I recently had someone visit my website asking me whether they needed to include a comma before a name in a birthday greeting. Here was their example: Happy birthday, Jo. In short, yes, include a comma when wishing a specific person a happy birthday. Including the comma whenever you address someone (whether it’s for a… Continue reading When writing “happy birthday”, is the name preceded by a comma?
Category: Writing
What is “monthsary”?
I recently had someone come to my blog trying to find out what monthsary means. Monthsary is 1 of 4 options we can use to refer to the monthly equivalent of anniversaries. Here are all 4:
Is 12:00 p.m. or a.m.?
I recently had someone visit this blog looking for the answer to whether 12:00 is p.m. or a.m. The answer is complicated.
Difference between extreamly and extremely
This is part of the difference between series. I recently encountered a Facebook comment that included the word extreamly, and it reminded me that I’ve seen this spelling before. This seemed like a blog post waiting to happen.
Eliminate “of” to reduce your wordiness
When editing client copy for clarity and conciseness, one of the first things I cut is the overuse of . . . well . . . of.
Why we need to stop using “she/he” and “him/her”
I was editing a few projects for a client recently, and I noticed a tendency to use constructions such as “him or her“, “his or hers”, “he or she”, and so on. Sometimes, the author replaced the or with a slash. The reason for this, I presume, is that they want to be gender inclusive,… Continue reading Why we need to stop using “she/he” and “him/her”
Difference between i.e. and e.g.
This is part of the difference between series. People often confuse these two closely related Latin abbreviations. Here is the difference. i.e. i.e. is short for id est, which means “that is” or “in other words”. I work 35 hours a week (i.e. I have 7-hour workdays). e.g. e.g. is short for exempli gratia, which… Continue reading Difference between i.e. and e.g.
5 alternatives you can use instead of “looking for”
This week, I received a 300-page editing project from one of my oldest clients. I’m about 20 pages in, and one thing I’ve noticed is that this client seems to prefer the phrase “looking for”. It’s something I’ve seen quite a bit actually.
If you’re correcting grammar on social media, you’re just being a jerk
I’d like to take a moment to talk about correcting grammar. (Or spelling, or punctuation, or writing in general.) I get paid to correct others’ grammar for a living. I read dozens of pages every day, looking for editing mistakes. Sometimes, it makes my head hurt. So, when I log out for the day, the… Continue reading If you’re correcting grammar on social media, you’re just being a jerk
Why you should reconsider using “now” in your writing
One thing I specialize in is whittling down wordiness. You could argue that wordiness is even a pet peeve of mine. A popular wordiness culprit is the use of the word “now” (and its cousins “currently” and “presently”).