Happy Birthday, Stephen King!

It was first period during my senior year of high school.  I was surrounded by the cacophony of my fellow T.V. Production nerds and bathed in the white glow of fluorescent lights.  Not being on-air or behind-camera that day, I had decided to pass the remainder of the class period with Salem's Lot by Stephen King.  In the middle of the circus, I had to stop reading.  Not because I was distracted by the commotion, not because it was time to record our morning show, but because I was terrified! 

Don't Be a Serial Killer; Save the Oxford Comma!

After hating on Oxford two posts ago, I felt the need to give them some credit for my second favorite punctuation mark, the Oxford (or serial) comma.  The Oxford comma is an optional comma used before the conjunction in a list of three or more things. It may not always be necessary, but it certainly adds clarity. Instead of my typical type of lesson, I thought I would use pictures to illustrate why I always use my beloved Oxford comma.

Ban the Apostrophe? Balderdash!

As if the news I posted last week wasn't bad enough, here is another gem from across the pond:

Dropped Apostrophes Spark Grammar War in Britain
By HARVEY MORRIS
 
LONDON — A local council in southern England has sparked a grammar war with proposals to ban the apostrophe from its street signs to avoid what it calls “adverse consequences in times of emergency.”