The dress shop from spellchecker hell: A challenge for the grammar police
Are you a member of the grammar police? Do you find it hard to pass over an incorrect ‘their’ without heckling its writer? If so, I have a challenge for you.
Wearing rigid contact lenses is just like learning to use plain English
I’ve recently started wearing rigid contact lenses and it’s really, really uncomfortable. It’s getting better though, and I’ve started to notice that what my optometrist has me doing is quite similar to what I help my clients to do.
Whose milkshake?: Wordy lessons from four song lyrics that annoy me
I don’t get too worked up about grammar in song lyrics. But here are some lyrical missteps that remind me of common problems inexperienced writers face.
Presenting: The scale of naughtiness
Our Prime Minister’s wheat field trespassing was outrageously naughty. But was it mischief? Or shenanigans? I’ve been pondering the silliness of synonyms.
The banana stealing monkey police: All about ambiguity
Good writing doesn’t have to be breathtakingly eloquent. But it does have to be crystal clear. Here are some dead simple ways to fix ambiguous phrases.
How one terribly written poster almost ruined the brilliant Motown Musical
I really enjoyed Motown the Musical. But I have serious beef with a poster that was plastered all over the theatre. So let’s give it a proper post-mortem.
I edited a report for City, University of London
Most of the work I do is confidential, so it's always nice to be involved with something public. It's so satisfying to see it's final iteration. Such lovely design work by Fabrik Brands too. mpc...
Words I love and words I love to hate (and why)
No need for a lengthy intro here. Let's get started. 1. Why I hate the word: Facilitate If you ever use this word, stop and think to yourself, 'what's wrong with help?' Helping something along is just the same as facilitating it. Help is a nice, simple word that even...
Hurrah, it’s 2017
I've started the new year, as I always do, with a four-step process: 1. Calculate my tax bill 2. Cry myself to sleep 3. Wake up and think about how a big tax bill means it's been a good year, so I shouldn't be too down about it So here's hoping my tax bill next year...
PRESENTING: My first ever book review (let me know if I’m doing it right)
I try my hand at reviewing a book – Confessions of a Conjurer by Derren Brown. Although I’ll be honest, I’m mostly only interested in the language and writing aspects of the book.