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Legal Writing

Daily Writing Tips

Are you trying to improve your writing skills? If so Daily Writing Tips is the right place for you. Featuring daily tips about grammar, spelling, punctuation, copywriting and more!

Post Frequency: 3.6/day

Last Entry: November 02, 2020 at 06:34:48

12 Tips for Clipping Unnecessary Words

Posted on March 07, 2011
In workshops and in writing guides, the admonition ?Use fewer words? is one of the cardinal rules. Although I resist the excision of allegedly superfluous adverbs and adjectives, I heartily acknowledge that many other parts of speech are often unnecessary...

50 Rhetorical Devices for Rational Writing

Posted on March 07, 2011
Is rhetorician on your resume? It should be, because I?d be surprised if you haven?t employed one or more of the methods listed below for conveying emphasis to your writing. Original Post: 50 Rhetorical Devices for Rational Writing Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

Compound Words Don?t Always Compare

Posted on March 05, 2011
When it comes to linking words to form new words, English is a particularly mischievous language. Different compound words with an element word in common, or pairs of words analogous to each other, may be inconsistent about the presence or absence of a letter space or a hyphen when you see them listed in the dictionary and other resources...

Should You Self-Publish?

Posted on March 04, 2011
No. Because I?m getting paid to write posts of more than one word, I?ll qualify that answer. Original Post: Should You Self-Publish? Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

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5 Points on Proper Usage for Proper Nouns

Posted on March 03, 2011
What?s in a name? Any one of many complications, apparently. Here are some rules about how to style proper nouns. Original Post: 5 Points on Proper Usage for Proper Nouns Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

Do Some Research on Fact-Checking

Posted on March 02, 2011
Do you want to be a magazine writer? I know -- it?s a highly competitive profession, but I?ve got two words for you (and a bonus hyphen): fact-checking. Original Post: Do Some Research on Fact-Checking Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

8 Rules About Punctuation and Quotation Marks

Posted on March 01, 2011
The use of full or partial quotation marks or of paraphrases calls for attention to detail and adherence to a few punctuation rules. Notice that the examples below are deliberately incorrect. Original Post: 8 Rules About Punctuation and Quotation Marks Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

Should You Use Accent Marks?

Posted on February 28, 2011
To accent, or not to accent? That is a good question. Whether ?tis nobler to include diacritical marks (also called diacritics) is open to debate. Original Post: Should You Use Accent Marks? Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

7 Dos for Dangling Modifiers

Posted on February 26, 2011
In each of the sentences below, the noun phrase immediately following the introductory phrase is not the referent for that phrase; you have to keep working through the sentence and locate another noun, or, sometimes, surgically separate a ?(noun)?s (noun)? phrase to isolate the correct one...

Making the Most of Palindromes

Posted on February 25, 2011
Anyone can come up with a list of palindromes. The real challenge is to use them intelligently in published writing. Can a writer incorporate palindromes (words or phrases that read the same backwards and forwards) in any meaningful and credible way? Or will they remain nothing more than amusing stand-alone oddities? Original Post: Making the Most of Palindromes Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

7 Advisories About Abbreviations

Posted on February 24, 2011
Abbreviations are useful, but they can be wickedly tricky little widgets. Keep these points in mind when you truncate words and phrases. Original Post: 7 Advisories About Abbreviations Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

5 Tips For Aspiring Freelance Writers

Posted on February 24, 2011
If you dream of working for yourself and being able to generate an income from your writing, you will need to learn how to make the most of the time and resources at your disposal. Original Post: 5 Tips For Aspiring Freelance Writers Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

100 Whimsical Words

Posted on February 23, 2011
The English language can be maddening to native speakers and learners alike, but is also delightfully rich, especially for those who seek to convey a lighthearted tone in their writing Original Post: 100 Whimsical Words Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

7 Tips for Using Suspensive Hyphenation

Posted on February 22, 2011
Often, when both items in a pair of hyphenated phrases have a common element, the first instance of that element can be elided, or omitted, without erasing the connection; the incomplete phrase is implied to have the same form as the complete one. Original Post: 7 Tips for Using Suspensive Hyphenation Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

25 Writing Competitions You Should Enter

Posted on February 21, 2011
Have you completed one or more short stories, poems, or nonfiction pieces? Perhaps you?d like some motivation -- or to take the next step with them. This post lists writing competitions for 2011 that feature cash prizes of $1,000 or more and, often, publication deals for the winner...

