Writing tips
Why smaller law firms compete on an uneven playing field
In the 1990s, law firms started marketing their services. At first, nobody really had a clue how to do that. Marketing professionals from other indust...
English spelling – Why different options?
The English language spread throughout the world when the British Empire established overseas trading posts and colonies between the late 16th and ear...
How to write numbers
Words or numerals
In words from one to nine and in numerals from 10 onwards. Exceptions:
Chapter 1
Grade 2
Fractions: 3.4 or 8½
Age groups: 2...
Acronyms and abbreviations – alphabet soup?
Abbreviations and acronyms are shorter versions of words or phrases.
Acronyms
Acronyms are formed by using the first letters of an organisation, a dev...
Compound nouns
A noun is a word used to identify people, places, or things. A compound noun has the same function but is made up of two or more words. It could be a ...
Why every company needs a writing style guide
A style guide, or “house style”, is the way your company presents written communications. This includes visual elements such as layout and font type. ...
Marketing in times of uncertainty
Beginning of last year, I recommended to start the year with a marketing plan. But the year turned out so different to anything we could have imagined...
Hyphens – making a connection
A hyphen is a punctuation mark that joins words or phrases. Here are some examples of its uses:
Compound adjectives
Joining two or more words to form ...
What do sand and news have in common?
They are uncountable nouns.
“Switch the TV on. The news is starting in a few minutes.”
Often wondered why the word “news” is used with a singular ve...
Prefixes – a few letters that change everything
A prefix is a word or syllable added at the beginning of another word that changes its meaning. Some negate the original meaning, some change the word...
Prepositions – the basics
Prepositions connect nouns or pronouns with the rest of a sentence. They’re short words that yield a lot of power. Prepositions expand on what you’re ...
Adjectives – when to use “more” and “most”
Adjectives are words that are used to describe or modify nouns or pronouns. Comparative adjectives do exactly that, they compare one noun to another. ...
Less or fewer
Rule of thumb: Use fewer if you can count it. Use less if it’s not quantifiable. The opposite of both is more.
Examples
Her diet is paying off. She w...
What’s the difference?
Similar words with different meanings
Principal
Principle
Head, main or most important person
Fundamental truth, law or standard
The...
Collective nouns and verb agreement
A herd of elephants. A team of players. A fleet of ships. Nouns that describe a group of people, animals, or things are called collective nouns.
Co...
When do you use capital letters?
In the English language, most words are written in lower case. Exceptions are names of people, places, and things. But that’s not all you need to know...
Start the year with a marketing plan
A new year – a fresh start! Everybody is rested after their yearend break and full of enthusiasm and positive expectancy. Use that momentum to do what...
Too many “whiches”
I have been proofreading and editing articles written by lawyers for the past 25 years. Lawyers are very fond of long sentences. Often these contain n...
Me, myself, and I – the personal pronoun puzzle
A personal pronoun is a substitute for the name of a person or object and can indicate gender, as well as singular or plural.
Person
Subject
Objec...
It’s mine – apostrophes explained
Two things to remember: Apostrophes indicate either ownership or a contraction of words.
Contractions
The apostrophe takes the place of the missing l...
When to use italics
Italics make words stand out from the rest of the text – the modern equivalent of underlining. But there are rules – there are always rules. Here are ...
Business emails made easy
An email consists of a subject line, salutation, body, greetings, and sometimes attachments.
And it’s “email” – no hyphen. In the early days instead ...