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Mini-Rant o’ the Day: “Couple”

In some uses, you can use couple without of:

They are a couple.
It is a retreat for couples.

In others, you cannot:

I will list a couple of examples here.
She has a couple of books in her house.

Here’s the key: replace couple with pair, and see if you need of:

They are a pair.

NOT: They are a pair of.

It

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The Importance of Diction

As all three of my regular readers know, I have a list of what I call “the basic tools of the writer.” These are (in no particular order) spelling, punctuation, diction, syntax, and grammar. I periodically get emails about one or another of this list, typically doing one of two things: either telling me what

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Online Feedback: Part II

I’ve said this before, and now I’m going to say it again.
Maybe not so nicely this time.

When your friend approaches you with a manuscript, hot off the printer and dripping ink, and your friend says to you “Hey, you! (says your friend to you) Tell me what you think of the choices I’ve (that

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The First Rule of Drafting

Reposted from an article I wrote on www.webook.com.
He’s studied the Rules extensively, not so that he’ll know what to do and what not to do, but so that he’ll know what to do openly and what to sneak around at.

–The Bumbler’s Apprentice, Other Loves

“The Rules of Drafting,” the teacher writes across the

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The Single-Slotted, Three-Pronged Widget – Structure, Syntax, and Ambiguity

A million years ago, when I took my first drafting classes,

it was assumed that laying out a drawing required certain skills, and that those skills could be taught. Indeed, the learning of those skills was the primary focus of early-level drafting classes. Of course, the need for those skills still exists, but but

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