Editing Archives - Words by a Pro

The Flavours of English

Morris Vaughan — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:25:28 +0000

In the 1964 movie My Fair Lady, excruciatingly British phonetics professor Henry Higgins worries about the fate of the English language. “In America,” he observes, “they haven’t used it for years.” If you write or edit English prose for hire, you may be called upon to ensure a piece follows the spelling, grammar, and punctuation […]

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Is It Okay to Use the Word Hopefully?

Susan Metzger — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 21:15:58 +0000

There remains debate about whether this adverb is appropriate or not. According to an NPR article, thirty years ago a few famous grammarians decided to “vilify” the word. Prior to this, so they say, the word was used without complaint. After three decades of debate, most of us are now confused. I like to quote […]

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Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Susan Metzger — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 20:57:35 +0000

“Huh?” you may ask yourself. “I kinda remember hearing those words in high school English class, but I have no idea what they mean,” you may answer. The robber was described as a six-foot-tall man with a mustache weighing 150 pounds. Funny, right? What weighed 150 pounds—the robber or the mustache? This sentence reads as […]

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Questions for a Language Ninja: Overused Words and Slaying that Content

Holly Troupe — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 22:22:14 +0000

Q: What would you say are the most overused words from the past year? I nominate “pivot.” Yes, the word “pivot” – a word that was previously only used in osteopathic and Jazz dance applications – has been tossed around quite brutally, particularly on cable news channels. The Ninja agrees that as an indication of […]

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Style Guides & Manuals: What Are They?

Susan Metzger — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 20:42:33 +0000

Perhaps your high school English teacher told you about style guides, but maybe you didn’t even come across them until college when your English Composition instructor informed you, “You must use MLA style or fail this course.” I have said it, and other instructors have insisted on APA or Chicago (Turabian) Style as the style […]

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Numbers Racket: Incorporating Numbers and Math in Your Writing

Morris Vaughan — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 21:52:17 +0000

If you’re like most professional writers, you avoid any math more complicated than balancing your checkbook. You might not even do that anymore, since you can just check your bank balance on your phone. A math-free life—how great is that? In some cases, however, you may incorporate numbers or mathematics into your writing—in scientific or […]

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Grammar Rules: A Lesson on “However”

Susan Metzger — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 20:54:10 +0000

It’s a little tricky. Many amateur writers use the word however incorrectly. The most common mistake—and we see it way too often—is using it as if it were a coordinating conjunction. A coordinating conjunction joins elements of equal grammatical rank. In middle or high school, you may have been given the mnemonic device FANBOYS. It […]

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Breaking All Some of the Rules

Morris Vaughan — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 17:24:15 +0000

The grammar police nabbed me recently. A client whose academic paper I was editing objected to one of my corrections. He pointed out that in a sentence where the subject is in the form “Not only…but also,” the verb must agree with the noun in the “but also” part. Example: “Not only language ninjas but […]

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What’s So Awful About Adverbs?

Susan Metzger — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 23:06:41 +0000

My new husband is a long-time Ayn Rand fan and has belonged to their Objectivist group for decades. I went to a meeting or two. There were some very nice, seemingly intelligent people there, yet I remained skeptical about some of their beliefs about altruism and their extreme anti-religion stance, among others. So, I thought, […]

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Questions for a Language Ninja: Is a Lamb a Who, a That, or a Chop?

Holly Troupe — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 22:43:25 +0000

Welcome to the first Language Ninja article of what is sure to be a blazing hot summer! Ninja’s beat the heat tip: Switch out your heat-absorbing black shinobi shōzoku for a light-reflecting bodysuit made of mirrors. She’s pretty sure you can find one on Etsy. Now that the practical advice is out of the way, […]

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