This time, let’s go way out there and look at a pair of related poetic devices that seem, at first glance, hopelessly roundabout and exotic: metonymy and synecdoche.

As an editor, I am naturally sensitive to language matters, and I took this criticism seriously. I’ve made an effort to modernize my pronoun usage, and in today’s blog I’ll provide tips to avoid gender bias in your pronoun use.

Lets get into the complexities of apostrophes when dealing with singular and plural nouns.

ProofreadingPal’s 2019 Holiday Hours

The guidebooks’ prohibition on colorful language is really just a plea for clarity. Used sparingly, in commonly understood expressions or for illustrative purposes, simile and metaphor can make your prose more understandable and memorable.

This time, let’s deal with the fact that emojis are still not OK in professional and some types of personal communication and consider some good alternatives.

In research writing, the difference between hypothetical and factual statements is critical; your choice of verb helps make the distinction. In today’s post, I’ll provide a review of the forms and use of modal auxiliary verbs and conditional statements and some basic tips to help you use them effectively in research writing.

Even though the older generations love to dump on them and elites love to complain about them, emojis are a useful, necessary advancement in modern language.

In today’s post I’ll discuss some AP basics and differences from other style guides you’ll need to know to use this style effectively.

Rhyme can be understated, and it comes in more flavors than you might think. Repeated sounds are the key to crafting phrases that are catchy without seeming contrived. Let’s explore.

Adding in a second (or third or eighth) subject or object or modifier doesn’t change the case of the subject or object.

The glorious and intimidating thing about the English language is its bounty of options. Whatever we want to say, there are multiple ways to say it. It is our choices that render our language straightforward or confusing, memorable or boring, elegant or awkward.

In today’s post, I’ll provide examples of reference listings including DOIs and URLs in APA, MLA, and the Chicago Manual of Style. I’ll point out some differences among these styles, and I’ll provide some information about what to do with electronic sources found using a database.

This time in our plagiarism avoidance master class, we’ll discuss some even murkier areas dealing with the difference between copyright violations and plagiarism and how to refer to common sources.

Poetry is simply a way of thinking about language, a theory that words can be arranged for beauty as well as for meaning. There is no reason why even modest explanatory prose cannot be a pleasure to read. And it is beauty that gives prose its pleasure, distinguishing memorable writing from that which is merely functional.

As a living language, English is in a constant state of flux. This is quite clear when two words work their way into becoming one word. While there's no actual rule about this, there are some patterns.

Periodicals often have their own in-house style guides laying out exceptions. Such house rules can be a source of confusion and anxiety for clients and proofreaders alike.

We live our lives behind one set of eyes, but we can tell a lot about what the people around us are feeling and thinking even when they don’t say a word.

But because we take inspiration from everything around us—from nature, from conversations, from street signs, from the things we watch and read—it can be hard to give appropriate credit to all those many sources.

You may never have heard the term subjunctive case before, or don’t remember it from Spanish class if you have, but knowing this rule and following it will make your speech and writing much better with just a little effort.