I've noticed an increasing trend lately for people to write 'should of', 'would of' and 'could of' instead of 'should have', 'would have' and 'could have'. For example, 'I could of left earlier'. Now think about this for a minute. It doesn't make sense, does it? So why are people using it? And I'm not talking about children, I'm talking about adults. People with university degrees. In one case I noticed recently, by someone who writes for a living and teaches others to write. I suspect it's a c

I was in year 4 at school when the concept of quotation marks was introduced to our class. Because I was a smartypants I had been writing stories for years using quote marks to contain my characters' speech, and the initial lesson on quotation marks was a validation of what I'd already been doing. I had taught myself by reading novels and noticing how quote marks went outside commas and periods. It all seemed pretty logical. And it is. So here's a quick lowdown on how to use quote marks. The Au

Hands up if you've heard of The Greengrocer's Apostrophe. This is an apostrophe incorrectly used with an 'S' after it to form a plural of a word. You'll see it not only in the greengrocer's shop but widely in the retail sector, online and in print advertising. Here are some samples: Potatoe's $4.00/kg, Apple's $2.95/kg or Tomatoe's $5.95/kg (should simply be Potatoes, Apples or Tomatoes) 1000's of DVD's on sale (should be 1000s of DVDs, or, even better, thousands of DVDs) P's and Q's (yes, r