Top stories
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Email Subject Lines That Get Opened Without Misleading Anyone
How to write subject lines for newsletters and marketing emails that are specific, honest and easy to scan in a crowded inbox, plus the US legal rule on deceptive subject lines.
The latest
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Dangling Modifiers: How to Spot Them and Three Ways to Fix Them
Why “Walking into the office, the printer jammed” reads so oddly, and three reliable ways to repair a…
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Apostrophes Without the Panic: Possessives, Contractions and Its vs It’s
The three jobs an apostrophe does, how to handle plural and singular possessives, and the small set of…
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How to Use a Semicolon (and When a Full Stop Is Better)
The three jobs a semicolon does, the mistakes that make editors wince, and a quick test for deciding…
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Strength Training for Beginners: A Home Routine You Can Start Today
Why the NHS recommends strength work twice a week, a no-equipment beginner routine, how to progress safely and…
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Damp and Mould at Home: How to Find the Cause and Fix It
How to tell condensation from leaks, clean small patches of mould safely, keep humidity in the range the…
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Your First Job’s Retirement Plan: How to Read the Benefits and Get the Match
A guide for new employees to workplace retirement plans: how employer matching works, the 2026 IRS contribution limits,…
The Sunday Letter
One useful read, every Sunday.
A short note from the editors with the week’s most practical article. No hype, no daily blasts.
Money
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How to Prepare Your Records for Tax Season
A calm, month-by-month system for gathering receipts, forms and statements, with the IRS rules on how long to keep each one.
On writing
More on writing →-
How to Write Concisely: Five Kinds of Words You Can Cut Today
A practical editing guide to wordiness: obvious detail, filler modifiers, repetition, redundant pairs and redundant categories, with before-and-after examples and a word-count table.
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Plain Language: How to Write So Busy Readers Understand You the First Time
What plain language means, the US government guidance behind it, and five practical habits (audience, active voice, present tense, uncovered verbs and short paragraphs) with before-and-after…
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The Plain-English Edit: Seven Cuts That Make Any Paragraph Stronger
Seven small cuts, made one pass at a time, turn a padded paragraph into a clear one, with examples and guidance from the UK and US…
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Better Writing Skills publishes practical, plainly written guides to work, money, home and everyday life. Every article is checked against primary sources, corrected in the open, and sponsored pieces are always labelled.
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