After writing about mixed metaphors last month, it was brought to my attention that I had peppered that post with malaphors. And, although malaphors a...

You’ve likely heard it’s best to write in the active voice whenever possible. This is good advice. In this week’s blog, I’ll explain why by answering ...

You may have heard the terms “trope” and “cliché” before, but do you know what they are? Contrary to what many people think, these terms are not synon...

I’ve always been a fan of finding examples of humorous misapplications of grammar or usage guidelines in writing. One source of such grammatical humou...

We’ve all heard it before: “Words are the building blocks of language.” Writers understand this better than anyone, as they are all too aware – someti...

There’s never a bad time to refresh your writing skills, and now is as good a time as ever (especially if you’re finding yourself with some extra time...

Segues are an important part of writing in any genre, and knowing how to use segues well can be the difference between a successful or not-so-successf...

Here at TEC, it’s our job to provide our clients with the best guidance and advice in the editing and flow of their documents. Recently, we had a clie...

Pretty much everyone uses punctuation marks in their day-to-day life, whether it’s in texts, emails, professional communications, business writing, le...

The ways that linguistic conventions change over time are sometimes obvious. New dialects and turns of phrase crop up, and many of them gradually chan...

Like any profession, editorial work involves keeping up with how professional standards and tools of the trade change over time. Unlike aviation stand...

Inclusive writing is often confused with politically correct writing, but political correctness isn’t an author’s main goal when writing inclusively. ...

Punctuation marks are the signposts of prose. They indicate what’s important and where to pause. They add rhythm to your sentences. They help your rea...

Our blog series on confusables has remained popular over the years, so we thought it was time to post a new list. This one includes some explanations ...

October 2020 is drawing to a close, and pandemic-fatigued children and adults are turning to the warm embrace of holiday nostalgia to help ease their ...

In this archived post from 2017, TEC Blogger Michael Bedford muses on how editors deal with an unending stream of technical and internet lingo, with n...

There are plenty of different approaches to writing. Some writers like to let the words pour out on the page and clean and shape them later; some outl...

Punctuation marks are the signposts of prose. They indicate what’s important and where to pause. They add rhythm to your sentences. They help your rea...

It has been considered a usual style to shorten words in order to save time or space for some time now. Some of us will remember acronyms and initiali...

Our blog series on confusables (a.k.a., easily mixed up words) has remained popular throughout the years, so we thought we’d revive it and take a look...

A few years ago, I decided to celebrate my love of Regency and Victorian literature by getting a tattoo of the word “ardent,” paying homage to Pride a...

In 2009, “unfriend” was the Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year, leading to teeth-gnashing of grammar purists across the world. How could th...

    For centuries, questions of proper usage have provided editorial professionals fodder for debate. Although publishers’ styles ...

    Punctuation marks are the signposts of prose. They indicate what’s important and where to pause. They add rhythm to your sentenc...

Commas, for any copy editor—or, for that matter, any copy writer—are a most familiar tool, as well as a potential source of frustration. C...

Back in September 2017, The Editing Company's own Barbara Kamienski wrote a great blog post about the linguistic challenges presented by subject-ver...

As a keen-eyed reader, you have no doubt noticed that those little horizontal lines between words and numbers come in varying lengths. As a keen-eyed ...

I recently subscribed to the Globe and Mail for the Friday and Saturday editions. Friday's paper includes the Report on Business the last Friday of ea...

    Few punctuation marks are misused as often as the comma. Sadly, many semi-professional or hobby writers of today seem to think that the comma is...

  It sometimes seems like there is a never-ending supply of words that are confusing in one way or another! There are homonyms, synonyms, words ...

  In the TEC office this month, we have been discussing a number of words and phrases that are easily confused and/or misused. So, for our blog ...

  As a keen-eyed reader, you have no doubt noticed that those little horizontal lines between words and numbers come in varying lengths. As a ke...

Even the most sports-illiterate word nerds (I include myself in this category) will have been paying some attention to this month's Olympic Games &mda...

Double quotations vs. single quotations --  figuring out how to properly use both of these types of punctuation can be confusing, especially depe...

We have been absolutely inundated with work this week at TEC! Because of our crazy schedules, we're re-posting one of our most useful blogs. Barbara...

  Below are a few of the most common punctuation-related errors or inconsistencies that we see here at TEC. Here is what you need to keep in min...

Ever wonder what editors do while they ride the subway on their way to work? One engaging pastime is to read subway posters for minor errors. The ot...

Studying philosophy has given me a special appreciation for logical words and the work they do. Some of these words, however, are commonly misused. (I...

At a recent social gathering, a woman I had just met cornered me. So, I was an editor? Where, she demanded to know, did I stand on the possible abolit...

Every editor’s nightmare is this: finding a spelling error in the printed publication of the manuscript you just edited after the fact. I...

For a while I thought I was hearing things. The sounds came and went so fast, it was impossible to confirm them with the naked ear. But yes, with clos...

Greetings from London, everyone! For the past eleven days I have been having quite a time exploring and learning about this amazing, historical, and...

I have a 2-year-old son, and every day I find joy in the way he makes meaning of his world through words. Often I am just so pleased that he’s...