Building relationships and trust with prospects and clients requires a jaw-dropping amount of work. Once you’ve established your organization as a credible, reliable and legitimate source of information, don’t jeopardize your efforts with embarrassing spelling errors. Quality writing isn’t just for style junkies. If I were trying to earn your business and sent you marketing […]
Category: Style Guru
How to turn mediocre copy into tantalizing content
We’ve all been there. You write the best blog post, ad, white paper, story or (fill in the blank) ever. And then someone dumps all over it. The red sea of edits and corrections makes you wonder what went wrong. The thrill is gone. But you can bring it back. Here’s how … Know the […]
Caps off to you
“The President of the College will speak to Law Students Tuesday about Health Care issues.” Many people would breeze through that sentence without a second glance. As grammar guardians, though, my fellow editors and I read it and wince. Improper capitalization is one of the most common grammar mistakes we see at The Simons Group. […]
R U tired of bad grammer? Me 2
My library’s recent book fair was the hottest ticket in town. Book nerds within a 25-mile radius lined up outside before the doors opened to get first crack at the thousands of used paperbacks and hardbacks inside. Schlepping wagons, suitcases and cardboard boxes, they ran – not walked – hoping for hidden treasures at cheap […]
Here a quote, there a quote, everywhere a quote-quote
When you curl up with a good book, chances are that it’s conversation-heavy. Who doesn’t love coffee and good conversation, after all? Trying to wade through a story that’s all narrative is so boring, it’s like watching your computer defrag. I tried to read a Jack Kerouac book once that was worse because not only […]
Use this, not that
Confusion about similar words abounds, especially when they sound alike. Writers sometimes use one word when they really mean another. Have any of these tripped you up? Accept, except – These are often misused and confused. Accept means to receive or agree to. Should I accept the gift even though I know it’s really expensive? […]
A down-and-dirty guide to that vs. which
Explaining the difference between “that” and “which” has been in my idea file for a while. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answer – it’s a common conundrum. Now that I’ve had requests to cover this topic, your wait is over! I’m all about instant gratification, but first you must grasp essential and […]
Test Your Grammar IQ
Who doesn’t relish a challenge, especially when it comes to dependent clauses, parallelism and collective nouns? OK, so that’s a stretch, but go with it. Find the errors in the sentences below and I’ll send you a fabulous prize. Not really, but what have you got to lose? Neither an e-mail or a phone call […]