Questions tagged [writing-style]
Questions about the writing style of a particular sentence, phrase or construction in English. Questions asking for advice on writing style are off-topic.
1,108
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Verb order — which way is right?
In the sentence:
"Over the airwaves, following a commercial, played the melancholy piano chords from Moonlight Sonata." — Can "play" go in that position?
It does sound strange to me, but if I ...
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bracket usage dilemma
If I include a reference at the end of a sentence where it is already included in a bracketed phrase, do you put one or two brackets to close?
E.g.
Goldilocks and her friend found that bears were ...
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158
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Apologize for misunderstanding
My English not very good, especially if I have to comply some formal standards. I understand it pretty well, but when I have to construct a sentence I face some difficulties.
So I will try to explain ...
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188
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Religious names in index. How do you order and present? [closed]
I have a book that discusses Catholicism. I would like to know if there are any established resources that advise on listing religious names in indexes, where the norm is reversal of surnames and ...
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Is it grammatically correct to omit a comma after dialogue ending in an ellipsis? [duplicate]
I know that Grammarly isn't always correct but before tonight, I didn't know punctuation directly after an ellipsis was grammatically correct, even in special circumstances such as dialogue.
Unless ...
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How to write numbers and percentage?
In the sentence –
Auditors recommend an increase of the allowance for bad debts by ten %.
– should the percent sign be there or should the word percent be spelled out. Also should the number be ...
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769
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'some degree of' - a little or a lot?
I'm a native English speaker, but I recently had reason to suspect I had misunderstood 'some degree of'. E.g.,
I can repair your car. It needs some degree of work before it will be ready
As part of ...
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3
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137
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"go too far" -- suitable for academic writing?
I am revising the following sentence in an academic paper:
The de facto XXX seems to go too far and notably undermine the readability.
where XXX is a named of a new technique.
I feel like "go too ...
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When quoting someone, is it proper to change "gotta" to "got to" without modifying the rest of the quote?
Lately, when I read quotes in the media, I've seen the following styles:
Spoken: "I gotta try harder."
Written: "I got to try harder."
Is is just my stupid ear/eye/brain that does a record scratch ...
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272
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Neologism: I am introducing a new term in my thesis for a concept but I am cautious [closed]
Is it arrogant in writing to explicitly say I came up with the term?
Fear of appearing arrogant made me think to just say:
X will be used throughout the thesis to refer to the concept of Y
without ...
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What are the real rules for choosing between the simple past and past perfect when both actions are in the past? [duplicate]
What are the real rules for choosing past perfect versus choosing past simple when you have two different past actions?
I ask because the English sequence of tenses rules I was taught would have ...
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48
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Word for kind of descriptive/metaphoric style
On a web-show called Bravest Warriors there is a character called Paralyzed Horse. He has a tendency to make these interesting monologues and I was curious if there was a name for the kind of language ...
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you owe me and you owe my [closed]
I read all the answers about "owe" but I am still confused. My question is not about the meaning of sentences, it's clear but which grammar rule is used in these sentences:
I owe you some money (and ...
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Grammar clarification on a sentence [closed]
I am using this statement in my job application's cover letter.
" Kindly requesting to consider my career interest and immediate availability."
Mentioned sentence is showing it as grammar error.
...
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In American English are the following three examples good to use for colon capitalization useage? [duplicate]
I know that a variant of this question has been asked before, and recalled what my Creative writing teacher told me about when to use capitalization after a colon, by using the following three example ...
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Which method should I use in writing? [closed]
When I am writing, should I let my thoughts flow naturally on the paper, or should I meticulously think them through and form full sentences out of them before putting them to paper? I'm really not ...
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Is ‘the reason why’ somehow objectionable?
It has just come to my attention that some consider ‘the reason why’
ungrammatical or otherwise unfortunate. David Crystal mentions it in
his introduction to Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English ...
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Were days ever written as ordinal numbers when writing day-month-year?
I know that the day is written as a cardinal number (1, 2, 3) and not an ordinal number (1st, 2nd, 3rd) in the day-month-year and the month-day formats. But was there ever a time when ordinal numbers ...
3
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When introducing an initialism for the first time in a paper, but the noun is possessive, do I make the initialism possessive as well?
E.g.,
Mobile network operator's (MNO's) networks are overloaded.
Or
Mobile network operator's (MNO) networks are overloaded.
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The em dash, and correct usage in the sentence that follows [duplicate]
As I walked through the channel — I knew it was over.
Is this a correct usage of the em dash?
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2
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How to discuss my unexpected experimental results? [closed]
In my research, I found that my proposed scheme does not provide very "high performance" gains as compared to the conventional scheme I was testing against.
Still, my results are better and I am ...
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49
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Alternate use of "Curation" as a noun
Stylistically, can "Curation" be used as a noun to describe the items being curated, instead of the act of curating? (e.g., a curation, these selected curations, etc.)
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How do you express in english the idea of noticing something
I'm writing an essay, and I'd like to write at the beginning of the text that it is important to notice the ambiguity of the question I'm asked. How can I do that properly in english?
I'm my language,...
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"worth" with possessive(s) in coordinated nominals
According to Garner Modern English Grammar
The idiomatic possessive should be used with periods of time and
statements of worth — 30 days’ notice (i.e., notice of 30 days), three
days’ time, ...
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2
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95
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Does this comma matter? [duplicate]
Commas always trip me up. I feel that I use them far too often, and I most likely do. Can anyone set my mind at ease in regards to the following sentence:
Neutrogena is a family-oriented brand ...
