Jennifer Ellis Johsnon

Using proper grammar is like having good manners: the point of good manners is to make people feel more comfortable because they know the rules. There’s a reason you’re supposed to start at the outside of a place setting of silverware on a well-set table and work your way inside. That way, everybody knows what you’re supposed to do, and it avoids awkwardness from not knowing which fork to use. Good grammar is really the same thing. People can focus on the message you’re trying to convey instead of focusing on a grammatical faux pas. Any time someone has to stop and question if something you’ve written is correct, it takes them out of the moment. They are no longer reading your words; they are looking at them in a technical way instead of an emotional way.

With that thought in mind, I am giving you some of my tips for better business writing. Whether you’re writing an article for a trade publication or a tweet, your writing will be better if you follow my suggestions. I’ll try not to go into a rant about my pet peeves, but there are a few things that can make everyone’s writing better. Please email me if I have forgotten any important tips, and I will be happy to add them to this post.

Excessive Punctuation

“I got this shirt for 75% off!!!!!!!!!!! He’s the best boyfriend ever!!!!!!!!!! Why would I do that???????” These are the kinds of sentences I see every day when I go on social media. While I think the occasional use of extra exclamation points is all right, using them often takes away from the point you’re trying to make. In almost every case, one exclamation point is fine—that’s what an exclamation point means. It means you have exclaimed something. It’s good enough. Unless your sentence is something like, “I won the lottery!!!” skip all the extra exclamation points.

No Punctuation

While excessive punctuation bothers me on principle, no punctuation makes me exhausted. I read every word that is written in my head. When I see a period, I know to stop. When I see a comma, I know to pause. When there is no punctuation at all, I read until I am out of breath. I need a nap after reading a Facebook status like, "Woohoo up and at em first gym then brunch with Steve and the gang good thing I spent that extra time on the treadmill lol then off to the walk the dogs though who needs the walk more lol time to relax and enjoy the rest of Sunday is it really almost Monday already?"

What makes me exhausted about that status is not the amount of activity described but the lack of punctuation. I find that I am unconsciously waiting for a pause to breathe, but there is no pause because the words keep coming. So do everyone a favor: put a period between complete thoughts and commas between clauses.

If you're going to write LOL, it should be capitalized. LOL is short for Laugh Out Loud. If you write lol, it means nothing. Also, it's bad form to put LOL in something you've written. You should save it for a reply to something someone else has written, like your joke made me laugh out loud. If you are making a joke, you can make that clear with a laughing or winking emoji.

#blessed

In the same vein as no punctuation, using hashtags with lots of words makes me feel tired, too. I think that hashtags with a few words are fine, though longer hashtags should have capitalized words to make it easier to read. For example, you might see a picture of a woman with a pretty necklace with the following caption: "Look at my new necklace!" Then, it might be followed with a few hashtags. #blessed #awesomehusband #metthisguyatchurch #healmostdidntaskmeoutbecuasehedoesntusuallylikebiggirlsbuthessogladhedidnow

The world would be a better place if people were more judicious with their use of hashtags. I don't think that's overstating it too much.

There is one more thing I'd like to say about hashtags, and that is that they are there for searching purposes. If you tag something #dogsofinstagram, people who search for that phrase can find your picture. If you use multiple hashtags, put a space between them. I can't tell you how often I see stuff like #kellysbabyshower#babyisaac#blessed#baby#nosleep#wheredobabiescomefromlol  If you put everything together like that, no one will ever be able to find your pictures, and then you will have spent all that time hashtagging for nothing.

This and That

While it is sometimes helpful to use articles like this and that, people almost always use them too often. After I write anything, I go through and take out all the thats I can and have the writing still make sense.

Random Capitalization

I see this on social media a lot. “I just had dinner with my amazing Boyfriend! I love my beautiful Mom. This sweater needs to come home with Me!”

Words like boyfriend, mom, and me are not capitalized. While they are nouns, they are not proper nouns. I know it almost seems disrespectful to refer to your mother instead of your Mother, but it’s just not right. If you are writing, “My mom is the best,” this is correct. It is also correct to say, “Thanks, Mom,” because you are referring to her directly by the title that you call her. Never capitalize me even though you capitalize I.

or no capitalization ever

The other side of the Random Capitalization coin is never using capitalization at all. I think people who don’t use capitalization are unsure of what should be capitalized so they don’t capitalize anything and act like it is a stylistic choice. While I suspect that there might be a few people in the world who are just so cool they don’t feel like there should be any proper nouns, these people (probably teenagers) miss the point that there are some nouns that should be capitalized. Names, cities, and streets are only a few things that deserve our respect, and therefore our capitalization. Perhaps the biggest reason to capitalize proper names is that is makes it easier for the reader to understand what you’re talking about.

