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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

One should never generalize.

Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”

Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.

It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.

Avoid archaeic spellings too.

Understatement is always best.

Exaggeration is [...]