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Legal Writing

Daily Writing Tips

Are you trying to improve your writing skills? If so Daily Writing Tips is the right place for you. Featuring daily tips about grammar, spelling, punctuation, copywriting and more!

Post Frequency: 3.6/day

Last Entry: November 02, 2020 at 06:34:48

Complacent, Complaisant

Posted on August 29, 2008
It's easy to mix up these two words, but there's a world of difference in their meanings.

Posted on August 28, 2008
One of the most influential teachers of writing was Rudolf Flesch. I encountered him through an out-of-print book called On Business Communications, formerly titled Say What You Mean. Only later did I discover that he also wrote the 1955 educational critique Why Johnny Can't Read...

A Novel IS Fiction

Posted on August 27, 2008
I?ve noticed that some people talk about ?fiction novels.? A novel IS fiction.

English Grammar 101: All You Need to Know

Posted on August 26, 2008
Just ask to a friend what is the role of prepositions within sentences, or what are the four moods of verbs, and I am sure that you will see a puzzled look on his face. Understanding the basic grammar rules is essential for communicating efficiently, but most of us have forgotten those concepts years ago...

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Short Story Competition: Sixth Batch Is Open for Voting!

Posted on August 25, 2008
The sixth batch with 10 new stories is live. You have until next Sunday to cast a vote on your favorite story. Next Monday we will have the seventh and final batch, so stay tuned! I would like to say thank you to all the people that sent a story. It has been a funny and pleasant experience to run this competition, and I am sure that most of the readers are enjoying it as well.

Word of the Day: Bourgeois

Posted on August 22, 2008
Bourgeois (b?r-zhw�') is an adjective that refers to people who own property. The collective noun for such people is bourgeoisie.

The Scandinavian Connection

Posted on August 21, 2008
A chance remark by a Swedish friend about English loan words in Swedish set me on the trail of borrowings of Swedish origin that have entered the English language. There are a few common ones:

Five Reasons Why Blogging Leads to Writing Jobs

Posted on August 20, 2008
Daily Writing Tips has already covered Five reasons why blogging improves your writing. But once you?ve polished up your skills, and grown used to writing frequently and receiving feedback, blogging can also help you get paid for your writing.

How to Address Your Elders, Your Doctor, Young Children? and Your CEO

Posted on August 19, 2008
Sonia asked us for tips on writing effective office emails, especially when addressing medical doctors, CEOs, your elders (those older than you), and your "juniors" (those younger than you).

Short Story Competition: Fifth Batch Is Open for Voting!

Posted on August 18, 2008
First of all let me address one problem that we had over the last batch. One of the stories had more than 500 (something like 700) and some readers were wondering and complaining about it. It was my fault and not planned. Basically I was trying to stream line the process of uploading the stories to the blog, and this one slipped though my word count process...

Cockney Rhyming Slang

Posted on August 15, 2008
Cockney Rhyming Slang has been moving around the world, thanks to the popularity of East End gangster movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and many others.

Definitely use ?the? or ?a?

Posted on August 14, 2008
When to use the indefinite article a and when to use the definite article the depends mostly on how specific you want to be. During a wedding ceremony the groom would say, ?Give me the ring! The wedding ring!? because he must have a particular ring, while a carpenter would say, "Hand me a nail? because he doesn't care which nail in the box he uses.

How to Format a UK Business Letter

Posted on August 13, 2008
I covered writing US business letters, but I know we have a number of readers in the United Kingdom too ? or readers who might want to write to companies within the UK. I?ll just be covering the formatting here rather than explaining again why each element is included, so you might want to read the article on US business letters first.

10 Ways to Find 10 Minutes to Write

Posted on August 12, 2008
How long do you need to write? We often think it's not worth sitting down and starting a piece unless we have a whole afternoon clear ? but even finding a spare hour can sometimes seem impossible.

Short Story Competition: Fourth Batch Is Open for Voting!

Posted on August 11, 2008
Here are ten more short stories for your delight. This is certainly the most creative batch we have had so far. Some curious ideas and formats have been used by the writers. Anyway make sure to read them and cast your vote to the story that you want to see featured on the grand final...

