Tips for Editing and Proofing
At my recent writer's group meeting we began tittering about editorial tricks. One of the women sighed that between all of the style books ( AP Style, Chicago, Strunk and White ) it's hard to get it right or know what is right. I agree. As I imparted some of my tricks, the group got excited. So I thought I would share some of those tricks on the blog. Define X . Use Google and plug-in "define ___" and the proper usage and spelling comes up. This technique is especially useful for hyphenated words and idioms. Idioms . Do we all know the proper usage of certain idioms? Expressions like first come, first served is the perfect example. Is it first to come first to serve? No, it's what I wrote, but an idiom wouldn't necessarily be a common word in a dictionary, right? I always use the "define [idiom]" approach and Google. The search provides the proper expression of the idiom and the proper grammar for the idiom, too. Comma usage . Every style book ...