Legal Writing

English Grammar 101: Adjectives

Posted on May 13, 2008
An adjective is a word that describes a noun. There are two kinds: attributive and predicative. An adjective is used attributively when it stands next to a noun and describes it: The black cat climbed a tree.

The Vicissitudes of the Latin Plural in English

Posted on May 12, 2008
A recent forum question asks about the word data. The dictionary says the word data can be treated as a singular. But strictly speaking the word is a plural. How does such a thing happen in language? You wouldn't say, "the cars is fast". How does a plural gain acceptance as a singular?

Few vs. Several

Posted on May 10, 2008
Reader Norma H. Flaskerud wonders about few and several. She thinks "a few" refers to "maybe 2-3 items" while "several" refers to "maybe 3-6." Her husband says "a few" is 4-7 items.

What?s a Male Mistress?

Posted on May 09, 2008
The other day someone asked me for the male equivalent of "mistress." Naturally, I shot back "master," but that was not the answer. My questioner wanted a word that was the male equivalent of: woman having sexual relations on a regular basis and being supported by man not her husband

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Hot Topics on the Daily Writing Tips Forum

Posted on May 08, 2008
Around two weeks after we opened the doors of our Forum, and we already have more than 300 members. Thanks for everyone who joined, I am sure we will be able to help each other with those tricky English questions. Here are some hot topics that emerged on the Forum on the past two weeks:

Reduplicatives And Their Meanings

Posted on May 07, 2008
After my recent post on reduplicatives, Jaguar asked for definitions of the terms in the post. Of course, now I'm wishing that I hadn't included quite so many examples, but here goes:

Creative Writing 101

Posted on May 06, 2008
What is Creative Writing? Creative writing is anything where the purpose is to express thoughts, feelings and emotions rather than to simply convey information. I?ll be focusing on creative fiction in this post (mainly short stories and novels), but poetry, (auto)biography and creative non-fiction are all other forms of creative writing...

Should You Use Footnotes or Endnotes?

Posted on May 05, 2008
One of our readers, Billy Green, wrote to ask: Could you enlighten some of us old folks about the proper use of footnotes? Below is what I wrote to the publisher: I am a firm believer in footnotes printed on the same page where the asterisk is printed...

Womanly Words - Gyn

Posted on May 03, 2008
Well, I couldn't let the men have all the fun. English has a lot of words that contain the Greek root meaning woman or female - gyn. This appears at the start or in the middle of many common words. As with the andr- words, many of these have biological or scientific origins...

A While vs Awhile

Posted on May 02, 2008
One of our readers, Robert, wrote to ask Daily Writing Tips: Here's a couple of words I use all the time interchangeably. But are they? a while vs. awhile Help me out, o oracle!

Most Popular Articles April 2008

Posted on May 01, 2008
Below you will find the most popular articles of the past month. Check them out to make sure you have not missed any. English to Become the Official and Obligatory Language of the Internet: The Central Authority for Internet Control (CAIC) announced today that they plan to make English the official and obligatory language of the Internet, and that by 2010 all the web pages should already be using English exclusively.

50 Open Source Resources for Writers

Posted on April 30, 2008
Why pay for Word processors, image editing and other tools when there are solid open source alternatives around? The guys from Job Profiles just compiled in fact a big list with 50 open source resources for writers. Below you will find my favorite ones:

Weird Words

Posted on April 29, 2008
Browsing on the web today I came across an interested website that lists hundreds of weird words from the English language. Here are some that caught my attention: Alexipharmic - Having the quality or nature of an antidote to poison. Astrobleme - An eroded meteor impact crater.

Setting Your Freelance Writing Fees

Posted on April 29, 2008
One of the most difficult things for a freelance writer is deciding what rate to charge for jobs. When working for oneself, it?s not as simple as setting a price and sticking to it rigidly for every client that comes along; there are things to consider, and all kinds of worries involved...

Inquire vs Enquire

Posted on April 28, 2008
One of our readers, Susabelle wrote to ask: Can you take on explaining the difference between ?inquire? and ?enquire??

