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 Stylebotβs newsletter.
Think π², not π
|
Whether you use "kitty" or "catty" before "corner" to describe something that is diagonally opposite, you're not talking about cats. In fact, the origin of "kitty-corner" is more closely related to dice π² π² That wasn't an option on last week's quiz, and we didn't trick you by giving you the option to pick "cats." Most of you guessed "diagonal," and while that is part of the word's meaning now, the origin of "kitty-corner" goes back to the French word meaning "four." English speakers adapted the French word "catre," meaning "four," to "cater" and used it to mean "four" in games involving cards and dice, according to Merriam-Webster. The four dots on a die and the four symbols on playing cards are in the corners of each surface, which positions some of the dots and symbols diagonally across from each other. Hence "catercorner," which evolved to "catty-corner" and "kitty-corner," which is now the most common variant β and the version Stylebot recommends. Here's how that looks in our new Google Docs extension: Remember, educators who sign up to use the Google Docs extension by the end of the month can get a 25% discount. Use code SUMMER2025 at checkout. All right, we're getting ready for next Friday with this week's quiz...
β€ Team Stylebot
π A tip a weekIf someone forwarded you this email, subscribe here to get one writing tip a week in your inbox. π¬ Get reliable, ethical writing advice at your fingertipsImproving your writing means making better choices every day. Stylebot makes it easy with our Slack, Teams and Google Chrome extensions. Try Stylebot for free today. π About StylebotStylebot helps media professionals save time without sacrificing quality by answering editing questions on Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Chrome. We're on a mission to make editing faster, easier and more fun β¨ Learn more about Stylebot or follow us Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
β
|
Stylebot
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 Stylebotβs newsletter.
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...
Dangling modifiers creep into our speaking and writing all the time, but you all are pretty good at spotting one π§ If you didn't take last week's quiz, you might be thinking, "What are dangling modifiers and how can I avoid them?" Dangling modifiers occur when a sentence begins with an adjectival modifier but the subject of that modifier is misplaced in the sentence or simply isn't there at all. Longtime newsletter readers will be familiar with our favorite high-profile example that's easily...
To write the phrase do's and don'ts, you need to create your own list of do's and don'ts. Do you, for example, stay consistent on apostrophe use, or do you instead insert an extra apostrophe for clarity? You can see that we opt for the latter, but that's not what you prefer. The vast majority of you who took last week's quiz like "dos and don'ts." We can relate. As longtime newsletter readers know, one of our pet peeves is when people unnecessarily add an apostrophe along with the "s" to make...