Just what is the best way to hyperlink this sentence, if the words JavaScript and screen readers are to be the anchor text? Blind accessibility consultant Aaron Cannon and co-worker Aaron Barker have authored "JavaScript and screen readers". And if you thought there were at least six options to choose from, then you were correct. What's more important though? Grammatical, or semantical correctness? As is usual with the Authentic Boredom ... Read full entry

Cool, a website especially dedicated to making the distinction between it's and its clear. This could start something though, how something similar for lets versus let's? Ah, when to use an apostrophe, and when not to... And on the subject of apostrophes, this article on their correct usage at Flying Solo.

This is the endorsement I've been waiting for: Punctuation Man has decided to throw his support behind the use of the serial comma, or Oxford comma, which is, of course, also known as the Harvard comma: There is no small debate about the serial comma (also known as the Oxford Comma). It is a comma used before a coordinating conjunction (such as "and") before the last item in a ... Read full entry

A list of ten words that are over used in writing. If the exclusion of a certain word is good enough for Mark Twain, then it's good enough for me. Mark Twain made this comment about using "very": "Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." "Very" is a crutch for finding ... Read full entry

Typo vigilantes Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, whose "work" I mentioned a few months ago, have been convicted of vandalising a noticeboard at a US national park, after noticing it contained a number of grammatical and spelling errors, and then correcting them. An affidavit by National Park Service agent Christopher A. Smith said investigators learned of the vandalism from an Internet site operated by Deck on behalf of ... Read full entry

Since I'm upon the pinnacle of learning and wisdom that is the UNSW campus, I'd better watch my grammar... a very scholarly sort scowled at me when I inadvertently dropped an apostrophe while drafting a post earlier. I thought I'd highlight Alex's comments on paragraphs though, as some people seriously need to find their computer's enter key... This can be a problem on the web, as apparently the ‘enter’ key ... Read full entry

Typo personalities Apostrophe Man would be delighted with the efforts of Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson who are men on a mission, a mission to correct poor grammar, wherever they find it. Picture a pair of Kerouacs armed with Sharpies and erasers and righteous indignation - holding back a flood of mixed metaphors and spelling mistakes and extraneous punctuation so commonplace we rarely notice it anymore. But they ... Read full entry

You can stick your em-dash up your dot dot dot Brothercake, aka James Edwards, has been writing up a storm these last few days, first taking on Ajax, and now putting the grammar police in their place. And it's all making for some good reading... We see similar examples in grammar, for example over split-infinitives. According to the prescribed rules of grammar it's wrong to split an English infinitive: "to ... Read full entry

Graduates ‘sms’ in job l3tt3rs It could be I was wrong to defend Generation Y against allegations of being a bunch of slackers, if a recent SMH report, stating university graduates are using text-messaging-like language and grammar in cover letters for job applications, is anything to go by. Annabelle Puddy, the national head of recruiting for Accenture, said it was a particular problem among students who ... Read full entry