Idiom. We all use it but do we know where it comes from? It means: something that becomes boring after nine days. Or ceases to be a wonder, due to other events that take precedence. Some believe it was William Kemp, a Tudor actor who morris-danced his way from London to Norwich, supposedly in nine … Continue reading Nine Days’ Wonder
A word spelt right is a beautiful thing. A word spelled right will often go unnoticed. The flow of the piece just...well, flowing. A word spelt wrong is like fingers down a blackboard. It interrupts that flow, it jars, it grates. It makes you go back and read the sentence again. And sometimes it can … Continue reading Spelling. You don’t notice it – until it’s wrong
Having discussed and debated the merits of the spell check, I thought I'd take some time to talk about proofreading your own work. If, like me, you feel you're pretty good at picking up on mistakes, that your typing isn't too bad, and you have a fairly good grasp of English and the grammar that … Continue reading Editor in Person – Why You Shouldn’t Proofread Your Own Writing
An excellent question! I'm talking grammatically rather than judicially. In fact, 'an excellent question' isn't really a sentence, if you follow the basic rules. The Simple Rules for Sentences: Every sentence must have a subject. Every sentence must have an object. Every sentence must have a verb. (There are more rules, by the way. Such … Continue reading What Makes a Sentence?
I have just done a transcript edit for The Right Book Company, and The Right Book Project. Very proud to be associated with such a fabulous team, who are extremely passionate about using books to promote your business and your creditability. I found it a fascinating listen, and would urge all you businesses out there to … Continue reading The Right Book Company
It's a wonder children ever learn it!
What a great language we have. It sometimes feels as though some rascally being set out to make certain things just as complex as they possibly could. And, boy, did they succeed? Today we are discussing whether is should be a "c" or an "s" in words like "license", "practise", etc. Do you know? Or … Continue reading Take My Advice – Let Me Advise You
I am pernickety. Generally everywhere, but definitely when it comes to language and grammar, and, oh, the irritating comma and apostrophe. Actually, I quite like the apostrophe. I personally don't find it irritating at all. I just find it irritating that other people don't know how to use it properly. Unlike the comma, whose use … Continue reading But That’s Not Right… 5 Tips on the Use of the Apostrophe
We all have them. We often rely on them because our typing skills are rarely that good. Fast, but not accurate. And spell check will sort it out, sometimes changing the word for us, and sometimes just flagging it up for review. Marvellous, isn't it? I admit to be much the same as most of … Continue reading I’ve Got Spell Check… I Don’t Need a Proofreader
Netiquette Maybe not a new word, but an interesting example of an adapted word. It means: polite and courteous standards applied to online content. As in: net (internet) and etiquette (good manners, courtesy). It's good to see our language expanding with such a wonderful adaptation of a word. Let's all apply this to everything we … Continue reading A Word for Today