http://www.articlealley.com en-us editorial@articlealley.com Strength-training isn't just for the beef-heads at the gym. It's for you, sitting at your desk preparing a business letter, writing the next award-winning novel, or banging out a killer blog post that will ignite the world's consciousness. Strength-traini... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1280083_50.html 08th December 2009 Win a free analysis and review of your manuscripts from the editors who help writers publish great books. We believe that writers are important, and this is a way to help them write books that others will want to read and buy. This contest is open to a... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1260676_50.html 27th November 2009 Punctuation isn’t complicated once you know what you’re looking at. I see many writers making errors when punctuating appositives. This may be a new term for many folks, so we’ll take a look at what I mean by “appositive,” and then we’ll figur... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1251517_50.html 25th November 2009 Your book or story has a powerful beginning. It engages the reader. It makes him want to read more. The main character has a big problem, and the reader wants to know how it will be solved. Pretty soon, though, the reader is yawning. She puts the book dow... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1239954_50.html 20th November 2009 Just in time for Halloween, that oddest of celebrations, I will share with you a story of diabolical possession. This is the story of how an entire town became possessed due to frighteningly terrible punctuation.Nestled in the northern mountains of New... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1211110_50.html 02nd November 2009 I am intrigued by the fight between the Fox News channel and the Obama administration. But this article is not going to be about politics, about who is right or wrong, or even about how each side is interpreting the actions of the other. I’ll leave the ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1196104_50.html 23rd October 2009 When I awoke this morning, rain was falling. During mid-morning, the rain was still falling. I just looked out my window, and, sure enough, the rain has not yet stopped. So, here’s the question. How does the rain fall? Has the rain been falling co... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1166448_50.html 12th October 2009 Coffee is a wonderful beverage. It has a pleasant taste, and it can help you wake up, think clearly, recover quickly after a strenuous workout, and lose weight. People who drink coffee feel good about themselves. Not so fast, buckaroo. Some of this ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1112595_50.html 23rd September 2009 What do the words morgue, birdie, assessment, green, and object have in common? These words are jargon. Jargon is the set of terms used by people in a specific field, profession, or group. The definitions of th... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1092370_50.html 17th September 2009 The most important element in a story is conflict. If your story does not have a central conflict, you don’t actually have a story—you have a picture, a static description of people and places. Without conflict, you won’t have a reason for events to... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1061275_50.html 02nd September 2009 We are often called upon to assist graduate students prepare summaries of articles. You probably know the kind of assignment to which I am referring. Find some articles on a topic and create a single paper on a theme using those articles as references... http://www.articlealley.com/article_1032063_50.html 12th August 2009 Given the state of today’s economy, many people are looking for work. Other than the regular crowd of job-seekers, the recent graduates, the job-changers, and the youth seeking jobs while they go to school, the job market is being flooded with people wh... http://www.articlealley.com/article_994682_15.html 23rd July 2009 My two favorite words are still “axiom” and “myriad.” Say them with me “ax – ee – umm” . . . “mere – ee – aaaad.” Good three-syllable words. Strong words. Words like “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” Pretty words. But this a... http://www.articlealley.com/article_971784_50.html 08th July 2009 I recently responded to the following question: “I am trying to improve the exposition/argument I am writing in English. What can I write instead of 'in my opinion . . .'?" As an editor, I like writing that gets to the point, communicates confidently... http://www.articlealley.com/article_953513_50.html 28th June 2009 Basic computer skills for authors are important when presenting a manuscript to publishers. Basic computer skills go beyond typing skills. Some writers were writing back when typewriters were THE advanced technology. There’s nothing wrong with this. Old... http://www.articlealley.com/article_930774_50.html 12th June 2009 To an American writer or reader, British English is pretty easy to spot with its funny spellings: “neighbOUr,” “colOUr,” “programME,” etc. (To be fair, Brits probably find our spellings strange, too.) Maybe this has something to do with their ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_912880_50.html 03rd June 2009 If I had a dollar for every time someone told me he or she has difficulty