Rob’s Megaphone

Rob’s Rules for Writing
(This deep-links post revisits some of my previous posts)
Good writing requires tools, rules, and jewels.
 I hope you’ll find a new tool here to help craft your next masterpiece. Many of us have the same tools in our writing toolbox, but some may have gotten a little rusty. Rules were made to be [...]

English has got to be one of the toughest languages to learn. Even our exceptions to the rules have exceptions.
Here are some of my recent mental meanderings on mixed up meanings.
Confusing homophones
1.                  This bimonthly publication comes out every other month, and that bimonthly publication comes             
                              out twice a month. Both sentences are correct.
2.                  Loan (verb) me [...]

 How many words are in your vocabulary? The average high school graduate is said to know about 10,000 words. The average 4-year college graduate is said to know about 20,000 words. Do you have room for any more words in your vocabulary?
 
 
 

 
Here are some interesting words, which you may not know.
Upon learning an interesting word, [...]

Twelve Interesting Words
 How many words are in your vocabulary? The average high school graduate is said to know about 10,000 words. The average 4-year college graduate is said to know about 20,000 words. Do you have room for any more words in your vocabulary?
Here are some interesting words, which you may not know.
Upon learning an interesting [...]

Puny but powerful, the itsy bitsy comma remains a foe to many folks striving to use good grammar. The comma is among the most confusing and misused punctuation marks in English grammar. Some people place a comma whenever they pause in their proofreading. While this strategy is a good guide, it is not foolproof. Some [...]

 How many words are in your vocabulary? The average high school graduate is said to know about 10,000 words. The average 4-year college graduate is said to know about 20,000 words. Do you have room for any more words in your vocabulary?
Here are some interesting words, which you may not know.
Upon learning an interesting word, [...]

The best way to get your visitors to return to your blog is to reward them with your writing.
 
All the available social networks and blog marketing tools will do little to increase return visits to your blogs unless you first polish your posts. Follow these suggestions to improve your posts, and readers will come back [...]

We all know they exist, but we don’t speak of them. They are used everyday, but we dare not say them aloud. Their very existence requires us to be silent. And we comply without question. Most of them have no reason to be. They serve no useful purpose, but we accept that they are part [...]

A bicycle can’t stand alone; it is two tired.                                                                        
A will is a dead giveaway.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
A backward poet writes inverse.
In a democracy it’s your vote that counts; in feudalism, it’s your Count that votes.
A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
If you don’t pay your exorcist you can [...]

Preview the questions; then take the quiz
Choose precisely the right word in the following:
1. What was the (affect/effect) of the victory?
2. (Because/Since) he lied, he was expelled.
3. We need to go four miles (further/farther) before we make camp.
4. The prisoners (alluded/eluded) the guard.
5. Sentences with (less/fewer) words are easier to understand.
6. Any spelling is (all [...]