#Writing editing how to

Remove extra punctuationĪ powerful hyphen here and a thought-provoking semicolon there can be effective. Don’t move back and forth between the two. Try to stick to “I” voice or “you” voice throughout one piece of writing.Īnd if you must switch, start with one and finish with the other. For example, you might start your introduction talking about yourself, then switch halfway through the piece and start addressing the reader. Sometimes it’s necessary to use both first and second person, but that can be jarring for readers. The screen door didn’t shut noisily, it banged shut.įind a more powerful verb to replace the weak verb + weak -ly adverb combo. Instead of describing the cat as walking slowly, say he creeps or tiptoes.

Rather than saying the girl runs quickly, say she sprints. ly words)Īdverbs weaken your copy because these excess words are not truly descriptive. See what I mean? If you spot a comma-heavy sentence, try to give each idea its own sentence. But long sentences often contain several ideas, so they can easily lose the reader’s focus because they don’t provide a break, leading readers to get stuck or lose interest, and perhaps the reader might get bored and go watch TV instead. Many long sentences are grammatically correct. To sign up for this free training, click here.

#Writing editing how to

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