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On land or at sea?
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Did you see any flags flying at half-staff on Memorial Day? What about at half-mast? These terms are often used interchangeably to describe flags that are flown only halfway up the flagpole, and the answers to last week's quiz on the terms were pretty evenly split. We probably should have added an "it depends" answer choice, though. Everyone technically got it right, but we recommend using "half-staff" as the default term, as it's what's used for flags on land. Reserve "half-mast" for flags on ships or at naval installations. We asked you in the fall about the most common writing mistakes you make and/or correct. One of the top choices was passive voice, and we're excited to share the reviews for the passive voice checker in our Google Docs extension are in. Here's what one person had to say: "The passive voice checker is hugely valuable to me. It caught the phrases I overlooked, which helped me quickly write in a clearer way!" Try the extension for free by signing up on our website, and remember that educators get a discount through June 30. Just use code SUMMER2025 at checkout. This week, we're trying something new with the quiz. As always, you can tell us what you think here.
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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.
If you really, really wanted to look for it, there was a clue in last week's subject line that might have helped you on the quiz. The subject line was, "Like the ones that came before." Not "befor," which we realize isn't a word. But the second "e" in "before" might help you remember the difference between forego and forgo. "Forego" means to go before, while "forgo" means to abstain from. And we use foregone in the phrase "foregone conclusion." So the correct sentence from last week's quiz...
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...
One fun thing about writing is that it's both rule-based and flexible. So sometimes, there are no wrong answers. Such is the case with last week's quiz, when we asked you about the plural of octopus. Your choices were octopi (the plural that assumes a Latin origin of the word), octopodes (the proper plural for a word of Greek origin) and octopuses (the English way to pluralize it). Most of you picked "octopi," and exactly zero people chose "octopodes": No one got it wrong, and even if someone...