Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Mixed Metaphors Can Lead To Confusing Writing

We've learned about metaphors way back in our high school years and even in college. As we learn how to write each sentences including metaphors, simile and so as the rest. It can be good if you use metaphors in your writing process since it can bring life and draws interest towards your readers. However, there are still rules on when to use these metaphors and why it should be limit when we are writing articles, essays and other forms of writing.

Metaphors are like a cold knife in your side as you keep on writing for more articles or contents. It simply limits you from picking up any necessary ideas while you are in the middle of writing. if you don't know how to properly use these metaphors, you can't seem to create a better content that signifies what your idea about the topic is and is a danger in losing your readers interest. Metaphors are very tough. It may lead your reader's in confusion if you had used it in an improper way. just like mixing them in your content.

Mixed metaphors seem to be a recurring problem for some writers. While there is great value in using metaphors to add color to a piece, some people tend to rely on them too much. The result is sentences laden with multiple metaphors, some of which end up conflicting with each other.

If you're not familiar with mixed metaphors, they're essentially two or more metaphors used in the same breath, both of which refer to a single concept. The following is an example of a mixed metaphor:

"If we keep going down this road, we'll end up closing the doors."

In the above sentence, both "going down this road" and "closing the doors" are metaphors that obviously refer to something else. However, the use of two metaphors that paint individual images (as opposed to a single picture) just confuses the message.

Although metaphors can add spice in your content, be sure to use them well, which is to avoid you're your content in a funny and distracting situation. Instead, draw your ideas together and make it a reliable statement than those that are very far-fetched. It is not a good thing to use mixed metaphors if you are on formal writing. Just try to avoid mixed metaphors as if you are drawing the same concept in a single statement.

While mixed metaphors can be acceptable, it is generally dissuaded as most of them end up reducing the writing's overall clarity. One metaphor is usually enough to draw the reader in with a colorful reference, so why bother with the risk? Make sure to check for accidental uses during your editing phase, as even the best writing software find them difficult to catch.

Once readers chance upon a mixed metaphor, the instant reaction is almost always to pause. Even if it makes sense, the two images thrust upon them under the same utterance just requires additional thought that, for the most part, destroys the flow as they're reading your piece.

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Keyword tags: confusing metaphors, metaphors, mixed metaphors

Formatting Titles And Headers For Business Writers

Business writing, compared to other forms of wordsmithing, requires a largely straightforward approach. Instead of regaling the readers with your word-crafting prowess, the goal is usually to fashion the most informative document with the least amount of writing. As such, formatting your titles and headers could be one of the most important aspects (along with using a good proofreading software), as it will allow time-starved peers and associates to gloss over the material, without being bereft of crucial information.

But then, a lot of writers, even professionals and students, are not yet aware about the correct format of business writing titles and headers. That will be a very hard thing to do since it will affect the papers quality and formality. That's why it is important that a writer should know how to format its business paper's titles and headers. However, this task can really give some writers a headache. You need to know what are the things that should be consider in formatting titles and headers and there are also a lot of exceptions in the English language. In fact, you come to think of it, titles are not that difficult to set-up.

You can italicized, underline or place a quotation mark in your titles. With the help of our computers nowadays, we can simple click the formatting buttons in order to decide the best format for our titles. That's an easier thing to do unlike before, where handwritings are very common. In order for you to be equipped with this matter, here are some guides for you to follow.

The Title. most writers can get headaches when formatting the titles in their business writing.

The business document's title is the most important part of the piece, as it tells the reader immediately what it is about. If I am salesperson who receive a company-wide email about changes facilitated by IT, the title should immediately tell me whether this will affect me directly or if reading it is something I can schedule for another day.

The Subtitle. The subtitle qualifies the title, often providing a more detailed account of your statement of purpose than what the title can deliver. When formatting, always put the subtitle right under the main title in smaller font.

