Editor’s note: June Casagrande’s column on language and usage ran in the Daily Pilot until 2005. We’re pleased to welcome her back. Her column will run Saturdays. If you’ve ever watched a man eating ...

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you don’t know something, so you just avoid it altogether? For instance, because I don’t know how to swim, I avoid parties on mega yachts. I can’t tell ...

Russ in New Jersey had a question about hyphens: In “northwestern California landmark” should “northwestern California” be hyphenated? “I’m not sure if it’s simply a matter of preference or if the ...

To hyphenate, or not to hyphenate – that is the question. Well, it’s one of them, anyway. There’s a wide range of opinions on the use of the little hyphen and when or where you should (and shouldn’t) ...

When dealing with compound modifiers, heed this advice from The Associated Press Stylebook: "Do not use a hyphen between adverbs ending in '-ly' and adjectives they modify." For example, no hyphens ...

Note: I wrote this addendum to The Gazette's stylebook several months ago. I wish it had never come to that. The truth is, I'm an ardent fan of the hyphen. Where critics see it as overly pedantic, I ...

Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. The “rules” under which hyphens are used to connect multiple modifiers, like “well(-)known man,” are varied and ...

Don't read this column. Really. It's not like the other articles out there that impart knowledge. Instead, this one could leave you feeling like you know less than you did before you started reading.