General Writing

“World-Best” or “World’s Best”?

Which one is correct? The answer is: They both are! There are slight differences in their meanings though, so pay attention and make sure you’re using the phrase that best suits your intent.

Mistakes You Really Don’t Want to Make

WhiteSmoke fans shared some of their most embarrassing writing moments. Read more to find how horrifying "small" mistakes can really be. Got an embarrassing mistake of your own? Visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/WhiteSmoke Software and tell us your story!

Simple Steps to Writing, Revising and Editing an essay

Writing a good essay requires refined critical thinking, which can be improved by experience. But one of the key elements to a good essay is form, and we are here to help you with it. There are numerous forms of writing that we face everyday. The following is an explanation of the process of writing in a simple and understandable way. An essay can have many purposes, but the basic structure is basically the same. You may be writing an essay to argue for a particular point of view or to explain the steps necessary to complete a task.

Narrative Writing Strategies

Narrative writing means, essentially, writing that tells a story. It might be fiction (see How to Write a Short Story), or non-fiction (as with writing personal narrative, or memoir writing). The main feature of narrative writing is that it spans time and has a plot--something happens that keeps readers reading to see what's next. A narrative often (but certainly not always) is written in chronological order.

The Stages of Writing

Any writing 101 course teaches that writing is an activity that takes time and cannot be treated as a one-step affair. They also know that readers expect much more than just correct grammar; they expect interesting, clearly written, and well organized content. The basic rule of writing says that you need to think about what you are going to write BEFORE you write and go over your writing a few times BEFORE sending it out or publishing it.

Getting Under Weigh with Nautical Terms

English has many colorful expressions taken from the world of sailing - read on to find out more!

Great and Grate

Great or grate? Read on to find out.

Clarity Through Proximity

Make your writing more clear by putting descriptions and modifiers as close as possible to what they are describing.

5 Tips for Proofreading Your Work

Proofreading is an important aspect of writing, whether you are writing a simple email, a memo, a resume, or a research paper. To make sure that you come up with excellently written materials, you should take the time to proofread your writing. This post features five simple proofreading tips you can use.

4 Tips for Writing an Invitation

Your invitation should be short, clear, and complete. The following are four things you should keep in mind when writing an invitation.

4 Ways to Make Your Writing Outstanding

Perhaps you’ve tried to write something several times, but the words you wrote always seemed to sound awkward. Or perhaps you’ve written some articles, but they turned out to be plain and forgettable. If you are wondering how you can write outstanding articles, then here are four simple tips to keep in mind.

Stronger Writing with the Active Voice

In the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs an action. The active voice is usually direct, simple, and straightforward. In the passive voice, the action is performed by the subject. The sentence becomes less direct and less simple.

Using Strong Verbs and Nouns

Choosing the best word can make your writing clearer, stronger, more effective, and more interesting. A more specific word can convey more information. Often adjectives and adverbs are a clumsy replacement for a well-chosen noun or verb. Some words are so bland and vague that they tell the reader almost nothing. Such words should almost always be replaced.

# 1 Best Tip for Improving Your Writing

Don’t let boring reading material negatively affect your writing skills. Read on for our simplest tip for becoming a better writer.

Tips for Writing Poetry

Writing poetry can frustrate or reward beyond words. Here are a few poetry-writing tips that may help you find the reward.

3 Tips for Using Correct Abbreviations

Abbreviations are the shortened forms of words. They are very useful, especially when you need to take down notes quickly. As an ESL student, you must familiarize yourself with common abbreviations used in the English language.

Common Errors in English – Missing Prepositions

Prepositions are the most frequently occurring type of word in the English language. So, they are a pretty important word group to understand! According to The Chicago Manual of Style 15th ed. rev. (University of Chicago Press, 2003), a preposition is “a word or phrase that links an object (a noun or noun equivalent) to another word in the sentence to show the relationship between them.”