Major Headings. Major headings signal the start of large sections of content, often related to each other in the big picture of things. When formatting, make them four points larger than the size of your paragraph's font.

Minor Headings. Minor headings can be eliminated in short papers, but are almost always necessary in longer business documents. In relation to the major headings, they typically group related ideas under the same major concept. When formatting, make them two points larger than the size of your paragraph's font.

Paragraph Headings. Paragraph headings give the reader a quick idea about what a full paragraph is about. They should be clearly and logically linked to the minor heading that includes them. When formatting, use the same font size and type, but in boldface.

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Keyword tags: business document format, Business Writing, formatting

How To Use Pronoun Cases In Your Writing

Pronouns are just some of the words in English language where most people are aware about it. We keep on hearing these words every English course we enter at schools. For those who don't even know what these words are, these words take the place of a noun in a sentence.

Pronouns have a lot of types namely personal pronouns which takes the name of a person or thing; possessive pronouns which signifies ownership; demonstrative pronouns like these, this, that and those; indefinite pronouns which refers to general category of a person or thing like anyone and everything; interrogative pronouns are pronouns that are used in asking question like who, what. Where, how, why, and when; and relative pronouns which gives back the action to a person or thing that were previously mentioned.

Cases of pronouns are simple and are easy to be understood. What you need is some basic knowledge about these words and then you're good to go. Somehow, you need to be very aware in whatever words you are going to use in your writings in order to avoid mistakes or any grammatical errors in your statements.

There are three cases for pronouns in the English language, namely nominative, accusative and genitive. While the genitive form, which denotes ownership (e.g. my, your, his, its, your), is generally well-understood, the other two are usually fodder for frequent mistakes.

Genitive form of pronouns is also known as possessive pronoun which shows ownership in whatever statements you are having for your write-ups.

The nominative case is used for the subject of a finite verb and is employed when referring to the person who is performing the action (e.g. I, you, they, who, he, she, it, we). This is a simple discussion since pronouns are often used as a subject. These words always substitute the noun and can be identified easily.

As such, you say "He walked the dog this morning" and "I ate the remaining piece of cake." It is also employed with the verbs "to be," "to feel," and "to seem," as in "It is I who ate that piece of cake." Do note that modern usage is a bit looser; basically letting transgresses like "It is me who ate that piece of cake" slide by. Technically, though, that is the wrong case to employ and will be flagged so by your English grammar software.

The accusative case, on the other hand, is used to refer to the direct or indirect object of a verb (e.g. me, you, them, us, whom, him, her). In such instances, you write that "I owe him money" and "Send the money to them." It is also similarly employed for the object of a preposition, as in "That money is from her and me."

However, there are also incorrect ways of using these three cases of pronouns. As a writer, you need to be very more careful about this stuff. These are just simple grammatical errors that need to be focused cautiously in order to avoid any complications in your statements.

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Keyword tags: pronoun cases, pronouns, using pronouns

Monday, February 8, 2010

Three Editing Tips For Common Writing Errors

Writing contents are very demanding over the World Wide Web. That's why there are lots of articles when we search for such information about a particular topic through the internet. But copying these articles is against the law and you don't want that to happen, right? For the sake of your own grades or for the sake that your boss will praise you for a job well done, you need to write an original piece where you put all your efforts and ideas thru it.
Editing your drafts can be easy if you know how to deal with it. Besides, editing can make you write a better content that copying those write-ups that are not really yours. There are so many ways on how to make your writing an effective one.

But then, it won't also help if you don't know how to determine any errors or mistakes in your contents. That can be a huge problem in your part. First of all, you need to be very equipped with the proper and correct grammar usages and how to use the English language as well. In order to put all your ideas together and write it all down in your contents, you have to be knowledgeable in any sentence or paragraph constructions which lead to an effective content writing.

