Links to Maeve’s 2009 essays at DWT (Daily Writing Tips)
December 2009
- 31: Difference Between Barbarous and Barbaric?
- 30: Running Amok or Running Amuck?
- 29: Taking another Pass at Passed
- 28: Feel Strong or Feel Strongly?
- 25: Happy Yuletide!
- 24: Beware of the Irregular Past Participle Forms
- 23: What’s That Thingummy?
- 22: Tomayto or Tomahto?
- 21: Word Inflation, or Unnatural Syntax?
- 18: Mistletoe
- 17: Epiphany or Mere Realization?
- 16: Elision or tmesis?
- 15: A Cigarette Butt is One Thing
- 14: Quotation Marks and Apostrophe S
- 11: Jill Came Tumbling After
- 10: Hey You!
- 09: Difference Between inure and enure
- 08: Thou lily-liver’d boy!
- 07: Therefore and Therefor
- 04: Reign or Regime?
- 03: Verbification at Work
- 02: Ham and Eggs is or are?
- 01: Taser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?
November 2009
- 30: The Serial Comma is OK with Me
- 27: Owing to vs Due to
- 26: Are you a Writer or A Person Who Writes?
- 25: Hamstrings and Hamstringing
- 24: Cutting the Mustard
- 23: Curating the Web
- 20: What the Heck are Peeps?
- 19: Sobeit and So Be It
- 18: So Sorry to Hear That You Were Impacted!
- 17: Imply and Infer
- 17: In and On with Time Expressions
- 16: Literary Essays and School Essays
- 13: Hypercorrecting A Well-known Phrase
- 12: Bring and Take
- 12: Calloused or Callused?
- 11: Playing with Titles
- 10: Regarding Re:
- 09: Mystery Writing Contest for Unpublished Novelists
- 06: Parsons Chairs and Parsons
- 05: Appositives and Possessives
- 05: Leech and Leach
- 04: Allude and Elude
- 03: Can You Write Mifiction?
- 02: On the Use of Nemesis
October 2009
- 30: The Negative Prefix il-
- 29: Quoting Copyrighted Work
- 29: Catfights and Dogfights
- 28: Critical Analysis of Your Own Writing
- 28: The Demise of De Luxe
- 27: Clauses and Phrases
- 26: Here I thought Nimrod was a compliment!
- 23: Verbs in -ize and -ise
- 22: What’s the Difference Between Too and Also?
- 21: Who or That, That Is The Question
- 21: Words Often Misspelled Because of Double Letters
- 20: How to Use Dashes
- 20: Illegal Aliens and Illegal Immigrants
- 19: Meddling with Mettle
- 16: The Many Uses of Swipe
- 15: Anyway, Any Way, or Anyways?
- 15: The Curious Case of Whet
- 14: Ambiguity or Futility?
- 13: Finding Time to Write in High School
- 12: Writing, Art or Craft?
- 12: Soldiers or Troops?
- 09: Wardens and Guardians
- 08: Might, May, and Can
- 08: Compared to or Compared with?
- 07: Using the Question Mark
- 07: Other, Another and A Whole Nuther
- 06: Comma Before Too?
- 06: CamelCase
- 05: Words and Expressions Related to Palm
- 02: Strolling Down the [AV]
- 01: The Subjunctive Mood
- 01: Forget about the Dark Ages
September 2009
- 30: Avert eyes, Divert attention
- 29: Books About Writing
- 29: Foo Fighters and UFOs
- 28: Are You Sure You Mean Majority?
- 25: Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?
- 24: What’s the Difference Between Say and Tell?
- 23: Subject-Verb Agreement
- 23: Three Fairly New British Language References
- 22: Loath and Loathe
- 21: Doing Good
- 18: Time, Gentlemen, Please!
- 17: Choosing Between If and Whether
- 16: What do you call your Wordhord?
- 15: When Shortening Synchronize, Best Leave Off the h
- 14: For Our ESL Readers
- 11: Empathic or Empathetic?
- 10: So and Therefore Are Clumsy Companions
- 09: How to Describe Gibberish
- 08: Stifle, already!
