Why it's always a good idea to hire a proofreader...

There are worse mistakes than a bruised cauliflower

I love to be showed a bit of live horse racing of a Thursday

Shall I Compare Thee to/with a Summer’s Day?

A client recently asked an interesting question about whether we should use “with” or “to” when making a comparison.

I was sure that both could apply and I know that I have used both instinctively at different times but I was not certain why. Armed with a Shakespeare quote, my own rule has always been to use “compared to” and “in contrast with”, which is actually a handy way of sidestepping the issue (always a good idea with grammar if you’re not 100% sure).

While both are acceptable, this, it turns out, is actually the main point of difference and it all depends on the context.

Generally, we should use:

“compared to” 

when highlighting the similarities between things

“compared with” 

when pointing out the differences

While I had no doubt that Shakespeare got it right, the reason he did was because he was saying that his love was like a Summer’s day. Had he wanted to say that, in contrast with summer’s day, his love was as miserable as Winter, he could have used “with”. I’m glad he didn’t, though, as that would have made for a far less romantic sonnet.

(By the way, in case you're wondering why summer and winter have capital letters in some instances above, it's because they are personified, but that's another day's work!)

TOP 10 TIPS WHEN HIRING A COPYWRITER

Everything you always wanted to know about hiring a copywriter, but were afraid to ask. 

READ MY TOP 10 TIPS HERE

1.   Ask for samples of previous work (especially samples relevant to your particular job).

2.   When asking for a quote, give as much information as possible about what is required. Asking someone to quote for a 20 page website is like asking, “How long is a piece of string?”

3.   Make sure to allow time in the quote for changes.

4.   Don’t necessarily go for the cheapest quote. Take the level of experience of the copywriter and the quality of the work in their portfolio into account.

5.   Look out for any errors in emails they send you. Copywriters who do not proofread their own emails are unlikely to double-check your copy.

6.   Give as clear and detailed a brief as possible. The more information the copywriter has, the better the job they will be able to do, and clear briefs save valuable time and money.

7.   Set a realistic deadline. You won’t get the copywriter’s best work if they’re rushing to meet a deadline but a good copywriter may well do extra work and come up with better concept if they are given a bit of time on the job.

8.   Consolidate all changes into one request if possible. Making endless rounds of changes is unnecessary and wastes time for everyone.

9.   Give constructive feedback. Simply saying you don’t like the tone makes it very difficult to work out what is required.

10. Value the contribution of the copywriter. Copywriters have a valuable role to play in making the complicated simple and compelling, well written copy can really help to sell your product or service.

EYELASHE EXTENSIONS - What a beauty!

I'd love to think that this was a witty play on words but somehow I suspect not.

CAPITAL OFFENCES

Sure, capital letters signify importance but that doesn’t mean that everything important needs to be capitalised. That’s where things start to get really silly.

Take managing directors, for example. They think they’re terribly important and everyone else is afraid of offending them so we see much talk of “Managing Directors”, especially in business publications. 

Just because job titles are commonly capitalised, doesn't mean it's correct. The same goes for politicians and heads of state. An easy rule of thumb is to capitalise titles that come before names, but not titles that come after names.

For example:

President Michael D. Higgins was elected in 2011.

Michael D. Higgins is the ninth president of Ireland.