Foundational Writing Skills

Active Voice

Passive voice should be avoided when writing for a blog or any website. Active voice is when the subject of the sentence directly performs the action.

Example of active voice:

The student failed the assignments for her excessive use of passive voice.

Example of passive voice:

The student has failed too many assignemtns and will not pass the class.

Precision

Often times writers use vocabulary that is inflated or commonly used. Unfortunately, this creates the opportunity for misuse. A writer should be fully aware of the context and desired message. Using too many words or the wrong words to communicate is detrimental to a blogger's credibility and purpose. The use of precision ensures that your article conveys the correct message without confusing or overwhelming the audience.

Utilize a thesaurus and dictionary to achieve correct vocabulary for blog entries.

"In lieu of" vs. "In light of"

In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to X, Y, or Z charity.

In light of the recent mistakes in the media, we've decided to withhold the names of suspects until identities are confirmed.

Here, in lieu of means 'instead of' or 'in absence of'. In light of means 'due to' or 'because of'. The two are not interchangeable. Unfortunately this mistake is often made with common phrases and words. As a blogger one should be diligent in checking for precision in his writing. Lack of precision negates the act of fact checking.