Many writers neglect to set off foreign words within their documents in the appropriate manner. It is necessary to set off foreign words with italics when the word is not used in everyday conversation or may not be immediately known to the audience--even when you are explaining what the word means.

Examples

Incorrect: The German word zeitgeist means the spirit of the times.

Correct: The German word zeitgeist means "the spirit of the times."

Incorrect: The word lexicon comes from the Greek word lexikon.

Correct: The word "lexicon" comes from the Greek word lexikon.

Incorrect: Peter Carl Faberge's workshops produced many exquisite objects d'art.

Correct: Peter Carl Faberge's workshops produced many exquisite objects d'art.

(This final example is arguable. Some foreign words that were previously rarely used have become so common to the English language that their meanings are widely known and may not need to be set off from the text.)

As you can see, the word being described, or the description of the word, is set off by quotations to signify that it is not a regular part of the sentence. Please follow this convention in your own writing.

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"If, then" statements require commas to separate the two clauses that result.

If I use correct punctuation, then I will include commas where necessary.

If Hillary Clinton wins the election in 2008, then she will become the first female president.

Even when the statement drops the word then, a comma must be used.

If Santa Clause was real, he would bring me a new bike.

If I had the money, I would go to Krakow for vacation.

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When they introduce a sentence, transitional statements should be set off by commas.

Transitional statements include:

• However
• Moreover
• Therefore
• Furthermore
• Consequently
• As a result
• For instance
• For example
• In other words
• On the other hand

These examples only touch upon the diversity of transitional statements used in the English language. These statements are often used to introduce sentences to transition into a related idea.

Examples:

I do not like your mother's cooking. Consequently, I do not want any of her mashed potatoes.

She's always making excuses. Moreover, she's lazy!

Commercials never depict men buying refrigerators. On the other hand, commercials never depict women buying electric shavers.

Notice that there is a comma after every transitional statement used. This convention should be consistently practiced in your own writing.

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Many writers a Constant Content eliminate the comma required by a compound sentence. A compound sentence is a sentence that can be broken into two distinct sentences. The pattern may be a variation of subject-verb-object, subject-verb-object.

Incorrect:

The dog barked and he growled at me.

Correct:

The dog barked, and he growled at me.

This sentence can be broken into two sentences: The dog barked. He growled at me.

However, a comma should not be used in a sentence that consists of a subject-verb-object followed by a clause that would, if it were separated from the sentence, become a sentence fragment.

Incorrect:

The cat was scared, and shaking uncontrollably.

Correct:

The cat was scared and shaking uncontrollably.

Complete sentence: The cat was scared. Fragment: Shaking uncontrollably.

The explanation here is decidedly simplistic and is better explained in more depth elsewhere. There are many, many comma resources on the web. Some of these are resources featured on the websites of well-respected institutions of higher education. Any Google search will bring up more results than you need. Please review these so that you writing may be punctuated professionally and without error.

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One reason that the editors at Constant Content felt the need to introduce a Premium Articles category is customers' need of authors who have their own voice. Some people also call this "style," but this word is often applied to nuances in writing incorrectly, so we'll stick with the word "voice."

Many of the authors at Constant Content are stuck in a formulaic rut. They begin an article with a broad statement that everyone knows to be true, then they drill down to the point of their article, and then they tick off the relevant issues within their topic. This is fine for everyday web writing. In a way, it's how it should be (though I could gently suggest that everyone work on interesting "hooks"). Eliminating personality means that the article will be accessible to the broadest audience and the widest range of websites. Many customers come here seeking articles just like that.

However, there comes a time when personal voice needs to come out. There are customers who are seeking content that expresses a strong voice. This doesn't mean that they want writers to create content in the first person point-of-view--this means that they want writers to make their writing interesting reading, no matter what topic their writing about, from home improvement to philosophy.

If I'm a typical web surfer, and I am seeking information on kitchen cabinets, the way the article is written is not my first concern. I don't want to weed through delicate descriptions--I want the meat and potatoes about kitchen cabinets. What are my options? How much will it cost me? How do I find someone who can install kitchen cabinets?

However, if I am the devoted reader of an online or print publication, I enjoy reading that publication for reading's sake--and hope to get information out of it as a part of the unspoken deal while enjoying how the information is being presented to me. Alternatively, if I land on the page of a luxury lifestyle web magazine or open up the pages of a print publication that caters to a more sophisticated audience (because if I'm reading it, I must be sophisticated, right?), then I expect that that publication will offer me content that fits the bill of what I expect, and that the writers will speak to my highly developed intelligence and good taste, not only through content, but how they describe or explain the information.

There are customers out there looking for the latter type of article. But Constant Content has a dearth of articles with unique personality. We have plenty of articles that begin with "There is a variety of materials to choose from when you're looking to update your kitchen cabinets." We have fewer articles that take a different approach, that step up the expectations, that take the reader on a kitchen cabinet journey through styles and materials and kitchen cabinet history in a way that makes a boring subject boring no longer. It's easy to list the types of materials kitchen cabinets can be made from--plywood, oak, mahogany, brushed steel. It's more difficult to accurately describe these materials in a unique way that will compare them and contrast them, identify their origins, list their faults or advantages, or tell a reader flat-out why they should or should not choose to work with a type of material using appropriate adjectives and clever turns of phrase.

Next time you sit down to write an article, think about injecting a little bit of personality into the piece. Make sure that you keep "accuracy of expression" in mind when you do so; the experiment will fail if what you say ends up sounding awkward, illogical, or cliched. Think about writing a piece that is interesting for various reasons--not just because it contains information, but because the writing is interesting as well.

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