Category: Writing

Writing is like trying to juggle flaming knives while riding a unicycle – it requires skill, precision, and a healthy dose of madness. But even the most seasoned writers can get a little lost in the word jungle, and typos and grammatical blunders can sneak up on them like ninjas in the night. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the top 10 most difficult-to-spot writing mistakes that even the sharpest writers sometimes struggle to catch!

1. Misplaced modifiers: These are words or phrases placed too far away from the word they are supposed to modify, leading to confusion or ambiguity. For example,
   

   “He served his guests the meat on silver platters that he inherited from his grandfather.”

   Did he inherit the platters or the meat from his grandfather? We may never know, but we do know that it’s not a good idea to inherit meat – it tends to get a little ripe. To avoid confusion, we can correct the sentence by moving the modifier closer to the word it’s meant to describe:

   “He served the meat on silver platters inherited from his grandfather to his guests.”

   Ah, much better! Now we know that it was the silver platters that were inherited, not the meat. Misplaced modifiers, you may have infiltrated our sentences, but with a little bit of editing, we can show you who’s boss!

2. Wordiness: Wordiness is like a party guest who just won’t stop talking – they drone on and on, taking up space and making you wish you could escape. Writers who are afflicted by wordiness use too many words to express a simple idea, turning a straightforward message into a labyrinthine maze. For example, take this sentence:
   

   “In spite of the fact that he was feeling under the weather, he still managed to make it to the meeting.”

   Geez, that’s like wrapping a present in a hundred layers of duct tape! To cut to the chase, you could simply say,

   “Although he was sick, he still attended the meeting.”

   See? Short, sweet, and to the point – just like we like it. For more examples, check out our comprehensive 330 examples of wordiness.

3. Redundancy: Redundancy is like saying the same joke twice – it might get a chuckle the first time, but by the second, you’re just beating a dead horse. Writers who are guilty of redundancy repeat themselves unnecessarily, turning an already clear message into a broken record. For example, take this sentence:
   

   “The car collided with the truck, and the collision was quite loud.”

   Well, no duh, Sherlock! Instead, you could say,

   “The car collided with the truck, and the impact was quite loud.”

   Boom! No need to repeat yourself – we heard you the first time. So let’s ditch the redundancy and make room for some fresh material!

4. Inconsistent tense: Inconsistent tense is like a high-speed car chase, only instead of thrilling action, it just leaves readers feeling dizzy and disoriented. Writers who switch between past, present, and future tense without a clear reason are like erratic drivers on the road of language, causing confusion and chaos for their passengers. For instance, take this sentence:
   

   “Yesterday, I walk to the store and I see my friend. She tells me she is going to the party tonight, so I decide to go too.”

   Whoa, slow down there, Speed Racer! We’re swerving from past to present to past again like a drunken butterfly. Let’s pump the brakes and get back in control:

   “Yesterday, I walked to the store and saw my friend. She told me she was going to the party tonight, so I decided to go too.”

   Ah, that’s more like it! With consistent tense, we can avoid the linguistic traffic accidents and arrive at our destination with clarity and coherence. So let’s put on our seatbelts and stick to one tense, shall we?

5. Incorrect capitalization: Capitalization errors can make writing look unprofessional and distract readers from the message. For example,
   

   “the President of the united states”

   should be

   “the President of the United States.”

   You can play around with the capitalization feature on wordcounter.net.

6. Confusing prepositions: Prepositions can be tricky to use correctly, especially for non-native speakers. For example,
   

   “I’m looking forward to see you”

   should be

   “I’m looking forward to seeing you.”

   Why? In the first, incorrect sentence, the preposition “to” is followed by the base form of the verb “see,” which is not correct. When the preposition “to” is followed by a verb, the verb should be in its gerund form, which is the “-ing” form.

   Therefore, “seeing” is the correct form of the verb to use after the preposition “to” in this sentence, making it “I’m looking forward to seeing you.”

7. Passive voice Passive voice can be a stumbling block in writing, as it can make sentences longer and harder to understand. For example,
   

   “The cake was eaten by John”

   is in passive voice and makes it unclear who actually ate the cake. To make it clearer and more direct, use active voice:

   “John ate the cake”

   This version clearly states who did the action and is more concise and understandable. Using active voice can make your writing more engaging and effective.

8. Incorrectly spelled homophones: Mixing up homophones can leave your writing in shambles, like a house of cards collapsing in the wind. Don’t let your words blow away your message! For example, if you’re writing an email to your boss, you don’t want to say
   

   “I’m to tired to come in today.”

   That’s just asking for trouble. You meant to say

   “I’m too tired to come in today.”

   See the difference? One little letter can make all the difference between being a professional and being a goofball.

   Other commonly confused homophones include “there/their/they’re,” “here/hear,” and “its/it’s.” But don’t fret – use our spell-check feature.

9. Incorrectly used words: Some words have similar meanings but are not interchangeable. For instance, “imply” and “infer” are two words that are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. The speaker implies something to the listener, while the listener infers something from what the speaker said.

   Similarly, “compliment” and “complement” are two words that sound alike but have different meanings. If someone tells you that your outfit looks nice, they are giving you a compliment. If they tell you that your shoes complement your outfit, they are saying that your shoes go well with your outfit.

   Using the wrong word can create confusion or change the meaning of a sentence entirely, so it’s important to use the correct word in the right context. Don’t worry, though, even the best writers make mistakes sometimes. Just make sure to double-check your work.

10. Misuse of commas: Commas can be tricky, like trying to juggle water balloons without getting wet. One little misstep and you’re in for a soggy surprise. For example,
    

    “Let’s eat Grandma!”

    is a far cry from

    “Let’s eat, Grandma!”

    – the former being a proposition that would make Hannibal Lecter blush. To avoid turning your writing into a horror show, make sure to use commas to separate items in a list, clauses in a sentence, and introductory or parenthetical phrases.

While mistakes in writing are as common as a Kardashian on Instagram, that doesn’t mean you can’t avoid them like a paparazzi. Proper grammar and punctuation can help you steer clear of confusion and awkwardness in your writing. So, before you hit that send button, make sure to proofread and review your work. Because let’s face it, even the queen Beyoncé needs a backup dancer to make sure she’s on point.

Writing the English language is just as much an art as it is a science. No doubt, your schoolteachers gave you rules to stick to in class. But out in the real world, there’s more leeway than you may have realized.

Not to worry. You don’t need a master’s degree in publishing to be a good writer. If you follow these four tips anytime you write and edit, you’ll be able to turn out a quality email, report, or article.

1. Be consistent

Some aspects of good writing are rules. Others are style choices. So how can you tell which is which?

The easiest way is to pick and follow a style guide.

There are many style guides for English: AP, APA, CMOS (a.k.a., Chicago), MLA, Oxford … It depends what country you’re writing for and what you’re writing about. If you’re writing within a school or company, you may be asked to follow what’s called a house style guide, that is, a guide created specifically for that entity. Some newspapers like The Economist or The Guardian even stick to their own.

Style guide name (Short form):	Target audience:	Used in:	Notes:
AP	American journalists and reporters	News, media, broadcasting, magazine publishing, marketing, and public relations.	The most popular style for casual writing and anything online. Most bloggers use this style.
APA	Students, academics, professionals	Agriculture, biology, business, chemistry, education, language and linguistics, nursing, psychology, social and behavioral sciences.	Focuses on clarity of communication and “word choice that best reduces bias in language”.
CMOS	Academic publishers, book editors and authors, fiction writers	Humanities, social, historical and political sciences.	Specifically focuses on American English. Turabian follows CMOS.
MLA	Students and researchers	Arts and humanities, especially English, writing, literature, and related subjects like theater or film.	Focuses on brevity and clarity.
Oxford	Oxford University staff, British students and writers.	An in-house guide that has grown into a general writing guide for students and editors.	Also known as “New Hart’s Rules”.

1.1 Which style guide should you pick?

In the best case: the style that your readership considers correct.

