Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I blogged about the Oxford comma debate when it blew up last week. Being English, I don't use it, whereas it's much more common in the US. I've tried to explain why I don't use it, but I'm not telling anyone else to stop. http://angrysubeditor.blogspot.com/2011/07/sex-and-drugs-and-rock-and-roll-and...

They have their uses. I was taught (possibly wrongly, but it works for me) that it varies, depending on where the pause or break comes. So: Pauses: "I felt I was… Actually, I don't know what I felt." (attached to the broken sentence) "You're not scaring me, you know…" (attached, ...

Do you say "between you and I", or does it annoy you that other people do?
Here's why you're right to get annoyed:

http://angrysubeditor.blogspot.com/2011 ... ammar.html

I blog about the technical aspects of writing from an editor's point of view.

Why commas are the riot police of punctuation.
http://t.co/zM6G2Ex

One advantage of blogging first and finding your way later is that you'll find clues based on what you write. I use Google's Blogger site, for no better reason than it was the first site that came to mind. When you look at the site statistics, you'll find tucked away at the bottom a list of Google k...

The short answer is, if you don't know what to say then perhaps you shouldn't be blogging. The internet is full of vapid garbage already. The longer and less confrontational answer is, are you sure you don't have anything to say? If you're here on this site, then you're presumably a creative writer ...

Thanks for your kind words, History Chef. And I apologise for the intrusive video links. I like them, but I can't work out how to make them smaller despite the much-appreciated advice from hulbertsfriend. What can I say? I'm new here!

Hulbert, do thank your friend for reading, enjoying and having the good grace to say so. It's appreciated.

Novelist Jonathan Franzen has had about the worst trip to Europe of any artist since Frank Zappa in 1971. Zappa, you might or might not remember, had a nightmare. He lost all his equipment in a fire in Switzerland (although the incident did inspire Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water, which can't be a ...