An Update on Using Commas with Etc.

At paragraph 6.20, the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style notes that the abbreviation etc. (et cetera, literally “and others of the same kind”) and such equivalents as and so forth and and the like are preceded by a comma. In a slight departure from previous editions of CMOS, such expressions are

Can This Not Help But Be a Double Negative?

Double negatives come in many flavors in addition to the familiar “we didn’t find no money” type. Our friends at the website Language Log keep an archive of documented cases of “misnegation,” featuring popular head-scratchers like “I can’t help but not be X,” “I don’t doubt

Toast with us as we celebrate the new edition

Who says editors don’t know how to party? Today at the University of Chicago Press we toasted the arrival of the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. The Manual has been underway almost since the moment the 16th edition arrived, and this celebration topped seven years of work. Missing from this get-together were…