WordPlay I Make Your Own Avatars and Clip Art

Reviewing the following checklist before you submit each post can save you time and possibly embarrassment:

[ ] Have you run your spelling-check software?

[ ] Have you incorporated your keywords into your copy and headline?

[ ] Does your headline convey that your post contains content that benefits your readers?

[ ] Are there any words that might have questionable capitalization, punctuation or spelling? If so, look them up in a dictionary or The Chicago Manual of Style. Also, see our list of common word errors.

[ ] Does your post contain content that benefits your readers?

[ ] Have you written anything that might really offend someone (and therefore get you in trouble legally)?

[ ] Have you broken your text into paragraphs that aren’t too long?

Special note to WordPress users:

Don’t take copy from a Microsoft Word document and put it into your blog. Doing so can create code problems. If you have copy from a Word doc in a WordPress post or page, do the following: (1.) copy it into Notepad, (2.) delete it from the WordPress interface and then (3.) paste the copy from Notepad back into WordPress. This will remove the bad code.

Another great solution is to use free Windows Live Writer software to create your blog posts.

If you have any tasks you think should be added to this list, please leave a comment.

Clipboard photo by Danny de Bruyne

You might also be interested in these writing-related WordPlay posts:

Copyright 2007 WordPlayBlog.com

Writing good blog posts isn’t difficult when you’re passionate about your topic. But that same passion can cause you to not notice if a few (or maybe even more than a few) errors slip through. If you want to raise your writing to the next level, the following tools can help:

* Your spelling-check software

This is your first line of defense against typos. That’s pretty obvious. But what you might not realize is that because aspects of the English language actually change more often than you’d think (a good example is the recent influx of Web-related terms), spelling software sometimes isn’t up-to-date. So, here’s an important caveat: if your software doesn’t contain a word, or if you suspect it’s displaying the wrong hyphenation, capitalization, etc., you should refer to a dictionary or the next tool below.

* The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)

Available in print and versions, this resource is a practical guide to editorial style. Although the online version offers easy answers to most questions that can pop up while writing, it doesn’t address all of them. You need the print version for that.

Some examples of the questions TCMS answers:

• Should president be capitalized when not used in front of someone’s name?
• What is the proper format for citing an information source?
• Which is correct: Web site, web site, website or Website?

The online version is based on an annual subscription, but there is a 30-day free trial. Also, they offer a free-for-everyone that answers common grammar questions.

Please also read our full review of this book.

* Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home

Send, by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, is the first comprehensive guide to e-mail etiquette and standards. Since e-mail and the immediacy of blogging are closely related, awareness of the newly emerging rules regarding electronic communication can only benefit bloggers. Written with wit and style, Send is both a great resource and a fun read.

Please also read our full review of this book.

There are obviously plenty of other good resources out there, but using even just these three will help you significantly improve the quality of your writing.

Sometimes communing with others can help too. If you like to read, why not try a social networking site for book lovers or a general social networking site? Seeing how others write can often either inspire you or show you what not to do. And if the objective of your blogging is to make money, you owe it to yourself to learn how to make money online with Google Adsense. Many bloggers will tell you it’s the gold standard for monetizing a blog.

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There are a lot of grammar myths floating around, perpetuated by well-meaning people who are, unfortunately, a little behind the times. But don’t blame them (or yourself, if you’re one of them); the English language is a work in progress. Rules that were actually taught in school years ago have been debunked, and others have taken their place. One rule that has no basis in fact but has been widely taught anyway is the prohibition against ending a sentence with a preposition. I used to buy into this one myself.

In case you aren’t familiar with the term, a preposition is a word that expresses a relationship to the word(s) it precedes. Some examples are in, on, from, by, to, for and with. An example of a sentence that ends with a preposition would be:

There are some things I will not put up with.

To understand why the rule prohibiting this structure is inappropriate, consider how silly the sentence becomes when rewritten to move the preposition from the end:

There are some things up with which I will not put.

According to The Chicago Manual of Style, the rule about ending a sentence with a preposition stems from an “ill-founded superstition.” This superstition probably started with people who studied Latin, which has a grammatical structure that doesn’t allow for sentences ending in prepositions.

If you disagree with what I’ve written in this post, please read my comments below.

Also, see grammar myth #2: You can’t begin a sentence with and or but.

You might also be interested in these related posts:

• Wordz We Misspell
• Keywords 101
• Using Quotations
• Writing Tools for Bloggers
• Posting Checklist

Copyright 2007 WordPlayBlog.com

Here are some more tough vocabulary words. Match the terms below with their definitions. See the bottom of this post for the answers.

Terms
1. Dearth (pronounced: derth)
2. Frisson (pronounced: free SAW)
3. Furbelows (pronounced: FUR buh lohz)
4. Heterogeneous (pronounced: he tuh ruh JEE nee uhs)
5. Misogyny (pronounced: mi SAH juh nee)
6. Mordant (pronounced: MAWR dint)
7. Profligate (pronounced: PRAH fluh git)
8. Rectitude (pronounced: REK tuh tood)
9. Sartorial (pronounced: sahr TAW ree uhl)
10. Tautology (pronounced: taw TAH luh jee)

A. Composed of unlike or unrelated parts; widely different
B. Extremely wasteful; recklessly extravagant
C. Caustic or sarcastic
D. Needless repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase or sentence
E. Pertaining to clothing or dress, especially men’s
F. A shudder or tingle experienced from excitement, fear or pleasure
G. Correct conduct according to principles
H. Hatred of women, especially by a man
I. Showy, useless trim or ornamentation
J. A scarcity or lack

(Scroll the page so you can’t see the answers until you’re ready.)

___________–

___________–

___________–

Answers
1J, 2F, 3I, 4A, 5H, 6C, 7B, 8G, 9E, 10D

Also, you might want to try Fifty-cent Words: A Vocabulary Words Quiz.

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If you know the definitions for even half these vocabulary words, give yourself an A+.

Match the terms below with their definitions. See the bottom of this post for the answers.

Terms
1. Apercu (pronounced: a per SOO)
2. Concomitant (pronounced: kahn KAH muh tuhnt)
3. Habitué (pronounced: hu BI choo ay)
4. Lagniappe (pronounced: LAN yap)
5. Nabob (pronounced: NAY bob)
6. Paucity (pronounced: PAW suh tee)
7. Peregrinations (pronounced: pe ruh gri NAY shunz)
8. Raconteur (pronounced: ra kahn TER)
9. Tendentious (pronounced: ten DEN shuhs)
10. Verisimilitude (pronounced: ve ruh si MI luh tood)

Definitions
A. An item given free to a customer with the purchase of another item
B. Journeys
C. A small amount or insufficiency
D. The appearance of being true or real
E. Having a definite tendency, bias or purpose
F. Accompanying; attendant
G. A person who excels at telling stories
H. A very rich or important person
I. A person who frequents a particular place
J. A quick impression or insight

(Scroll the page so you can’t see the answers until you’re ready.)

__________

__________

__________

Answers
1J, 2F, 3I, 4A, 5H, 6C, 7B, 8G, 9E, 10D

Also, you might want to try Vocabulary Quiz: More 50-cent Words.

Copyright 2007 WordPlayBlog.com