Category: Grammar and Punctuation

If you missed some of our quirky conversations on the rules, oddities and origins of the English language through the year, here’s a baker’s dozen of our favourites from 2019. (And yes, the origin of a ‘baker’s dozen’ is indeed one of them…) Enjoy!  

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week we’re discussing things to write

Every week in our free Australian Writers’ Centre newsletter, our Q&A desk handles the important lexical issues of the day. This week, a reader wanted to know about the ANZAC vs Anzac…<.p>

Q: Hi there, my TV guide lists the show “ANZAC Girls” as “Anzac Girls”. But surely, it has to be capitals, because it’s an acronym, right?
A: Okay, hang on, just need to put this batch of delicious Anzac biscuits in the oven first. Right, now, where were we? Ah yes. ANZAC vs Anzac.

Q: It stands for “Australia and New Zealand Army Corps” and therefore should be capitalised, should it not?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week we are feeling a little

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week it’s an itsy bitsy dilemma…

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week we’re playing well with others…

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, our ellipsis are sealed … Q:

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, it’s time to bite the

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, why we do things that

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’ll get there, one way

Each week, we chat about the quirks & anomalies of the “English” language. Like how you’re now thinking we’re being ironic because we put quote marks around English… Q: Hi AWC – I’d like to ask you about quotation marks. A: What’s your question? Q: Actually, just tell me everything

Each week, we chat about the quirks & anomalies of the English language – for example, why did we just use that dash and is it the same as a hyphen? Read on to find out… Q: Hello AWC, would you like to know one of my pet hates? A:

Each week, we chat about the quirks, oddities and anomalies of the English language. Like whether we needed a comma after the word “oddities” in that last sentence… Q: Hi AWC, one of our readers recently wrote to us to say that her mother always said that you should never

Each week, we chat about the quirks & anomalies of the English language – meaning we’ll have enough material to last us another century. This week, it’s the winter of our discontent… Q: Hi AWC, is it cold or is it just me? A: It’s winter, so we’re pretty sure

It’s not every day you get the scoop on all the grammar goings-on from someone on the inside. But today, we’re fortunate to be speaking with one of the biggest players and perhaps one of the more misunderstood members of the Punctuation Team. That’s right, it’s the one and only

Each week, we chat about the quirks & anomalies of the English language. This week, we explore want to know which words have a capital letter and which do not… Q: Hi AWC, I just got back from Australia’s capital. A: The letter A? Q: Haha, no, Canberra. And when

Each week, we chat about the quirks & anomalies of the English language. & this week, we explore why we should have used “and’” twice already in this intro… Q: Hi AWC. I have a question about this Q&A. A: That’s very “meta” of you. What would you like to

Each week, we chat about the quirks and anomalies of the English language. This week is brought to you by the letter S. Q: Hi AWC, is it apostrophe S or just apostrophe? A: Whoa… slow down. Slow down. Q: Can’t sorry, I’m double-parked. So which is it? A: Can

Each week, we chat about the quirks and anomalies of the English language. This week, we’re taking that fibre-optic camera and exploring your colon and semi-colon usage… Q: Hey there AWC. I’m having trouble with my colon. A: You may have the wrong Q&A session. Perhaps your doctor could help?

Each week, we chat about the quirks and anomalies of the English language. This week, there’s more to this one than meets the eye… Q: Hi AWC, this is going to be a long Q&A today, so please get comfortable. A: How do you know it’s going to be so long?