So how do we produce readable and clean scientific writing? One of the good elements of style is to avoid adverbs and adjectives (Zinsser 2006). Adjectives and adverbs sprinkle paper with unnecessary ...

MODIFIERS give us information about a noun or pronoun in a sentence. They are important because they help to paint the true picture of the information we seek to convey to our reader or listener. The ...

James J. Kilpatrick, on vacation this week, shares a column published in March 2004: Among the most readable publications in the field of law is Supreme Court History, published every four months by ...

When dealing with compound modifiers, heed this advice from The Associated Press Stylebook: "Do not use a hyphen between adverbs ending in '-ly' and adjectives they modify." For example, no hyphens ...

Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. The “rules” under which hyphens are used to connect multiple modifiers, like “well(-)known man,” are varied and ...

DISCUSSED in the preceding five chapters were the consistent use of parallel structures as key to writing more readable, more forceful, and more polished sentences. Also, for clearer and more cohesive ...

Modifiers are elements of enhancing the meaning and beauty of constructions. However, when modifiers are not properly handled, they constitute fertile grounds for ambiguity and miscommunication.

The beef had been aged dry for 30 days, and it changed my life. Not the way you’re thinking. I didn’t eat the life-changing meat. I just read about it in an article I was editing — and my relationship ...

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you don’t know something, so you just avoid it altogether? For instance, because I don’t know how to swim, I avoid parties on mega yachts. I can’t tell ...