The Write Blog

Our grammar-fail photo contest is officially closed, and we’ve selected our five finalists.  Thanks to everyone who submitted photos!  Voting will close on Thursday, October 28, and we’ll notify first and second-prize winners on our blog and via email. Check out our poll to cast your vote via Polldaddy: Vote for Your Favorite Grammar Fail [...]

This question came up during a round of in-house editing this week, so – of course –I wanted to share: Complete this sentence:  I spent hours  _______ over the pages of the magazine. A.)   poring B.)   pouring The correct answer is A, “poring.” “Pore” means to study or read something with great care.  You’d pore [...]

Good news for all word nerds: The Associated Press has finally made the switch from the old-fashioned “Web site” to the simpler, more natural-looking “website.” Yay! To me, “Web site” has always seemed a little stuffy and English teacher-ish. Good for AP to know when it’s time to change things up. According to the AP’s [...]

As promised, here’s the second installment of my series on packing more punch into your prose. In Part 1, we talked about using strong verbs, ditching the adverbs, and the benefits of active sentences. Those are essential points to keep in mind if you want to inject some life into your writing. So, this week, [...]

When it comes to advertising copy, few things are as important – and as hard to pin down – as tone. Any client can tell you what kind of widget they sell and why their widget is better than their competitors’ widgets – but not all clients have a clear idea of what tone they’re [...]