Writing

Precis-writing

December 7, 2010

A precis is a summary. Precis writing is an exercise in compression. A precis is the gist of a passage expressed in as few words as possible. A precis should give all essential points so that anyone reading it will be able to understand the idea expressed in the original passage. Note that precis writing [...]

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Contractions

December 6, 2010

The forms like I’ve, don’t etc. are called contractions. There are two kinds: Auxiliary verb + not can’t (= cannot) wouldn’t (= would not) shouldn’t (= should not) won’t (= will not) haven’t (= have not) isn’t (= is not) You shouldn’t do it. I can’t come. He won’t go. Noun / pronoun / etc [...]

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Abbreviation, Acronym and Initialism

October 25, 2010

Abbreviation The label abbreviation refers to the practice of writing a word or phrase that could also be written out in full using only the letters of the alphabet. Examples are: Mr for mister, Dr for doctor and Capt for captain. In British English full stops are uncommon after abbreviations that contain the first and [...]

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Semicolon, Colon and Interrogation mark

June 22, 2010

Semicolon (;) The semicolon represents a longer pause than the comma. It is used to separate the clauses of a compound sentence, when they contain a comma. He was a simple, unassuming man; yet we all respected him. Note that the semicolon is usually followed by conjunctions like and, but, yet or or. The semicolon [...]

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