English

Blog Category: English

4th January

Marketing for SMEs part two: master the old-school media

IN MY LAST post, I outlined some of the great free webtools available that small businesses and sole traders can use to help promote their endeavours. For example, social media campaigns are a great way to tap into new markets … Continue reading →

2nd January

Marketing for small business: part one

MARKETING YOUR SMALL business doesn’t have to cost the earth. In fact, there’s quite a lot that you can do for free if you have the discipline to sit down in front of your computer or smart device for a … Continue reading →

18th October

If only the Graduate Teacher Programme still existed

THE UK’S GRADUATE Teacher Programme (GTP) ran from 1998 until 2013. It allowed mature graduates with a bit of life experience behind them to retrain as a teacher in a school that would agree to fund them for up to a … Continue reading →

25th November

Five embarrassing typos to avoid at all costs

WHEN WE WRITE quickly with the intention of publishing or emailing our work ‘yesterday’, there is a real danger of inserting a mistake that we would not ordinarily make. Consequently, these mistakes have the effect of making us look like … Continue reading →

20th November

Spelling explained: dependant or dependent?

THERE ARE SO many words which sound the same and are spelled differently. To make matters more difficult, a number of these words have related meanings, making it even easier for anyone uncertain to pick the wrong one. Take dependant … Continue reading →

8th October

Are we really in the lap of luxury?

AS IS CUSTOMARY for me when making a point about the power of language, I’d like to start with a dictionary definition, paraphrased from the Collins Dictionary of English: “Luxury (noun) – indulgence in and enjoyment of rich, comfortable and … Continue reading →

26th September

Frankenwords – a guest post for Content Desk

HERE’S A LINK to another guest post I created for Content Desk, the web portal by Progressive that’s linked to their Content Cloud – a system matching up professional writers with blue chip companies in need of content. This post … Continue reading →

19th September

Proofreading for business – a guest post

HERE IS A link to my guest post for the Content Desk, a web portal about creating good online content for business. This is a shorter version of my original Word Wizard post about improving your proofreading skills. http://desk.thecontentcloud.net/guides/six-steps-perfect-proof-reading#.VBMMT7Yr6Jg

15th September

Word play: continually or continuously?

DO YOU EVER write a sentence and hesitate over a word? It’s a word you know you know, but somehow when it’s written down it doesn’t look quite right. You can’t quite put your finger on what is wrong with … Continue reading →

16th June

Perfect proofreading: part two

LAST WEEK I uploaded a post containing my first five tips for perfect proofreading. It really is possible to publish and print great content if you take the time to look for the most common errors. Here are my final … Continue reading →