FEATURED
-
Overcome your fear of public speaking with this one change.
The fear of public speaking is a social anxiety disorder known as glossophobia; glosso being Greek for tongue and phobia being Greek for fear. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that more than 70% of people have a fear of public speaking, which ranks glossophobia only behind thanatophobia (fear of death), acrophobia (fear of heights) and arachnophobia…… READ MORE
PREVIOUS FEATURE
-
Hiring a copyeditor? This is what to expect…
Hiring a copyeditor can be the best decision for your messaging. Yes, a copyeditor will help you maintain your credibility by finding the spelling, structural and punctuation errors you may have missed as you put your piece together. But if you get your copyeditor to do what they do best, they’ll make your message better in other…… READ MORE
-
Watch Out for Run-On Sentences
This is by far the most common correction an editor will come across. It makes sense, especially with someone who isn’t necessarily a writer, per se. People get lost in their own train of thought,… READ MORE
-
How to Take Constructive (and Not-So-Constructive) Criticism
Relevant in all branches of the craft, criticism for writing is bound to find its way to you. Some take it better than others; some give it better than others. We have little control over… READ MORE
-
Semi Colon or Em Dash?
When it comes to separating thoughts and clauses, this tends to be quite a complex distinction to make. Especially when you involve colons and commas as well. Oh, the joys of the English language! For… READ MORE
-
Like vs. Such As
This is a very common instance of confusion, although in most cases the two are interchangeable. Only a real stickler (or very dedicated editor) would single these out as errors. In any case, it helps… READ MORE
-
An Editor’s Favourite Words to Cut (And Ones to Replace them with)
All-too-common words are usually found at the start of sentences. Often, these words are just filler and set you up to write run-on sentences. The thing is, these words aren’t always necessary to your sentence.… READ MORE
-
Tips to Ensure Professional Writing is Always Professional
Catchy headlines, sales copy and fictional writing are inclined to break the rules of writing and get away with it. And all the power to them. That just means professional writing is easier to execute… READ MORE
-
When to Drop the “s” at the End of Words
We see it all the time in all kinds of words: toward and towards, anyway and anyways, afterward and afterwards. Generally speaking, these words have the same meaning with or without the “s,” and both… READ MORE
-
Inquire vs. Enquire
Having recently come across this particular distinction, we thought it would be noteworthy to clear it up. Inquire, meaning to ask for further information, is generally interchangeable with enquire — which is more frequently used… READ MORE
-
The Most Common US/CAN Spelling Distinctions
In the English language, we often come across words that are slightly varied in spelling. Coming across these variations, we think one way is correct over another. In most cases, however, it’s just a matter… READ MORE
-
Distinguish Between Irregular Plurals
The following sets of irregular plurals are so commonly confused that you may not even know there were singular and plural versions of them. Especially when heard in spoken word, the wrong usage sounds perfectly… READ MORE