Writing

You’re typing away at your latest and greatest copywriting task, crafting an important email to clients listing your services: “We offer content strategy, copywriting, editing and proofreading.” But wait… should there be a comma before that “and”?  That little comma before the final item in a list is known as the Oxford comma (also known … Read more

Creating great content is tough, but there are many simple ways to improve content quality that anyone can use. These tips will help your content shine, whether you’re writing blog posts, website pages, or social media updates. Understand Your Audience’s Needs Before you write, it’s important to know who you’re writing for. This is called … Read more

Sentence and title cases are two ways of capitalizing words in titles, headlines, headings, and sentences. In this article, I’ll compare these two styles, provide examples of each, and offer information on when to use them. Sentence Case and Title Case Key Takeaways Sentence case is when the first word in a heading is capitalized, … Read more

Grammar is a polarizing topic. Some people (maybe you?) love it and are nerds about it. Other people (also maybe you?) hate it because it’s a fickle friend. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever written with Grammarly active. But love it or hate it, good grammar matters. As Jeffrey Gitomar, an American … Read more

Speaking with many content people and publishers, one of the most common misunderstandings we see is the difference between copywriting and copy editing. We often get asked if our editors will also write content for websites. By the way, the answer is yes, through our SEO content writing services, where we write SEO-focused blog posts. That said, copywriting … Read more

Farther and further are two similar words with similar meanings. Both suggest distance or degree, but, like many other This-or-That words, there is a subtle difference! Farther is for physical distance, while further is used for metaphorical distance or degree. Though confusing the two is easy, this article outlines the differences and when to use … Read more

The apostrophe is a punctuation mark that can trip us up occasionally. Perhaps you’ve had to write out a word that ends in an S, and you’ve been unsure if you should put an apostrophe in there.  Generally, only use an apostrophe if you have a possessive or a contraction. Do not use apostrophes to … Read more

Adverbs are words that modify or describe verbs. They may also modify adjectives, other adverbs, and entire sentences. Many of them end in -ly, such as “happily,” “lazily”, or “loudly.” Not all do though, such as “sometimes,” “soon,” or “often.” What Is an Adverb? The adverb is a part of speech that helps us to … Read more

Ah, the parts of speech—the categories we place words into. Depending on which grammarian you ask, there are either eight or nine parts of speech. Nouns, for example, are things, people, places, and ideas. Verbs are action words, like go and walk and reciprocate.  But what about some of the words that seem to connect … Read more

Prepositions can be tricky. Often their differences are subtle. These little words tell us when and where things happen. They show us location and time—above, along, in, around, before, during, after, for example.  Into and on are two prepositions that can be easy to mix up. When do you say “into something” vs. “on something”?  … Read more

These three words — insure, ensure, and assure — look and sound close but have different meanings. They are often misused interchangeably. But don’t fear! I assure you, this article will set you straight, ensuring you don’t mix them up ever again.  In a nutshell, “insure” means to protect against financial loss, “ensure” means to … Read more

Transition words are like bridges between ideas—they help the reader travel from one idea to another. Additionally, sometimes we use transition phrases, made up of multiple words. You may remember some transition words or phrases from your grade school days: “For example,” “furthermore,” and “in conclusion” being some of the most common. These phrases can … Read more

There’s a key difference between “compliment” and “complement.” While these two words are often misunderstood and used incorrectly by writers, having a firm grasp of their differences is essential to mastering the nuances of the English language and producing great content.  If you don’t want to make the rookie mistake of using “compliment” when you … Read more