Stamps Collection #04 (e.g./i.e.)

Hi Subscriber First Name!

May is the busiest month all year, for those who pay attention to celebratory days. There’s the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo (not always in that order), Mother’s Day, graduations, weddings, birthdays and Memorial Day, among others. May 12 is Limerick Day, in honor of poet Edward Lear. Born in England on May 12, 1812, he is credited with making limericks popular. Did he write the very first one? We’ll never know.

Communicating
with yourself and others.

Rhymed or unrhymed, poetry is an important art form. And it’s not just for language. Poetry in motion and poetic justice are examples of one of Merriam-Webster’s definitions of poetry: “beauty of expression.” Let’s all be on the lookout for expressions of beauty today.

Collections

Grammar Tip

Which of these Latin abbreviations are we supposed to use? And when? Here’s the mnemonic device I use:

EXAMPLE starts with an E (e.g.). IN, in other words, that is, that is to say, starts with an I (i.e.).

Collective nouns are fascinating, e.g., a clowder of cats and an unkindness of ravens.

People between the ages of 13 and 19, i.e., teenagers, do not have a collective noun, although some have suggested referring to them as a whatever.

Use a comma afterward. Use a comma before, unless preceded by a dash or parenthesis.

Limerick time! A limerick has five lines with a rhythmic cadence. Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme. Lines 3 and 4 rhyme. My favorite resource is rhymezone.com. Second fave is a little rhyming dictionary I’ve had forever. The standby, and one that’s always available, is the alphabet. You can write out all the letters or just look in the air (an air alphabet) and see if there’s a rhyming word starting with an a, or b-bl-br, c-ch-cl-cr, d-dr, etc.

Limerick Topic

The first Kentucky Derby took place on May 17, 1875. It was a Monday. Two days later, the Kentucky Oaks was run.

Since 1932 the Derby has been held on the first Saturday in May (asterisks for June 9, 1945, and Sept. 5, 2020). The Oaks takes place the day before.

The Kentucky Derby is a race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds. There are no repeat equine participants because horses, like people, are three years old only once.

Communication is when what you say and what I hear are the same thing; when what I write and what you read are the same thing. When we are on the same page, we are communicating.

Life Tip

This is a jaw-dropper of a quote.
Life-changing. Life-saving.

Thank you, Angel, for writing your blog post titled “5 Hard Things You Need to Start Doing for Yourself on Hard Days” at marcandangel.com.

Here’s to this track record continuing, y’all.

Have a fabulous day.

Do you have a grammar question? Hit reply to this email and ask away. I’ll be happy to answer you back or research if I don’t know, so we can both learn something. I’m happy to hear from you.

Kathie Stamps
kathie@stampscommunications.com

Stamps Communications