Karen Reddick, The Editor’s Blog

Making the correct word choice can be tricky business for writers. Many of our words sound the same, and are sometimes similar in spelling, that we often get “tripped” up on which word is correct.
Here are just a few examples I found in one of my favorite eBooks by Barbara McNichol [...]

One of my favorite pastimes is to find mistakes in written ads, signs, and other marketing materials.
Take, for example, this sign on a Middle School marquee:
“Have an excellant summer!”
[Somebody better go to summer school]
Or this sign:
“Welcome Back Stundents”
[Yes. Please hurry back!]
Some other favorites include this cake welcoming a new baby:
“It a Gril”
Posted at a local [...]

By far, the two words I consistently see confused are affect and effect. If you are among those that can’t keep these two words straight, don’t feel bad. You are not alone.
The easiest way to remember this is:
Affect will, 99 percent of the time, be used as a verb. A verb shows action. It does [...]

I had a blank moment this week when I needed to determine if my sentence called for the word then or than. This word confusion normally doesn’t trip me up, but this time it did, so I wanted to share with you how I finally decided on the correct word.
Then and than are commonly confused [...]

Jan Clark, a grammar tips reader from Colorado, wrote to me and asked me to revisit an earlier tip about the difference between insure, ensure, and assure.
Ensure and insure are words that sound the same but are spelled differently; and, assure sounds so similar to these two words, that many people [...]