Of course, this is not always possible. That’s why it’s important to get into your readers’ heads. For example, if the target audience of your text is teachers or professors, they will prefer the CMOS style to the AP style. For most other people, however, AP is more appropriate. This is true not only for people who write in AP style every day, such as journalists and PR professionals but also for people who don’t care what stylebook you use. Most online articles the average person reads on a daily basis are in AP style. If you stick to that they will most likely consider it “correct.”

1.2 Guidelines evolve

What’s more, some rules and guidelines change with the times. For example, until 2019, “African-American” took a hyphen per the AP Stylebook. Today, you’d write it without the hyphen: “African American.”

That’s why it’s important to keep up with style guide updates, which are sometimes issued as often as annually.

Don’t worry too much if learning the details of a certain style sounds complicated. Once you’re familiar with your style guide, many aspects of the English language are unlikely to change. For example, sentences will always end with one of three punctuation marks: a period, an exclamation point, or a question mark.

By getting a solid grasp of grammar rules as well as familiarizing yourself with style choices, you’ll be on the road to rockstar writing in no time.

For a comparison of AP and Chicago, check out our post here.

1.3 Oxford comma yes or no?

Last but not least, you might wonder, whether you should use the Oxford comma (also called the serial comma).

You can read more about it here.

2. Use the active voice

In English, sentences typically follow the subject–verb–object pattern: “Emilio caught the ball.” This sentence is written in the active voice, meaning the subject is acting on the object.

However, you could also write, “The ball was caught by Emilio.” This sentence conveys the same idea, but it’s written in the passive voice. The object has become the subject.

Although there are cases in which passive voice can work well or even better than the active voice, most of the time, active voice is usually preferable. Why?

For one thing, the active voice takes more words to say the same thing. If you’re keen to keep your readers’ eyes from tiring or save space, active voice rules.

Additionally, passive voice can sound vague. Take, for example, the following sentence: “The vase was smashed.”

Who exactly smashed the vase? We don’t know. That’s why the passive voice is used in certain instances where the writer wants to eliminate tagging a subject with responsibility. Examples include law and science.

3. Punctuate right

Punctuation marks can make a huge difference in meaning when stringing words together in a sentence. But getting punctuation right can be tricky.

Although you probably learned the basics of punctuation in grade school, there’s more to the marks than what you likely learned. That’s because like most aspects of the English language, punctuation is both art and science.

Here’s a list of the basics.

Apostrophes make contractions and show possession.

No, you cant eat Sashas’ pie. (✗)
No, you can’t eat Sasha’s pie. (✓)

Colons introduce important information. They’re a way to say, “Now hear this!”

The reception menu includes: fish, chicken, and a vegetarian dish. (✗)
The reception menu includes fish, chicken, and a vegetarian dish. (✓)

I found the book he wanted: a dusty, leather-bound dinosaur. (✓)

Javier gave me the news: The zombies had taken over. (✓)

Keep in mind that colons are used differently in American and British English, so again, check your style guide.

Commas indicate pauses between words, phrases, and ideas. There’s an ongoing debate between people who prefer serial, or Oxford, commas and people who don’t. The important thing is to pick an approach and stick to it.

I need tape, paper, and markers. (✓)
I need tape, paper and markers. (✓)

The president introduced his wife Janice. (✗ unless the president is a bigamist)
The president introduced his wife, Janice. (✓)

Seo-Jun was born in Seoul, Korea in 1999. (✗)
Seo-Jun was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1999. (✓)

We went out to dinner, then we saw a movie. (✗: a comma splice)
We went out to dinner. Then we saw a movie. (✓)

Dashes come in different styles to serve different purposes. They’re different from hyphens.

That vase—the one in the corner needs more water. (✗)
That vase—the one in the corner—needs more water. (✓)

I found the book he wanted—a dusty, leather-bound dinosaur. (✓)

Hyphens are short lines that, among other things, turn two or more words into one idea.

My brother needs a conditioner for his bleach blond hair. (✗)
My brother needs a conditioner for his bleach-blond hair. (✓)

It wasn’t your run of the mill mill. (✗)
It wasn’t your run-of-the-mill mill. (✓)

Semicolons are usually used to join two related sentences. But the fashion is to avoid them and simply write two separate sentences.

Don’t eat that; because it’ll make you sick. (✗)
Don’t eat that, it’ll make you sick. (✗)
Don’t eat that; it’ll make you sick. (✓)
Don’t eat that. It’ll make you sick. (✓)

4. Separate soundalikes

The English language contains many words that sound like other words but mean something entirely different. These words are called homophones, and even current spellcheckers don’t always know the difference. That’s why you need to be aware of the most commonly confused words.

Here are some commonly confused word pairs. If you dig deeper, you can find many more to watch out for.

1. You’re/Your:
   • You’re is a contraction of “you are.”
     • “You’re such an attentive learner!”
   • Your is the possessive form of you.
     • “Your reading speed depends on your ability to concentrate and process information quickly.”
2. To/Too:
   • To is a preposition.
     • “She went to the gym.”
   • Too means “as well.”
     • “He went to the gym too.”
3. Affect/Effect:
   • “To affect” means to influence or to change in some measure.
     • “Your mood can affect your relationship.”
   • An effect is a result, consequence, or outcome.
     • “Yoga had a positive effect on my mood swings.”
4. Then/Than:
   • Then is used as an adverb, noun, or adjective to show the order of how things happened.
     • “He turned on the mic, then she started singing.”
   • Than is a subordinating conjunction for comparisons.
     • “He’s taller than her.”
5. Accept/Except:
   • Accept is a verb that means “to take” or “to receive.”
     • “He accepted the painting as a gift.”
   • Except is used as a preposition or conjunction to mean but or to form an exception:
     • “They looked at the whole property, except the garden.”
6. Compliment/Complement :
   • “To compliment” means to say something nice about someone or something.
     • “She complimented their effort.”
   • You can also use compliment as a noun to describe “a polite expression of praise or admiration.”
     • “She received a beautiful compliment for her painting.”
   • “To complement” means “to enhance” or “to complete.”
     • “Those red rims complement your car perfectly.”

Again, by following these four simple tips, you can turn out a quality piece of writing every time.

“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”
―William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style

You’ve probably come across more than one article, blog post, or product description that took way longer to get to the point.

In your frustration, you may have started skimming the piece, missing important information along the way.

Alternatively, you may have turned the page or clicked away.

Either way, you’ve wasted time, and the writer has wasted both their time and yours.

Creative writing offers a little more leeway with the use of language.

Depending on the genre in question, the setting of a story (fictional or real), or the character, flowery phrases may be appropriate to convey authenticity.

Song lyrics require an occasionally awkward turn of phrase to keep a line’s length and beat consistent with the others. The same goes for poetry in general.

Most other writing―be it journalism, business writing, or web writing―lends itself to a spare, even Spartan, style.

Unless a reader wants to be transported to another world, they probably just want you to get to the point. It’s not that they don’t want to hear what you have to say; it’s that they DO want to hear you. Right away.

Sandwiching your message between unneeded verbiage helps no one. It doesn’t make you sound smarter, clearer, or more persuasive. It’s. Just. Noise.

The next time you sit down to write, the burning question running through your mind after each period should be, “Do I really need to tell them this?”

Without further ado, here are 330 examples of common cases of wordiness (as of Nov. 12, 2020), along with shorter alternatives.

BUT: Keep a word or phrase if …

• removing it ruins the grammatical structure.
• it’s a key idea, fact, feeling, or description.

