by Nancy Haight | Jan 9, 2025 | Editing
It’s no surprise that I love words, and I truly love the English language. Lately, I’ve especially enjoyed learning what different groups of animals are called, such as a prickle of hedgehogs. What fun it was to learn that a group of baboons is called a congress of...
by Nancy Haight | Jan 6, 2025 | Editing
Sometimes, we add an “s” when it isn’t needed. Are you one of these “s” adders? Are you prone to saying “towards” and “forwards”? If so, you aren’t necessarily wrong to do so, but you’ll end up sounding more British than American. Over in England, they still have...
by Nancy Haight | Jan 3, 2025 | Editing
It’s time to get a grip on English. We gotta clinch it. Or do we clench it? Uh-oh…I sense word-choice insecurity. I recently came across this sentence during an editing project: “They will be crushed,” the warlord said, clinching his fist. Word Alert! Historically,...
by Nancy Haight | Jan 2, 2025 | Editing
What a strange feeling to find out that a word you use isn’t a word at all. Typo Alert I was recently editing a book for a client and came across this line: Everyone bursted with relief and joy. I quickly fixed “bursted” to “burst,” because—and here’s where your mind...
by Administrator | Nov 23, 2023 | Editing
With Christmas around the corner, I thought I’d suggest the best, most unique present you could give your loved ones (at least, in my opinion, and remember, I’m an editor who loves words and stories). So here is my suggestion: write your life story or memoir, and...
by Administrator | Nov 13, 2023 | Editing
You certainly don’t want to get these two words mixed up, especially since one of the words is used to describe behavior that is immoral and/or illegal (they don’t always overlap you know—something can be immoral but not illegal, and vice versa). The other day, I was...
