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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

Homograph Examples

Posted on June 13, 2008
Homographs are words with different pronunciation, meanings and origins but the same spelling. They are not to be confused with homonyms, homophones and heteronyms. In order to work out which pronunciation and which meaning is appropriate, you need to be aware of the context...

Not on the Daily Writing Tips Forum Yet?

Posted on June 12, 2008
We are approaching 400 members on the DWT forum, and there are some great discussions going on there. Here are some examples:

Word of the Day: Fundamentalism

Posted on June 12, 2008
Fundamentalism (f?n'd?-m?n'tl-?z'?m) in a religious sense is an effort to return to "fundamentals," or founding principles. It was first applied in the early 20th century to an American militant conservative Protestant movement that rejected the new science of textual criticism, insisting instead upon a literal interpretation of the Bible...

25 Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About

Posted on June 11, 2008
Of course, all you really need in order to write is a notebook and pen. But there are lots of software packages that can make life easier for writers. Whatever you want to be able to do, there?s almost certainly some software out there to help you. The list below includes the best packages to help you plan and structure a novel, share documents online with other people, format your screenplay or script correctly, minimize writing distractions, improve your English and more...

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English Grammar 101: Verbs Voice

Posted on June 10, 2008
English verbs are said to have two voices: active and passive. Active Voice: the subject of the sentence performs the action:

Email Etiquette

Posted on June 09, 2008
If you work in an office, you probably write emails every day ? to colleagues, to your boss, to clients. Even if you?re still at college, you?ll need to email your lecturers once in a while (maybe to plead for an essay extension, or to ask for help) ? and many employers now expect resumes and cover letters to be sent by email.

Travel Writing Resources

Posted on June 07, 2008
I love travel writing, but the strangeness of the internet marketplace means that sometimes I have to write travel articles about places that I've never been to. I've now done several of these, and here's what I have learned from the process.

Word of the Day: Avatar

Posted on June 06, 2008
Avatar [?'v?t�r'] is a religious term that signifies a deity that has taken an earthly form. For example, Krishna is an avatar of the god Vishnu. In popular Western culture, the word has come to have secular meanings: 1. "another version of someone or something;" 2...

English Grammar 101: Introduction to the English Verb

Posted on June 05, 2008
English has three kinds of Verbs: transitive, intransitive, and incomplete. 1. Transitive Verbs A verb is transitive when the action is carried across to a receiver:

The Best Way To Start Out In Freelance Writing

Posted on June 04, 2008
When you're thinking of becoming a freelance writer, you will find a lot of advice about starting a writing career. However, there's one thing that you should do above anything else. That's to write. If you don't write, you are not a writer.

Using the Active Voice to Strengthen Your Writing

Posted on June 03, 2008
Writing in the active voice means constructing sentences where the subject ?acts?: I threw the ball. You are making too much noise. Ben will eat popcorn and watch a movie tomorrow evening.

Nonstandard Usage Detracts from Novel

Posted on June 02, 2008
The English language can certainly be said to be in flux when college professors write such stuff as: 1. She reached into her carpetbag to her side and found her ever-present notepad. 2. This was the first unsolicited compliment her figure had ever gotten by a young man 3...

May 2008 Most Popular Articles

Posted on June 01, 2008
Below you will find the most popular articles over the past month. Check them out if you missed any.

Arabic Loanwords In English

Posted on May 31, 2008
The Arabic language has contributed hundreds of words to the English language by many different routes. That's partly because in what my daughter likes to call the olden days (from around 700AD to the Middle Ages), the Arabic kingdoms had a great influence on Europe and the world...

May 2008: Thanks for Our Sponsors

Posted on May 30, 2008
A big thank you for all our sponsors. As you know we have several writers contributing to Daily Writing Tips, and this happens thanks to the support of those companies. They all provide great services and products for freelance writers and bloggers alike, so check them out.

Word of the Day: Paramour

Posted on May 29, 2008
Paramour ((p?r'?-m?r') is sometimes used as simply a synonym for "lover," but it usually carries the connotation of an illicit lover, "one taking the place without the legal rights of a husband or wife."

How Short Can You Go? 50 to 100 Word Stories

Posted on May 28, 2008
How short can a ?short story? be? Merriam-Webster just defines it as ?shorter than a novel?, telling us that a short story is: an invented prose narrative shorter than a novel usually dealing with a few characters and aiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot

An Englishman in New York - The Problem Of UK-US English in Freelance Writing

Posted on May 27, 2008
Some people see the differences between American English and British English as a problem. I see them as an interesting challenge. And although the title to this article might indicate that I?m English, I am in fact, a British Scot. I am also fully aware there is more to the United States of America than the wonderful state of New York, but I felt it made a good title, so I went with it.

If You Can Keep Your Head?

Posted on May 26, 2008
Back when I was an eighth-grader, children were required to memorize poems. I can still recite much of If by Kipling. The poem begins If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too,

Word of the Day: Gothic

Posted on May 24, 2008
Gothic (g?th'?k) is an adjective with several meanings. First of all it used to describe things related to the Goths, or things that have a Germanic origin. Some people broadened this definition to encompass anything related to the Middle Ages. Finally, Gothic can also be related to a very specific architectural style that was present in Western Europe until the 15th century.

Verb Words

Posted on May 23, 2008
I'm always interested in words that relate to a particular area. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at words for book lovers. Now it's time to think of words about words. In this case, I'm concentrating on one particular Latin root, verbum, the Latin word for word...

Even, Yet, and Still

Posted on May 22, 2008
Until recently I thought that the pleonasm "even still" was to be found only in the uncertain writings of college freshmen. Then I read this in the current issue of my favorite writer's magazine:

English Grammar 101: Articles

Posted on May 21, 2008
The words a, an, and the are generally called articles and sometimes classed as a separate part of speech. In function, however, they can be grouped with the demonstrative adjectives that are used to point things out rather than describe them.

Blowing The Gaff

Posted on May 20, 2008
I recently mentioned a book called Mind The Gaffe, which is all about errors in English. It got me to thinking about the word gaffe and other related expressions. I set out to do some digging in my trusty dictionary and came up with a few surprises. The word gaffe means a social blunder and originates from French in the 19th century...

Super Words

Posted on May 19, 2008
As a prefix, super- originates from the Latin super, an adverb and preposition meaning above, on top of, beyond, beside. That's the original meaning of the English prefix, too, though according to the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, it has taken on other senses over the centuries...

44 Resume Writing Tips

Posted on May 19, 2008
Having a solid and effective resume can greatly improve your chances of landing that dream job. That is beyond discussion. How does one make sure that his resume is top notch and bullet proof, however? There are several websites with tips around the web, but most bring just a handful of them...

Word of the Day: Uncanny

Posted on May 17, 2008
Uncanny (?n-k?n'?) is an adjective used to describe things that are strange and disturbing, to the point that they appear to have a supernatural origin. One informal synonym is spooky.

Cna Yuo Raed Tihs?

Posted on May 16, 2008
Today opening my email I came across a very interesting message from a friend. It was basically a message where the letters of each word were all scrambled. The first and the last letters were kept intact, but between them they were all mixed. Surprisingly enough I could read it perfectly...

?Epi-? Words for Writers

Posted on May 15, 2008
The Greek prefix epi- means something like *on, over" and occurs in several English words. Here are some writing-related words that begin with it. epic Although the epi- in this word isn't actually a prefix, I'll include it because it is an important literary term...

Loan, Lend, Loaned, Lent

Posted on May 14, 2008
Renee wrote to us to ask: Can you please clarify the proper way to use these words: loan, lend, loaned, lent? Thank you!

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