Number	Example	Use instead
1	a little bit	“a bit” or “a little”
2	a number of	some, many
3	a total of 12 items	12 items
4	a variety of different things	a variety
5	accomplish	do
6	accrue	gain
7	add together	add
8	add up	add
9	added bonus	bonus
10	addressee	you
11	advance forward	advance
12	advance planning	planning
13	advance reservation	reservation
14	advance warning	warning
15	after the conclusion of	after
16	all of	all
17	all-time record	record
18	annoyingly frustrating	frustrating, annoying
19	anonymous stranger	stranger
20	any and all	any or all
21	apparently	(Delete)
22	apportion out	apportion
23	are representative of	represent
24	as a matter of fact	in fact
25	as far as [X] is concerned	regarding (or reword the sentence)
26	as of this writing	now, currently
27	as per	per
28	as regards	about
29	ascend up	ascend
30	ask a question	ask
31	at the current time	now, currently
32	at the present time	now, currently
33	at the same time as	as
34	at the time of publication	now, currently
35	at this point in time	now, currently
36	ATM machine	ATM
37	based on the fact that	because
38	basic essentials	essentials
39	basic fundementals	fundementals
40	basic necessities	necessities
41	basically	(Delete)
42	be aware of the fact that	note, understand
43	beat out	beat
44	biography of her life	biography
45	both agree	agree
46	both of them	both
47	brief jaunt	jaunt
48	brief moment	moment
49	brief summary	summary
50	by means of	by, via
51	by way of	by, via
52	cameo appearance	cameo
53	cheaper price	cheaper or “lower price”
54	check and see	check
55	circle around	circle
56	clean up	clean
57	click on	click
58	climb up	climb
59	close intimates	intimates
60	close proximity	near, proximity
61	close scrutiny	scrutiny
62	cluster together	cluster
63	colder temperature	colder or “lower temperature”
64	collaborate together	collaborate
65	collide into each other	collide
66	combine together	combine
67	come to an end	end
68	comes equipped with	includes, comes with, is preinstalled, is preloaded
69	comes with it right out of the box	includes, comes with, is preinstalled, is preloaded
70	commence	start
71	compete with each other	compete
72	completely destroyed	destroyed
73	completely finished	finished
74	completely opposite	opposite
75	completely surrounded	surrounded
76	completely unanimous	unanimous
77	components that make up	components
78	concerning the matter of	about
79	consensus of opinion	consensus
80	consequently	so
81	considering the fact that	because, since
82	continue on	continue
83	cooperate together	cooperate
84	crammed close together	crammed
85	currently at this time	currently, now
86	dark, black sky	black sky
87	debris left behind	debris
88	debut of a new product	product debut
89	deceptive lie	lie
90	decrease in size	shrink
91	Definitely	(Delete)
92	depart from	depart
93	descend down	descend
94	describe in words	describe
95	despite the fact that	although, even though
96	detrimentally affect	harm, hurt
97	dry desert	desert
98	due to the fact that	because
99	during the period	during
100	each and every	each
101	elements that are a part of	elements
102	emit out	emit
103	empty out	empty
104	empty void	void
105	encounter	meet
106	end result	result
107	endure for <length of time>	endure <length of time>
108	ensure the largest amount	maximize
109	ensure the least amount	minimize
110	enter into (buildings)	enter
111	escape from	escape
112	essentially	(Delete)
113	exact same	same
114	exactly the same	the same
115	exactly word for word	exactly or “word for word” (pick one)
116	exit out of	exit
117	expedite	speed up
118	extremely	(Delete)
119	factor that plays a role	factor
120	fade away	fade
121	famous celebrity	celebrity
122	far away from	far from
123	fill up	fill
124	finish up	finish
125	first and foremost	foremost
126	flee from	flee
127	following on	after
128	for all intents and purposes	(Delete)
129	for the purpose of (+ gerund)	to
130	for the reason that	because
131	foreign imports	imports
132	forward progress	progress
133	free gift	gift
134	fundamental basis	basis
135	fuse together	fuse
136	future ahead	future
137	generally	(Delete)
138	give the opportunity to	let, allow
139	glide smoothly	glide
140	good-quality	quality
141	grab onto	grab
142	grow larger	grow
143	has enough space on the inside to fully accommodate	fits
144	has the ability to	can
145	has the capacity to/for	can
146	have an effect on	affect, influence
147	have an impact on	affect, influence
148	have got (e.g., I’ve got)	have
149	have the capability to	can
150	he is a man who is	he is
151	head up	head
152	help out	help
153	high up in	high in
154	hotter temperature	hotter or “higher temperature”
155	how-to tutorials	tutorials
156	human artifact	artifact
157	I believe	(Delete)
158	I feel	(Delete)
159	I think that	(Delete)
160	impacts that result from	impacts, results
161	In a place where	where
162	in a similar manner	similarly
163	in a situation in which	when
164	in advance of	before
165	in an effort to	to
166	in close proximity to	close to
167	in connection with	about
168	in excess of	more than, over
169	in light of the fact that	considering
170	in my own personal opinion	in my opinion
171	in order for	for
172	in order to	to
173	in reference to	about
174	In some ways	(Delete)
175	in spite of the fact that	although or though
176	in terms of	regarding (or recast the sentence)
177	in the amount of	for
178	in the amount of <specific amount>	for <specific amount>
179	in the direction of	toward (U.S.) or towards (UK)
180	in the event that	if
181	in the near future	soon (or be more specific about the time)
182	in view of the fact that	because
183	inadvertent error	error
184	increase in size	grow
185	insist adamantly	insist
186	is able to	can
187	is capable of	can
188	is located in	is in
189	it could happen that	may, might, can, could
190	it is often the case that	often
191	it is possible that	may, might, can, could
192	it is requested	please
193	it’s important to note that	notably
194	Jewish rabbi	rabbi
195	join together	join
196	jump up	jump
197	laptop computer	laptop
198	last for <length of time>	last <length of time>
199	leak out	leak
200	leave from	leave
201	less than great	subpar, mediocre, OK
202	less than spectacular	subpar, mediocre, OK
203	lift up	lift
204	linger around	linger
205	lower down	lower
206	mail out	mail
207	make a choice	choose
208	make a contribution to	contribute
209	make a decision	decide
210	match up	match
211	merge together	merge
212	methodology	method
213	middle ground in between	middle ground
214	minor tweaks	tweaks
215	minute details	minutiae
216	more better	better
217	more often than not	usually
218	more ways than one	multiple ways
219	morph for the worse	deform
220	mutual agreement	agreement
221	new innovation	innovation
222	not too long from now	soon (or be more specific about the time)
223	not very good	subpar, mediocre, OK
224	notification alert	notification or alert
225	notwithstanding the fact that	although, even, though
226	now pending	pending
227	numerous	many
228	on sale for a discounted rate	“on sale,” “on discount,” or discounted
229	on the grounds that	because
230	on the occasion of	when
231	on the part of	by
232	once used to do	did (or used to)
233	one and the same	the same
234	orbit around	orbit
235	over the course of	throughout
236	overexaggerate	exaggerate
237	owing to the fact that	because
238	past history	history
239	period of four days	four days
240	permeate through	permeate
241	pick and choose	pick, choose, select
242	plan out	plan
243	precisely adjust	fine-tune
244	present incumbent	incumbent
245	prior to	before
246	proceed forward	proceed
247	progress forward	progress
248	provide the ability to let, allow	let, allow
249	provided that	if
250	raise up	raise
251	rarely ever	rarely
252	really	(Delete)
253	reconsider again	reconsider
254	reflect back on	reflect on
255	regardless of the fact that	although, even, though
256	regress backward	regress
257	rejected outcast	outcast
258	related to each other	related
259	relative to	about
260	repeat again	repeat
261	retain the same	retain
262	retreat back	retreat
263	return back	return
264	revert back	revert
265	rise up	rise
266	roasting in heat	roasting
267	sad lament	lament
268	safe haven	haven
269	same identical	identical
270	scrutinize very carefully	scrutinize
271	send out	send
272	share in common	share together
273	share the same	share (or have the same)
274	shift around	shift
275	shorter/longer in length	shorter/longer
276	shout out	shout
277	shrink smaller	shrink
278	simultaneously with	as
279	sink down	sink
280	sit down	sit
281	slam forcefully	slam
282	small bits	bits
283	soar up	soar
284	specific details	details
285	specific enough to say exactly	specify
286	specific to your wants and needs	customized
287	spin around	spin
288	start off	start
289	still remain	remain
290	subsequent to	after
291	sudden impulse	impulse
292	tailored to fit	tailored
293	take into consideration	consider
294	tall skyscraper	skyscraper
295	tap on	tap
296	tend to	(Delete)
297	test out	test
298	the fact that	Delete “the fact”” and/or reword the sentence.
299	the fact that it doesn’t have	”its lack of,” “its omission of” or reword the sentence.
300	the majority of	most
301	the place at which	where
302	the reason for	because, since
303	the reason why is that	because
304	the thing is that	(Delete)
305	the time at which	when
306	the truth is that	(Delete)
307	the way in which	how
308	there are times when	sometimes
309	there is a chance that	may, might, can, could
310	tragically sad	tragic
311	trailing behind	trailing
312	true fact	fact
313	two opposites	opposites
314	under circumstances in which	when
315	unexpected surprise	surprise
316	urban city	city
317	used to at one time	used to
318	used to in the past	used to
319	utilize	use
320	various	(Delete)
321	vast majority	majority
322	very	Delete or replace with with a stronger, more accurate adjective.
323	virtually	(Delete)
324	when it comes to	regarding (or reword the sentence)
325	where . . . is concerned	about
326	whether or not	whether (unless it means regardless of whether)
327	which was when	when
328	with regard to	about
329	with the exception of	except
330	yearly annual	annual or annually

This page is constantly updated and further words and phrases are added from time to time.

