To vs. Too vs. Two — the Saga Continues
This month’s “vs.” selection deals with three words that are often confused, even though one of them refers to a number. If you listen to someone speak, you’ll notice that some version of this...
You Can’t Blame It All on Auto Correct…It’s Time to Take Responsibility!
These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t been a victim of the autocorrect feature on their mobile device at least once. That thing seems to have a mind of its own. It often creates...
Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should: The Case Against Using Big Words in Your Writing
If you’ve been writing for a long time, you’re well read and/or well educated, and you happen to have a large vocabulary, it’s not uncommon to want to show it off. After all, long and complicated...
Principal vs. Principle…Seldom Used and Often Confused
For this installment of our ‘vs.’ post, we thought principal and principle could use some clearing up. Many of you rarely have an opportunity to use either one in your writing, so mix-ups are a common...
How to Tell the Difference Between an Active Sentence and a Passive Sentence
In an earlier blog post, we briefly touched on the subject of active sentences and passive sentences. Usually called active voice and passive voice, this designation affects the meaning and effectiveness...
Different Types of Dashes and How to Use Them In Your Writing
Dashes are used in all types of writing for many different reasons. To the untrained eye (which is almost everyone, including lots of seasoned writers) these dashes are all the same. However, all dashes...
3 Ways to Create an Effective Writing Outline
Whether you’re creating a monthly report, a term paper, a website or a short story, a writing outline is usually a good starting point. A proper outline helps you organize your thoughts and ideas and...
A Simple Guide for Metaphors and Similes
If you’re like a lot of writers, students, business people or others who use words to make a point or tell a story, you’ve been confused about metaphors and similes at one time or another. That’s...
Flare vs. Flair…and Why It’s So Tricky to Tell Them Apart
For this month’s edition of our “vs.” post, the words “flare” and “flair” came to mind. Flare and flair are a couple of homophones that differ in spelling and in meaning, yet figuring out...
Lead vs. Lead vs. Led….I’m Seeing This One Way Too Often Lately!
If you’ve been following the Re:word blog posts each month you know that we try to include at least one “vs.” themed post (if you haven’t, go back and read them because they’re pretty enlightening)....
Tips for Making Your Writing “Engaging”
Whether you are a professional writer, a student or a small business owner who prefers to tackle your own blogging and web content, you’ve probably read about the importance of making your writing “engaging”...
What the Heck Is a Heteronym?
If you’re like most people, you’ve heard of synonyms, antonyms and homonyms. They’re part of the basic English curriculum in every school, after all. However, you may have breezed through every grade,...