Picking a title can often be the hardest part of a writing project. Sometimes the title just comes to you, but more often than not, you have to put quite a bit of work into finding just the right one. You may even have to sift through several titles before you find one that sits … Read more
An extensive vocabulary exists to describe all the possible variations in the structures in which humans live. This list, which omits most terms of foreign origin and includes temporary and mobile living spaces, includes definitions of many such words to help writers distinguish between them: 1. Abode: Any living space; often used jocularly in a … Read more
Who or what determines what is correct form in writing, and what is incorrect? Many nations have an official body that regulates the national language to protect it from extinction or at least from degradation. (France’s Academie Francaise, in particular, seems to exist primarily to prevent pollution of the French language by importation of English … Read more
What’s the difference between a customer and a client? Substantially, not much — but as we all know on some level, the exchange of currency for goods and services is more about the style than the substance. Savvy merchants have blurred the distinction in the interests of encouraging business by conferring prestige on potential purchasers. … Read more
After thumbing through the dictionary or perusing a usage guide, you’d think that the trend in American English and, to a lesser extent, in British English is to omit hyphens from words consisting of a prefix attached to the root word. But reality begs to differ. Mail sent from nonprofit organizations invariably features the word … Read more
Where does an adjective go? It can appear virtually anywhere in a sentence, but the particular placement depends on its particular function. The most common placement of an adjective — a word (or a phrase, known as a phrasal adjective or an adjectival phrase) that modifies a noun — is immediately before that noun: “I … Read more
As an unabashed proponent of reasonable elegant variation — the moderate use of synonyms to avoid tiring repetition of a specific word throughout a passage — I offer this assortment of terms for a piece of writing: 1. Article: This word, with the diminutive -le as a clue, refers to a small part of a … Read more
Couple, from the Latin word copula, meaning “bond” (yes, the term is also the origin of copulate, which is synonymous with a sense of the verb couple), has some relationship issues, so careful writers should be aware of the word’s reputation and note its proper formal usage. Couple, as a collective noun, can be associated … Read more
What’s your type? Archetype and prototype are both suitable matches for referring to an exemplar — and then there’s stereotype — but among their senses are both similar and dissimilar meanings. Before we go into details, let’s look at the root word: Type (from the Latin term typus, “image,” ultimately derived from the Greek word … Read more
Last week, I offered some simple advice for immediately improving your prose, including suggestions having to do with punctuation, capitalization, and the like. Here are more recommendations, this time dealing with more qualitative issues: 1. Avoid cliches like the plague: You can’t omit them altogether — and you shouldn’t try — but take care when … Read more
How to treat numbers in writing in general is a complicated issue dealt with in this DailyWritingTips post and others. The current post focuses on a subcategory of number style: numbers that refer to physical dimensions — an object’s size or the proportion thereof — or to nonphysical scientific measurement. Occasional, casual references to dimensions … Read more
Who knew there were this many ways to alter a word to connote belittlement or affection, or merely diminishment in size? Now, you do. Here’s a big list of little affixes: 1. -aster: This generally pejorative suffix denoting resemblance was common a couple hundred years ago but is rare today; the only well-known surviving instance … Read more