Writing Numbers How do you write numbers? This is a common question asked by many writers. The answer depends on what field you’re working in or what style guide you need to follow. Arabic numerals are generally used in commercial, mathematics, statistics, science, or technical fields. Other works like literary or humanistic mostly use numbers written out in words. Some types of numbers are alwa...

Affect or Effect? These two words can confuse the best of writers. They look almost the same but they have different meanings. So what’s the difference between the two? Affect is mostly used as a verb; it is used to show how something is being influenced. Example: Drinking alcohol affects my asthma. (My asthma is being influenced by the alcohol.) How to remember: the a in affect could stand f...

Than or Then? Surprisingly these two words are very easy to distinguish between, yet many writers get them mixed up. So when should than be used and when should then be used? Let’s look at some examples below. Than is used to make a comparison between things, usually after a comparative adjective or adverb, to introduce a second clause or element that is not equal. Examples: • John is shorter ...

That or Which? The usage of that or which can confuse the best of writers, and often leaves the grammarians scratching their heads. Below we will look at both words and try to find a solution. That can be used as a demonstrative pronoun, an adjective, a conjunction and sometimes as an adverb. But the most confused use of that occurs when the writer is not sure if they should use that or which. ...

Homophones: Two, Too & To Why do these three little words cause so much confusion for writers? Most likely because they sound the same, and so writers think that these words are interchangeable. Unfortunately that is not the case as these words have their own distinct meanings. When words sound the same but have different meanings they are called homophones. These three words all sound the s...

Controlling Your Commas Confused about when to use commas? Here are 5 tips that you may find helpful when trying to control your commas. 1. Use commas between the clauses in compound sentences. This is where you join two sentences together with a conjunction – a word like and, but, so. Example: The cat leapt, but the mouse escaped. The two clauses could form two separate, simple sentences. 2....

Varying Your Sentence Lengths New writers often make the mistake of assuming the best pieces of writing are filled with long, complex, jumbled sentences. Not true. If you want to keep your readers’ attention, try varying your sentence lengths. Otherwise you could bore or even intimidate your readers. Effective writers understand the importance of varying between shorter and longer sentences. Lik...

A Quick Start to Grammar Basics Grammar is a part of writing that can intimidate many people, but becoming familiar with a few simple grammar rules can help tremendously as you learn to become a better writer.  Here is a quick start to a few grammar basics. Who, Which and That Usually, the word who is used for mentioning people (or animals, if they have names.)  The words that and which are no...

Writing Quotes and Speech When it comes to writing quotes and speech many writers get confused about the use of quotation marks and the placement of closing punctuation. What makes things even more confusing is that these same elements are used differently in different countries. Quotation marks are mostly used to show direct speech and to quote the work of other writers. They are also used fo...