• If you want to stay in the loop, bookmark or share this page now.
• If you want an example added to the list, feel free to comment below.

Debates among writers, editors, teachers, and others who use English are common. One of the longest-standing debates is that over the Oxford comma, aka the serial comma.

People arguing over a punctuation mark? As silly as it sounds, it’s been going on for decades.

If you’re not aware of this debate, we don’t want you to miss out on the fun and fastidiousness. Here’s an overview of the Oxford comma and why you might choose to use it.

What is the Oxford comma?

Oxford shirt, Oxford shoes … Oxford comma. Nope, the comma’s not related. But like certain fashions, the serial comma is adored by some and hated by others.
In short, the Oxford comma is the optional comma before the final conjunction in a list or series.

Huh?

No worries; we’ll break it down for you.

When listing items in a written sentence, you use commas to separate the items, just as you’d normally pause between the items when speaking. (Note: Commas don’t always represent pauses in speech. To use commas this way is to use them incorrectly. However, in the case of listing items, there’s a parallel between verbal pauses and commas.)

Here’s an example of a sentence that contains a list of two items:

I need to buy wine and toilet paper for the party.

Let’s add one more item to that list:

I need to buy eggs, wine, and toilet paper for the party.

Aside from the odd shopping list (sounds like one crazy party!), did you notice anything unusual about that sentence? If you did, it’s probably because you’re not a supporter of the Oxford comma.

Here’s the same sentence without the Oxford comma:

I need to buy eggs, wine and toilet paper for the party.

This second version of the sentence is neither right nor wrong–just as the first isn’t either, either.

You see, English isn’t like math. The language isn’t governed 100 percent by hard rules. Whereas grammar is the science of English, style is the art of it.

And where serial commas are concerned, there are two schools of thought when it comes to style.

The philosophy of the Oxford comma is that a list should be consistent, with punctuation between each pair of items.

Those who argue against serial commas use this logic: A list of two items has no comma (e.g., I need to buy wine and toilet paper). So that shouldn’t change just because we add an item (e.g., I need to buy eggs, wine and toilet paper). The punctuation is only needed for three or more items.

The problem is that this latter reasoning doesn’t always hold up so well. You can find or come up with many examples of why the Oxford comma is usually the better choice.

Why use the Oxford comma?

Fans of the Oxford comma maintain that skipping it causes confusion in some cases. Let’s say you’re emailing a friend about some photos you took on your last vacation. You might write the following sentence:

I’ll send you some photos of my grandparents, a hitchhiker and a skunk.

The way this sentence is structured, it implies that you have some highly unusual DNA! In other words, using one comma here implies that one of your parents is the offspring of a hitchhiker and a skunk (let’s not picture the details).

But this surely wasn’t your intended meaning. And if you were to come across such a sentence by another writer, it should give you pause (pun intended).

Let’s see what happens when we add an Oxford comma:

I’ll send you some photos of my grandparents, a hitchhiker, and a skunk.

This sentence clearly states that you took photos of at least four subjects (depending on how many grandparents you captured in your shots). The hitchhiker and the skunk aren’t your grandparents.
This example illustrates why many people feel the Oxford comma should be mandatory in writing.

The history of the Oxford comma

The Oxford comma is so named because it was used at Oxford University Press, the largest university press on the planet. Ironically, British writers seem to use the Oxford comma less than Americans do, which is why it stands out in the UK as an Oxford-prescribed guideline.

Many professional writers and editors have opined on the use of the Oxford comma. Some language lovers claim that adding one comma to a sentence can’t hurt and can only help in terms of clarity. Those on the other side of the fence feel that serial commas are prissy and unnecessary.

However, consider that a 2014 lawsuit, O’Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy, revolved around a serial comma ambiguity. A list of labor activities exempt from overtime pay was open to misinterpretation. Hence, the dairy was ordered to pay $5 million in overtime wages to workers who performed the activities in the gray area.

If you’re in doubt, it’s usually worth it to add that comma.

The Oxford comma in popular style guides

So what do the big style guides have to say about such commas? Here’s a quick comparison of two major guides: Chicago and AP.

The Oxford comma according to The Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style is a trustworthy guide for literature and academic writing. CMOS generally prescribes the Oxford comma, stating that it prevents confusion such as that shown above.

However, in some cases, as CMOS points out, even the Oxford comma can’t clarify a sentence. Recasting may be necessary at times. Look at this example:

I emailed my father, the president, and the director of the FBI.

In this sentence, it’s not clear as to whether your father is the president or a separate individual. In such a case, you can reword the sentence as follows:

I emailed my father as well as the president and the director of the FBI.

or

I emailed the president, the director of the FBI, and my father.

(Reordering works only if the first two items are clearly separate and your readers know that the president doesn’t head the FBI.)

The Oxford comma according to the AP Stylebook

The AP Stylebook, the style bible of journalists and online writers, says not to use the Oxford comma in a simple series unless it’s needed to prevent confusion.

This is because traditionally, printed newspapers had space concerns when it came to adding text to a layout. Eliminating a few commas throughout a story might keep a story from running over into another column or page.

But AP admits that adding a comma before the final conjunction in a list makes sense in many cases.

Oxford commas: the choice is yours

If you’re writing a professional or academic article that must follow a chosen style guide, follow the Oxford comma rule in your guide. Some company style guides even instruct writers to generally follow AP style but to buck AP and use the Oxford comma.

In your personal or general business writing, you’re free to comma as you wish. Just be aware that your friends and colleagues may comment.

As with most style guidelines, when it comes to the Oxford comma, the most important thing is to commit to using it. Anyway you splice it, it’s hard to criticize attentively produced, consistent writing.

Who or whom? The question trips up even grammar-lovers. And in many circles, whom is becoming obsolete, which may sadden grammar purists.

Although who and whom are similar, each serves a distinct purpose. In order to understand how to use these pronouns correctly, you’ll have to refresh yourself on sentence structure.

Once you’ve got this down and compared several examples, you’ll be able to remember how to use who and whom quite easily.

Parts of a sentence: a quick refresher

The basic parts of a sentence are the subject and the predicate. The predicate must include a verb but may also include an object.

The subject is the person or thing that acts. The verb describes the action. The object is the person or thing that’s acted upon by a verb or preposition.

Clearly, sentences can get far more complicated than this. But this is the basic structure of a sentence.

In English, the standard order of a declarative sentence, or statement, is subject—verb—object. For example:

• Tyrone bought the pizza.
• Maria likes Jorge.
• My children are watching TV.
• The Kahdims are my neighbors.
• Our boss called the police.

We’re going to come back to these sentences further along as we explain who versus whom.

Who

Who is a pronoun that replaces or refers to the singular or plural subject of a sentence. Who can be used in a question or a statement.

This famous book title by Stieg Larsson includes who:

“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”

Now, look at this headline:

“Couple who missed Royal Caribbean cruise in viral video was celebrating honeymoon”
Fox News

Here are some other examples of how to use who in a sentence:

• Who do you think you are?
• I wonder who’s at the door.
• Who wants to go swimming?
• Tell me who did this.

