Dave's Musings

Why Hire A Human Editor?

June 18, 2025

Why hire a real person to edit and fact check your paper, book or grant application if you use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write the document? Because AI programs, like ChatGPT, Jasper, Grammarly, among others, make basic mistakes. Here are two examples. In a mid-west court room, an attorney produced his legal brief using an […]

David's Bio

June 18, 2025

David Rosman is an award winning columnist, author, editor and speaker. He has been recognized by the Missouri Press Association for his opinion columns, for his writings from political organizations and received recognition for editing a political campaign website. Originally from Long Island, New York, David received his Bachelor of Science in Administration from St. […]

Anyway versus Anyways versus Any Way

June 29, 2025

My partner gave me a coffee mug that boldly states, “I am silently correcting your grammar.” As a linguist, one thing that causes me to cringe is the use of anyways. I was taught that there is no such thing as a plural of anyway. However, anyways has made its way into our oral language […]

Can Not versus Cannot

July 10, 2025

These terms have confused me for the ages, when to use cannot or when to use can not. The Shrunk and White’s “Elements of Style,” and various other style guides make this discussion as clear as mud. So allow me to clear the waters a bit. My best source for information comes from the Merriam-Webster […]

INFORMATIVE VERSUS PERSUASIVE

October 10, 2025

There are two ways to write a letter to the editor or you state or federal representative or to make a speech: Informative and Persuasive. Are you old enough to remember the cop show, Dragnet with Detective Sergeant Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and his partner Officer Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan)? If not, you really need […]

2025 AP UPDATES FOR THE GOVERNEMENT LAYOFF

October 13, 2025

The Associated Press Stylebook just released its updates concerning the government shutdown. If you are writing a letter to the editor or your legislators, please note the following updates. shutdown (n) versus shut down (v) The name of the congressional impasse is the noun, shutdown. The action of closing the government is the verb, to […]

RELAX AND STAND TALL

October 27, 2025

I am unaware of a student actually dying giving a speech. I did have one student faint, a Marine Lance Corporal who locked his knees. There are two pieces of advice I give my new public speaking students: relax and stand tall. Many giving a presentation for the first time are understandably nervous. Though the […]

Opening Your Speech

February 2, 2026

How should you open a presentation? Should you open with a joke, a quotation, a dire statistic or prediction? The answer is yes, but first things first.