Andro- The Prefix That?s All Man

Posted on April 26, 2008
Andro- derives from the Greek andros (man) and denotes anything that's male or masculine (and you thought that was testosterone :) ) It's given us several words, many of them scientific or biological:

Calling All Book Lovers

Posted on April 25, 2008
This collection of book words is not for bibliophobes (book haters), but if you love books, then these are great words for you to use in writing and conversation. They all derive from the Greek biblion, which means book.

The Freelance Writer at Home

Posted on April 24, 2008
Of all the benefits of being a freelance writer, working from home has to be one of the best. You can set your own pace, manage your time how you want it, and best of all, you get to be your own boss. Leaving the negatives out of the equation for the moment, what can a freelance writer do to make sure her working environment is as comfortable, supportive, and reliable as it would be, were she working in a city centre office? I?m not talking about front door security, a subsidized canteen, or even an ample supply of free staples and pens...

Reduplicatives - Double Delight

Posted on April 23, 2008
Reduplicatives never travel alone. In fact, they always come in pairs and sometimes sound rather silly. These are the words formed through reduplication, when you repeat a word to form a new one, or slightly change the vowel or consonant. These are inventive and musical words and there are hundreds of them in English...

Passed vs Past

Posted on April 22, 2008
Sandi from Inspiration for Writers wrote to ask: ?Can you do a segment on Past vs. Passed--if you haven't already? Too many get these words mixed up.? Very happy to oblige, Sandi!

The Daily Writing Tips Forum is Live

Posted on April 21, 2008
I was planning to launch it once we reached 10,000 subscribers, but the feedback that we got from readers last week was so positive that we decided to kick start the Forum right now. It is about quality rather than quantity, after all, so even if we get a small community there I am sure that the quality of the discussions will be outstanding...

Let?s Not Eviscerate ?Eviscerate?

Posted on April 21, 2008
I've always thought of the verb eviscerate as being a really strong word suggestive of horror. Say it aloud. Even the word's sound seems to twist like a knife blade. eviscerate - [ee VIS er ate] intransitive verb - To take out the internal organs or entrails of; to disembowel; to gut.

Among vs. Amongst

Posted on April 19, 2008
One of our readers, Tania Botha asked: ?When (if ever) must one use "amongst" - I systematically use "among" in my own writing and change it when editing other people's texts, because "amongst" seems so old-fashioned. Is there a rule??

Euphemism and Euphuism

Posted on April 18, 2008
Political correctness is nothing new. People have desired to avoid calling a spade a spade since ancient times. People don't die, they "pass away." Politicians don't commit crimes, they "make mistakes." Married men don't commit adultery, they "cheat...

Word of the Day: Caucasian

Posted on April 17, 2008
Caucasian (kô-k?'zh?n) is commonly used as an adjective to describe people from racial groups characterized by white skin, especially ones with European origin. This meaning was coined by German anthropologist Johann Blumenbach since the Caucasus Mountains (located close to the Black Sea) are homeland for most of the white races.

Creating Your Freelance Niche

Posted on April 17, 2008
Finding one?s own niche in which to write articles can be a great position to attain, and one most writers will attempt at some point in their careers. For a freelance writer just setting out, niche writing can help make the break into the business much easier, and provide a steady source of writing gigs while earning some money...

Especially vs. Specially

Posted on April 16, 2008
One of our readers recently asked if we could explain the difference between especially and specially.

Killer Domains: Tools & Techniques to Find the Perfect Domain Name

Posted on April 16, 2008
This is a bit off topic, but many of our readers also have websites or are planning to create one, so I figured that they could be interested on my recent ebook. It is titled "Killer Domains: Tools & Techniques to Find the Perfect Domain Name." Here is a quote from the launch post:

How and Where to Publish Your Short Stories

Posted on April 15, 2008
One reader asks: ?What advice would you give to someone who has bags of passion and loves life and just happens to have lots of stories and would like to know how to publish or where to publish??

Should We Add an Open Forum to Daily Writing Tips?

Posted on April 15, 2008
Lately we are getting flooded with emails from readers. Most of them contain really smart questions or topic suggestions, but unfortunately we don't have time to answer them all. Thinking about that problem I started wondering if perhaps it could be a good idea to add a forum to the website.

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