Writing Tips
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Index A
- a
- a- (1)
- a- (2)
- AB
- ab-
- abbreviations: acronyms and initialisms
- abbreviations: ampersand
- abbreviations: business terms and symbols
- abbreviations: capitals and hyphens
- abbreviations: corporate names
- abbreviations: days and months
- abbreviations: degrees and distinctions
- abbreviations: general guidelines
- abbreviations: geographical names
- abbreviations: imperial system
- abbreviations: International System of Units (SI)
- abbreviations: latitude and longitude
- abbreviations: military abbreviations
- abbreviations: monetary units
- abbreviations: netspeak
- abbreviations: number symbols
- abbreviations: parts of a book or document
- abbreviations: periods
- abbreviations: plurals
- abbreviations: scientific and technical terms
- abbreviations: time zones
- abbreviations: titles with personal names
- abeyance
- abide
- abide by
- about
- above-mentioned
- abreast
- absolutely essential
- absolute phrases
- abstain
- abstain from
- abstain in
- abstain on
- accede to
- accordance
- according to
- according to our records
- accord (of one’s own)
- accountable for
- accountable to
- accuracy
- accurate
- acquiesce in
- acquiesce to
- acquiesce with
- action verbs
- active voice
- act on
- act upon
- acu-
- addresses: official languages
- addresses on envelopes and parcels (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- adequate amount of
- adequate number of
- adjective
- adjective clause
- adjective comparison
- ADT
- adverb clause
- adverb comparison
- adverbs
- adverse
- adverse to
- advice
- advise
- aero-
- a few
- affect
- Afghan
- afghani
- aforementioned
- Afro-
- after
- again
- ageing
- agenda
- agendas
- aggravate
- aging
- agreeable
- agree on
- agree to
- agree with
- agro-
- Alberta
- Albertan
- alliteration
- allo-
- all over again
- allow for
- allow to
- all ready
- all right
- all-time record
- all together
- allude
- allusion
- almost without exception
- along these lines
- already
- alright
- Alta.
- alternate(ly)
- alternative(ly)
- altogether
- alumna
- alumnus
- a.m.
- a mari usque ad mare
- ambi-
- American dollar (symbol) (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- Americo-
- amount
- an-
- an
- an abundance of
- analyse
- analyze
- and
- and/or
- and so as a result
- Anglo-
- Anglophone
- anniversary
- answer for
- answer to
- ante-
- anti-
- anticipate
- anxious about
- anxious at
- anxious for
- anxious to
- any
- apostrophe: contractions
- apostrophe: plurals
- apostrophe: possession
- apparent
- appear
- appositives
- appraise
- apprise
- approval of
- approval to
- approve
- approve of
- approximately
- approximately about
- apt
- aqua-
- aqui-
- Arabo-
- arch-
- Armeno-
- Armistice Day
- around (1)
- around (2)
- as a consequence of
- as a matter of fact
- as a result of
- as a result of the fact that
- ascend
- ascent
- as far as
- aspire after
- aspire to
- as regards
- assent
- associate to
- associate with
- as soon as
- assume
- assure
- AST
- asterisk at end of sentence
- astro-
- as well as
- Atlantic Daylight Time
- Atlantic provinces
- Atlantic Standard Time
- attention
- attentive
- attentiveness
- at that point in time
- at the present time
- at this point in time
- at variance among
- at variance with
- audit and derived terms (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- Austro-
- authentic
- autumn
- auxiliary verbs
- avenge
- averse to
- avocation
- awards
- aware of
- Azerbaijani
- Azeri
Divulgation proactive
Avis important
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appositives
An appositive is a word or word group placed next to another word to rename, define or explain it. Most appositives are nouns or pronouns, together with their modifiers (if any). Appositives are often added to sentences to give further detail.
Placement of appositives
Usually, appositives follow a noun; however, they can also come before the subject of a sentence. In the examples below, the appositives are in bold font:
- Visitors enjoy the yearly festival at Manitoulin’s largest reserve, Wikwemikong.
- Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world, is located in Lake Huron.
- Tourists also like to visit Bridal Veil Falls, one of the prettiest waterfalls in Ontario.
- A popular hike for beginners, Manitoulin’s Cup and Saucer Trail offers spectacular views.
Punctuation with appositives
Many appositives are set off with commas, but some are not. The use of punctuation depends on whether the appositive is essential to the meaning of the word it is attached to (called the headword).
There are cases when the appositive is too closely related to the meaning of the headword to be separated from it:
- The name Mindemoya comes from an Ojibwa word meaning “old woman.”
Here, the appositive Mindemoya identifies the headword name: without the appositive, we would not know what name was meant. Therefore, the appositive is essential and is not separated from the headword with commas.
But many appositives give only non-essential information:
- Visitors enjoy the yearly festival at Manitoulin’s largest reserve, Wikwemikong.
- Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world, is located in Lake Huron.
In the two examples above, the places referred to are already identified by the noun phrase Manitoulin’s largest reserve and by the name Manitoulin Island. Therefore, the appositives give only secondary, additional information and are set off with commas.
An appositive that comes before the subject is always non-essential and must be set off with a comma:
- A popular hike for beginners, Manitoulin’s Cup and Saucer Trail offers spectacular views.
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