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All most people know about prepositions is that you shouldn’t end a sentence with one.  But even this rule is not set in stone.  Remember Churchill’s famous dig at the pompous wording of a civil servant’s memo: “This is the sort of writing up with which I will not put”?  Today, we recognise that good writing is all about effective communication and if, like Churchill’s example, your sentence would jar if it didn’t end with a preposition you can safely disregard this edict.

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A sign on a bin in Kensington Gardens proclaims, “Any person not placing dog litter in this receptacle will be liable to a fine of £100.”

Does this mean those of us walking in the park without a dog (or walking a dog that has not produced the required doggy doo) must now search for some to put in the bin and avoid the fine? While, personally, I find such mistakes amusing, others could find them confusing and annoying. 

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In my last blog post, I spoke about the perils of overloading sentences – trying to cram in too many facts so the point you’re making is unclear.  Often this is due to shoehorning in information that is utterly unrelated – what we call a non sequitur (literally “it does not follow” in Latin).

Here are a couple of examples:

• “Writing well doesn’t come naturally to everyone and, increasingly,

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When writing is dull or difficult to read, it is sometimes due to the writer using unnecessary words or convoluted phrasing, perhaps in an attempt to sound more educated or businesslike.

For instance, stating “The hotel has a fitness suite and swimming amenities” instead of simply saying, “The hotel has a gym and swimming pool”.   Similarly, “He works on a part-time basis” can be shortened to “He works part-time”. 

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Commas are generally used to indicate a natural breathing space. More subtle than the full stop, which brings a sentence to a juddering halt, the comma is a subtle pause and, when properly used, greatly enhances readability and understanding. Compare these two sentences:

“Melanie Silver has I believe nearly 20 years’ professional copywriting experience.”

“Melanie Silver has, I believe, nearly 20 years’ professional copywriting experience.”

Would you agree that the second sentence is easier to understand? 

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When it comes to grammar, I’m no pedant but these days it seems anything goes. Yet without good grammar and correct punctuation misunderstandings would be rife. As a professional writer, howling errors jump off the page at me but by far my most common bugbear is misuse of the humble apostrophe.

We’ve all smiled at signs such as “Tomatoe’s” and “Crisp’s”.  The problem seems to lie in people’s inability to recognise that there are only two possible uses for apostrophes: one being to show ownership of something –

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In our grammar and punctuation spot this week, we ask when should you use words instead of numbers in your writing? It’s a generally accepted rule that numbers one to ten are spelled out as words whereas any number over ten can be shown as a figure. That convention aside, however, much simply comes down to your own personal preference.  Round numbers and approximate amounts can be expressed in either words or figures.

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