getting started
Getting started with Writing Right couldn't be easier.
- Click the PayPal or Google Wallet 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 any kind of English prose
that's correct and has style.
Writing Right will help you with:
Homework, essays, news writing, magazine articles,
travel books, cook books, how-to books, Internet pages, business letters, and many
other kinds of writing. Works like these,
whose main purpose is to inform, usually require the
utmost clarity.
Prose passages found in most
creative, non-fiction prose works of art, such as novels and short stories,
poems, dramas, and in other kinds of works where your intent is to inform or explain
something in a factual manner.
These are the kinds of writing most
professional writers do for a living. But Writing Right is not just for
electronic networks, printed professional publications, or professional writers.
Most of us also write at work, home,
school, in business; we write prose when we're with friends or when we shop;
we write it every day of
our lives.
You write prose when you prepare school work such as an English paper,
autobiography, history report, trip
report, essay, diary, or lab experiment. You use it when you send a
letter-to-the-editor or op-ed to a magazine or newspaper or when you place an ad
at a web site or in a newspaper or brochure.
You write prose passages when you write a short
story or even a love letter.
Writing Right isn't just for formal or stuffy
writing, it's for informal writing as well. Most of us write prose in
everyday, casual, relaxed situations; we write personal notes to friends or loved
ones, church newsletters, or garage sale circulars.
We write notes on how to defrost frozen dinners for our kids. For most of us,
prose writing is the most common kind of
writing we do. It comes naturally to us; we write it without giving it a second thought.
Here are some of the different types of publications in which
prose writing is likely to appear:
- Newspapers
- Business Literature
- Text Books
- How-To Books
- Book Reviews
- Use and Care Books
- Warrantees and Guarantees
- Proposals
- Brochures
- Short stories
|
- Magazine Articles
- Advertising
- White Papers
- Self-Help Books
- Editorials
- Business Letters
- Personal Letters That Inform
- Memos
- Catalogs
- Email
|
- Technical Reports
- Scientific Papers
- Pamphlets
- Speeches
- School Work
- Product Assembly Instructions
- Announcements
- User Manuals
- Diaries
- Introductions and prefaces
|
There's almost no end to the different kinds of formal and
informal prose writing that Writing Right can help us write. They come
in all stylistic shades and serve endless purposes.
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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:
- An English student?
- Foreign born?
- A temporary worker ?
- An
immingrant?
- A homemaker?
- A caregiver?
- A student?
-
A business,
scientific, or technical professional expected to write polished prose?
- Working
to qualify for a new or better job? Worried about keeping the job you
have?
- A first-time language learner in grammar or high school?
- A college undergrad needing writing remediation?
- A grad student majoring in science or engineering?
|
- Facing SATs, GREs,
or National Merits looming ahead?
- A student who wants to improve his or her grades?
- Struggling in a remedial English
course?
- A recent arrival in
the U.S. for whom English is a second language (ESL)?
- A high
school dropout going for a GED?
-
An adult embarrassed
about your writing?
- A teacher
or writer who does lots of editing?
- An English or teacher or writing instructor?
- A parent distressed about a child's lack of progress?
- An academic or
professional scientist or engineer who publishes research papers or submits
proposals or reports?
|
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 app 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:
- Open Writing Right in a hand-held device or 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.
- 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.
- Return to your writing and make the changes you want—or
just keep going.
NOTE:
Writing Right is not a spell checker or grammar checker;
it's not a computer app add in. It does not work by inspecting what
you're writing and automatically checking or correcting it. You do
that manually.
Most hand-held devices do not allow you to open more than one
window at a time.
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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 runs on any
virtually kind or brand of device equipped with Adobe Reader®—
- smart phone
- tablet
- laptop
- notebook
- portable computer
- desktop personal computer
There is only one Writing Right configuration
and it works equally well with any Adobe-compatible equipment configuration
you choose.
*NOTE: Most eBook readers do not support Adobe Reader at this time.
Writing with Writing Right*
Several different equipment configurations are possible; they vary
according to the optional writing equipment configurations you choose.
Here are some
suggestions on different ways you can write with Writing Right.
Most tablets, laptops, notebooks, IBM-compatible PCs, and MAC computers
allow you to open more than one window at a time:
Begin by opening Writing Right in
one window on your device's screen. Then open your writing app in another
window, side-by-side next to the Writing Right window.
Your writing app can be a word processor,
Internet browser, document processor, typesetter
program, graphics designer, slide show maker, video
viewer, software developer—any other kind of app that runs on your
device and accepts text.
Or if you prefer to write with
two physical automated devices at one time, put Writing Right on one
device and your writing app on another.
You can even use Writing Right
when you write on paper with a pen or pencil.
Most smart phones and a few other kinds of
devices limit you to one display window at a time:
If the screen on your device
displays only one window at a time, begin by opening Writing Right on
your smart phone or other automated device and then write on any physically
separate automated or manual device that accepts text.
You can even write with an
automated or manual typewriter, or a pen or pencil on paper.
Once Writing Right is ready to roll,
begin writing:
As you write, consult Writing Right
whenever you have a question about the text you are writing or encounter
a writing problem.
Check with Writing Right by
manually switching your attention from your writing app to your Writing Right display window.
Use Writing Right
to look up answers to your writing question or to solve a writing problem.
When you have the help from Writing Right you need, return to your writing
window, make correction or other changes, and resume writing.
Work
back-and-forth manually between your writing app and Writing Right as
you encounter and solve new writing problems.
Suggestions:
Smart phones and a few other kinds of hand-held devices
typically have very small screens. If you have two automated devices and
they have different sized screens, if practical try running Writing
Right on the larger screen.
If Writing Right
is open in one window and your writing app is open in another, your device
may allow you to automatically switch, tab
back-and-forth between your writing app window and your Writing Right
window; or cascade, stack, or show side-by-side your writing app
window and your Writing Right window. Most MAC and IBM PC-compatible
operating systems support these features. So do most mobile devices other
than cell phones.
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 Writing Right works
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 nothing 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. they are:
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.)
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.
Chances are your device came equipped with Adobe Reader when you acquired
it; or you downloaded the free Adobe Viewer app from your app store or from
Adobe. Get help for the Adobe viewer from them.
Read the complete Writing Right story of Writing Right in a nutshell.
Reading this white paper will help you decide whether Writing Write is a
writing aid you should own.
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.
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?