I am continually amazed at the number of typos and other written errors I find. How could such mistakes happen? It’s easy because we read: The outside shapes of words, not the individual letters Words in phrases, not just individual words Words in context, not isolated from the sentence’s meaning. Specifically, aoccdrnig to rscheearch at […]
One Word? Two Words?
I often see a single word being used when it should be two words. Here are some examples. Logon and log on “Logon” is a noun, describing the procedure used to get access to an operating system. “Logon” can also be used as an adjective, as in the “logon procedure.” “Log on” is a verb. […]
Writing for the Web
Writing for the online world is different from writing for print. People don’t read online; they scan. In his study about how people read online, Jakob Nielsen found that “on the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.” What does […]
The Art of the Headline (Part 2)
People are much more likely to scan rather than read content today. It’s estimated that visitors read only about 20% of the textual content on a website. What makes you stop and read something instead of just moving on? As I said in a previous post, often the headline entices us to read the article. […]
Word Play Masters
Word Play Masters does a contest each year whereby people take a word from the dictionary; alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter (and only one letter); and then supply a new definition. Fortunately, the organizers post entries all year round, so we do not have to wait for the “awards” to enjoy […]
If in Doubt, Cut it Out
One of the easiest ways to reduce your proofreading load is to tighten your copy. As the classic book The Elements of Style states: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences… .” And this requires that “every word tell.” Fortunately, one easy way to “make every […]
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