After your first attempt in writing, you should read it first and check out any grammatical error or incomplete ideas in your content. you can ask yourself whether "Is my message clear?", "Are there any wrong spellings and punctuations?", "Am I using the correct grammar rules?", "Are there any information that needs to be added?","Can my readers understand my passage well?". These are just among all necessary questions you need to ask within yourself in order to spot any signs of bad content writing. But you don't have to worry. It's a way to challenge yourself more and for you to create a good quality content writing.

Still too stubborn to use an English grammar software? Here are three effective techniques you can employ during the editing process to help fix common writing sticking points. Hopefully, this cuts down on your editing process.

Subject/Verb Agreement

Errors of this sort happen when a phrase intervenes between a subject and a verb, often confusing the use of the action word. To remedy it, simply isolate the actual subject and the actual verb for the sentence, and match them together.

Pronoun Agreement

To check the correct use of pronouns, simply skim the paper to find each one in the text your are editing. Every time you find one, skim backwards to find the particular noun that it stands for. Isolate the two and make sure that they match. In cases where a noun can't be identified for a found pronoun, you can either replace the pronoun with a noun or add it in a previous sentence.

Omitted Words

Omitted words are a common error among writers who edit their own work. When the mind encounters an omitted word, for some reason, it can just subconsciously plug the missing item in, making the writer think everything's fine. A good solution is to read your writing starting from the last sentence, going backwards. It distorts your bias for the piece and, often, turns up more errors than you ever imagined finding.

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Keyword tags: copyediting, editing tips, proofreading

How To Edit For Content

A good writing software, for the most part, can do a thorough job of editing a piece for grammar and format. What it can't do, unfortunately, is fix what those words convey. As such, editing for content is an essential part of your overall task.

Whether you are a writer for a publication, for your school projects, for online marketing or for any profession that is related to your task, it is better to edit your work before submitting it for the public. It is not a good thing to do if your boss, teachers or your readers spot a lot of grammatical errors and poor English constructions after you submit your work to them. In the end, you're the one who's going to be embarrassed or worst, you'll get terminated with your work or get a lower grades at your school and might not even pass any writing exams.

The most basic part in writing is to make your first draft. This can be the hardest part in writing especially if you are still a beginner and don't have any knowledge on how to make your writing an effective one. We all experience this part. It is where we think of all the possible things or ideas which we are going to include in our writings.

However, there are times where certain words won't come out in our minds. It can be a time consuming in our part if that happens. But somehow, we managed to finish our draft. However, we need to submit this task since the deadline is almost approaching.

Without checking how your writings appear in the eyes of your readers, they will mark it down as a bad content writing. Now we've learned from that mistake. So we have to find ways on how to make our contents effective. What you need to do is to start writing up your contents from the time that this task was given unto you. So that you will have plenty of time to edit your work, check for any writing errors and for you to revise it before the deadline comes.

While going over what you've written, ask yourself about the different aspects of the piece. Put yourself in the reader's shoes and try to ascertain whether they are getting all the information they will need to understand the subject.

Does the content answer all the questions that it is supposed to? Write down what you feel are the most pertinent questions and highlight portions of the material that answer all of them best. Are you providing the best answer possible? Do the facts flow in a logical manner? Revise answers that you think can be expressed better. Insert additional facts whenever they are needed.

If you employ statistics and numbers throughout the text, verify them for correctness. Same with names, places and dates – double check with your research. It's not uncommon to mix things up during the writing process.

Make sure quoted statements are attributed to the right people. Additionally, double check quotations to verify that it stays true to the source. The last thing you want to do is misrepresent what an authority source has stated.

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Keyword tags: content editing, editing for content

Narrowing The Scope Of Your Essay

When writing essays for class, it's important to get your scope down to a sensible focus. Minds don't normally work the same way that an essay should be written, so you'll need to pay conscious attention during the process. But not all students can narrow the scope of their essays.

