Sharon Wether is a prime example of a word that will slip past the spell check. It is easily confused with two of its homonyms, whether and weather. Flying fingers find it easy to miss the single letter that separates them. Unless you’re a farmer, you might not even know that wether is either a: male … Read more
Whether you are learning English as a second language or trying to polish your already adequate grammar and style skills, the seven websites below can help. 1. Memrise Memrise is an online flashcard website where people can upload their own flashcard stacks. You can find a range of topics ranging from Geography to Electronics to … Read more
There is something magical about reading books. Whether you like fiction or non-fiction, fantasy or sci-fi, there are many books out there. Still, it isn’t always easy to make a trip to the bookstore or library to find that specific book that you are looking for. If you find yourself itching for a new read, … Read more
Karen Reddick runs the Red Pen Editor and is the author of Grammar Done Right. We asked her about her book and her views on writing and editing. Hi Karen, and welcome to Daily Writing Tips. Can you tell us a little about yourself? Hi, Sharon. Thank you for inviting me. I am a freelance … Read more
So you think you know your punctuation? Now you can put it to the test. Eats, Shoots and Leaves, reviewed by Maeve in July, has a punctuation game online. There are to questions on the placement of the apostrophe and comma, and at the end of the game you get a score showing how much … Read more
One of the best books I’ve read on writing recently has been Save The Cat by Blake Snyder. Snyder is a screenwriter who has has his share of both failures and successes and he shares what he has learned about the way to construct the perfect script. The intriguing title of the book comes from … Read more
My five year old is now reading fluently and as a result is asking all sorts of questions about the meanings of words. The other day, she asked why fluorescent bulbs were so named and I realized that I had absolutely no idea, so I set out to find out more about this suffix. It … Read more
Article marketing is a great way to promote a product, service, website or blog. The name says it all: article marketing means marketing yourself with articles and it’s easy to do if you know how. Here’s how to create a good article marketing article. The Title The title of your article is the most important … Read more
I have a theory … or do I? Perhaps what I have is an idea, a hypothesis or a conjecture. In science, a theory is a set of related hypotheses that serve to explain or provide rules for certain phenomena. If these hypotheses can be linked together to predict behavior or events, then they form … Read more
The question mark is used at the end of a direct question. Example: ‘What is your name?’ she asked. It may also be used at the end of a tag question, which changes a statement into a question. Example: He left early, didn’t he? Question marks should not be used at the end of indirect … Read more
It’s easy to mix up these two words, but there’s a world of difference in their meanings. Complacent means self-satisfied or smug and derives in part from the Latin verb placere (to please). Example: He felt complacent about his excellent examination results. Complaisant, on the other hand, means eager to please or obliging. An example … Read more
A chance remark by a Swedish friend about English loan words in Swedish set me on the trail of borrowings of Swedish origin that have entered the English language. There are a few common ones: angstrom – a unit of length named after a Swedish scientist flounder – a type of flat fish gauntlet is believed … Read more