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getting started

Getting started with Writing Right couldn't be easier.

• Click the PayPal or Google button on the Product Description page and follow payment and download directions.
• Download Writing Right to your computer, save your new eBook, and begin using it.

Product Description: See now

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what's It good for?

Writing Right will help you write correct, well-chosen, well-constructed English words, phrases, clauses, sentences, or paragraphs. It's ideal for producing formal English expository prose that's correct and has style.

Formal expository English prose is any writing in the English language that serves to expose, expound, set forth, or explain something:

Expository prose writing is typically found in essays, news writing, magazine articles, travel books, cook books, how-to books, and many other places. Works like these, whose main purpose is to inform, are usually written entirely in this style because all the material they contain calls for the utmost clarity.

Expository prose passages are also found in most creative, non-fiction prose works of art, such as novels and short stories, but only in places where the author's primary intent is to inform or explain something in a factual manner.

Expository prose is the kind of writing most professional writers do for a living. Much of what we read on the internet is written in the formal expository  prose style. But expository prose writing is not just for electronic networks, professional publications, and professional writers. Most of us write or read some kind of formal expository prose every day of our lives.

You write formal expository prose when you prepare school work such as an English paper, autobiography, history report, trip report, essay, or lab experiment. You use it when you send a letter-to-the-editor to a magazine or newspaper or when you place an ad. You are likely to include expository prose passages when you write a short story or even a love letter.

Despite the word formal, formal prose writing doesn’t mean stuffy writing. Most of us write expository prose in everyday, casual, relaxed situations. We naturally prefer to use the formal expository prose style when we write a personal note to a friend or loved one, a business letter, a church newsletter, or a garage sale circular. For most of us, formal expository prose writing is the most common kind of writing we do. We write it without giving it a second thought.

Here are some of the different types of publications in which formal expository prose writing is likely to appear:

There's almost no end to the different kinds of formal and informal expository prose documents. theycome in all stylistic shades and serve endless purposes. It's easy to tell if a written work or passage is expository. If its fundamental purpose is to inform and its writing style is factual, it's probably an example of expository prose writing.

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who should use it

Wondering if this handy writing assistant is the right thing to add to your arsenal of writing aids? Writing Right is right for almost anyone who wants help with producing good, sound, clear, effective prose writing.

Are you:

Writing Right is right for almost every level of writing skill and almost every reason to write well. The only prerequisite for using Writing Right is an ability to write basic English sentences. Try it and you’ll soon wonder how you ever got along without it.

It's never too soon or too late to start improving your writing. No matter what your goals, experience, or skill level—no matter where you're at in life—Writing Right will help you write better, more effective English expository prose.

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how to use it

Writing Right runs on your computer alongside your word processor or other application while you write. It's knowledgebase is stored on electronic pages that make it look and feel like a book, but you don't use it as though it were a book.

As you write, you naturally come up with doubtful words, phrases, other expressions, or sentences that make you wonder whether you should use them or replace them with something better. Knowledgebase pages in Writing Right contain the language facts and advice you need to decide. If it turns out that there's a problem with what you are about to write, the knowledgebase helps you find an alternative that's correct and well-styled.

When you search for the information to solve a writing problem like this, you are not inundated with a lot of irrelevant facts. You find just what you need to know and you find it fast. Your focus remains on what you are writing.

So far, Writing Right may seem to work much like paper or other computerized writing aids, but it's not like any dictionary, style guide, grammar primer, checker, or other writing aid you've every used.

Getting help from Writing Right is as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Open Writing Right in a computer window while you read or write in another window or on paper. When in doubt about a word, phrase, or other expression you are reading or writing, use the Adobe Reader FIND or SEARCH command to automatically and speedily locate the expression you want to check in the knowledgebase.
2. Read the language facts, writing advice, and any other information you find listed for the expression and decide what to do to solve your specific writing problem. Everything you need to know it right there, not scattered around in dictionaries, style guides, grammar books, or other reference works.
3. Return to your writing and make the changes you want—or just keep going.

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when to use it

Use Writing Right in these situations. Use Writing Right whenever you want to:

• Catch and correct all sorts of writing mistakes you may make while you are writing, before or when they occur.
• Check and improve your own writing style at the same time you catch and correct errors.
• Edit your work in whole or in part later, after you write.
• Check and correct errors made by others whose work you read or edit; or improve their style.
• Write with your word processor, other software, typewriter—even pen or pencil—while you access the writing knowledgebase in Writing Right on your computer screen.
• Print pages from Writing Right's writing knowledgebase and take them with you for reference. Or lend them to others.
• Bone up on Writing Right's knowledgebase to improve your general writing know how.
• Check Internet pages, eBooks, printed documents, and other uneditable computer displays.
• Check without the aid of a computer, using pages printed from Writing Right.

