Posts Tagged ‘conventions’

There may be times when you need to add or alter words in a quotation, so that it will make sense in the context of your essay. For example, here we rave added a character’s name to help the quotation make sense: Malcolm muggeridge said that ‘[Macmillan] exuded a flavor of mothballs’. Square brackets are used around the interpolated matter. You might also need to alter a quotation if you are using a quotation with a lower-case letter at the [outset, but want to use it to start a sentence:

(T]he lady’s not for turning’ is just one... Read more...

There are numerous things that can go wrong when you are writing, ranging from the isolated word that is spelt incorrectly to an entire sentence that fails ;o make sense. Some of the most common problems, however, are problems usage, of being unclear about, for example, the difference between flaunt and flout, or whether hanged or hung is correct. Writing is all about paying attention to detail, which means making sure that you always get the right words in the right order. But if you do not know the conventions if usage, you are almost bound to come unstuck. We have, therefore, listed below, in alphabetical order, a Top 30 of the niggling little queries about usage.

1. Agree to, agree with

Agree to means that you accept what someone proposes (although you might, of course, agree to differ). Agree with means that one person or thing is in accord with another: agree to that suggestion-, I agree with you about the need for more trees.

2. All right

All right is two words, and means that everything is correct: The spellings were all right Alright is used to mean ‘well’, ‘unhurt’: The s... Read more...