communicating in writing, I’d have . . . a lot of dollars. When I ask why, the response is invariably the same: “I just don’t understand writing, and English, and grammar, a... http://www.articlealley.com/article_893002_50.html 15th May 2009 This is the time of year when many students are beginning their final papers. Whether you are writing a master’s thesis, graduate paper, or undergraduate essay, you need to submit a great paper. The reason is simple: you want to get a good grade in your... http://www.articlealley.com/article_882828_50.html 08th May 2009 Perhaps you have heard the adage “No news is good news.” In contrast, sometimes the news is bad. How are you going to communicate that bad news? Your last employer fired you. You are writing a financial report to stakeholders, and the company is lo... http://www.articlealley.com/article_882826_50.html 08th May 2009 A man walks into a bank with a gun in his hand. “Ok, everybody,” he shouts, “lie on the floor! This is a hold-up!” Some people obey immediately, but a few don’t. The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handful of bullets. “Get on the f... http://www.articlealley.com/article_855304_50.html 10th April 2009 For some time now, I have been hearing about how bookstores are struggling to stay in business, not only the small, local bookstores, but also the big chains, such as Borders. My perception is that Amazon.com’s success is partly responsible for these st... http://www.articlealley.com/article_842885_50.html 31st March 2009 I spend a considerable amount of time each week preparing articles on writing for Internet distribution, making posts on various writing blogs, responding to users on our discussion board, and writing new posts for our blog—basically trying to give away... http://www.articlealley.com/article_842880_50.html 31st March 2009 For some time now, I have been hearing about how bookstores are struggling to stay in business, not only the small, local bookstores, but also the big chains, such as Borders. My perception is that Amazon.com’s success is partly responsible for thes... http://www.articlealley.com/article_832077_15.html 23rd March 2009 Paragraphs can be written in many ways. In nonfiction documents, for example, a paragraph may first establish context for an idea, provide supporting information, and then conclude with an impact or action statement that leads to the next idea. In fiction... http://www.articlealley.com/article_814168_50.html 10th March 2009 Most fiction authors write in the past tense. They tell readers what happened. This is as if the author says, “I see the events in my mind, and I’m writing about what I saw.” Very few fictional books are written in the present tense. One reason f... http://www.articlealley.com/article_806878_50.html 03rd March 2009 Unless you string titles after your name (e.g., Ph.D., M.A.), your reader doesn’t know how much education you have. The reader only has the words you write, and your reader will judge your intelligence, education level, and credibility based on how well... http://www.articlealley.com/article_789508_50.html 18th February 2009 The elements of a good story are myriad and many are complex. What characters you have in your story, what these characters do, how they interact, what happens to them, etc., are what make your story unique. These are the details. The overall structure of... http://www.articlealley.com/article_763640_50.html 21st January 2009 Writing recipes can be difficult. With few words and symbols, you have to communicate what ingredients to use, how much of each to use, and how they should be used. Using the recipe for a perfect dry martini, we’ll show you three ways to accomplish this... http://www.articlealley.com/article_740311_50.html 07th January 2009 Your resume is your first interview. Most personnel directors will look at your resume before they meet you. They will form an opinion of your competency and your personality based on your resume. Based on our work helping clients prepare resumes, we have... http://www.articlealley.com/article_712192_50.html 04th December 2008 Good writing requires good manners. This is especially true when a writer wants the reader to take some action or agree with some opinion. However, if you offend your readers, they probably won’t do what you tell them to do. In fact, one of the easiest ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_698994_50.html 30th November 2008 As the word is being used here, "hedge" means to qualify your statements, express them as opinions, or tell the reader that you are not confident in what you are writing. In the following sample statements, the writer demonstrates his lack of confide... http://www.articlealley.com/article_672833_50.html 23rd October 2008 I’m looking for a particular quote, and I can’t find it. The quote goes something like this: If you want to know what a good painting is, you only have to look at a million paintings. The same can be said for writing. If you want to know what good wri... http://www.articlealley.com/article_661383_50.html 13th October 2008 A. What Is Pacing? Think about runners in a relay race. A member of the relay team starts running, makes a loop around the track, and passes off the baton to the next runner. A new runner grabs the baton, runs for a while, and then does somethin... http://www.articlealley.com/article_649807_50.html 26th September 