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Writing & Equipment configurations

Writing Right is ebook software runs on your desktop personal computer, laptop, portable computer, ebook reader, PDA or other hand-held portable electronic device, or other micro-mobile device—any type or brand that supports Adobe Reader^©.

There is only one Writing Right configuration and it works equally well with any Adobe-compatible equipment configuration you choose.

Several different equipment configurations are possible. theyvary according to the writing equipment you choose. Here are some suggestions on different ways you can write with Writing Right:

 Writing with both computer applications and Writing Right on your computer.

Open Writing Right in a window on your computer's monitor screen, side-by-side with the word processor or any other application you normally write with.

Applications you correct with the help of Writing Right aren't limited to word processors. theycan be any kind of application that allows you to enter text—word processors; document processors; typesetter programs; Internet forms; editors for text, graphics, and video; software development programs—you name it.

Start writing in your writing application window. When you have a writing problem, check with Writing Right by switching from your writing application window to your Writing Right window. When you have the writing information you need to solve your writing problem, return to your writing window.

Work back-and-forth between your writing application and Writing Right as you encounter and solve new writing problems. To switch, tab back-and-forth between your writing application window and your Writing Right window; or cascade, stack, or show side-by-side your writing application window and your Writing Right windows.

Writing with electronic devices (like a PDA) or manual devices (like a pen, pencil, or typewriter)

Run Writing Right on your computer or electronic device. Write with your writing application on your electronic or manual device.

NOTE: Electronic devices typically have very small screens. If you choose to run both Writing Right and your writing application on an electronic device, it’s usually best (but not mandatory) to run Writing Right on one electronic device and your writing application on another.

Editing with Writing Right

You may want to check your work after you finish writing part or all of your document; or you may want to check someone else’s work.

Run with Writing Right and the document you are editing in any alternate configuration. The configuration you choose will depend on the equipment on which Writing Right is installed and on the format and medium in which the work you want to edit is recorded.

Writing Right On Paper

Print any Writing Right page or pages. Printer required.

learning with writing right

Writing Right is loaded with information about how to write well. Because Writing Right is an ebook, you can read this information the way you would read a book.

When you’re not writing or editing and have some free time, try reading entries in the Writing Right knowledgebase on your screen or print a version to read later. You’ll learn much that will stand you in good stead. The more you learn about right writing, the fewer writing problems you will need to resolve while you're writing.

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how Does it work?

Writing Right's magic secret is its Writing Right knowledgebase.

The Writing Right knowledgebase is a collection of language facts and advice on good grammar, punctuation, style, spelling, and more. When you look up an expression in the knowledgebase, you're searching for clear, concise, easily understood language facts and advice aimed at helping you resolve a specific writing problem you're having.

Writing Right's automated ebook features let you search the knowledgebase and find the writing information you need to write right quickly and easily, while you're writing, without distraction.

Here are the kinds of facts, advice, and writing information the knowledgebase supplies:

Language facts

Facts on correct and incorrect expressions, with highlighted examples of right and wrong usage in sentences.

Guidelines and advice

Correct and incorrect spelling, grammar, style, punctuation, usage, slang to avoid, good and bad choices, correct and invalid words, meaningless expressions, good and bad logic, clear and fuzzy thought, ambiguous constructions, run-on or wordy passages, correct and inappropriate prepositions, pleonasms and redundancies—whatever you need to know to decide what to do about the expression that's troubling you, and noting else. You get shades of meaning and subtleties of usage as well as bold strokes.

Tips

Things you can do, look for, or watch out for, that will help you to improve your writing style, avoid mistakes, or write according to accepted practice, including suggestions for remembering language facts and applying grammar rules.

Notes

Pointers on subtle but important distinctions; warnings about things to watch out for; suggestions on how to improve your writing generally; ideas and reasons for when and why to choose one word or expression over another.

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Your other writing aids

Writing Right is not intended to replace traditional writing aids or classroom instruction; it's meant to complement and supplement them. Used wisely, it can greatly reduce the time and energy you spend, fumbling between one reference work and another.

