Edit Nation Blog

As communicators, we must strive to be precise. Specific is terrific when it comes to communication. The writer of the quote below should have cut to the chase and said "woman" here, as opposed to the less precise "person. " It was a missed opportunity to be precise...

So, as I walked her down the aisle (a very long aisle I might add), I did what any father might try to do – make her forget about her nerves. I could feel her arm trembling as we took our first steps. I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Have you ever wondered why...

You know, when you've published more than a dozen books and have a host of support staff at your beck and call, there's just no excuse for this. ... I responded to him by saying “Yea, I’m lucky, let me tell you the secret to my luck…” “First, I went to college...

So, as I walked her down the aisle (a very long aisle I might add), I did what any father might try to do – make her forget about her nerves. I could feel her arm trembling as we took our first steps. I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Have you ever wondered why...

When a prefix for "room" has one syllable, the compound word is one word: bathroom, bedroom, boardroom. When a prefix for "room" has more than one syllable, then there is no compound: living room, dining room. This headline is incorrect. You'd think The Washington...

With thanks to The Washington Post for this sentence. Many of the changes in biomarkers occur at an earlier age but are similar to changes seen in adults in the broader population who develop Alzheimer’s later in life.  How many commas should there be in the...

...sowing confusion among readers (as it always does!) Take a gander at this absurd headline: U.S.BuzzFeed This Person Says They Went To The Hospital After Their Roommate Purposefully Exposed Them To Their Allergy, And It's Eye-Opening Two individuals ("person" and...

Oh, that was the fun part! It was like a little campfire: We had dressing rooms set up inside the studio, and we would report to the set everyday. It was at least a week or two of shooting that, and Brian never knew who was going to be in the background or whatever so...

"I saw her walk by and she had blood on the outside of her mask, which bless her, she was still wearing," Rose said. In a statement, American said it's outraged by the reports of what took place on board. Acts of violence against our team members are not tolerated by...

I have never watched a split second of Fox News, but a mistake like this is like click bait to yours truly. Honestly, how does this happen? (And how long will it take to make a correction??) And, no, it's not capitalizing "white," which is and always will be absurd....

This is so wrong: LifestyleDaily Paws This TikTok of a Black Lab Puppy Using Their Huge Paws to Drum Is Exactly What We Need Today Here's the rule about animals. First though, I have to say that this is a fail right out of the gate: a singular noun ("puppy") cannot...

An easy mistake to make...made even easier by the fact that M and N are so close on the keyboard...you gotta know the difference between "home in" and "hone in." This is incorrect: Joey NolfiTue, August 31, 2021, 11:39 AM Daniel Craig's time as James Bond was peppered...

Dear Your Honor, Please not use the phrase “fully advised in the premises” in small claims court cases. A non-lawyer will zero in on the phrase “in the premises” and have heart failure and believe that you have gotten off-the-record information from someone or...

A DEEP DIVE. How can lawyers be so smart, but write so poorly? Or are they just shining the rest of us on about the "smart" part when most of them are really just greedy bastards? This is an interesting example of legal writing and I thought I'd talk about it. I've...

If you think the so-called "singular 'they'" is the cat's meow, then we are absolutely not a match, editorially speaking. Please don't waste my time or yours in pointless discussion. It ain't gonna work. And, yes, I'm talking to you.

While the Obama's - - and their staff - - lived through the renovation, there was discussion of possibly having to move Oval Office operations to another location, according to news reports at the time. And this is writing from one of America's "premier" news...

All pregnant people deserve a law like New Zealand's Excuse me? Pregnant "people"? Since when can men get pregnant? What a stupid, imprecise headline.

CelebrityPeopleSam Smith Says They Want Kids by 35: 'I Want to Watch Them Grow and Be with Them Every Day'The singer also opened up about feeling "free" since coming out as non-binary Ya wanna look stupid? It's up to you.

The words "reign" and "rein" are tough, as demonstrated so capably in this headline: Welker, and mute button, reign in Donald Trump The White House correspondent helped give Americans the substantive, crackling debate over leadership that had been missing so far...

PoliticsThe IndependentJoe Biden has answered half as many questions from the media as Trump has, report findsSince 31 August, Mr Biden has answered 365 question compared to the 753 answered by the president... ...you lose credibility. Don't see it? It's an...

Wow, the level of writing nowadays leaves a lot to be desired. Quite a bit of the degradation of American English can be traced back to a surprising source: the LGBTQ+ community. Its insistence on just shanghaiing words that mean one thing and forcing those words to...

Is this stupid or what? Look at this headline. How many fathers do you know who breastfeed? I saw another headline the other day about "patients who menstruate." How many men do you know who menstruate? This has gone too far. LifestyleSheKnows No, QAnon, Parents Who...

NEWS FLASH: CNN hits new lows! Dateline: Sarasota, Florida! Just when you think it can't get any worse at CNN, why, they grab a shovel and just keep digging! This person plainly doesn't know the rudiments of American English. It's often been said that President...

Classic ACC Basketball! Tech versus the Trojans, circa 1990! Travis! James! Jon! This is can’t miss basketball! I didn’t miss a home game, from Travis until Stephon. I remember this time so vividly: My first love was a Tech man. When he came into my house for the very...

You might wonder—I do—why CNN doesn't make it easy peasy for alert readers to notify CNN about, well, you know, typos and misspellings, especially when a typo or misspelling is EPIC, like this: Multiple agencies, including the Cowlitz County Sheriff, Cowlitz County...

Right now, these are headlines on the "Best of MSNBC" homepage: Sondland's testimony again under scrutiny over newly-revealed call with Trump House Dems hone in on bribery as possible impeachment charge Streissand, Reiner, King, Belafonte congratulate Chris on 20...

Have you all at CNN lost your ever-loving minds? What the hell does this headline mean, anyway: Baseball team denies an executive taunted women reporters during their World Series berth celebration I mean, seriously. What does "their" refer to? "Team" is a singular...

It's good for a laugh...but not much else. As seen on CNN.com today. Paid Content Answering 90% of wesbite support queries with contentgo.optimalworkshop.com

As an editor, you edit a manuscript once. Then you go back and read it again. Things you missed the first time now become obvious. It's sort of like weeding a garden. Here's something I missed the first (and second, and third) time around. Everyone was carrying extra...

To quote Lt. Ripley, "Have IQs suddenly dropped since I've been gone?" I love CNN; shoot, I read the site multiple times a day, but the editorial quality there has taken a nose-dive that is unacceptable at one of the world's premier news sources. Why, just this...