When I was struggling with a cold that left me empty of writing ideas, I asked the Twitterverse for help. One follower suggested that I stick with my cold and look into the phrase "God bless you." It proved to be a more daunting task than I anticipated, even once my head cleared.  Continue reading...

The word bludgeon is perfect for writers looking for a synonym for club that isn't overused. It can be a noun or a verb. As a noun it means "a heavy, short club that is thicker at one end or is weighted at one end." Think of the clichéd caveman's club, and you've got the right idea.  Continue reading...

Some words travel a winding path to their meanings, causing language users confusion over what they actually mean. A word whose definition or usage is so hotly contested that it never fails to draw attention to itself is called a skunked term. It may be that language users will resolve the problem over time, but until then, what's a writer to do? Today, the story behind fulsome and what to do with this stinky term.  Continue reading...

Erin Brenner of Right Touch Editing provides "bite-sized lessons to improve your writing" on her engaging blog The Writing Resource. Here Erin offers a "word story" on cacophony, which she finds to be "a very apt term for the digital world."  Continue reading...

Recently I was writing a tweet and typed "on account of." Something about it seemed wrong to me, but I couldn't say what. I rewrote my tweet, determined to look into the troubling phrase when I had a moment.  Continue reading...

When media is used to refer to "means of mass communication," should it be considered a singular or plural noun? According to Erin Brenner, founder of Right Touch Editing, the answer depends on whom you ask.  Continue reading...

"Chicago stretches along the shore of Lake Michigan, which makes a beautiful shore drive possible." This sentence has a problem with pronoun-antecedent agreement: which is vague; its antecedent (the noun the pronoun stands for) is unclear. Today, we'll review some basics of pronoun-antecedent agreement and find out why agreement is so important.  Continue reading...