By Barbara McNichol No matter what you’re writing—a sensitive email, a report, a proposal, even chapters in a book—you aim to make it easy for readers to understand. But how can you ensure what you actually write is what you intended? Ignore this question at your peril—no matter how busy you are or how fast…
How to Boost Your Professionalism Through Better Writing Webinar
These days, doesn’t it seem like we’re all getting lazy with our writing? Perhaps we can blame technology. Whatever the reason, poor writing skills can really call your professionalism into question. Errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling are just the tip of the iceberg. Being overly wordy, repetitive and vague can also create the impression…
Whack Extraneous Phrases from Your Writing
This is part of a series by editor Barbara McNichol to provide tips that help you write like a pro. In their classic book The Elements of Style, Strunk and White called word clutter “the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood out of words.” Who wants that in their writing? You…
Not Sure If It’s One Word or Two? Check This List
This is part of a series by editor Barbara McNichol to provide tips that help you write like a pro. When you are proofreading your writing or a colleague’s work, chances are you question if a phrase should be two words versus one. For example, should you write “backyard” or “back yard”? Because no one…
When “Start” Begins to Creep into Your Writing
This is part of a series by editor Barbara McNichol to provide tips that help you write like a pro. Do you have a habit of frequently starting a sentence with the word “start” or “begin”? Recently, in a 5,000-word document I edited, those two words appeared 14 times, while only five were deemed necessary.…