25
votes
How can I write a better title for my ELL question?
1 Introduction
Titles give a first impression of your post. Good titles bring positive attention to your question, and you will get it answered sooner; more upvotes will follow etc. Bad titles don't ...
- 7,343
15
votes
How can I write a better title for my ELL question?
Quick Reference Card for Writing Good Titles
(summarized from the more detailed answer)
Put words from other sources in "quotation marks"
between thumb, forefinger and middle finger - why ...
11
votes
Memorandum of Formatting
I'm noticing an uptick in the number of posts where
pre-formatted
is being used over
Blockquote
Can we agree that blockquote is preferable?
Unlike **pre-formatted**
Blockquote allows ...
- 11.9k
8
votes
Let's use plain language (this time for real)
As an editor and proponent of what editors call plain language, I feel I have to act as a kind of apologist here, as well as provide possible side commentary to what's already been said.
In the ...
- 36k
8
votes
Let's use plain language (this time for real)
One thing that your post overlooks that should be highlighted is that ELL is not divided into "askers" and "answerers". In many cases, because they've struggled with the same ...
- 11.9k
7
votes
Let's use plain language (this time for real)
While loquaciousness for the sake of loquaciousness is obviously a bad thing to have in an answer, I do think taking a common sense approach to writing answers is enough, and don't agree that ELL ...
- 9,114
6
votes
Suggestion: Markup for an incorrect example
The standard practice in linguistics is to distinguish a text being discussed from the actual discussion by putting it in italics:
To be or not to be is a conjunction of infinitives acting as an NP.
...
- 174k
6
votes
How can I write a better title for my ELL question?
Avoid putting something critical to your question in the title of the question unless you add it to the body of the question as well.
In other words, make sure that someone can read your whole ...
J.R.Mod
- 109k
5
votes
Accepted
Guide to formatting ELL answers -- best practices?
In general, don't overuse formatting. If you can make do with a paragraph containing one italicized word and a "short" quote, don't turn it into a bulleted list with bold and italics and superscript ...
4
votes
Accepted
ELL policy re. salutations and thank-you's in questions
There's quite a bit of discussion in the comments, but as the question lacks a formal answer I thought I'd provide one :)
The answer is two-fold:
First, yes, the SE consensus is to not add "thanks" ...
- 14.5k
3
votes
Let's use plain language (this time for real)
The suggestion we use "plain language" as described to help English language learners is not a good one. It assumes that those who answer might use confusing language. Some may, there is no ...
- 39.3k
1
vote
An Editing Manual
Back to top
Formatting
Use > to create blockquotes for example sentences, and quotes from sources, including, but not limited to, dictionary definitions, grammar articles, quotes from Google ...
- 7,343
1
vote
An Editing Manual
Fixing up the tags
The purpose of tags is not to completely describe every nuance of the question. Tags should make it easy for people that are interested in answering or reading the answers to that ...
1
vote
How can I write a better title for my ELL question?
The title should BE the question.
Example -
Does pronouncing "the" as "thee" change its meaning?
Read on if you are still interested.
With all due respect to the answers above, this is a site ...
- 746
1
vote
Suggestion: Markup for an incorrect example
I sometimes use images, such as
Correct example here:
incorrect example here.
This practice is very common in the Wikipedia manual of style (MOS) pages. Remember that any markup should produce a ...
David SiegelMod
- 40.4k
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