by Pernickety Kate | Jun 2, 2022 | Proofreading, Words
Are you confident in your knowledge of English? Pretty certain about what’s right and what’s wrong? Here’s a cautionary tale… A friend was chatting in an online group designed to help language learners practise their skills. She kindly pointed out to an Italian chap... 
by Pernickety Kate | May 23, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling, Words
Further explorations of some troublesome English words… Literally How to annoy half the population without really trying: use the word literally when you’re talking about something that couldn’t actually happen. Examples: He was so angry, his head literally... by Pernickety Kate | Apr 19, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling, Words
Continuing my series demystifying commonly confused words… Imply / Infer Imagine a house. Probably semi-detached suburban; definitely well-kept. It has a garage and a drive. Across the front end of the drive, at knee height, is a chain (it may well have spiky... 
by Pernickety Kate | Mar 7, 2022 | Editing, Words, Writing skills
In earlier posts, I covered dialogue punctuation and layout in fiction and memoir. But what about the things the characters actually say? Sounding natural A mistake often made by fiction writers is to think that ‘natural dialogue’ means including everything a speaker... by Pernickety Kate | Feb 28, 2022 | Spelling, Words
Continuing my series unpicking some of the most commonly confused words in the English language… Faze / Phase Faze is a weird word in meaning and usage as well as spelling. To faze means to disturb, worry or confuse. Examples: When asked to give an example, he... by Pernickety Kate | Jan 10, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling, Words
The most commonly mixed-up words in English, explained (part 1) … Accept / Except These words sound very much alike but they mean different things. Accept is an action word (verb) broadly meaning to take something in. Other AC words meaning to take something on board... 