Your Over Their

We’re taught how to use words like your and you’re in elementary school, and yet I see people misuse them often. As a refresher, your is a possessive, like “your bracelet.” You’re is a contraction of you are, as in “You’re so cute.” I had someone tell me once that you’re sounds pretentious, so she only writes your for everything. I think this is completely wrong. I also see ur a lot on social media. It’s a good way to make sure that you don’t use the wrong word, but I think it’s too casual for anything but text messages and tweets.

Than and then also mean two different things. Than is a comparative term, like “She is taller than him.” Then refers to time, as in, “We’ll see them then.”

And and an are not interchangeable. An is an article like a, as in “an apple” or “a book.” And is a conjunction, like “Billy and Susan.”

Who's is a contraction of who is, like, "Who's coming to my party?" Whose is a possessive term, like "Whose car is blocking the driveway?"

Its and it's are two different words that are often confused. It's is a contraction of it is, like "It's my choice." Its is a possessive and means that something belongs to it, like "A leopard doesn't change its spots." I remember the difference by remembering that if it has an apostrophe, it means two words (it is=it's).

The other big thing I see with these types of words is to, too, and two. Two is the number 2, like "I'd like two sugars, please." To is a preposition or an adverb, and you'll often see it helping to explain something better, like a direction. "I'd like to go to the party." Too means in excess of, like "That's too much butter." The way I remember these is to say that two=2. Two has a w, double-u=2. Too has too many o's to be to.

There refers to a place, like “over there.” Their is a possessive, like “their house.” They’re is a contraction for they are, as in “They’re coming over here.”

Pro tip: If you know that you get these words confused, try opening a Word document and typing a sentence. If you write something like, “She’s over their,” you’ll get a blue line under their. If you write, “They’re is a light,” you’ll also get a blue line. There is a little trickier. It’s hard to get that one to automatically be flagged as wrong since you can use there in so many situations. I try to type just about everything I'm writing, be it an email or a Faceook status, in a Word document first. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve discovered misspelled words or incorrect grammar.  

They

While we’re on the subject of they, it’s important to note that they is being used differently today than it used to be. They is now a perfectly acceptable pronoun for referring to one person of any gender, like “If a student wishes to speak to me, they can make an appointment.”

Back when I was in community college, I had a (female) professor say that any writing of a singular person of an unspecified gender would be referred to as he. In the above sentence, it would be, “he can make an appointment.” I was offended as a feminist, and asked if he/she wouldn’t be more correct. The professor hated he/she because it was “clunky and awkward,” and she said she would take points off when grading for anyone who wrote he/she. In college, I had another (male) professor who preferred for us to use the feminist she for everything. Using the above sentence as an example again, “she can make an appointment.” That never felt right to me either, so I ended up making everything plural so I could say they, as in, “If students wish to speak to me, they can make an appointment.”

Times are changing and language is constantly evolving. People are demanding to have a pronoun that means one who is of either gender, except we’re now recognizing that there are other genders besides male and female. What about the people who identify as genderfluid, agender, or genderqueer? The new singular pronoun without a gender attached is they. I used to read they as singular and find that it just bothered me grammatically. You would still say “they are” referring to one person instead of “they is.” Then I found articles about people who used words like xe to describe themselves. There are a lot of pronouns that I won’t list here because there are so many, but I wanted to make the point that using a generic pronoun like they really is a lot easier than learning every possible pronoun being used today. We’re way past an easy he/she dynamic.

By the way, the correct pronoun you should use to identify a person is the one they ask you to use. If someone tells you they are female, you should address them and write about them using female pronouns. If someone asks you to use they or xe, that is also correct and it is up to you to learn the plural of xe. Going back to the idea that grammar is like using good manners, the point is to make everyone feel comfortable.

However . . .  

One of my favorite professors had a major pet peeve. He hated it when people started sentences with however. This is something I was guilty of doing myself because I didn’t know it wasn’t correct. For example, I might write, “Moby Dick was not popular when it was published in the nineteenth century. However, it has become a classic.” My professor pointed out that however is a conjunction. Let me repeat that, HOWEVER IS A CONJUNCTION, like and, but, or, or nor. I would not start a sentence with and. But I might start one with but if I wanted to make a point. (See what I did there?)

My professor said that however is the most effective after a semicolon, and he would take off points when grading for anyone who didn’t put however after a semicolon. If you think about it, it makes a much stronger statement when I write, “Moby Dick was not popular when it was published in the nineteenth century; however, it has become a classic.”

