In the last installments of the Toolbox?a few weeks back, thanks to intervening obligations and a speaking engagement?we looked at how to handle capitalization, punctuation, and similar issues when using brand names, company names, and trademarks in your writing. The one-line recap: Wherever possible and/or reasonable, go with the company’s preferred spelling and punctuation. But… Read more »

Last week we began looking at how to spell company names, brand names, and trademarked words and phrases in your writing. As I noted, it’s important to get brand or trademarked names right?while minimizing distractions to the reader. This sometimes means bending the rules of grammar, punctuation, and usage in order to accommodate the uniqueness… Read more »

What’s in a name? No, It’s not a rhetorical question?and it touches on something vital that writers need to remember when talking about companies, brands, and organizations. Corporate logos, business names, products, and brand taglines may look or sound simple, but they often have a complex history. In fact, frequently they represent huge investments of… Read more »

At a long meeting? Maybe you’re bored. Maybe you’re tired. Maybe you’re totally disinterested in the topic?or are you? Actually, you’re probably not disinterested at all. There’s a big difference between being uninterested and being disinterested?so big that it can completely change the meaning of the sentence?and yet it’s one of the most common usage… Read more »

You’ve been through that essay?or novel’so many times that your eyes start to glaze over in the first paragraph. Now It’s time for the final read-through, and You’re sure there are typos you’ll catch?or you would catch, if you weren’t so burned out. So where can you turn if you can’t trust your own eyes?… Read more »

Or is it the farther I go? Further/farther is one of the more confusing pairs of words, stumping even the toughest writers and editors. There are a few issues at play here. First, both are comparatives of a single word, far. Second, each one seems to have developed to cover a specific context, a specific… Read more »

No, don’t get out your mixing bowls?we’re not making omelettes here. In fact, if you’ve used an eggcorn today, you probably did so without realizing it. This week we’ll look at where these oddly named phenomena come from, and how you can eliminate them in your own writing and speaking. What Came First? Eggcorns are… Read more »

There’s a chance this may be the final issue of The Voice Magazine?the final in a run That’s lasted more than two decades and that has given readers a wonderful glimpse into the lives and interests of their fellow students. A run, too, That’s helped launch the careers of several former Voice writers, and has… Read more »

I recently attended the American Copy Editors Society’s national conference, an intense three days of sessions on topics ranging from headline writing to fiction editing to checklists to the history of English spelling to culturally sensitive language. I came away enthusiastic, energized, and ready to take on the world of words, one dictionary entry at… Read more »

You’re rereading past issues of the Toolbox and realize that, oops! “Toward” isn’t supposed to be spelled with an ?s. And you’re pretty sure you’ve spelled it that way quite a few times in your manuscript, but the thought of going through the whole 70,000-word document makes your eyes glaze over. Enter the mighty and… Read more »