We’re all editors these days. Well, at least we should be. Whenever we write — be it a business proposal, a research paper, an article, a blog post, an email, a social media comment or even a text — we should edit ourselves. But who am I kidding? Seems like self-editing has gradually become a thing of the past, just like the evening newspaper and letters written in longhand. The truth is, anything poorly written or […]
typos
6 posts
By now, most school districts around the country have begun another academic year. Many students complete their writing assignments on computers, but such technological wonders as a spell checker, formatting tools and a pop-up dictionary/thesaurus don’t seem to be helping high school graduates succeed at writing. Consider this recent news item from The Huffington Post: In 2012, high school graduates attained an average score of 488 on the writing portion of the SAT. This is […]
To apostrophe or not to apostrophe? That is the question you need to ask when writing. Otherwise, as August 15’s celebration of International Apostrophe Day made abundantly clear, you will be mocked. Among the best pieces of apostrophe advice we’ve heard? When in doubt, leave it out. But even that smart rule of thumb doesn’t always work. Here are three common apostrophe mistakes and simple ways to avoid them: 1. Would you send your preschooler someplace […]
Do you get frustrated when other people misuse apostrophes, or are you a misuser yourself? Do you agree that “reading is the gateway to whatever we want to do” and that “nothing leaves a bad first impression like a poorly written or poorly punctuated email”? And do you simply enjoy words because they’re words? If you answered “yes” to any of the previous questions, you’ll probably enjoy what you’ll see on the Two Lakes Media […]
“Weird Al” Yankovic, king of pop-song parodies, has done more for the English language this week than some teachers do in a year. To promote his latest album, Mandatory Fun — which contains parodies of Pharrell’s “Happy” (“Tacky”), Lorde’s “Royals” (“Foil”) and Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” (“Handy”) — “Weird Al” is in the midst of releasing eight videos in eight days. On Tuesday, he issued the best of the bunch so far, “Word Crimes,” a clever take […]
I hate typos, but we’re all guilty of making them. What really frustrates me, as a writer and editor, is seeing completely inexcusable typos. Near downtown Madison, Wis., for example, a restaurant illuminates a fluorescent sign every single night that reads: “Immediate Seatnig.” Lately I’ve noticed typos in one public place where they should never be: School buildings. We’re supposed to put the education of future generations in the hands of individuals who can’t even spell-check […]