AmEn vs BrEn 🔎 I consider this when proofreading and it’s dependent on where the book will be released, where the audience is based, the writer’s and readers’ preferences. Other Ens available! You know the difference. 🎭 theater vs theatre or ✈️ airplane vs aeroplane These ones are well known. 🔤 But for a recentContinue reading “Is it theater or theatre? Airplane or aeroplane? And other questions about American vs British spelling.”
Tag Archives: writingtips
Get rid of red squiggles before you take your screenshot.
📢 Recently, a mayor’s open letter was shared on social media. The letter was shared as an image, not a Word doc/PDF. It looks like a screenshot taken at the mayor’s computer. I reckon the mayor’s computer was set to US English but he wanted to write in British English. Word had done its usualContinue reading “Get rid of red squiggles before you take your screenshot.”
Is it stationary or stationery?
✅ You’re a stationery addict… if you’re addicted to buying pens, notebooks, etc. ❌ If you were a stationary addict, you’d be addicted to standing still. 🗽😆 💡 The way I remember it is E for envelopes. StationEry.
How do you hyphenate or use a dash in the names of mathematical concepts? And are they capitalised?
🤓 I enjoyed the maths! There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say. 🔎 I’ve recently proofread ‘The Nick Warner Chronicles Vol II’, an adventure-filled Bildungsroman about the life of a maths genius. Nick navigates tricky life circumstances by applying maths. 🔎 As part of the edit, I checked every hypothesis, theory, concept and formula,Continue reading “How do you hyphenate or use a dash in the names of mathematical concepts? And are they capitalised?”
Where should capital letters go in titles?
📝 So you’ve written a contents page. A leaflet. A blog post. An essay. And you’ve used a series of headings. ❓ The question is – should you capitalise the words in your headings? And, if so, how? 📢 The answer is that there is more than one way to approach this. There are individualContinue reading “Where should capital letters go in titles?”
Should food names be capitalised in menus? And other considerations when proofreading food writing.
😋 I proofread some menus today and they made me so hungry! They were Indian menus of dishes prepared for special occasions. If I hadn’t already sorted a shepherd’s pie for tea then I definitely would have ordered a takeaway tonight. Though it’s probably best I didn’t as it wouldn’t have lived up to theContinue reading “Should food names be capitalised in menus? And other considerations when proofreading food writing.”
May 12th 2020. Fantasy novel: top proofreading spots.
🔎 Today’s top #proofreading spots from a fantasy novel. ❌ The tower rose in the distance, its height all the more impressiveness from her vantage point ➡️ impressive ✅ ❌ The creature’s wings billowed and caught on an updraft ➡️ updraught ✅ 🇬🇧 ❌ Mystical plains ➡️ planes ✅ ❌ A minute or slater ➡️Continue reading “May 12th 2020. Fantasy novel: top proofreading spots.”
How do I get an en dash or an em dash on Word? Using alt codes.
❓ Do you know your alt codes? Alt+0150 – This is my favourite and I use this a lot: the en-dash, a dash the size of a letter N. It’s the one which Word often does automatically – when you hit the hyphen to move on to a different clause and, as if by magic,Continue reading “How do I get an en dash or an em dash on Word? Using alt codes.”
Is it immanent or imminent? Top proofreading spot.
🔎 Most satisfying #proofreading spot of the day: Immanent ➡️ imminent ⛔ Microsoft Word’s spellcheck did not recognise ‘immanent’ as being incorrect. Why not? 💡 Because ‘immanent’ is a word. It means “existing or operating within; inherent” (Google Dictionary definition). But the author of this #gamelit novel wanted ‘imminent’ as in “about to happen”. That’sContinue reading “Is it immanent or imminent? Top proofreading spot.”
Proper nouns. What are they and why are they important in novels?
I do love a good proper noun. They can really anchor you in a particular time and place. 🎯 I don’t mean a ‘right good’ noun. I mean the kind of noun, identified by an initial capital, denoting a particular person, place or thing. 📅The novel I’m currently editing makes good use of proper nouns.Continue reading “Proper nouns. What are they and why are they important in novels?”
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