Jim Baumann
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Grammar Moses: Firstly, just make it 'first'Jun 19, 2016 7:26 am - Many moons ago, Jacqueline Jablonski of Naperville asked me to address the hot topic of enumerations. Her correspondence sat in my overstuffed mailbag, unaddressed on th...
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Grammar Moses: Do Cubs and Sox take the same verb? I'm not talking about winningJun 12, 2016 7:30 am - Tom Kwasiborski of Wauconda read something in our sports section that made him wince. The headline read: "The White Sox is sending Ranaudo to Triple-A." "Ain't X treated...
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Grammar Moses: Let's put an end to doubling down on anything outside a casinoJun 05, 2016 7:46 am - President Obama does it. Gov. Rauner does it, too. It seems everyone is doing it these days - without the benefit of a felt surface or playing cards. What, Grammar Moses...
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Grammar Moses: You read this column, while I write it. Or do you?May 29, 2016 7:30 am - Regular reader Jamie Daniel of Geneva writes me from time to time with column ideas. She will admit she has seen a great deal of change in everyday English over the cour...
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Grammar Moses: Can you really film something with your iPhone?May 22, 2016 5:30 am - Last fall, one of the neighborhood girls was visiting my wife and me on our porch, and she was carrying around her new cellphone like a totem. "You'd better dial your mo...
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Grammar Moses: Words of advice for you graduatesMay 15, 2016 7:30 am - Welcome to graduation season, that time of year when thoughts turn to sleeping in, gap year activities and the improper use of intransitive verbs. Had I been Prospect Hi...
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Grammar Moses: On Mothers' Day, the power of an apostropheMay 08, 2016 7:23 am - It's Mother's Day. Not Mothers Day or Mothers' Day, but plain old singular possessive Mother's Day. Why? Because when the rule was created it was generally thought that ...
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Grammar Moses: Be precise, but never stoop to unanimousnessApr 30, 2016 1:00 am - Precision, if I haven't mentioned before, is your friend. There are few greater turnoffs for readers than vague, wishy-washy writing. Make it visual. Put your reader in ...
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Grammar Moses: We're here to slay the jargonApr 23, 2016 1:00 am - Journalists were put on this earth to tell the stories of the good and the bad that people do; to tell you how the government is spending your tax money; to help you fun...
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Grammar Moses: Legislating good grammar? It may come to thatApr 09, 2016 11:00 pm - Regular reader John McGovern of Gilberts stopped me at the gym the other day to tell me about a piece of correspondence he received at work. “Someone wrote, ‘This is hol...