9 stellar quotes from “A Christmas...

One of the holiday traditions in my house is to read “A Christmas Carol” to my kids. We read it because no matter how many movie versions you see of this classic, nothing compares to Charles Dickens’ style and storytelling. Now that my kids are older, this will likely be the last year we read it together. In honor of the master and this yuletide staple, here are nine powerful quotations from “A Christmas Carol” (minus Tiny Tim’s wisdom): “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” “But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the...

23 words and phrases with odd plural for...

The rules of English spelling can be baffling. Writers and editors see it daily. I recently had to check the spelling of “prerogative” because it couldn’t possibly be spelled “prerogative” (it is). One area of spelling that is particularly challenging: finding correct plural forms. They can trip writers up, because they’re difficult to spell and difficult to pronounce. Below are 23 tricky plurals: antennae asterisks attorneys general axes (plural of axis) bases (plural of basis) courts-martial culs-de-sac diagnoses dos and...

8 gifts for the writers in your life

There’s still plenty of time to find that perfect holiday gift for your special wordsmith. However, some people are harder to shop for than others. What can you get the person who already has subscriptions to all the major style guides and worn-out copies of “On Writing” by Stephen King and “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” by Lynne Truss? Here are eight ideas: 1. “1000 Totally Unfair Words for Scrabble & Words With Friends: Outrageously Legitimate Words to Crush the Enemy in Your Favorite Word Games” For a writer, there is nothing worse than being...

15 posts for any occasion

You know you’ve arrived as a professional writer when your friends can talk about random topics and you can say “I wrote an article about that once.” I’ve found myself saying that a lot this week. So below are a few of those posts . . . posts for any occasion or discussion topic.   Need to beat someone at Scrabble? 57 words you may not have known you could use in Scrabble Wondering what the singular form of “scissors” is? 39 plural forms that might confuse writers Not sure you spelled “idiosyncrasy” correctly? 50 words you need to stop...

Phrases to cut from your writing

Writing can often be improved by excising unnecessary words and phrases. Many writers use “crutch phrases” when they’re not sure how to start a sentence or how to connect two sentences. They’re often seen in corporate emails and copy: As many of you are already aware, performance reviews will start next week. The phrase “as many of you are already aware” is meaningless and doesn’t add anything to the sentence. The phrase can be removed, allowing you to jump straight into the sentence: “Performance reviews will start next week.” Here’s another...

3 websites corporate communicators shoul...

Only four hours after I submitted my last post to PR Daily on writing and language sites you should know about, a friend told me about a few other sites that should have been included on that list. As a follow up, here are three more useful sites for corporate communicators. These aren’t writing sites per se, but they potentially can make your work life easier. Askwonder.com Described as “your personal research assistant,” Wonder allows you to ask a question and within six hours, you will receive an email with detailed answers and resources from a Wonder researcher....