Proofreading & Editing Tips
Sing Me a Double Negative, Bill Withers
Double negatives are a grammar no-no, but you’ve probably heard them in some of your favorite songs. You’ve no doubt sung along to them, and maybe you didn’t even realize you were breaking the rules. While double negatives usually flip the meaning to a positive (just...
Understanding Points of View in Writing
For the past eleven years, I’ve worked on an online platform with a mix of projects, many of them from non-native English speakers. Today, I received a request to “put my article in third person.” It made me think that many people might not know the different points...
The Everyday Mistake I See Every Day
As an editor, one of the most common errors I see is using everyday when it should actually be every day. Let’s clear this sucker up. Everyday vs. Every Day Everyday is an adjective. This means it modifies a noun, and it describes something that is usual or typical....
Less Talk, More Grammar: How to Master Fewer vs. Less
What’s your zodiac sign? Mine is Gemini, represented by the twins. Geminis are known for being social and talkative. If you’re a Gemini, you probably even have conversations with yourself! I often do. I’m very much a Gemini, but I also love the phrase “less talk, more...
Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m Feeling Possessive and Alliterative
Are you a sappy sucker like me? Do you identify as a goofy giver of gushy gifts as you grin with giddy gratitude? Romantic and ready, do you revel in the rosy radiance of Valentine’s Day? And the most important question: Do you enjoy alliteration? I obviously do. My...
The Mighty “Is”: Capitalization in Titles
I’m small. Standing at just five feet tall and weighing the same as 2.5 bags of wood pellets (we keep cozy in our little PNW home with a pellet stove), I don’t take up much space. If you sit behind me in a car, you’ll enjoy plenty of legroom. In my kitchen, you’ll...
A Housing Crisis: Tenants or Tenets?
From a text I was editing earlier today: She was a certified translator of French and Italian documents, particularly those relating to the Western tenants of European intellectualism. Oooh…I just love this kind of typo, where the author has used a legitimate word but...
My Favorite Punctuation Mark—The Em Dash
In case you aren’t familiar with an em dash, I put it in the title as a visual aid. It’s name comes from it being the same width as the letter m; similarly, an en dash is the same width as the letter n. An easy way to find these symbols in Microsoft Word is to click...
Back to the Basics: Dialogue
Refreshers are necessary at times, and based on my recent editing projects, how to properly format dialogue has got lots of writers confused. Are you in a tizzy over this too? Read on and see if you’ve got the bases covered. Start a New Line First, whenever a speaker...
“I Could Care Less!”: An Oft-Mispronounced Phrase
“I could care less about what you do!” This is something a character said in a story I recently edited. Perhaps you’ve said it in real life to someone who has bothered you in some way. Maybe they hurt you, so as a way to clap back at them with an I don’t care anyway...