Like many freelance copywriters, a large portion of my business comes via personal referrals from people I’ve previously worked for – sometimes several years ago. Not surprisingly, word of mouth is considered to be the most effective marketing tool, because…
Numerous Latin phrases and abbreviations have endured the test of time to still feature in English today, especially in the field of business and law. Yet many of them are incorrectly used, largely because people don’t always understand their specific purpose and…
Instead of setting myself the usual vague New Year’s resolutions I decided this year to sign up to a personal challenge: to walk 1000 miles during 2017. So it seems only right that my first blog post of the year should… Posted in Idioms Tagged with: sayings, walk, walking
Thanks again, you’ve made a difficult process much easier and saved hours of my life from me deliberating over commas! Posted in Uncategorised I’ve known Geraldine for years and she really knows her stuff. Have been using her for some new projects recently and as well as great copywriting, she’s extremely easy to work with. […]
The Apostralypse The humble apostrophe may be small and trivial to some, but its correct usage brings disproportionate pleasure to all us grammar geeks. My personal bugbears are apostrophes used in plural nouns or decades (1980’s makes me cringe every time), or when it’s is used instead of its and vice versa. Apostrophe mistakes are everywhere – in newspapers, adverts and promotional flyers, […]
Every now and then I undertake a large proofreading job, such as a manual or an annual report. The most recent was a meaty 90,000-word operations manual. What I’ve noticed is that the same writing mistakes crop up time and…
Losing the hammer. Blanking an end. Staying in the house. What on earth does it all mean? It can only be one thing… curling lingo. If, like me, you’ve been enjoying watching the British curling teams in action at the…
Like many others, I turned to various creative pursuits for a welcome distraction during lockdown. One of these was rediscovering a favourite childhood pastime: jigsaws. Not only has this helped take my mind off other things these past few months,…
Like the majority of people, I take reading and writing for granted – whether that’s jotting down a shopping list, filling out a form, sending a text, browsing the newspaper or surfing online. Yet 1 in 5 adults don’t enjoy…
One of the many differences between British English and American English that’s always intrigued me is autumn vs. fall. We use winter, spring and summer on both sides of the pond. Yet we can’t seem to agree what to call this time of… Posted in Language Tagged with: AmE, autumn, BrE, fall, terms
The world of freelance copywriting has undergone huge changes since I began back in October 1996 (was it really that long ago?). It didn’t happen overnight though; it’s been a gradual process over many years. Overall, the changes have been…
Than or then? These two words might look – and even sound – quite similar, but every day I see people mix them up. Not only is this a grammatical howler, but it can also give a totally different meaning to their sentence.… Posted in Grammar, Tips Tagged with: than, then, words
I’ve recently noticed a growing trend of people misusing – or, to be precise, failing to use – apostrophes in expressions of time. It seems to be fairly widespread, ranging from emails and newsletter content to blog posts and social…
Instead of setting myself the usual vague New Year’s resolutions I decided this year to sign up to a personal challenge: to walk 1000 miles during 2017. So it seems only right that my first blog post of the year should be walking related – namely, walking idioms. As with most idioms, few of these actually […]