Author Archives: Mignon

A Quick Message About Split Infinitives

Posted on January 24, 2010 by Mignon

People are posting messages on my Facebook page incorrectly stating that split infinitives are against the rules in English and that good writers should not split infinitives. I needed to take immediate action to dispel this myth. The authoritative Bryan … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

BTG 010 Podcast: Books, Kindle, Word of the Year, Retweeting, Quick and Dirty Tips in 2009

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Mignon

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST AT ITUNES Main Topics Book sales at big stores weren’t good over Christmas. What’s up with the Kindle? Does it matter that Kindle books outsold print books on Christmas day? Why is Amazon releasing the Kindle … Continue reading →

Posted in BTG Podcast | 5 Comments

Radio Interviews to Promote ‘The Grammar Devotional’

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Mignon

I’m doing 23 radio interviews tomorrow morning (January 5, 2010) to promote my newest book, The Grammar Devotional. Thirteen interviews are live, so I know what time they will air. The others are taped, so I can’t tell you when … Continue reading →

Posted in book | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Is Your Stuff Worth a Retweet?

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Mignon

This is my “duh” observation for the day, but since many people don’t seem to get it, it seems worth writing about: I’m more likely to tweet about your promotion (or retweet you) if you give me something worth retweeting. … Continue reading →

Posted in twitter | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sneaked Versus Snuck

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Mignon

If you like this video, you can subscribe at my YouTube channel so you get notified when I post a new video. You can also rate videos there and find more of my older videos.

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Consider Buying ‘Garner’s Modern American Usage’

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Mignon

People often ask me what is the one book I couldn’t live without, and the answer is Garner’s Modern American Usage, which is why I was shocked to receive the message below (which I trimmed) from the author this morning … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Podcasts on an E-reader?

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Mignon

Buried near the end of an article about Barnes & Noble’s new ereader, Nook, I found this tidbit: “the device supports a user’s pictures and MP3s (it includes a speaker and headphone jack…” The Nook also supports RSS subscriptions, but … Continue reading →

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BTG008 An Inarticulate Tribute to William Safire

Posted on October 2, 2009 by Mignon

A tribute to William Safire, language columnist for the New York Times, who died this week of cancer. Emoticons in student papers. Do libraries prefer paperbacks or hardbacks? Marc and Fausto from the Feast of Fun podcast have come up … Continue reading →

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Semicolons Are Wrong?

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Mignon

OK, I had to create this poll. I really had to. An author on Twitter said she doesn’t think there’s a place for semicolons in modern fiction: “When editors put them in character’s dialogue, it is like a reading speed … Continue reading →

Posted in poll, Punctuation, twitter | Tagged , | 56 Comments

National Punctuation Day Contest

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Mignon

September 24 is National Punctuation Day! Send an ode to your favorite punctuation mark to punctuation@quickanddirtytips.com. The week of the 24th, we’ll feature the best entries as the tip-of-day in the Grammar Girl e-mail newsletter, and one entry may be … Continue reading →

Posted in twitter, Uncategorized | 2 Comments