Author: Sarah Turner

Website or Web site? Tricky one this as technically they are both right. However, the Oxford English Dictionary is going for website, all one word, and so am I. But the Web on its own is capitalised. As is World Wide Web and the Internet. Online should be one word not on-line. And email and enewsletter are now grown up enough...

Exclamation marks have only one use: at the end of a sentence to show a strong emotion:  That's great! What a stunning view! Help! However, in copywriting and business writing the exclamation mark should be used sparingly, if at all, as it can make your writing sound, well, a bit giddy and breathless. Woo-hoo! Gasp! Of course the multi exclamation mark should never be used....

What's your point? Ask yourself 'why am I doing this?' And no, 'because the boss told me to' is not a good enough reason. Seriously. What do you want from this? What are you hoping to achieve? In marketing lingo, what are you objectives?   Have an awesome subject line. Or at least a rather good one. Your subject line needs to be...

Ok, this one gets me running for the dictionary every time: when to use licence and license or practice and practise. Practice with a C is a noun. And practise with an S is a verb. (S and V are close together in the alphabet which is a good way of remembering, I guess.) So, There's a new doctor's practice opened up...

So what were your new year's resolutions? Already broken them? Yep, me too. But, if you only commit to one thing this year, make 2009 the year you change your writing style. Stuffy, formal, waffly writing is out, out, out. And informal, friendly, conversational writing is the new black baby.  Here are five top tips to help you on your way.    1. Read...

Back in the olden days, newspaper and magazine editors would make paper planes from badly written press releases. Now they have the power of the delete button. It's a tough world out there. Here are a few tips for getting your press releases published.  Who's reading this? Think about who is going to read your news and use the language of the...

I loathe business bull and jargonese. And it seems the readers of the Daily Telegraph feel exactly the same way if recent correspondence with the broadsheet is anything to go by.       So here are some of the words and phrases that we love to hate. Use at your peril! Added bonus Co-worker First up Giving 110% Going forward Heads up Hearts and minds Hit the ground running Inclusive Ramp up Time challenged Singing from the same...

I was writing some copy the other day when I realised the exact phrase I was looking for was je ne sais quoi. This got me thinking about how many words and phrases we use that come from across the Channel.  Did you know that about 30% of the English language is derived from French? Mais non? Words like niche, blonde,...