- 07: Nothing Wrong with “went missing“
- 04: That Annoying New Verb “disrespect“
- 03: The irrealis “were” can say hello to the Dodo
- 02: It’s Greeking to Me
- 01: Sentence Flow
August 2009
- 31: Online Style Guides
- 28: Female or Woman?
- 27: Stunned, Astounded and Astonished
- 26: Critiquing is not Editing
- 25: Short clauses can take commas
- 24: Needing to do A Few Things
- 21: The Post Office is Kitty-corner to the Court House
- 20: Ah, Those -ah words in English!
- 19: Nothing to do with Raspberries, Exactly
- 18: Fount of Wisdom
- 17: Brainstorms, Turning to Showers
- 14: “Only” Murder
- 13: Uses of “Dispose“
- 12: The Devil, Part Two
- 11: The Basic English Grammar eBook
- 11: Period Goes Inside Quotation Marks
- 10: Into the Breach!
- 07: Can’t we just “raise” the question?
- 06: Television and the Present Perfect Tense
- 05: Persian is a Lovely Word
- 04: Let’s Just Prosecute to the FULL extent of the Law.
- 03: First Steps in Plotting a Novel
July 2009
- 31: Anorexia, Meet Orthorexia
- 30: How Do You Pronounce “Mozart”?
- 29: Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill
- 28: Juridical and Juridicial
- 27: An Exercise in Ambiguity
- 24: Sideways and Clockwise
- 23: Confusing Passed with Past
- 22: A Night in the MVSEVM
- 21: Charles’s Pen and Jesus’ Name
- 20: That Dark Type is Called Boldface
- 17: The Four Sounds of the Spelling OU
- 16: Hopefully Caring Less About Shibboleths
- 15: 10 Tips for Taking Notes
- 14: Verbing Nouns
- 13: A Girl Like I
- 10: One Space or Two At the End of a Sentence?
- 09: Running Errands and Doing Chores
- 08: Coming Down the Pike
- 07: When to Form a Plural with an Apostrophe
- 06: What’s Wrong with Ain’t?
- 03: Emailing a Literary Agent
- 02: Could it Be, Just Possibly, All a Ruse?
- 01: Why Bother About Correctness?
June 2009
- 30: Judgement or Judgment?
- 29: MLA Gets With the Times
- 26: Why Can’t Style Manuals Just Agree?
- 25: Pomp and Ceremony or Pomp and Circumstance?
- 24: Is Number Singular or Plural?
- 23: Hippo Words
- 22: First Come, First Served
- 19: Wracking or Racking Your Brain?
- 18: Does Web Usage Matter?
- 17: Writing the Century
- 16: Trouble with Vigorously and Vicariously
- 15: Words for Saintly Golden Light
- 12: Oligarchy + Monopoly ? Oligopoly
- 11: Free Rein or Free Reign?
- 10: Worshiping and Kidnapping
- 09: Rule of Thumb
- 08: Intact is One Word
- 05: The First Five Pages
- 04: Cinderella Didn’t Wear Cotton to the Ball
- 03: Subject Lines, Subscriptions and Submissions
- 02: Fly, Flew, (has) Flown-Flied?
- 01: Bouncebackability
May 2009
- 29: The Humble Foot
- 28: Italicizing Foreign Words
- 27: Airplane Ears
- 26: One L or Two?
- 25: Wake Up, Little Suzy!
- 22: Words Ending in -gue
- 21: Without Cease
- 20: In Search of a 4-Dot Ellipsis
- 19: Cannot or Can Not?
- 18: Good to Be Back!
- 15: Let’s Party!
- 14: Laurels and What One Does With Them
- 13: When is a Door Not a Door?
- 12: Verbs Like Know
- 11: The Cat’s Pajamas
- 08: You Too Can Sponsor A Word!
- 07: What’s a Miscreant and How Is It Pronounced?
- 06: Masters Degree or Master’s Degree?
- 05: Principal Parts of the Verb TO FIT
- 04: Speak of the Devil!
- 01: When is a Mistake Not a Mistake?
