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Possessive of a title in quotes? Just don’t
English has a lot of conventions—best not to call them rules—that sometimes fall apart when we try to apply them in all possible situations. Sometimes, it’s best to just not go there. If we want to...
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Great writing informs great copy editing
I wonder how many people stop at the final paragraphs of "The Great Gatsby" and think, “Gosh, this could use a good editor.”
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If ‘they’ is singular, does ‘themself’ naturally follow?
Respected reference sources have signaled a modicum of acceptance of the pronoun they in a singular sense. The Associated Press Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style relaxed their prescriptions for...
View ArticleStyle guides differ on Word of the Decade
An earlier version of this column was published on the blog of ACES: The Society for Editing. It was the decade of the epicene pronoun, as the usually plural they gained new acceptance with its...
View ArticleIf Black is up, do we capitalize White?
I’ve devoted quite a bit of thinking time over the past several weeks on the question of whether white as a racial designation should be capitalized. My thought process has not been pretty — most...
View ArticleI’m moving — check me out at my new place
I started my website in 2009 at the same time I started my editing-related freelance business. I long ago moved my main website to Adobe’s platform and changed the name from markallenediting.com to...
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