Hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes are frequently tested punctuation marks in government exam descriptive writing papers. Hyphens connect words, en dashes show ranges or relationships, and em dashes ...

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 ...

It seems we're always declaring our great fondness for this punctuation mark or that one. Oh, the whimsical nature of the semicolon and how smart she makes us feel. Oh, the gorgeous curves of the ...

Language has rules. For people who aren’t too confident in their writing and grammar skills, the rules can be very useful, helping determine things like which verb form to use and where to put a ...

It's small. It's flat. It's black. And according to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, its numbers are shrinking. Welcome to the world of the hyphen. Having been around since at least the birth of ...

What is the difference in meaning between these two phrases: i) hazardous-waste management and ii) hazardous waste management? In the first phrase ‘hazardous-waste management’, the waste is hazardous.