Laura’s Lessons

This month’s writing tip is another dive into the differences between two words. This time, let’s tackle then vs than. It’s easy to see why these can be confused, right? They’re practically the same word (in spelling and sound), but they have different meanings and uses. So what’s the difference between them?  When making a read more…

This month’s post focuses on two terms that are often swapped: less and fewer. Don’t they mean the same thing? Essentially, yes—both terms involve a smaller number or limited amount of whatever thing you’re discussing. So how do you know when to use each term? Here’s the easiest, most straightforward way.  In general, use “fewer” read more…

Perhaps you’ve heard about the serial (or Oxford) comma, and if you have, it might have come with intense opinion. I can’t think of a grammar topic accompanied by so much insistence that the other side is wrong. People like what they like, and when it comes to a serial comma, they’re not going to read more…

This month’s tip is about three words that are often confused, thanks to a pair of homophones and each word ending in the same five letters. The words being dissected today are elicit, illicit, and solicit. All three words can be found in medical writing, so keeping them straight is important! Let’s dig into them. read more…

This month’s topic is an offshoot of subject-verb agreement: how to make your subject and verbs agree when your subject involves more than one thing (a “compound subject”). That’s easy, right? Shouldn’t more than one thing mean it’s a plural subject and the verb should be plural? Sometimes, but not always. Let’s look at some read more…

Today’s lesson is a quick tip about how to choose the correct article (a/an, called “indefinite articles”) before an acronym. These articles are occasionally swapped, and it’s easy to see why! Choosing the article may seem simple based on whether the acronym stars with a consonant or vowel, but usage depends on how the subsequent read more…

It’s been a while since I wrote about commas—those confusing little punctuation marks that seemingly everyone has an opinion about. Because there are many ways commas can be used (and overused), I touch on the topic from time to time. This month’s topic is when—and when not—to use commas between adjectives. Adjectives modify or describe read more…

Inclusive writing and inclusive language are topics that have become more popular among editors and writers, and for good reason—people want their readers to feel seen and respected. So how do you write inclusively when there are so many opinions out there? There’s no one answer, so this lesson is the start of a series read more…

I’m back to the subject of conjunctions (you know…those things that link parts of sentences together). This time, rather than focusing on conjunctions and punctuation, this post is about the difference between two similar conjunctions: if and whether. As a disclaimer, these tips are for formal, technical writing—not everyday speech or fiction. So don’t beat read more…

Whether we actively think about it or not, an important part of writing is making sure readers understand what we’re saying. So this month’s lesson is a little different than usual. Rather than focusing on a specific punctuation mark, grammar topic, or set of easily swapped words, this lesson tackles ways you can simplify your read more…

This month, I have yet another rousing game of Which word should I choose? Today’s potentially confusing words are incident, incidence, and instance. As I’ve gathered examples for this piece, I’ll admit that repeatedly looking at these three words makes my head spin. They’ve all morphed into the same word, and I’m doubting everything I read more…

This month’s topic is how to make your subjects and verbs agree. Think of yourself as a grammatical mediator—your job is to make everyone get along and play nice. This means singular subjects should have singular verbs, and plural subjects should have plural verbs. Sounds simple, but this can be surprisingly difficult once you add read more…

This month I’m tackling another set of words that sound similar but have different common meanings and usages: ensure, assure, and insure. Do you already know the difference? Let’s start with the most straightforward: insure. Just like the word “insurance,” insure means to provide or obtain insurance for. You can think about it as taking read more…

This month, I’m back on the topic of punctuation marks. Whose turn is it this time? Apostrophes. These little marks are used in a few ways, but the main two are (1) to indicate missing letters in contractions (such as “don’t” or “they’ll”—not the pregnancy kind of contractions) and (2) to indicate possession (that something read more…

I have a special Laura’s Lessons post this month—one that doesn’t tackle a grammar issue but rather a writing one: plagiarism. Perhaps coronavirus has you spending most of your working time at home and you’ve decided to tackle some writing. Or maybe writing is part of your everyday life. Regardless, in medical education we all read more…

Commas, commas, commas. There are so many rules, so many opinions, and so many ways to use this tiny punctuation mark. I previously waded into comma usage with commas and conjunctions, and now I’ll swim further into the comma pool with comma splices. A “splice” is a joint or joining of two things. To me, read more…

This month’s grammar topic is dangling modifiers. Sounds like what grammarians do when they’re looking for an adrenaline rush, but this type of dangling isn’t all that daring. A dangling modifier is a part of a sentence that doesn’t clearly refer to its intended subject. This typically happens when the introduction of a sentence isn’t read more…

We all want our writing to be easy for our readers to understand, right? I doubt many of us want readers to go through a sentence 2, 3, 4 times and still not get it. Since there are many factors that go into straightforward writing, I’ll start with a fun topic: unclear antecedents. Eh…what? An read more…

This month I’m tackling parallelism, or parallel construction. When things are parallel, they go in the same direction equally distant from each other. This applies to grammar because we want our words to be formatted similarly (such as in the same tense) for readers to easily digest the information. We want to keep sentences parallel. read more…

Choosing when to use a comma can be so frustrating! Some people use too many, some people don’t use enough, and pretty much everyone can agree that there are too many “rules” for writers to keep straight. Plus, those rules can differ based on each writer’s (and editor’s) style and preference…hence the confusion. Let’s gently read more…