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Use modifiers to write long sentences well Joseph M. Williams (Style: Toward Clarity and Grace) says: ‘Every competent writer has to know how to write a concise sentence and how to prune a long one to readable length. But a competent writer must also know how to manage a long sentence gracefully, how to make […]

Is the past tense of learn, learned or learnt?   Reader’s question: What is the difference between learned and learnt as the past tense of the verb ‘to learn’? Answer: Both are acceptable and mean the same thing. Learnt is more common in British, Australian and New Zealand English, and learned is more common in US English. English has many irregular verbs that change their […]

When to use full stops with abbreviations The rules around punctuation with abbreviations are as follows. Abbreviations of first letters When a word is abbreviated after the first few letters, the traditional rule is to put a full stop after the abbreviation. Inc. cont. However, many writers no longer use a full stop with some […]