Style and grammar

Speak your customer’s language – a lesson from the tech sector

By Tony Hallett / November 15, 2016

This post was first published on 9th December 2014 I was listening to a client speak the other day. He was intelligent, thoughtful, eloquent even. And had it all wrong.…

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Copy-wise: You DON’T have to explain every term

By Tony Hallett / November 15, 2016

Sure, ‘explain your terms’ is what your high school English teacher drummed into you. It’s best practice in certain areas, such as academic writing. But for your content marketing? You…

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Copy-wise: Don’t assume your English is the same as your audience’s

By Shirley Siluk / November 7, 2016

English might be the go-to language choice when writing for an online, international audience. But what kind of English do you use? There’s British English, Canadian English, Australian English and…

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What is… fair use?

By Shirley Siluk / October 31, 2016

Somewhere between copyright, which protects writers’ and artists’ rights to their works, and public domain, which allows free use of non-copyrighted material, lies a hard-to-define – but important – concept…

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Who needs WriteNow – the new on-demand content service?

By Tony Hallett / October 25, 2016

We recently launched an innovative on-demand writing service, WriteNow. Why is it innovative? After all, we hate it when people throw around that phrase without good reason. There are other…

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Copy-wise: ‘Many say’, ‘Most agree’… or do they?

By Shirley Siluk / October 24, 2016

How many of you have tried to sound more authoritative during a disagreement by hauling out the old, ‘They say…’ claim? You know, as in, ‘They say Millennials don’t have…

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Copy-wise: Semi-colons – use with care

By Tony Hallett / October 17, 2016

Semi-colons are fine for long lists, computer programmers and Mark Twain. While we have a lot of love for the latter two of those three, what we really mean is…

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What is a… style guide?

By Shirley Siluk / October 17, 2016

Media theorist Marshall McLuhan is famous for saying, among other things, that “The medium is the message”. Essentially, that means that the type of medium you choose to communicate a…

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Copy-wise: You’re using these words incorrectly – or are you?

By Tony Hallett / October 10, 2016

This post was first published on 7 October 2014. We spend a fair amount of time both blogging and talking to clients about style, grammar, tone of voice and so…

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What is a… copy-editor / sub-editor?

By Shirley Siluk / October 5, 2016

We’re all familiar with editor and reporter characters from movies set in magazine or newspaper offices. Think the Robert Redford/Dustin Hoffman reporter duo in All the President’s Men, Meryl Streep’s…

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Copy-wise: ‘Less’ and ‘fewer’ are not interchangeable

By Shirley Siluk / October 3, 2016

Once you understand the difference between ‘less’ and ‘fewer’, it’s hard to mistakenly use one in place of the other. Saying ‘fewer puppies’ or ‘less water’ simply feels right, while…

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Avoid these common mistakes when giving feedback on content

By Tony Hallett / September 28, 2016

How good are you at giving feedback? Whether you’re someone who creates content or someone commissioning it – as a client or an editor – it’s surprising how little consistency…

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