The Proofreading Pulse

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.

You can write a passage of ornate prose, passive voice willy-nilly, telling without showing, and as long as the meaning is clear, it’s good writing, at least, for everyday purposes.

In this blog, we’ll dig deeper into matters of formatting in Christian publishing, paying particular attention to the complicated issue of capitalization.

People seem to think it’s snooty to say, “Donna and I,” but when they grow up, they also become aware that “Me and Donna” is wrong. So, faced with the choice of “I” (snooty) and “me” (wrong), some opt for the worst choice of all: “myself.”

If you access electronic sources, whether journal articles, webpages, datasets, online videos, or others, one piece of information you’ll need will be the source’s URL or DOI. What’s the difference? And which should you include in your reference list? Let’s take a look.

If you’re looking to get your Christian writing published professionally, though, it’s not enough to be an excellent writer moved by the Holy Spirit; you’ll also need to demonstrate that you can stick to professional publishing guidelines and standards.

even when used properly, figures of speech and idioms, what we might generally call “poetic language,” can be inappropriate for academic writing.

I think it’s safe to say that the majority of adults who live in Western societies hold a job with regular hours and some degree of financial security. Whether they earn a salary or an hourly wage, they go to work in the same place and receive a certain, predetermined income. Others, however, find themselves in circumstances where keeping a regular schedule is difficult, if not impossible.

We’re talking about the recipe on the page, the step-by-step instructions for making the food, which requires being specific enough to reassure cooks they’re doing the right thing without distracting them with information they don’t need in the kitchen.

I never intended to become an independent contract proofreader, working from a lounge chair in a tropical forest on the Pacific coast of Mexico. But I love words and water, so that’s what happened.

It’s a good time to talk about formal vs. informal texting and texting vs. writing emails.

Quotes from outside sources are useful and necessary in research papers. If your paper includes a literature review in which you discuss your field’s relevant literature, you will use quotes to add clarity and precision to your summary and analysis.

Dummy subject can add unnecessary fluff to a sentence, thus distracting readers from the point and muddling the writer’s meaning. They're easy to avoid.

Today, seeing as artists come in all manner of genders, and not many of us are Greco-Roman pagans, we can replace “female” with “Other” and “goddess” with “free agent” and see the Muse as very much alive and well in an artist’s life.

The next style we’re looking at is another of these specialist fields: medicine. The American Medical Association (AMA) has a particular style it prefers authors to follow when writing, and pre-med and medical students, doctors in residency, and researchers may all be asked to use this.

The physical sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry, genetics, biological sciences, astronomy) often rely on CSE referencing, a style created and updated by the Council of Scientific Editors.

“Olde English” is all made up, but the individual words themselves did exist in general conversation, and they do come with grammar rules.