2008 All words are good words. Some, however, are overused without adding value to what you write. As a result, they reduce the readers’ interest, make text seem redundant, and cause the writer to appear amateurish. We have created a list of 10 overused ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_642703_50.html 19th September 2008 “Lay” and “Lie” are irregular verbs, but “perplexing” would be a better adjective to describe them. Once you get past the present tense, they change in some surprising ways. I have never figured out a way to remember their forms except by rote... http://www.articlealley.com/article_616547_50.html 03rd September 2008 We may have to revise our thinking. For quite a while, Precise Edit has been saying that the most common error we correct is the misuse of "that" and "which." This may no longer be true. In nearly every document we have edited recently, we are fixing ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_581672_50.html 21st July 2008 Writing is a combination of art and craft. The art comes from lots of reading, talking, thinking, dreaming, and writing. The craft is primarily technique. Some techniques are complex, but a few are very simple and will instantly strengthen your writin... http://www.articlealley.com/article_572180_50.html 09th July 2008 Often when we are editing, we come across sentences that we can revise in several ways. When we cannot easily select a particular revision, we employ a strategy we call R & R, which stands for "Rephrase and Replace." Rephrasing the senten... http://www.articlealley.com/article_558397_50.html 19th June 2008 Clear writing, direct writing, simple writing, economical writing, easy-to-understand writing. All these phrases mean the same thing, and they have one purpose—Help the reader to understand what you are writing. Their opposites are fuzzy writing, confus... http://www.articlealley.com/article_546605_50.html 25th May 2008 Bob ran really fast down the brightly lit hallway to the slowly closing door at the very end. He was on his way to his most favorite class: Grammar 101. While we commend Bob's enthusiasm for grammar, this use of adverbs is excessive. We call this "adve... http://www.articlealley.com/article_529996_50.html 06th May 2008 It's not you. It's me. The classic break-up line is "It's not you. It's me." How many hearts have been broken over these words? Once you get past the ungrammatical use of "me," you can translate this statement to mean, "It's I who has the problem b... http://www.articlealley.com/article_506405_50.html 03rd April 2008 Editors like reading. Not only do we learn about new topics, but also the writing sometimes amuses us. I was recently reading an interesting article on RealClearPolitics.com and came across this amusing, yet perplexing, sentence.She will now be free... http://www.articlealley.com/article_506403_50.html 03rd April 2008 Overview of the problem Perhaps you’ve seen this mistake: “Walking down the street, the stroller lost a wheel.” This sentence implies that the stroller is walking down the street, which would be a very interesting sight, indeed. The problem ... http://www.articlealley.com/article_502141_50.html 01st April 2008 Let us say from the start that writing, copy editing, and content editing are different and, as such, require unique skills. Writing is about getting ideas and content on paper. The primary task of writing is to determine what content to communicate. Copy... http://www.articlealley.com/article_502140_50.html 01st April 2008 We feel sorry for the little apostrophe. It is so abused, so often made to do what it shouldn't and so often forgotten when needed. The apostrophe is a proud punctuation mark with specific purposes and does not deserve to be misused. Again and again we se... http://www.articlealley.com/article_502138_50.html 01st April 2008 What is Nominalization? The great thing about verbs is that they are interesting. Verbs provide most of the life to your writing. Nouns, on the other hand, are rather stoic creatures. However, many writers attempt to make their writing seem more... http://www.articlealley.com/article_502137_50.html 01st April 2008 All writing requires both creative thinking and technical proficiency. On the far technical side, you have the mechanics of writing, such as knowing how to apply punctuation and grammar rules. On the far creative side, you have the development of ideas an... http://www.articlealley.com/article_500799_50.html 31st March 2008 One of the central tenets of marketing is that you should understand your target market segment--your intended customers. Who will buy your product or engage your service? What do those people want? What expectations do they have? How will they use your p... http://www.articlealley.com/article_500796_50.html 31st March 2008 It is what it is, isn't it? It's a bad habit to start sentences with it. It causes your readers to pause momentarily while they figure out what it is. It makes your sentences clumsy. It is true that doing so is an easy way t... http://www.articlealley.com/article_500793_50.html 31st March 2008 We really like sentences that start with the conjunctions and, but, and or. But we don't like the way most writers do it. Every time you write a sentence that begins with these words, you create a sentence fragment, which is agains... http://www.articlealley.com/article_500788_50.html 31st March 2008