We're almost a week into the month of December, which means that you might have already cracked open a few days of your Advent calendar. The capital "A" version of the word refers to the period leading up to Christmas, which is why you should capitalize it. Usage of "Advent" goes back to at least the 12th century, while the lowercase advent, which essentially means "arrival," came into use in the 1700s. And yes, it evolved from the Christmas-themed "Advent." ❤ Team Stylebot Get a free...
15 days ago • 1 min read
It's the Friday before Thanksgiving, and with a holiday weekend coming up, we're revisiting one of our early newsletters that answers one of the most common questions we get when a long weekend looms: Is "weekend" capitalized? (And speaking of holiday weekends, we're taking next Friday off. We'll be back in your inbox on Friday, December 6.) Before we get to the writing tip, though, we want to say thank you to everyone who answered our question last week about "poor structure." If you didn't...
29 days ago • 1 min read
When you're poring over an article and you identify something that you think qualifies as "poor structure," what does that mean to you? If you filled out our quick survey about common writing and editing mistakes over the past few weeks, thank you! Your feedback is crucial to helping us improve and expand Stylebot's capabilities. Most of the responses to the survey identified "poor structure" as the most common editing problem. And we realize this is a bit awkward, but "poor structure" is a...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Although we know the results of this week's presidential election, many local races across the country have yet to be called. For those who are covering the results, here are a few quick reminders: Don't capitalize congressional, but you should capitalize congressional districts and use numerals: "She represents the 2nd Congressional District." City council and city hall are capitalized if you're referring to a specific body or location: "The Los Angeles City Council passed the resolution."...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
If you'll be in a newsroom next week, you might be wondering: How should we handle the time between when the polls close and when election outcomes are known? The increase in mail-in voting has lengthened the process for submitting and counting ballots, and it's likely we'll see confusion — and mis- and disinformation — as we wait for results to be tallied. At Stylebot, we know that journalists are facing new questions as they cover this election. That's why we've teamed up with Modifier and...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Writing tips are shared in this newsletter each week, and no exception is being made today. Election-related terminology has been shared in recent weeks, but a different type of writing guideline will be focused on today. Can you guess what it is? If you cringed reading that first paragraph, you probably guessed it. Today we're covering passive voice, which was one of your top picks last week in our poll about common writing mistakes. Here's the poll again if you didn't get a chance to weigh...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
At Stylebot, our mission is to make editing faster, easier and more fun. You can help us on that journey by answering two quick questions below. Which problem do you correct in other people's writing most often? Incorrect grammar Mixed or improper use of verb tense Passive voice Poor structure Punctuation mistakes Spelling mistakes Which problem do you correct in your own writing most often? Incorrect grammar Mixed or improper use of verb tense Passive voice Poor structure Punctuation...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Election Day is less than three weeks away, and, as promised, we're continuing to share guidance on writing about issues that are front and center this election season. Today we're focusing on immigration, which is getting a lot of attention in the presidential race. We wrote a few weeks ago about abortion and how you shouldn't adopt the language of politicians when you're writing about the issue, and the same is true with immigration. Don't use the term "illegal alien" outside of direct...
2 months ago • 2 min read
With Indigenous Peoples' Day and Columbus Day coming up on Monday, we're resurfacing last year's newsletter about the holidays. Enjoy! Monday is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the holiday a growing list of jurisdictions recognize in place of Columbus Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day dates back to 1989, when South Dakota became the first state to replace Columbus Day with it. President Joe Biden has officially recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day during his time in office. You’ll need an apostrophe to...
2 months ago • 1 min read