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Writing Tip 448: “Statue of limitations” vs. “Statute of limitations”

I imagine a woman of stone with her arms crossed and her wide stance as unyielding as her disposition. Is this what a statue of limitations would look like? A force blocking your way? Or perhaps something headless, limited herself.

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Writing Tip 447: “Team” vs. “Teem”

Teeming with chaos or teaming with chaos? And how does this change if we’re talking about ducks? Oh, a little letter makes all the difference. The world can feel overwhelming sometimes, but let’s at least ensure your spelling is under control.

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Writing Tip 446: “Flouting” or “Flaunting” the Rules

Let’s talk rebels with an ostentatious cause, because whether we’re talking “flout” or “flaunt,” rebellion and arrogance are likely part of the conversation.

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"Suss" or "Sus" - dark alley

Writing Tip 445: “Sus” vs. “Suss”

Oh, spellcheck, “suss” is indeed a word, even though it seems to be flagged often. It’s red-flagged “spelling mistakes” like this that make you seem kind of “sus” yourself actually, spellcheck. See what I did there? Are you having “sus” vs. “suss” confusion, folks?

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Writing Tip 444: “Persons” vs. “People” vs. “Peoples”

Okay, people! (Peoples? Persons?) Have you ever wondered when to use “persons” vs. “people” vs. “peoples”? Yes, all are proper plural forms in English. Let’s leave the singular “person” out of things for a moment. If we’re looking for the correct plural form, what is a writer/speaker to do?

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Writing Tip 443: Ellipsis Rules You Should Know

Oh, ellipses, the confetti of punctuation marks. A little here, a little there, and it feels a little bit like a celebration, no? Wait, that’s not what you’re going for? Sure, I talk about ellipses (the plural form of “ellipsis”) in detail in Get a Grip on Your Grammar (Career Press, 2017; HarperCollins India, 2020), but I wanted to return to the old favorite (ahem, overused) punctuation mark to clear up some confusion.

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Writing Tip 442: Catching “Flak” or “Flack”?

Should we talk about not catching “flak” when wearing your flak jacket? Is “flack” spelled similar to “quack”? Or else “flac” like “Big Mac”? “Flaque” like “plaque”? First things first, let’s narrow it down to just “flak” or “flack” for this conversation. Catching flak/flack Getting flak/flack Taking flak/flack As always, there’s a right answer, but there’s also a larger discussion. And this time, the conversation involves artillery, publicists, and the author Tom Wolfe. Sure, this sounds like the setup of a bad joke that I’ll catch flak/flack for, but stay with me.

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