Proofreading & Editing Tips
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...
Word Pairs: What a Difference Letter Placement Makes
I texted my daughter today. She’s been dog sitting for a neighbor, and when she came home this morning before school, her eyes were half-open. When I dropped her off at school, she still hadn’t woken up entirely, so at noon, I texted her. Hi, honey! You doing okay?...
Wonderful Nomenclature: A Congress of Baboons
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...