Here are a few ways you can make Writing Right synergic with your other writing aids:

• Make Writing Right your first line of defense for solving writing problems and avoiding mistakes. It's fast, convenient, and focused.
• When you begin a writing session on your computer, open Writing Right and consider which of your other paper-based or software-based writing aids you may want to examine later, if and when additional research is called for. Have them at hand.
• When you have a specific writing problem to solve, what you learn by looking into the Writing Right knowledgebase may help you decide whether you need to consult a specialized writing aid such as a dictionary, style guide, spell checker, or grammar text, and which one to call on.
• Work back and forth between Writing Right and your other writing aids as the need arises. For computerized writing aids, tab between windows or tile.

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benefits

Writing Right is designed to help you write better, more effective English expository prose—prose that will be accepted, respected, and even admired by teachers, friends, relatives, and colleagues—by whoever reads what you write. With its help. your writing will become more accurate, clearer, precise, concise, convincing, polished, interesting, punchy, and smooth; it will be better understood. Isn't that what you want most from this kind of writing?

Here are some additional things you'll like about Writing right:

• Writing Right will help transform your writing from a chore to a source of pleasure and satisfaction.
• You'll write faster and with less effort; you'll finish whatever you're writing sooner.
• You'll save time and energy on tasks associated with writing, like proofreading, editing, or revising.
• Your writing will improve as soon as you start to use it.
• No English lessons, text books, tests, or studying.
• Teachers can safely recommend Writing Right to their students as a writing aid. Parents can give it to their children to help them with class assignments.
• Although Writing Right is designed for formal expository writing, it also can help with other kinds of writing.
• When you write better English, you're likely to speak better English, as well.

Writing Right is not a language course or a teacher. There are no prerequisites and nothing to study. Yet virtually anyone can use it with good results. With its help, you're bound to see improvements in your writing.

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sections & Entries—the Knowledgebase

The place where Writing Right keeps the writing information that helps you write right and with style is called the knowledgebase. The knowledgebase contains sections, subsections, pages, and entries.

sections

Writing Right is designed to function as an ebook. The ebook is divided into sections (chapters) and subsections that are composed of pages. Pages contain entries. Entries on pages contain the valid or invalid expressions and other kinds of linguistic information that help you write right and with style.

As a result of this organization, entries in the knowledgebase have the look and feel of entries in a book or catalog. Pages can be turned, sections or chapters can be opened or skipped, and entries in the knowledgebase can be read.

entries

Each entry in the knowledgebase is a linguistic unit designed to treat a single English expression or writing problem. It contains linguistic information a writer needs to detect and correct mistakes that can be made with this expression or to improve its style.

Each Writing Right section is devoted to a specific kind or type of mistake a writer can make. Organizing Writing Right this way makes it easier for a writer to find all the entries that will help with the particular expression or writing problem he is working on.

The kind of information in an entry depends on the section. All entries in a given section contain the same kinds of information and have the same format.

Here are some of the different kinds of information you will find in different kinds of entries:

• A statement of the expression or writing problem.
• Alternate forms of the expression.
• Other expressions related to the expression.
• A simple explanation of why correct forms of an expression are valid and incorrect forms are invalid.
• Guidelines on when an expression is right or wrong depending on how it's used.
• Sample correct and incorrect English sentences.
• Generalizations that help you apply an entry to a variety of writing situations.
• Applicable writing rules.
• Tips offering clarifying information, suggestions for remembering what you've learned, advice on the best places to use or avoid an expression, and more.
• Notes that offer guidelines and pointers on what to notice or watch out for when you write.

A Writing Right entry is analogous to an entry in a dictionary but differs in several respects:

• One of the most important differences is that a Writing Right entry not only contains information about what you should write; it also contains information about writing mistakes and how to correct them.

• An entry in a dictionary, grammar manual, style guide, thesaurus, or other writing aid provides only one kind of language information. A Writing Right entry consolidates in one place all the different kinds of information you normally would get from these multiple sources.

• You see only what you need to solve a specific writing problem and nothing else.

sections and entries—examples

The four sections will serve as examples. theyare:

1.      Good Choice—When there are two or more optional words or expressions that might express the fact or idea you want to convey, entries in the Good Choice section help you decide which option is right for the situation at hand.

2.      Stop Repeating Yourself—The section called Stop Repeating Yourself shows you how to avoid redundant expressions and when to use expressions that are not redundant even though they may seem to be.

3.      Incorrect expressions—The section called Incorrect Expressions, found in the section called Oops!, contains expressions that are just plain bad English, but many writers insist on using them anyway.

