"Hanged" or "Hung"

Languages Was the Shirt "Hanged" or "Hung"? It Depends! For centuries, "hanged" and "hung" were used interchangeably as the past tense of "hang." However, most contemporary usage guides have established this distinction: convicted killers are hanged, and paintings are hung. READ NOW

Proofreading

Humanities › Languages

Strategies to Proofread Effectively

By Richard Nordquist 

Updated January 19, 2019

Listen to what Mark Twain had to say on the subject of proofreading, and then consider our 10 tips for proofreading effectively.

The difference between the almost-right word & the right word is really a large matter. Twain's well-known observation appears at the top of the "Language/Writing" page of a university's continuing education website—just above a blurb for "Mistake-Free Grammar & Proofreading." Except that Twain's line is misquoted, and the word lightning is twice misspelled as lightening.

Eliminate These From Your Writing

Languages 10 Words That Have No Place in Formal Writing Purists may tell you that many of the words in this list aren't words at all, but that's a little misleading. A few of the words are simply misspellings, and the rest are informal expressions that frequently appear in everyday speech. Nevertheless, they have no place in formal writing. READ NOW

Learning Communication and Writing Skills

If you need to know how to write essays with correct structure, grammar usage, and strong, logical content, then you are not alone. Essay writing is probably one of the most struggled-with topics in high school, university, and beyond. Most people never learn how to write essays properly in their developmental years, and they miss out on opportunities as a result. Fortunately, learning how to write essays and communicate correctly, with the content in proper, standard English, is actually quite easy as long as you can stay calm and break the work down so that you can tackle it step-by-step.