentence
Suzanne Brown, a veteran editor in the Features Department, talked to me a few minutes last week about why she… Read more »
Word choice: Breached and broached
A reader wondered about this sentence in Under the Dome on Monday: Edwards said someone had broached a confidentiality agreement… Read more »
Take a quiz on word choice
I’ve run across some interesting word choice problems in the past few weeks. A reader sent me a note about… Read more »