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1
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56
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Correct term for Parody/Mock writing
I was at the bookstore and came across a book titled, "You have to Fucking Eat" The book was written in the style of a child's picture book while the content and underlying message is more mature ...
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Is this an acceptable way of writing the count of items in a sentence?
My father served in the logistics branch of Indian armed forces and he had a very particular style of representing the number of items of a certain object. For example, he would use this sentence:
...
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73
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Correct capitalization when starting a sentence or headline with a parenthesized word
What is the correct way of capitalizing the following sentence?
(Most) people are good.
Should people also be capitalized? Or is it incorrect that most is capitalized?
Finally, does the same ...
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766
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Beginning list items with numerals
Most well-known style guides dictate that numbers should always be spelled out at the beginning of a sentence (Forty-seven percent of people...), even to the point of recommending rewriting to avoid ...
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Two close prepositions; how do you not end with one?
I've always had difficulty ascertaining the way to approach structuring a particular type of sentence re: the situation in the question title.
There are probably all sorts of ways to restructure ...
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Does one resign their office, or resign from office?
Stylistically, is it more appropriate to use it in the transitive, or intransitive way? Merriam-Webster has examples in both cases.
In Nixon's resignation speech, he says
"Therefore, I shall ...
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What is the equivalent of "euphony" when applied to writing?
In the details below, I use something to stand in for the word I am looking for. Speech may have euphony; writing may have something.
For example, when writing about the relative sizes of items, I ...
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How to say "I hope you will have fun/it will be great" in a different way?
I want to use "I hope it will be great" as this positive, supportive, and showing your excitement for the other sort of statement. Not exactly sure how to describe so I will give a few examples. Like ...
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What "of" should I replace with Saxon genitives? Avoiding too many "of"
I'm trying to write a short scientific article and ended up with this sentence:
Now we show the result of the analysis of the sequences of events with the data from the study.
As you can see there ...
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1k
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Use of italics and BrE single quotation marks
I'd like to know when to use italics and when to use single quotation marks should be used. For example:
The word he was looking for was ‘abjuration’.
vs
The word he was looking for was ...
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How do you write the opposite of a statement?
For instance:
"I am joyful."
Is the opposite "I am miserable," or "I'm not miserable"?
The opposite of "I am" is "I'm not" or even "you aren't", and the opposite of "joyful" is "miserable". When ...
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Using a capital letter for every word of a title [duplicate]
I have to write a post for my college website and it is the format of a "listicle". An introduction followed by short paragraphs with each paragraph getting a heading. My question is ...
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282
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At the beginning of a sentence in dialogue that sounds incomplete, should you use an apostrophe?
I'm not sure where I picked up this habit, but I think it might be grammatically incorrect. I'm a fiction writer and have just started working on a new novel, so I want to clear this up before I get ...
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When should I use "Figure out the rest" vs "figure the rest out"? Does it matter?
I'm writing something where a character tells someone else vaguely something that that she did in the past and then tacks on "I'll let you figure out the rest" at the end.
Then some of the notes of ...
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What are the best alternatives to sentence structure "A, but B; therefore C?"
I'm stuck in a rut. Today I wrote, "I planned to reboot my computer once a week, but an update forced it, so I left it up the rest of that week."
I feel like I use that structure too much, but that's ...
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2k
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What do humanitarian sciences refer to?
When to use humanitarian sciences and human sciences in contrast? According to my uni materials, humanitarian sciences should have something to do with scientific function style of texts.
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Why are English language essays written in past tenses?
As we are studying English from the nursery the thing that always confuses me is that whenever we write an essay it should be in past tenses and I always find difficulty in writing essays that way. I ...
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Correct way to reference sub bullet list [closed]
d. Include documentation of rating ______
i. Show rating of ______
ii. Include overall ______
1. Provide relevant documentation ______
In the example above, how would the last 3 ...
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447
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"to whom it may offend" vs. "to whom I may offend" [closed]
In my opening speech, is it right if I say
I apologize to whom it may offend"
or
"I apologize to whom I may offend"
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2
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The train just arrived at platform six is the delayed 13.15 from Hereford
The train just arrived at platform six is the delayed 13.15 from Hereford.
Q; In the above sentence, I assume "13.15" means hour and minute. But do you think writing hour and minute like this ...
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"Washington biographer" or "Washington's biographer"
Which of the following is correct?
Washington biographer Ron Chernow says...
Washington's biographer Ron Chernow says...
The only difference that comes to mind is that the latter implies there are ...
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4k
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Can I use "although" at the beginning of a paragraph?
For instance...
"Although it is hot outside, I put my jacket on. I then proceeded to take it on and off, all day long. I am not sure why I did this."
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Hyphen/dash 'and'-separated words in the same phrase: is this usage correct?
I have a phrase like this:
John enjoys translating economics- and IT- related articles
Is this a correct usage of the words economics- and IT- related? I think I saw such method of joining ...
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121
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If a speaker clearly emphasizes a word or a term, should it be written down in quotation marks?
If a speaker clearly emphasizes a word or a term, should it be written down in quotation marks?
e.g. Everyone's so intimidated by "big data."
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Does it need quotation marks on abstract nouns
I know for sure it needs quotation marks on verbs do, love and etc, in following sentence:
Human related actions like "do", "love", "hate", "sacrifice", and so on.
Because it would not be right ...
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