4.      General Writing Rules—The section called General Writing Rules, found in the section called Writing with Style, suggests writing practices that are likely to improve a prose writer's style.

Shown below are entries taken from each of the four sections cited above, one entry for each section. Entries are typical of the section they represent:

Good Choice

its, it's

its (pronoun) the possessive form of it; used to show that something is owned by another thing; similar to his or your.

The computer displayed its information on a huge forty-inch monitor. (The information belongs to the computer.)

it's (contraction) it is (used in informal speech and writing only).

It's not unusual to run into traffic at 5 p.m. (It is not unusual…)

Tip: The confusion between its and it’s arises because many words that contain apostrophes are possessive forms, for example, Tom’s book, the schools’ students. In the case of its/it’s, however, the possessive form, its, does not use an apostrophe; instead, the subject/verb combination, it is, is elided with an apostrophe to produce it’s. The only way to be sure you are using the correct form is to read the phrase you are writing with the words it is instead of its or it’s. If the phrase makes sense with it is, write it’s; otherwise, write its.

Stop Repeating Yourself—Redundancies

add together

The word together is not needed because add means to put

things together or to unite or join to increase the number or size of things.

INSTEAD OF:

To have enough money to buy a new CD, my sister and I had to add our allowances together.

 

WRITE:

To have enough money to buy a new CD, my sister and I had to add our allowances.

Oops!—Incorrect Expressions

alot

There is no such word or phrase as alot (one word) or a lot (two

words); they are not in the dictionary.

Both of these expressions sometimes appear in informal English meaning a

large amount. Avoid using either version.

INSTEAD OF:

I like ice cream alot.

WRITE:

I really like ice cream.

Tip: Allot is a legitimate English word that sounds the same as alot or a lot.

Allot means to distribute proportionally. Even though it sounds the

same, don't confuse the word allot with alot or a lot. Be careful to spell

it correctly.

Style—General Writing Rules

Form plurals of acronyms by adding an s; do not use an apostrophe.

INSTEAD OF:

We bought three new IBM’s for the office.

WRITE:

We bought three new IBMs for the office.

Getting Help

Writing Right is simple and easy to use, but if you need additional help, the eBook includes a section on how to use the Writing Right's features to help you write better. In a few pages you'll find everything you need to know to use this unique writing assistant to good advantage.

ETAF also offers technical help with downloading and installation when you get get started, a newsletter, and a Writing Right user discussion group at Electricka's Forums, where other Writing Right users and ETAF staff offer assistance on using Writing Right to write better prose.

• Writing Right Support summary: See now
• Sign up to receive the Writing Right Newsletter at Electricka's Email Center: See now
• Visit the Writing Right User Discussion group at Electricka's Forums: See now

Help with downloading and using the Adobe Reader is offered at no cost by Adobe at the Adobe Reader Support Center.

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How To Write Right—the Writing Right White Paper

Read the complete Writing Right story of Writing Right in a nutshell.

The Writing Right White Paper, titled How To Write Right is a no-cost white paper that presents the theory and practice behind Writing Right. How to Write Right shows you how to use Writing Right as your writing assistant. It explains how it helps you write correct, well-styled English prose and reveals why it works.

Reading this white paper will help you decide whether Writing Write is a writing aid you should own.

• Get your free copy of the Writing Right White Paper:  Download now

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The Writing Right Users Page

Electricka's help with writing begins with Writing Right but doesn't end there. Electricka recognizes that, for most of us, developing writing skills doesn't stop with employing a computerized writing assistant like Writing Right; it's a lifelong growth process.

Writing is an ever-changing, ever-expanding world in its own right. If one is to keep growing, it's a world one must learn to keep up with. That's why Electricka places a premium on user participation. Once you become a Writing Right user, she offers continuing support and the opportunity to get involved and stay involved.

It's all happening at the Writing Right Users Page.

• Writing Right Users Page: See now

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essay on Writing

If you've always wondered about how it's possible for humans to speak, read, or write...if you have a vested interest in knowing what enables people—even ordinary people with average or no formal education—to speak, read, or write write well...you may want to explore the essay titled, Is There Really Such a Thing as Writing Right?

This essay:

• Clarifies some of the factors behind writing successes and failures.
• Identifies the forces that can affect anyone's potential for writing better.
• Explains the theory of language underlying the design of Writing Right.

• Is There Really Such a Thing as Writing Right? Visit the page called Publish Your Essay and select it from the list of essays you find there: See now

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product announcement

• View the Writing Right product announcement: See now

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Purchase Policies

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