Into, or “in to”? Onto, or “on to”? Into and onto are prepositions, words that describe relative position. They are part of prepositional phrases, such as “She settled herself into her seat” or “He climbed onto the roof.” These words are forward looking, in that, as their grammatical name implies, they are positioned before the … Read more
I recently wrote a post advising writers and editors responsible for print or online publications to create their own style guide to supplement whichever published manual they follow, be it The Chicago Manual of Style, The Associated Press Stylebook, or a similar volume. Sensible enough, but how does one go about this task? First, note … Read more
“I want to write a book for children” gets you about as far as saying, “I want to write fiction” or “I want to write nonfiction.” It’s a start, but only that. There are many forms and genres and age groups to consider, and though you can certainly move fluidly among them, what you’re going … Read more
Writing for online reading is basically the same as writing for print publications. “Writing for the Web” is more about the presentation than the content itself, but it does require a shift in thinking and some mechanical changes to prose. Here are some tips: 1. Introductory Text Site visitors rarely read introductory paragraphs on their … Read more
This is the first in what will be a series of roughly monthly reviews of books relevant to writing and editing. The Chicago Manual of Style, born in 1906 as a house style guide for the University of Chicago Press, has made great strides over the past century, especially since it hit puberty with the … Read more