I have been a copy editor for nearly 23 years, since before there was Google. (Note: It’s a lot easier to be a copy editor with Google than it was without. Once I had to call a racetrack to make sure a racing term was correct.)
I spend a lot of my time making sure words are spelled right for the sentence they’re in. Is it an everyday occurrence or an every day one? Are those peanuts complimentary or complementary?
When I’m searching for the answer, nothing makes me zone out like a long grammar lesson that uses words like dangling or modifier or nominative or past imperfect. Even as someone who majored in English and messes with grammar and spelling 40 hours a week, I find those answers convoluted. My theory is you might too.
What I want is a fast answer, or, even better, a little trick I can play to remember which word to use next time without looking it up. And that’s why I present Volume III of How to Write Like You Know What You’re Doing.