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Monthly Archives: June 2013

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

Believe it or not, that is a grammatically correct sentence in American English! How is that possible? Well, consider the fact that “Buffalo” is a city in New York, while “buffalo” means to bully or intimidate, as well as being a synonym for bison. So: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo means: New York bison whom other New […]

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Common errors series: ‘it’s’ vs. ‘its’

This is an error I see all the time and it is really very simple to remember the difference. When a word has been shortened we use an apostrophe to show a letter has been omitted. In the case of ‘it’s’ the original word was ‘it is’. However ‘its’ with no apostrophe shows possession, i.e. that something belongs to someone. […]

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Punctuation saves lives!

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When writing—whether an email, book manuscript or corporate document—make sure not to omit punctuation that, if absent, completely changes the meaning of a sentence! My daughter loves this one…Enjoy! Yours in crisp, error-free writing, Jessica xx

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Four little words that trip me up every time…

Okay, so no-one is perfect…I may be an editor and proofreader who spends her days correcting other people’s mistakes, but just like I see the same errors over and over—such as ‘loose’ instead of ‘lose’ and ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’ (which I previously featured on this blog)—there are four words that consistently trip me up. They are: – Restaurant – […]

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Navigating through the differences between American English and British English

Just as weights and measurements are not standardized throughout the world—in America we use pounds and miles, while in Canada, South Africa and Europe they use kilograms and kilometers—neither are the spelling of words in those countries the same. Here are some common examples: United States Canada/South Africa/Europe   -or vs. -our Behavior Behaviour Color Colour Flavor Flavour Harbor Harbour […]

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