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Victoria Neufeldt

We’re All Looking for Style

Tuesday July 14, 2015

What is style in writing? Writers — and their editors, of course — must think about this, but not everyone agrees on what is appropriate. A writer of non-fiction, for example, probably aims for an unobtrusive style in which the language — the words and phrases, the syntax and grammar — takes second place to the content. […]

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informal language register style tone usage voice

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Dwain Richardson

English Editing in Quebec: What’s Translatable, What’s Not?

Tuesday July 21, 2015

If any of you copywrite, edit or translate for federal clients, you’ll know that most department, agency, union and attraction names have official translations. Department of National Defence Canadian Media Guild Canadian Museum of History National Gallery of Canada National Arts Centre Citizenship and Immigration Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Police ministère de la Défense nationale […]

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government editing place names Quebec

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Omitting Periods? It’s About Genres.

Tuesday July 5, 2016

“Period. Full Stop. Point. Whatever It’s Called, It’s Going Out of Style,” declared a New York Times headline. Noted linguist David Crystal had made some comments observing that the period is not requisite in text messages, and as such is used only “to show irony, syntactic snark, insincerity, even aggression,” as article author Dan Bilefsky […]

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genres James Harbeck Linguistics Frankly periods punctuation style usage

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Happy Holidays and Year in Review

Tuesday December 19, 2017

Dear Readers, We’ve had some fantastic content on the blog this year, from Marianne Grier’s description of her reintroduction to Canadian English to Marion Soublière’s report after attending an editing conference in Scotland. We enjoyed Brendan O’Brien’s inaugural post about being a reluctant editor and were fascinated to learn about Dracula puzzles from Sara Goodchild. We’ve […]

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Anna Williams letter from the editor Year in Review

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Does Verbing Impact the Language?

Tuesday February 20, 2018

A favourite crank for language cranks to crank is the demon of verbing. It wrecks our language, they protest! They target such usages as impacted and referenced in business-speak and medalled in broadcasting. While liberal-minded linguists may see these words as just more of the odd flowers that bloom in the spring (and spring up […]

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grammar James Harbeck language Linguistics Frankly verbing verbs

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Pink, Blue and the Singular “They”

Tuesday October 16, 2018

I was a late adopter of the singular “they,” once thinking its usage was down to laziness or ignorance. I’ve recently changed my tune. The singular “they” helps streamline sentences, is considerate of those who don’t identify with a gender, and can help avoid the gender-charged language that can be our default. This last strength […]

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colours editing gender language sentence structure singular “they”style guides

Canadianisms and the Oxford English Dictionary

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Barbara McClintock

Survey of Canadianisms

Tuesday December 10, 2019

These days, language professionals in Canada are starting to turn to the online Oxford English Dictionary (OED) or other reference books to replace the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, which is now 15 years old and not likely to be re-edited. An interesting initiative has been started at the University of Toronto by Sali Tagliamonte, professor and […]

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Barbara McClintock Canada Research Chair Canadian English Canadian Oxford Dictionary Canadianisms Language Variation and Change Language Variation and Change Laboratory linguistics OED Oxford English Dictionary Sali Tagliamonte sociolinguistics University of Toronto

Rhonda Kronyk, Writing and Editing Consultant

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Indigenous Voices: An Interview with Rhonda Kronyk

Tuesday July 7, 2020

Rhonda is a settler/Dene research, writing and editing consultant. She is dedicated to increasing the inclusion of underrepresented communities in Canadian literature. A founding member of the Indigenous Editors Association, she specializes in editing manuscripts by and about Indigenous Peoples. As editor of Write, The Writers’ Union of Canada magazine, she approaches her work from […]

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book editors book publishing cultural sensitivity Elements of Indigenous Style inclusion Indigenous Peoples Indigenous voices interview Rhonda Kronyk Sue Archer

text BLACK LIVES MATTER on white background typed on a typewriter in a stark black-and-white image

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Adebe DeRango-Adem

One Year Later, Much Work Yet to Be Done: Questions to Guide Next Steps in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Tuesday May 25, 2021

Just over a decade ago, when I was an intern with Colorlines magazine (now Race Forward), my main task was to help build the framework for “Drop the I-Word” — a campaign to change journalistic copy-editing conventions across the U.S. We sought to have The Associated Press (AP) and news outlets cease using the word […]

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Adebe DeRango-Adem diverse voices inclusion publishing

Amy J. Schneider

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Amy J. Schneider

Amy J. Schneider: An Editor’s Top 3

Tuesday May 24, 2022

In this series, experienced editors reflect on their Top 3 tools, rules and suggestions for clients and colleagues. Amy J. Schneider has been a full-time freelance copyeditor and proofreader of fiction and non-fiction and the owner of Featherschneider Editorial Services since 1995. Since 2012 Amy has written articles and presented in-person and online sessions on […]

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Amy J. Schneider editing tools editor advice Editor’s Top 3 freelance freelance editors marketing work-life balance