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Splendidly Smug Cover Letter That May Not Bode Well for Your Job Prospects

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This totally outlandish cover letter is actually quite inspiring. On face value, it actually checks all the boxes: grabs attention (check), focuses on why the candidate is different (double check) and avoids cliché phrases that have no real substance (mega-check). However, it’s safe to say that this type of letter isn’t going to get you … Read more

When is it Okay to Use Contractions in Formal Writing?

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Many people avoid using contractions in formal writing because they are under the impression that contractions are only appropriate for casual writing and that they constitute non-standard grammar. Are they really representative of sloppy writing? When is it okay to use contractions? Many automatic grammar-checking software packages will produce an error if you use a … Read more

When to Indent Paragraphs

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Questions about when to indent paragraphs may constitute typographic minutia, but getting it right is important nonetheless, especially if you intend to produce writing that will be professionally published. Many people believe that every single paragraph in a piece of text should be indented. This is actually unnecessary. You should use indentation to indicate a … Read more

19 Signs That Prove That McDonald’s Employees are Morons

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Perhaps it’s the proximity to unidentified chemical foodstuffs that poisons the brain, or maybe the inane repetition of the same tired phrases has slowly driven them all mad. Regardless, you would think that the billions of dollars this major corporation garners from the billions of worshippers of those golden arches, that they could afford to … Read more

When to Use a Colon: 9 Simple Rules

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Picture of a colon punctuation markIt is important that you know when to use a colon, as good writing in English will usually make use of this punctuation mark. A colon consists of two dots, one above the other, and it should not be confused with the semi-colon, which looks similar but has very different uses.

There are several rules that are useful when you are learning when to use a colon.

When to use a colon: Nine Simple Rules

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When to Use Commas: 15 Comma Rules Everyone Should Know

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Comma rules are pretty complicatedMany people find it difficult to understand when to use commas. Comma rules appear to be extremely complicated, and it is very easy to make mistakes when using them. In this article, we present a comprehensive list of 15 comma rules that you should know in order to master the use of commas in your writing.

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An Unbelievable Twist of Fate That Superbly Demonstrates the Real Meaning of the Word Irony

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Ronald Opus story demonstrates the true meaning of the word ironyThe word ironic is one of the most abused words in the English language. Isn’t it ironic? Actually, no, you can learn why here: 10 words that you think you know the meaning of, but probably don’t.

One story that perfectly illustrates the true meaning of the word irony was presented during the 1994 annual Darwin Awards ceremony. The Darwin Awards commemorate individuals whose foolish and idiotic behavior leads to their own death and simultaneously protects the gene pool of the human race.

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Is it Really Possible to be this Stupid?

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One disappointed would-be teacher just can’t believe that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts actually dared to refuse her entry to a teacher training program. It seems that she completely failed her tests for educator licensure.

I, for the life of me, cannot fathom why they would refuse such a fine literacy perfectionist. If she failed a question about chocolate, God knows how she would have fared if she had undergone a grammar test.

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40 Ridiculously Cringeworthy Mistakes That Prove Punctuation and Proofreading Matter

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Grammar mistakes: "sadly the days of using proper grammar are went"Failing to use a punctuation mark, using it in the wrong place, or failing to proofread is one of the most effective methods of transforming a great piece of writing into something that sucks.

These absolutely delightful examples of the way in which punctuation can completely change the meaning of an intended message, are cringeworthy, but brilliant. These guys deserve medals for turning otherwise dull and mundane signs into something that we can all have a laugh at. Editing and proofreading really does matter!

