• Commonly Misused Words—and How to Avoid Them

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    We’ve all been there, whether we’re thumb-typing a text (curse you, autocorrect!), drafting a resume, or sending an email to our boss: after hitting “send” we realize we’ve misusing a word that has a doppelganger with a completely different meaning. Just as this happens regularly in everyday communication, commonly misused words regularly litter the pages of the manuscripts that hit our desks (or ping our inboxes). Examples of commonly misused words While editing manuscripts, I like to keep a running list of both cringeworthy and humorous misused words. In recent history, I’ve come across the following incidents: Passed rather than…

  • How to Show Emphasis Without Typing in All-Capitals

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    As an editor here at Xulon Press, I have read hundreds of manuscripts. Maybe even thousands. However, the top three things that I’ve seen on a consistent basis is: overuse of the exclamation point, misuse of the semicolon, and capitalizing words and phrases in order to convey emphasis to the reader. While we’ve covered the first two, we haven’t covered what it means to capitalize entire words and phrases, so allow me to explain. It’s pretty well-known that if someone says something to you through text, email, instant message, or any other written/typed communication in all capitals, it means they’re…