Even if your copy is on message and reads well, small errors can sink you.
Every month, our team — led by proofreader Sarah Muench — shares a proofreading tip or two to help you strengthen your content, one detail at a time.
TIP: Commas in Compound Sentences
Commas. Some people love them; some people hate them. But no matter which way you lean, you will need to deal with them in your copy. One of those important instances involves compound sentences and [...]
TIP: How to Punctuate Quotations
Have you ever quoted something or someone, neared the end of that quote or sentence and begrudgingly put a period or exclamation point inside or outside the quotation mark, not really knowing whether it's [...]
TIP: How to Use Apostrophes
Let's talk about apostrophes. Specifically, let's talk about apostrophes used to replace numbers or letters. Sometimes these come in the form of contractions like don't, can't and won't. Other times we replace numbers: I was born [...]
TIP: Cue vs. Queue
A “cue” refers to either a signal or a billiards stick, whereas a “queue” is a line. Nick jumped right on cue when he saw the spider. Cue the music; the parade is starting. Having [...]
Lie vs. lay
Don't lie to yourself. This grammar rule can sometimes be so confusing it makes you want to lay the rule book down and walk away or just lie down altogether. First, let's forget about the [...]
TIP: Compound Subjects Take a Plural Verb
When two or more subjects are joined with the word “and,” use a plural verb. But when one subject is the main focus and a second subject is just tagging along, use a singular verb. [...]
TIP: Italics or Quotation Marks?
Something different or special is in the text you're writing — so important or different that it warrants a little flash. Maybe it's a newspaper name or an article or song title. Should you: [...]
Tip: Flesh Out vs. Flush Out
It's a one letter difference, but sometimes that's all it takes to make a cringe-worthy grammar mistake. But fear not, we're here to not only give you an active voice, but an accurate one [...]
Pesky Prefixes: Tips on When to Hyphenate
We're living in a fast-paced world, and we tend to jam a lot of things together. We even make up words like hangry, J-Lo and whatev. Words that begin with prefixes — take, for example, [...]
TIP: Medium vs. Media
Is media always the plural of medium? If it were only that simple. But you don't need a medium to ask the now-dead person who invented these rules. We just need to remember a [...]