Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Microsoft Word Tips Adjusting Text Alignment - Get Proofed!

Microsoft Word Tips Adjusting Text Alignment - Get Proofed! Adjusting Text Alignment Good formatting is important. After all, you need your text to be easy to read, so it needs to be presented on the page (or screen) clearly and consistently. And text alignment is a big part of this. In this post, then, we’re looking at how to adjust the text alignment in Microsoft Word. Adjusting Text Alignment The alignment options in MS Word control how text is positioned in relation to the page margins. This can be controlled via the â€Å"Paragraph† section of the â€Å"Home† tab on the ribbon. From left to right: Align Left, Center, Align Right, and Justify. From left to right, you have four alignment options available. These are: Align Left – Used to align the text to the left margin Center – Used to position text centrally on the page Align Right – Used to align the text with the right margin Justify – Used to spread text evenly across the page so the first word on each line begins at the left margin and the last word ends at the right margin To apply formatting, simply select the relevant text (or place the cursor where you want to type) and select an alignment option. Alternatively, you can select the text you want to adjust and click the arrow in the bottom corner of the â€Å"Paragraph† section to open a new window. You can then select an option from the dropdown â€Å"Alignment† menu and click â€Å"OK.† The Paragraph menu. Which Option Should You Use? For the main body of your work, you have two main options: Align Left and Justify. Justify is popular because it creates neat blocks of text, so it looks tidy. It is also useful if you have multiple columns of text on the page (this is why newspapers and magazines often use justified text). Align Left is the default for most people, though, particularly in the publishing industry. This is because it’s easy to read and prevents â€Å"rivers† (i.e., vertical blank spaces) appearing in the text. Text alignment options. In most documents, Center should be saved for headings and subheadings. You might also use it for short passages that need to be set apart from the surrounding text. However, if you need to present a longer passage in the middle of the page, such as a block quote, you should use the indent options instead of alignment. Align Right, meanwhile, is not used for much at all. There are some rare occasions when it is useful, such as for positioning a caption relative to an image. Usually, though, it just makes things harder to read. The key with formatting in any document, however, is clarity and consistency. The best alignment option to pick is therefore the one that makes your document as easy to read as possible. If you need a little assistance with your formatting, though, get in touch to see how we can help.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

The Prefix Hypo and Related Words

The Prefix Hypo and Related Words The Prefix Hypo and Related Words The Prefix Hypo and Related Words By Mark Nichol A recent post listed and defined words with the Greek prefix hyper (meaning â€Å"above,† â€Å"beyond,† or â€Å"over†). Here, words based on its antonym, hypo-, are the focus. The most common words beginning with hypo include hypodermic (literally, â€Å"under skin†), an adjective describing injection under the skin or tissue or growths beneath the skin (the word is also employed as a noun, and hypo is a common truncation), and hypothermia (â€Å"under heat†), the term for abnormally low body temperature. Other medical conditions include hypoglycemia (â€Å"under sugar blood†)- colloquially known as â€Å"low blood sugar†- and hypochondria (â€Å"under cartilage†), mental depression in which the sufferer imagines physical ailments, so named from the original belief that such feelings originated in the abdominal organs; the term for the pathological state is hypochondriasis. Hypochondriac is both an adjective describing the condition and a noun pertaining to the sufferer. Hypoallergenic means â€Å"unlikely to cause an allergic reaction,† and the hypothalamus is a key part of the brain that regulates automatic processes in the body. Oxygen deficiency is called hypoxia, and hypomania is a mild mania associated with bipolar disorder. (The respective adjectives are hypoxic and hypomanic.) Other well-known words in the hypo family are hypocrisy (â€Å"under decide†), which evolved in meaning in Greek from â€Å"sift† to â€Å"play a part† and now describes actions or attitudes that contradict one’s stated beliefs or opinions, and hypothesis (â€Å"under proposition†), which denotes something assumed and taken for granted for the sake of argument; the plural is hypotheses. One who demonstrates hypocrisy is deemed hypocritical and called a hypocrite. The adjectival form for hypothesis is hypothetical, and the verb form is hypothesize. A hypotenuse is the side of a right triangle opposite the right angle. (The root word is the basis of tension and tenuous.) More obscure terms in this group include hypocorism (â€Å"under caress†), meaning â€Å"pet name,† as in a diminutive like Bobby, a term of endearment such as honey, or baby-talk forms of address such as papa; such words are hypocoristic. One who lives underground is hypogean (the antonym is epigean), and a hypocaust is a chamber for lighting a fire to heat rooms located above. (The root is the same as that seen in holocaust.) A disguised relation is hyphen- literally, â€Å"under one,† because the mark was originally located beneath the words to be connected. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should Avoid8 Proofreading Tips And TechniquesAppropriate vs. Apropos vs. Apt