How’s Your Vocabulary?

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Hi, Dave Fessenden here, with a suggestion for writers. Have you been developing your vocabulary lately? Usually when I ask people that question, I get a mixed response. Most writers realize that a healthy vocabulary is helpful, but they worry that their writing is going to sound like a thesaurus, fraught with obscure, many-syllabled words. But that is not at all what I mean. I mean that we need to learn the exact definitions of words, along with their connotations, so that we can be sure to use them precisely. Let me give you an example with two words which…

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PUGS Pointers #16

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Hi! I’m Kathy Ide. In addition to being a published author, I’m a full-time professional freelance editor. For CAN, I’m blogging about "PUGS"–Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling…tips for writers based on the most common mistakes I see in the manuscripts I edit. Each blog post will have one tip for each of the four categories. (For more PUGS tips, check out my website, www.KathyIde.com, or get a copy of my book Polishing the PUGS (available through the website or at the conferences where I teach). If you’re interested in working with a freelance editor (or know someone who is), e-mail me through the…

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