Changes in the MLA Handbook 9th Ed.

The good news for writers who rely on MLA style is that the nitty gritty…

How Not to Write Like a Lawyer (and Why You Shouldn’t Want To): Part 1

It’s little wonder that when people can’t or don’t want to hire a lawyer, they…

Commonly Confused Words: Lightning Round!

Over the last few months, this blog has looked at how shifts in our language…

When to Use Tables and Figures

In research papers, tables and figures can be helpful and even necessary to support your…

A Road by Any Other Name

While it may seem confusing to have an Elm Street in the same city as…

Curse of the Proofreader’s Brain

The curse of professional language persons, you see, is that they are always language persons,…

Respectively: Explained

The word “respectively” is extremely useful, but only if you use it correctly. It’s useless…

Grammatical Metaphor: A Quick Guide

Grammatical metaphor may seem complex, but it is actually something we use rather automatically and…

More Commonly Confused Words: Y and Wherefore

There are occasions when the living language is unsettled; no firm rule guides us, and…

Figurative Language: What It Is and When to Use It

igurative and literal speech, often confused, are important to understand, and both serve their purposes…

Editing Advertising Tip #1: Make the Style Consistent

Advertisers do all these things after conducting expensive marketing research with focus groups, taste tests,…

Commonly Confused Irregular Words

Words derived from the same root might change their spellings when used as nouns or…

How Macros Improve Writing

Macros are little programs you can add to Word to make it do pretty much…

When and How to Use a Proofreading Service

A professional edit is not a shortcut to quality writing; that comes only from rewriting,…

Wordle Tips and Tricks

Of course, one day the craze will calm down, but for now, if you’d like…

More Tips for Word’s Spell and Grammar Check

Spell check is a great tool to let writers know when they’ve made spelling errors,…

Use a Modifier or a Hyphen, Not Both

Recently, I’ve been noticing an increase in the error of putting a hyphen between a…

Quick Intro to Dialects in Dialogue

what does the poetry of Burns have to do with writing and editing in Modern…

Write without Bias, Sexism, or Racism

Language is always changing to reflect material developments and changing ideas, so it’s important to…

5 Cancelled Terms & Sayings

Several phrases have been cancelled in recent years for good reasons, but there have been…