Now, let’s go back to our original examples and use who to form a question from each statement.

• Who bought the pizza? (Who replaces “Tyrone.”)
• Who likes Jorge? (Who replaces “Maria.”)
• Who’s watching TV? (Who replaces “my children.”)
• Who are your neighbors? (Who replaces “the Kahdims,” the subject—not “neighbors,” the object.)
• Who called the police? (Who replaces “our boss.”)

We’ll take the idea further and develop the original examples into statements that relate to or directly answer the questions above.

• I never found out who bought the pizza.
• I don’t care who likes Jorge.
• You tell me who’s watching TV!
• I didn’t ask who your neighbors are.
• I know who called the police.

To recap, who replaces or refers to the subject of a sentence.

Whom

Whom is a pronoun that replaces the singular or plural object of a sentence. Whom can be used in a question or a statement.

One of the most famous uses of whom is in this classic book title by Ernest Hemingway:

“For Whom the Bell Tolls”

Now, look at this headline:

“A Singer for Whom Words Always Came First”
The New York Times

Right away, you can probably sense a difference between whom and who, even if you can’t put your finger on it.

In these two examples, whom is followed by a preposition, but this isn’t always the case. With a direct object, a preposition isn’t necessary.

You’ll also notice that a clause (a sentencelike phrase including both a subject and a verb) follows whom.

Let’s look at using whom in a sentence. Here are some examples:

• To whom am I speaking?
• Whom are you calling?
• Don’t tell me whom to spend time with!
• With whom did you dance?
• Whom did the factory hire?
• I have no idea whom I’ll marry.
• By whom is he standing?

Let’s go back to our original sentences. We’ll expand one of them:

• Maria likes Jorge.
• My children are watching TV with Nana.

To turn these sentences into questions, note the different uses of who and whom. First:

• Who likes Jorge?
• Whom does Maria like?

And:

• Who’s watching TV with Nana?
• With whom are your children watching TV?

But also:

• Who’s watching TV with your children?
• With whom is Nana watching TV?

To recap, whom replaces or refers to the object of a verb or preposition.

The modern use of who

In casual conversations today, you’ll hear things like:

• Who are your kids watching TV with?
• Who did Tyrone buy the pizza for?

This is one of those lazy-grammar habits that’s become marginally acceptable in speech and even in some writing. But if you want to be taken seriously and to come across smartly in your writing, it’s always better to use whom when it’s called for.

In fact, The New York Times addressed this who–whom laziness, or perhaps ignorance, in a 2015 blog post. You’d do well to follow their lead.

How to use who and whom correctly

Both pronouns can be used in questions or statements.

• Who replaces the subject of a sentence.
• Whom replaces the object of a sentence.

An easy way to determine if you should use who or whom is to see if he or him fits into the sentence. (Of course, she and her work too, but he and him sound more like who and whom, so it’s a simpler test.)

For example:

• He bought this book. > Who bought this book?
• Him bought this book. > Nope!
• I gave the book to he. > Nope!
• I gave the book to him. > To whom did you give the book?

In casual speech and writing, whom is becoming somewhat obsolete. But for formal speech and writing, always use whom when it’s called for.

Note that if you’re developing a story character who’s young or doesn’t have an advanced education, your character likely won’t be throwing whom around in their dialogue.

If you’re writing anything else, stick with whom … so a bell doesn’t toll for your reputation.

Don’t let the difference between affect and effect affect your self-confidence. Learning these two words is a cinch.

You might get away with not knowing the difference when speaking, as these two words are usually homophones (soundalikes). But your basic spell-checker won’t always catch a usage error if you type a correctly spelled version of a word.

In their most common usage, affect is a verb and effect is a noun. But each word can be either part of speech. Don’t worry! We’ll clear up the confusion for you.

Affect

So, is affect a verb or a noun? Well, it can be both.

But the most common definition of affect is “to alter” or “to act upon.”

Look at this headline:

“New Study Examines How Tiny Gas Pockets Affect 3D Printing”
Carnegie Mellon University

If you don’t already know the facts, there’s no way to tell whether the gas pockets make good or bad changes—or both.

Here are some more examples:

• Alcohol affects your ability to drive.
• Both humans and animals affect the climate.
• My brother’s new romance is affecting his work.

Okay, so all three of these examples sound as if affect is only used in the sense of a negative change. That isn’t always true. Check out these sentences:

• Exercise affects your metabolism for hours afterward.
• Pets can affect your mood and physical health.
• My brother’s new haircut is affecting his sales performance.

Did my brother’s haircut turn him into a rock-star salesperson, or did it turn off his leads and prospects? There’s no way to be sure, as affect is a neutral verb.

Of course, most people know that alcohol impairs your ability to drive. But if you want to be super-clear to your audience, you may want to choose a more specific verb than affect.

Again, affect usually means “to alter” or “to act upon.” A great way to distinguish affect from effect is to remember that affect, alter, and act all start with “A.”

Other meanings of affect as a verb

You’re going to run across other cases where affect is a verb, but with a different meaning. In fact, you’ll see several dictionary definitions of affect. Here are a few:

• To feign
• To cultivate
• To tend toward
• To frequent

Luckily, most of these definitions aren’t all that common anymore. Just focus on the primary definition that we’ve explained in detail above.

Affect as a noun

Wait, what? That’s right: Affect can be a noun. But again, don’t worry too much about this, as you’re not likely to confuse this affect with an effect.

For one, affect as a noun is pronounced differently than the verb. The noun form has its stress on the first syllable and a short “A” sound.

Also, this word is more commonly used in the realms of medicine and psychology. The meaning of affect here is “the signs of an emotional state.”

For example, a psychiatric client may be described as having a flat affect. This means that, regardless of the client’s inner experience or feelings, they appeared to the observer to have no emotion at all.

So, if you see affect used this way, you’ll surely be able to understand the difference.

Effect

Now, is effect a verb or a noun? Well, again, it’s both. But we’re going to clarify the word for you.

Look at this headline:

“Peppa Effect: Canadian Kids Are Talking With English Accents Thanks To ‘Peppa Pig'”
HuffPost

An effect is an end or event. Here are some more examples:

• Alcohol has an effect on your ability to drive.
• Both humans and animals have an effect on the climate.
• My brother’s new romance is having an effect on his work.

Do these sentences sound familiar? You got it: They’re almost identical to three of the examples for affect.

This shows that affecting something yields an effect. This pair of words is simply two sides of the same coin.

You may have noticed that using effect instead of affect lengthens these sentences unnecessarily. Choosing strong verbs is a sign of advanced writing, so using affect is theoretically the better choice. But these sentences are still correct.

Here are some more efficient examples of using effect:

• What are the side effects of this medicine?
• It’s a matter of cause and effect.
• Perfumes have a bad effect on my allergies.

Again, effect usually means to an end or event. A great way to distinguish effect from affect is to remember that effect, end, and event all start with “E.”

Effect as a verb

Effect has several other definitions as a noun, but these definitions aren’t the ones that are commonly confused with affect.

The interesting thing, though, is that effect can also be a verb. This is probably the trickiest part of the whole matter.

Because effect means “to cause to exist.”

It’s okay! This isn’t exactly the same meaning as that of the verb affect. Remember, affect means “to alter” or “act upon.” In other words, “to change something,” not to cause or create it.

Look at this headline:

“Never Underestimate the Power of Young People to Effect Change”
HuffPost

Young people aren’t changing change! They’re bringing it about.

Read these other examples, and you’ll notice the difference immediately:

• Pollution effects climate change.

Pollution affects the climate, but it doesn’t effect the climate itself. See?

Now, look at this:

• The Boston Tea Party effected the American Revolution.

This means, as you probably know, that the Boston Tea Party came first. If the tea party had affected the revolution, the revolution would’ve already been underway.

How to use affect and effect correctly

Usually:

• “To affect” means to change, influence, modify, or transform something.
• An effect is a result, outcome, reaction, or product.

