Connor Brooke
Yes, campers, March 4 is National Grammar Day, established in 2008 by Martha Brockenbrough, founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar (SPOGG) and author of Things That Make Us [Sic] (extra geek points to everyone who gets the pun in that title).
If you’ve hung around this blog or our podcast for a while, you’ll know that I’m big on getting grammar right. And I’m not the only one. Good grammar does make a difference, and what seem to many to be “nitpicky” details really can make or break you as a thought leader … which is what we content marketers are after, right?
So here’s my gift to you on this day: 10 tips to keep your content on the high road. Enjoy!
- An apostrophe (‘) is used for one of two purposes: (a) to show possession (“Sophie’s delicious rawhide bone”) or (b) in a contraction (a grammatical mashup of a noun and a verb, as in “that’s” in place of “that is”). That’s it. No sneaking them into plurals (“try our delicious cake’s”).
- Not all spelling mistakes will be picked up by your spell-checker. Proofread, proofread, proofread!
- Avoid comma splices (“I looked for John, he wasn’t there”). If you need to join two independent clauses (clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence), insert “and” or a semicolon (;). A comma won’t cut it here.
- “Their,” “they’re,” and “there” are not interchangeable. Get ’em straight.
- Ditto for “your” and “you’re.”
- Ditto again for “its” and “it’s.”
- And again for “peek,” “peak,” and “pique.”
- “Affect” is a verb; “effect” is (in most cases) a noun.
- Something is “different from” (not “different than”) something else.
- “[person’s name] and I” or “[person’s name] and me?” It depends on the phrase’s role in the sentence.
- Use “… and I” if it’s the subject (“Adam and I are going to the
conference”). - Use “… and me” if it’s a direct object or object of a preposition (“Please email that to Robert and me”).
- Use “… and I” if it’s the subject (“Adam and I are going to the
OK, folks, your turn: what are your top tips for becoming a grammar ninja? Share them with us in the Comments!
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.
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Firstly, thank you Ms. Parker. This is a very refreshing article and I really enjoyed it. My tips:
Know your audience. Its is almost never approapriate in a workplace to use ‘text’ language. ‘U’ is a crime against grammar.
Also, and this is a problem that I make quite a lot, using capitol letters at the begining of words should be reserved for names and the begining of a sentence.
Thank you for your comment, Louis! And I couldn’t agree more about the “text lingo” — it drives me batty!
“I could care less” is the EXACT opposite of what you mean to say. This is just common sense.
Also, it seems as though no-one know what a split infinitive is anymore. “To not do” is incorrect. “Not to do” is correct. Keep the “to” with the verb.
YOU SHOULD HAVE ALSO ADDED….WORDS ENDING IS “S” ARE ALWAYS MADE POSSESSIVE BY ONLY ADDING AN APOSTROPHE (‘) AFTER IT…NEVER ADD ANOTHER “S” AS IS DONE WITH ALL WORDS NOT ENDING IN “S”. THIS ERROR IS RAMPANT IN PAPERS, ON TV SCREENS, IN CLOSE CAPTIONS, ETC & GROWING IN MISUSE.
In school, in English classes, we were marked on our SPG – spelling, punctuation and grammar. So my pedantic question for Grammar Day: are Tips 1-8 corrections of errors in grammar? Is a spelling mistake or a misplaced comma a grammar mistake?
My #1 grammar tip for anyone is:
Please know that “of” is a preposition and should never follow the words could, would, or should. EVER! :)
Also, in paragraph 2 of this post, I believe the word “seem” should be plural. ;) Have a great day.
Good points all — thanks for chiming in, Esther, Dale, and Tim. To answer your question, Tim, as a veteran of Catholic grammar school, I agree with you that not all these are technically grammar mistakes. They are all connected to good writing, and the header is mainly for convenience’s sake.
More tips:
1. AVOID, at all costs, writing like millenials speak. I.E. “I go to Suzie, I go …” and “I was like, WOW, and she was like OMG …”.
2. Use active verb tenses instead of passive ones. I.E. My company sent me to China vs. I was sent to China by my company.
3. Don’t use a $10 word when a $1 one will suffice.
Dale, actually both uses are acceptable.
Rachel, thanks for addressing these common mistakes. My biggest grammar pet peeve is probably “your” vs. “you’re” because it’s so commonly misused. I also get aggravated when people use “that” and “who” incorrectly (although sometimes I make the mistake when I don’t proofread my work).
One of my pet peeves is how dates are sometimes written. It is not March 7th, 2014. Instead, it is March 7, 2014. You do not need to include the “th” after the 7. I see this done incorrectly all of the time! Even when the year is not listed, I believe the correct way to write out a date is March 7, not March 7th. The only time you use a “th” is when you write the date as the 7th of March.
Very good to see guardians of grammar are alive and well, I had just about given up! May I add to never use “no time to loose”? I have recently seen many examples of lose and loose being incorrectly substituted for each other, even in professional publications, when just a few years ago everyone seemed to know the difference between the verb (lose) and the adjective (loose). Also, my pet peeve has to be one everyone has surely seen: “irregardless”! I would be surprised if some of you haven’t already written in on this one, but it is either regardless or irrespective, please let’s not make up a phantom word (too late, I fear)…
Hear hear. Mark, there is also the similar issue where people confuse “chose” with “choose”. One of my pet hates is when people say they are “weary” but they mean “wary” or vice versa. However, the error which has my eyes uncontrollably rolling is whenever I hear “… we was” or ” … was you” … grrr! I have also noticed that since text messaging became popular that “ppl” use text speak in their emails and status updates, etc. I do wonder whether this is a strategy people employ to hide their ignorance in such matters?
How about the increasing acceptability of the incorrect use of ‘over’ when ‘more than’ should be used? For example, ‘over 50 million cars were sold last year,’ should be ‘more than 50 million cars were sold last year.’ The rule is: if it/they can be counted, no matter how large the number, use ‘more than.’ ‘Over’ can be used for percentages, or a reference to over the moon, over the rainbow, and, well, you understand now, right? I could give you more than 60 thousand examples!
I appreciate those who use “well” properly, rather than the common mistake of using “good.” I have also been perplexed by the recent modification to the word training – making it plural to denote multiple sessions or training opportunities. “Trainings” is not correct.