How to write a college personal statement that gets you noticed

Most credible colleges require a personal statement or essay as part of your application. How do you get noticed in a stack of thousands of applications? Standing out from the crowd is especially important if you can’t rely on your grade point average to do the trick. The following tips will help you write a college personal statement that admissions […]

When a pen is truly mightier than a sword

A poisonous-bullet pen is mightier, deadlier, and stealthier than a sword if your intent is to kill. South Korean activist Park Sang-hak learned this in a failed assassination attempt on his life by a North Korean spy wielding a Parker ballpoint pen that was designed to shoot a bullet filled with poison.

And you thought James Bond was the only one […]

When authors and copy editors disagree

Author Seth Godin blogs, “An anonymous copyeditor working on my new book unilaterally changed each usage of ‘persuade’ to ‘convince.’”[1] The word “persuade” has specific meaning to Godin. In his view, the act of convincing someone is based on presenting facts. Persuasion is is what results from convincing someone. The words are not equal or interchangeable to Seth, so he […]

Science proves you need proofreading services

Have you ever gone back and read something, only to find that you missed some major errors? There is a reason for that. It’s a brain phenomenon called “filling in the gaps.”
Personal proofreading brain gaps
You may have seen the following paragraph in a forwarded email. It makes the point very effectively.

“Aoccdring to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in […]

Why your copy editor must know the difference between AP Style and Chicago Style?

There’s the punctuation and formatting your English teacher taught you. Then there’s AP Style and Chicago Style. What’s the difference, and why does it matter? History provides the first peek at the answer.
History of AP Style and Chicago Style
The roots of these styles go back a few years. The Chicago Manual of Style was first published in 1906 by the […]

Enhance your business’s potential with proofreading services

Businesses that use proofreading services present a more professional and knowledgeable appearance to their consumers. Your business advertising, marketing pamphlets, and other literature should be perfect to reflect professionalism and sincerity. One typo can plant a seed of doubt in your customer’s mind. This seed will eventually cost you money and customers. Imagine paying customers going away from your business […]

Mark Cuban flunks grammar but has a winning analysis of the 2012 Presidential Election

Mark Cuban is one the most candid bloggers I know. His unfiltered approach has become his personal brand. Perhaps this why he does not edit or proofread his blog articles before publishing them to the world.

His blog post today analyzing why Romney lost and Obama won is a grammatical disaster on the scale of Hurricane Sandy. Here’s a list of […]

Grammar check service

A grammar check service can be of two general types, software or human. When accuracy is required, choose human grammar checkers over a software-based grammar check service.  Grammar is a complex and contextual science with many nuances that cannot be automated with rules.  It has been tried many times over, and the best algorithms have been able to do is […]

Incorrect use of pronoun leads to geographical blunder by Joe Biden

Say it ain’t so, Uncle Joe! There was a moment during the October 11 VP Debate where a comparison between Libya and Syria came up. A question was posed to Joe Biden.

Moderator: “So why doesn’t the same logic apply in Syria?”

Joe Biden: “It’s a different country. It is five times as large geographically.”

Any listener worth their English assumed Joe was […]