Schaefer Wordsmithing helps you with more than editing your writing; we provide articles and posts offering tips and other guidance on writing, grammar, and usage to help you improve your writing.
Below are some of our more recent articles organized by topic.
Writing
Write in English, not in “Science Speak”
Scientific research is hard; writing a scientific paper in good English style can be even harder. Pick up almost any paper in a scientific journal, and you’ll encounter sentences like…
On Using AI to Write
I was feeling cheeky and a little curious, so I asked ChatGPT to write me an essay on why using human writers was superior to AI. Perhaps the most fascinating…
The Passive Voice Is Nothing to Fear
The passive voice is one of the most popular no-nos for good English writing. Most style guides—and writing software like Microsoft Word and Grammarly—will tell you: avoid using the passive…
Grammar
When to Use Whomever and Whoever
Educated writers, aware of the difference between who and whom, will often generate sentences like the following: (1)Whoever we elect as chair will do a good job.(2)He gives this document…
Definite and Indefinite Articles: How to Use “The” and “A”
Decades ago, I studied abroad in Moscow, in the Soviet Union. One day, my Russian friends and I were walking along at VDNkh and came across a billboard that read…
The Fault Is in Our Grammars: Language, Gender, and Pronouns
To say that our cultural consciousness on matters of gender identity is rapidly evolving is an understatement. In a few short years, our awareness as a culture went from practically…
Usage
The Difference Between That and Which
At first glance, there might not appear to be a difference between that and which, two relative pronouns used to introduce a dependent clause in a sentence. But in careful…
When to Use Whomever and Whoever
Educated writers, aware of the difference between who and whom, will often generate sentences like the following: (1)Whoever we elect as chair will do a good job.(2)He gives this document…
The Fault Is in Our Grammars: Language, Gender, and Pronouns
To say that our cultural consciousness on matters of gender identity is rapidly evolving is an understatement. In a few short years, our awareness as a culture went from practically…
Reflection
On Using AI to Write
I was feeling cheeky and a little curious, so I asked ChatGPT to write me an essay on why using human writers was superior to AI. Perhaps the most fascinating…
The Fault Is in Our Grammars: Language, Gender, and Pronouns
To say that our cultural consciousness on matters of gender identity is rapidly evolving is an understatement. In a few short years, our awareness as a culture went from practically…
On Capitalizing “Black” and “White” When Talking about Race
Questions of racial justice and equity have occupied—as they should—a large role in our national discourse of late. A long-overdue examination of the embedded biases and structural inequities in our…
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