Compliment vs Complement

Posted on August 08, 2008
I had an email at work recently which read ?This new software will compliment the existing system.? Can you spot what?s wrong with that sentence? If you get confused by the different between compliment and complement, or if you?re unsure which to use when, read on.

Some Hairy Expressions

Posted on August 07, 2008
Warning: This post may offend some readers. Words, however, are just words and that's what DWT is all about. Curious minds want to know!

How to Format a US Business Letter

Posted on August 06, 2008
Whatever you do ? whether you?re a student, employed in an office job, or working as a freelancer ? I can guarantee that at some point in your life, you?ll need to sit down and write a formal business letter.

You Are What You Read

Posted on August 05, 2008
Readers often ask how to improve their English writing skills when English is not their native language and they don't live in an English-speaking country. My advice? Do it the way I did. Imitate me.

Short Story Competition: Third Batch is Open for Voting!

Posted on August 04, 2008
It is Monday, and as usual we have another batch (the third one) of short stories up for voting. There are some really interesting stories on this one. Make sure to read them all before casting your vote! 1. A Young Boy?s Journey by Pip Leake In the Wheatbelt of Western Australia, towards the end of the 19th century, a ten year old boy undertook an epic journey...

Obsessed With Ob- Words

Posted on August 01, 2008
The other day, someone used a word that I hadn't heard in a long time: obstreperous. I love the way that rolls off the tongue. It means noisy, unruly, belligerent, cantankerous - you get the picture.

English Grammar 101: Parts of Speech

Posted on July 31, 2008
A word is a ?part of speech? only when it is used in a sentence. The function the word serves in a sentence is what makes it whatever part of speech it is.

Minimise Distractions When Writing: 4 Practical Tips

Posted on July 30, 2008
Perhaps you?ve managed to get into the habit of writing every day, but you?ve also acquired the distraction habit. You sit down at your computer, fire up your word processor and type a couple of sentences ? but then an email arrives, and once you?ve replied to that, you check Twitter and Facebook ? then a friend rings to chat about weekend plans.

BlogMastermind: A Training Program for Bloggers

Posted on July 29, 2008
No writing tips on this post, but I figured many of our readers would be interested in know about this training program. BlogMastermind is basically a course, with the duration of 6 months, and the aim of giving all the information and tools that a person needs to create a successful blog and to make a living with it.

Short Story Competition: Second Batch is Open for Voting!

Posted on July 28, 2008
Below you will find the second batch with 10 more stories (you can read the first batch here). Basically we will have 7 batches with 10 stories each. They will get published every Monday, and the poll stays open until the following Sunday. Once we have the 7 batch winners, we will post the stories together for a final voting round...

Word of the Day: Bombast

Posted on July 26, 2008
Bombast (b?m'b?st') means loud-mouthed, inflated speech. Bombast was cotton stuffing used to pad some types of clothing. The adjective is bombastic.

Publishing Horror Stories

Posted on July 25, 2008
Want to know which mistakes to avoid? Here's a publisher's perspective. In the latest issue of Publishing Basics, Carolyn Madison reveals some of the errors that make publishers cringe. These include misspellings, poor grammar and punctuation, structural problems, ambiguous messages and inaccurate content.

Cut To The Chase

Posted on July 24, 2008
Cut to the chase is a common expression, meaning get to the point. It's an exhortation to omit flowery phrases and unnecessary preamble and focus on the core issue. This expression first appeared in newspapers in the 1940s, though it has an older origin in the American film industry.

Conversational Email

Posted on July 23, 2008
One reader, Bruce, wrote in to ask: I find it curious that the written word now includes expressions clearly intended for verbal exchange. I'm referring to many of the suggestions you provided for email. In an attempt to be accurate and possibly too literal, I have tended to opt out of those uses...

Review of Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

Posted on July 22, 2008
I've finally got round to reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. Here's a book that is not only useful and fun to read, its phenomenal popularity carries a moral for every writer:

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