A classic sales tactic is to create a promotion that gives potential customers an incentive to buy. Almost every advertisement for a new car includes incentives for trading in your old one, or having the...
The first stage of any concept is rarely pretty. Staring at a blank canvas at the start of a writing or creative project is daunting, and the first attempts at clarifying the scope of what...
Which is correct? To say that I write a blog post for Grammar Hammer each week or to say that I write a post for Grammar Hammer every week? “Every” is used to talk...
Here’s our latest grammar explainer. This edition covers the difference between shinny and shimmy.
In public speaking, you are taught to watch your use of “disfluencies” – as in the crutch words where you um, like, and you know your way through the silence as your brain scrambles to...
There’s more to business writing than earnings and executive appointments. Beyond the sales figures and percentage points is the human element. How do business journalists take a dry business profile and transform it into an article...
If you were a child of the 70s and 80s, ABC’s animated series Schoolhouse Rock left an indelible mark. Many of us can trace a love for history, mathematics, science and – of course – grammar to the...
I’m of the age that one of the classes I took in high school was typing. Putting two spaces after the period at the end of a sentence was drilled into our heads as...
You spent hours laboring over an article or blog post. You did your research and fussed over sentences until they were just right. The only thing standing between you and your next assignment is...
A suggestion from a loyal reader inspired this week’s Grammar Hammer. Is everyday one word or two words (every day)? Both variations refer to an activity that occurs on a daily basis. As usual,...
Elicit and illicit might sound similar, but technically they are not homophones and their meanings are vastly different. The words are occasionally confused due to their similar pronunciation and spelling, which is why they are the focus...
You don’t have to be a comedian to inject a little humor into your writing. And even if you don’t consider yourself a funny person, there are tips and tricks you can use to make...
I often see “wile away the hours” used interchangeably with “while away the hours,” so which is correct? Technically, they both are, but there are some subtle differences one should consider. “To while away the hours”...
Part two of our series covers basic rules for brackets, parentheses, braces, ellipses, quotation marks and apostrophes.
There are considered to be 14 “primary” punctuation marks. We’re reviewing some of them in Part 1 of a two-part series.
“The principal is your PAL!” With apologies to Ferris Bueller, that’s how I learned the difference between “principle” and “principal.” Here again, we have two words that sound the same, but have two completely...
Flair/Flare is one of my favorite homophones. Even though these words sound the same, their meanings are very different and these words are not interchangeable. FLAIR: A natural talent or aptitude; distinctive elegance or style Example:...
Have you been so confused with when to use “assure,” “ensure,” and “insure” that you actually go back and rewrite your sentence to avoid using that word? I confess, I do that often. “Ensure” and...
“While I was walking through the park, this giant spider appears out of nowhere and scared the living daylights out of me!” What’s wrong with that sentence? Absolutely nothing, if you’re as terrified of...
