From a Baltimore Sun column by John McIntyre headlined “So you want to be a writer”:
So you want to write about performances …
learn the difference between premiere and premier.
So you want to write about elections …
learn the difference between canvass and canvas.
So you want to write about polling …
learn the difference between percentage point and percent.
(While you’re at it, it wouldn’t hurt to learn how to calculate and check percentages.)
So you want to write about people who obsessively accumulate objects …
learn the difference between hoard and horde.
So you want to write about publishing …
learn the difference between foreword and forward.
So you want to write about the Marines …
learn the difference between corps and core — and, God save us all, corpse.
So you want to write about churches …
learn the difference between altar and alter.
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John McIntyre, a newspaper editor for nearly four decades, is a former president of the American Copy Editors Society. He has taught editing at Loyola University Maryland since 1995 and has conducted workshops on editing throughout the United States and Canada.
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