Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. The little word “and,” we probably all know, is a conjunction. It connects things: “She is tall and thin” means she is ...

brendan-c on flickr John ate a slice of pepperoni pizza, and drank a bottle of beer. If that sentence doesn't make you involuntarily scowl, then you do not have a proper understanding of commas. Yet ...

If, for example, the word 'and' precedes a clause beginning 'although', you usually put a comma after it and, if it precedes a conditional clause, you normally insert a comma as well. Michael Bulley, ...

In the first part of the series on “Understanding the conventions of academic writing”, I discussed these two common error patterns: i) Missing comma after ...

The début of our new series on language in all its facets: grammar, syntax, vocabulary, spelling, usage, and punctuation. In this episode, Mary Norris talks about commas. at the New Yorker, sometimes ...

When we write things down, it's important to keep things nice and clear, so it's easy to read. Sentences help us give an order, ask a question, state a fact, or express an emotion or idea. Words are ...

Feelings about the semicolon run strong. Its proper use is a hallmark of literacy. Traditionally, the semicolon has three uses: it can replace a comma in a series that includes interior commas, such ...