Writing
Book judge bemoans number of published typos
/ | Leave a CommentA sports writer and head of a judging panel for an annual book award says the number of misprints and spelling mistakes creeping into publications is increasing. Graham Sharpe, who read 131 books nominated for this year’s William Hill Sports Book of the Year, says: “It certainly seems to me that there have been many […]
Read more »Can good grammar improve your love life?
/ | Leave a CommentWhen people describe what they look for in a partner, knowing the difference between ‘there’, ‘they’re’ and ‘their’ is rarely something they mention, but a study has indicated that grammatical knowhow can result in dating success. According to the Evening Standard, research by TrueView, a popular dating app, shows that cramming your profile with textspeak […]
Read more »Are you overcomplicating your writing?
/ | Leave a CommentWhen writers are trying to impress, a tendency they often have is to use long and obscure words. You might see penmen trying to dazzle readers with words like ‘crepuscular’, ‘pulchritudinous’, ‘quaquaversal’, ‘verisimilitude’ and ‘iconoclastic’. This is all well and good and there’s certainly a place for grandiose language, but are you confusing your writers […]
Read more »Is it time to ditch handwritten exams?
/ | Leave a CommentThe thought of exams probably reminds you of commonly uttered phrases like “turn over your paper”, “pens down” and “neat crossing out”, but in an era where we use computers and digital devices every day, why are we still taking pen and paper exams? Currently, the University of Cambridge is considering making a move from […]
Read more »Seven ways to beat blank page syndrome
/ | Leave a CommentWriting can be a lot like building a house or cooking a meal. Once you’re some way into the task, it’s not too difficult to add to it, but it can be hard to get going if there’s literally nothing in front of you. ‘Blank page syndrome’ is the name given for the struggle many […]
Read more »How to write well on your phone
/ | Leave a CommentAs most of us now have an electronic notepad in our pockets, it means we can write while we travel on a train, wait for a bus or sit in a waiting room at the dentist, allowing us to use time that would otherwise have been wasted in a productive way. It’s not exactly a […]
Read more »Three arguments for ‘pen and paper’ writing
/ | Leave a CommentThe advert of word processing has made it easy for us to complete written work in dribs and drabs, often jumping onto the next paragraph without finishing the first one. This is in stark contrast to the older days of typewriters and traditional print, where work would have to be churned through in strict order […]
Read more »Three great Russian writers for Russian Language Day
/ | Leave a CommentDespite being the largest country on the planet, as well as one of the most powerful, most of us know little about Russia and particularly its language. While we may remember some French, German or Spanish from school, Russian, with its 33-character Cyrillic alphabet, is a lot more alien to the majority of Brits. This […]
Read more »How long is a paragraph?
/ | Leave a CommentWith new and inexperienced writers, one of the most common mistakes they make is displaying a lack of structure in how they write. When we talk, we often jump back and forth in what we’re saying, perhaps referring back to an idea from earlier in the discussion. In writing, we need to be a lot
Read more »The A to Z of being a great writer
/ | Leave a CommentIf you want to write for a living, or even as a hobby, one thing you have to get to grips with is the alphabet. You only have 26 letters to use to form your work, so here are 26 tips – one beginning with each of them – on how to make your writing […]
Read more »The case for the Oxford comma
/ | Leave a CommentOf all the gripes that grammarians have, it’s often the smallest and seemingly most innocuous that annoy them the most. Apostrophes and their correct use is one matter that keeps many sticklers for grammar awake at night. This is literally the case for the so-called ‘Grammar Vigilante’, a mystery night-time activist who seems to have
Read more »Three great places to write
/ | Leave a CommentWriting is one of the few professions or hobbies that we can do pretty much anywhere. Helped by modern technology, writers have so many more options and locations at their disposal than to simply sit at a desk with a pen and notepad. Working at a desk is fine, of course, but there’s no need […]
Read more »Can word games help you become a better writer?
/ | Leave a CommentMost writers and wordsmiths tend to be fond of the likes of crosswords, anagrams and word puzzles, but does this just come down to a love of wordplay, or is it possible that their interest in one is aiding their ability in another? Perhaps the most famous of all word games is Scrabble, and with […]
Read more »Taking your pick of personal pronouns
/ | Leave a CommentA topic of conversation that always remains hotly contested among writers is how to refer to an unspecified person. We do this quite naturally in spoken English, but when writing, the choices of personal pronouns at our disposal mean that we sometimes spend longer than we should pondering which ones will help us achieve the […]
Read more »An ode to World Poetry Day
/ | Leave a CommentPoetry, as a form of writing Is challenging, perilous, brave and exciting But get it just right and it will be rewarding And leave all your best friends in awe and applauding Unless racked with jealously if they’re averse To seeing the beauty of penning some verse Yet there’s still time to view it all […]
Read more »Do you know the five Ws of news writing?
/ | Leave a CommentA big part of writing for the web is knowing how to report news, and the reason for this is that it never runs out. Imagine switching on the evening news or picking up the paper only to find that journalists and reporters had found nothing to tell us. News is always happening and, if […]
Read more »Three ways to make proofreading foolproof
/ | Leave a CommentMarch is shaping into quite some month for advocates of accurate writing. Hot on the heels of National Grammar Day, today sees another mouthwatering date on the grammar geek’s calendar – National Proofreading Day! Alright, so grammar and proofreading is a fairly dry subject for most of us. It’s not something that sets the creative […]
Read more »Write the right way for National Grammar Day
/ | 1 Comment on Write the right way for National Grammar DayPart of the skill of good writing is taking what sounds good in our heads and converting it into clear, coherent and impressive words on a page. We know exactly what we’re trying to say and
Read more »Three ways to love yourself as a writer
/ | Leave a CommentWith today being Valentine’s Day, it might be expected of you to put on some spectacular display of love and appreciation to somebody else, but when love is in the air, don’t forget the importance of having respect for yourself. Writing can be a very personal and lonely profession or hobby, and a big part […]
Read more »If you want to write, you have to read
/ | Leave a CommentWriting is a sensitive and very personal art, regardless of whether it’s done for business or as a hobby, and it’s one that can easily leave us with an inflated or deflated opinion of ourselves. A self-conscious writer might pick up a famous work of fiction and curse that they will never be able to […]
Read more »What are you doing for Short Story Day?
| Leave a CommentThe 21st December is Short Story Day – the day of the year budding writers are encouraged to finally put their ideas down on paper and write a short piece. Most people think they’ve got a novel in them, but putting it down on paper is another thing entirely. Short Story Day is a much […]
Read more »November 15th – the day you can become a writer!
/ | 5 Comments on November 15th – the day you can become a writer!Writing is one of those things that everybody says they want to do, but not everybody gets around to doing. How many people have you heard say ‘I’d love to write a novel someday’? You might be one of them yourself. The intention to do it is always there, but the practicalities of sitting down […]
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