Introduction: Background and Context

Posted on February 19th, 2008 by GD

This blog is

  • A collection of guidelines and examples to help you convey your intended meaning
  • A place to get answers about your questions on writing
  • A test to see whether anyone is reading the content

This blog is not

  • An effort to make fun of anyone’s writing or unintended mistakes
  • The final authority

The advice here is intended to help you write better for a U.S. English-speaking audience. What each of us recognizes as the right way to speak or write English has everything to do with where we learned the language and the conventions that feel most familiar to us.

I learned English in San Francisco, California, so my idea of what is correct will differ from that of a reader who learned English in London or Cairo or Singapore. I write from a U.S. context, so some of the advice here may seem strange to you. With any luck, most of it will make sense.

What makes me the expert, and why should you take my advice? I earned a master’s degree in English and a certificate in teaching composition from San Francisco State University. I began editing full-time as a freelancer in 1999. After taking a correspondence course in copyediting from Amy Einsohn of Editcetera, I learned how little I knew about editing and started working to catch up. I took a position as a technical editor at Sun Microsystems in August 2006. I enjoy helping people to write with less fear and more heart, to help them convey more of their intended meaning.

I’ll try to speak plainly in this blog, to isolate common errors and provide guidelines to help you avoid them.

If this blog is not what you were looking for, try reading any of the following U.S. writers to see if their style and advice suit you better:

If you’re interested, take a look at some of my previous publications. Happy reading.

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