According to a Twitter poll I conducted recently, numerous people are challenged to use the words “affect” and “effect” correctly. These terms come up frequently in scientific and medical writing. Affect is commonly used as a verb, meaning to impact on, to influence,...

Welcome to the first Weekly Writing Tip. Today’s topic is my biggest pet peeve – the correct (and incorrect!) use of apostrophes. The poor apostrophe is probably the most misused punctuation mark in the English language. Repeat after me: An apostrophe + “s” is NOT...