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The 15 Lamest Excuses for Spelling Mistakes on Facebook Ever Conceived

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If you love nothing better than a laugh at other people’s mistakes, look no further than the world’s largest social network. Some of these people haven’t actually made a mistake, though; it seems they have an excuse for their esteemed ignoramus status. It matters not that these excuses are as ridiculous as a glow-in-the-dark toilet seat…

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5 Complicated Punctuation Marks Explained in One Simple Picture

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Punctuation marks are pretty complicated and getting your head around them won’t happen overnight. One of the most common uses of many punctuation marks is to give the reader an indication of when they should pause or take a breath. However, such pauses need to be managed carefully: you certainly do not want to leave your reader hyperventilating after a continual stream of shallow breaths forced by over-punctuation. Nor do you want them to be gasping for breath at the end of a long sentence that completely omits any punctuation marks.

It is also important that you use the right punctuation mark to correspond with the length of pause that the sentence requires. Here’s a quick overview of five punctuation marks that can be used to denote pauses, together with their corresponding duration of pause.

If you think you could benefit from more help with your punctuation, take a look at our free punctuation cheat sheet.

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Quite Possibly the Worst Letter Ever Sent From a School Teacher

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This letter was sent from none other than the Director of Curriculum from a city public school in Alabama. Full of unnecessary quotation marks, spelling mistakes, and absolutely appalling sentence structure, this must be one of the worst letters ever sent from a teacher to the pupils’ parents in the history of formal educational establishments.

He may have been shedding tears of joy, we are shedding tears of dismay!

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When to Capitalize: A Free Printable Cheat Sheet

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Wondering when to use capital letters? Knowing when to capitalize and the basic rules of capitalization does not come easily to anyone, and if you find that you are never quite sure which words should start with a capital letter and which should not, don’t worry, you are certainly not alone. Approximately 80% of the documents that are submitted for our editing and proofreading service contain at least one capitalization error, so it is pretty clear that those pesky capital letters confuse even the smartest people.

To help you, we have put together a capitalization cheat sheet that should give you an idea of when to capitalize. It contains a list of the common situations within which you should, and should not, start a given word with a capital letter. It’s free to print out and keep… so now you have no excuses!

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13 Extremely Unfortunate Abbreviations That You Couldn’t Show Your Mother

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The English language is being increasingly condensed; sometimes it is appropriate, most of the time it isn’t. Here are 13 occasions when the human tendency to condense words resulted in extremely unfortunate abbreviations, for which we are extremely grateful.

As usual with these things, the contents of some of these pictures are not for the easily offended… the clue’s in the title.

Need help with your written English? Take a look at our proofreading services.

Reads: "Butt.Finger Blast"
Sounds delicious

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10 Words That You May Think You Know the Meaning of, But Probably Don’t

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Coca-cola vending machine and pepsi lorryEditors and proofreaders can be pretty annoying, and their tendency to point out the slightest error in your written English can really grind. You only need to take a quick look at many of the blogs that are published online to see that your written English is better than most. In fact, sometimes you may actually purposefully break the rules of grammar; that’s fine. However, breaking the rules of grammar and vocabulary by mistake is not, and if you use words incorrectly then you just look plain old dumb.

Here are ten words that are commonly completely misused. Familiarize yourself with them and do us all a favor and use them correctly for a change.

Picture of the number one

Ironic

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Top 7 Made-Up Words Found in Everyday Language

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The English language is under serious threat from people who like to use made-up words that don’t really exist or who use words they don’t know the real meaning of.
The following seven words are completely made-up items of vocabulary that have crept into the English language and are misused on a very regular basis.

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Dependent and Independent Clauses

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Commas change the meaning of sentencesThis article takes a look at dependent and independent clauses, give you tips on how you can identify them, and explains why understanding what they are is important for correct punctuation.

A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject (a noun or noun phrase) and a predicate (a simple verb or compound verb phrase, along with any objects
complementing the verb). There are two types of clauses: independent and dependent. Independent clauses are also referred to as main clauses, and dependent clauses are also known as a subordinate or relative clauses.

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Is the Word “It” a Noun?

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In this quick article, we answer the question, is the word “it” a noun? We also review what nouns are and investigate the circumstances in which the word “it” may be construed as a noun. Before answering the question “is the word ‘it’ a noun?”, it is worth taking a look at the difference between … Read more