Penguin Random House’s proposed (and, as of October 31, court-blocked) merger with Simon & Schuster raised concern about the future of competition in book publishing. Stephen King spoke to those concerns in August when he testified for the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit to stop the merger. In the 50 years since start of his …
“Never” rules are, in my opinion, always wrong. (Or, if you will, never right.) When I was in my first year of journalism school, a senior student told me to “never lead with a quote.” I just couldn’t agree with him then, and I still disagree. Leading with a quote usually isn’t advisable, but there …
Communicating about disabilities can be tricky. Writers strive to be respectful and sensitive in their choice of words, but there isn’t universal agreement on how to do that and when a line is being crossed. One key issue is whether language should be “person-first” or “identity-first.” Should someone be described as “a person with a …
Preferred terminology for writing about the original peoples of Canada has changed over the years, and it’s important for journalists, business communicators and other writers to keep up with the times. When I was starting my journalism career, the preferred term for First Nations, Metis and Inuit collectively was aboriginal with a lowercase a. That …
Be careful how you use the word only. Poor placement of this little modifier can confuse the reader and twist the meaning of a sentence. “He only wrote three songs” could be taken to mean he alone wrote three songs or, alternatively, that he wrote three songs and did nothing more with them (i.e., he …
“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” Source: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1886).
You know Nigeria’s citizens are Nigerians, but what are the folks in neighboring Niger called? Are they also Nigerians, or Nigerans, or maybe Nigerites? What you’re looking for is Niger’s proper demonym. A demonym is a word that identifies people from a particular place. There are demonyms attached to countries, regions, cities, and entire continents …
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” U.S. journalist Gail Sheehy (1936-2020) authored 17 books. This quotation is from Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life.
Acronyms and initialisms can be powerful tools for concise communication, but be careful how you use them. Before I go further, let’s be clear on our terms. My New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines acronym as “a word formed from the initial letters or parts of other words.” Some commonly used acronyms are NATO (for …
Spelling matters. Your Grade 5 teacher was right about that, and it’s still true in this digital age. There are times when spelling is, in fact, crucial. I’m thinking of resumes and cover letters in particular right now, but it’s also true of reports, proposals and memos to superiors. A couple of misspellings can torpedo …