Posts tagged as:

grammar

How Many Kinds of Grammar Are There Really?

by Travis Heermann February 4, 2010 Editing
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Most people believe that English grammar is simply English grammar. There is a right way and a wrong way to construct a sentence, a right place and a wrong place to put a comma, words that go together and words that don’t. For the most part, this is true. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of [...]

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Good Grammar Survives the Texting Age

by Mistina Picciano August 31, 2009 Grammar
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Seemingly overnight, texting has altered how people use grammar. “Techspeak” is creeping into the personal and the business environment. It’s become a grammar free-for-all where punctuation has disappeared and capitalization is MIA. In speeding down the information superhighway, it is important to not get pulled over by the grammar police. Following grammar sends the message [...]

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Breathe in, breathe out. With a comma.

by Mistina Picciano July 17, 2009 Editing

If you want to communicate your written message clearly, then you owe it to yourself, and your audience, to be purposeful about punctuation. Take the comma. Used correctly, it can help your readers navigate their way through some of your most sophisticated prose. Used effectively, it can add a subtle pause to accentuate your point. [...]

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Don’t Leave ‘Em Dangling

by Travis Heermann April 30, 2009 Editing

Here’s something to avoid in your written communications. Inexperienced writers (and even some experienced ones!) occasionally make dangling participle errors. Sound like something your high-school English teacher would say? Maybe, but professionals do not dare to make errors like these. Professional-level writing requires a professional-level understanding of grammar and clarity. A participle is a verb [...]

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Speech Versus Writing—One Pitfall of Not Knowing the Difference

by Travis Heermann March 27, 2009 Writing

Consider this: casual writing arises from casual speaking. We naturally use a lot of contractions in our speech, most often without thinking about them. (A contraction is the mashing together of a noun and verb am/is/are.) You’re (you are) and they’re (they are) are ubiquitous in speech, and they also lead to some of the [...]

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It’s. Embarrassing.

by Mistina Picciano March 21, 2009 Editing

Last week, I received an email from a blog I subscribe to, one I’ve always regarded as highly professional. That opinion dipped somewhat when I saw the headline misusing the word “it’s.” “5 Things [FORTUNE 50 COMPANY] is Doing to Improve It’s Image (That You Can Do, Too!)” These master marketers had mistakenly used the [...]

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Casual vs. Formal Writing? Know Your Audience!

by Travis Heermann March 19, 2009 Writing

Who wouldn’t like to sit around home and work in pajamas, go to work in blue jeans and a T-shirt, and wear fuzzy slippers around the office? If you’re a freelancer, you might get to do just that, but most of us don’t have that luxury. Nevertheless, in recent decades, many workplaces have relaxed dress standards [...]

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Don’t Scare the Bamboo

by Mistina Picciano January 26, 2009 Editing

Each time I visit Taiwan, I fall more in love with my mother’s country. The island’s natural beauty, the food, the culture – all make me proud of my Taiwanese heritage. A friend who recently visited Taiwan described it as one of the world’s most under-rated travel destinations. He has a point. But Taiwan has [...]

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