When to Italicize

It often confuses new writers as to when to italicize words and when not to. This is natural because there are no set rules for this and much depends on the writer’s own discretion. However, there are certain guidelines that tell you what needs to be italicized. Here they are: 1. Emphasis. When you want [...]

Avoid the Use Clichés

So many blog posts and articles have been written about the overuse of clichés and why they should be avoided. Even writing and journalism courses give the same advice – ‘Avoid the use of clichés. They are stale and boring. Writers are supposed to be creative, say what you have to say differently’. Still we [...]

Twitter is Top Word of 2009

Every year the Global Language Monitor – an Austin, Texas-based academic organization that documents, analyzes and tracks trends in the English language – selects top English words and phrases used the world over. To do this, it uses a special proprietary algorithm called Predictive Quantities Indicator, or PQI for short. PQI tracks words and phrases [...]

Writing Terms and Phrases

In the world of writing, there are certain terms and phrases which are specific to the writing field. While some of these relate to only writing, there are others which may have one meaning when generally used, and another when specifically applied to writing or anything related to it. What are these different writing terms and phrases? For easy reference, [...]