Firstly, let's look at the main reasons WHY you should bother to write correctly.
1. Credibility
Did you know you are now an 'expert'? Huh? Yep! You are and you need to write like one!
2. Clarity
Are your readers able to understand what you are talking about?
3. Courtesy
Are you treating your readers and customers with respect?
4. Competition
You have to be better than the other guy to win and keep your readers!
5. Customers
It's much easier to keep your current customers than try to find new ones. Don't squander your opportunities.
P.S. There is a deliberate mistake on page 9. Find it and PM me - don't write it in the comments section. Any other errors - please let me know in the comments.
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WouterdeHaas
Premium
Page seven. This might be an American English versus British English thing (I use a horrible mixture of both), but I always talk about 'food bowls', not 'feed' bowls.
And then: "...are made of finest yak felt...", shouldn't that be: "...are made of THE finest yak felt..."? WIthout the capitalisation, of course?
At point 2, a space between 'to' and 'join' is missing.
I think I have my commas reasonably under control, even though I'm handicapped by my native language (Dutch) using a slightly different set of rules for their usage. But when the Oxford comma comes into play I get hopelessly lost. The colons and semicolons tend to drive me bonkers at times. If I can just remember what you wrote about them here, I might improve!
And then: "...are made of finest yak felt...", shouldn't that be: "...are made of THE finest yak felt..."? WIthout the capitalisation, of course?
At point 2, a space between 'to' and 'join' is missing.
I think I have my commas reasonably under control, even though I'm handicapped by my native language (Dutch) using a slightly different set of rules for their usage. But when the Oxford comma comes into play I get hopelessly lost. The colons and semicolons tend to drive me bonkers at times. If I can just remember what you wrote about them here, I might improve!
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LED63
Premium
Yes, this is just a case of English/Australian versus American English. We tend to use English English in Australia. I started to say that we could use either, but I believe that you are correct as regards dog FOOD bowls. If I was talking about chickens, I would say 'chicken FEED' bowls. I think I'll leave this and see if anyone else comments.
In the yak felt case, either would be correct. (One of the madnesses of English) I can say 'made of the finest yak felt' or 'made of finest yak felt'. The article is not compulsory here.
I'll check the spacing - it is so annoying when that happens!
You're great! I think I'll employ you as my personal editor!
In the yak felt case, either would be correct. (One of the madnesses of English) I can say 'made of the finest yak felt' or 'made of finest yak felt'. The article is not compulsory here.
I'll check the spacing - it is so annoying when that happens!
You're great! I think I'll employ you as my personal editor!
WouterdeHaas
Premium
Cheers for clarifying. I shouldn't forget to add that I'm a bit of a cheat, been married to an American for 13 years. Not sure if a Dutch editor is the best of ideas but then again I use both languages professionally for my offline business. Companies hire me to write International English copy (quite different from correct & proper English) for instance.
kennick2015
Premium
I was fortunate to have had a public school education in England, in the days when all masters (teachers) wore mortar boards and gowns. I appreciate the considerable amount of work you've done to provide this valuable training. Ken.
LED63
Premium
Thanks Ken - and you got the mistake right. (what an oxymoron!) I had parents who insisted on correct English even to the point of having a huge argument with my sister's teacher over the 'children's playground' issue, although, if I remember rightly, it was 'the children's books'
Cheers
Ellie
Cheers
Ellie
WouterdeHaas
Premium
Hi Ellie, another non-native speaker here (dash between non and native, is that alright?). First of all, very thorough training here, splendid! Liked and bookmarked... I have an opinion or two and probably some questions as well. But for now, I'd like to flex my English language muscles a bit and see if I can spot any other mistakes besides the deliberate one on page nine. I'm currently on page six and are wondering about the last three sentences. Allow me to quote: "You might be writing some technical jargon that don't think everyone will understand. So you put an alternative (different) word in brackets (parentheses) Get it?". I am wondering whether there shouldn't be "you" between "that" and "don't" in the first sentence. And I'm missing a full stop behind your last bracket of the second sentence. Would love to know if I'm right and feel free to rip this reply apart as well. I think I made many mistakes, especially with punctuation!
LED63
Premium
Excellent! I'm looking forward to this kind of feedback. You've got no idea how many times I read and re-read this training HOPING there were no mistakes! I could always pretend that they are deliberate ones! But no - I missed that, although I do believe it is a case of me correcting the sentence and backspacing too far.
But I thank you and will fix it pronto!