They need to help about this kind of matter or you might as well serve as their tutor. A student's mind can be challenge if you will ask them some relevant questions about how they are going to revise their own writing process and for them to know the necessary steps in writing essays.

Some writers might experience the same thing on how to narrow up you're the scope of their essays. Besides, you can't blame them or yourself if such ideas won't come out of our minds. An effective solution that can help you in narrowing your essays scope is through brainstorming about the topic.

You can ask someone or to a group of people about their own ideas with regards to your topic. You can write down their opinions to help your work out with your essay writing. Also, a thorough research about the topic is a great thing to do. Since it will support your essay with the right and accurate information that you need to discuss towards your audience.

Students can think greatly if they know how to widen their minds about the topic. To help them solve their problems on what to write into their essays, they should at least know what their topic is all about. An argument is another way to solve this problem. They can share opinions with their classmates or to someone who is capable of supporting their ideas about the topic.

A writer, might be student or an adult, who can determine any irrelevant parts in their essays is a good thing to do. Here are some tips that will help you write an effective essay by narrowing its scope:

Wide Scope

During brainstorming, it's not unusual to end up with too wide a scope. Since you'd like to have everything you will need for the piece, putting down all sorts of research, quotes and findings is appropriate.

Trimming The Fat

The best way to cut down on a scope this wide is to begin eliminating portions of the notes that don't have anything to do with your main thesis. If it supports or contradicts (hey, you need a counter-argument, too) your major statement, keep it; if it doesn't, kick it.

Your Outline

The outlining process represents the best time to narrow the scope of your essay, because the shape of your piece usually materializes at this point. While you can also do it during the actual writing, it's not the most efficient use of time, extending the process unnecessarily.

Editing

Just as you work on your writing's overall quality with a grammar software during editing, you should also consciously note your scope at this time. When you read through the piece, watch out for content that may be straying from the main idea and alter it accordingly.

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Keyword tags: essay writing, scope

What To Put In Your Process Essays

Process essays are different from other forms of writing in that it describes a course of action in detail. Rather than point out characteristics or argue a stance, its goal is to enlighten a reader by imparting the step-by-step process to achieving something in particular. Informally done, process essays are often called how-to or instructional pieces, one of the most popular formats of article writing.

In order for your readers to indentify your writing as a process essay, you need to write an informative title that tells them the process about the subject that will be analyzed in your content. When creating a process essay for class, you won't need to cite references as strictly as you would in an opinion or a descriptive piece. Since you're imparting a step-by-step procedure, it's more important to pay attention to your descriptions as well as the different items (if they are present) the reader will need in order to replicate the process.

Apart from the actual how-to instruction, other items should also find a place in your process essay. The following list is a good guideline to follow:

•Describe the process you are about to explain and give the reader a reason as to why it is important.

•List down its potential effects.

•Give the reader a clear description of materials, items or previous knowledge they need to have in order to successfully follow the instructions.

•Inform the reader of other possible ways of accomplishing the same results.

•Warn the reader of potential problems and difficulties in the process.

Since you're writing a process essay, you need to be state all necessary information about the topic so that you will no longer leave any questions in their minds. That's why your content needs to be very basic for you to create a good process essay that will go well towards your readers and for them to understand such information clearly. In your introductory paragraph, this should explain the process of what your essay is all about and state the reasons why it is very important to understand this kind of a process in their part.

Since this is a step-by-step process, your statements should be written in a chronological order and you will need a lot of related transitions that will guide your readers about every step that builds up the process. However, there are situations where problems might occur upon following each step. You need to include the possible problems that might happen in any steps and provide immediate solutions in order for your readers to handle this step well. As much as possible, you need to discuss every process if there is anything that will confuse your readers.

Writing Style

Process papers are normally best written in the second person, although some subjects (if the work is intended to show, instead of teach) may work better in the first person. Either way, make sure to use a good writing software to effectively express all of your points in the clearest manner possible.

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Keyword tags: essay writing, how-to essays, process essays