Keep It Simple, Seriously!

Professional and academic documents demand the principle of “Keep It Simple.” While some document styles…

Does Fanfiction Improve Writing? Part 2

I recommend writing fanfiction for people who need to work on their dialogue skills, pacing,…

Avoiding Common Capitalization Errors

I describe some areas of confusion about capitalization I have often observed in my work…

Commonly Confused Words

There are word pairs, even trios, whose meanings are similar, but distinct. The shades of…

How to Edit PDFs

PDFs can be scary for an editor. After all, you can’t just turn on Track…

Lie vs. Lay vs. Lied vs. Laid vs. Lain

One of the hardest irregular verbs in English to use properly is “to lie,” and…

5 Tips for Personal Statements

Your personal statement will help your application if it shows that you’re a well-qualified individual…

Rules of Canadian English

Canadian English is unique. Neither American nor wholly British, it’s a robust hybrid of British…

Capitalization in APA, Chicago, MLA, and AP

I have been noticing recently that willy-nilly use of upper- and lowercase letters is pretty…

Does Fanfiction Improve Writing? Part 1

Despite its occasional bad rap, writing fanfic is a great way to improve your writing.…

2 More Great Tips for Self-Editing

Another way to get your brain to take a fresh look at what you’ve written…

Proper Use of Comment Boxes

So much can be done with good comment boxes here’s an old-fashioned list of dos…

Strunk & White Still Good Advice

When it comes to writing well, you’d be hard-pressed to find better advice than that…

Proper Geographical Abbreviations

These rules do not arise organically but are handed down by self-appointed arbiters usually speaking…

5 Obsolete Grammar Rules

Grammar is as subject to fashion as everything else. So to keep you up to…

Hyphens in Numbers, Prefixes, and Modifiers

In today’s post, I look at some specific grammatical constructions and how hyphens are used…

How Reliable Is Spell Check?

The first time I saw Office Suite’s spell check function, I just about cried with…

Guide to Using Hyphens in Compound Words

Recently I’ve gotten a little obsessed with compounds words and the hyphen, that little punctuation…

2 Great Tips for Self-Editing

Whether you’re a writer, professional editor, or client for a professional editor, you can always…

How Many Spaces after a Period?

Typing two blank spaces at the end of every sentence is one such habit. Lots…