Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 2d

Yep, I looked into it. This checks out.

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 3d

It’s become the all-purpose punctuation mark to a lot of people, in the same way the ellipsis has been for years. It’s the mark people use when they know they want a pause but don’t know how commas, periods, and semicolons work.

1

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 3d

I’m not saying em dashes are good or bad or a sign of AI or whatever. I’m just saying you don’t need an em dash in every sentence. You certainly don’t need three in one sentence. I mean, really.

4 11

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 3d

I keep getting notifications from the Starbucks app announcing new secret menu drinks, and I don’t think they understand how secrets work.

3

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 6d

Yes, absolutely!

1

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 6d

Hey, if you’re embedding a link on a webpage or in an email or in a document (so, anywhere), make the link longer than one word. “Click here for more information” should be hyperlinked — not just the word “here.” This works better for people with small screens, low vision, or imprecise hands.

3 10 32

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 6d

I’m getting pumped for the 2026 ACES conference in Atlanta. I’d like to propose a session, but about what? The stuff I’m qualified to talk about—editing for conciseness, B2B editing—already get done every year. Last year I presented on proposal editing, which is pretty niche.

Thoughts, #EdiBuddies?

1

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 6d

I’ll allow it.

1

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 6d

Good lord! I would even cut “currently” from the final sentence.

1

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 8d

Yesterday’s NYT Spelling Bee didn’t accept “gyat.” SMDH.

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 9d

The semicolons I’m encountering today are being used to separate items in lists, but the items don’t contain internal commas, so the semicolons are unnecessary. I’m imagining the writer saying, “Hmm, I know I learned SOMETHING about using semicolons in lists. Is this how you do it?”

1 2

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 9d

I’ve encountered many semicolons today, and not a single one was used correctly.

1 1 10

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 10d

I was listening to a podcast, and the host was talking about boiled eggs. Because of his accent (Southern US), his pronunciation of “boiled” sounds like “bold,” and I love it. I shall now always refer to boiled eggs as bold eggs.

1 4

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 19d

provide oversight and monitoring of --> oversee and monitor

#AmEditing #BuriedVerbs #ZombieNouns

7

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 22d

UPDATE: In the very next sentence, “leveraging” made an appearance.

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 22d

Just came across “leverage” and “utilizing” IN THE SAME SENTENCE. #AmEditing

4 6

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · 26d

The 2018 firing of ABC employee Roseanne Barr was a personnel decision made by ABC.

The 2025 suspension of ABC employee Jimmy Kimmel was a personnel decision made by the federal government.

If you don’t understand the difference, go back and read that slowly or ask a friend to read it to you.

1 2

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · Sep 15

I hope Nate Bargatze’s Boys and Girls Club stunt at the Emmys is the beginning of the end of this nation’s love of Nate Bargatze. Shortening speeches, making room for more bits, and putting a charity in the middle is a trifecta of bad decisions.

2

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · Sep 12

Narrator: “We are, in fact, like that.”

1

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · Sep 7

we offer virtual training, accessible online --> we offer virtual training

#AmEditing

2 3

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · Aug 19

to facilitate the identification of --> to identify

#AmEditing

3

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · Aug 19

The Cambridge Dictionary has added an entry for “skibidi.” To paraphrase a post I saw a decade ago regarding “twerk”: If you think your opposition to a dictionary recognizing “skibidi” makes you a defender of the English language, you don’t understand how the English language or dictionaries work.

1 8

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · Aug 11

While editing, I accidentally changed “Sodium reduction” to “Sodium Seduction.” I immediately corrected it, but now I can’t stop imagining what sodium seduction would look like.

1 3

Reposted by Dave Nelsen

Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · Feb 2

Removing this from its original context today so as to avoid turning it into a dunk, but for the thousandth time:

The word "till" in the sense of "until" predates the word "until" by a century and has been in regular use for a millennium, give or take.

It's not an abbreviation; it's a word.

33 94 680

Dave Nelsen @thegrammargeek.bsky.social · Aug 8

Listen, if I’m editing something for you and you’ve told me to use Merriam-Webster as my guide, I’m going to change “roadmap“ to “road map.” I won’t like it, but I’ll do it.

#AmEditing

10