Home › Archive for Marketing

After much deliberation and soul-searching (well, procrastination followed by a much-needed nudge) I finally joined Twitter back in January 2015. Here’s what I’ve discovered during my first 6 months… It’s all in the open The most important thing to remember…

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…

Hello, my name is Geraldine and I’m a Twitter newbie… After much deliberation and shilly-shallying, I finally signed up to Twitter about two weeks ago. Unfortunately I couldn’t get @EveryWordCounts for my user name as it had already gone, so my Twitter handle…

Most people will be familiar with the terms gaggle of geese, litter of puppies, pride of lions and school of dolphins. Yet there are many other collective nouns for animals – known as “terms of venery” – that are less…

Home › Posts tagged glossary

As anyone who knows me will verify, I’m rather partial to the occasional glass of dry white wine – preferably a zesty Sauvignon Blanc from Down Under. As I’m also a word nerd, a glossary of wine terms seemed to…

Posted in Language Tagged with: glossary, lingo, terms, wine

If you’re confused by terms like “PPC” and “CTR” – and completely baffled by “tags” and “bounce rates” – this beginner’s guide to key SEO terms is for you. Whether you’re a small business owner with your own website or you…

Posted in SEO Tagged with: glossary, SEO, terminology, terms

On the eve of Wimbledon – my favourite sporting event of the year – it seems fitting to write a blog about tennis. Like any sport, tennis has its own lingo but rather than focus on the common terminology, I…

Posted in Language Tagged with: glossary, tennis, terms

Home › Posts tagged mistakes

Introducing the first in a new series of mini blog posts about common writing mistakes. The difference between compliment vs. complement is one that catches a lot of people out. I often see them used incorrectly, as in “complimentary therapies”,…

I recently overheard a radio news presenter refer to “less people” at a particular event. The issue of whether to use less or fewer in a sentence is one that catches many people out. This is confirmed by Oxford Dictionaries,…

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…

Home › Posts tagged Christmas

As a linguist, I’m always fascinated by how people in other countries use completely different words to effectively say the same thing. For this week’s blog post, I’ve therefore rounded up the many versions of Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas or…

Continuing my series of blog posts on idioms, this latest one unwraps a few of the most popular Christmas idioms and other holiday-related phrases and sayings. For those of you interested in word origins, I’ve also included links to extra…

Whether you’re after stocking fillers for teenage students, a Secret Santa present for an office colleague or something special for a full-time writer, you can find loads of gorgeous gift ideas for writers, readers and literature fans online. Here are a few…

Having previously written posts about baking, cooking and dancing related idioms to tie in with popular TV shows, it seems only right to turn to pottery as we approach the final of this year’s The Great Pottery Throw Down. So,…

Inspired by the OVO Energy Tour of Britain 2018 cycle race, which whizzed through leafy Warwickshire this week, I thought I’d check to see how many cycling phrases, idioms or other expressions I could find. Quite a few, as it…

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

Most people will be familiar with the terms gaggle of geese, litter of puppies, pride of lions and school of dolphins. Yet there are many other collective nouns for animals – known as “terms of venery” – that are less…

After much deliberation and soul-searching (well, procrastination followed by a much-needed nudge) I finally joined Twitter back in January 2015. Here’s what I’ve discovered during my first 6 months… It’s all in the open The most important thing to remember…

Hello, my name is Geraldine and I’m a Twitter newbie… After much deliberation and shilly-shallying, I finally signed up to Twitter about two weeks ago. Unfortunately I couldn’t get @EveryWordCounts for my user name as it had already gone, so my Twitter handle…

Home › Archive for Grammar › Page 2

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…

A recent query from a client reminded me of a topic I’ve been meaning to blog about for a while: when to use a or an. Most of us will remember learning a simple rule at school. If the word…

Am I just becoming more pedantic as I get older? Or is there a general decline in grammar today? Either way, I’ve recently noticed a rise in basic grammatical mistakes, including the increasingly rampant comma splice. And it’s starting to bug me,…

Home › Archive for Grammar

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…

I recently overheard a radio news presenter refer to “less people” at a particular event. The issue of whether to use less or fewer in a sentence is one that catches many people out. This is confirmed by Oxford Dictionaries,…

You know that idiom that refers to comparing yourself to your neighbours as a benchmark for social class or material wealth? Whereby failure to ‘keep up’ with their practices or possessions is perceived as evidence of socio-economic or cultural inferiority.…