Yes - the hyphen between non and native is correct. I was going to add the correct use of hyphens but wondered if it was too long already. They are also a rather tricky subject and one that I see misused, unused and abused quite often.
You don't need to use 'alright' - it's just 'right' as in
Is that right? (or correct)
You've done amazingly well for a non-native speaker.
Thank you
Ellie
But I thank you and will fix it pronto!
Yes - the hyphen between non and native is correct. I was going to add the correct use of hyphens but wondered if it was too long already. They are also a rather tricky subject and one that I see misused, unused and abused quite often.
You don't need to use 'alright' - it's just 'right' as in
Is that right? (or correct)
You've done amazingly well for a non-native speaker.
Thank you
Ellie
WouterdeHaas
Premium
LED63
Premium
(Nose in the air) Yes, well - I doubt I would really make that many mistakes..hahahaha!
I've really enjoyed this - just shows how easy it is to let mistakes slip past - and I was trying really hard, too!
Thanks heaps
Ellie
(I cover the subject of slang and colloquial English in the next segment!)
I've really enjoyed this - just shows how easy it is to let mistakes slip past - and I was trying really hard, too!
Thanks heaps
Ellie
(I cover the subject of slang and colloquial English in the next segment!)
AngelsBird
Premium
Hi Ellie,
I really like this training, because I need it.
Since my mother tongue is not the English language, it is hard to get some content well written.
Do you have maybe an idea how I can improve the quality of my content with a tool or something?
I use the free plug-in of Grammarly.com right now, but it's expensive to buy it.
Thanks,
Grtz,
Bert
I really like this training, because I need it.
Since my mother tongue is not the English language, it is hard to get some content well written.
Do you have maybe an idea how I can improve the quality of my content with a tool or something?
I use the free plug-in of Grammarly.com right now, but it's expensive to buy it.
Thanks,
Grtz,
Bert
LED63
Premium
Hi Bert
I haven't used Grammarly myself, because being fairly proficient in English, I tend to trust my own judgement, or if I'm a bit puzzled, I simply type my specific problem into Google and check whatever website pops up. Some are better than others.
There are some 'spin-writing' tools available, but it is not recommended as google tends to pick up 'spun' content fairly quickly.
You can use Fivver and Elance to have your articles/content written, but what I found was that most of the people who offer to do writing are not native English speakers and the ones who are, charge a fair bit.
There are various translation tools available, but I am not altogether sure that they are very accurate. Some translations tend to come out pretty weird!
All I can really honestly recommend is that you get a good English writer to check your work for you. I have done so for a few people here, but it is time-consuming and I have to charge something or I would spend a lot of time and never get my own work done! You can send me a PM if you want to talk to me further about this option.
It's a good idea to ask for editing feedback here - specifically request that people check on your spelling, grammar etc.
I'd be glad to know if anyone knows of a good tool, but I really think it's just a case of learning, practising, checking, editing and asking for help to check your work.
I'm sorry not to be more helpful
Thank you for coming by. I appreciate it!
Cheers
Ellie
I haven't used Grammarly myself, because being fairly proficient in English, I tend to trust my own judgement, or if I'm a bit puzzled, I simply type my specific problem into Google and check whatever website pops up. Some are better than others.
There are some 'spin-writing' tools available, but it is not recommended as google tends to pick up 'spun' content fairly quickly.
You can use Fivver and Elance to have your articles/content written, but what I found was that most of the people who offer to do writing are not native English speakers and the ones who are, charge a fair bit.
There are various translation tools available, but I am not altogether sure that they are very accurate. Some translations tend to come out pretty weird!
All I can really honestly recommend is that you get a good English writer to check your work for you. I have done so for a few people here, but it is time-consuming and I have to charge something or I would spend a lot of time and never get my own work done! You can send me a PM if you want to talk to me further about this option.
It's a good idea to ask for editing feedback here - specifically request that people check on your spelling, grammar etc.
I'd be glad to know if anyone knows of a good tool, but I really think it's just a case of learning, practising, checking, editing and asking for help to check your work.
I'm sorry not to be more helpful
Thank you for coming by. I appreciate it!
Cheers
Ellie
AngelsBird
Premium
LED63
Premium
Yeah - unfortunately I don't think there is a 'clickable' solution yet! Have you ever read the Roald Dahl story called 'The Great Automatic Grammatizator? It's pretty funny and could be what you are looking for!
Cheers
Ellie
Cheers
Ellie
AngelsBird
Premium
