Accessing new jargon
What is it with the word 'access' all of a sudden? You can't move these days without people 'accessing' education, 'accessing' information on the web, 'accessing' resources in the library, or 'accessing' lists of annoying words.
What’s your favourite headline ever?
We've been doing some work on headline writing in our workshops recently. It reminded me of the story behind one of our favourite ever headlines …
Keep it simple like Leonardo
When he wasn't busy painting masterpieces or inventing helicopters, all-round-Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci found was one of the leading thinkers of his day.
Can you tell a story in just six words?
You may have heard the tale of how, in the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway bet ten dollars that he could write a complete story in just six words. He wrote: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn." He won the bet and often referred to the story as his best work ever.
Want punchier writing? Don’t bury your verbs
Nominalisation is one of our pet hates. It's also one of the commonest ways in which writing falls down.
Do you really need all those words?
This month's writing tip is about less is more. Literally. It's about using fewer words to communicate more clearly and effectively.
Gordon Bennett! The Victorian playboy still shaping our language
As a professional copywriter, I love unearthing the quirky links between words and phrases we all use today, and their historical origins.
Meeting the unmet needs of unnecessary words
Working in a copywriting agency and dealing with words from a variety of sources every day means you soon spot emerging (or fully emerged) trends in vocabulary and word use.
Say no to the splice
Commas are a really useful writing tool. You could compare them to taking a breath when writing a sentence. However, it's easy to go over the top and use them incorrectly.