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🎁 A seasonal mistake
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'Tis the season for confusion about apostrophes. You've probably already seen it: a holiday card from "the Smith's" or "the Lee's," instead of the properly unpunctuated "Smiths" or "Lees." In the spirit of this common seasonal mistake, we're reviewing apostrophe use today. And we have another holiday-themed reminder. The apostrophe serves a few purposes in the English language. It's used for possessives: "Jane’s favorite punctuation." It's also used for omissions: "I've been using apostrophes well since '04." You also might add an apostrophe to limit confusion, such as in the phrase do's and don'ts. And you want to dot all your i's, not your is. That one showcases two apostrophe rules at once: You should use them to limit confusion and for the plurals of single letters: "He was conscious of the three R's: reduce, reuse, recycle." However, do not use them to make decades or acronyms (or your last name) plural: "The students in their 30s have the highest GPAs." So should your holiday card be free of apostrophes? Not if you're writing season's greetings. Before we sign off for the rest of 2024 (we'll be back in your inbox on January 3), we're excited to share that we're working on new features that we plan to unveil next year. If you're interested in getting a preview — and giving us feedback that will help these features meet your needs — please let us know below ⬇️
Happy holidays! ❤ Team Stylebot
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Hone your writing skills and never use "hone in" again. Get writing tips, have fun with words and learn something new in a one-minute read each week by signing up for Stylebot’s newsletter.
Happy Friday! We hope you had a good Fourth of July weekend. We're back in your inbox this week with another writing quiz, and for this one we're taking it back to our quiz roots with a set of commonly confused words...with a slight twist 🔀 The committee agreed to ______ further discussion since approval was a _______ conclusion. forgo, forgone forego, foregone forgo, foregone forego, forgone If this one's too easy for you, tell us: What's an editing challenge we can help you with? We might...
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