Language Legends
As copywriters, copyeditors, proofreaders and translators, our heroes are people with a gift for words. In this new regular addition to our blog, we’ll be looking at the men and women whose voices transcend...
Hello, I’m Memorable: 4 Keys to Naming a Business or Product
Let’s talk about what seems like the easiest thing in the world to do, but the hardest thing to do really well: give something a name. Have you listened to parents recount the way they came to their...
A quick experiment
The other day, Dan’s two-and-a-half-year-old discovered this video on YouTube. Click the link and skip ahead to the 1:47 point and watch the Lion song. It’s less than a minute. Do it now then...
Editors’ Most Hated Mistakes – Part 2
As promised, we’ve compiled a new crop of editing nightmares for those who share the frustration. These cringe-inducing habits are the literary equivalent of socks and sandals. Seeing them can render...
Not Everyone is an Editor
What? You mean to say that my friend who taught fifth-grade English once isn’t qualified to edit my entrance essay to an Ivy League school? Right. And neither is your friend who taught ESL abroad for...
Editors’ Most Hated Mistakes – Part 1
If you’ve edited anything for an extended period of time, you’ll understand how infuriating the tiniest mistakes can be. You’ll also know that intense feeling of wanting to flip a table, punch a...
Dodge Double Negatives
It’s not uncommon to see double negatives in writing. Now, wouldn’t that have read better if we said it’s common instead? All too often, people like to state things in their negative forms. But why?...
How to Avoid Redundancy
Saying the same exact thing twice in the same sentence is a waste of everyone’s time. Being redundant is almost like being irrelevant. And if you really think about it, saying something more than once...
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 how we get it,...
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...
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...
The Run-down on Capital Letters
For the most part, distinguishing between when it’s appropriate to use capital letters is pretty straightforward. Places like the start of a sentence and people’s names are no-brainers. However, there...