April 2009
- 30: Hurrah for the Lowly BUG
- 29: It’s Me vs It is I
- 28: How Can a War Be Civil?
- 27: Aesthetic or Aesthetical?
- 24: The Difference Between Phonics and Phonetics
- 23: Does Mr Take a Period?
- 22: Practice or Practise?
- 21: From Our Readers. Sneak/Snuck and WH
- 20: Taking Another Look at Strunk and White
- 17: Not Good or No Good?
- 16: Eating Humble Pie
- 15: Words beginning with homo-
- 14: A Harrowing Use of Harry
- 13: Civil Liberties and Civic Duties
- 10: Chopping Off Syllables
- 09: No Sooner Than (Not When)
- 08: Chocolate Covered or Chocolate-Covered?
- 07: Is There a Difference Between Assume and Presume?
- 06: Not Winning a Contest Doesn’t Mean Your Writing is No Good
- 03: Tracking the Fangle in Newfangled
- 02: Hurrah for the Index Card!
- 01: Addressing Envelopes
March 2009
- 30: Sneaking up on Snuck
- 27: Pronouncing Words that Begin with WH
- 26: How Drunk Are You? Let Me Count the Ways!
- 25: Character Tags in Fiction
- 24: The Many Faces of Run
- 23: That Elusive Will o the Wisp
- 20: Mmmm, You Dirty Rat!
- 19: Deep POV
- 18: Modernizing Liturgical English
- 17: Running Toward the House, or Towards the House?
- 16: In the Long Tail
- 13: How Fancy Should Your Manuscript Be?
- 12: Participles Fused and Otherwise
- 11: Pangrams and Lipograms
- 10: Can Enclosure go at the top of a letter?
- 09: More Than One Meaning for Poke
- 06: Yours faithfully or Yours sincerely?
- 05: An Unexpected Question About You
- 04: Sample Query Letters
- 03: This Charette is Not A Tumbril
- 02: 30 Words Inspired by 29 People and An Elephant
- 02: The Changing Faces of Present and Presentation
February 2009
- 27: Flautist or Flutist?
- 26: 3 Reasons to Ditch Your Novel’s Prologue
- 25: O Captain, My Captain!
- 24: The Difference Between While and Whilst
- 23: 4 Exasperating Malapropisms
- 20: I wish I were
- 19: Tastes Good Like/As ?
- 18: Not All Epithets are Insults
- 17: When -OT is [?t]
- 16: What’s a Retronym?
- 13: Satire, Parody, and other Forms of Ridicule
- 12: Trouble with Did and Had
- 11: Why So Much Anger Over Usage?
- 10: Don’t Overdo Do
- 09: Love Song to a Dictionary
- 06: What Do Writers Read?
- 05: Tracking a Quotation
- 04: The Word is Succumbed
- 03: How Many Sentences in a Paragraph?
- 02: What Is A Pundit or Punditry?
January 2009
- 30: Writing a Pitch
- 29: Before and Ago
- 28: How Long Should a Synopsis Be?
- 27: What’s the Difference Between a Speech and an Address?
- 26: What’s Your Style?
- 23: The Chief Justice’s Prepositional Slip
- 22: Making Sense of Since
- 21: Body Parts as Tools of Measurement
- 20: Reflections on Versus
- 19: Dealing With A Character’s Internal Thoughts
- 16: Swiss Army Knife for Writers
- 15: Time to Re-Read Orwell?
- 14: Are You Guilty of Genericide?
- 13: Words Formed from the Initial Letters of Other Words
- 12: Is Your Novel Ready to Go?
- 09: When Most is Enough
- 08: Pass the Chile
- 07: Hey Clyde, Who’s That Harvey?
- 06: Be Sure to Dot Your is!
- 05: Banished Words of 2009
- 02: Beginning Your Mystery Novel
- 01: The Plural of Calf is Calves, or is it?
NOTE:Â Electronic rights to the articles linked from this page belong to Daniel Scocco. All other rights (print, translation, etc.) belong to Maeve Maddox, a.k.a. Margaret Joan Maddox, Ph.D.