I Will Literally Go Insane!

What is this preoccupation today with describing everything with the word literally? Half the people use it when they mean figuratively. “When he walked in with her, my jaw was literally on the floor.” No, it wasn’t. Your jaw was figuratively on the floor. Other times, people use it when there is really no reason to, like saying, “There were literally two minutes left in the game.” I have no idea why people feel the need to use literally in a sentence like that. Just say there were two minutes left in the game. I promise I’ll believe you.

If you must use the word literally, use it on the rare occasions when you are describing a situation that is a literal occurrence of a figurative saying. For example, when my baby started crawling, my mother told me, “Make sure you vacuum at least every other day. Your floor literally has to be clean enough to eat off.” The reason that works is because “floors clean enough to eat off” is a figurative expression. When people say that their floors are clean enough to eat off, they don’t mean you should do it. They just mean the floors are really clean. Anyone with a baby old enough to crawl knows that babies will put anything in their mouths, and I do mean anything. My floors really did need to be clean enough to eat off because my baby was going to eat anything he found on the floor.

Basically

Basically is a word like literally that is used far too much. My brother is a defense attorney, and he’s convinced that it’s one of those words people use because they think it makes them sound smart. My brother said that when he would talk to the family of a person he was defending, “the smart one” of the family would always ask the questions and report back to the family (who was usually in the same room and could hear everything being said). If my brother said, “I think she’s looking at five to ten years in prison,” the smart one of the family would say, “So basically, you’re saying that she’ll be doing five to ten.”

“If all goes well,” my brother would say, “we’ll be in trial within three months.”

“So basically,” the smart one would say to my brother and the family, “you’re saying we’ll go to trial in about three months.”

I’ve noticed that most of the time when people use the word basically, they’re not really simplifying a concept, like the word would lead you to believe. They’re only repeating what has just been said, and it doesn’t make them sound as smart as they think it does.

Active Vs. Passive Voice

The best example I can think of to show the active and passive voice is to tell you how my toddler talks. He likes to take several toy trucks and throw them on the floor.

“Oh, no! Trucks fall down,” he always says. He is using the passive voice. The trucks didn’t just “fall down,” he threw them on the ground.

“Bobby, you threw the trucks on the floor,” I almost always answer him exasperatedly. “It’s called the active voice; look it up. Jeez!”

The lesson here is not that I need to learn how to talk to my toddler (Or is it?). The lesson is that the active voice describes someone or something and an action follows. In the passive voice, it sounds like something just happens and there is no one who made it happen. Sometimes, the passive voice is effective, but I feel like in almost every case using the active voice is stronger and therefore better writing.

Where Are Y’all From?

I’ve heard since I was a child that you should never end a sentence with a preposition. There is an old joke about a southern woman who goes to school in the north and makes the mistake of being friendly. She asks a group of northern women, “Where are y’all from?” One of the women haughtily looks at the southerner and replies, “From a place where we don’t end our sentences with prepositions.” The southerner smiles and says, “I’m sorry. Where are y’all from, b*%ch?”

This is old advice. As language changes, more people are ending sentences with prepositions, and it’s not a bad thing. In fact, it often makes more sense to end a sentence with a preposition.

I once heard a girl being interviewed on TV after losing a spelling bee. The announcer asked her what she was going to do next, and she said, “I’m going to watch every horror movie on which I can get my hands.” Ouch! That sentence hurt me. This poor girl, who was obviously incredibly smart, lost a spelling bee and wanted to watch horror movies like a normal girl. She probably wanted pizza and ice cream, too, and she deserved it. I would have been much happier to hear her say, “I’m going to watch every horror movie I can get my hands on.” That’s how people talk—and that’s OK.

Who and Whom

This is another convention that is evolving. There was a time when you could tell who was educated and who was not by their who or whom usage. Was anyone else taught to say, “To whom do you wish to speak?” when answering the phone? The quick rule is any time you would say him you should say whom, and if you would say he you should say who. I only use whom now for formal writing. I’ve just about cut it out of conversation because whom is fading from the everyday vernacular. If you use whom, make sure you use it correctly.

Never to Split an Infinitive

Another old rule of grammar is never to split an infinitive. An infinitive is a form of a verb like to dance or to drive. The old rule is that the infinitive should never be “split” by putting another word in between the to and the verb. This is a rule which is actually based on Latin, and from my limited understanding of Latin, an infinitive is a separate form of a verb. The problem was when hoity-toity Latin studying scholars decided to impose this rule on us English speakers. So go ahead and split those infinitives if it makes sense. Split ‘em hard. Let those infinitives know who’s the boss. For example, “Promise never to drive while texting,” is a sentence that makes sense with the infinitive not split (Unsplit? Intact?). “Promise to never drive while texting” makes sense, too. It’s really a question of what makes the strongest statement to the reader.

