ESL Writing
The Bad Big Wolf? A Proofreader’s Guide to Adjective Order
The Bad Big Wolf? A Proofreader’s Guide to Adjective Order
Oct 08, 2022
If the phrases “black little dress” and “red dry wine” sound strange in your head, you have intrinsic knowledge of English adjective order. When we use multiple adjectives to modify a noun or nouns, they don’t fall into a random sequence. Rather, they follow a pattern based on their function. In fact, most native English […]
Punctuation in Other Languages (And Why It Matters for Proofreaders)
Punctuation in Other Languages (And Why It Matters for Proofreaders)
May 20, 2021
Proofreaders are (or should be!) familiar with how common punctuation marks are used in English. But punctuation marks and conventions differ between languages. As a result, when working with ESL clients, you might spot some unusual punctuation in a document. If you do see non-English punctuation in a document, you will need to correct it […]
Negative Prefixes
Top 5 Tips for ESL Proofreading
Oct 07, 2017
As a proofreader, you are almost certain to encounter clients who do not speak English as a first language. This may seem daunting, but never fear! In this post, we have five top tips for working with ESL (English as a second language) clients and documents. 1. Be Clear and Patient in Your Communication The […]
The Bad Big Wolf? A Proofreader’s Guide to Adjective Order
Oct 08, 2022
If the phrases “black little dress” and “red dry wine” sound strange in your head, you have intrinsic knowledge of English adjective order. When we use multiple adjectives to modify a noun or nouns, they don’t fall into a random sequence. Rather, they follow a pattern based on their function. In fact, most native English […]
Punctuation in Other Languages (And Why It Matters for Proofreaders)
May 20, 2021
Proofreaders are (or should be!) familiar with how common punctuation marks are used in English. But punctuation marks and conventions differ between languages. As a result, when working with ESL clients, you might spot some unusual punctuation in a document. If you do see non-English punctuation in a document, you will need to correct it […]
Negative Prefixes
Aug 07, 2018
English is a magpie language. It picks up shiny words wherever it can, and it doesn’t care how disorganised its rules become in the process. Or should that be ‘unorganised’? Take prefixes, for instance. We have de-, dis-, un-, and in-, all of which signify that something isn’t the case. And they’re not the only […]
Top 5 Tips for ESL Proofreading
Top 5 Tips for ESL Proofreading
Oct 07, 2017
As a proofreader, you are almost certain to encounter clients who do not speak English as a first language. This may seem daunting, but never fear! In this post, we have five top tips for working with ESL (English as a second language) clients and documents. 1. Be Clear and Patient in Your Communication The […]