This post is especially for my good friend, mentor and fellow pedant, Ann Hawkins, who claimed on Twitter recently that she would fire anyone who dares to use reflexive pronouns incorrectly. Reflexive pronouns are those words with ‘self’ in them. Myself. Yourself. Himself. Herself. Themselves. Think of reflex angles: they’re the ones that go back [...]
I read recently on Facebook that one of my friends had encountered ‘hoards’ of Japanese tourists during her visit to Cambridge. Unless the city has started hoarding its tourists in cupboards and refusing to allow them to leave, I would imagine my friend was referring to ‘hordes’. It’s not a surprising error. Indeed, it’s not [...]
Last week I was approached by a reporter from the Cambridge News who wanted my views on Cambridge City Council’s decision to drop apostrophes from new road signs. It was the first I’d heard of this, although I had read about this ruling for other counties. I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that Cambridge was [...]
I’m sometimes asked this question at networking events, and a very interesting question it is. It makes sense for a business to employ a copy-writer to ensure its promotional material is professional and its website beyond reproach, and I would be the first to encourage this practice. However, the problem here is that most businesses [...]