They can be painful. Of course, I’m referring to arguments about whether it’s okay to use those delightful little word combinations we call contractions. You know them: cannot becomes can’t, will not shortens to won’t, and so forth. When professional writers insert those handy contractions into copy, it often gives birth to a strange reaction … Read more
Strip and stripe are two words that look similar and are pronounced differently. More important, they convey strikingly different meanings. And yet both and their derivatives are constantly being used incorrectly by people who don’t know better. If you see a Facebook post selling a “striped” piece of furniture, it means one of two things. … Read more
Our society is more politically divided than it’s been for quite some time. Rational, respectful discussions have largely been replaced with angry tweets and angrier talking heads. Simple social media posts explode into angry battles in which both sides are so eager to promote their points that they don’t even read what they’re responding to. … Read more
One of the most misused sets of homophones — words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have vastly different meanings — is the principal/principle pair. I recently read a notice about a new project that included a “principle” address as its location. I’ve seen organizations boast about their “guiding principals.” And I’ve seen … Read more
One of the subjects I discuss most often is the tendency to use bigger words when smaller ones are actually more communicative. I blame it on a desire to sound more educated and impressive (and I think it goes back to those papers we wrote in college, when we tried to mask our ignorance by … Read more
Are there certain things that people don’t know but should, and that drives you to distraction? For me, one of the biggest is the difference between features and benefits. While that distinction has been talked about for years, and successful communications and sales professionals invariably advocate for emphasizing benefits over features, there continues to be a … Read more
Far too many people spatter what they write with words that don’t really need to be there. One of the best examples is the word “appropriate.” People have a tendency to work it into sentences to make them sound more important, even though that extra word really doesn’t add any value. A typical example? “Once … Read more
Imagine if each of us were to be doled out a set of exclamation points at birth, and once we used up our allotment, that was it. No more. That was an idea a writer friend once advanced, and I think it makes more sense than 99 percent of what comes out of Congress. The … Read more
Writing something that will be presented, recorded, or spoken aloud? Here’s a remarkably simple way to make it even more compelling and effective. Even if your message will be heard by thousands, write it to just one of them. Pick out one person from that audience and write the message as if you were talking … Read more
It happens so often that I have trouble believing it. People inadvertently reveal a little more than they want us to know about them. They post a confession and an apology: “Sorry for the incontinence.” Sure, we know (or at least we hope) that they’re really not apologizing for bladder problems. We’re hoping they really … Read more