by Pernickety Kate | Apr 9, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling
What exactly is a typo? We all know they’re sneaky, and they happen to the best of us. But we can’t blame our keyboards for everything… Technically, a typo is a mistake occurring through misuse (or failure) of the machinery used for typing. It is short for... 
by Pernickety Kate | Jan 10, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling, Words
Beginning a series de-mystifying the most common confusing words in English. The words are covered in alphabetical order – you can find other tricky words in other blog posts, as follows: faze, fewer & flaunt, imply & its, and literally, loose & lot. ... 
by Pernickety Kate | Jun 2, 2021 | Editing, Proofreading, Writing skills
Here, I continue my series on writing dialogue. In How to write dialogue: 1, I explained how to punctuate written speech. (The fact that it took a whole blog is a measure of how complex it can be.) You should be comfortable with most of those ideas before reading this... 
by Pernickety Kate | Apr 8, 2021 | Proofreading
The nation’s students all seem to have their assignment deadlines at the same time. So when one client asks for academic proofreading, I know another won’t be far behind. As with every other written text, essays vary considerably, and so do the expectations of... 
by Pernickety Kate | Oct 14, 2020 | Proofreading, Uncategorized
Proofreading and editing are different. Proofreading is simply the final check of spelling, grammar, punctuation and consistency before publication. The clue is in the word ‘final’! Avoid hassle and save time and money by making sure you really are ready for... 
by Pernickety Kate | Apr 25, 2019 | Proofreading, Punctuation
It doesn’t matter how many novels you read – unless you’ve made a point of analysing it, speech punctuation can seem like a great mystery. And you don’t have to be a novelist to need to write speech. You might want to include a real conversation in a blog, or memoirs,...