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Capitalize names of holidays such as “Thanksgiving” but lowercase adjectives like “happy” within a larger sentence.
- I wished her a happy Thanksgiving.
Style standalone, personal greetings as you like.
#greetings #writing #EnglishTips #Thanksgiving
Read more: https://editorsmanual.com/articles/holiday-greetings-capitalization/
There’s no apostrophe in “Veterans Day.”
✅ Veterans Day
❌ Veteran’s Day
❌ Veterans’ Day
The word “veterans” in the name of this holiday is treated as a descriptive rather than a possessive term. Read more in https://editorsmanual.com/articles/veterans-day-apostrophe/
To form the possessive of a name ending in “s,” you can add an apostrophe and another “s” or just an apostrophe. Both styles are acceptable.
✅ Charles’s crown
✅ Charles’ crown
#AmEditing #Editing #Writing #EnglishTips
https://editorsmanual.com/articles/possessives-of-names-ending-in-s/
Don't use scare quotes for emphasis. Use them to show nonstandard use of a word or imply irony, skepticism, or disdain.
- This button allows you to “poke” the user.
- Oh, was he “busy” again?
- They've issued an “apology.”
It's interesting how "some" and "any" can convey contrasting meanings.
- Isn't there some way to cancel these tickets?
(confirming positive expectation)
- Don't you have any money?
(confirming negative expectation)
Both of these are correct, depending on the style you follow:
✅ Indigenous Peoples’ Day
✅ Indigenous Peoples Day
If you use an apostrophe, place it after and not before the “s” in “peoples.”
❌ Indigenous People’s Day
#AmEditing #writing #EnglishTips #IndigenousPeoplesDay #EnglishOnline #apostrophe
Read more: https://editorsmanual.com/articles/indigenous-peoples-day/
When you write about wishing someone on their special day, don't capitalize common nouns and adjectives (like “birthday” and “happy”).
❌ I wished her a Happy Birthday.
✅ I wished her a happy birthday.
#AmEditing #writing #EnglishTips
https://editorsmanual.com/articles/festive-greetings-capitalization/
Place a period inside parentheses if they enclose an entire sentence, but outside if the parenthetical text is part of a larger sentence.
✅ Cats love cheese. (They also like pizza.)
*but*
✅ Cats love cheese (and pizza).
#AmEditing #writing #EnglishTips
https://editorsmanual.com/articles/punctuation-with-parentheses/
Place punctuation inside parentheses if it belongs to the parenthetical text, and outside if it belongs to the larger sentence. Periods, question marks, exclamation points, and quotation marks go inside if they are meant to punctuate the parenthetical text, while commas, dashes, colons, and semicolons always appear after a closing parenthesis.
Use em dashes to build upon an idea and present additional information.
She waved at us—a sad, hopeful little wave.
Public transport services—trains, buses, ferries—were suspended during the lockdown.
In formal writing, use a colon to introduce a list only after a grammatically complete sentence, not a fragment.
❌ You will need:
✅ You will need three things:
❌ To bake a cake:
✅ To bake a cake, follow these steps:
