writing

What are style guides?

Michael has covered the APA and MLA writing styles in an earlier post that you can find here. There are numerous writing styles and you should always check to ensure which style you will be using for a particular piece of work. Simply putting “Style guide” into Google or other search engine will throw up a whole list of these guides.

Every publication will have it’s own writing style guide which you will be expected to follow for your own work if you expect to see it published. Fortunately, getting hold of a style guide is free if the publication has it stored online and is available for th elikes of you and me to download gratis. You can find the Guardian’s here and for the academics, the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) has their’s here.

What are you going to uncover in these Style Guides?
[Read more…] about What are style guides?

The Dynamics of Writing an Article: And How it Applies to Today

The art of writing articles has changed a bit due to the internet explosion. Yes, it still works the same way in many of the traditional venues. But, articles have changed mainly because of article submission sites and blogs.

Many people in the internet world consider blogs to be articles and in some ways they are. Blogs started as bits of information a writer intended to get across in an informal setting. Now, they are actually relied upon by many readers. If you Google a topic, you will find a hundred blogs compared to one authoritative site. And blogs have become very authoritative of themselves.

But, article submission sites such as EzineArticles and AssociatedContent have made it easy for anyone to write an article and get it published. I honestly love the internet and many of its venues for giving everyone the same leverage. There are things that need to be said and it’s critical that they get said at the right time. The internet offers everyone an instant voice for anyone who is willing to listen and I love that.

But, some art gets lost in the process. The years of college a journalist goes through and all the discipline that a writer suffers is thrown out of the window when just anyone can step up to the plate. People forget or were never taught the basics of article writing. [Read more…] about The Dynamics of Writing an Article: And How it Applies to Today

When to Use Who and Whom

I thought it time to nobble this particular English language conundrum – when to use Who and when to use Whom.

Supaproofread has a section that goes into far more detail than I will here on this post and you can find it in the writing tips section here.

Who is a subjective pronoun that describes what or which person.

Whom is a pronoun that acts as an object for a verb or preceding preposition.

Phew!

In plain English please!!

A subjective pronoun is a word that is used when the person is a subject of the sentence. So, “I like fast cars but he doesn’t” – “I” and “he” are subjective pronouns. We would ask “Who likes fast cars?” but not “Whom likes fast cars?”

A verb object is the person or thing the verb is acting on. So, “ERH flew the plane” has ERH as the subject, the verb is flying and the object is the plane. Except we would never refer to a plane as “whom” so how about “ERH flew her to Paris.” In the latter case, “her” would be the object and so we would ask “With whom did ERH fly to Paris?”

Got that?

Here’s a cheat tip then.

If you have a sentence using he/she then use “Who” and if it is him/her use “Whom”.

Defeating Prevarication and Stating a Position Improves Your Credibility

You are a writer.

In my opinion, as you use the written word, then perhaps you should be considered eligible for the title “writer”.

Which statement makes you feel like you really are a writer? Me, telling you that you are a writer or me, waffling about an opinion I have, that maybe, possibly you can be called a writer?

It’s not a hard decision to make. Stating a position clearly and straight to the point without any caveat or ambiguous language makes my position clear to a reader, waffling does not. Adding language such as “perhaps”, “maybe” and Heaven forbid, “in my opinion” makes you appear to readers as if you are not sure of yourself or the position you are taking.

As a writer, you are taking a leadership role in the community of the written word. Many people may read your work, some may comment upon it, some may use it themselves but you as the creator of that piece of work have taken a lead at that point in order to deliver it to the written community. You are the leader so act like one. After all, if you do not truly believe in what you are creating, how can you expect anyone else to buy into your work?
[Read more…] about Defeating Prevarication and Stating a Position Improves Your Credibility

Being Professional: Comes Through in First Impressions

I once sat in agony as I read through a pile of project proposals. I was looking for my competition because I wanted the project that bad. I was willing to look for the one or two people I was going to have to beat to get it. When I found them, I was going to write my proposal so that it out-shined the others in all ways.

The humor of it all is that those proposals I was reading through didn’t reflect on me at all. They reflected on the other people who were trying to get my project. I should have been grateful that they were awful. But, I was still in agony because of what I was reading.

These are no lie, no punches pulled examples of the proposals I fished through:

“lets talk in detail.company profile attached.”

No, I’m not kidding. This proposal took all of five seconds to write…errors included. The first letter isn’t capitalized. A space doesn’t exist between the first and second sentence. And that just gets me started.
[Read more…] about Being Professional: Comes Through in First Impressions

The Language of Pop Culture – Should You Use Proper English Only?

Should we use street lingo in our writing or not? Is our use of fashionable vernacular simply lazy English or a case of reflecting reality and freeing expression from the constraints of grammar Nazi’s?

There are as ever, two sides to the argument for and against the use of improper English; slang, street words, internet chat and text speak abbreviations; r u mad 4 it? G8!

Here is a comment reproduced from JTony on Lorelle Van Fossen’s WordPress blogging blog:

“The tyrrany of language academicians is a constant thorn in the side of those who wish to communicate. Language is fluid, changing and evolving faster than any virus. Trying to keep language still is like trying to hold on to a single spot on a river… it cannot be done.The rule should be that if your intended audience can understand what you are writing, then you have accomplished what you need to. The only time you should avoid any form of “everyday speech” or “jargon” or anything else is if it is something your intended audience will not understand. It is all about the context of your readers, and nothing else applies.
[Read more…] about The Language of Pop Culture – Should You Use Proper English Only?