We know you’ve got this. Go forth and use affect and effect confidently!

For some more tricks on how to remember the difference, check out our blog post here.

Aspiring writers often have quite a few questions wondering if they are doing everything correctly. Should they sign up for some sort of class on writing to get experience? Do they need a mentor that will guide them along the way? Is it true they have to starve first by giving up their job so they can focus on only writing? But the truth of the matter is, what may work for one writer may not work for another.

The most difficult thing facing an aspiring writer is to take time out of each and every day to practice their craft. In truth, you are either an aspiring writer or a writer. If all you do is talk about wanting to write a book, then you are an aspiring writer. If you are actively writing each and every week, then you are already a writer! When it comes down to it, aspiring writers talk the talk, but writers walk the walk.

Which leads to one of the most asked questions by writers or aspiring writers. How much should I write every day? There is such a thing as quality over quantity though. But by realizing the daily word count that successful writers write, it should provide a good estimate on what you should be achieving. And I am speaking about the daily word count for the book that you are writing, not anything else.

Many people, unfortunately, write thousands of words on their social media accounts during the day. They write about their daily schedule, what they had to eat recently, or their personal views on the most recent topics. If you are truly a writer, do yourself a favor and stay off of social media as much as you can and focus on your writing project. When you finally complete your book, I guarantee that you will not say to yourself, “I sure wish I would have posted more on Facebook instead to keep everyone up to date on the mundane things of my life.”

Daily Word Counts
As you will notice from reading the list below, daily word counts vary greatly from one successful writer to the next. In addition, these are all authors that make their living by writing. They don’t have a forty hour a week job to go to either. But if you have been writing for awhile now and know your approximate daily word count, it might compare quite favorably with these famous authors!

Ernest Hemingway: 500 Words

Of course, Hemingway is no longer alive, but when he was he would stick around writing about 500 words a day. “When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. You have started at six in the morning, say, and may go on until noon or be through before that,” Hemingway said.

Stephen King: 2,000 Words

Stephen King seems to be one of the most prolific writers of all time. His novels can be extremely long and wordy, so one would think he would write an immense amount of words daily. However, this is not always the case.

In his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, King speaks on his writing speed. He would set a daily goal of about 2,000 words. This would add up to about 180,000 words in three months of writing. He also said that three months was the maximum amount of time it should take someone to finish a first draft. If it takes longer, it will get tougher and tougher to delve back into the story with the right frame of mind. In addition, King can often become involved in marathon writing sessions. He wrote The Running Man in one week.

Jack London: 1,500 Words

Jack London’s most well known novel, The Call of the Wild, was a classic. He probably had a few more in him, but he died at the age of forty. “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club,” he stated.

Tom Wolfe: 135 Words

Tom Wolfe is an author that has written many popular books that were later made into films. The Right Stuff and The Bonfire of the Vanities are just a couple. However, he never seemed to be in a rush to finish his books. His book A Man in Full is 370,000 words and it took him eleven years to finish. “My children grew up thinking that was all I did: write, and never finish, a book called A Man in Full,” Wolfe admitted.

Mark Twain: 1,400-1,800 Words

If there was a Mount Rushmore for writers, Mark Twain would definitely be on it. But he realized that sometime it depended on the location of where you are actually doing the writing. “In 1897, when we were living in Tedworth Square, London, and I was writing the book called “Following the Equator” my average was eighteen hundred words a day; here in Florence, (1904), my average seems to be fourteen hundred words per sitting of four or five hours.”

W. Somerset Maugham: 1,000 Words

W. Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist, and short story author. He was among the most popular writers of his era and was also reportedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s. He was an orphan by the time he turned ten years old and was raised by an uncle that did his best to make into an accountant. Maugham persevered through life and wrote some quality classics. But he even recognized there was no set formula on writing. “There are three rules for writing a novel,” he said. “Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

Sarah Waters: 1,000 Words

Sarah Waters is a Welsh novelist and bestselling author. She has written six novels to date with many of them being turned into films. Still, she feels the same way a lot of writers do when sitting down to write everyday. “My minimum is 1,000 words a day… Those 1,000 words might well be rubbish- they often are. But then, it is always easier to return to rubbish words at a later date and make them better,” Waters said.

Sebastian Faulks: 1,000 Words

Sebastian Faulks is a British novelist, journalist, and broadcaster. He is perhaps best known for his historical novels that are set in France. Faulks believes in consistency when working. “When I am writing a book I write from ten til six everyday in a small office near my house,” he said. “I never write less than a 1000 words a day. Writer’s Block is God’s way of telling you to shut up. More people should have it.”

Michael Crichton: 10,000 Words

Michael Crichton wrote several novels that were later turned into films. Jurassic Park was just one of the popular ones. Crichton passed away almost ten years ago, but he was an American author, screenwriter, film director, and producer that did very well in the genres of science fiction and thrillers. Also, his daily word count was always extremely high. “Books aren’t written – they’re rewritten,” he said. “Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”

Kate DiCamillo: 600-900 Words

Kate DiCamillo is an American writer of children’s fiction that has written several modern day classics. Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, and Flora & Ulysses are merely a few. She is also one of six people to win two Newbery Medals recognizing her work. “My goal is two pages a day, five days a week. I never want to write, but I’m always glad that I have done it,” DiCamillo said. I think many writers know exactly what she means by this.

Nicholas Sparks: 2,000 Words

Nicholas Sparks is an American romance novelist, screenwriter, and producer. His books and films all follow a bit of the same pattern with a woman meeting a new man, and the women that read his books and watch his movies just love it. He has published nineteen novels to date. Sparks says a novel takes him a few months to conceive, and then about five months to write. He sets a daily goal for himself of 2,000 words which takes him about five to six hours to write. “See,” he said, “it’s not an unbelievable pace.”

J.G. Ballard: 1,000 Words

James Ballard was an English novelist and short story writer who passed away in 2009. He said, “All through my career I’ve written 1,000 words a day- even if I’ve got a hangover. You’ve got to discipline yourself if you’re professional. There’s no other way.”

Ian McEwan: 600 Words

Ian McEwan is an English novelist and screenwriter that has attained the recognition that most writers dream about. In 2008, The Times featured him on their list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945” and The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 19 in their list of the “100 most powerful people in British culture”. Not too shabby. “I aim for about six hundred words a day and hope for at least a thousand when I’m on a roll,” he once said.

Lee Child: 1,800 Words

Lee Child is a British author who is best known for his Jack Reacher novels that have been made into films starring Tom Cruise. “I write in the afternoon, from about 12 until about 6 or 7,” he said. “I use an upstairs room as my office. Once I get going I keep at it, and it usually takes about six months from the first blank screen until the end.”

Anne Rice: 3,000 Words

Anne Rice is an American author from New Orleans that writes quite a bit of gothic fiction. She is best known for her vampire novels and the film Interview with a Vampire. “I have to get all distractions out of the way,” she says. “I plunge into the work and write an episode; I can’t just clock in at 3,000 words. I have to have time free to resolve things. I write in episodic ways. But when I’m ready to plunge in, I write from late morning through all afternoon, all evening.”

Arthur Conan Doyle: 3,000 Words

Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his novels starring Sherlock Holmes, probably the most popular fictional detective of all time. He wrote sixty stories about the legendary sleuth. “Anything is better than stagnation,” he said.

Arthur Hailey: 600 Words

Arthur Hailey died in 2004, but before his time was up he had written many novels that had a backdrop of several industries. One of his more popular ones that was later made into a movie was Airport. “I set myself 600 words a day as a minimum output, regardless of the weather, my state of mind or if I’m sick or well,” he had said. “There must be 600 finished words- not almost right words.”

Graham Greene: 500 Words

Graham Greene was an English novelist regarded by many as one of the great writers of the 20th century. He wrote highly acclaimed serious Catholic novels and thrillers. Greene came close to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in back to back years in 1966 and 1967. He passed away in 1991, but through his 67 years of writing he had completed 25 novels. “Over twenty years I have probably averaged five hundred words a day for five days a week. I can produce a novel in a year, and that allows time for revision and the correction of the typescript. I have always been very methodical, and when my quota of work is done I break off, even in the middle of a scene,” he said.

