David Bowman's Blog (56)

The English language has many confusing word pairs, those word pairs that make people stop and ask, “Is it this word or that word? Which word do I use?”



Writing, of any type, is for communication. When you use the correct word, you can accurately communicate your ideas. On the other hand, if you use the wrong word, you risk communicating the wrong idea, and you risk losing credibility with your reader, whether your reader is a potential client, a professor, a publisher, or a visitor… Continue

Chocolate is my most favorite ice cream flavor. Pistachio is my least favorite flavor. Most of the best ice cream is made with chocolate, and most of the worst ice cream is made with candied fruit. All in all, most of the best flavors have some type of chocolate.



Although it’s true that chocolate is the best of all ice cream flavors, the statements above are wrong. They have logic problems with the use of superlative terms. A superlative term is a word that indicates the… Continue

When I teach writing classes, give book talks, or generally discuss strategies for improving written communication, I often get this question: “What are the best strategies for writing well?”…

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This is not an article about politics. Instead, it is about 7 strategies for creating impact with your words. We will use samples from President Obama’s July 17th weekly address as an example of impact strategies.

President Obama is a powerful speaker. What does that mean? Being a powerful speaker means that people are interested in what you say and that they react emotionally and cognitively to your message. This is impact. Whether intuitively or consciously, powerful speakers…

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We often respond to questions on Yahoo! Answers. The article below is adapted from one of those responses.

Question: Can Someone Check My Grammar?

“There are several factors account for cultural diversity in Europe such as geographical, historical, and religion that prevent the growth of any single homogenous style in the region. The geographical distribution has formed boundaries within the different ethnic groups. Separated by their identity…

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How a cliché becomes a cliché

When a particular cliché was first used (before it became a cliché), it created an impact. It used words in an interesting and novel way. The person who heard or read the expression might have thought, “Gosh, that’s a really creative way to express that idea.” Then, when other people began to use that expression, they were not clever; they were copycats. Having no interesting ideas of their own, they used someone else’s idea. When many people do…

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I own literary books like The Clock Winder by Anne Tyler and The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie.



Do I own those books or not? This is not clear. The problem is the word like.



Many writers use the word like when they mean such as, and this causes confusion. When we’re editing client’s documents, we help improve clarity, i.e., we help the writer communicate what he or she means. As a result, we fix problems with like and such… Continue

This instructional video demonstrates how to choose between subject and object pronouns and avoid errors. With instruction and examples from 300 Days of Better Writing, this will help you write, and speak, correctly.



See instructional video here.



This video expects you to understand… Continue

I took a writing course about four years ago. By the end of the second session, I was thinking, “Sheeze! I could teach this course.” I learned only one thing. During the second month, I learned the name of a very important concept I had been using unconsciously for years, thereby increasing my ability to write and edit purposefully.

Grammatical versus Rhetorical Subject

I learned that sentences can have two types of subjects: Grammatical and…

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Have you ever been criticized? Of course you have. Everyone has been criticized at some point. In particular, though, have you ever been criticized for trying something new? Let’s say that you go ahead and do what you want—and it doesn’t work out. You can certainly expect more criticism.



Fortunately, you can use rhetorical strategies in both cases. One strategy is for getting support to do something new, and the second strategy is for damage control when things don’t go as… Continue

Precise Edit's 300 Days of Better Writing is available for purchase both in PDF and Kindle. If you'd like to try before you buy, Your Writing Companion-Writing Advice and Instruction from Precise Edit offers samples from 300 Days of Better Writing, Bang! Writing with Impact, and the Precise Edit Training Manual.



Look for the Precise Edit Training Manual for Kindle coming soon.



To get Your Writing Companion or to purchase our… Continue

Many people will read what you write. We call these people your audience. When you write, your document or manuscript is the tool you use to communicate with them, so understanding them helps you communicate in an appropriate manner. However, unlike some other forms of communication, you actually have two audiences, which we call “primary” and “secondary” audiences. We’ll look at each in turn.

Your primary audience is the person or group of…

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Strength-training isn't just for the beef-heads at the gym. It's for you, sitting at your desk preparing a business letter, writing the next award-winning novel, or banging out a killer blog post that will ignite the world's consciousness. Strength-training for you doesn't mean training yourself to lift small cars (in case you don't know how to use a jack); strength-training means building the power of your subjects to lift your ideas.

When you use power subjects, you transform…

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Win a free analysis and review of your manuscripts from the editors who help writers publish great books. We believe that writers are important, and this is a way to help them write books that others will want to read and buy. This contest is open to all writers who have written or are writing book-length manuscripts, fiction and nonfiction, and are preparing for publication.

Sponsored by Precise Edit and Writer Watchdog (…

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Punctuation isn’t complicated once you know what you’re looking at. I see many writers making errors when punctuating appositives. This may be a new term for many folks, so we’ll take a look at what I mean by “appositive,” and then we’ll figure out how to punctuate them correctly.



WHAT’S AN APPOSITIVE?



An appositive is a word or phrase that

1. renames something you have written and

2. can serve the same grammatical function as the word or phrase it… Continue

Your book or story has a powerful beginning. It engages the reader. It makes him want to read more. The main character has a big problem, and the reader wants to know how it will be solved. Pretty soon, though, the reader is yawning. She puts the book down and goes to do something more “interesting.” What happened?

You started strong, but your middle is weak.

Based on my experiences as an editor and as a book junkie, two problems create most weak middles: 1) Nothing is…

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