1 March 201612 February 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Bite-sized Tips No. 23: Spellings Part 18 – Disagreements with the Dragon

Red Dragon My apologies for taking so long to get around to writing another Bite-sized Tips post. This one has been on my to-do list for a while, as have many others. In fact I could quite happily spend my entire working life writing for my blog were it not for the need to earn a living!

Last time I looked at ten spellings that DNS gets right when I’m dictating. Today I’m focusing on ten that DNS does not get right according to the New Oxford Style Manual, which I base both my work and this series on. And if I can’t find what I’m looking for in the style manual, I turn to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

11 July 201511 February 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Bite-sized Tips No. 18: Spellings Part 14 – Some Tricky Ones

Spellings Part 14 – Some Tricky Ones

Below are another ten spellings I’ve looked up to make sure that I’m getting them right according to the style guide I try to base my work on (the New Oxford Style Manual). As you will see, the spellchecker in Microsoft Word doesn’t agree with Oxford a lot of the time, which, in my opinion, is another reason why it’s so important to have a clear idea of the style guide you want to follow (you might like to read this post I wrote on the subject).

31 May 201526 April 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Why All the Fuss about Spellings and Style Guides?

I expect some people will see my latest bite-sized tips post and wonder what it’s all about and why I bother with these lists of spellings and occasional forays into a bit of grammar based on the New Oxford Style Manual. If you’re one of them, then wonder no more because I’m going to reveal my main reasons below.

31 May 201511 February 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Bite-sized Tips No. 17: Spellings Part 13 – Some that might trip you up

Spellings Part 13 – Some that might trip you up

Today we look at another ten spellings, based on the New Oxford Style Manual, which can cause some confusion. Sometimes people add hyphens when they’re not necessary, and other times they leave them out and write the term as two words when it should really be hyphenated. I hope today’s post will confirm what you already know and/or prove useful. All of today’s spellings can be found in the New Oxford Spelling Dictionary, and most also appear in the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, which occasionally provides a brief comment on the spelling rule.

26 May 201511 February 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Bite-sized Tips No. 11: Spellings Part 8 – Only One Word

Spellings Part 8 – Only One Word

Another quick list of ten spellings today as they are all one word. This might sound easy, but given that most of them are closed compound nouns (two words that have been put together to form a new term), the Microsoft spellchecker might not let you know that you should not have written them separately.