Professional Writing and Editing

These articles will help you develop writing and editing skills that lead to clearer communication and fewer misunderstandings. You’ll learn how to get your message across efficiently and reduce the need for follow-up or clarification.
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Spotting Signs That Need Help

When driving around town, I look at signs. The image posted shows one I see weekly, and its mistakes jump out every time. Let's take a look at it.

First, let's look at spelling, The Canadian Press Caps and Spelling book lists…

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Have You Ever Thought much about the Pronouns ‘Me’ and ‘Myself’? Probably not. But You Should!

What is each pronoun all about?

The pronoun ‘me’ is an object pronoun. Therefore, as a writer, you want to use it either after a preposition, such as ‘for me’, 'with me’, ‘from me’, or as the object of a verb, for example: He loves me.…

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Why We Need to Avoid Using "Shall"

Finally, I’ve found a concrete example showing why we should avoid the use of “shall” in writing. (yes, even legal writing)

While attending the PLAIN conference, I had the pleasure of hearing a presentation from Joseph Kimble, a…

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Calling All Capitalization Questions

Have you ever considered how capitalization can affect the meaning of your sentences? Take a look at these two sentences and notice how one capitalized word can completely change the meaning of the sentence.

Sentence 1: Help Uncle…

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How to Write an Effective List

When looking at the careers section of your local weekend paper, you’ll find some great examples of how not to write a list. Here’s an example:

What you will do:

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How to Close a Letter

Conclusions often don’t get the time they deserve. Typically, they are dashed off with little thought, and therefore are full of clichés, bulky, bureaucratic phrases and missing information.

There are three things to keep in mind when…

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Do You Place a Comma Before the Word "And"?

You may have been told that you shouldn’t use a comma before the word and. However, you need to be careful – this statement is not always true. Here’s an example of where it’s important to use a comma before the and…

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Common Number Guidelines Explained

Many things influence whether or not you express numbers in figures or in words. Sometimes it’s your profession, and sometimes it’s the editing style of your organization.

Here are some common number usage guidelines to follow in order…

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Continual vs Continuous

Continual and continuous can’t be used interchangeably. While some people consistently use continuous, other people consistently use continual. For the most part, it’s because they don’t realize that there is another similar word to use, or…

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