Holly Black: 1,000 Words

Holly Black is an American writer best known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children’s fantasy books she created with writer and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi. She also has written a trilogy of young adult novels officially called the Modern Faerie Tales trilogy. Black perhaps summarizes the feeling of every writer when she responded back to a compliment about how productive she has been with all her novels. “First of all, thank you very much for saying I’m productive, because some days I don’t feel that way,” she said. “Yes, I try to write a thousand words every day. I’ve actually put up my daily word counts online for my last several novels. I do this to keep myself honest, saying exactly when I wrote what part of the book. Certainly the comment I most often get is, “That’s not really a lot of words,” but it goes to show that just steadily working will get you a book. I try to make a thousand words a day, but that isn’t always the reality.”

As writers, we all have that place in our house where we tend to be more creative and the words just come a little easier for us. If you are serious about writing as a career or even a side job, it’s extremely important to find this place. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just somewhere that you can think and go about practicing your craft without interruption or intrusion. I find that people tend to impede my writing if I am just sitting on the couch and typing away. They may think that they are only interrupting me for a second, but they may be putting a halt to a flood of creativity that was just about ready to pour through me. And this is just as much my fault as theirs, as I should be in my Do Not Disturb spot while working.

If you don’t have a perfect spot in your house to do your writing in, now is the time to create one. In the film Funny Farm, one of Chevy Chase’s last good ones, he plays a sports writer that moves out into the country in Redbud, Vermont with his wife so he can write the next great american novel. Chase’s character is excited about a room upstairs with a gorgeous view that will be perfect for him to write in. But soon, there are constant interruptions and he can’t write anything substantial. The birds outside his window are driving him crazy. The maniacal mailman is disturbing him enough that he often stops writing completely so he can get his mail and some revenge. They find a body buried in their yard. He starts to go fishing instead of working. And then, he finally gives up on his dream of writing that novel that he has been talking about for years. Don’t let this happen to you. Draw some inspiration from the writing spaces that successful authors have constructed for themselves. You might even be surprised that some very famous authors choose to write outside their house instead!

1. Charles Dickens

British novelist Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England. Over the course of his entire writing career, he wrote the forever classic novels Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. This is quite a resume of beloved books. For most of them, Dickens would insist on writing at his familiar desk and chair. He felt he did his best work at his beloved desk, and would often have it shipped with him when he knew he would be gone awhile from home. If you are interested in seeing the desk and chair in person, they are on display at the Charles Dickens Museum at the author’s former home in London.

2. Virginia Woolf

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer born in 1882 who is considered one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. She is best known for her novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927). Every morning she would walk down to the basement and into a storage room with a cozy old armchair that she loved. She would write away sitting in the armchair in her peace and quiet.

3. Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller on September 15, 1890 in the southwest part of England. The youngest of three children, she was educated at home by her mother who would always encourage her daughter to write. Christie was an author who would churn out classical detective stories at an astounding rate. In fact, she is tied with William Shakespeare as the best selling fiction author of all time. Where did Christie conceive all of her masterpieces? She most often would be sitting in her large Victorian bathtub eating apples as the created the plots to her novels.

4. Edith Wharton

Edith Newbold Jones was born into a wealthy New York family, and later in life married a rich banker named Edward Wharton in 1885. After her marriage ended in divorce in 1913, she began to write stories set among turn-of-the-century New York society. She did not have her first novel published until the age of 40. This did not slow her down though, she eventually wrote 38 books. The most well known book was the Pulitzer Prize winner The Age of Innocence. Most mornings, she would write while still covered up in bed. It was her preferred spot. She would have her dog on one side of her, and an ink bottle on the other. Her secretary would later type up all the pages she had written by hand.

5. Stephen King

Before Stephen King became recognized as one of the best horror writers of all time, he was a struggling English teacher living out of a trailer with his wife Tabitha. She worked at Dunkin’ Donuts on the second shift. King couldn’t even afford his own typewriter, so he used his wife’s as he worked at his makeshift desk that was sandwiched between the washing machine and the dryer. He would literally lock himself in the laundry room to do his writing. It was there that he created his first hit novel Carrie. It just goes to show you, you do not need a fancy spot to complete your writing in. You just need a location that is suitable for you!

6. E.B. White

E.B. White is best known for writing his book Charlotte’s Web. Everyone loved that little runt Wilbur and the spider Charlotte. White did not believe in picking out the quietest spot to write. He would most often work in his living room as the bustle of life went on around him. He would say that his family never bothered to be quiet as he wrote, they would continue acting as if he wasn’t even around. He once said,  “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” Perhaps you write in a similar environment?

7. Ernest Hemingway

Every serious writer knows who Ernest Hemingway was because he was definitely a like-minded individual. He took his craft seriously. He was well known for novels like The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea. In 1954, Hemingway even won the Nobel Prize. He committed suicide on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho. He never had a set place where he liked to write, but he did have a time of the day that he favored. Hemingway would often write as soon as it first became light in the morning. He cherished the quietness and the chill in the air. He would usually try to write for six hours a day, and then stop and wait until the next morning where he could continue on with his craft.

8. Mark Twain

Mark Twain had a private study built separate from his house so he could be secluded while writing and also smoke his cigars that his wife hated. Best known for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), Twain was a living legend back in his day. He followed his routine for writing almost every day. He would go to his study after having a large breakfast. Once there, he would skip lunch and work without interruption until almost five at night. If the family needed him for anything at the house, they would blow a loud horn and he would come.

As a teacher that has taught writing to students all the way from elementary to college, nothing can give me more fits than apostrophes. Reading a student’s writing and seeing a misplaced apostrophe can get my blood boiling. I guess I get so worked up about it because we cover it quite a bit during the school year. All the students appear to master using apostrophes correctly when we are doing it together as a class. But once they are turned loose on their own, creating their own stories, the use of their apostrophes confounds me!

Placing apostrophes is not rocket science. There are only certain times when an apostrophe is needed. There are many adults on social media that apparently have no clue about how to use an apostrophe either. Their posts may say the most profound things I have ever read, but I totally ignore them and focus on the oblivious way they use their apostrophes. Let’s take a look when an apostrophe is needed and when one is not needed at all.

Apostrophes Showing Possession

Apostrophes can show that something belongs to someone or even something. Let’s look at a few examples below for singular nouns and names.

• The car’s door was dented on the side.
• Dusty’s clothes were much too small and tight.
• The dog’s food dish was almost empty.
• As he spoke, Dean’s arms flew around excitedly.

Those examples show a very common and simple way of using apostrophes correctly. Two of the sentences show people that own things, whether it be clothes or body parts. One sentence showed an animal owning a dish. The other sentence is written about something (a car) and how part of it is damaged. What do all of these things have in common? They are all nouns! The people are proper nouns since we are using their names. The car and dog are just ordinary nouns, but the apostrophe shows that they have ownership of other nouns! Everything involved is a noun!

Quite a few of my students become confused when a person’s name ends with an s. They try just to put the apostrophe right before that s and call it all good. Below are some examples of what should be done with names that end in s and are showing possession of something.

• Gus’s thumb was broken during the football game.
• Thomas’s son was tall and skinny just like he was.
• The boy joined Chris’s family for the camping trip.
• Cass’s hair was braided into lovely ponytails.

What do all those examples have in common again? They are all nouns showing possession of other nouns! More specifically, they are all singular nouns showing ownership. So far, using apostrophes is pretty simple! However, it is about to become a bit more difficult.

Plural nouns, as all of us know, just means that there is more than one of something. There are a few example sentences down below.

• The boys ran down to the creek to go swimming.
• When they got there, they noticed the creek was filled with frogs.
• The boys picked up the frogs and placed them in buckets.

Nothing too difficult so far. Everything bolded in those three sentences are plural nouns. Now let’s take a look at plural nouns that are also possessive, so an apostrophe will have to be used.

• The three girls’ lemonade stand was doing great business!
• All the families’ yards on our block were filled with debris from the tornado.
• The horses’ stables all had to be washed out and cleaned.

