From the Archives: Semicolon

Some recent back and forth with a long time blog reader about paper, punctuation and other writerly subjects inspired me to go back to Cecilia Watson’s Semicolon, which I reviewed in August, 2019.  Here’s what I said then.  I am pleased to report that the book is just as good as I remember.   If…

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Punctuation, grammar, and like that

Anyone who comes to History in the Margins solely for historical tidbits may want to abandon ship today. Instead of committing my usual history-geekery, I intend to talk about the most appealing book I’ve ever read about the mechanics of writing.* One of the things that instructors of writers say with some frequency is that…

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