Edit Nation Blog

1. Do not discard, this notice is not an invoice it is a courtesy reminder to register your domain name search engine listing so your customers can locate you on the web. This is a sentence from one of those scammers that try to scare you into renewing your domain...

Various sources: some old friends and several new friends! I enjoyed the class last night and I am looking forward to tonights’ class. For a discussion about “girl friend”: one word or two, and even Spellcheck seems to think it should be one; I’d already come to that...

1) All Merriam-Webster products and services are backed by the largest team of professional dictionary editors and writers in America, and one of the largest in the world. And “one of the largest” in the world…what? For a company that enjoys such a fine reputation,...

Just a couple of contributors in this go-round, but they provided plenty of mistakes to talk about! Have at it! Do not discard, this notice is not an invoice it is a courtesy reminder to register your domain name search engine listing so your customers can locate you...

This quiz is a grab-bag from a variety of internet sources. Have fun! 1) All Merriam-Webster products and services are backed by the largest team of professional dictionary editors and writers in America, and one of the largest in the world. 2) Then you simply add any...

The goal of the June 15 quiz was simple: to show how not knowing several simple rules makes much of your content incorrect. When you don’t know one rule, you are doomed to continue making that same mistake. This writing demonstrates a serious lack of knowledge about...

When you read something like what's below, do you feel motivated or do you feel irritated? Myself, I fall into the "irritated" category, and am absolutely not motivated to spend any money with someone who talks down to me like this guy does. That last bit I find...

Have you ever heard the common catchphrase, "The little things mean the most?" As a result you begin to attract even more money - and like that snowball, it grows, adding to your savings. You see, I've been working on this package for over several months now. (The...

I share a heartbreaking story about my granddaughter here…(Don’t worry, it’s heartbreaking for the salesperson, not my granddaughter). Two things. First off, I would use an ellipsis sparingly in my writing, but this guy’s emails are simply stuffed with ellipses. One...

Only an idiot sends out emails that trumpet his writing and publishing expertise and then offers to share that expertise with you—for a hefty fee, of course—but doesn't bother to edit what he writes. Not only is his writing the subject of my previous blog post, but I...

There's a very famous motivational person who is constantly trying to get me to buy "packages" or "best-selling" books, or some such wonderful, awesome product from him. If I just buy his products, I'll be rich beyond the dreams of mortal man. Ha! His writing is so...

Do you have a dog? If you live in the South, you may have despaired of ever getting 100% rid of fleas. Here in Florida, fleas are the size of birds and nearly impossible to eradicate. Man, I've tried everything. And then I tried NexGard. Ten years' worth of...

Rewritten text is in bold. Original: Our professional copywriters write for a wide variety of industries and can assist you with your content creation needs. For many business owners, hiring a copywriter has proven to be the ideal solution. They can focus primarily on...

Now we'll make the corrections and do a little rewriting. I wasn't 100% thrilled with a couple of places that needed the most rewriting, but I would plan to tweak this several more times before handing it in to this "client." GTIF provides professional copy writing...

When I edit, most of the time I print a paper copy of my project. I find paper helps me to track repetitive words, phrases, and sentence structure. However, for short bursts of prose, which is typically what you find on websites, I do find that I can be paperless....

I found a restaurant with content that included misspelling the word "dessert." A restaurant. Naturally, I was curious about the people who were taking credit for this business's website's content, so I cruised over to the developer's site, and found this great...

Can you afford not to take me up on this offer – where you get 40 years’ worth of sales experience distilled into one comprehensive program--for $50% off the full price? Well, we've got a dash followed by two hyphens (which I know are difficult to see), and then...

Ah, the joys of egotistical know-it-alls just keep coming. I recognize that there's a perverseness in finding joy in other people's mistakes and bad writing. However, the only time I really do something about these mistakes and bad writing is when someone or some...

Can you afford not to take me up on this offer – where you get 40 years’ worth of sales experience distilled into one comprehensive program--for $50% off the full price? I assume you realize by now this is very advanced training and coaching platform and an elite...

I attended a workshop in Ft. Lauderdale a week ago, put on by a fellow who is the author of four books, the publisher of a magazine, and, according to him, an all-round sales guru. We met in April when he was the keynote speaker at a conference where I was presenting...

Are You the Complete Package? Thoughts about launching ModernSpeaker.com from Liz Coursen. I’ve been thinking about launching a speaker-related business for quite a while—it was some years ago when I saw a “professional speaker” website with biographies and program...

1) The HubSpot management team is comprised of savvy entrepreneurs and industry experts, bringing years of experience to a young company. They cultivate our strong culture and work tirelessly to help our team scale, grow, and succeed. It’s composed of, not comprised...

I know I lean on several sites rather heavily for my quiz material, but it's so hard to resist that I...don't. Some of these numbered items are phrases, not sentences. Here we go! From HubSpot.com: 1) The HubSpot management team is comprised of savvy entrepreneurs and...

I get questions about the proper use of quotation marks all the time. Here are a couple of "for sure" uses. Quotation marks are always placed outside periods or commas. There are no exceptions. Examples: "I thought I'd make sure that you know this rule," said Liz. He...

Obviously, commas are a whole issue unto themselves, but there are certain uses of a comma that are "for sure" uses. Here's one. One of the uses of a comma is to add what's called "parenthetical information" to a sentence. This is information that's nice to know, but...

We all know that when two nouns are separated by “and,” you use a plural noun and a plural pronoun, like this: Liz and Gayle have to decide. But, what happens to the verb and pronoun when two nouns are separated by "or"? If both nouns are singular, you use a singular...

The need to carefully review all changes. Even the most experienced editors need to look over their edited content before publishing: too often, corrections beget more mistakes. Here's a great example. At the beginning of the month I was looking around my college's...

People get hundreds of e-mails a day, and you're sending them one in the entire month, you and your brand are lost. Too conversational. I think I know what this person is trying to say, but this needs a rewrite. This is a co-sponsored event with Student Alumni Board...

1) Headquartered in Miami, our operations are comprised of a nationally chartered bank, SUB, a wealth management division, SB&T, and an international branch of our parent company, BS. Okay, it’s composed of, never comprised of. The large thing (the operations) is...

I got an email today from an organization I just joined. I've already mentioned my initial worries about this group, and I can now say that my fears were justified. Writing like this has no place in a professional email. I am not going to let you look at the material...