The three types of essay most commonly assigned in school — the narrative essay, the persuasive essay, and the expository essay — conveniently correspond to those writing forms most frequently published online and in print. Your experience with these prose forms is ideal preparation for writing for publication. 1. The Narrative Essay This form, employed … Read more
If you like to write and don’t have a blog or website yet, well, you are missing a lot of fun! The feeling of writing and publishing an article is great, and even better is the one you get when people comment on it, recommend it to their friends and so on. Not only that. … Read more
English is a remarkably flexible language in terms of syntax, because a simple statement can be rendered in so many ways. Take, for example, the statement “I went for a walk,” and consider all the ways you can attach the additional information included in the statement “I saw a dinosaur.” Here are just some of … Read more
The latest chapter in the depressing saga of Sarah Palin’s losing battle with chronic foot-in-mouth disease illustrates a point writers and editors should take careful notes about, because it’s going to be on the test. It has to do with history and repeating, but not with history repeating itself. It has to do with repeating … Read more
One of the delightful facts about American English is that even though the rich regional variety of pronunciation and vocabulary ever diminishes, we’re still a long way from universal treatment of the language, and that’s an important detail for writers to observe. Take soda, for example. I mean pop. I mean coke. Each of these … Read more
Some style guides recommend using en dashes in place of hyphens for a wide variety of uses, but The Chicago Manual of Style, the guidebook of record for most American publishing companies, advises a more limited set of applications. According to Chicago style, these sentences would all be written with hyphens, not en dashes: “He … Read more
One of the scariest things I’ve read lately is this comment in a language forum: America is based on the tradition of divergent thinking… There was a time when nuances were important; larger vocabularies were needed. These vocabularies will soon be superfluous as we move into an age where communications are devised and sent in … Read more
Those of us with Italian backgrounds will know that you don’t make an authentic pasta sauce in an hour. It should be cooked slowly, the ingredients added one by one, at the right time. First the meats must be browned, next the onions, the herbs, spices and tomatoes incorporated. Then the mixture must simmer for … Read more
Even the best and most popular authors get facts wrong sometimes (often because they leave research to others and don’t vet it, or are careless in their own investigations), but that’s no excuse for shoddy writing that contradicts what a large segment of the readership knows to be true. One area that’s a minefield, so … Read more
It takes little time or effort to spruce up a sentence that includes repetitive-sounding phrases. Here are some examples of minor revisions that eliminate echoes of phrasing: 1. “Six models are available, from a one-bedroom bungalow for $81,000 to a three-bedroom, two-story city house for about $200,000.” Avoid the “this for that, this for that” … Read more
As a noun, freak is documented from the 1560s with the meaning “sudden turn of mind”: The king, in a freak of anger, ordered the general’s execution. From meaning “a sudden turn of mind,” freak came to mean “a trick” or “a prank”: The boy was expelled for some boyish freak. By the 18th century, … Read more
Do you ever worry that your writing isn’t good enough? Maybe you’re scared to let anyone read your latest short story. Or perhaps it’s worse than that – you find yourself agonising over every email that you write. You’re not alone. Most writers – even those who make a living from their craft – lack … Read more