Category Archives: Punctuation & Grammar

Punctuation and grammar. It’s the bane of every writer’s existence, but it’s a necessary evil.

US or UK?

To US English or to UK English? Is that really the question?

Frequently, I find myself in the middle of a conversation talking about whether something should be written in US English or UK English. Sometimes, it's related to how something is punctuated (and yes, there is a difference between the two for some punctuation rules). Sometimes, it's in regards to whether a story would work better written in one versus the other—normally focused on whether a story set in the UK should be in UK English. And sometimes, it's connected to the frustrations that those around me have with Americans who don't understand that UK English is different to US English.

Within these conversations, I find myself becoming a bit of a broken record, asking the same questions over and over again. And it all comes down to one idea…

Who is your target audience?

So, let's break this down and really look at why understanding who your target audience is will determine which variant of English you use.

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Cooking with Commas

There are many things that can (and will) drive an editor batty. Punctuation just happens to among them. There is much confusion about punctuation. Often writers get them confused. Hell, even editors get muddled at times.

Today, I wanted to address the importance of the comma.

I will grant you that there is a significant amount of debate over the usage of commas, particularly the Oxford comma (whether we should or shouldn't use it). It probably doesn't help that the Oxford comma has now won a legal court case.

However, many editors will agree that commas seem to be disappearing from text, partly because of the increasing usage of smartphones and social media. This, folks, is not a good thing. I will grant you that when writing a hurried tweet, the comma can consume precious character counts. However, one little comma can change the entire meaning of a sentence. It can mean the difference between being a cannibal or a time traveller.

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