Notice how the word is still a plural noun, but since they are also showing possession of something, they are actually possessive plural nouns. When dealing with a plural noun that ends in s and that is showing ownership of something, all that needs to be done is placing an apostrophe after the s at the end of the word.

I know what you are saying though. You are thinking to yourself that not all plural nouns end in s, so what happens then. Where does the apostrophe end up going? Quickly look at the examples down below. It really is quite easy.

• The children’s dog ran out of the open gate.
• The women’s dresses were all the same color.
• The mice’s home was a hole in the wall.

Notice that first we made these words plural nouns that don’t end in s. We next had to figure out how to make them plural possessive nouns correctly. All that had to be done was to add an apostrophe and then an s to the words. There aren’t many words that are plural nouns that don’t end in s, but every now and then you will come across one. If you have have understood how to use an apostrophe right so far, give yourself a pat on the back. There is just a little more to learn about apostrophes. Can you think of any words that we have not covered that must use an apostrophe as well?

Contractions

I had my primary students one time do a quick Google search for contractions when they were struggling with the concept. They struggled a bit more when the top information that popped up was about women giving birth to babies. Not the information I was after. A contraction is also a word created by the shortening and combining of two other words. When making the contraction, an apostrophe has to be inserted to indicate there are missing letters. Below are some examples of contractions.

• did not becomes didn’t
• would not becomes wouldn’t
• I am becomes I’m
• he will become he’ll
• does not becomes doesn’t

As you will notice, usually the apostrophe is placed before the last letter. That is not quite always the case, but it is the majority of the time. The common exceptions are when the second word is either have or will.

• should have becomes should’ve
• she will becomes she’ll
• might have becomes might’ve

What the ????

I have saved the most confusing use of an apostrophe for last. It can make very intelligent adults look less than intelligent on their social media posts. It will have so many hands raised up in the air when presented to a primary classroom. “But I thought you said…” I know! I didn’t create the English language. I don’t understand it either.

Deciding when to use its or it’s is not too complicated once you hear the rules, but until then I have seen people choose heads or tails on which one they were going to go with.

Only use it’s when creating a contraction of it is or it has. Below are examples for a better understanding.

• It’s extremely cold out today.
• It’s time to go shopping since we are all out of food.

Use its the rest of the time when you are not forming a contraction by combining two words.

• The elephant swayed its trunk back and forth.
• The toy came with its own batteries.

You may look at that first sentence about the elephant and say that its trunk should be it’s trunk because it is showing ownership of the trunk. However, that is not the case. Remember, only use it’s when you are combining it is or it has. I know, I know. I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them! Just by reading all of this you have become an apostrophe expert! It is up to you to educate others on the proper usage. Try not to lose any friends while doing so!

 

English is not an easy language to master. There are words that sound alike, are spelled alike, but have totally different meanings. It’s always important to use the correct word since using the incorrect one will have people doubting your intelligence. Teachers can tell you firsthand that anytime they spell a word wrong on the board, it is the only time when all students pay attention. Everyone is quick to point out mistakes, so it is best not to give them ammunition. Study this article closely and you will be using the right words in the correct situation without giving all the haters in the world a chance to bring you down!

Lose and Loose

This is easily two of the most commonly confused words in the English language. I notice well-educated people on social media who gets these words mixed up. Loose is almost always an adjective. Lose is a verb every time. These two words, while commonly misused, should be easy to decipher which one is correct for your sentence. Look at the examples down below for a bit more guidance.

• The man had lost so much weight that his pants were becoming loose.
• Did your team win or lose the softball game?

Than and Then

The word than is used for the sake of comparing something. Then is used for sequencing. However, once again, these two get switched around frequently. Below are examples of the proper way to use them.

• The tree is taller than the house.
• First I went to the park, then I went to go get ice cream.

“Who’s” and Whose

Everyone should know that an apostrophe in a word means that it is either a contraction or it is showing possession of something. “Who’s” is a contraction that is short for who is. Whose is a possessive pronoun.

• Who’s that boy that is holding hands with Anna?
• Jack, whose house is the nicest one on the street, is having a birthday party this weekend.

“Should’ve” and “Should of”

The phrase “should’ve” is a contraction consisting of the two words should and have. Unfortunately, people mistakenly write it wrong on a consistent basis. Down below I have an example of the wrong way and the right way to use these.

• WRONG:  I should of gone to the store today.
• CORRECT: I should’ve gone to the store today.

Advice and Advise

Once again, the parts of speech of these two words are different, so it can definitely assist you in figuring out which one to use. Advice is a noun and advise is a verb. Check out the two sentences below to get a better grasp on which one to use.

• The parent offered advice to their young daughter on choosing the right college.
• The parents advised their daughter not to date the troubled young man.

Affect and Effect

These two words are so commonly switched for one another that sometimes it goes unnoticed. However, by taking a moment, it can be simple to determine which word should be used. Affect is usually a verb and effect is usually a noun. Remember that all sentences must have a subject and a verb, otherwise, it is an incomplete sentence.

• When the doorbell rings, it affects my dog greatly!
• The effects in the movie were amazing.

Literally

No other word has been murdered as much as the word literally. Literally means that something actually happened. The word that should be used in its place most of the time is figuratively. Let’s look at some of the ways literally was misused.

• My heart was literally beating out of my chest.

No. No, it wasn’t. You would be dead now and wouldn’t be able to use the word literally so wrongly. Just because you like to ramp up the drama, that doesn’t mean you get to butcher the English language.

• I am so hungry that I could literally eat a horse.

I seriously doubt it. Hooves and everything? Not going to happen. Simmer down on the dramatic phrasing and tell us how hungry you actually are. Below is an example of how literally could be used correctly.

• The Titanic, the supposed unsinkable ship, literally sank on its first voyage.

Do you see how it is stating a fact? Let’s cool it with the exaggerated use of literally. Literally.

Accept and Except

I can accept how people confuse these two words, except when they are English majors. Did you see what I did there? I used both words correctly in the same sentence. Genius! Accept is a verb that means willing or agreeing to. Except is a preposition that means excluding. These words sound exactly the same, but the definition of the two are almost complete opposites.

• I will gladly accept cash or credit card.
• My team has won all of our games, except one.

Ironic

I blame Alanis Morissette for the incorrect way that this word is often used. (In fact, when it is convenient, I blame Alanis Morissette for all my problems. It’s just easier that way.) If it is raining on your wedding day, then that is not really ironic. It’s coincidental at best. Maybe bad luck at worst? But there is not any irony there. If you have just met the man of your dreams, and he introduces you to his beautiful wife, then that again is not ironic. Perhaps it is bad timing. It would be ironic, however, if a man deathly afraid of flying takes his first flight ever and the plane crashes and he dies. Irony might be choking to death on a daily vitamin. There are several examples of true irony when you really put your mind to it.

• Isn’t it ironic that Morissette wrote a song titled Ironic and there were not really any true examples of irony in it?

To, Too, and Two

All three of these words are homophones. They sound exactly the same but have a different meaning. Two, of course, is referring to how many of something.

• There are two dogs at my house.

Now we are left with to and too. To means to be going somewhere or moving towards something.

• We went to the store to buy a gallon of milk.

And now there is one. The word too means also or very.

• I was too nervous to ask the pretty girl on a date.

There, Their, and “They’re”

Again, these words all homophones, but their definitions are different. The word there means a location.

• Go over there and grab me a sandwich.

“They’re” is a contraction of they and are.

• They’re looking at houses to buy in the city.

Lastly, the word their means something belongs to them.

• Their dog was a mixture of schnauzer and terrier.

By, Bye, and Buy

I thought it was appropriate to wrap up the article with this last one. The boy band ‘N Sync sang their song Bye Bye Bye hoping that all of you would buy, buy, buy it. Let’s break down the proper usage of these three words.

• I went by the park, but I didn’t see anyone playing there. (by means location)
• My wife has a bad habit where she will buy too many shoes. (buy means purchasing)
• It is time to say bye because this is the end of the article. (bye means so long)