7 Solutions for Sentences with Problematic Parallels

Posted on February 19, 2011
Some neighborhood, where nail salons and clothing boutiques can be described as boisterous. Do I misunderstand? I do, because when only the first of several items in a list is given an adjective, it is easily confused as applying to each item in the list...

Beware of Buzzword Bingo

Posted on February 18, 2011
Far back in the mists of Internet time (that would be the 1990s), a couple of wags at a computer company called Silicon Graphics created a subversive game that filled a need. Original Post: Beware of Buzzword Bingo Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

5 Tips for Fixing ?Not Only . . . But Also? Errors

Posted on February 17, 2011
Few constructions cause as much consternation for editors as that in which a contrast is represented with the phrase ?not only, . . but.? The solution to garbled syntax in such constructions is simple but bears repeating, so multiple sample sentences follow...

The Pros and Cons of Freelance Writing Online

Posted on February 17, 2011
Freelance writing online is often touted as a dream job. It certainly has its benefits, but it has its downfalls as well. In fact, the drawbacks to freelance writing are often the flip side to the positives of the profession. Original Post: The Pros and Cons of Freelance Writing Online Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

7 Pep Talk Points About Writing

Posted on February 16, 2011
Fiction? Nonfiction? It doesn?t matter. It?s all about getting started, but you?ll need a few supplies, and some directions, for your journey. Original Post: 7 Pep Talk Points About Writing Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

5 Lessons for Mixing Past and Present Tense

Posted on February 14, 2011
Writers often fall into a tense trap and don?t even notice. A tense trap is not a trap that makes you tense; it?s when you get stuck in past tense when the phenomena you are describing is perpetual or at least valid to the present moment. Original Post: 5 Lessons for Mixing Past and Present Tense Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

10 Latin Abbreviations You Might Be Using Incorrectly

Posted on February 14, 2011
Abbreviations deriving from Latin terms and phrases can be troublesome for us non-Latin speakers. Here?s the long and short of the most common short forms adopted into English from the classical language. Original Post: 10 Latin Abbreviations You Might Be Using Incorrectly Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

Close the Gap on Prefixes and Suffixes

Posted on February 12, 2011
Thanks to widespread confusion about the correct treatment of prefixes and suffixes, syllables and words attached before or after root words, many people persist in inserting hyphens more frequently than necessary. Original Post: Close the Gap on Prefixes and Suffixes Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

5 Keys to Better Sentence Flow

Posted on February 11, 2011
Sentences can be short. They can also be long. This is a good thing. Lack of variety is wearying. It may drive you to distraction. Original Post: 5 Keys to Better Sentence Flow Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

7 Tips for Writing for Online Readers

Posted on February 10, 2011
For some people, if a topic interests them, they are quite content to immerse themselves in extensive online articles that are otherwise indistinguishable from print content. Most Web site visitors, however, have a different set of expectations when they read on a computer screen...

7 Tips for Using Hyphens with Adjectives

Posted on February 09, 2011
A team of two or more words that band together to provide detail about a person, place, or thing are called phrasal adjectives, or adjectival phrases. The name?s not important, but it is essential that you employ hyphens to link these tag teams to clarify the relationships between adjectives (and, sometimes, conjunctions) and the nouns they modify...

100 Beautiful and Ugly Words

Posted on February 08, 2011
One of the many fascinating features of our language is how often words with pleasant associations are also quite pleasing on the tongue and even to the eye, and how many words, by contrast, acoustically and visually corroborate their disagreeable nature -- look no further than the heading for this post...

3 Things the Novelist Can Learn From the Copywriter

Posted on February 08, 2011
As a copywriter, I have access to two of the greatest writing improvement tools in existence: practice and feedback. I spend 40 hours a week pumping out words that will be tweaked, replaced, moved, cut, checked, rechecked, and rejected or selected. Original Post: 3 Things the Novelist Can Learn From the Copywriter Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook...

7 Grammatical Errors That Aren?t

Posted on February 07, 2011
There are two types of grammar: Descriptive, which describes what is customary, and prescriptive grammar, which prescribes what should be. A tension between the two systems is inevitable -- and healthy; it keeps us thinking about what we?re saying and writing...

Misplaced Modifiers Mix Meanings

Posted on February 05, 2011
Scrambled sentence structure can lead to humorous or at least head-shaking imagery that readers will stumble on. Original Post: Misplaced Modifiers Mix Meanings Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

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