Commas

I could devote an entire website to the misuse of commas, but I won't. I just want to mention a couple of my pet peeves.

 I like to think of commas like my girlfriends who always have my back. There I am, running my mouth at a party, and my commas/girlfriends are like, “Yeah, and . . .” They support everything I want to say. It’s like they’re saying, “and another thing,” or “but wait,” or “or then what?” If you can picture the comma girls in your mind like I can, they’re fierce and fearless. In my fantasy world where I’m super cool and tough, my commas are like back-up singers--who can fight.

When one is constructing sentences, it’s easy to write very short sentences. That’s why books teaching children to read have short sentences like, “See Jane run,” or “Watch her play.” As you learn more, you’re able to make complex sentences. You could put both of those sentences together like, “See Jane run, and watch her play.” Since both thoughts go together, making a complex sentence is nice for the reader. Then, if you want to change it up, you could add a short sentence like, “Watch out, Jane!” A short sentence following a long sentence will always have a greater impact. Sometimes if I have something important to say, I’ll make it the shortest and simplest sentence in the paragraph.

Commas are great, but they are not periods or semicolons. Two clauses separated by a comma need a conjunction to make them work. “I went to school, then I went to work,” is incorrect. If you add a conjunction like and, it absolutely works. “I went to school, and then I went to work.” You could also use a semicolon if you’re feeling fancy. I went to work; then I went to school.” The idea is to put independent clauses, the complete thoughts, by themselves, and commas are there to help.

I recently had a birthday, and I really appreciated all of the people who wished me happy birthday messages on Facebook. Most people wrote, "Happy Birthday Jennifer." A comma should actually be in between birthday and the name because you are addressing the person directly. In truth, the word birthday  shouldn't be capitalized either, but you could do it anyway if you call it a stylistic choice. If you are ever writing, "Happy belated birthday," or any variation of that, I wouldn't capitalize birthday after writing another word before it.

I lament the loss of popularity for the Oxford comma. Also called a serial comma, an Oxford comma is the last comma between a list of words or phrases separated by a comma. For example, "I need to get milk, bread, cat food, (that's the Oxford comma) and soda from the store." It's the way I was taught to write in school, and it will always be right to me. Kids who grew up later were taught that the last comma is unnecessary. It is almost always left out in journalistic writing, too. The comma that I used before too is also almost always left out these days, but I like it. I like the look of it. I like what those commas stand for. I am tempted to write a long "back in my day" type of speech about commas and integrity, but I am stopping myself. The point is that I use these commas because I like them and they make sense to me, but most people don't anymore.

You really need to use Oxford commas when you are separating words that could be mistaken as going together if you don't have the comma there. If you were going to the store to buy cookies, macaroni (the pasta) and a block of cheese, you would want to make sure to use the Oxford comma, like "I need cookies, macaroni, and cheese from the store" so people don't think you want macaroni and cheese. I say, if you're already at the store you should totally get macaroni and cheese, too. You'll only regret getting home without it.

One Space

Another writing element that will make you look older than 40 (gasp!) is if you're using two spaces after a period instead of one. People who learned how to type on a typewriter put two spaces after a period by necessity. In the Courier font, where every letter takes up exactly the same amount of space, you have to use two spaces after a period to let the reader know that you are making a space between sentences. In any of the multitude of fonts available when typing on a computer, the computer is automatically making enough space for you after a period to let the reader know they're seeing a full sentence. Consider the word little in Roboto, which I'm using now, or little in Courier. You can see that the word little takes up a lot more room in Courier than it does in Roboto. So if you're still using two spaces after a period, try only using one. It will make your writing look a lot more modern. 

Get a Thesaurus

In the olden days, when you wanted to write well, you had to have a thesaurus. It was an actual book that you had to carry with you. Today, when you can find a thesaurus in the Tools section of a Word document or use your smart phone to look up words, please try to find new words. When I go on Facebook, I see a status every day like, "I had dinner with my amazing friends at an amazing restaurant before seeing an amazing movie." Please find a new adjective. Please. 

When I write, I find that I use the word important a lot. You've probably noticed it a lot on this website. After I get done writing, I go through and use the thesaurus tool on Word to change an important to crucial, vital, or imperative. Varying your words makes your writing more interesting.






 

Tips for Better Writing

writer and editor